Sean Tucker:
I recently made a total switch in my gear from Canon/Fujifilm to Sony. This video gives my reasoning and why the Sony system is best for my needs as a travelling hybrid shooter. I also give my thoughts on how we should be choosing gear in general, avoiding brand loyalty, gear snobbishness etc, and dispassionately choosing the right tool for the job.
Marc Alhadeff published the full review of the new Samyan 24mm FE lens:
For the price is is a good lens but not as good as the Samyang 35mm F2.8
It could be a nice wide angle complement to the Tamron 28-75mm F2.8 Di III RXD if you can live with its shortcomings
If you have already the Sony FE 24-70 F2.8 GM and were shooting a lot at 24mm , don’t switch to the Samyang to get a lighter version, of same quality , you will be disappointed and you will better wait for a Sony Prime 24mm GM that should be announced in the second half of 2018
Links to all Samyang/Rokinon FF E-mount AF lenses (sarumors corrected):
14mm f/2.8 at BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon. Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon FR, Amazon IT, Amazon ES.
24mm f/2.8 at BHphoto, Adorama. Amazon. Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon FR, Amazon IT, Amazon ES.
35mm f/2.8 at BHphoto, Adorama. Amazon. Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon FR, Amazon IT, Amazon ES.
35mm f/1.4 at BHphoto, Adorama. Amazon. Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon FR, Amazon IT, Amazon ES.
50mm f/1.4 at BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon. Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Amazon FR, Amazon IT, Amazon ES.
This is a Guest Post from Animalsbarry. All images have been take with the ony A7Rii and FE 70-300 or Rokinon 35mm.
The Great Northern Gannet Colony of Boneventure Island (Gaspe’, Quebec, Canada)
Dave Dugdale video introduction text:
The AF speed has increased, the a7riii has become tenacious it will not let go of a face. AF has become much smoother, before you would get a shimmering If you have turned off face detect, obj tracking and touch spot focus, when you want the camera to continuously [AF-C] auto focus over the entire frame [Wide], basically allowing you to concentrate on other things besides focus, the area is heavily center weighted meaning it places priority on high contrast objects in the center of the frame, if something is around the edge of the frame that is higher contrast and closer, it will still focus on the center items. IF AF-C and Wide then focus only on center items regardless of distance, UNLESS there basically nothing in the center of the frame With af turned on you can press the shutter half way down to snap to the nearest high contrast obj, unless movie w/shutter is turned on Focus on nearest obj, press half way and hold the shutter button If you want to focus on an object (no face) outside the center weighted area then use obj tracking/flexible spot or use Touch spot focus a7s: With face detect turned off, it would only focus on a small portion of the center of the frame regardless if the area set to wide, once an object leaves that small area it focus to the back wall
Caleb sent me a message to report an issue with the A7III:
The Sony A7 III has a very odd problem when shooting 4K and is squeezing/stretching your video! I show you how I found this issue and share examples and solutions on how to fix the problem. Hopefully this issue gets resolved via a firmware update from Sony in the near future. Even with this problem, the Sony A7 III is an incredible camera and I wouldn’t count this as a deal breaker.
It’s unclear yet if there is some kind of weird setting causing this or if that’s a bug that hopefully Sony will address via firmware update. I invite Sony A7III owners to run their own test to confirm if it’s a bug or if it’s something that can be fixed via proper settings.
SAR reader Jim sent me this image and text:
Hi Andrea, As a full time photographer, making my living from Sony cameras I am delighted with Sony’s recent strides forwards with the a9 and a7r mk3 cameras. But I can still only use them on a tripod. For hand held work that lasts any length of time I am stuck with the a99mk2.
So here is my dream Sony full frame camera.
I do not mind if it has the sensor and processor from the a9 or the a7rmk3, both are more good enough to make a living from. What is important is that the right hand grip is moved 5-7mm away from the lens mount so that larger hands may fit in the gap whilst using GM lenses….
Just my 10 cents worth. Best regards and keep up the stellar work, Jim
It’s not the first time we hear Sony owners complain about this. The grip of course helps a bit but folks with large hands still feel uncomfortable.
The Dutch photographer Gustav Kiburg tested the new Sony 400mm f/2.8 FE GM lens (preorder at Amazon, B&H, Adorama, eBay. You can download a full set on those Wetransfer links: We1 and We2. Gustav writes:
My first hours with the new Sony 400mm 2.8 GM Yesterday i had the chance to try this new beast , the new 400mm 2.8 GM and the Sony A9 are built for speed. So i had the idea , to go to the greyhound race track , to try this combination. The dogs are so fast , the 400mm and the A9 had no problems with it, its a very light combination , and its superfast , all picture,s are taken at F2.8
tekst serie two (we2 files)….. LOCK ON tracking Sony 400mm 2.8 GM + A9 superb…. I tried the AF lock on with the NEW 400mm 2.8 GM with the A9 , and i can really say its superb the dogs go really fast , before you now it , they past you , they run 350 meters in 20 seconds If you look to the dogs , i lock on the black dog , and it follows and stay with the black dog, on the end the white dog is in front of the black dog ,but it stays on the black dog , even you see a tiny piece of the black dog .
To see these images in highe resolution download them here: We1 and We2.
Here is a video about this test (in dutch)
