New to Sony - A7R

[pfogle]

Hi, I've just bought an A7R body, and ordered an EOS -> E mount auto adapter from fotodiox.

 

I've worked in photography since the seventies, though I've only recently done paid work on digital. I've been using Canon 5D II mainly, after my old 5D fell apart (I superglued the mirror back in to finish one job!)

 

Recently I bought a Fuji kit for more casual stuff, but I'm finding it has replaced the Canon for everything that doesn't require lots of pixels. The images seem as sharp as the Canon...

 

...which led me to conclude that the 5D II isn't that great for detail. I just did some product (brass band instruments!) and the Canon images really needed a lot of enhancement to look good. Hence the A7R. For the price (I paid about $1200, mint used) it's a no brainer for a FF sensor.

 

I have to do a bunch of digitization (documents and slides) over the next couple of months. I've got a Sigma 70mm macro for EOS, and I'm thinking the A7R should be ideal for that. If it works out, I'll ditch the Canon (I've really only held onto it because Fuji don't have either the pixel count I want or a 1-1 macro lens, and I love the Sigma 70mm). My other lenses (all through the adapter) will be a Tamron 90mm f2.5 macro and a Nikkor 85mm f2. I should be OK for product and portraits with those.

 

So I guess I'm just saying hello, and if anyone has any tips or tricks I should know about, please jump in. I won't have specific questions until I get the camera working!

 

cheers

Phil

[Sanddan4u]

How is it going with the a7r so far?

 

I just bought one in 9/10 used condition from B&H to pair with my a6000. It is hard to find recent posts on the a7r here, it seems, as the a7rii is the hot body right now.

 

At any rate, I just converted from a Canon 6D setup and I am definitely excited about the move to Sony. I enjoyed my two years with the 6D, but I wanted a lighter setup. Lugging a 6D/S50A around with two toddlers in tow got to be pretty impractical. Also, like you, I am looking forward to milking a ton of detail out of the a7r sensor.

 

Trip to Valley of Fire next week will be a great test!

[addicted2light]

I did the same change, from Canon 5D mk II to the A7r (actually to the Nex 7 first - that in my book was already better than the Canon given the abysmal dynamic range of the 5D mkII when shooting landscapes - and then finally to the A7r). The resolution of the A7r is staggering, but you will note it mostly the first time you'll need to crop to death a picture, and left anyway with a 20Mp file!

 

IMHO Canon sensors (in 2015) can't hold a candle to Sony ones, not just in terms of resolution. 

 

But I've had recently occasion to try a Fuji X-T10, and in the meantime I bought a small Olympus E-M10 for casual travels, and both require a ton less post processing than my Sony cameras to get the color just where I want it. And the Fuji files, that I always though were mushy as hell, with the proper sharpening technique become "alive" and seriously tack sharp. I'm resisting the temptation to buy into their system for a "fun / free time" camera.

 

For black and white work, though, the Sony is simply drop dead gorgeous, especially mated with the right legacy glass (lower contrast = longer gray tonality scale).

 

Basically with Fuji and Olympus I rarely have to spend more than 10 seconds (using my own Lightroom presets) on each image, while with Sony ones I need at least a couple minutes for each, and this also using my own presets "tailored to my taste (it this makes sense)" for the A7r sensor.

 

I love the A7r, but should Sony start to deliver the same colors of Olympus on some new camera I'll ditch the A7r faster than I can say "ebay"

[WeaselX100]

...

Basically with Fuji and Olympus I rarely have to spend more than 10 seconds (using my own Lightroom presets) on each image, while with Sony ones I need at least a couple minutes for each, and this also using my own presets "tailored to my taste (it this makes sense)" for the A7r sensor.

...

 

I make the same experience: in addition to my Fuji-cameras I bought a A7R - and now having problems to adapt my workflow in Lightroom.

Did you make any progress - can you share your standard settings for RAW files?

 

My impression so far is that SONY dampens the highlights, they are some kind of fafing out, while Fuji is just cutting off. Therefore I try to underexpose a little bit with the Zebra-Option of the A7R.

[addicted2light]

I make the same experience: in addition to my Fuji-cameras I bought a A7R - and now having problems to adapt my workflow in Lightroom.

Did you make any progress - can you share your standard settings for RAW files?

 

My impression so far is that SONY dampens the highlights, they are some kind of fafing out, while Fuji is just cutting off. Therefore I try to underexpose a little bit with the Zebra-Option of the A7R.

 

 

I have made several presets for the A7r, and basically all of them involve quite a bit of curve crushing to compress the dynamic range of the sensor (using the "arrows" at the base of the curves, meaning setting black and white tones) and changing the colors in the camera calibration panel. Basically is the same we used to do in the darkroom: you have to mate the dynamic range of the scene to the dynamic range of the film / sensor. If the scene is (relatively to the dynamic range of the sensor) low contrast you will have to stretch that dynamic range in order to have a full range of tones. Besides, nowadays given my style I've mostly stopped exposing to the right and I went back to my old slide film habit of exposing for the highlights and the rest of the frame be damned and covered with crushed blacks

 

Still, these presets are very image-specific, meaning they have to be "massaged" quite a bit and they each suits different kind of images.

 

That said, these days I'm having exponentially better results using the LUTs adjustment layers in Photoshop.

 

Layer > New adjustment layer > Color lookup... > 3DLutfile

 

It takes a bit more time (say 4-5 minutes for each image) to find the right combination, but the results are well worthy of the trouble. I don't know if it's me or the software, but I find that often when I process the same image in Photoshop instead of Lightroom the image stays more "transparent" (for lack of a better term), with a less processed / more natural look.

[WeaselX100]

Besides, nowadays given my style I've mostly stopped exposing to the right and I went back to my old slide film habit of exposing for the highlights and the rest of the frame be damned and covered with crushed blacks

 

yep, I've seen your images and your interesting style, your pictures are kind of having much more contrast and are artistic... (and I guess mine are boring normal...)

 

Thanks for the quick reply.

 

I still try to expose to the right. In my eyes, Sony seems to require to push darks and lights and black and white much stronger than Fuji does. 

[addicted2light]

yep, I've seen your images and your interesting style, your pictures are kind of having much more contrast and are artistic... (and I guess mine are boring normal...)

 

Thanks for the quick reply.

 

I still try to expose to the right. In my eyes, Sony seems to require to push darks and lights and black and white much stronger than Fuji does. 

 

 

It's not your impression. Fuji sensors (and almost any other on the market, for that matter) have less dynamic range than Sony ones. This means, in film-speak, that they are inherently more contrasty right from the start, because if a sensor has just 9 stops of dynamic range and the scene has 8 you will have to push blacks and whites just slightly.

 

But if you capture the same 8 stops scene with a Sony sensor and its almost 14 stops you will have much more "wiggle room" at both extremities (or just one, depending on the way you expose).

 

P.s. thanks for the "artistic", I like to think that has more to do with years of shooting Velvia with blocked shadows in poor lighting conditions

[Trad]

Mmm, interesting I just got politely ignored over at FredMiranda on a post getting into exposure.

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1409849

I think my last post was a bit offbeat for them, I cross posted an interesting interview from over at Dpreview.

Still, the earlier discussions on exposure (Shadow vs Highlight recovery) might interest you guys, just ignore my bits.

[WeaselX100]

Mmm, interesting I just got politely ignored over at FredMiranda on a post getting into exposure.

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1409849

I think my last post was a bit offbeat for them, I cross posted an interesting interview from over at Dpreview.

Still, the earlier discussions on exposure (Shadow vs Highlight recovery) might interest you guys, just ignore my bits.

 

 

Thanks for the link, interesting discussion. You are not ignored here...