Sony Got me an A7M2

Petach

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UK, Essex
Name
Peter Tachauer
Just fell for the Sony A7M2 at Wex in London. With cash back it is just about £800 which, to my mind, is great value for a full frame camera of this age. It joins my A6300. I have ordered the sigma converter to put my Canon 17-40L lens on it. It works, I tried it out in the store. Hopefully the weather will improve enough to get out and give it a workout. The A6300 has the 16-50 kit lens on it.
 
I run my 17-40mm L on my A7II all the time and love it. Normally I just run the 85mm on it, but I always have a few Canon lenses with me since I sold off my Canon bodies. You should love it!
 
I run my 17-40mm L on my A7II all the time and love it. Normally I just run the 85mm on it, but I always have a few Canon lenses with me since I sold off my Canon bodies. You should love it!
Cool, thanks for that. I think the body with the 17-40 will be a killer combo. The adapter arrives today so looking forward to it. I friend of mine has the 24-105L on his and it looks and works great.
 
Cool! Looking forward to see what it'll do in your hands. Do you have a specific usage scenario in mind? (Travel, daily work, ...)
Hi Bart, Just my normal.....some street, night lights, architecture, landscape. Should be good for all of them. Will report back with some shots hopefully today. I can go out to play as the ever fragrant Mrs T is away for a couple of days!
 
Hi Bart, Just my normal.....some street, night lights, architecture, landscape. Should be good for all of them. Will report back with some shots hopefully today. I can go out to play as the ever fragrant Mrs T is away for a couple of days!

Oh dear, something tells me she will not be pleased!
 
Another newly acquired A7 II here - with the explicit purpose of being able to shoot M mount lenses on it (hence I added the Voigtländer VM-E Close Focus Adapter). I know there will be issues with corner performance, especially with wide angle lenses wide open, but considering that the (by far) cheapest digital Leica M (at the moment, that'd be the "Typ 262" around here) would set me back at least three times as much, it's just the most sensible choice.

M.
 
Another newly acquired A7 II here - with the explicit purpose of being able to shoot M mount lenses on it (hence I added the Voigtländer VM-E Close Focus Adapter). I know there will be issues with corner performance, especially with wide angle lenses wide open, but considering that the (by far) cheapest digital Leica M (at the moment, that'd be the "Typ 262" around here) would set me back at least three times as much, it's just the most sensible choice.

M.
Will be interested to see results, certainly an interesting route to take.
 
Interesting choice, Matt. I gave passing thought to picking up an A7 II, but in the end decided to stick with Fuji and got an X-T20 to accompany my X-T1. I used to love shooting with legacy glass, but these days the few that I have left basically collect dust on the shelf.
 
@tonyturley My situation is different: I'm into shooting M mount rangefinders big time - and it'd be a shame not to be able to use the lenses I love for digital. Had I not taken the plunge, I would have ended up buying a Leica M - probably either M9-P, M(262), M-D or even M10. It was kind of a pre-emptive measure.

And I think it'll pay out - because shooting those manual lenses is fun already, even though I have to figure out the best way to set up things. The camera, while beefy, is about the same weight as the analog Leica bodies I use, which is a nice touch. Handling's very nice - much better than I was led to believe by reading online reports, and it's easy to customise; speed's not a problem either. Lots of sensible choices (button placement). It *feels* chunky and sturdy - well-built in a very satisfying way. Focus aids are effective and highly configurable; files are detailed and rewarding. Corner "smearing" (an effect caused by field curvature induced by the Sony's rather thick on-sensor filter stack, most visible with wide lenses) is moderate and usually non-intrusive; it's something that only happens at wide apertures anyway, so it shouldn't be a problem for landscapes and cityscapes.

So, regarding the merits of the camera, there are many. The only thing that bugs me considerably is the level of chrominance noise that the sensor produces (already) at ISO 3200. It's said to be a close relative of the unit used in the D750, but the Nikon delivers on a totally different level (it produces workable files at ISO 6400 - with manageable colour and *croppable* resolution!). I have to dig deeper, though; the impression may have been exacerbated by my choice of software, so I have to try Sony's own RAW converter as well as the version of Capture One Express that "came with" the camera (i.e. I can download it) and ACR before passing judgement. The files aren't completely unusable, but I'm not sure they are better than the (reasonably impressive) ones I get from the APS-C sensor in the D5500. But again, it's too early to complain - I've just started exploring; the A7 II may simply demand a bit more care than the D750. And besides, it actually *is* better than any of the Leica M bodies in that respect, though probably bar the M10 (which costs almost seven times more!). So it's all relative - I just expected a bit more in that specific regard. I'll let you know how it turns out ... --> SEE BELOW!!!

IMPORTANT EDIT: Found the culprit! Software indeed ... Presets can be a pain in the ***, really. ACR conversions showed a lot less noise; I then went back and opened the most objectionable file in darktable again - and simply reverted to "Original". darktable has presets that can be really sub-optimal starting points for more challenging files. I'm mostly satisfied now, up to ISO 3200. Phew ... this is a relief, even though it wouldn't have been a showstopper for the intended use case ...

EDIT NO. 2: Capture One Express shows the best results for direct conversion, but it also uses profiles (i.e. "presets") - nothing against those, though, they're very well done. I'll stick with darktable for general pp, but for really nasty candidates, Capture One Express will see some use. Interesting ...

FINAL EDIT: To my personal dismay, but probably to nobody's surprise, what I'd call pre-processing is less sophisticated under GNU/Linux - this may be caused by the Sony RAW drivers I installed in Windows, but I'm not sure (though I have a way of testing this - but that's only of interest to me). So, I'll probably convert Sony (as well as Canon) RAWs with Adobe DNG Converter (using ACR) - this way, I get solid base files I can edit with whatever software I want. It's an additional step, but can be done while archiving.

M.
 
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