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Switching from Canon to A7 and old glass
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Would it be a smart move?
yes
86%
 86%  [ 13 ]
no
13%
 13%  [ 2 ]
Total Votes : 15



PostPosted: Sun May 25, 2014 4:15 pm    Post subject: Switching from Canon to A7 and old glass Reply with quote

Hello,

i would want to ask you few questions about your Sony A7, i'm working phootgrapher from Poland, i'm shooting mainly fashion portraits, documentary work, architecture and some food or product photography. I'm thinking on selling most of my Canon equipment and switch to Sony with Konica Hexanon AR and Canon FD lenses.

Right now i have 5D2, 6D and 100D with 28 f/1.8, 35 f/2 IS, 50 f/1.2L, 100L macro and TS-E 24 3.5 and 90 2.8, as well as Konica AR body i love with Vivitar 28/2,5, Konica 40/1.8 and 50/1.7, and small bunch of M42 lenses like Zeiss 20/2.8, 35/2.4, 135/4, Soligor 21/3.8, five or six different 50's, some 35-s.

I prefer images from older lenses, i like imperfections in optics, for me that's what makes photograps more interesting /visually/. Had some "perfect" lenses and they are all perfectly sharp, and well corrected, but after all - dull and without any "wow" effect. Also, i got used to focus manually, and with good focusing mechanism (split screen, or peaking) it's far more accurate and quicker than AF.

I'm thinking of selling most of my stuff, leaving 5D2, TS-E 24, TS-E 90 and adding 50/1.8 or 1.4 for studio or work that needs AF, and from money i get off the sale, get Sony A7 and some good and small vintage setup - Konica AR 28/3.5, 35/2.8, 40/1.8, 50/1.7, maybe 57/1.2, 135 /2,5 and Canon 55/1.2 and 85/1.2 primes, as i really like images from it, but never liked bulkness of those in EF mount versions.

I will not pinpoint every specific question, but i would want to simply ask you if it's a smart decision, if it's the camera i can trust, am i nuts, because i have many arguments like weight (i have back problems because of DSLRs), possibility to attach nearly every lens i want, being unnoticed, working with different tools than everybody, i'm mostly convinced to make the swap, but as well i'm scared - i got used to Canon, it's battery life, durability, IQ of the sensors, lenses, i'm satisfied with it as a tool, but also it's not a joy for me to photograph with it, mostly because when i want to shoot something i must go with bag that weights over 5kgs, and it pisses me off that i have great equimpent, and yet i'm making more photos with my iPhone, just because of the weight and lack of mobility.

Thanks for responding,
igi.


PostPosted: Wed May 28, 2014 10:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ok, so i did it. The toughest part was to sell my 50L, i got used to it and loved it for a years, it was a good, but extraordinary heavy and big lens.

Went for a A7 with Canon FD 55 f/1.2 S.S.C and Hexanon AR 135 f/2.5 for a moment - these two are trurly extraordinary lenses, Canon is way sharper than modern 50L but as well it doesn't have as creamy bokeh - it's quite harsh sometimes. I like it. Also, it flares a lot, but in a quite adorable way. Konica lenses are crazy for me, small, sharp and with very interesting IQ, photos from them doesn't look like it's made with digital camera.

I will wait like a week and sell rest of the gear, i cannot wait when FD85L and Hexanons 28 and 35 will be in my bag.

After all, it looks like it was very wise decision, the olny thing that bothers me is that i discovered it so late - i loose way too much money on reselling gear bought in december. Smile


PostPosted: Thu May 29, 2014 8:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thank you for posting your experience with changing cameras and lenses.


PostPosted: Thu May 29, 2014 11:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nobody had answered your questions, you did it anyway. I think it really was difficult to give you any advice, either will be able to produce great results and it really is a matter of personal prefereance and choice.
For me personally the small size and weight of a mirrorless camera, specially if combined with a small rangefinder lens, is of outmost advantage ( or halfframe lenses, I use APS-C )


PostPosted: Fri May 30, 2014 3:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

kuuan wrote:
Nobody had answered your questions, you did it anyway. I think it really was difficult to give you any advice, either will be able to produce great results and it really is a matter of personal prefereance and choice.
For me personally the small size and weight of a mirrorless camera, specially if combined with a small rangefinder lens, is of outmost advantage ( or halfframe lenses, I use APS-C )


Yes, it was very hard decision for me, but i don't regret it. I liked images from full-frame models, battery life and the way they take abuse at work, and dislike almost everything else. On the other hand, Sony gives me the pleasure of taking photos. With the amount of lenses aviable for this mount i can simply choose whatever i want. Flexibility is stunning. Images are stunning. And the lenses - shooting tele doesn't mean you neet to carry around clunky lenses, Hex 135/2.5 is amazing, as well as Zeiss Jena 135/4, Canon 55/1.2 which is super sharp and at the same time glowy, Hex 57/1.4 that gives perfectly smooth bokeh, Hex 50/1.7 that's super easy to focus, Jupiter 50/2 is the way to go light, Helioses for crazy bokeh and fun, you can't be bored with images that comes from that camera.

And then, battery is quite bad, but it can last whole day if i'm not at work. High ISO's are not as good as it should be (6400 looks like 25.600 from 6D), but they're usuable, peaking could be more precise and that's it.

It's not the perfect camera, but definetly the best i've used.


PostPosted: Sat May 31, 2014 6:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

turn WLAN off (flightmode) if not needed.. it will give you additional hours of battery life


PostPosted: Mon Jun 02, 2014 4:06 am    Post subject: A7 and Legacy lenses Reply with quote

A couple years ago I bought a used Canon 5D and adapters, so that I could use my collection of legacy glass on a full frame camera. I really like my 5D. Earlier this year I found that I could get a A7 kit direct from Sony very cheap, since I am a Sony retiree. I went for it and now all of my glass fits on my A7, including my Canon 50mm 0.95 RF lens off of my 7SZ. The electronic view finder is superior to a range finder and a optical view finder. It provides focus peeking, high lighting areas in focus. You see the image at the shooting aperture for depth of field control and you can select an area and magnify it for precise focusing. You can adjust the exposure in real time. It is a fantastic tool for using any manual lenses.


PostPosted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 9:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

_igi wrote:
kuuan wrote:
Nobody had answered your questions, you did it anyway. I think it really was difficult to give you any advice, either will be able to produce great results and it really is a matter of personal prefereance and choice.
For me personally the small size and weight of a mirrorless camera, specially if combined with a small rangefinder lens, is of outmost advantage ( or halfframe lenses, I use APS-C )


Yes, it was very hard decision for me, but i don't regret it. I liked images from full-frame models, battery life and the way they take abuse at work, and dislike almost everything else. On the other hand, Sony gives me the pleasure of taking photos. With the amount of lenses aviable for this mount i can simply choose whatever i want. Flexibility is stunning. Images are stunning. And the lenses - shooting tele doesn't mean you neet to carry around clunky lenses, Hex 135/2.5 is amazing, as well as Zeiss Jena 135/4, Canon 55/1.2 which is super sharp and at the same time glowy, Hex 57/1.4 that gives perfectly smooth bokeh, Hex 50/1.7 that's super easy to focus, Jupiter 50/2 is the way to go light, Helioses for crazy bokeh and fun, you can't be bored with images that comes from that camera.

And then, battery is quite bad, but it can last whole day if i'm not at work. High ISO's are not as good as it should be (6400 looks like 25.600 from 6D), but they're usuable, peaking could be more precise

It's not the perfect camera, but definetly the best i've used.

Wszystkiego najlepszego z nowim Sony ! I live in Poland , I am not Polish but I have a Sony A7.
I find focus peaking almost useless but focusing is not a problem with that camera.
I see that you have a Flektogon 20mm . How does it work with the A7? I had a big deception with a Mir 20mm.


PostPosted: Sat Jun 14, 2014 10:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

memetph wrote:
Wszystkiego najlepszego z nowim Sony ! I live in Poland , I am not Polish but I have a Sony A7.
I find focus peaking almost useless but focusing is not a problem with that camera.
I see that you have a Flektogon 20mm . How does it work with the A7? I had a big deception with a Mir 20mm.


Thanks! Flektogon is superb, i loved it on my 5D and i love it even more on A7. It's not perfectly sharp, but it has interesting image, very oldschoolish. It turned out that my mostly used lens for now is Jupiter-8, it flares nicely, has some barrel disortion, nice background blur and weights like nothing. I will search for some nice LTM or glass as they are much more comfortable to shoot than SLR glass.

Also, in about a month i will get several zeiss lenses for it with A7 and A7s form company i work for, so it looks like i will totally say goodbye to Canon after it.


PostPosted: Sun Jun 15, 2014 10:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Forget the WA LTM with the A7. You will have problems in the corners and borders. Colour shift may appear too.
I agree , the J8 works fine with the A7.
There are some more versatile compact SLR standard lenses. I use a 45mm f2 Rokkor which stays pretty compact though the adapter.
I read very good feedbacks from the Hexanon 40mm f1.8.
Are you in Warsaw?