Upgrade Advice

[eriksalpha55]

Hey all..

 

Was wondering if anyone wants to give me their 2 cents on upgrading from an a55 to an a77ii or an a7.

 

First, I'm aware the a7's are full frame.  That's pretty much the reason I'd skip the a99 altogether.  I figured if I'm going to go full frame, then might as well get what Sony seems to be concentrating on right now.  

 

Also, anyone know the MAJOR differences between all the a7 bodies?  It's a little confusing (besides price) between the a7, a7r, a7s, a7rii, etc etc..

 

Will I still be able to use the lenses that I use with my a55 with an a7 camera?  

 

Thanks in advance.

[Guest Jaf-Photo]

It depends on what you want to achieve by upgrading and how much you want to spend. It also depends on what lenses you have currently. The A55 is quite a capable camera, despite its age. Your purpose for upgrading could typically be better image quality or more advanced AF. But that normally means upgrading the lenses too, so it could be quite expensive.

[Username]

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You have pretty good outfit, not knowing your particular 

lenses on hand. If none of your important lenses are FF, 

you're pretty much at a dead end. Keep using what you

have if it's doing the job and realize that your next move 

is really to a complete sea change. IOW, "upgrade" isn't 

quite an accurate term here. 

   

If I were looking for some possible route to an actual up- 

grade without a full sea change, if I had your kit with only 

APSC lenses, none of which have OSS, I'd consider the 

a6500 and an LAEA4. Unfortunately, this will cost almost 

$2000 and you won't experience any improvement in AF 

cuz the LAEA4 simply attaches the a68/a77-II SLT AF to 

the front of the a6500. You'd be upgrading your IQ a bit, 

and you might appreciate the silent shutter, faster frame  

rate, and ability to adapt a variety of lenses. But price of 

admission is pretty stiff, and the kit described here is not 

what most users consider up-to-date, what with still using 

the old SLT AF unit on a body with much greater potential 

thaz just going to waste.  

   

Maybe someone went for the sea change and maybe it 

results in a clean used a77 or a77-II becoming available. 

Now that would be an decent upgrade for a decent price. 

And a true dead end .... nowhere to go from there but to

a completely new regime [sony OR otherwise]. 

[eriksalpha55]

Thanks for the responses.

 

The lenses I have are:

Minolta 50mm 

Minolta 70-200mm 

Sigma 10-20

 

That's it. I think I may sell it all and start over.  I feel like the E-mount is the direction Sony is headed.  There's just not a huge choice of A-Mount lenses.  I started to buy some great Minolta lenses on eBay that are really good quality for the money.  

 

I may start with an a7 and go from there.

[Guest Jaf-Photo]

Like I said, think it through. The A7 is a terrible camera by current standards.

[eriksalpha55]

Like I said, think it through. The A7 is a terrible camera by current standards.

 

Really?  That's not what I'm hearing (or reading).  To be more specific it's the a7ii.  The rii is way too much for what I want to spend right now.  

 

If you don't mind me asking... what do you use?  

[Guest Jaf-Photo]

Your post said A7 not A7II. The A7II has some improvements but the autofocus is still poor by current standards.

 

If money is a concern, I would not recommend going into Sony A7-series. The good FE gear is really expensive and the bad gear is still pretty expensive.

 

I use A-mount full frame and E-mount APS-C with native Sony/G/Zeiss lenses for both. A-mount is for serious shooting and E-mount for casual shooting. That's the best price/size/performance option in my opinion.

 

In your case, I would recommend looking at an APS-C camera like A6x00 instead. You'll get a lot more gear for your money that way. Most people can't tell the difference between full frame and crop sensor anyway. Alternatively, if money matters, you could upgrade with second hand A-mount gear, which is still the best bargain in cameras.

[eriksalpha55]

Im totally confused.  I thought the a7 (and a9) series were professional, or "serious" as you put it, cameras.  They're E-mount aren't they? Im NOT talking about NEX or any a5100 or a6000 series cameras.

 

I know there's FE which is what you would want for Full Frame shooting.  Again, I like the A Mounts but there's just a lack of lenses..  It seems there's way more FE mount lenses for the a7 series cameras.  

[holmes4]

The A7ii is a fine camera, though newer ones are better. Two years ago it was considered one of the best anywhere.

 

The A7R line is higher resolution (42MP in the R2 and R3)

The A7S is lower resolution but much higher sensitivity (larger pixels), for low light photography

The A9 is for very fast shooting

[Guest Jaf-Photo]

What's in a name? No, I don't consider the lower A7 cameras to be "professional". By that I mean that they are not generally suited to most professionals.

 

In reality, most sony FE gear is aimed at amateurs with a lot of cash to spare. It's only the really pricy gear like A9, A7RIII and G Master lenses that's designed for pros.

 

Before you commit and start spending money, you should do proper research. Buying a camera because some dude on the internet says It's "professional" is totally wrong.

 

I know this is a Sony forum but what a lot of smart people do these days is buy an intermediate Nikon or Canon DSLR with the Sigma 18-35/1.8 and 50-100/1.8. That lets you shoot almost anything and you'll probably just need to add a prime in your favourite focal length.

 

Likewise, if you go for the A6000 you'll also get a normal zoom, a Tele zoom and a prime for about $1200 total. That will allow you to shoot almost anything too.

 

Personally, I use A99II for serious work and I would never give it up for any A7 camera.

 

Im totally confused. I thought the a7 (and a9) series were professional, or "serious" as you put it, cameras. They're E-mount aren't they? Im NOT talking about NEX or any a5100 or a6000 series cameras.

 

I know there's FE which is what you would want for Full Frame shooting. Again, I like the A Mounts but there's just a lack of lenses.. It seems there's way more FE mount lenses for the a7 series cameras.

 

[Username]

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While Sony gear is definitely overpriced, at least for 

impatient types, and those who "need" state-of-art   

bragging rites, it IS very definitely the coolest stuff 

around for general purpose users, especially BBAF 

users cuz we don't need benefit of nanosecond AF  

speeds. Not only am I patient about AF speed, but 

also patient about gear purchasing. I just ordered 

an extra a7-II at the new "close out" price, which is 

the same price I paid for my low milage used a7-II  

a coupla years ago. The a7-III will arrive soon but I 

have no need of "a9 AF" and I have plenty of those 

little snack-sized batteries, so 2 years of progress 

added to my a7-II is worth about zilch to me, plus I  

would hafta buy some newer type batteries.  

  

The a7-II is prolly the best $1100 camera avaialble 

if you can be patient about getting bargains on your 

lenses, and resist pixel peeping or reading lab tests. 

[Guest Jaf-Photo]

This is just confirmation bias.

 

It's not about just the camera but the whole system. Adapted Minolta lenses won't cut it. So, you need to think about what zooms and primes to get. To replace the Minolta lenses with the cheapest and worst native Sony FE lenses would cost around $2000. So, the system cost would be around $3200. That's for a system with slow autofocus and low optical quality.

 

It is possible to buy much better systems for less than $3200, as long as you don't get locked into the idea that it has to be Sony full frame mirrorless.

 

For instance, the OP can get a used A77II with 16-50/2.8 for $800. The Minolta Tele can be replaced with a used 70-300G for $400. The Minolta 50 and Sigma 10-20 can be kept. That's a smokin' system for only $1200.