Click on picture to enlarge: Courtesy by Phillip Reeve
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Instead of looking at chart shots and wall distortion tests let’s add some real photographic poetry on these new A7-A7r cameras! Our friend Phillip Reeve allowed me to post some of his test shots taken with the new Sony cameras (original source: Fredmiranda).
Most of his shots are taken with the great [shoplink 23038 ebay]Minolta 50mm f/1.4 (here on eBay)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 23039 ebay]Minolta 58mm f/1.1 (here on eBay)[/shoplink] lenses. Click on the pictures to enlarge!
Click on picture to enlarge: Courtesy by Phillip Reeve
Click on picture to enlarge: Courtesy by Phillip Reeve
More pictures at Fredmiranda!
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Specs and Preorders in US and Canada:
Dedicated Sony announcement page at Amazon US (Click here).
Sony A7r body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS. TheCameraStore Canada.
Sony A7 body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS. TheCameraStore Canada.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS. TheCameraStore Canada.
Sony RX10 at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Zeiss 24-70mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Zeiss 35mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Zeiss 55mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
70-200mm A-mount at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony A-Mount to E-Mount Lens Adapter at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
Sony A to E adapter with mirror at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
A7/A7r leather case at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
A7/A7r vertical grip at Amazon, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony W Series Battery Charger at Amazon, BHphoto.
Sony FA-CS1M Off-Camera Shoe at BHphoto.
Semi-Hard LCD Screen Protector for A7-A7r at Amazon, BHphoto.
Specs and Preorders in Europe:
Sony A7r body at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE.
Sony A7 body at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon FR.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon FR.
Sony RX10 at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE.
Zeiss 35mm at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT,
Zeiss 55mm at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT
Zeiss 24-70mm at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, SE, PT
Sony G 28-70mm lens at Sony DE, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO.
Asia:
A7r at Digitalrev.
A7 at Digitalrev, Amazon Cina.
A7 with 28-70mm lens at Digitalrev.
47 Responses
awesome!!!!
I second that – that’s what this camera is about 🙂
Wow, the A7 looks extremely sharp. I can’t really tell the difference between it and the A7r except contrast. The A7r shots look more dramatic but the A7 seems to have better dynamic range by the looks of it.
Great to see beautiful shots, not taken with Leica lenses that (I think) most of us simply cannot afford, but with (amongst others) great Canon FD glass. That’s what I was very curious about.
As I already bought a 50mm F1.2 L in anticipation of the A7 😉
Those Minolta lenses are awesome.
Boring stuff… sorry. Adding black frames on top and bottom doesnt help with poor subject matter.
Borry, what a nice compliment. Very insightful. Would live to see some examples if your “work”.
Keep up the great stuff Phillip. I was pretty sure you would be capturing some cool stuff!
Dave–
I am not the poster Borry, but I have to say, you need to get a life.
Borry suggested that the subject-matter was boring to him, and that the black borders were mere gimmickry–and he even apologized, presumably if anybody’s feelings were hurt by his comment.
What’s your suggested alternative, that he not make his critical comment, or that he “soften the blow” by also talking about what he liked? What if he really didn’t see any other merit?
No, instead, it appears that you want nothing but compliment. Grow up, Dave, this is not elementary school. Borry’s work has absolutely nothing to do with his criticism of the work herein depicted.
For my money, I see flare, and some distracting bokeh. I don’t find his framing or compositions appealing with one or two exceptions, and after a while the set seemed to me to be a tedious one-trick thin-DOF bore…and I even LIKE the basic subject-matter, just not the treatment it receives.
Which is just my personal opinion, and not a criticism of his entire body of work, nor of the capabilities of the A7/R system. It’s unfortunate that I had to include the previous sentence, but I did so for your benefit. To me, this set doesn’t evidence any great photographic capability of the A7/R system. Maybe that’s my ignorance speaking, but like JiM, I think that getting those types of shots is easy with many available systems.
If GreenLens or Philip really believe that these are much better than what the NEX could do, then they should provide a side-by-side comparison with appropriate NEX exposures–but even at that, such examples would show improvement over only the NEX, and only under the conditions experienced.
To me, these are totally unhelpful to any purchasing decision I might make.
Not an everyman,
Thank you of the response. I am not sure a “sorry” within the post is actually an apology? Kind of like Ricky Bobby stating that he can say whatever he wants as long as he puts a “with all due respect” at the end of it. For me, and this is my opinion. If you have a ‘critique’ of an image, I don’t know that a “Boring stuff” is all that insightful or contributes to the creation of great images. It came across, to me, very rude. If Phillips work is so boring, why comment at all. I think I am pretty fair in asking for some examples of someone else’s work to help form my opinion, of their opinion. It takes a lot of courage to put your work out on the world wide web.
I will now take your advice. I am going to get a life, get off this site, and go take some pictures…. I hope you have a great Holiday season.
Dave–
You do have a point–I wasn’t going to comment on this thread myself, until I read your comment.
I think a comment that someone finds the images “boring” can be valuable. If the images are shown only for the technical quality, then such a comment would not be relevant; but if it appears that there is a purpose broader than mere technical demonstration, then it is not only fair, but valuable.
As no comparison is here given to the NEX, the technical quality of the photos stands on its own, and says IMO essentially nothing new, which is why I think the images were shown with more intention than the merely technical.
It is nice, however, to see somebody actually using Minolta lenses on the A7/R system.
” I think I am pretty fair in asking for some examples of someone else’s work to help form my opinion, of their opinion. ”
LOL, dude, thats a sure sign for someone who never worked in any creative discipline. If something is shit / boring / great / whatever anyone is free to express their opinion.
You can have your opinion on a movie without being a director. Or food without being chef. Or a painting without being a painter. Get over it.
I dont see anything special with the images posted either. If someone posted these under “look what I took with my Nikon D90” no one would care.
People in photography boards on the internet are really annoying, aren’t they? Why can’t you just put down the “I would do better” or “your picture has many flaws” lines?
It’s all about ego, isn’t it?
Come on Luiz, you can do better than that. Maybe, for you, it really is all about ego, since that is all you seem to want to discuss.
“People in photography boards on the internet are really annoying” — Says the person in a photography board on the internet.
I don’t suffer from that “I would do better” syndrome, thank you.
It’s really all about you, isn’t it Luiz?
I like criticism. I am happy if someone likes my images but I am even happier if someone doesn’t like them tells me why he doesn’t like them. Maybe I can learn something from him and improve.
It helps even more if the person telling me this is a good photographer, because the internet if full of sh*t and it makes it much easier to tell constructive criticism from trolling of the person which gave the opinion shows his images.
But: If someone just tells me that he doesn’t like my images but not why that is okay but I doesn’t help either.
great response and reasoning.
How great that the photographer himself contributes to this thread. Sometimes the web can be valuable.
I agree with you that in order for a naked comment like “I don’t like them” to have any real value, something has to be known and appreciated about the source of the comment.
However, Borry did mention that he didn’t enjoy the subject-matter, so I don’t see his as having been such a naked comment.
Me, I care about subject-matter only insofar as it informs the treatment given it. I therefore also enjoy complete abstraction and photograms.
Phillip, did you use a hood or any filtering on the Min 50/1.4? What is your impression of Minolta AF lenses relative to the more esoteric MF offerings on the A7?
Thanks for posting, especially not about Luiz.
Phillip, these are some of the best images I’ve seen from the A7, in every aspect. I am sure you can not please everyone. Please post more of these…
I wouldn’t pay attention to this guy he is a known troll that’s been kicked out of a few forums. He uses this site’s anonymous feature to have multiple names like Borry, Not an Everyman, Tom, Sonymonster, fanta. Basically just insert the current troll.
Slingers–
Entirely incorrect. I do not post under any other pseudonym, including “Borry”.
Yeah, I don’t think Phillip Reeve was going for “art gallery” shots here. By the looks of it, he got the A7, threw on a bunch of lenses you don’t have and (enthusiastically I”m sure) went out and shot some very nice photos to show off the power and detail of the A7 with some classic glass. I think everyone appreciates that right now instead of a heavily edited studio shot with perfect lighting and a $3000 lens. Or, Borry, you have a real hate on for great landscapes and sheep. The black boarders are nice when you want to put info of the camera and lens on the photo. Something tells me you are one of those people that has an Instagram account loaded with filter-rich iPhone pics of your cat.
Nice, but you don’t need A7 to do such pictures. ANY Sony DSLR or NEX with these lenses attached will be enought at lowest possible ISO.
Almost agree but not quite. If you compare his images taken with NEX-6 and this new toy in similar contrast light, you’ll see an improved DR too. Can’t judge noise by downsampled images though. I think he’s having good time with his cameras and his workflow. It’s more a matter of peace of mind than a technical question.
Bullshit. You won’t see any difference, it’s only the matter of how you set the options for jpg engine. You can’t distinguish more than 8 EV DR on your LCD screen. Almost every DSLR camera ever built have raw DR >10EV, with most (starting from for instance Alpha 700) having excellent result of 12EV or more. So if you prepare your picture properly there won’t be any visible difference even if you use for this photo good old Dynax 5D bought for 100$. It’s DR at ISO100 is more than enough to make it… It’s all the matter of jpg engine or post production, sorry.
In fact you can’t tell whether any picture is made on KM5D or A7 even on A4 printed photo. Only if you make a poster from the raw photo and put it on your wall, then you’ll see the difference in detail between 6Mp (KM5D), 12Mp (A700) and 24Mp (A77, A900, A99, A7 etc.).
I didn’t intend to offend anyone here, but believe me – when you tell about poetry, you can tell only of Mr Reeve poetry, not a tool he uses. No matter what camera Mr Reeve use for the scene, if he process it properly, the result will be the same. I even doubt anyone here can tell the difference between Rokkor and any other 50mm lens for such situation.
I can only speak for myself, but I used a Canon 5dII for some times and its lower DR compared to the NEX-6 was a Problem for me. And the a7 has much better DR than the Nex-6. See this link: http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1255132/9#11964147 which is a big benefit for my photography because I love backlighting.
Regarding your 8 bit argument: that is BS (to use your own language) because your RAW converter works with 16 Bit and it will compress your image to 16 Bit image.
i meant it converts it to 8 bit.
These images resemble me similar shots taken on dias with Minolta X-300 and Rokkor lenses. So the best thing of all is really nice jpg processing.
There are more images at FM forum, by Phillip and others. I would thank Phillip again for his early tests of Rokkor lenses on A7R he was given. Interestingly, he bought A7 himself.
These look nice to me, actually some of the better shots showing the ability to capture detail with the A7.
I will be renting one of these in the next week or so and testing it out against my A850 using my cz 16-35 and also trying a Canon 24mm t/s with an adapter.
Thise could be the camera for me….but I will wait until I hear what is coming along in the A mount category first.
Good Job!
Ian
It doesn’t make a lot sense to test A7 against A850/A900 phtographically. You’ll get the same pictures from them in most scenes and ligting conditions. The advantage of new sensor is theoretically 1 stop less noise, but EVF needs constant heating the sensor so in continuous use noise can be even more visible on A7 than A850. It’s similar to the situation when I compared A700 to NEX-6 working at ISO1600 in the night. Now I usually leave NEX-6 home and use A700 that works simply better in such conditions… NEX is better only when you care for weight.
So A850/A900 are simply better cameras than A7 in most categories but weight. With built in stabilization, exceptional OVF, great selection of A-mount lenses that are ergonomically handled, nice menu system, great responsibility, good AF system, 1000 shots on 1 battery… How can a little A7 scooter compete with such a tank?
Nice images!
Also, I appreciate the subject matter choices – samples that showcase the dynamic range, bokeh, etc.
Where do you see “bokeh” in these shots and how do you judge “dynamic range” from heavily post processed shots like these? Just wondering…
well for all laughing out Bestbuy – i just received this mail
http://www.dropmocks.com/mCVJqF
ordered the 24 nov and they shipped the 27 nov, so much for pre-ordering and sleeping out of the store to be the first, joking.
The photos are nice, relaxing. Have a mood. Great technical
I suspect that our good friend Phillip has a killer workflow and could get quite a bit out of most any camera.
You might enjoy this…
http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1159959
Thank you. You’re a gentleman and a scholar!
They showcase the a7 nicely. Definitely enough dr that I’m very keen to see that sensor in an a-mount body!
Wow! Surely no canikon or other camera on the market can get shots like these. This, this is definitely the nex level.
Nice shots Phillip! Can’t wait to get home? My A7r and 35 is on my local postoffice and I am 600 kilometers from home 🙁
Agreed, it is not ok to criticize without showing you can do equal or better, anyone can hide on a blog an spit their dislike wich could be nothing more than envy for people that actually take their time and energy and post images and just not words, i guess most of the “critics” may just assume that new camera poster are after economic gain and manufacturers sponsorship of some kind. even if this may be the case in many instances i’ll take any samples instead of the trolling and unwelcome comments disguise as productive critic.
ps. many trolls are competitor-directed that make a dime to styr the mud on other brand blogs
Nice pictures, well done.
I have also a few real life pictures in my blog: http://www.eike-loge.com/category/blog/
The one thing I realized about the A7 is you don’t need the $1,000 zeiss lense to take amazing pictures with it. You can take pictures with a nice $60-70 lense like a jupiter 8 or a helios 44-2 and still get some really amazing shots with it.
Thank you Mr. Reeve! It is really great to see vintage Minolta glass on an A7, given the direct minolta/sony dna. I collected Nikons, Leicas, Rolleis, and also had my share of Minolta equipment. Minolta glass is as good or better than most through the eighties (especially Japanese lens makers). Overall, Zeiss and Leitz might have a slight edge in general when shooting at full aperture, but probably not much compared to the Minolta MD 50mm Macro or Minolta MD 85mm 1.7. Zeiss and Leitz did have the finest coatings in the days of kodachrome, but in my humble opinion I liked Minolta coatings more than Nikon or Canon. The coating issue has almost become a moot point with the mind blowing capabilities of photoshop.
Although I am no expert IMHO, Phillip’s pictures are excellent. If he posts them that’s he is happy with them and is happy to get opinions from others as well as their shots too. The proof is in the pudding… not in the trolling… Well done Phillip !
Very cinematic images. Almost looks like stills from graded and corrected footage.
Probably without knowing it, Mr Reeve is actually doing exactly the recommended steps to get the most out of AVCHD: overexpose slightly and then underexpose in post (you then never get macro break even if you correct hard), shoot fairly flat and boost color in post (gives greater latitude for correction), shoot at a DOF such that you get blurring from the midrange onwards (removes the effects of the infamous ‘Sony intentional video blur filter’).
Would hope he twirls the mode dial over to ‘Movie’ and showcases what the A7/r can do in video!