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

ancient_mariner said:
I hope they feel better made than the D610 - my Sony A58 felt better made. And as for the D70, that really was a nasty plastic-fantastic.
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The D610 was the budget FF model at the time and the D700/D750 were both very solid cameras, in fact even after a drop at height onto the pavement my D750 shows almost no damage. The Z8 has a very solid tank like build I certainly couldn't fault either. That said I don't like the size and funnily enough when checking the A9 for @snerkler the camera feels remarkably small, even the D750 which is a good bit smaller than the Z8 feels bulky alongside the A9. I do prefer Sony's dial design as well where you just turn a dial which I find quicker and simpler plus I can tell when I pick up the camera what mode it's in rather than Nikon's design where you have to hold a button and rotate a dial to set the camera up.

I guess it's a tough balance though since a number of people complain about camera bodies being too small. I was reading a possibly clickbait article on a photography website with the author complaining about the shortsighted withdrawal of DSLRs one of the main reasons being that mirrorless cameras were too small which is a bit daft anyway since there are bigger mirrorless cameras.
 
I have handled a D750 - TBH it felt just like the D610 in terms of construction, and it cooled my inclination to upgrade.
 
We never had any issues with the D750 build quality and we had lots of them at one point we had 6 of them.

Personally none of the Sony bodies have come close until I got an A9III which is the first Sony body that actually feels like a high end camera body.
 
f/2.8 said:
We never had any issues with the D750 build quality and we had lots of them at one point we had 6 of them.

Personally none of the Sony bodies have come close until I got an A9III which is the first Sony body that actually feels like a high end camera body.
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Going back to the D750 at the weekend the A7RV and A1 definitely feel more solid and better built to me.
 
snerkler said:
Going back to the D750 at the weekend the A7RV and A1 definitely feel more solid and better built to me.
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Just comes down to personal opinion I guess the A1 just feels the same as the other older Sony bodies to me. Haven't used an A7RV to comment on that one, but isn't it just the same body?
 
f/2.8 said:
Just comes down to personal opinion I guess the A1 just feels the same as the other older Sony bodies to me. Haven't used an A7RV to comment on that one, but isn't it just the same body?
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More or less, it doesn’t feel quite as nice in terms of the buttons and dials though.
 
snerkler said:
More or less, it doesn’t feel quite as nice in terms of the buttons and dials though.
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That’s interesting you would have thought it would be the other way around with the A7RV being the newer body.
 
f/2.8 said:
That’s interesting you would have thought it would be the other way around with the A7RV being the newer body.
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Well the A1 is their ‘flagship’ and is almost double the cost so you’d hope imagine they’d use better components, although there’s not a lot in it to be fair. I still find the flip out LCD screen on the A7RV feels a bit cheap and plasticky compared to the tilt screen.
 
snerkler said:
Well the A1 is their ‘flagship’ and is almost double the cost so you’d hope imagine they’d use better components, although there’s not a lot in it to be fair. I still find the flip out LCD screen on the A7RV feels a bit cheap and plasticky compared to the tilt screen.
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Really I find the new style screen to be pretty robust on the A9III and think they are the same one. It’s a much more useful screen as well.
 
f/2.8 said:
Really I find the new style screen to be pretty robust on the A9III and think they are the same one. It’s a much more useful screen as well.
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I think it’s robust, it just feels plasticky.
 
Mrs WW is due back next week and I've received orders to take down pictures of the people who've caused us so much grief in the last few years so I've today printed out a couple of pictures each filling an A4 sheet and they look very nice :D This new Canon Pro 200 is definitely a step forward over the Epson R2880 it replaced.

One thing I did notice is that when printing with the Canon there doesn't seem to be a print set up page like I had with the Epson. Perhaps there is and I just didn't get to it, although I did look, but I didn't spot a page allowing tweaking of contrast, saturation, brightness and the other things which the Epson allowed. I'll have another look when I have more time and I have to say that the prints came out great and didn't need any tweaking for printing :D

This has been the most pain free home printing I've done for years :D
 
woof woof said:
Mrs WW is due back next week and I've received orders to take down pictures of the people who've caused us so much grief in the last few years so I've today printed out a couple of pictures each filling an A4 sheet and they look very nice :D This new Canon Pro 200 is definitely a step forward over the Epson R2880 it replaced.

One thing I did notice is that when printing with the Canon there doesn't seem to be a print set up page like I had with the Epson. Perhaps there is and I just didn't get to it, although I did look, but I didn't spot a page allowing tweaking of contrast, saturation, brightness and the other things which the Epson allowed. I'll have another look when I have more time and I have to say that the prints came out great and didn't need any tweaking for printing :D

This has been the most pain free home printing I've done for years :D
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Alan

Download Canon Print Studio Pro (it will work with any of the Pro printers), it can be used as a plugin for LR and PS - that will give you all the control you need and IMO the soft proofing is better than Adobe's. I spent a good half hour with a Canon Printing Specialist at a show and he explained that it goes in a lower level in teh printer driver, and therefore more functionality is available.

Print Studio Pro - PIXMA Professional Photo Printers

Canon’s Print Studio Pro plug-in provides the perfect workflow link between your image and the finished printed product. This unique software is designed specifically for PIXMA professional printers and lets you achieve expert quality photo prints with ease.
www.canon.co.uk www.canon.co.uk
 
Mr Perceptive said:
Alan

Download Canon Print Studio Pro (it will work with any of the Pro printers), it can be used as a plugin for LR and PS - that will give you all the control you need and IMO the soft proofing is better than Adobe's. I spent a good half hour with a Canon Printing Specialist at a show and he explained that it goes in a lower level in teh printer driver, and therefore more functionality is available.

Print Studio Pro - PIXMA Professional Photo Printers

Canon’s Print Studio Pro plug-in provides the perfect workflow link between your image and the finished printed product. This unique software is designed specifically for PIXMA professional printers and lets you achieve expert quality photo prints with ease.
www.canon.co.uk www.canon.co.uk
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Ta.

I'll take a look. Funny how it doesn't just appear automatically like with the Epson. I can't fault the print quality though. I'm very impressed but I have spent years wrestling with that old Epson so anything more modern was probably always going to impress me.
 
f/2.8 said:
Be surprised if it’s anything to get too excited about. A1II with the new a.f and the new lcd screen or an A7V with an extra 2fps and the new a.f.
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An A1 II would be exciting imo, and A7V not so much. The sooner the A1 II is released the sooner it will reduce in price, although going by the A1 it will be at least two years after release it will come into my price range.
 
snerkler said:
An A1 II would be exciting imo, and A7V not so much. The sooner the A1 II is released the sooner it will reduce in price, although going by the A1 it will be at least two years after release it will come into my price range.
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I'm hoping they can do something a bit different. Maybe a RX1 but please give it a fixed and good quality EVF and maybe make it a FF Sony Fuji X100 rival. Along the same lines a mini SLR style camera with old style rotary controls might be nice too. Whatever they do I hope they up the speed of the mechanical shutter and make the transition from mechanical to electronic shutter a selectable automatic and seamless option just like my Panasonic cameras have managed for years.

Once they've done all that in the morning in the afternoon they can redo the 35mm f2.8 as f2.5 with an aperture ring and style it like those mini G lenses.
 
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snerkler said:
An A1 II would be exciting imo, and A7V not so much. The sooner the A1 II is released the sooner it will reduce in price, although going by the A1 it will be at least two years after release it will come into my price range.
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The only down side to that is the secondhand value of our A1s will drop.
 
Icee said:
The only down side to that is the secondhand value of our A1s will drop.
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That's a good thing if you don't have one and want one though. Assuming the A1 II's subject recognition is as good or better than the A7RV I'd likely get rid of the A7RV for the A1 II and therefore have an A1 and A1 II. I used the A1 and A7RV to photograph Sheffield FC last weekend and the A7RV is certianly not a sports camera :LOL:
 
snerkler said:
That's a good thing if you don't have one and want one though. Assuming the A1 II's subject recognition is as good or better than the A7RV I'd likely get rid of the A7RV for the A1 II and therefore have an A1 and A1 II. I used the A1 and A7RV to photograph Sheffield FC last weekend and the A7RV is certianly not a sports camera :LOL:
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I couldn't justify the cost of two A1s even if one was a A1ii. I guess if I was daring I could sell my A1 now and hope it's the A1 ii that comes out next month. Then if I was doing that I could also consider going back to Nikon.
 
Icee said:
The only down side to that is the secondhand value of our A1s will drop.
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I've been on the fence for a while about an upgrade, would love an A1 but out of my price range. Was going back and forth between a A7 IV and A7RV, hoping for the most incredible A1 II to help used prices.
 
Gold said:
I've been on the fence for a while about an upgrade, would love an A1 but out of my price range. Was going back and forth between a A7 IV and A7RV, hoping for the most incredible A1 II to help used prices.
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Wait till after next month too see what comes out. If its a A1 ii then prices of secondhand A1 will drop, how quick, that I'm not sure of.
 
Icee said:
I couldn't justify the cost of two A1s even if one was a A1ii. I guess if I was daring I could sell my A1 now and hope it's the A1 ii that comes out next month. Then if I was doing that I could also consider going back to Nikon.
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Life’s short, if I don’t need the money for something else then I can justify having an A1 and A1 II. Since having two bodies I have found it beneficial so I’m glad I took the plunge. In hind sight I could’ve just kept the A9 II when I swapped to the A1 but you live and learn ;)
 
snerkler said:
Life’s short, if I don’t need the money for something else then I can justify having an A1 and A1 II. Since having two bodies I have found it beneficial so I’m glad I took the plunge. In hind sight I could’ve just kept the A9 II when I swapped to the A1 but you live and learn ;)
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That’s it, I’ve a A9 as well.
 
woof woof said:
One thing I did notice is that when printing with the Canon there doesn't seem to be a print set up page like I had with the Epson. Perhaps there is and I just didn't get to it, although I did look, but I didn't spot a page allowing tweaking of contrast, saturation, brightness and the other things which the Epson allowed. I'll have another look when I have more time and I have to say that the prints came out great and didn't need any tweaking for printing
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I'm positive there is a manual adjustment tab on the print preference page. It should be set to auto as default.
 
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Been going through some photos from earlier this year and giving them a black and white edit, I think I might finally be happy with my B&W settings

1.

A1_08605-Edit-2 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

2.

A1_08736-Edit-2-Edit by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

3.

A1_08761-Edit by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

4.

A1_09104-Edit-2 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

5.

A1_09267-Edit-2 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

6.

A1_09317-Edit by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

7.

A1_09535-Edit by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

.8

A1_09711-Edit by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr
 
snerkler said:
Been going through some photos from earlier this year and giving them a black and white edit, I think I might finally be happy with my B&W settings

1.

A1_08605-Edit-2 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

2.

A1_08736-Edit-2-Edit by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

3.

A1_08761-Edit by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

4.

A1_09104-Edit-2 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

5.

A1_09267-Edit-2 by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

6.

A1_09317-Edit by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

7.

A1_09535-Edit by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr

.8

A1_09711-Edit by Toby Gunnee, on Flickr
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Look very good to me Toby. I love to see deep oily Blacks and Crisp Whites.
 
For me, I quite like a lifted black point, giving the image a look more like some of the old fibre papers I used to use. I also slightly tint the image, which often gives a sense of more depth.

That's for my pictures of course - Toby's look great as they are.
 
woof woof said:
Lovely.

I tend to want to make my B&W look like they've been lifted from an old photo album.
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ancient_mariner said:
For me, I quite like a lifted black point, giving the image a look more like some of the old fibre papers I used to use. I also slightly tint the image, which often gives a sense of more depth.

That's for my pictures of course - Toby's look great as they are.
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Thanks for the feedback (y) So a bit like the one on the right?

Screenshot 2024-10-26 at 14.04.46.jpg
 
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ancient_mariner said:
Yes. I'd probably also do the split-tone thing (a PITA with the current version of LR) to warm up the paper just a very little, then add -2 temperature and +2 tint for a slightly richer look to the emulsion.
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Interesting, thanks.
 
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