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

LordV wrote in post #17797137
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.

Wow...this is quite confusing! You mean to say there's no Sony ETTL cord that will let you connect the camera to the speedlite without any adapters?

A friend of mine uses a Nission i40 on Sony A7's hotshoe.

orionmystery wrote in post #17797150
Wow...this is quite confusing! You mean to say there's no Sony ETTL cord that will let you connect the camera to the speedlite without any adapters?

A friend of mine uses a Nission i40 on Sony A7's hotshoe.

There is a rather rare and expensive one which only seems to be sold in Samys in the USA.
If you get a sony/Minolta fitting flash then you would only need to get one adapter and the older sony/Minolta off camera cord which is easy to find including generic versions.
Sony don't seem to make things easy

Brian v.

I've looked a bit more at focus peaking and how useful it is. Suprisingly perhaps I found it more useful on lower mag natural light shots where it shows up well and really shows for example what part of a flower is in focus.
At High mag (ie 2X or higher) it shows up less well on some subjects but in fact is not really needed as the viewfinder stays nice and bright and you can easily see the detail.
I have only tried focus magnification at 5:1 - I was surprised how useful it looked. The view did get a bit snowy but was still bright with fine detail showing very well. The only drawback I suspect is you'd really need to be on a tripod or something to make it useful.

One oddity with the flash I'm using is that it seemed to require a FEC offset of -2.0 EV to get the correct exposure. Thought this was going to be a big problem until I found the FEC settings on the flash and on the body are additive unlike canon. So I've set a -2Ev FEC value on the camera body and now have the full + or - 2Ev available on the flash gun

Brian V.

LordV wrote in post #17798199
I've looked a bit more at focus peaking and how useful it is. Suprisingly perhaps I found it more useful on lower mag natural light shots where it shows up well and really shows for example what part of a flower is in focus.
At High mag (ie 2X or higher) it shows up less well on some subjects but in fact is not really needed as the viewfinder stays nice and bright and you can easily see the detail.
I have only tried focus magnification at 5:1 - I was surprised how useful it looked. The view did get a bit snowy but was still bright with fine detail showing very well. The only drawback I suspect is you'd really need to be on a tripod or something to make it useful.

One oddity with the flash I'm using is that it seemed to require a FEC offset of -2.0 EV to get the correct exposure. Thought this was going to be a big problem until I found the FEC settings on the flash and on the body are additive unlike canon. So I've set a -2Ev FEC value on the camera body and now have the full + or - 2Ev available on the flash gun

Brian V.

Thanks for the feedback Brian, very interesting to hear how you are getting on with this kit.

Is the update rate of the viewfinder good enough?

Lester Wareham wrote in post #17798348
Thanks for the feedback Brian, very interesting to hear how you are getting on with this kit.

Is the update rate of the viewfinder good enough?

Yes it's fine- most of the time I haven't noticed it's not "real"

LordV wrote in post #17798199
I've looked a bit more at focus peaking and how useful it is. Suprisingly perhaps I found it more useful on lower mag natural light shots where it shows up well and really shows for example what part of a flower is in focus.
At High mag (ie 2X or higher) it shows up less well on some subjects but in fact is not really needed as the viewfinder stays nice and bright and you can easily see the detail.
I have only tried focus magnification at 5:1 - I was surprised how useful it looked. The view did get a bit snowy but was still bright with fine detail showing very well. The only drawback I suspect is you'd really need to be on a tripod or something to make it useful.

Thanks Brian, as that is how I imagined it would be. I find that finding focus at higher magnification isn't too difficult. I just look for the parts where it goes completely in and out of focus, and I can pretty well judge where the plane of focus is from those 2 points. But it's a bit trickier at lesser magnifications. My idea, and I've not yet had chance to confirm is that it would good for knowing where the plane of focus would be on butterflies and dragonflies. I always find it hard to concentrate on getting the precise focus point right, and trying to align the focus plane with the wings at the same time.

SteB wrote in post #17799178
Thanks Brian, as that is how I imagined it would be. I find that finding focus at higher magnification isn't too difficult. I just look for the parts where it goes completely in and out of focus, and I can pretty well judge where the plane of focus is from those 2 points. But it's a bit trickier at lesser magnifications. My idea, and I've not yet had chance to confirm is that it would good for knowing where the plane of focus would be on butterflies and dragonflies. I always find it hard to concentrate on getting the precise focus point right, and trying to align the focus plane with the wings at the same time.

Yes I think you are right - not many butterflies and dragonflies around at the moment .

Brian V.

Personally I'd be put off not being able to use my MT-24ex. Thinking of a 6D as a second FF body, price should drop when 6D2 comes out, mind if that has a swivel lcd......

racketman wrote in post #17808974
Personally I'd be put off not being able to use my MT-24ex. Thinking of a 6D as a second FF body, price should drop when 6D2 comes out, mind if that has a swivel lcd......

Yes Can understand that - Lucky I've never got into MT-24Exs - Just think they are rather too expensive for what they are.

Brian v.

Well for a fraction of the price there is the Venus twin flash, the arms look a bit long although that is similar to how I have set up my MT24


http://www.venuslens.n​et …/macro-twin-flash-kx-800/

racketman wrote in post #17809021
Well for a fraction of the price there is the Venus twin flash, the arms look a bit long although that is similar to how I have set up my MT24


http://www.venuslens.n​et …/macro-twin-flash-kx-800/

Can't quite see the venus twin flash being much use with the MPE-65- take too much adjusting at different mags apart from not having TTL function (I think?)

Brian v.

Then there's always Sony's own HVL-MT24AM Macro Twin Flash £500

racketman wrote in post #17824488
Then there's always Sony's own HVL-MT24AM Macro Twin Flash £500

Yes - well I suppose it is slightly cheaper than an MT-24Ex
Brian v.