I've done it...

Bought my A7III in June 2020, the A7IV in July 2022.
I'm just an amateur and have earned a whopping €250 in only 40 years of photography.

But, as long as my partner possesses 3 vintage cars and a daily driver and I own only my daily driver, I think I'm not overexpending .

And already couple days ago I got the delivery of new Viltrox 28 mm F4.5 pancake lens, so my reasonably long spell of resisting getting any new lenses is officially over. Initial impression is reasonably positive, but I haven't yet used the lens that much, so I need to use it little more before I give a definite verdict.

Black Friday deals are not hot in Poland. First shops rise the prices and then on BF day they put them again where they were before... So I have looked at used gear and here it is: Sony 100 STF :)
I will have to perform much more testing to see if it was worth the money, but bought used at 70% retail value in great condition, I think it is plenty fine :)
One thing that bothers me a bit is that the focusing is split between two different ranges and there is no option to turn on all of focusing range at once. You are forced to select close range or 1m + even when focusing manually. Strange solution...

I picked up another Minolta 7 making the 3rd one I've got. My original one and the 7 Limited I bought a few years ago both developed the aperture issue and are not usable. I hope this 3rd camera will work for a long time to come.

LAbernethy wrote: ... Out of curiosity, Why aren't you lusting after the Sony FE 28-70mm F2 GM?

A host of reasons.
1. It's too big and heavy for my common use-cases. I wouldn't take it as a travel lens, I don't need f2 for my landscape uses. It might be good for videography but the 24-50mm f2.8 is a much lighter and compact option.
2. It takes an 86mm filter. I've filter sets for 77mm, 67mm, 58mm and 52mm. I don't want to buy more filters especially when 86mm filters are on the expensive side. For videography I'd need ND filters to maintain shutter speeds of say 1/50 to 1/200sec.
3. It costs nearly $NZ 6000. That's way out of my budget!!

Edited by Wētāpunga - 06 December 2024 at 08:32

Wētāpunga wrote: LAbernethy wrote: ... Out of curiosity, Why aren't you lusting after the Sony FE 28-70mm F2 GM? A host of reasons. 1. It's too big and heavy for my common use-cases. I wouldn't take it as a travel lens, I don't need f2 for my landscape uses. It might be good for videography but the 24-50mm f2.8 is a much lighter and compact option. 2. It takes an 86mm filter. I've filter sets for 77mm, 67mm, 58mm and 52mm. I don't want to buy more filters especially when 86mm filters are on the expensive side. For videography I'd need ND filters to maintain shutter speeds of say 1/50 to 1/200sec. 3. It costs nearly $NZ 6000. That's way out of my budget!!

I don't really understand the hype either.
First, the range is uninspiring. I find 24/28-70 lenses useful at times, but hardly a mainstay of my photography. The 20-70/4G is much more compelling.
Second, like mentioned, it is huge compared to my Sigma 28-70/2.8 DG DN - that one is small and fits in my bag just in case I need it.
Thirdly, people say it is a bunch of primes - it is not. Primes have a fixed focallength and that (one) challenges my creativity and (second) is easier when I don't have to think about the focallength. Don't get me wrong, I use zooms when appropriate, but primes are more fun!
Lastly, f/2.0 is no f/1.4 or even f/1.8.

But then, I will be tempted when I find one for a good price because this and the Canon are engineering marvels.

No BF-deal, but a nice buy at our Dutch Marktplaats: a Viltrox 16mm f1,8 AF lens.

Will sell my 14, 18 and 35mm f2,8 Samyangs because even for me it is to much

Edited by Harm vb - 08 December 2024 at 16:22