camera/lens advice please

I liked the Sigma 600mm F8 for street photography...

I don't think I want to use the 200-600G for that. I'd like to get a few smaller long primes. Even the non-mirror primes are smaller and lighter than zooms. The Canon EF 200mm F2.8 L USM has been useful. It is smaller than the 70-2x0 F4s and the Tamron 70-180 F2.8. I kinda regret returning the Sigma 300mm F4 APO Tele Macro.

Edited by QuietOC - 30 December 2020 at 18:37

thank you Roger, Addy, 'Miranda'

These are interesting and really helpful points. Over 33 years of photography I think I've shot one landscape I'd like to keep - I'm that bad. I know the rules and how to ignore them like I do in other fields. It's just not something I've ever been very happy with shooting. To the point I actually rarely shoot them. Well, that was until this year's Covid thing happened. As a direct result of that I switched to daily walking on the beach that is a 3 min walk from my front door (phone in pocket). I started with just my current/old phone (26mm I think?) - it has just one lens. And I really enjoyed the restriction it had that I just synced to it. And shot a fair few 'seascapes' 'good enough to send to my mum' via Viber (it is like WhatsApp). Shot pretty much every day for 3 months before I realised I was almost doing a 365. In June, I replaced the phone with my RX100 (24-70) and shot daily. Mostly at the 24/28 zone. And a few at 70mm.

I'd considered swapping this out for a RX100 VI for the 24-200 but would rather put that money into a bigger camera ... hence this thread.

As for portrait way up shots. I think they should be outlawed. Really. It's not just that I don't shoot them, I don't even like looking at them. They just leave me empty. A very very personal thing - I just shoot the other way up. A couple of people from a while back know me for this aversion. I should one day force myself to shoot vertical every day for a month to see if I break down in tears or change my thoughts. I don't print anything. Ever. Not since 1999, so to me a photo (my photos) belong on a computer screen and they fit widescreen.

I do like square though as I find it interesting and challenging and nice to look at. Traditional composition 'rules' tricks often look awful on square, rule of thirds doesn't work very well. I could convert to square for a year (I did do 180 straight with RX100 all square) ... but I want to move into superwidescreen too.

One important thing I keep forgetting about the CZ 24-70 is that it is almost certainly too big (for me).

For the last 12 years I've shot with a camera between the size/shape of the Nikon D700 or D2H (D4 shaped) and the Olympus E-P1 and bigger. With a smaller lens up front. The longest lens I've had for the last decade has been 60mm (macro) or 45mm 1.8 (90mm) ... my lenses have been perhaps 1/4 the weight of my camera body. And this speaks volume to the way I like to shoot.

A7II + 28/2 fits that idea well. The 28-70 is about as big a lens as I'd like to have. 24-70 is just gonna be too big for me - it would be another expensive mistake. The little primes are my jam. With the 28-70 as starter to refresh my mojo.

Oh boy did I dither and fuss about this...
A7II Body only? Kit (28-70)? Kit (24-70)? Everything New? Everything Used? 28mm now or wait?
Landing on A7II was simple enough but where to start optically had me in a right pickle.

Earlier options were a6400 + 10-18/4 and/or 16-70/4. Which I think would be an amazing solo/dual lens set-up (if I didn't live at the beach). I wasn't brave enough to go just a6400/10-18.

Thankfully
- the a6400 is 'too expensive for me' (matching a7 II price)
- the uk-store-specific a7 II & 24-70/4 kits are out of stock everywhere (£1400)

Found a store that has this deal NEW: a7 II body at £899 + half price 50/1.8 + free SanDisk Extreme 64GB - and that swayed me from the body/28-70 (£1089) decision. I also added the 28mm f2. Looks like most of the shops have the body and kit prices as 'until end of 31-Dec (today)'.

I would have happily taken the 28-70/variable as a home studio eBay sales ads tool ... but now will use the half price 50/1.8 (and/or 28mm) for my eBay home studio shootings. The 50/1.8 isn't something I was aiming to get and not something I need but it does fit in that home lens zone for studio snaps (cannot argue with half price new!).

Follow-up additions at some point later in 2021 might be:
- Samyang AF 18/2.8
- Sony 50/macro
A nicely spaced: 18/28/50 set at 101'/75'/47' field of view. 28/2 as the main solo walkabout. 18 to get me super wide (on non-windy/salty days). 50 for macro. Plan is to see Q1 and maybe Q2 with just the 28/2.

My starter kit - a bargain entry/return to full-frame:
- a7 II
- 28/2
- 50/1.8

I've shot/enjoyed m43 since the E-P1 launch in 2009 until this year, and my only time with full-frame digital was the Nikon D700 from 2008-2010 I think. Love the fact Sony keep the older models available new (and have those gateway optics too). And that they play nice with Samyang and Tamron and Voigltander ... cool times ahead!

THANK YOU again for giving me a place to type about this

dCap wrote: Oh boy did I dither and fuss about this... A7II Body only? Kit (28-70)? Kit (24-70)? Everything New? Everything Used? 28mm now or wait? Landing on A7II was simple enough but where to start optically had me in a right pickle. Earlier options were a6400 + 10-18/4 and/or 16-70/4. Which I think would be an amazing solo/dual lens set-up (if I didn't live at the beach). I wasn't brave enough to go just a6400/10-18.

I don't consider the A6000 a sensible use of money for me (nor the RX100 range either, given how good older non-Sony alternatives are), and for APS-C I'm happy with the Nex-6. No IBIS but I have three OSS lenses and can take dusk pics and waterfalls down to 1/13 with MF primes.

I do think the A7-II is the sweet spot for me, with a large central EVF, IBIS, and PDAF even with my A-mount lenses via LA-EA1-4. With a few new FE AF primes and the various adapted ones (including classic Zeiss MF lenses) I figure I won't be using zooms that much, and the E55-210 OSS will do fine for tele stuff.
Incidentally, most of the DT SAM primes will manage most of the FF frame so I don't need to drop down to 10Mp when I use them. I have used them before on the A900 and film (the Dynax 5 and 60 even drive SAM lenses). The 30mm macro doesn't lose the corners completely though they are darker.

Edited by Miranda F - 01 January 2021 at 14:08

Got a notification of expected delivery hour this morning.
Delivery right on time too.
Fella took a photo of me (well, my feet) and the parcel on my open door step (the new 'signature' required).

Since it has overnighted in some pretty flippin' cold weather I do what I tend to do for mid-winter delivery ... outer box opened, camera/lens boxed checked, items remain unpacked until tomorrow when they've gradually returned to room temps.

All NEW:
Black Box - A7 II (body only)
Orange Box (too late to enter the Orange contest! - 28/2 and the half price 50/1.8

Cannot remember the dates, but camera and one lens were Oct/Nov 2020. The other lens was late 2019. I like that Sony do that (to the box at least). Fujifilm 'hide' the manufacture year/month in the serial number. Wish everyone did that.

Might grab a $20 close-up filter and pretend my 50 is a macro until I'm ready to get the actual 50/2.8 macro later in the year.

(and back to lockdown) ... kitchen photography yey!

Well, I’ve decided what I’m going to do. I’ve had a lot of fun with the A58 over the years but since getting the Nex-6 I’ve hardly touched it (the A58). But since I tried the first A7 at a Sony day I’ve thought about getting one, and now Sony differentiate their cameras by feature set rather than the quality of the parts they fit, I can now find a new FF model with decent AF, central EVF, IBIS and a magnesium frame at an affordable price.

Also, since giving up my half-hearted attempts at birding I hardly ever take the longer zooms out of the cupboard except to blow the dust off, smile, and put them back, and most of my pictures now are taken with wide-angle primes (12mm and 16mm APS-C).

I did hanker after a really good fast medium zoom, but their size, weight, and price deter me and as I don't shoot studio portraits, I’m not a pro, and my time is not money, I’ve given that idea up. The plan was to get the A7M2 with the 28-70mm variable zoom that they’re almost giving away, and buy the 18mm and 24mm Samyang AF primes as my main lenses.

But … I wondered what the point was in buying a new camera that is six years old when the following model (A7iii) is also being replaced this year with the A7iv. Since I’m interested in low light performance and the A7iii seems to be one of the best out there, I’m going to get that instead, and concentrate on primes. I have plenty of older MF primes in various mounts anyway, so these should work well with it, at their original AOV.

I also plan to carry on using APS-C lenses (E and A-mount) where convenient as these fill in the fast prime gaps. Which brings me to another point: I have previously criticised the camera manufacturers and photo press for giving the ‘FF equivalent’ focal lengths freely but never converting the apertures too, but I’ve now decided they’re right!

If you stick an APS-C lens on an FF camera the image is cropped, either as you take the picture or else afterwards. Sure, I’ve heard all the shtick about the reduction in light- gathering power and the increase in DOF, but I’m rarely concerned about either of those. The fact is, that a 35mm f1.8 DT APS-C lens gives roughly the same angle of view as a 50mm f1.8 FF lens and it also needs exactly the same shutter speed fully open, which is my main requirement for a fast lens. I think that most of the discussions about equivalence never really moved on from film portraiture.

So the A-mount SAM lenses (30, 35, 50, 85mm) are likely to be quite useful on the LA-EA1 or 3 when I want an f1.8-f2.8 prime, and I have several MF primes I can use on dumb adapters too. The little PK-mount Miranda 50mm F2 lens is not that long even on an LA-EA3, and I have some classic Zeiss primes too for when I feel nostalgic.

Rather disappointing the LA-EA5 doesn't AF with screw-drive lenses on most of the A7 range, but I’ll try taking the baffles out of the LA-EA1 and see how that does before trading in the LA-EA2 for a 3 or 4.