Sony Lounge Thread MKIII (All Sony cameras welcome)

random thoughts from the APS-c camp....

I tried the E18-135 3.5-5.6. Sharp, decent color and contrast, slow as freakin' molasses. No way in a million years can I work with that thing.

LeeRatters wrote in post #18625990
Guys, I think there are a few of us who carry more than just camera gear and do more hiking/trekking...?

I have an old Flipside 300 which carries my gear and a flask fine. But it's not comfortable after a while....

After some research (which can be never ending) I'm currently looking at the Manfrotto Off Road 30L.... I think it has enough room for camera gear plus top storage for waterproofs, jacket, fleece, suncream, food, drink, etc It also has fully adjustable (height) shoulder straps, hip straps, mesh back, etc as per a "hiking" backpack.

I did also eye the Lowepro Sport 300 AW but it has a smaller camera section....

Mainly, I want comfort. My lower back aches and hurts with anything more than a few hours or miles with the Flipside. I want dual usage. I want fairly easy access to camera. I don't want a big square black backpack that looks like a suitcase! I have a budget of around £150 but saying that, I do want to buy once and buy properly so there is some play there.....

Any other suggestions that you lot use in similar situations..?

My gear = A7, 28-70, 35/2.8, 85/1.8, blower, filters.....

i started searching for something similar recently but my head started to hurt as there’s so many options with pros and cons but nothing that I found that quite ticked all boxes so I ended up giving up. For years I’ve been using a cheap Berghaus pack with ortlieb liner on my back for food, clothes etc and a lowepro toploader on a chest harness to keep the camera at the front and easily accessible. That’s my go to Munro setup

xpfloyd wrote in post #18626098
i started searching for something similar recently but my head started to hurt as there’s so many options with pros and cons but nothing that I found that quite ticked all boxes so I ended up giving up. For years I’ve been using a cheap Berghaus pack with ortlieb liner on my back for food, clothes etc and a lowepro toploader on a chest harness to keep the camera at the front and easily accessible. That’s my go to Munro setup

Did you guys check out the Atlas packs I mentioned the other day?

This is one of my hiking setups. All camera gear are in neoprene pouches and the tripod is a gitzo 0531. The pack is a Zpacks Arc Blast 50L that weighs about a pound empty. Carries well too. This was at the beginning of a 7 hour hike with about 4200 feet of gain for several days of camping.

A quick thanks for the backpack input guys. I'll take a closer read and research when I get in from work later on

SeattleSpeedster wrote in post #18626105
This is one of my hiking setups. All camera gear are in neoprene pouches and the tripod is a gitzo 0531. The pack is a Zpacks Arc Blast 50L that weighs about a pound empty. Carries well too. This was at the beginning of a 7 hour hike with about 4200 feet of gain for several days of camping.

Wow...4200 feet of gain...dang...I am going on a 9.2 mile hike tomorrow, it it only has about 450 of overall gain.

quick ttl flash question for all the flash guys, i recently picked up a ttl flash for my sony a7iii. i am used to using a flash on my olympus, when i use ttl mode on the flash it seems to pick the lowest iso and adjust the flash accordkingly, on the sony it doesnt seem to do that, i put it in ttl mode aperture priority and i did some shots and they were all at iso 1600, when i manually set the iso to 100 it underexposed the images, i am a bit confused, on the olympus when i turn the flash on or off i can see the iso change on my scene, with no flash its iso 3200 and with flash iso 100. i could get the sony to get proper expsosure by setting the fash compensation and such and using iso 100 but that defeats the whole porpose of ttl, do i have some thing set wrong maybe???

genesimmons wrote in post #18626140
quick ttl flash question for all the flash guys, i recently picked up a ttl flash for my sony a7iii. i am used to using a flash on my olympus, when i use ttl mode on the flash it seems to pick the lowest iso and adjust the flash accordkingly, on the sony it doesnt seem to do that, i put it in ttl mode aperture priority and i did some shots and they were all at iso 1600, when i manually set the iso to 100 it underexposed the images, i am a bit confused, on the olympus when i turn the flash on or off i can see the iso change on my scene, with no flash its iso 3200 and with flash iso 100. i could get the sony to get proper expsosure by setting the fash compensation and such and using iso 100 but that defeats the whole porpose of ttl, do i have some thing set wrong maybe???

There's a setting that needs to toggled. I forget what it is, but you need to set the exposure compensation yo ambient only...by default the camera will account for the flash exposure and it screws the ambient exposure up

xpfloyd wrote in post #18626098
i started searching for something similar recently but my head started to hurt as there’s so many options with pros and cons but nothing that I found that quite ticked all boxes so I ended up giving up. For years I’ve been using a cheap Berghaus pack with ortlieb liner on my back for food, clothes etc and a lowepro toploader on a chest harness to keep the camera at the front and easily accessible. That’s my go to Munro setup

I'm determined to find something this time round!!!

digital_AM wrote in post #18626103
Did you guys check out the Atlas packs I mentioned the other day?

Yes. Look very smart. A little over my price range though unfortunately.....

MedicineMan4040 wrote in post #18626020
Lee I've done a bit of true multi-week backpacking (300+ mile at a wack) over the years.
I also have many true backpacks and many true camera packs.
I've found NO happy melding of the two.
Like photography is a compromise so are packs......access 99 percent of the time means way less comfort as the miles wear on.
Comfort always comes at a price of weight.
So pick your poison-access, comfort, weight carrying ability.

So the difference between slack-packing (day hiking/tramping) vs. overnight and multi-day backpacking is what needs to be determined AND
how much weight total you're to carry.
You have a lightweight photog kit, that's a plus. Water/wind proofs/flask/first aid/signally/firestart​ing/energy + camera kit should mean less than 10 pounds, err 4.5 kgs.
There was a time in my life on multi-day backpacing trips when 10 pounds was my baseweight (everything but food and water).

What I found on the true long distance hikes of 1-2 weeks my camera kit was downsized to 8 ounces/Sony TX30 or the Lumix G5 with one extra lens.

So again, slack-packing or backpacking?

If slackpacking and doing big miles (in my day 20-26 miles and 3000-6000 feet of gain in a day) I'd still downsize the camera kit.

On the easy day hikes of 5-10 miles total I'd carry equivalents to what you listed. Then I'd be back to comfort vs. accessibility. Comfort always won for me.
I still think all the 10 essentials (water purification/fire starting/ wind and waterproofs) + camera kit can be done slackpacking for less than 10 pounds total.
Thats an a7xxxx body with two lenses and a Sirui carbon tripod.

So the pack...well you're over there, but me choosing I'd go with the LowePro Photohatchback.
It's a tight fit in the upper compartment getting the wind/water + a vest (I always always always carry a vest for my core temp) and you can get a a7/a7s body in
the bottom with an extra lens + a bit of room for some more essential.

Better yet it can be had on flea-bay for less than $40.

My ONLY complaint and I've carried this pack for hundreds of miles is tripod carry which sucks. My answer to that was the Sirui
https://www.amazon.com …fRID=MMYSVB6DQE​NGK9H96VN8

Fell walking you might not have a lot of tall trees and this short tripod just might work.

SeattleSpeedster wrote in post #18626105
This is one of my hiking setups. All camera gear are in neoprene pouches and the tripod is a gitzo 0531. The pack is a Zpacks Arc Blast 50L that weighs about a pound empty. Carries well too. This was at the beginning of a 7 hour hike with about 4200 feet of gain for several days of camping.

That's some real gain!! I'm not intending to hike to the scale that you both have!!

I am just a daily hiker. No camping, no stove, no sleeping bag..... The weight at present isn't an issue, but the way it's carried is. Comfort wins!!

This weekend just gone we were out for about 6-7 hours & in total covered about 9-10 miles all in. We do more distance than we do elevation. I need room just for food/sandwiches/snacks & clothes - either waterproofs just incase or (in the case of last weekend) taking clothes off as the day warmed up - we started at 5:30 for sunrise.

What I don't get is that the Lowepro "bag finder" on their website put's my A7 & three lenses at just a 3L capacity.......

At the moment the Lowepro Photosport 300AW is looking favourable.
The Manfrotto Off Road 30L is similar but has a mesh ventilated back which is nice.
The Lowepro Trek 250AW is also a consideration but it is further down the list......

I guess the fact the current Lowepro isn't comfortable puts me off but the Photosport is a completely different style!

A7/14mm

mystik610 wrote in post #18626148
There's a setting that needs to toggled. I forget what it is, but you need to set the exposure compensation yo ambient only...by default the camera will account for the flash exposure and it screws the ambient exposure up

ahhhh yes i see that option, ok ill check that out, thanx soooo much for the quick reply

mystik610 wrote in post #18626148
There's a setting that needs to toggled. I forget what it is, but you need to set the exposure compensation yo ambient only...by default the camera will account for the flash exposure and it screws the ambient exposure up

ahhh that was the issue, i tested it again and every thing was as its supposed to, weird it would default to that, even the zoom fuction on my flash wasnt showing the proper zoom when it was in that ambient+flash mode, when i changed it everything started working haha, thanx again for the quick reply with the right answer

not sure if amazon in the us has arca swiss mounts for the a7iii yet but in canada they only had one for the a9. i took a chance and its fits perfect. the a9 must be like a milimeter bigger on the battery end as i can see a tiny gap but the a7iii still fits into the grooves no prob, i picked up this model.
https://www.amazon.ca …age_o00_s00?ie=​UTF8&psc=1

genesimmons wrote in post #18626224
ahhh that was the issue, i tested it again and every thing was as its supposed to, weird it would default to that, even the zoom fuction on my flash wasnt showing the proper zoom when it was in that ambient+flash mode, when i changed it everything started working haha, thanx again for the quick reply with the right answer

Yeah I'm not sure why anyone would want that feature on by default. I think it makes sense when shooting in green box auto mode, but most people who know what they are doing would prefer to separate the ambient and flash exposure.

SeattleSpeedster wrote in post #18626105
This is one of my hiking setups. All camera gear are in neoprene pouches and the tripod is a gitzo 0531. The pack is a Zpacks Arc Blast 50L that weighs about a pound empty. Carries well too. This was at the beginning of a 7 hour hike with about 4200 feet of gain for several days of camping.

Hosted photo: posted by SeattleSpeedster in
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forum: Sony Digital Cameras

Hosted photo: posted by SeattleSpeedster in
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forum: Sony Digital Cameras

I know Samurai Joe at Z-packs. I have the pack a gen behind the one you have pictured. Wonderful
packs for ultra long distance backpacking, and Joe has the cred, he's done all the long hikes in the US (AT, CDT, PCT,etc) and the long
trail in NZ.
Lately I'be been carrying a custom Zimmer pack.