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Sony's New Cameras
I'm going to miss Caitin's expert advice on all things. Nov 07 14 10:03 am Link Leighthenubian wrote: How embarrassing.... Nov 07 14 10:52 am Link Leighthenubian wrote: Leighthenubian wrote: I know real-world may be more telling than spec-world, but as an owner of an E-M1 as well, this is surprising, in a good way. Nov 07 14 11:04 am Link Mikey McMichaels wrote: Even with it working better now, its still not going to be my camera of choice in the studio. My 6D and D610 are much better suited for studio, and the picture quality is fairly similar between all of them. Nov 07 14 11:22 am Link CHAD ALAN wrote: Leighthenubian wrote: I know real-world may be more telling than spec-world, but as an owner of an E-M1 as well, this is surprising, in a good way. Well not tooting E-M1's horn, but it's not a good sign for a company that's been widely criticized for selling stale technology at increased prices. The Sony's sell for less and deliver more. Nov 07 14 12:06 pm Link Leighthenubian wrote: Seeing that it doesn't take much for you to get dramatic, how about showing us how many people are switching over to Panasonic for their cameras? Nov 07 14 04:25 pm Link Legacys 7 wrote: Something wrong with your browser and Google? Nov 07 14 05:12 pm Link I've been pondering a move to a Pentax K-5IIs or a K-S1. I shoot with a K-10 right now. That said, I sure would like to do a demo with the new Sony a6000. A photog I know has the new Fuji XT-1. I might get to try it out next week. Nov 07 14 05:25 pm Link Mikey McMichaels wrote: Actually, that image in question says it was taken with a Canon EOS 1n. Nov 07 14 05:38 pm Link Mikey McMichaels wrote: Good Egg Productions wrote: Please Greg, don't let the facts get in the way of a good story! Nov 07 14 06:22 pm Link Okay, today Gary Mercer and I took his Sony A77 Mark II to Michael Fryd's studio here in South Beach to do some studio photography with strobes. It was an adventure! Michael is pretty tech savy, and it didn't take him long to figure out how to make the A77 Mark II work like our Canon DSLR's, at least from a shooting stand point. The key seemed to be turning off the "what you see is what you get" feature on the electronic view finder. It was in one of the menu's, and while I wasn't sure I'd found the right setting, everything worked out fine after I turned it off. Then when I looked through the view finder, the image looked pretty much like the optical view finder on my Canon. Mike even tried tricking it up by using a bright yellow backdrop (thinking maybe the electronic view finder would have a white balance problem with it). It may have been a little off color (the backdrop) but not enough so that it was apparent to me. Then I started talking pictures (of Gary) in manual mode and with the color balance set to strobe. There was the expected very short blackout while the shutter opened and closed (as you would see with a regular DSLR), then Gary would appear back again, and I'd fire off another shot. Basically the camera seemed to me to function like any other DSLR (although it isn't a DSLR technically). When we reviewed the images on the back of the camera, they seemed to be properly exposed, and the colors seemed right (including the yellow backdrop). The A77 Mark II is Sony's latest pro style electronic view finder camera, and only the third camera of this series (the others being the original A77 and the A99). I can't speak for any other electronic view finder camera, but from what I experienced today, I feel comfortable saying that if you are familiar with any high end DSLR, the Sony A77 Mark II will make you feel right at home in the studio. I am not commenting on image quality, this was not the point of today's quick test. What I wanted to know was would the A77 Mark II seem strange to me when I was looking through the electronic view finder and racking off shot after shot in the studio with studio strobe lighting. It didn't. Another welcome feature of the new A77 Mark II is that the hot shoe is a more conventional mount, which meant we didn't need any adapter to fit our electronic slave to fire the flashes. Sony has in the past (and with the original A77) used a proprietary hot shoe which meant you needed an adapter for most non-Sony products. This is yet another clue that Sony is reaching out to the general market of photographers not currently using Sony products. Hopefully I will get an opportunity to use Gary's A77 Mark II (or perhaps Manny can get me an A99 to fool around with, hint, hint!) to do some model photography on location here in South Beach. What I want to check out is how I'm able to use the "what you see is what you get" feature of the electronic view finder with fill flash. I also want to evaluate the auto focus system, and it's ability to track movement while I'm shooting at a high frame rate. Now, this won't be NFL style photography, but it should give most reading here an idea about how these new electronic view finder Sony's will perform under conditions familiar to most of us. Testing new gear is almost more fun than an adult should be allowed to have! John --- John Fisher 700 Euclid Avenue, Suite 110 Miami Beach, Florida 33139 305 534-9322 http://www.johnfisher.com Nov 07 14 07:13 pm Link Leighthenubian wrote: And you didn't answer my question that I'd asked you to show us. But instead, like you've done in this thread as well as the other thread, you go into a bitch fit when either someone is asking an honest question or someone post something that you don't agree with. Nov 08 14 12:14 am Link Legacys 7 wrote: LOL comical...and the G.I. joe reference...lame Nov 08 14 07:45 am Link Leighthenubian wrote: Lame is when you can't give a decent reply without acting like a bitch. You do that very well. But you keep doing you. Nothing, "professional" in your reply in the other thread either when the o.p. asked an honest question. Waiting for those fabricated global buddies of yours to chime in and back you up. Nov 08 14 08:47 am Link Legacys 7 wrote: Oh name calling always works lol ;-) Nov 08 14 09:16 am Link Sony cameras are awesomeness havecavgrowing collection. It started 11/2010 with the 850 ( not counting the a100 and film Minolta) 06/2011 sony hx100 for my wife and travel camera 04/2012 sony a77 as 2nd body for low-light weddings 11/2012 sony a99 for pro ice hockey a77 as 2nd body 1/2013 sony a99 as second body (sold the 850 and 77 for my wife) 12/201w sonyvrx100m2 as always with me camera 5/2014 machine borrows one of the a99 the a77 is a 3rd bod/ backup Initially I got plenty of strange looks. Today for sports it is stimmt mostly Nikon/canon but many have also 1 sony camera. For landscape the sony is starting to dominate. I love the evf both were studio and outside. After 2 years I am still learning new features of the camera. Can't wait for the next sony a-mount, the money is already set aside. The old minolta glass has some great colors and consistency. Mostly really cheap Nov 08 14 10:05 am Link  Moderator Warning!This is a discussion about Sony's new camera. Not about Canon. Not about personal arguments. Please keep this discussion on-topic. Nov 08 14 12:03 pm Link Kelvin Hammond wrote: I'm inclined to go the same way, though I rarely shoot in a studio. Nov 08 14 05:25 pm Link Mikey McMichaels wrote: A generic hot shoe transmitter works with the Sony A77 Mark II. We had no problems with a CyberSync™ Trigger Transmitter. I see no reason why it wouldn't work with a PocketWizard PlusX Transceiver. Nov 08 14 07:45 pm Link Well, since this thread is about Sony's New Cameras, I might as well share a pleasant experience today, an insignificant trivial event to some, but a nice one for me. The pancake zoom lens Sony 16-50 E-mount lens has some really terrible barrel distortion.  But on newer cameras, while the distortion was clearly visible on the Live View screen, once I press the shutter, the JPG image on the LCD screen shows immaculate straight lines. The camera obviously did their job and processed the image as if I had an expensive accurate lens. (Note: the RAW image still shows barreling, obviously, but can be toggled/selected to correct the image like the JPG). Here's the pleasant experience: Today, I downloaded an update to one of my Sony E-mount cameras, just as a maintenance procedure. Firmware update makes camera user smile. After the firmware update... The LiveView lens barreling on the pancake is all gone! Nada! Disappeared! The camera is correcting the image in Real Time! Wow! (Live View shows the corrected image, the lens behaving as if it were an expensive perspective straight line wide angle lens) Now I can compose my framing in peace. . ***While other camera makers are forced to make updates to correct complaints and defects from an angry mob, this Sony mob makes improvements on the fly without being provoked, improves it products without much fanfare. The users are caught unaware and are pleasantly surprised!*** . Nov 09 14 03:21 am Link Biggest issue is the short battery life on the A7's. It gets worse when shooting mixed light flash mixed with daylight or tungsten which is what I tend to do..long exposures, location interiors and studio stills. Saving grace is using a battery powered of the mains. Nov 09 14 04:07 am Link Mikey McMichaels wrote: Michael Fryd wrote: Yeah, I used a PW TT5 with an adapter on my NEX7. The Sony menus are roughly the same as far as options, so the settings that work on an A7 or A77 apply to the NEX 7 or A6000 as well. Nov 09 14 06:39 am Link WIP wrote: I don't understand why battery tech is so varied with lithiums. Or, maybe its just that mirrorless/EVF have shorter life because you're running a small TV on top of processing and mechanical functions. Nov 09 14 06:55 am Link There also quiet small batteries compared to others from Nikon cameras ect. Only other thing being far to much information and settings in the menu. Something I need to test is the sensor gamma S curve as in RAW you can change the settings in the camera.... more of that information you need to tweak and tweak. Nov 09 14 07:16 am Link Sony is about to go through another revision of it's electronic view finder cameras with the addition of the A99r or A99 Mark II with Sony's 36 megapixel chip. It will be interesting to see if they address the battery life issue (certainly a grip solves most of that problem), as well as improving other user interface issues. Another annoying thing, particularly on their highest end cameras, is the two memory card problem. The A99 Mark II will certainly have two card slots, but in the past that second card slot would take a Sony proprietary memory stick. Apparently these are still popular in Japan (I have no idea why), but are a non starter here in the US. So, two cards slots? Check! One unusable card slot? Checkmate! One would hope the new A99 Mark II will have two SD card slots or one SD card and one CF card slot. John -- John Fisher 700 Euclid Avenue, Suite 110 Miami Beach, Florida 33139 (305) 534-9322 http://www.johnfisher.com Nov 09 14 07:55 am Link Another "oh wow" pleasant surprise on the Sony 16-50 OSS E-Mount lens behaving on a firmware updated camera which I noticed just now:  The lens is displaying the actual focal length in use on the upper right of the Live View screen in Real Time as I zoom in and out! It is displaying it in true increments: 16mm... 17mm... 18mm... etc. as I zoom. I used to get this focal length info only in playback of the JPG after the shot. Now I get the focal length in Real Time! On screen! "Oh wow" . Nov 09 14 01:18 pm Link Kelvin Hammond wrote: Mikey McMichaels wrote: Yeah, I used a PW TT5 with an adapter on my NEX7. The Sony menus are roughly the same as far as options, so the settings that work on an A7 or A77 apply to the NEX 7 or A6000 as well. The hotshoe on the A7 is different. Nov 09 14 01:40 pm Link Mikey McMichaels wrote: The Sony A77 Mark II has a standard size hot shoe, and will work with generic manual flashes and radio transmitters. An off-the-shelf trigger like a PocketWizard, easily fits, and allows you to trigger any PocketWizard compatible studio strobe. Nov 09 14 02:34 pm Link John Fisher wrote: Not true. The a99 has dual card slots that both accept SD cards. The second slot will optionally accept a Memory Stick. Both slots are useable. Nov 09 14 03:49 pm Link Mi[/quote wrote: The hot shoe on the A7 is a standard hotshoe and accepts the same trigger as my Nikon Nov 09 14 04:30 pm Link Have to toss in my .02 - I've been an avid Sony shooter for quite a while, having kept with the A mount from my Minolta film days. There's no doubt that Sony has some cutting-edge features - I love the WYSIWYG aspect of their full-time live view, and the fully articulated screens of my a77 and a99 have come in extremely handy in a variety of conditions. IS built into the body allows me to shoot handheld on wide primes down to absurdly low shutter speeds. The cameras themselves have a lot of promise based on technology alone - I think Sony is the only camera manufacturer out there that's even trying to introduce new features into their bodies, and the results are mostly positive with a few relatively minor trade-offs. All that being said, I'm slowly moving away from Sony products and currently have a huge majority of my gear up for sale. When you're buying a camera for anything but strictly amateur use, you're buying into the whole ecosystem - not just bodies. I've experienced firsthand over the years how shooting Sony has left me the odd man out on many occasions. Living in Europe, I pay the "Sony tax", meaning their cameras and accessories are by far more expensive than their better-supported counterparts. I cannot simply walk into most shops and play with / try out equipment that's compatible with my camera. I can't find anyplace to rent equipment locally for special events. Up until a few months ago, the only native mount flashgun option I had was practically unusable due to overheating issues. When they changed to the semi-standard ISO flash mount, all the tons of accessories I had for the old mount would no longer work - sure there are flimsy adapters available, but they don't lock accessories properly and are prone to breakage and dropping their very expensive and practically worthless flashes. Their new "standard" ISO mount has a row of contacts at the front, meaning I had to take a dremel tool to some of my gear to force it to work on a supposedly standard hotshoe. I'm not sure if there's even a native mount TTL flash controller available for the new ISO shoe yet - It literally took 1.5 years of waiting after I got my first a77 before anyone bothered to make one for the old mount. Sony has a horrible habit of pouring 110% of their attention and resources into releasing new bodies on a seemingly weekly basis, leaving their existing customers who've invested a considerable amount of money on their camera "systems" completely in the dark. APS-C development took a back seat to mirrorless APS-C. I bought a NEX-5 out of morbid curiosity. Nice camera, but there wasn't a single lens released for the E Mount worth owning until my NEX-5 was already two generations old. Things eventually picked up for the E Mount, which was quickly tossed in the back seat for the new FE Mount. Now all their attention is built around creating a supporting ecosystem for this new mount - and I'm 110% certain that they won't build this platform out to its potential either. They seemingly have no direction - "let's throw a bunch of stuff against the wall and see what sticks" is their new corporate motto. Sorry to rant there, but this is the reality of a Sony shooter. It's a constant struggle to maintain your sanity when the manufacturer you support shows absolutely zero consideration to the needs of a working photographer. They'd rather sell me the newest gadget on the block instead of working to make subtle improvements on what COULD be an outstanding platform. /rant Nov 09 14 05:19 pm Link I would have thought maybe a Pixel King radio would... But I guess the new shoe design has hidden TTL contacts at the front edge of the shoe? My understanding is that the proprietary TTL flash is pretty good, but expensive compared to 3rd party brands. $499 is a bit hard to swallow for gn43. The standard seems to be gn58 now. Nov 09 14 05:25 pm Link CHAD ALAN wrote: Sheesh. Nov 09 14 07:10 pm Link Raoul Isidro Images wrote: Is that really useful to you? Nov 09 14 07:13 pm Link Good Egg Productions wrote: Yes. Nov 09 14 07:17 pm Link Raoul Isidro Images wrote: Yes, I know that. And that's why I was asking you to explain how one would use/need that information while shooting since I have never in 12 years. I'm honestly looking for information. Nov 09 14 07:22 pm Link Good Egg Productions wrote: Well and good. Nov 09 14 07:25 pm Link Raoul Isidro Images wrote: This leads me to believe one of two things. Nov 09 14 07:29 pm Link Good Egg Productions wrote: Believe whatever you will. Nov 09 14 07:40 pm Link Raoul Isidro Images wrote: So you will truly not share your experience with me. Nov 09 14 08:45 pm Link |
