[Hands-on] SONY A7 - A Breath of Fresh Air this way comes!

[photo-orama]

Your Nikon uses a Sony sensor.

True true, but it says Nikon next to it ... sorry, I couldn't resist, its a silly part of the discussion, at a time of eagerly awaiting the new camera.. if the A7 proves to be a good camera (and every early indication suggests so), and one can use range finder lenses on it, I am sure my Nikon cameras will not be offended and they would welcome it in the dry box

 

[Dream Merchant]

Perhaps my last instalment in this MINI review. Some re-done ISO tests, and parting shots ...

LangLee, you've gotta look at the conditions under which I shot. I also wanted to keep colours more neutral. Saturated or even over-saturated colours can be easily achieved by various means. I will be showing some more photos with subdued lighting and colours.

Thanks for contributing, Thoth!


OK, let's quickly do the new ISO tests with various parameters.

NR was set at OFF, LOW and NORMAL. Processed as usual with downsizing, no curves, with contrast and high-pass. All photos were NOT taken with a tripod, so expect some blurring especially at ISO 800. Close crops are much closer for you to look at. Different settings stated on the photos. Think that pretty much covers it.

File Reference at ISO 800

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[Dream Merchant]

 

[Dream Merchant]

800 Normal, 3200 Normal slight shake.​

 

[Royaux]

Managed to get some hands on with it today, definitely going on my wanted list

 

[Dream Merchant]

OK, let's do a ISO 3200 comparison

Lst shot I think there was some shaking.​

 

[Dream Merchant]

Let's pull back ... to get a better perspective ...I seriously doubt if many would be using ISO 25600, but looking at the overall scene, and these have pretty much got to include some demanding high ISO tests - tungsten light and loads of darkness with light pollution, I think it's a matter of what the output needs are, and end-viewer noise tolerance.

How ever, if you need to go that high, one possible technique is to switch off in cam NR, keep sharpness settings at neutral, and over sharpen in post then use a separate program to selectively reduce noise in the different channels.

 

[kei1309]

Thank you for your review!!

Any images from the A7R?

 

[Dream Merchant]

You're welcome!

No, no A7R camera.

From what I was told, that there were only two or three sets of each released for media, I must say I'm very fortunate to have tested the A7 quite quickly!

Even though the camera was handed back, I still have a few more images to share. Let me get it sorted out first.

 

[ricleo]

thank you very much!

the high ISO, NR off/low/normal images are very insightful. Looks like first thing to do when getting a A7 or A7R is to lower the NR reduction to low or off. I prefer the look of the off

You're welcome!

No, no A7R camera.

From what I was told, that there were only two or three sets of each released for media, I must say I'm very fortunate to have tested the A7 quite quickly!

Even though the camera was handed back, I still have a few more images to share. Let me get it sorted out first.

 

[Thoth]

thank you very much!

the high ISO, NR off/low/normal images are very insightful. Looks like first thing to do when getting a A7 or A7R is to lower the NR reduction to low or off. I prefer the look of the off

I think set to low is quite ok. The sharpness still maintain when NR maintains at "low".

 

[sabrewolf]

At 25600 NR LOW the overall scene is pretty good. Good noise removal of the night sky. At NR NORMAL it started to go into watercolor territory.

 

[Thoth]

At 25600 NR LOW the overall scene is pretty good. Good noise removal of the night sky. At NR NORMAL it started to go into watercolor territory.

Haha. Ain't gonna crash into tat kinda high iso zone.

 

[ricleo]

I think set to low is quite ok. The sharpness still maintain when NR maintains at "low".

ya low is quite good and reduces work to be done in post processing of jpeg.

 

[Thoth]

ya low is quite good and reduces work to be done in post processing of jpeg.

U getting the FE35 or FE55? Or just use the existing lenses U haf and MF all d way?

 

[ricleo]

U getting the FE35 or FE55? Or just use the existing lenses U haf and MF all d way?

ha i am gonna MF all the way until sony comes out with FE 1.4 and 1.2 lenses. 35 i am quite comfortable with MF using the 1.4. may explore the cv 1.2 II as well after being tempted at the sony hands on session.

of course by FE i mean native mount and not A mount coverted to E which loses the size advantage

i tried the 55 1.8 and wasn't too impressed with the DOF control available at the price of >1k. man... 50mm F1.8 is basic cheap prime territory and sony can ask so much for it.

 

[Thoth]

ha i am gonna MF all the way until sony comes out with FE 1.4 and 1.2 lenses. 35 i am quite comfortable with MF using the 1.4. may explore the cv 1.2 II as well after being tempted at the sony hands on session.

of course by FE i mean native mount and not A mount coverted to E which loses the size advantage

i tried the 55 1.8 and wasn't too impressed with the DOF control available at the price of >1k. man... 50mm F1.8 is basic cheap prime territory and sony can ask so much for it.

Yeah, the 55/1.8 is pretty pricey but with the comfort of AF for lazy shooting. I will start wif my CY Zeiss 50/1.7 and see how it goes on the A7. My alternative 35mm lens will be CV 35/1.7 Ultron LTM mount. Both display visible CA on highlighted edges of the subject though, need to PP via LR to remove it. Let's see if Sigma comes out wif an astounding good 35mm f/1.4 or 50mm f/1.4 lens to challenge the Zeiss. Must say they r producing very good lenses these days.

 

[Dream Merchant]

For the final installation, here is a visit to the Loyang Tua Peh Kong Temple, a very spacious and interesting temple with multiple religions such as Buddhist, Hindu and Taoist deities and a Muslim Kramat (shrine) within its premises.

In the 1980s a group of fishing buddies, including Paul Tan and Huang Zhong Ting, stumbled across Buddhist, Hindu and Taoist statues strewn across the beach at the end of the Loyang Industrial Area. They built a small hut made of bricks and zinc sheets to house the figurines. This humble construction served as a makeshift temple. It also included a Kramat to honour a holy Muslim man. It is believed that a sign was received by some people to build the holy kramat here. Soon, scores of people, mainly those working in the Loyang Industrial Area, were visiting the temple. Miraculous powers were attributed to the temple as devotees claimed that their prayers for prosperity and wealth were never denied. ~ http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_352_2004-12-27.html

Lighting conditions were, as you might guess, very varied with different light sources, and frankly some lights left a really strange cast, and areas of great darkness, bright lights and also greyish areas with large areas being flooded with dim-ish cold fluorescent. I set the camera to AWB, Auto and my AF was generally varied spot Medium or Small Area AF.

Slight user error focusing. Apologies.

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[Dream Merchant]

 

[Dream Merchant]