The Amazing Sony A1/A7/A9/APS-C & Anything else welcome Mega Thread!

OK, a different set of questions: what do you want to take pictures of, what's your ideal and max budgets, is size & weight an issue.

Those will help us make suggestions.
 
Zadro said:
Bit of a duplicate post but looking for Sony specific opinions on this:
Background: looking for my first mirrorless set up. I used to have a Nikon D300 DSLR MANY years ago and never really got out of auto. Enjoying taking photos on my iPhone so much I want to get into photography more. This time around I'm planning to do a short course at my local uni (NTU) to actually get me of the Auto settings. Mainly interested in stills / architectural / built environment (I'm a Chartered Surveyor) and also looking to explore street photography in addition to just some general use portraits / cars / motorbikes etc.

I went to my local branch of London Camera Exchange today. They didn't have the two retro Nikons (I originally liked the look of the Zfc and the Zf) but I got chance to have a look at a Sony option. The staff were very friendly and knowledgable. I am 90% sure I want to go full frame as I am most interested in architectural photography and would like to be able to make the most of the larger field of view this gives over the APSC sensor. Apologies if some of that terminology was wrong, I am 100% a beginner!

I was really impressed with the Sony A7iii I was shown although I don't think I'd appreciated how much decent lenses cost(!) and as such I am questioning buying a £2k+ camera body as I would like a couple of lenses to get me started. I also found the controls relatively intuitive, so I'm really not sure my reasoning for the retros were so justified. LCE have a deal currently on the Sony of the body for £1299 (+ £300 cash back from Sony), making it £999 for the body. A kit with a Sony 24-70mm lens for, I think, £200 more or a kit with a Sony 24-105mm F/4 lens for £2099 with an additional £500 cash back from Sony. The salesman considers the 24-105 lens to be vastly superior to the 24-70mm kit, is the 24-105 any good in the grand scheme of things or am I better buying the body and another lens separately? He did have a 24-105 used for £579 which gave me a bit of confidence it is likely a decent lens (as it wasn't pennies used, no other frame of reference). He also showed me a Sigma wide angle 16-28mm F/2.8 lens for £749 as a recommended wide angle option.
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A brand new Sony A7iii for £999 (after CB) is a seriously good buy, great bang for buck. I see you mention that one of the deals is the 28-70mm and not the 24-70mm, and it is considered a ‘kit lens’, however it’s actually pretty decent when stopped down which you’ll likely be doing for architectural photography.

The 24-105mm f4 is a much better lens overall (and noticeably heavier), and the extra 4mm at the wide end can make quite a big difference. That being said you might find that 24mm is not wide enough for architectural stuff and may want to look at something wider like a 16-35mm.
 
@ancient_mariner I'm interested in architectural / built environment, cars / motorbikes (stills, likely won't be taking photos of motorsports), street photography and portraits. I would like to eventually use my camera to take photos for my website / business for promotional purposes too mainly for the blog section of my website.

Budget ideally is around £2k (inc VAT) for the main camera body and either one or two lenses, max of £2.5k really. I have been quite shocked by the price of the lenses - a lot are well into four figures, I initially thought they'd be about £250 with £500 being something very good - my bad it seems, ha. The 'bits'; bag / SD cards etc. I'm happy to pay for on top of this figure. I can claim the VAT back through my business, as it is the business which will be making the purchase, so I think it'll probably be more advantageous to buy new although I'm open to buying lenses if there is a significant saving used through a reputable dealer.
 
@ancient_mariner size / weight is a consideration, I was quite surprised at the heft of the A7iii with the 24-105 attached. It's not the end my world at all but I'm not sure I'd want anything heavier for the type of photography I'm looking to do.
 
@snerkler thank you! Just had a Quick Look at your website - you aren't based a million miles from me, I'm in Nottingham.

Both from a bit of a play about and speaking to people on here and others I know I don't add the 16-35 from day 1, I think it will likely be my next purchase. I should add my budget was for a camera and one lens.
 
nandbytes said:
I have decided to trade in my 200-600mm for sigma 500mm f5.6 DN. Its was good owning the 200-600mm, I will miss it, had it for 6 years, longest any lens has survived in my possession.
I was holding out for the 300GM but in the end I have to remortgage in September and given the latest interest rate most monies goes to that.
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Had a play with one last week, nice lens and a lot lighter than the 200-600.
 
Zadro said:
@ancient_mariner size / weight is a consideration, I was quite surprised at the heft of the A7iii with the 24-105 attached. It's not the end my world at all but I'm not sure I'd want anything heavier for the type of photography I'm looking to do.
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Have you considered prime lenses?

They could have some advantages including wider apertures for low light and selective depth of field and possibly bulk and weight savings. You lose the flexibility of zooms though.

Also don't forget the used market. A lot of my kit was bought used saving me quite a bit of money.
 
Zadro said:
@ancient_mariner I'm interested in architectural / built environment, cars / motorbikes (stills, likely won't be taking photos of motorsports), street photography and portraits. I would like to eventually use my camera to take photos for my website / business for promotional purposes too mainly for the blog section of my website.

Budget ideally is around £2k (inc VAT) for the main camera body and either one or two lenses, max of £2.5k really. I have been quite shocked by the price of the lenses - a lot are well into four figures, I initially thought they'd be about £250 with £500 being something very good - my bad it seems, ha. The 'bits'; bag / SD cards etc. I'm happy to pay for on top of this figure. I can claim the VAT back through my business, as it is the business which will be making the purchase, so I think it'll probably be more advantageous to buy new although I'm open to buying lenses if there is a significant saving used through a reputable dealer.
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35mm, 85mm and a wide zoom (y)
 
Zadro said:
@snerkler thank you! Just had a Quick Look at your website - you aren't based a million miles from me, I'm in Nottingham.

Both from a bit of a play about and speaking to people on here and others I know I don't add the 16-35 from day 1, I think it will likely be my next purchase. I should add my budget was for a camera and one lens.
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Yep not a million miles from Nottingham (y)

I'm not sure what you mean by the bit in bold?

Unfortunately we all have our preferences and so you'll get a variety of answers, some will suit you some won't.

In terms of what you want to photograph these are what I'd consider the best options (others will disagree ;))

Internal architecture - Ultra wide angle 20mm and wider, sometimes you might find you want as wide as 12mm.
External architecture - Ultra wide angle or wide angle
Cars - My preference is 50mm but do occasionally use 35mm.
Portraiture - 85mm is probably considered the optimal for many, but I've been using 50mm more recently.
Street photography - 35mm or 50mm.
 
Zadro said:
@ancient_mariner size / weight is a consideration, I was quite surprised at the heft of the A7iii with the 24-105 attached. It's not the end my world at all but I'm not sure I'd want anything heavier for the type of photography I'm looking to do.
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OK, thanks for explaining about wants/needs and finance. In your situation I would then suggest something like the following:

A7III £999 after cashback.

Tamron 28-200 : lighter than the 24-105 Sony.
£660 https://www.amazon.co.uk/TAMRON-28-200mm-2-8-5-6-Mount-A071SF/dp/B089WG4H9T/ref=sr_1_1?
Or £488 grey import https://www.e-infin.com/uk/item/414...8-5.6_di_iii_rxd_lens_for_sony_e_mount_(a071)

Viltrox 20 f2.8 AF £165 https://www.amazon.co.uk/VILTROX-Mount-Frame-Mount-zv-e100/dp/B0CLDBF1LX/ref=sr_1_2?


If you MUST have a wide angle zoom then replace the Viltrox with this (but image quality may not be as good).

Tamron 20-40 f2.8 £599 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tamron-20-40mm-shooting-balance-compact/dp/B0BGT4K3S3/ref=sr_1_10?

Consider also a 'standard' prime lens for when there isn't much light i.e. Zeiss 55 f1.5 (dead sharp, small & light).
https://www.wexphotovideo.com/sony-fe-55mm-f1-8-za-carl-zeiss-sonnar-t-lens-used-3178285/? £299 used - buy through the affiliate link at the top of the page.
 
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Zadro said:
@ancient_mariner I'm interested in architectural / built environment, cars / motorbikes (stills, likely won't be taking photos of motorsports), street photography and portraits. I would like to eventually use my camera to take photos for my website / business for promotional purposes too mainly for the blog section of my website.

Budget ideally is around £2k (inc VAT) for the main camera body and either one or two lenses, max of £2.5k really. I have been quite shocked by the price of the lenses - a lot are well into four figures, I initially thought they'd be about £250 with £500 being something very good - my bad it seems, ha. The 'bits'; bag / SD cards etc. I'm happy to pay for on top of this figure. I can claim the VAT back through my business, as it is the business which will be making the purchase, so I think it'll probably be more advantageous to buy new although I'm open to buying lenses if there is a significant saving used through a reputable dealer.
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I would skip the A7III and get the A7IV.

Team it up with the 16mm Viltrox, Samyang 45mm and the Sony FE85. Might take you a bit over your budget though.
 
f/2.8 said:
I would skip the A7III and get the A7IV.

Team it up with the 16mm Viltrox, Samyang 45mm and the Sony FE85. Might take you a bit over your budget though.
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Could probably get it within £2.5k budget if bought grey or used, but you’d not be able to claim vat back on grey I wouldn’t have thought.
 
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f/2.8 said:
I would skip the A7III and get the A7IV.

Team it up with the 16mm Viltrox, Samyang 45mm and the Sony FE85. Might take you a bit over your budget though.
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One thing that influenced me was the difference in the screens, articulated v tilt.

That and I thought any new and better bells and whistles in the IV would be lost on me.
 
woof woof said:
One thing that influenced me was the difference in the screens, articulated v tilt.

That and I thought any new and better bells and whistles in the IV would be lost on me.
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Lots of advantages with the A7IV.

Vastly improved ergonomics
Much better EVF
Better Image Quality
Much better colour science
Much better a.f
Option to use faster memory cards
USB C vs micro usb
More reliable shutter mechanism A7III is notorious for failed shutter.

Yeah I don’t like the flippy screen either but that’s pretty much the only disadvantage. I am looking forward to getting my A9III with the move anywhere LCD.

A7III for 1k is good value but it’s showing its age now. A7III is a huge upgrade from the original A7 though.
 
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f/2.8 said:
I am looking forward to getting my A9III with the move anywhere LCD.
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This is the answer. It's taken a long time to come to the Sony mirrorless cameras which is strange as afaik it's existed before they came along.
 
Thank you all, there is a lot for me to think about here. Visiting Wex tomorrow, they have a much larger range of cameras / lenses. I don't want to simply rush into a purchase but do understand there is an element of personal preferences which I will only learn by getting started!
 
LeeRatters said:
Not for cars and portraits ;)
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Hmmm.

I don't mind a bit of perspective distortion with cars and I think it can work well but wider angles don't have to lead to perspective distortion, not on the car or person anyway. I think my favourite car picture was taken at 35mm. I'd worry about having room to take a car picture with an 85mm. Although it depends what we mean by portraits some of the most interesting "portraits" or rather people pictures for me (as I have a thing about portraits) include some context and can be wider than 28mm and again perspective distortion can or doesn't need to be a thing. You can overdo things and for me that would include the tighter and sometimes lacking in context 85/135mm head and shoulder type portraits which usually hold little interest for me although one of my favourites was taken with an 85mm and another with a 135mm but they're the exceptions and not the norms and I'm just a happy snapper who doesn't have to please anyone else except Mrs WW of course.

Of my more recent people pictures these three are among my favourites. The first two were taken with the very cheap TTArtisan 50mm f2 and both have their issues because of the lens used but to me it doesn't matter.

DSC03240.jpg

DSC02467.JPG

This is definitely one of my favourites, taken with the Sony 35mm f2.8.

DSC07883.JPG

These may not be portraits but more often than not tighter shots with little context aren't for me and 85mm is too long for me for anything but very occasional use. If we were all the same life wouldn't be as interesting. I sort of agree about a wide zoom but I'd mostly go for a 20 or 24mm prime. I do miss my 12-24mm though.
 
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Mike.P said:
If it took a 1.4x I would trade my 200-600mm in an instant.
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I did think long and hard about that....
There is a noticeable difference in sharpness between the sigma and 200-600 especially mid-frame to corner.

1.4x on 200-600mm rarely gave great results unless I was close to the subject and/or had really good light.

Overall i didn't feel it was a massive loss with the Sigma.

Plus i don't have a body that can shoot more than 10fps. So 200-600mm advantage of shooting faster wasn't so much a concern.
I think eventually I will want something else like 300GM but till such a day this will hopefully be good standin.
 
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nandbytes said:
Plus i don't have a body that can shoot more than 10fps. So 200-600mm advantage of shooting faster wasn't so much a concern.
I think eventually I will want something else like 300GM but till such a day this will hopefully be good standin.
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I still use the original a9 so need all the mm I can get :ROFLMAO:

Have recently thought about trading up to something with more megapixels but not sure what. ... Although I quite fancy a change to the Nikon Z8.

Saying all that I haven't even picked up the camera since Bushy park in October.
 
Just returned to full-frame after 13 years of MFT and then APS-C. Latterly I've had Sony A6xxx bodies but recently got an A7Cii with a couple of G lenses. I hesitated to get the 28-60mm kit lens but couldn't resist the form factor and (lack of) weight. With the A7Cii body it is an astonishingly lightweight outfit for full-frame.

I've actually been pleasantly surprised with the sharpness obtainable with the 28-60 and this seems to be backed up by most reviews of it. Just wondered if anyone else has found this.
 
Mike.P said:
I still use the original a9 so need all the mm I can get :ROFLMAO:

Have recently thought about trading up to something with more megapixels but not sure what. ... Although I quite fancy a change to the Nikon Z8.

Saying all that I haven't even picked up the camera since Bushy park in October.
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A7IV?

Z8 is really good. Better than A9 anyway IMO.
 
Carabosse said:
Just returned to full-frame after 13 years of MFT and then APS-C. Latterly I've had Sony A6xxx bodies but recently got an A7Cii with a couple of G lenses. I hesitated to get the 28-60mm kit lens but couldn't resist the form factor and (lack of) weight. With the A7Cii body it is an astonishingly lightweight outfit for full-frame.

I've actually been pleasantly surprised with the sharpness obtainable with the 28-60 and this seems to be backed up by most reviews of it. Just wondered if anyone else has found this.
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I have one but I think that the original 28-70mm is the better lens but this could be sample variation which we're told happens. Both are I think perfectly useable variable aperture lenses with the only real issue for me being their limiting apertures. I'm happy with the actual image quality these two lenses give.
 
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