Let me catch up with some of the SAR readers work links I got via mail:
Andreas “Just a photoblog for the RX1. I am extremely happy with the camera in terms of image quality but extremely unhappy with the autofocus … about 20% of pics are backfocused … so i pretty much use only manual nowadays which is a shame as i really was looking forward to a good autofocus with this camera. The camera would be perfect with phase detection AF. Very happy with ergonomics and menu. Very happy with durability … camera survived a trip to Kilimanjaro, Safaris and skiing in the alps without even the slightest scratch. A bit disappointed with video quality vs. GH2 hacked which i also own. Focusing in video mode is difficult, no preview, no peaking, not even a distance scale. Autofocusing and tracking is very slow … so no real solution found yet. Will have a video about my Kilimanjaro trip up shortly. Some photos can be seen already at andreasathome.com”
Oleg: “This clip is fully filmed on Sony NEX5N. Important what to film and not your equipment. https://vimeo.com/61831905”
Rock: “If your Sony 16-50 2.8 is stiff or sticky to zoom there is an easy solution! I just fixed both of ours and now they zoom like all of our other great lenses. Most of us paid somewhere between $600-$800 for this lens… would you believe that the problem is a 49 cent rubber zoom ring? If you take it off, turn it inside out, then put it back on your prize lens will zoom just as smooth as all of your other lenses. If you need it I have posted a tutorial on how to do this at the bottom of this page: http://www.abetterdj.net/SONY-16-50MM-2.8.html”
KeanHui: “Hi Sonyalpharumuor I would like to share with you some of my macro work done by the Sony Alpha Camera A77, A550 and Nex5N! Here is my link to my work http://photo.keanhui.com”
Enrique: “Tengo buenas noticias, mi video “The Maghreb” rodado con Sony ha sido elegido por Vimeo como video del día. Esto se traduce en un gran numero de visitas así como una presencia importante en la web, via foros, blogs, twitters, etc. Al mismo tiempo, he lanzado un artículo que tenía preparado, explicando como lo he rodado, siempre con Sony, creo que puede ser interesante. Te paso los links para que los compartáis si queréis. Video: https://vimeo.com/60754449
Artículo: http://www.enriquepacheco.com/shooting-the-maghreb?lang=es”
Leonel: “I want to invite you to visit my blog, that it’s a sort of photographic journal for my tastes, my travels and my soul if you wish… the interesting part is that all my work in there is portrayed with my sony alpha 330 and some legacy lens like the famous “beercan” and the minolta 50 1,7, also I use a lot the sam DT 18-55, that for me it gives some nice results when you know it’s limitations… I’m looking forward to improve my kit some day (hopefully the a99 ), and for that your site it’s a great start in order to make a good choice … this is the address of my blog: http://fototrospecciones.blogspot.com/”
Thanks You All!
53 Responses
I would like to open by bringing up the topic of the nex9hmp.
This is the new high resolution 56 megapixel camera we would like to see Sony build.(at an affordable price hopefully ).
For those of you who have not heard us ask for this before………
The sensor would be a larger version of the nex7n and therefore be full frame 56mp.
Because this is the same sensor desighn the quality and specifications would be very similar.
The advantage of choosing 56 megapixels is that it fits current technology and therefore does not reguire as substantial a development cost as a totally new desighn would.
Since pixel density is identical to the a77 or nex7 any lenses usable on the a 77mount would be usable on this.
This camera does not yet exist but some of us would very much like to see Sony build a high resolution version of the new nex 97n
Hmm, I understand the desire of certain groups for high megapixel cameras but wouldn’t a full frame 56mp camera render almost every lenses currently in the market useless? (wouldn’t able to resolve the amount of resolution).
And to have lenses that is able to resolve a 56mp would likely mean the lens will have to be as large as the upcoming Zeiss Distagon 55 1,4; that lens is already large even without AF, imagine how large it’ll be with AF. I guess we all know how much is the est. price for the Zeiss Distagon 55 by now.
Also, if high resolution camera is an up most important, why don’t go for Medium Format? Which is purposed for high resolution blown up sized printing.
As an alternative, wouldn’t a 36mp NEX9 HMP makes more sense? So it could do similar things like the D800 (catering for users of both FF and APSC E-Mount)
24 MP is enough FF. There are not many lenses that can handle even 24 MP. What is it then good for when you get large, unsharp files? I want sharp, crisp pixels! Not that mushy crap that comes out of the D800. If you want more pixels, you can always join pictures via ICE and get those giant prints you certainly don’t need…
+1 Also, removing the AA filter is considerably more important for getting the best out of existing high-quality lenses.
You mean that moire is the best thing you can get off existing lenses? I would argue with that.
@Sky_Walker Can’t ignore the trend though, with the move to higher resolution, and having sensors that can out-resolve lenses eliminates a lot of the need for an AA filter. Nikon, Fuji, Pentax, Ricoh and Leica demonstrate this understanding and have removed AA filters for their best cameras.
Fuji can remove it cause they designed a sensor in the way that eliminates most of the issues with moire. Leica M9 is quite heavy on moire – some people accept it, some don’t. But even someone as dumb as Ken Rockwell noted that it got issues with moire. Pentax got an alternative version to the one with no AA filter, same with Nikon.
So… yes: I agree that they have shown “understanding” and don’t just blindingly remove AA-filter like if nothing would happen, as you suggest. And no, not even 24 MPx sensor can out-resolve lenses (unless we’re talking here about low and mid range glass, though even Sony’s plastic-fantastic 50 f/1.8 SAM at optimal aperture can outresolve 24 MPx sensor).
Interesting that you mentioned that the D800 produces mushy crap pictures cause I bet D800 users and many other reviewers will disagree. Besides, downsizing the D800 files produces more detailed results at Higher ISO compared to other lower MP cameras at the same ISO, and as I mentioned previously, this would solve the APSC E-Mount mounted to FF E-Mount lens problem.
Just to make it clear, I don’t need huge prints, that point was for mega pix man.
Pablo
I hear you saying that you are not ready for anything more than a 24mp camera
I have 2 questions if you would be kind enough to answer them
Are you going to buy another 24 mp camera?
And…..Why do you object to Sony making a 56 mp camera for those other people that do want it?
“wouldn’t a full frame 56mp camera render almost every lenses currently in the market useless?”
Well, did an APS-C 24 MP camera render almost every lenses currently in the market useless?
It is the same pixel size, and a pixel peeper looking at the centre parts of two photos taken with those two cameras and the same lens will see exactly the same level of detail.
Secondly, lenses are not rendered useless by high MP cameras. They will still show at least the same level of detail as they did with a lower MP camera.
The idea that todays high quality primes cannot resolve a 56 megapixel image is pure superstition.
It’s just not true.
And even if it were true it would only be a temporary setback.
Could you please stop spamming with the same thing over and over and over again?
Indeed.
Andrea – can’t you ban this spammer? He’s really irritating.
Lets ban everyone you disagree with.
Lets ban everyone who annoys you.
Lets ban everyone who annoys me.
Lets ban…. oh wait theres no one left to ban!
No, just ban spammers.
+1
We invite and encourage you to join us in asking Sony to build it in hopes that they might here us.
Amen
Sure. Only these hopes don’t include high MPx NEX. So I suppose we have nothing to discuss.
What i want is a Sony Made A-Mount-to-Nex Speed booster with OK autofocus.
Then, It will make sense to buy A mounts. Mirrorless being the future.
That zoom ring trick sounds like it will ruin weather sealing
I agree. Sounds like he was messing with something he didn’t understand.
Unfortunately, he later sold the lens, and the new buyer probably doesn’t know that he has lost the weathersealing.
That zoom ring trick
I wish to see some photo how yo do this . Thanks for info . I have 16-50 ,and for video zoom ring is awful .
I was excited to hear about a solution too. I tried it as described in the link – but no success here. Also I did not like the feel of the lens with the rubber band inside-out.
Just thoght i would mention a lens that might interest you.
Tamron makes a 60mm f 2.0 macro specifically for c size sensor. It is super sharp.
The interesting thing about this lens is that is exactly equivelent to using a ff 90mm f 2.8 macro with s speedbooster.
I wonder if putting thr tamron 90 on a speedboostsr would be as good as this lens.
Indecently the lens is very economical and sn excellent value.
On the numbers it’s the same effect, but optically the 60mm is much softer wide open…
Heres somothing I’ve been doing with that tamron 60 macro on an a77.
I bought a powerfull led on camera light which i hanhold.
I stop the lens down to f8
I shot Butterflies to fill the entire frame. They are not afraid of the light.
With mounted sbjects i could see every wing scale.
I then shot 5 to 12 sections and stiched them in the photoshop and could see all the scales clearly (at 100-200mp.) All handheld. Do not move the light between shots.
Live butterflies were also super sharp but not as sharp as the composite mounted specimens. The 24 mp limit if the camera was the limiting factor.
This lens is a great match for the a77
Any Sony Pro NAB 2013 rumors yet?
Looks like Sony is a bit late to announce products now.
“extremely unhappy with the autofocus … about 20% of pics are backfocused … so i pretty much use only manual nowadays which is a shame as i really was looking forward to a good autofocus with this camera.”
HAHAH backfocus with a 3000$ compact camera!! what a shame! sony fail
I hear all kinds of reports about backfocus for several different Sony cameras. Does Sony really have that terrible of quality control for AF on all its cameras? How wide is this issue? Should I be worried ordering a brand new camera from Sony? If they don’t bother to make sure it’s right on a $3000 camera(not the one I’m getting), that really makes ya think.
I don’t want to play the warranty shuffle with Sony when I get my new camera. Shipping can get expensive, not to mention the weeks your camera is gone. I heard they have a flawed confirmation test for this issue that doesn’t ever really address the problem.
Anyone care to comment? Any personal experience with this issue? I hate to think it’s as widespread as it seems to be. I also don’t see how it could be so hard to fix or address.
back-focus used to be an issue with the PDAF Sensors of a DSLR. I think the “back-focus” he is talking about is the same that happens with the NEX or actually most contrast detect autofokus cameras: The autofocus won’t lock on the closest object you want but somewhere on the background. This happend to me quite often at the beginning with my NEX-7, because I selcted the center autofocus and not the flexible spot. The center autofocus area seems to be a bit too large to lock on single persons sometimes and locks on the background. After a bit oh training it almost never happens to me again, surely not in 20% of my photos.
Yep. Totally agreed. I haven’t seen any camera missing 20% of shots. It’s most likely an issue with skills of the user (and actually “learning” the camera) than anything else.
1/5 shots missed is even worse than what Fujifilm does in it’s mirrorless (my personal candidate for the worst AF system on the plant).
*planet
right. backfocusing shouldn’t be possible with contrast AF. contrast detection af uses sensor data for focus and back focusing is the result of image sensor and phase detection systems being off (simply put). he clearly doesn’t know how to use his camera. contrast autofocus is slower but sharper than phase detection if done right. you wonder why somebody would buy an expensive camera like that with such inexperience of photography.
he’s photos are actually very nice. I guess he’s more into photography than camera tech!
Back and front focusing is perfectly possible with CDAF. Lots of mirrorless got an issue with is. Simply: Camera locks focus before it actually hits the highest contrast. It’s made to allow faster focusing and less hunting – basically a camera “remembers” where it set focus last time and tries to “cheat” by going to this last position without scanning whole image. Often it works fine, sometimes it doesn’t.
You have a point there – THAT kind of mis-focusing could happen with CDAF (though it’s an entirely different problem than what has become known as back-focusing during decades of PDAF). Of all the issues mentioned in reviews and posts about the RX1, this back-focusing issue is a brand new one (to me – i could be wrong). however – here’s my theory: this guy says on his site that he started off with a GH2 and a 50mm lens in 2012, and then he went to the RX1. i bet he focus and recompose. 35mm on FF is pretty wide, and the recompose-method will lead to back-focusing if done wrong. either that, or he lets the camera decide focus area, as somebody pointed out. which of course is hit and miss. just my guess.
My experience has been hit and miss. My 1st 16-50 had back focus issues, but needed different adjustment values at 16mm and 50mm. After adjustment, af was massively out at infinity… 2nd copy was perfect. I also had issues with my 1st sigma 30/1.4, but I’m pretty sure that was down to sigma’s legendary qc. Other lenses have been fine though (85/2.8, 70/2.8 and 70-300 usd)
A lot of people used to complain about Contax G2’s AF being crap. Once you learn what the camera prefers to focus on, you won’t miss many shots anymore. Today, not many people complain as they used to back in the early 2000’s about that camera and, just like Sony with the RX1, it was considered expensive albeit cheaper than a Leica. Now it is regarded as one of the classics of Rangefinder design and the only camera that was reliable with its AF system in complete darkness because of an infrared light it used to measure subject distance up to 3m.
Thank you for all your replies. I feel better about the whole thing now. If I get terrible shots it’s likely my own ineptitude, rather than something with the camera. Now I just need to decide between getting the A65 or the A58. I understand the arguments against the A58, but the price looks good. The A65,however,is arguably the better camera, even if it is 2 years old. I’m just wondering about sensor tech and what kind of improvements to DOF and noise there might be. Wish someone would do a review on the A58 instead of just posting JPGs.
@Andrea
Where are the rumors?
Sony was expected to announce new stuff beginning of April 2013. This is NEXT WEEK!
Please give us something.
I’m quite sure that one of the rumors said that April release was delayed till June-July.
A number of people here are concerned about the high resolving power of a 56mp nex9hmp making thier current lenses useless.
For several reasons this is not a valid concern and is based on false concerns. I will state those rezons individually so if my phone loses I wont have to retype everything.
Secondly
None of your current lenses become obsolete.
They will still all take the same or better quality pix as the did before.
We spend a lot on lenses. For the relatively small investment of one new camera back we get thr most out if what we are paying for.
Note that we are talking the same high quality as the nex7n including iso and overall image quality.
Thirdly.
Not every lens made will resolve every pixel this camera is capable of. Lens manufacturers can make higher resolution lenses than they currently make but decisions are based on demand. People are not demanding lensss that outresolve the best sensors now made so lens manufactureres do not need to build lenses of that quality. When the demand is there they will be more than happy to rise to the challenge.
…this one too, Andrea. I assume he’s the same person as Mega Pix Man.
If people like us are banned Sony will only hear the voices of people like you.
Sony will make just another a99 like camera and there will be peace in the world.
Nice picture but too many fine details are missing.
Fourthly
As to why we need such a camera.
I will state some of my reasons and hopefully you can tell us your.
I am very interested to hear why you would want higher resolution too.
In the field I need to be able to carry my stuff. I cannot carry a medium format outfit nor can I afford one.
I need to shoot fast or miss my chance.
Animals have lots and lots of details. Hair, feathers, scales and thats what i need to be able to see in my pix.
No camera made
Hey, we get it. You want a high megapixel camera. Cool deal. Why you’re constantly flooding these comments sections with those wishes are beyond me. Sony is not up night and day sweating over the comments on SAR. You should be focusing your attention on them, and in their forums.
Also, drop the multiple names thing. Conversations with yourself will not sell your story any more effectively to us. If any of your comments actually led to anything at Sony, they would almost certainly misinterpret them. They would make a higher density same size aps-c or full frame camera. That would lead to more noise, and wouldn’t be what you wanted. Sorry, I’m not trying to be asinine or rude, but that’s the nature of things. Old habits die hard.
Also consider you may well be a minority in these wishes. I don’t so much care for megapixels as the overall quality of the camera. Pentax makes a lower priced MF camera for around $8000. I would look into that and maybe consider it as an alternative. If that doesn’t work for you, just wait… eventually the megapixels will climb higher regardless of customer wishes, and I seriously doubt it will even take that long for it to happen.
Barry! I checked out your website. it was very nice indeed. I do like your paintings a lot, and I mean that. and I don’t agree with some people here claiming your paintings are not true paintings because they’re made from photos. you’re using a technique that is a well established in the international art world (Google my favorite painter and international star karin broos). But judging from your paintings – there is no need for you to have a 56mp camera to do what you do. just let go of this crazy idea.
First of all, sorry my english guys. Second, I need help. My 16-50 2.8 has started to misbehave, it’s no longer soft and zoom system is kind of “sticky”. Just from one moment to another. I read Rock solution (above) but it was difficult to me understand some things. Does anyone have a tutorial with pictures on how to correct this problem? I have no specializated technical service here in my city and they offered me about a month, and I need this lense for work every week . Thank you for your help guys. Saludos from Argentina!
I’m also on the high megapixel bandwagon. My 24 megapixel cam is simply not good enough for landscape work. I do indeed print large images, and would love to use the larger files. I don’t have $40,000 for a MF setup. In terms of lenses, the Zeiss primes (especially seeing that they are being refreshed) will go a long way to making use of a high rez sensor, and would encourage Zeiss and Sony to up their game.
where’s my comment??