Good deals on Sony a7/A7R cameras at the moment in the UK

If you were thinking of playing with a full frame mirrorless camera- there's some good deals on the above at least in the UK. The camera bodies are £799 or £999 with a further £200 cashback. Park cameras is also throwing in a Metabones EF adapter for £100 to allow use of canon lenses. The cameras have electronic viewfinders which do instant focus peaking plus overexposure warnings.

Brian V.

Curiosity makes me ask...compared to the 5Ds R, what is their picture quality like using that adapter?

chauncey wrote in post #17791708
Curiosity makes me ask...compared to the 5Ds R, what is their picture quality like using that adapter?

I haven't the faintest idea I'm afraid. The adapter does not affect the picture quality though - it's purely electronic. Supposedly the sony sensor has greater dynamic range than the canon ones but not convinced that makes a great deal of difference. I was more interested in the focus peaking for my tired old eyes.
The only drawbacks with the camera I've found so far are the lack of a straight forward flash cord. I've ended up getting a wireless flash setup for it and a longer delay when taking multiple single shots than I'm used to with the canon cameras - makes handheld focus stacks more difficult. However the latter may be due to my inexperience with the settings (there's rather a bewildering number of them)
I was after a backup for my 5dmk2 which I suspect will fail shortly (160,000 clicks so far) and this seemed very good value.

Brian v.

I see you've now got an A7 Brian. I'd love to hear your experiences of it for macro photography. I've long thought EVFs might have advantages for macro photography with their ability to gain up in low light, and focus peaking. Whilst I've had a look through EVF viewfinders, I suspect that you need to use them for macro photography for a while to really get a good grasp of their advantages and disadvantages. Being you're a very experienced macro photographer I'm looking forward to hearing your experience of using a mirrorless camera, when you've had a bit more experience with it.

SteB wrote in post #17792397
I see you've now got an A7 Brian. I'd love to hear your experiences of it for macro photography. I've long thought EVFs might have advantages for macro photography with their ability to gain up in low light, and focus peaking. Whilst I've had a look through EVF viewfinders, I suspect that you need to use them for macro photography for a while to really get a good grasp of their advantages and disadvantages. Being you're a very experienced macro photographer I'm looking forward to hearing your experience of using a mirrorless camera, when you've had a bit more experience with it.

Will let you know how I get on with it SteB, Once I've figured out the control a bit more and taken quite a few more shots.
Brian v.

Would appreciate it if you passed on your thoughts concerning using higher MP's.

chauncey wrote in post #17793262
Would appreciate it if you passed on your thoughts concerning using higher MP's.

Will do but the A7 is only marginal over my 5Dmk2 on MP.
I have thought of going up to a 5Ds/R but I think the files sizes would cause me problems with the processing and storage of shots given the number of photos I take.

Brian v.

I think you made a good choice going for the A7, Brian.

According to dxomark, A7'sensor is 12th place at 90 points, and 5DMII #57th place with 79 points.

http://www.dxomark.com​/Cameras/Ratings

Been thinking of getting a A7 as well but I'll need new speedlite as well as adapter too! The metabones are not cheap here.

Well I'm gradually getting used to the camera- Have solved the lag I was seeing on taking single shots quickly (I had it on 2 sec photo review). Have used the MPE-65 on it. The manual focus via the EVF is wonderful - I can see bright detail at 5:1 without even resorting to image magnification which it also has.
The only concern I have now is finding a way to sensibly mount the flash gun on a bracket. The sony multi interface foot does not have many adapters and using the stand that came with the flash feels like something will snap shortly.
I'll post some comparison images soon vs the 5dmk2 although I have not seen any amazing differences shooting RAW in both cases.

Brian V.

Brian, did you also get a Sony speedlite to go with your A7?

LordV wrote in post #17796300
Well I'm gradually getting used to the camera- Have solved the lag I was seeing on taking single shots quickly (I had it on 2 sec photo review). Have used the MPE-65 on it. The manual focus via the EVF is wonderful - I can see bright detail at 5:1 without even resorting to image magnification which it also has.
The only concern I have now is finding a way to sensibly mount the flash gun on a bracket. The sony multi interface foot does not have many adapters and using the stand that came with the flash feels like something will snap shortly.
I'll post some comparison images soon vs the 5dmk2 although I have not seen any amazing differences shooting RAW in both cases.

Brian V.

How is the focus peaking with the MP-E, is it worth using?

orionmystery wrote in post #17797052
Brian, did you also get a Sony speedlite to go with your A7?

Not a Sony one- the Nissin commander and Di700 speedlight.

Brian V.

Lester Wareham wrote in post #17797082
How is the focus peaking with the MP-E, is it worth using?

Lester I found the focus peaking useful at lower mags but have not really found it necessary with the MPE-65 yet. The image is so lovely and clear in the viewfinder. It's something I've yet to fully investigate.

Brian v.

LordV wrote in post #17797098
Not a Sony one- the Nissin commander and Di700 speedlight.

Brian V.

Thanks for the info. What's a Nissin commander? That Di700 is for Sony mount, right?

I've been checking the cost:

Pre-owned Sony A7 - RM2800
Adatper (Not metabones but some China made brands) - RM400
3rd party speedlite for Sony - RM600
Total: RM3800 - that's about US$900 No go for me yet

orionmystery wrote in post #17797121
Thanks for the info. What's a Nissin commander? That Di700 is for Sony mount, right?

I've been checking the cost:

Pre-owned Sony A7 - RM2800
Adatper (Not metabones but some China made brands) - RM400
3rd party speedlite for Sony - RM600
Total: RM3800 - that's about US$900 No go for me yet

Nissin commander is a wireless radio controller. I think the flash and controller come in a variety of flavours for different camera brands but this flash certainly has the new Sony hot shoe (multi interface shoe) which causes problems because you don't seem to be able to get a straight forward flash cord for it (you can buy the older flash cord plus an adapter for each end)

Sounds like the cost out there is a bit prohibitive though.

Brian v.