FunWithCameras

There is also the option of a Bluetooth remote - Sony has one, I believe (I use the cable remote)

There isn't a "manual" for that lens. Just a large piece of paper folded many times - that's normal for lenses, though. Here's a link to it if you don't still have it: https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/res/manuals/4479/dd872ea359967bb6142f930eddb0cf8f/44791220M.pdf There are two ways to use this lens in manual focus: set the camera to MF focus mode - that means all of the responsibility for focusing the lens falls on the user set the camera to DMF focus mode - that means the camera will do a single auto-focus (hopefully getting the lens close to focused), then the user can turn the focus ring to touch it up, if necessary. Many lenses have an AF/MF switch - looking at the diagrams on the instructions page, this lens does not appear to have an AF/MF switch. Here is the help guide for the A7 II: https://helpguide.sony.net/ilc/1450/v1/en/index.html and the information about choosing a focus mode: https://helpguide.sony.net/ilc/1450/v1/en/contents/TP0000386486.html

This looks like “LED banding”, although I have not seen it with orange bands before. LED lights are turning on and off fairly rapidly, and they look a constant brightness to our eyes. To the camera, however, they are flickering, and as your camera’s shutter passes down the frame, you get darker bands, just like this. First thing to try is using the mechanical shutter - that can help. The electronic shutter often shows the problem more strongly. If the mechanical shutter doesn’t fix it, you need to dig into anti-flicker and variable shutter settings. The Help guide for the A7RV is here: https://helpguide.sony.net/ilc/2230/v1/en/index.html and here is the page on anti-flicker: https://helpguide.sony.net/ilc/2230/v1/en/contents/TP0003057052.html?search=Anti-flicker - there is a link from that page to a discussion of the difference between anti-flicker and variable shutter - I recommend reading that, too. The ultimate (and very expensive!) answer is the A9 III - the global shutter eliminates banding completely. But try the anti-flicker first !!

I have always wondered: how do you get a historical building to smile? (they've already heard all the good jokes!)

I think you misunderstood what I was saying. Yes, Sony makes some camera without the switch. Those cameras are intended for particular markets. They leave the switch out so they can sell the cameras at a lower price in that market, and to discourage re-selling those cameras in other markets. A grey market camera is one not intended for the market in which is being sold by an unscrupulous vendor. That unscrupulous vendor has bought the camera at a lower price, and re-sells it at a higher price (somewhat undercutting the price of a camera intended for the region in which they are selling). A grey market camera may or may not have proper warranty support. A purchaser, particularly a price-sensitive purchaser, may buy a camera from a grey market seller unintentionally, and end up with unexpected restrictions. I don't have any older models any more - my oldest model is an A1 now. All my cameras do have the ability to switch between PAL and NTSC, but I've never used it. There is no 50i marking on mine.

There are instructions with the firmware update about what to do if the update fails. I think they specify trying taking out the battery, waiting, re-inserting it, and trying to turn it on again - check! If that fails, take it to a Sony repair place and explain what happened.

I looked it up - the camera seems to support only frame rates from 24 to 60. I don't think it supports slow motion - there's no support for 120, for example. This is the Help Guide for the camera: https://helpguide.sony.net/ilc/1450/v1/en/index.html You can see all the supported frame rates and bit rates listed on this page https://helpguide.sony.net/ilc/1450/v1/en/contents/TP0000386498.html for example. As for the missing PAL / NTSC switch - that seems to be a feature of grey market cameras, where they are made for a particular market, and locked to the format for that market. I think Sony does that so they can sell them at a lower price. Do you think the camera you have may be grey market?

HSS does not involve "pulsing" the light - it uses the tail of the light. Funnily enough, the ELC range from Elinchrom have too little tail for it to be effective, but older Elinchroms, and the DLite range work well. At least, that's what the documentation says - I have barely tried it! The Elinchrom Skyport Plus or Pro (I can never keep those straight) is able to fire Elinchrom strobes in HSS mode. The Sony version of the trigger has the contacts at the front of the shoe, and works well with all the Sony boxes I've used that have the MI shoe, including the A7RIV.

I have been using an A7RV for a fair bit of shooting (admittedly a reasonably quiet shutter), but I was pleased to return to the blessed silence of the A1 and A9 III (not just when shooting in churches, but when photographing animals and birds). I do enjoy a good spot of silent shooting. I also disable beeps on studio strobes - those can be extremely annoying, especially in groups - I had two rears up fairly high to blow out the background, and a key down middling, and fill even lower. First test shot and “bip, beep, B-BEEEP!” - I was looking for the sound off buttons immediately. and for @XKAES, I have never tried it, but I have been told that another way to keep others away is to make the sound of “breaking wind”.

I don't fully agree with you @Pieter. For example, I have had to enable a fake shutter sound when shooting in studio with a model - she was unhappy not hearing the shutter. She depends on hearing the shutter when modelling to know it's OK to change pose. Of course, the reason I had the problem was that I prefer to shoot silently 🙂 Another place where I accept noise is using mechanical shutter on the A7RV - it's not suitable for use with pure e-shutter.

Wow - that's interesting to hear. I have had troubles of my own attempting to "shoot the Moon", but I was never attempting to do it in sub-zero temperatures. I think last time was a bit over 20C. Shame the lens doesn't do what you were hoping it would.

The only one I have used (it was given to me) was a Metabones - it was a very good adapter. I gave it to the person who bought my last good EF lens. It offered autofocus and aperture control from the camera. I don't know if the cheaper adapters give you aperture setting on lenses without aperture rings - I think that may be what @cassiabob was referring to.

I have to admit that I've never owned two copies of the same lens, so I've never had the chance to do this comparison. At a guess, I'd suspect they may have been coated on different machines? I'd expect them them be as good as each other - this is a G lens, after all. If you noticed one deteriorating, send it into Sony, but I wouldn't worry about it until them.

What you are talking about is the difference between various USB-C cables. This is different - this is a mongrel cable that Sony invented which looks like a micro-USB cable, but has extra pins connected (for things completely unrelated to USB - things like shutter release (directly, not as a USB function). That's correct - it looks like a micro-USB, but there are extra pins. The easiest way to get the right cable is to order it as a Sony spare part. The same cable is used across a lot of Sony bodies, so look for it on the local spare parts site (if you go to your country's Sony site, you'll probably find a link to the spare parts site) - I don't know what it is in the OP's country.

Hot spots on the playback screen? Reflections on the screen from somewhere else?