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02-11-2016, 01:24 PM   #1
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Walking Myself Back from the A7ii Cliff

I was THIS close to taking the jump. I had researched everything, had that shiny new A7ii in my cart at B&H with that 16-35 zeiss all wrapped up, new L bracket, everything just a click away, and that shiny 24-70/2.8 coming next month ...

and then I blinked.

Do I really want to jump the pentax ship for the siren song of a FF in a camera that's slightly smaller and lighter than my much loved K-3? Sure, that articulating screen would be nice, but will I learn to love an EVF? Is it all really going to be worth the hassle and expense of switching to a new system? And with a Pentax FF (albeit likely to be way bigger and heavier than I will ever want to lug around) just around the corner?

Let me check, Nope.

So everything got moved back to the wish list. Replaced with a 31/1.8 ltd and 16-85/3.5-5.6 to complete my new travel kit with all that money I "saved"

I guess in the end its worth it to look over the edge once in a while ...

02-11-2016, 01:54 PM   #2
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I think FF and APS-C are different enough that, if you can afford it and want it, there is no problem having both! Why does it have to be one or the other? Surely, you could liquidate some of your redundant APS-C cameras, no?
02-11-2016, 02:10 PM   #3
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QuoteOriginally posted by EstimatedEyes Quote
Do I really want to jump the pentax ship for the siren song of a FF in a camera that's slightly smaller and lighter than my much loved K-3?
it's crop vs. ff, ovf vs. evf, etc... far more complicated than just weight and size.

QuoteOriginally posted by EstimatedEyes Quote
Sure, that articulating screen would be nice, but will I learn to love an EVF? Is it all really going to be worth the hassle and expense of switching to a new system?
the smarter way to do it would be to pick up a used a7/a7r body only, then mount your pentax lenses to it with a cheap adapter... no "switching" involved.

dslr people need to learn how to stop defining everything by proprietary lens mounts.
02-11-2016, 02:14 PM - 1 Like   #4
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Looking at your gear list, that would be quite a jump to completely change systems.

02-11-2016, 02:30 PM   #5
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I think you made a mistake. You can't know for sure whether or not another system is better for you unless you try it. If you use a retailer like Amazon with a great return policy, you're out no green if the system fails to meet your hopes. Instead, now, you only have your Pentax experience to go on. Sure you love it. Great. But is it the right system for you, compared to the Sony? All you can say right now is that it "looks" that way. Maybe that's enough for ya.

But I'd rather have proof, from having used the other gear.
02-11-2016, 03:25 PM   #6
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QuoteOriginally posted by Wolfeye Quote
...If you use a retailer like Amazon with a great return policy, you're out no green if the system fails to meet your hopes.....
Or better than that, and way more honest, you can just rent some gear for a couple weeks and try it out. If you do try a Sony, definitely pick up a PK adapter and use your Pentax lenses on it.
02-11-2016, 04:08 PM   #7
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Y'all are missing the point. There's no "right" or "wrong" answer when you are standing on that cliff .. for me (not for you, for me) the answer today (not for all time, for today), was to ratchet it on back because (and here's the important part) I don't have a real solid reason right now to move to FF.

The K-3 is a great camera that meets all my needs, so I don't have a real NEED to go FF, I just WANT to, cuz I am a victim of marketing (and my long 35mm past). But if I am honest with myself I have yet to face a situation where the K-3 RAW file didn't have enough info to accomplish what I wanted. The only reason I could give right now to jump to FF is because I shoot wide way more than long. So one day I will switch. But that day ain't today.

You want more reasons? I got 'em.

1) Native Glass. At present, the native mount selection is not that great. So I'd be in for 2-4 years of LBA and lots of $$ -- especially when I start seeing those superwide native primes come out. But right now, as far as native glass goes, the 16-35 zeiss is the best bet -- and probably the thing that had me leaning most towards making the jump.

2) Pentax glass compatibility. Yes, I can use my FF glass on an A7ii, but that comes with a loss of utility for Pentax (no AF, ltd aperture control) versus using Canikon glass. That's not forever, just for now. (Why do you think I got that 31/1.8 FF glass?).

3) Size and weight - My original push to mirrorless was to not carry as much weight or as many lenses around. After looking at what I would (realistically) end up with, the savings in the size of my kit was not enough of a diff from the K-3 to push me to jump

4) Travel kit. The reason I was thinking of jumping now was to put a new lightweight kit together to test drive on some trips I have coming up. But after looking at the options, it came down to an A7ii with the kit 28-70/3.5-5.6 and the Zeiss 16-35, along with my Pentax 50/1.7 and either the 100/4 macro or 135/2.8 v the K-3 with the 16-85/3.5-5.6, 55-300, and 31/1.8. The thing that clinched it was the lukewarm reviews for the Sony Zeiss 28-70/4. The 18-70 kit lens I was going to end up with gets pretty good reviews, putting it about on par with the pentax 18-85 in IQ. So, for me, differences in FF v APS aside, the quality I expect from the Pentax kit given how I will use it was going to equal or better the quality I expected from Sony .\

Or, to put it another way, I decided I'd rather have the 31/1.8 than the Zeiss 16-35.

So I stepped back from the cliff.

YMMV.


Last edited by EstimatedEyes; 02-11-2016 at 04:22 PM.
02-11-2016, 05:45 PM   #8
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QuoteOriginally posted by EstimatedEyes Quote
1) Native Glass. At present, the native mount selection is not that great. So I'd be in for 2-4 years of LBA and lots of $$ -- especially when I start seeing those superwide native primes come out. But right now, as far as native glass goes, the 16-35 zeiss is the best bet -- and probably the thing that had me leaning most towards making the jump.
the tamron 15-30 is a better lens than the 16-35 sony, if pentax oem's it, you can have it adapted for e-mount and in native k-mount, at the minimum.

although in both cases you might be losing the eye-focus capability that comes with native sony glass, need to investigate that further.

QuoteOriginally posted by EstimatedEyes Quote
2) Pentax glass compatibility. Yes, I can use my FF glass on an A7ii, but that comes with a loss of utility for Pentax (no AF, ltd aperture control) versus using Canikon glass. That's not forever, just for now. (Why do you think I got that 31/1.8 FF glass?).
you would have gained far superior manual focusing capability with the evf.

QuoteOriginally posted by EstimatedEyes Quote
3) Size and weight - My original push to mirrorless was to not carry as much weight or as many lenses around. After looking at what I would (realistically) end up with, the savings in the size of my kit was not enough of a diff from the K-3 to push me to jump
you mitigated that by wanting giant zoom lenses like the 16-35 on the sony, while wanting primes for the pentax... not logical.

QuoteOriginally posted by EstimatedEyes Quote
4) Travel kit.... Or, to put it another way, I decided I'd rather have the 31/1.8 than the Zeiss 16-35.
that's apples vs. oranges, if you wanted primes with pentax you could have had it much better by using with primes on sony, because manual focusing works so much better with a good evf, and it would have been a smaller package.
02-11-2016, 05:53 PM   #9
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I'm on the verge or getting one instead of the Pentax FF. In my case, I'm mostly after a dedicated camera for my K lenses (30/2.8, 50/1.2 & 85/1.8)..... the Pentax K1 is likely going to be $1,000+ more then the a7II..... and much heavier...... but I'll wait a bit and see.....

Last edited by noelpolar; 02-11-2016 at 05:59 PM.
02-11-2016, 06:41 PM   #10
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Thanks for the thoughts, osv. I went with the 16-35 not because its a zoom, but because it is the best native option out there to go wide, right now. Its not all that big, and the comp on weight was to the 16-85, not the 31. Either way a7 is still going to be smaller and lighter, just not enough to seal the deal for me. Re deciding between 16-35 and 31, you are right that zoom v prime and wide v normal are apples to oranges but its apples to apples as far as what was the "best glass" I would carry for the kit I would set up -- and for me I wanted the 31 over the 16-35. (ETA - and when I add in the ability to keep using my DA ltd primes, the decision to stick with the K3 for now became even clearer). I did look at non-native options like the Tammy you suggest, but concluded (for me, at least) that if I wasn't going to use my existing pentax glass i wanted a native solution, as there are tradeoffs and added expense in using the adapters. Like I said, YMMV.

Last edited by EstimatedEyes; 02-11-2016 at 06:52 PM.
02-11-2016, 06:57 PM   #11
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I checked out the Sonys at Best Buy today along with a bunch of other caneras. The Sony bodies are small but the lenses are definitely not. Plus they are not cheap either.
02-11-2016, 07:01 PM   #12
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TBH, if you have enough MF lenses and/or love manual lenses of all sorts, I think that A7II is worth it.

If you have plenty nice AF Pentax lenses, then forget it and wait for the FF.


Pentax does make a better thought out camera when it comes to the photographic flow of using it though.
02-11-2016, 10:52 PM   #13
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Go to a G.A.S support group
02-12-2016, 09:52 AM   #14
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It would seem rather ridiculous to switch a couple months before the K1.
02-12-2016, 12:58 PM   #15
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QuoteOriginally posted by EstimatedEyes Quote
Thanks for the thoughts, osv. I went with the 16-35 not because its a zoom, but because it is the best native option out there to go wide, right now.
true, it does cover a lot of focal lengths, with just one purchase, and you get all of the native functionality, like eye focus.

ultimately tho i see big picture decisions like this as an ovf vs. evf question; most people who get on the ff sony evf bandwagon will never purchase another ovf camera.

so waiting to see what pentax does with ff isn't going to be factor for them.

the fa31 you got will absolutely rock on sony ff, nothing lost there.
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