[Michelek]

Unfortunately, lack of touchscreen is objective. This is my main claim. The second is fixed EVF. I enjoyed touchscreen and tilted EVF with NEX-5n, they did my focusing faster

That explains a lot...
Yes, a lack of touchscreen is annoying - I don't know why Sony never puts them together, an EVF and a touchscreen. I had a Panasonic G5 with both this features and it was a perfect combo.

Kiddies, don't try this at home ...

The Ultra Wide and Fish Eye adapters "kinda sorta" work with the SEL35F28Z lens, with acceptable results.

Thanks a lot Christine for sharing these photos! Are they full-res or did you crop anything? If you didn't, I'll start to regret selling my wideangle adapter ;-)

I started testing the A7 with some non-FF lenses and adapters. The first part of the test can be found on my blog

For a teaser - a comparison of a pictures taken with the Minolta AF 2.8/135mm taken in a FF mode (and cropped to eliminate the vignette) and one taken in a crop mode:

FF mode (cropped)


Crop mode:


As you can see, there is some field of view to gain :-)

[Christine Tham]

Thanks a lot Christine for sharing these photos! Are they full-res or did you crop anything? If you didn't, I'll start to regret selling my wideangle adapter ;-)

Straight out of the camera!

I was pretty impressed - very good edge to edge sharpness as you can see in the photos. Slight vignetting - but that was already there with the native lens, and should be fixed once Adobe releases an official lens profile for the lens.

[hinman]

@Christine, you are a life saver in showing the wide angle adapter. I bought it based on your recommendation. I never look back and it is mounted almost permanently in my 16mm as a dual with 12mm and 16mm for aps-c. Now I can't believe what you have posted with the 35mm.

@Michele, thanks for posting all those LA-EA2 shots in both FF and crop mode. I find them very useful and a great encouragement to see a slight crop has a bigger view than the auto crop result. I just have my LA-EA4 today. I first A mount AF lens is Sigma Super-Wide 24mm f/2.8. The lens is a great lens but the AF is really loud but I think I will get used to it. The fun thing is that I can mount the LA-EA4 on nex 5n and get the A mount to work in aps-c mode. The AF is quite fast with the LA-EA4. Disclaimer -- I come from the Pentax world and have been brain washed by what is fast and slow in AF.

Seeing great results from my Sigma 30mm used in FF mode in my A7 and seeing a lot of similar findings from people using Sigma 60mm, it is very tempting especially all the good AF with Sigma in Sony. Check this portrait with Sigma 60mm f/2.8 -- PhotoCine News

I have an inexpensive Minolta 50mm f/1.7 AF coming, I will report how it works out with the LA-EA4. The Sigma super-wide works well and no hunting with LA-EA4 for indoor but it does have noisy AF noise.

Cheers,
Hin

[hinman]

A7 + Leica 35mm Summilux = PURE JOY!
Flickr

You have very beautiful photos. I don't know when I will save up enough to try one of those Leica lens -- contagiously beautiful.

Cheers,
Hin

[Parry]

You have very beautiful photos. I don't know when I will save up enough to try one of those Leica lens -- contagiously beautiful.

Cheers,
Hin

I live in perpetual terror of Leica and know one day I'll have a funny five minutes and blow through £20k in an afternoon and end up not regretting it.

Such is life.

[hinman]

I live in perpetual terror of Leica and know one day I'll have a funny five minutes and blow through £20k in an afternoon and end up not regretting it.

Such is life.

I overspend on inexpensive lens. I just found this cute Schneider-Kreuznach Xenar 45mm f2.8 DKL and I have a DKL to M42, then a M42 to Konica AR and then an AR to NEX adapter setup. If the lens turns out to be good, I will get the DKL to NEX adapter. Life is complicated when you don't have money for the Leica and that I want to share the lens usage with K-5.









And it is really a cute 45mm pancake f/2.8 on K-5




It works better in the A7 with focus peaking. In K-5, I can't get the red dot confirmation easily, will need more shooting before I can find a picture worthy to post. The lens cost $40 and you probably can get it cheaper if you can find the Kodak Retina body.

I learned bout these inexpensive lenses from http://oldlenses.blogspot.com/2012/06/schneider-kreuznach-xenar-45mm-f28-dkl.html

Cheers,
Hin

[Christine Tham]

For those of you who want to try Leica lenses but don't want to spend thousands of dollars, there are lots of bargain Leica lenses which cost less than $500.

The trick is - avoid the coveted items like Summilux and Summicron.

Search around keh.com and you can find lots of really great lenses for as cheap as $200

Suggestions - Elmar 50 2.8, Elmarit 90 2.8, older Summicron 50mm (collapsible, or with "eyes"), Summaron 35

Cheapest "real" Summicron is the 40mm - often called M-Rokkor.

All these lenses will deliver the famed "Leica" quality - incredible sharpness, fantastic bokeh, lovely colours and lots of contrast - except you are either compromising on aperture, looks, or size/weight.

Buy one and experiment with it.

Disregard anything Ken Rockwell says - I have found his opinions misleading and often don't agree with my personal observations.

Also disregard anything Luminous Landscape says - I also don't trust their opinions.

[Parry]

I managed to find an as new CZJ DDR Electric 50 f/1.8 and CZJ DDR 135 f/3.5 pretty cheap. I've seen what the CZJ 50mm can do on the A7r and it's nuts! My Jupiter 11A was a baddun', Helios 44M-4 is mint and a few others.

The old glass make the most interesting arty pics in my opinion. Can also be as sharp as new stuff but with far more character.

I will one day own a Noctilux. One day.

[LFLee]

The look of A7 starts to grow on me.... the handle and shutter button area doesn't look comfortable though.

[Emacs]

end up not regretting it.

Sure, I'm not

[Parry]

Sure, I'm not

"But would would it make me a better photographer?"

(That's what they usually say).

[Emacs]

"But would would it make me a better photographer?"

(That's what they usually say).

Who cares? Toys! Toyeeeeesss!

[Parry]

Who cares? Toys! Toyeeeeesss!

You've been at the Vodka again!

I've got the hump this afternoon. Swedish geezer just walks through the door, wants to borrow 30,000 Baht. Now usually I'm a generous bloke, but this is a 46 year old man who should know better out here in Thailand to get stuck here with nothing.

These people. They never pay it back. I must have loaned the equivalent of an M Typ 240 with Noctilux and five other Leica primes by now, I'm not a bank.

[hinman]

The look of A7 starts to grow on me.... the handle and shutter button area doesn't look comfortable though.

with FE 35mm f/2.8 ZA and A7 in jpg, no editing


Here is a top level view of the camera



The handle is quite comfortable for me. With a small prime and its kit lens, it is no problem. I have not tried a heavier lens.

The shutter location turns off quite a few people. I feel very uncomfortable at first as the I need to pull back my index finger to hit the shutter. My preferred location is right on the front wheel. Both the C1 and shutter are in the back and it will take some time to get used to. The other things that I don't like is the position of the MENU rubber button, it is clamped into an odd position. All the wheels have a good feel but not the C1/C2 and menu rubber buttons. It is not a biggie but those will add up for users with high expectations.

The overall design is good but it can be outstanding with few changes. The best part of the A7 or A7r is the compact size and its big sensor, it is very much like a nex 7 with addition of the hump that some people don't like. FF mirrorless with interchangeable lenses in a small body is a reality in A7/A7r and it is a powerhouse especially for manual focusing. I know that Emacs doesn't like it for various reasons but the viewfinder is the best of breed and when I view images in replay in the EVF, it is like watching a 3D movie vividly. When I press C1 to zoom in for manual focusing, the clarity of the magnified view make me feel like a young man with good eyesight -- it is the key thing why I think it is a powerhouse for manual focus. With the DMF which is AF with a twist with MF assist that allow you to overwrite AF location with fine adjustment, the Sony continue the greatness in AF/MF hybrid type of shooting, very ideal for combination of street shooting and macro. The Eye AF is something that I have not tried and I think it will help with portrait.

All in all, I am quite happy with A7 with some quirks to work out as a new user.

Cheers,
Hin

[hinman]

For those of you who want to try Leica lenses but don't want to spend thousands of dollars, there are lots of bargain Leica lenses which cost less than $500.

The trick is - avoid the coveted items like Summilux and Summicron.

Search around keh.com and you can find lots of really great lenses for as cheap as $200

Suggestions - Elmar 50 2.8, Elmarit 90 2.8, older Summicron 50mm (collapsible, or with "eyes"), Summaron 35

Cheapest "real" Summicron is the 40mm - often called M-Rokkor.

All these lenses will deliver the famed "Leica" quality - incredible sharpness, fantastic bokeh, lovely colours and lots of contrast - except you are either compromising on aperture, looks, or size/weight.

Buy one and experiment with it.

Disregard anything Ken Rockwell says - I have found his opinions misleading and often don't agree with my personal observations.

Also disregard anything Luminous Landscape says - I also don't trust their opinions.

Christine, thanks for all the valuable pointers.
Hin