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

[woof woof]

I advertised most of my old film era primes for sale here and I did sell a few and I intended to sell the rest to a company who buys this stuff but I didn't bother for weeks until yesterday when I got around to making a list. I sent it to two companies and today, Sunday, and I was very surprised to get a reply on a Sunday, I got a reply from one of them. I was gobsmacked. It's easily twice what I thought it'd be. I'll wait for the other quote and then make my mind up.

After my gobsmacking I looked at this quote line by line and IMO some have been significantly undervalued looking at what some have gone for on ebay but I've never sold on ebay and selling them to a dealer is an easy option.

I'm keeping some Rokkors and maybe two Zuiko's and I may keep one or two Nippon Kogakus especially as they valued the 50mm f2 at £10 and that seems amazing to me as it's a true classic lens and in this case with no optical issues that I can see at all and with just some wear on the body as you'd expect from a lens this old. Anyway. It's not going anywhere for a measly £10.

I used to have a GF who was a wizz at selling on line, shame I never kept in touch as I'm sure she'd sell this lot for four times what I expected

I wonder if they'll do what Wex did and reduce the quote once they get the lenses?

 

[snerkler]

I advertised most of my old film era primes for sale here and I did sell a few and I intended to sell the rest to a company who buys this stuff but I didn't bother for weeks until yesterday when I got around to making a list. I sent it to two companies and today, Sunday, and I was very surprised to get a reply on a Sunday, I got a reply from one of them. I was gobsmacked. It's easily twice what I thought it'd be. I'll wait for the other quote and then make my mind up.

After my gobsmacking I looked at this quote line by line and IMO some have been significantly undervalued looking at what some have gone for on ebay but I've never sold on ebay and selling them to a dealer is an easy option.

I'm keeping some Rokkors and maybe two Zuiko's and I may keep one or two Nippon Kogakus especially as they valued the 50mm f2 at £10 and that seems amazing to me as it's a true classic lens and in this case with no optical issues that I can see at all and with just some wear on the body as you'd expect from a lens this old. Anyway. It's not going anywhere for a measly £10.

I used to have a GF who was a wizz at selling on line, shame I never kept in touch as I'm sure she'd sell this lot for four times what I expected

I wonder if they'll do what Wex did and reduce the quote once they get the lenses?

I usually get quotes from several places as sometimes you'll get a much higher price for a lens at one place, and then a much higher price for another lens from another. Sometimes I'll ask one to price match the other, but if they won't I'll just send them off to different places as they pay for the pickup so it doesn't cost any more.

 

[the_accidental]

but I've never sold on ebay

You lose/pay about 14/15% in fees all in, can be more depending on the listing type or less if you get a deal for cheap listing. And as you say, more hassle.

The main advantage isn’t so much price as the larger market you can sell to for stuff that might be harder to shift.

 

[nandbytes]

I advertised most of my old film era primes for sale here and I did sell a few and I intended to sell the rest to a company who buys this stuff but I didn't bother for weeks until yesterday when I got around to making a list. I sent it to two companies and today, Sunday, and I was very surprised to get a reply on a Sunday, I got a reply from one of them. I was gobsmacked. It's easily twice what I thought it'd be. I'll wait for the other quote and then make my mind up.

After my gobsmacking I looked at this quote line by line and IMO some have been significantly undervalued looking at what some have gone for on ebay but I've never sold on ebay and selling them to a dealer is an easy option.

I'm keeping some Rokkors and maybe two Zuiko's and I may keep one or two Nippon Kogakus especially as they valued the 50mm f2 at £10 and that seems amazing to me as it's a true classic lens and in this case with no optical issues that I can see at all and with just some wear on the body as you'd expect from a lens this old. Anyway. It's not going anywhere for a measly £10.

I used to have a GF who was a wizz at selling on line, shame I never kept in touch as I'm sure she'd sell this lot for four times what I expected

I wonder if they'll do what Wex did and reduce the quote once they get the lenses?

as you may have noticed I used to buy and sell loads thanks to GAS.
I used a have good time with buying & selling manual vintage lenses in "pre-COVID era". Used to be able to sell them rather easily on ebay and the odd one or two sold here too.
These days I find it a struggle to sell most camera related thing, even the mirrorless AF lenses.
As a result, I mostly just trade-in my lenses and swap a lot less. Things don't seem to sell as easily unless they are close to trade-in prices, at which point for sake of 10%-ish I rather just trade-in and avoid the hassle of selling.

For example recently traded in 200-600mm. Got £1000 for it. Would have got may be £1100-ish if I tried selling privately. Selling and posting that massive thing is so much hassle, the shop collected it for me and traded-in hassle free.

 

[woof woof]

as you may have noticed I used to buy and sell loads thanks to GAS.

When I told Mrs WW I was selling some stuff she asked me if I was going to buy something else as that's what I normally do with the money but to be honest there's nothing I want and although I've used all these lenses when I fancied or at least in rotation most haven't been used in a long time and they're not ornaments so I thought I'd sell them. I will sort of regret it but they're just not getting used.

I'm keeping Minolta MD 28mm f2.8 MK3, 35mm f2.8 MK1, 50mm f1.7 MK3 and 55mm f1.7 MK 2 but none of the MK4 or MK5's and I'm keeping my Sigma 50mm f2.8 macro in Minolta mount. I'll keep Olympus 50mm f1.8 and maybe 28mm f2.8 too and that Nippon Kogaku 50mm f2 and maybe the f1.4 too.

I have my Voigtlander 35mm f2.5 Color Skopar and the modern Voigtlanders and a couple of cheap Chinese lenses so I'm not short of both film era and modern manual 28 to 50mm lenses which is the range I like.

I might advertise some MFT kit as that's not getting used either. I've even thought of selling some Sony lenses that I've not used for a long time but I'll have to think harder about that.

 

[woof woof]

These days I find it a struggle to sell most camera related thing, even the mirrorless AF lenses.

I suppose that's because of the economy in these uncertain times. I/we are fortunate that our income exceeds out outgoings without touching our saving plus I'll get a state pension if I live that long.

I'm very old now and as we don't have children apart from non cost things like keep fit photography and cars are my only things. Mrs WW hasn't really got a regular thing. She occasionally wants some things for eg she wanted an electronic keyboard so got her a nice one and she keeps saying she wants a car when she gets back. I'm hoping she'll change her mind and drive the Evoque then I get to keep all my cars. If she wont drive the Evoque my MX5 might have to go and I'll be gutted but four cars would be a hassle swapping them around so if she wants something not the Evoque one will have to go.

 

[woof woof]

I've just received my second quote and it too is pretty generous and a bit more so than the first but they've just given an overall price rather than item by item like the other place did. They've offered to buy, give part ex credit or do commission sale the difference being something between £200-£300 and they'll collect the kit which saves me the postage costs.

Has anyone ever done a commission sale? Just wondering if this is worth doing.

I am a bit worried that they'll do a Wex and backtrack for no real reason I can see (the kit is IMO in good order) but if they do I'll ask for the affected lenses to be returned and I'll carry on enjoying them now and again.

 

[snerkler]

I've just received my second quote and it too is pretty generous and a bit more so than the first but they've just given an overall price rather than item by item like the other place did. They've offered to buy, give part ex credit or do commission sale the difference being something between £200-£300 and they'll collect the kit which saves me the postage costs.

Has anyone ever done a commission sale? Just wondering if this is worth doing.

I am a bit worried that they'll do a Wex and backtrack for no real reason I can see (the kit is IMO in good order) but if they do I'll ask for the affected lenses to be returned and I'll carry on enjoying them now and again.

I'm too impatient to do commision sales

 

[woof woof]

There is that.

 

[LeeRatters]

I've just received my second quote and it too is pretty generous and a bit more so than the first but they've just given an overall price rather than item by item like the other place did. They've offered to buy, give part ex credit or do commission sale the difference being something between £200-£300 and they'll collect the kit which saves me the postage costs.

Has anyone ever done a commission sale? Just wondering if this is worth doing.

I am a bit worried that they'll do a Wex and backtrack for no real reason I can see (the kit is IMO in good order) but if they do I'll ask for the affected lenses to be returned and I'll carry on enjoying them now and again.

I done commission with Ffordes before. Never again. Commission OR Ffordes.

 

[woof woof]

I done commission with Ffordes before. Never again. Commission OR Ffordes.

That's interesting as they're one of the companies I emailed and they're the most generous. They did wreck a Rokkor of mine when cleaning it but I thought I should get over it.

What was your problem with them?

 

[LeeRatters]

That's interesting as they're one of the companies I emailed and they're the most generous. They did wreck a Rokkor of mine when cleaning it but I thought I should get over it.

What was your problem with them?

Took over a year to sell two lenses. Wanted to service them which would have left me + £20 on one lens (predicted sell value) and minus on another. The Voigtlander kept disappearing from the website more than a handful of times. Every time I emailed to enquire it was "on hold" for someone then the following day was back up on the site again...... This happened over and over again. The adapter and CPL etc I sent with the 40mm also just vanished into thin air.....

 

[woof woof]

Took over a year to sell two lenses. Wanted to service them which would have left me + £20 on one lens (predicted sell value) and minus on another. The Voigtlander kept disappearing from the website more than a handful of times. Every time I emailed to enquire it was "on hold" for someone then the following day was back up on the site again...... This happened over and over again. The adapter and CPL etc I sent with the 40mm also just vanished into thin air.....

Oh dear. Looks like if I go with them a straight sale is the best idea.

 

[LeeRatters]

Oh dear. Looks like if I go with them a straight sale is the best idea.

I would agree.

 

[JohnMcL7]

Ffordes is my local camera shop and I had considered trying a commission sale with them since the lenses are sitting around doing nothing here anyway but that just sounds like it's a pain in the neck.

 

[woof woof]

Ffordes is my local camera shop and I had considered trying a commission sale with them since the lenses are sitting around doing nothing here anyway but that just sounds like it's a pain in the neck.

Yup. It's put me off the idea of a commission sale but even without the quality of service issues it's possible to understand that some kit could sit on the shelf longer than other kit.

 

[the_accidental]

https://flic.kr/p/2qfnpsM

Experimenting with Nissin MF18 ring flash I picked up for a good price, a little (2” across maybe) late summer rose, and the TTArtisan 40mm macro.

 

[Cloudforest]

Just treated myself to a used 50mm f2.5 because of the light weight.

Millie by Peter C, on Flickr

Millie by Peter C, on Flickr

 

[woof woof]

Lovely.

I've been very impressed with the 40mm f2.5 and also to a lesser degree the 28mm f2.8 G. I'd imagine that the 50mm f2.5 is very good?

 

[the_accidental]

Ohh that does look good, I've been testing out an a-mount 50 to see how I like it, images like those might tempt me to eventually get the 50G.

How do you find it in continuous AF? The 2nd shot looks good and a moving target, but I'm often trying to capture a fast moving child...

 

[woof woof]

I had a chat with an amateur photographer today, we run into each other every couple of weeks or so. I told him how surprised I was at the offer I'd had for some film era lenses and how impressed I was with my latest lens and I asked him what lens he uses... "I don't know" was the reply I asked him if he was morrorless or used a DSLR and he knew that one, he has a DSLR. I know he takes bird pictures as he talked about a rare duck he wanted to photograph and he'd been somewhere where there were lots of them, so, I assume he has a long lens of some sort.

I always smile when I speak to someone who doesn't know or care much about the kit, it just seems more pure to me

 

[snerkler]

I had a chat with an amateur photographer today, we run into each other every couple of weeks or so. I told him how surprised I was at the offer I'd had for some film era lenses and how impressed I was with my latest lens and I asked him what lens he uses... "I don't know" was the reply I asked him if he was morrorless or used a DSLR and he knew that one, he has a DSLR. I know he takes bird pictures as he talked about a rare duck he wanted to photograph and he'd been somewhere where there were lots of them, so, I assume he has a long lens of some sort.

I always smile when I speak to someone who doesn't know or care much about the kit, it just seems more pure to me

I talk to no end of people that have no idea what camera they’re using let alone what lens it is Without trying to sound harsh these same people don’t have a great grasp of photography and their photos often reflect that. On the flip side they’re happy with what they produce and I’m always jealous of that as I kind of know what I’m doing but am rarely happy with what I produce.

I sometimes wish I was more of a “happy snapper”

 

[woof woof]

I think they're in green square mode and happy with it, and good luck to them

I don't really know anyone who's as into photography as me. I bump into people now and again who want more than a smartphone offers and thus have a camera and like taking pictures with it. I had a brief conversation with a young woman today who's into photography when she can find the time... so people like us but not on forums are out there if in smaller numbers than maybe they were years back.

I would class myself as a happy snapper but with an interest in the hardware. One thing I do keep thinking back to is my years with a Kodak Instamatic with a 43mm f11 lens. Happy days

 

[snerkler]

I think they're in green square mode and happy with it, and good luck to them

I don't really know anyone who's as into photography as me. I bump into people now and again who want more than a smartphone offers and thus have a camera and like taking pictures with it. I had a brief conversation with a young woman today who's into photography when she can find the time... so people like us but not on forums are out there if in smaller numbers than maybe they were years back.

I would class myself as a happy snapper but with an interest in the hardware. One thing I do keep thinking back to is my years with a Kodak Instamatic with a 43mm f11 lens. Happy days

I speak to a number of people who are into photography, not many into it as much as me but the odd one is. I was very jealous of one, a pro F1 photographer, how I'd love that gig. He's been doing it for nearly 40 years, some of his old photos are great. One that really evoked me was one of Senna and Shcumacher walking down the pit lane at Imola, one of the last ever photos of Senna

 

[mstphoto]

I had a chat with an amateur photographer today, we run into each other every couple of weeks or so. I told him how surprised I was at the offer I'd had for some film era lenses and how impressed I was with my latest lens and I asked him what lens he uses... "I don't know" was the reply I asked him if he was morrorless or used a DSLR and he knew that one, he has a DSLR. I know he takes bird pictures as he talked about a rare duck he wanted to photograph and he'd been somewhere where there were lots of them, so, I assume he has a long lens of some sort.

I always smile when I speak to someone who doesn't know or care much about the kit, it just seems more pure to me

Sounds a lot like my mate - all the gear and no idea!!
I took a group of photographers for a wander along the river and he turned up with his Nikon D3 + 300 f2.8 which was impractical for the location.
Every shot he took was in machine gun mode.
I think some of the group were put off by him thinking that they were inferior due to their entry level gear.
They started asking him questions that he couldn't answer - at one point he came up to me and asked what shooting in RAW meant!!
Needless to say he never came out with the groups again

 

[AndrewFlannigan]

Green square mode is good.

I was using it in the mid 1960s, only then we called it "Sunny 16", It worked well for me then and I keep my cameras on full auto today. Here's one from 1966 or thereabouts...

 

[Cloudforest]

Lovely.

I've been very impressed with the 40mm f2.5 and also to a lesser degree the 28mm f2.8 G. I'd imagine that the 50mm f2.5 is very good?

Those were the first shots I've taken with it so I'll reserve judgement until I've used it a bit more. I've been contemplating getting something more compact than my A7R4 but nothing really appealed, so I decided to try one of the smaller lenses. AF seemed to coped well with Millie the dog trotting towards me.

 

[woof woof]

A7III and Sony 40mm f2.5.

It was a sunny day so I just had to record the event.

Proof that the sun shone on Eston. 11/9/2024.



Him "The boss is in Sheffield today."
Me "You're the boss today!"



Christ Church. Recently celebrated 140 years.



That time of year.



PS.
Glad I took that sunny blue sky shot. It's dull and raining now.

 

[woof woof]

Those were the first shots I've taken with it so I'll reserve judgement until I've used it a bit more. I've been contemplating getting something more compact than my A7R4 but nothing really appealed, so I decided to try one of the smaller lenses. AF seemed to coped well with Millie the dog trotting towards me.

I've been tempted to get one just to have the whole set I wish Sony would redo the old 35mm f2.8 as a f2.5 in this body and with this quality.

 

[AndrewFlannigan]

Grab shot of an easy ridin' dude... (A65, Tamron 18-300mm)

 

[snerkler]

I've been looking for a smaller camera setup for when I don't want to lug the A1 and lenses around and have been looking at Fuji, however I had a look at the X-T5 today and was disappointed in how cheap it felt, especially the top dials. So I thought I'd look at the A7c's however none appear to have a rear joystick meaning to move the AF point you've still got to press a button to activate the D-Pad like the older camera bodies and I found this a pain. Don't any of the A7c series have a joystick for direct access to moving the AF point? I don't use the touchscreens as always activate something with my nose

In other news my A1's been sent back today, fingers crossed I'll get it tomorrow Although they've sent it to my home address not my work address so hopefully my wife's in when it's delivered. Pointless having a delivery address on the form if they just ignore it

 

[nandbytes]

I've been looking for a smaller camera setup for when I don't want to lug the A1 and lenses around and have been looking at Fuji, however I had a look at the X-T5 today and was disappointed in how cheap it felt, especially the top dials. So I thought I'd look at the A7c's however none appear to have a rear joystick meaning to move the AF point you've still got to press a button to activate the D-Pad like the older camera bodies and I found this a pain. Don't any of the A7c series have a joystick for direct access to moving the AF point? I don't use the touchscreens as always activate something with my nose

In other news my A1's been sent back today, fingers crossed I'll get it tomorrow Although they've sent it to my home address not my work address so hopefully my wife's in when it's delivered. Pointless having a delivery address on the form if they just ignore it

No joystick with A7c series or A6xxx series.
Xt5 isn't exactly small tbh

Your nose touching screen is less of a problem with EVF being on the side. But I remember you saying you are left eye dominant so it might still be an issue for you.

While I do like having a joystick, I rarely use it these days. Only use it while on a tripod. In all other instances it's just a lot quicker to focus and recompose with real time tracking turned on which will perfectly keep the subject in focus.

 

[snerkler]

No joystick with A7c series or A6xxx series.
Xt5 isn't exactly small tbh

Your nose touching screen is less of a problem with EVF being on the side. But I remember you saying you are left eye dominant so it might still be an issue for you.

While I do like having a joystick, I rarely use it these days. Only use it while on a tripod. In all other instances it's just a lot quicker to focus and recompose with real time tracking turned on which will perfectly keep the subject in focus.

I'm not sure how many cameras I'd trust with the real time tracking, plus I use the joystick 'button' to recentre the AF point as it doesn't return to centre after it's tracked something (which is a little bug bear of mine )

 

[the_accidental]

You can press the bin button to re-centre.

About the only thing that annoys me with the focus on the A7Cii is unlike the A7, if I zoom into an area a half press of the shutter doesn’t zoom it out again.

Unless I need to change a setting, anyone with the newer software cameras know?

 

[snerkler]

You can press the bin button to re-centre.

About the only thing that annoys me with the focus on the A7Cii is unlike the A7, if I zoom into an area a half press of the shutter doesn’t zoom it out again.

Unless I need to change a setting, anyone with the newer software cameras know?

Are you talking about reviewing the image or during composition/focussing?

 

[the_accidental]

Composition... camera is beside me now so I'll check.

Ah no, it doesn't, it just resets the magnification box to the centre. Which seems daft. I was sure it did, but I mostly just track, track and recompose, or focus and recompose (depending). I had a quick look in the menus and no obvious setting to assign it to do it either.

You can assign 2 of the 4 dials to move the focus area in X/Y but then you obviously don't have them for other uses (though you can have another button toggle the mode the dials are in). Though the dial round the d-pad is unused by default, making that toggle between x/y focus movement with another button to toggle (or down on d-pad) might work quite well?

I will say for a compact setup, the Cii and the samyang 35/2.8 (the smallest, lightest FE autofocus lens AFAIK) is a great combo. Testing the A7/35 vs my X100 is what made me replace the X100 with the Cii.

 

[nandbytes]

I'm not sure how many cameras I'd trust with the real time tracking, plus I use the joystick 'button' to recentre the AF point as it doesn't return to centre after it's tracked something (which is a little bug bear of mine )

I have been using real time tracking since gen4 and so far it mostly hasn't let me down.

Always returns to the center for me. Always has done.

 

[the_accidental]

Always returns to the center for me. Always has done.

Ah good point - tracking resets to centre (or wherever), if you set the focus point manually it doesn't reset.

 

[snerkler]

Composition... camera is beside me now so I'll check.

Ah no, it doesn't, it just resets the magnification box to the centre. Which seems daft. I was sure it did, but I mostly just track, track and recompose, or focus and recompose (depending). I had a quick look in the menus and no obvious setting to assign it to do it either.

You can assign 2 of the 4 dials to move the focus area in X/Y but then you obviously don't have them for other uses (though you can have another button toggle the mode the dials are in). Though the dial round the d-pad is unused by default, making that toggle between x/y focus movement with another button to toggle (or down on d-pad) might work quite well?

I will say for a compact setup, the Cii and the samyang 35/2.8 (the smallest, lightest FE autofocus lens AFAIK) is a great combo. Testing the A7/35 vs my X100 is what made me replace the X100 with the Cii.

On my A1 it goes back to the full screen when half pressing the shutter so there must be a setting somewhere. The A1 manual says this, which isn't very clear without having the camera in front of me

 

[woof woof]

I had an odd one today. My two A7III custom modes (one in Aperture and one in Manual) with eye detect stopped working today, eye detect just refused to kick in at all in both custom modes and with multiple subjects. When I got home I looked at the settings and nothing had changed so in desperation I overwrote both with identical settings and voila! Working again. I'm not impressed. I've never had this before with any camera so here's hoping it doesn't do this again.