A couple of SAR readers noticed that Sony and online stores selling the A7 and A7r cameras completely removed the part of the product description that said the cameras are weather sealed. Just check these links in USA and Europe: at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS and Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE.
This is just pure speculation but it’s possible that the light leak issue discovered on the A7-A7r cameras also affects the dust and moisture protection. And that could be the reason why they “quietly” removed any reference about the A7-A7r having a weather sealed body. But as I said, there is nothing official yet. And if there is really a problem with the weather sealing it would be better for Sony to admit the issue and work on a solution instead of trying to hide it.
—
Joe sent us this:
Sad to say that I can confirm that the a7R does exhibit light leak around the lens mount. This was reported on Sony’s Community site. To test it, put the body cap on, use either ISO25,6000 or ISO16,000 and take a 20-30″ exposure. Shine a flashlight/phone LED light around the lens mount. The image will show the leak at the 9 o’ clock position.
Here’s how mine look like at ISO16,000 and 30″ exposure:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/–exlz648TZ8/Uv3-kqaopuI/AAAAAAAAXzI/0ERlfxv_u74/w888-h593-no/a7R+Light+Leak+ISO16%252C000+at+30sec.jpg
Original thread:
http://community.sony.com/t5/Alpha-NEX-Cameras/A7-A7R-Light-leaks/td-p/254835
0 Responses
And yet somehow I just don’t care.
Apparently, neither does Sony.
Luckily Canon shooters do.
Is anyone ever going to take a A7 into a downpour? the light leak would be more of a issue than moisture resistance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7hvJTGW4BA
That’s a far more stringent test than taking the camera out in a light rain shower and it appears to have survived unscathed.
Sony AU still mentions it. Their website also said that all E-Mounts have IBIS, that the 35mm Zeiss is f1.8 and that the 70-200mm was A-Mount. Are we suddenly going to believe a conspiracy when we don’t believe those other things?
The so called light-leak is a totally exaggerated issue is it only appears in extreme conditions. In order to show this “issue” users tested the camera with more than one ND filters stacked at the front and then doing 8-30 min exposures in good daylight. Other more expensive cameras, Canon 5D and Nikon D800, had similar issues before and this is not unique for this camera.
Yes, this image is such an extreme condition:
http://community.sony.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/7267i666D40E60D4018C4/image-size/medium?v=mpbl-1&px=-1
My A7R shows light leaks but so does my Nikon D3 and the Nikkor 24-70mm through the small window. Light leaks take place during abnormal usage eg. stacked ND filters. I never expect any instrument to operate flawlessly outside of what it was designed for. I don’t think Sony should spend 1 second trying to get their cameras to handle a 20 stop ND filter(s). It’s specialty work and it’s no problem carrying black electrical tape.
Should mention that I have shot in the Rain with the A7r + Grip at the NFL Pro Bowl , it was raining pretty hard at times. and the camera was completely wet.
I did my usual shake off the rain. and it was not the first time in the rain with the a7r. and yes, there is pics … http://www.honolulumagazine.com/Event-Photo-Galleries/January-2014/NFL-Pro-Bowl/
nice pics
Wayne Summers, Thank you. 🙂
I checked it and Sony NL still mentions weathersealing. Same for DE.
Yes, some sites still show it. UK removed it.
Wrong. UK still shows it too. Go to details, press full details and scroll down or press features. (This is on Ipad).
Are you “generating” rumors, Andrea? 🙂
Whether anyone mentions (Sony websites for factual information are a joke nowadays!) or not, my A7R is weather “resistant”. The moist/cloudy/rain weather in Benelux have not affected it in the slightest possible way. I can operate my cam without the presumed “shutter vibration”. I have no problem with any light leak (the last light leak I witnessed was with a Olympus kitzoom which is now off the market).
It is fact that the A7/7R, A6000, etc are the best bang for the buck at the moment. Anyone dislikes that fact, there are plenty of choices in many other (brand) fine cameras and lenses. 🙂
I haven’t been able to re-create this on my A7. Does anyone know if it’s an issue with *all* cameras?
What I do get (when doing this test) is a bit of ‘purple noise’ across the very bottom of the frame (nothing at the 9 o’clock position) but I’m not sure that is ‘light leak’ as I also get odd/similar artifacts when doing the test on my D700 and V1.
Appears to be a manufacturing / quality control issue. Some seem to be fine. It’s good to test while within the return window of ownership.
the test is absolutely absurd or stupid; how in the world can you comapare how tight is a lens agains a plastic camera body cap??? plastic can deform easely whit a little presure on it, and is thinner in some parts than others, and you never will use your camera with the cap on it to take a picture… YOU USE A LENS; so put a lens, a good one, cover the front lens, but not with the lens cap only, rapped with a bag or something light proof, and then put a ring light pointed to the camera body in the side and make your experiment; if leaks light then you are right, but I doub it.
There are many tests done with a lens. Same result.
http://community.sony.com/t5/Alpha-NEX-Cameras/A7-A7R-Light-leaks/td-p/254835
Many, yet you are still showing the same lonely example.
but that is like a big error, yet in the E mount or in the lens, must go for repair or replace; that is not a little problem; allways some cameras go out with bad thinks from any brand
E mount was originally desighned for crop sensor and the mount was therefore kept compact.
This turned out to be another foolish shortsighted decision by Sony management that has been unable to foresee anything past this mornings breakfast.
As a result when sony decided to make ff E mount the too small mount is now an elephant in the room they will always need to sweep under the carpet.
FF really pushes this mount beyond what it was originally desighned for resulting in..no possibility of future IBIS light leaks and shutter vibration issues.
As an A mount user I hope the more robust size of the A mount cameras will eliminate these problems and that the later release of the A mount models will also give Sony more time to fix the problems.
Sony will soon be releasing 24 and 36 mp ff A mount cameras equivelent to the A7 and A7R.
They will also soon be releasing 32mp C size A mount.
In early to mid 2015 the new technology sensor will be anounced/released.
Probably 54mp 3 layers x 18mp and ff and be an organic silicon hybrid.
At some point..not sure when..a hybrid will be rleased with 5 axis ibis and z-shift.
My guess is the new C camera will be very reasonably priced and be much better than the a77.
If so my intention is to buy one of those and then wait for the new stacked sensor for ff.
The reason A mount is so succesfull is that Sony management had nothing to do with its creation.
Minolta desighned it before Sony management had a chance to interfere.
To be fair, the a-mount would be gone without Sony so be thankful that Sony brought it back from the near dead.
E-mount was designed for ultimate compactness and aps-c to complement a-mount. The RX1 proved compact full frame is desirable. Consumers and journalists were begging Sony of full frame e-mount and so they delivered it overcoming the technical challenges.
Hopefully, these are first generation issues, and not physical limitations of the mount, that will be improved upon with the 2nd gen FE cameras. After all, there was a massive improvement between the iPhone and iPhone 3G.
I agree these issues are probably related to this being first generation and proably will be fixed in newer cameras.
I do however contend that it was a shortsighted error to make the diameter of E mount smaller than A and that does create problems by forcing Sony to work so close to the size limitations imposed by a too small mount.
Agreed, if they could do it again I suspect they would make the mount a bit bigger.
Canon has a 120mp apc H cmos sensor..aproximately 29x20mm that will take 9.5 frames / second.
It was anounced in 2010 and Canon plans to realease it at the same time or slightly after Sony releases its new stacked sensor.
For those not familiar with H it is bigger than C but smaller than FF.
I’m thinking that aps-h might be a better idea for a pro grade e-mount body. It would solve many issues, there might be the flexibility for IBIS (though Sony is opposed to it – philosophically or to keep size down) and the only issue it would raise is that ultra wide is a tad more difficult.
Nonsense. They specifically stated (before we saw FE) that it was designed to keep the FF option open in the future.
And you must be unaware of the fact that the mount is larger than both the Leica and Nikon mounts….
These internet myths are so amusing.
The mount would work better with a larger diameter regardless of why they built it so small.
How would it work better?
Be specific.
Larger diameter would allow more clearence for lots of stuff Sony has not anticipated
IBIS
More room for better seals
More room for new special purpous adapters that are not yet being made..swing/tilt..variable length macro adapter…
By giving no extra room they have made desighning anything to work with the system more difficult.
No one can predict everything that may be done with the system in the future thats why it is smarter to desighn enough clearence to accomadate the unexpected.
I haven’t seen any interview that specifically states the mount diameter is too small or too shallow to incorporate IBIS (and if they did state it, I would highly doubt it.) Mark Weir said in an interview that the current form factor of the NEX cameras wouldn’t allow for it as the bodies are designed to be as small as possible, which says nothing about the throat of the lens mount. He was specifically talking about body depth, not even flange distance.
The throat of the lens mount is 9.1mm larger in diameter than the smallest FF lens mount. From what I recall, the A900 sensor has less than 3mm linear amplitude. More importantly, it’s about distance of the rear lens element and rear lens element diameter, more than what’s discussed here. Because even a 17mm Canon TSE using full shift, still does not vignet any more on the A7R than it does on a Canon FF body (http://pf.nl/hands-on-sony-alpha-7r-metabones-adapter-eos-lenzen/).
Seals would still easily fit, see above. And unexpected? It’s too small for the unexpected? A lot of gut feelings and hot air, no proof that the lens mount is too small for anything worth mentioning.
Zohee
I have retracted my statement about mount diameter so this part of the discusion is now moot.
See the reason above.
Great information Zohee35, thank you for posting.
For image stabilization, is the limiting factor the body size or the mount size? Do you have any proof to backup this claim. Your statement “no possibility” would indicate you have positive proof.
In previous sar interview with sony exec stated nex will never have ibis because lens mount does not provide enough clearence.
That’s unfortunate, but I would put more credence to the statement if it were issued by the engineering department rather than an executive who probably has no design background.
The executives make the decisions then the engineers have to make it work anyway.
If you’re referring to the Mark Weir interview, he did not state the mount is too small, he said the current bodies are designed to be as small as possible, specifically in terms of depth. Not the mount.
I just thoght of something and therefore I must actually dissagree with my own statements.
If sony had made the E mount diameter the same as A mount people would damage thier cameras by trying to put A mount lenses on.
Thats why they had to make it smaller.
So you heard it here first…I am retracting my comments about the E mount diameter.
I haven’t been able to re-create this on my A7. What I get (using a lens instead of the body cap) is some ‘purple fringing’ along the bottom of the frame. Nothing at 9:00 or like what’s shown in the example image. I’m not sure the purple fringing is light leak because when I do the same test on my D700 or V1 I also get odd artifacts.
Is the problem supposed to be inherent in all A7/A7r?
Sony never stops to amuse me, this is just the cherry on top of the cake, it’s a sign that I made the right decision.
Roger from Lensrentals did that really great tear-down of the camera and noted that there wasn’t any real visible weather sealing materials, gaskets, etc. I’m sure the case is well-made and properly engineered (Sony’s generally good at that) but it’s not crazy to say it’s not really a weather-sealed camera.
really? cuz i just pee on one A7R and it’s still working… awesome machine!
Here are the A7R insides.:
http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2014/01/the-a7r-teardown-a-look-inside-sonys-awesome-full-frame-mirrorless-camera
Can you spot the weather sealing?
No?
That’s because there aren’t any.
Yes another unscientific meanless test by Kai.
Weather sealing is probably not to the level of 5d mk3. The protection on the a7 is better than previous models like NEX line. Certainly doors and other openings are better protected. Even on NEX line knobs were isolated so this continues.
There is also Kai’s test
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUJc83wV6iA
As for light leaks I doubt many of the reports. I tested mine in bright daylight and no light leak is apparent even at iso 25600 and 30 second exposure. Important is to turn off the noise reduction.
The report with the camera E mount cap on is ridiculous. The cap itself is not designed to block light especially during long exposure with high sensitivity. It does no justice to SAR to publish these.
Why would you choose to illustrate a post which is exclusively about the a7/r with the weather-sealing diagram of the a99!?
sorry for the confusion. Removed it.
E mount is designed for full frame from the start. There are no issues with full frame that I know of being owner of the A7 and most of the FE lenses.
Of course a troll cannot be stopped only with objective information so…
What does lens/mount type have anything to do with weather sealing? I’m a little confused.
had to send my A7 for repair last week. i went out shooting in a little rain and it had a bug right afterwards that didn’t go away…
that’s when i realized the weather sealing actually sucked.
What was the “Bug” your talking about, and did the repair report indicate the cause of failure? Was it attributed to water intrusion?
everytime i turned on the camera a message appeared. something like:
” this accessory is not supported. try something compatible or whatever.” but there was no accessory plugged in. the message then re-appeared several times while using the camera. you could live with it, but it was like on-screen spam.
i dont know the cause of failure. i got an email from the repair service that they needed to order spare parts, and that it would take 3-4 more days.
that’s all i know for now…
Thanks for the info.
Leave testing cameras to professionals, please. I’m pretty sure there’s no camera in the world that won’t leak some light with plastic body cap on…
Just look at the picture that body cap took:
http://community.sony.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/7267i666D40E60D4018C4/image-size/medium?v=mpbl-1&px=-1
Everyone has a right to review their camera.
This seems to indicate that the body cap leaks light, since you must remove the body cap to attach a lens I guess it’s a moot point.
They’re still excellent cameras despite this supposed issue, I actually question the validity of this test. It seems that only a couple of people have been able to replicate this issue, and only
under extreme conditions. I doubt it’s a real concern for the other 99.99% of us.
Pretty much every owner of the A7r can replicate these circumstances. “extreme conditions” is a matter of opinion shoot a lot in decent light you will never see it, shoot a lot of exposures in low light and high ISO { EG astro photographers } it is a total failure .As a low ISO daylight, or flash shooter its no biggie to me but that doesn’t make it ok.
It’s best not to speak for “pretty much every owner” when you have no statistics to back that up.
Yep , maybe he should have said everybody bar SAR fanboys can replicate this result lol
Except that all the polls sofar show that it’s actually a minority that can show light leaks with native lenses (rather than bodycaps or 3rd party adapters). In fact, even Dpreview reviewers said they couldn’t reproduce it.
But let’s not let reason get into the way of some ranting and childish finger pointing.
So far the evidence is anecdotal, there are likely thousands of A7/7r cameras in use and only a couple of reports under unusual conditions. And this condition would not be observed by astro photographers who generally take pictures in almost total darkness. Im sure you don’t own an A7/7r but if you did and experienced this issue you could return it for repair.
How is it a failure for astro photographers who shoot in almost complete darkness?
My A77 does that too!! maybe thats broke too, so does my rental A99!! theyre all bad!!
Never had this issue with my A99 or any other Sony camera.
The light come from the cap, make sure there is not any light in your room, cover the front of lens carefully and test again. And maybe 0,001% get this issue ?
Someone has to show that this happens even with with a screw on lens cap, with a native lens sans any adapters and such.
They did, google a7r light leak
No wonder they’re made in Thailand.
So – if I take a 20-30 second exposure at ISO 16,000 or above, while shining a flashlight at the lens mount I **might** get a light leak?
That’s way to much work – it’s much easier with a Holga!
Yes, and through a plastic body cap.
Check out the image:
http://community.sony.com/t5/Alpha-NEX-Cameras/A7-A7R-Light-leaks/td-p/254835
There’s photographs of Bigfoot on the internet too
Hi folks!
1. Do not be so angry with SONY (hey Sony learn from Nikon and Apple!).
2. Be angry with the cost cutting management – and yourself for asking for low prices
3. Censored by U.S. & China-Gov.
4. Be happy that A7x has some leaks… it’s very modern (see NSA & Snowman) it’s a free publicity for Sony and the alpha or beta products…
5. Censored by U.S. & China-Gov.
6. Censored by U.S. & China-Gov.
Well… have a nice carneval – have a nice life – have a nice tax invoice ;-)) for financing the aristocracy in Wash in gton
Greetings from a country where federal and local tax is low – no, not Europe, not some Caribian Island… from a state on the left side of NY…
Tony for Sony
here the rain just stopped and fills like the sun will shine thru clouds one more time before it “goes to the other side”, but is night and no sun till tomorrow…
Let me preface this by saying that the light leak that I was able to reproduce were under extreme conditions and should not 90% of users…(the other 10% that do night/star trails should be concerned).
I tried with the body cap, kits lens, and 35mm f2.8 and I have light leaks with all of them. All tests were done outside. Take a look at my flickr set. All the exif info is available as well.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/104699863@N05/sets/72157641761263313/
Do I care that my camera has potential light leaks?..No. It won’t affect my shooting style because I happen to fall in that 90% category that won’t be affected by this.
People that shoot star trails should be concerned? Is that because stars shine as bright as a torch shined into the mount? Oh yes of course it is. People that shoot star trails don’t shoot in complete darkness do they?
“It won’t affect my shooting style because I happen to fall in that 90% category that won’t be affected by this.” – Ridiculous argument. On a same basis Weather Sealing is meaningless cause it won’t affect over 90% of your photos. Hell: Probably ISO above 3200 is useless as well cause over 90% of your photos are made below it.
SAR, please remove the quote about light leak from the front page of this story. Bad journalism, that person is only using the lens cap, not taping the entire lens so as to have zero light potential through the cap. You really are misleading your viewers. The issue is real, but it appears a majority of folks are just putting the cap on, taking a high ISO 30 sec shot and jumping on the “me too” bandwagon. My A7r does not exhibit the issue, nor does a friends A7, again, when account for the obvious fact that the lens cap IS NOT a real way to test for this issue.
Check out the image that the “lens cap” took:
http://community.sony.com/t5/Alpha-NEX-Cameras/A7-A7R-Light-leaks/td-p/254835
Leaks have been proven with native lenses, just as with 3rd party lenses with adapters.
You can find more info in sony customer forums.
I was able to reproduce the light leaks as well. All the exif info is intact on my flickr set.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/104699863@N05/with/12884542075
I carefully tested my a7R with an FE lens mounted. I covered most of the lens with a black bag, used a 30 second exposure at high ISO and easily reproduced the light leak. I have shipped the camera to Sony’s Laredo service center for repair and am waiting to hear from them.
HEY PEOPLE, you have to use gaffers tape and 110% tape out everything but the mount. The lens cap and body cap obviously leak light, in no way are they expected to be completely free of light leak. For crying out loud,you can see daylight along the sides of the FE 35 cap. With caps I get horrible light leak at 6 and 9 o’clock, AS EXPECTED. Tape up the lens ( I used black plastic taped down to lens mount and shines a light on mount in direct sunlight), and no light leak whatsoever.
WARNING! Looks waterproof to me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7hvJTGW4BA
EVERY CAMERA CAN PASS TEST LIKE THAT.
I did exactly the same with Sony A200 which is considered the most cheap-plastic DSLR Sony ever made with no sealing what so ever. Hell – people complained that you can hear plastic cracking if you squeeze the grip too hard. Yet it passed “faucet test” perfectly fine.
Take the lens cap off BEFORE putting it under the tap!
So when there’s nothing to talk about, admin started generating rumors by himself..
I can tell you guys that the A7 with the FE55 is not 100% moisture proof! Was shooting in heavy rain for a bit here and there throughout the day. Once I entered indoor, which has heat, the inner glass of my FE55 fogged up completely!!! Scared the crap out of me, though it did dry up after a while. Not shooting in the rain for me anymore.
Moisture seal is quite different to weather seal!
Lenses and cameras fogging up when going in and out of damp or humid environments is completely normal for any camera. Nothing to do with weather sealing. Happened to me a lot when I shot Canon in the pacific and Singapore. Especially if you are going from a humid or damp environment outside and walk into a air conditioned space or vice versa…
Enjoy fungus in your 1000 dollar lens!
I used to get fogging in my “weather sealed” canon 24-70. It would often happen when going from outside when it was hot / humid into a cool / air conditioned space. Putting it in a sealed plastic bag prior to going inside would mitigate it. Try carrying a zip lock bag in your camera bag for these situations.
Weather sealing is a bit overrated. Camera makers just add a thin rubber flange inside the mount. It’s not hermetically sealed.
A lens fogging up going from wet cold into heat scared the crap out of you? I’ve been in a similar place in nam man.
Canon admitted to and fixed a similar issue – done. Nikon denied and failed to take action – loss of photographers, lawsuit, etc. What will Sony do? It’s pretty obvious that this is a real issue, not just some leaked rumor. Denial won’t help anyone at this point.
Similar as in the 5DMKIII could even throw off the metering in daylight conditions? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec7mACH2Mpg
Where as here we’re talking long exposures at very high ISO, in most cases not even with native lenses but rather 3rd party adapters or body caps?
This guy is an idiot, all DSLRs allow light in through the viewfinder that effects the metering. Either have your eye to the viewfinder or put down the curtain.
Not impressed when you change your headline and remove the light leak reference. That’s the same as Sony reming the weathersealing references on their websites. Sneaky and not trustworthy.
There are no light leak issues with the cameras. Only loose lens caps and cheap 3rd party adapters that are too loose.
Do you have a7r?
Many of us have light leaks with native lenses.
Check the sony’s support forum for more info.
http://community.sony.com/t5/Alpha-NEX-Cameras/A7-A7R-Light-leaks/td-p/254835
Have I used an A7R, yes. Do I currently own one, no. I decided it wasn’t a camera for me. I have seen that post on commented on it in the past. I haven’t seen anything conclusive that shows it except shots with lens cap and no real world examples where the image was affected unlike the sensor reflections on the a7 where that issue has real images showing it.
This image is not real life?
http://community.sony.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/7267i666D40E60D4018C4/image-size/medium?v=mpbl-1&px=-1
Hmm my reply to you disappeared. I will refind the links that show the original image posted and the forum at xitek where it came from. It’s a canon lens 17-40 with a 3rd party adapter causing the light leak.
hmm they disappeared again but here is the link to xitek http://forum.xitek.com/thread-1247193-3-1-1.html
the links I post keep disappearing so type “主题：也许是个例，请各位A7r/A7用户检查一下你们的镜头接口” into google to see.
I think it looks cool!
Look at my flickr set.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/104699863@N05/sets/72157641761263313/
All done with native EF mount lenses
All examples are 25600 ISO 30 seconds or so, only one has 3200 ISO, and that looks totally black to me.. So what is the fucking use case for 25600 ISO and long exposures? Use low iso long exposure, or high iso short exposure, or try to do some art photos, all seems to work pretty OK with the cam. Be glad for the feature, dude.
it’s the built in Holga filter.
Hi this is my response from Sony Customer Service relating to light leakage and possible moister penetration,
“In a very specific condition such as using a ND(neutral density) filter in a very bright area, the camera may be affected by the outside light.
However, there is no problem for photographing in the normal situations.
When photographing with a slow shutter speed in the very bright surroundings, it is generally recommended that the camera mount should be surrounded.
Something such as a dark cloth will reduce the effect of outside light when shooting in this specific situation.
In regards to your concern about moisture entry, I would like to reassure you that the light leakage picked up via the sensor is not indicative of any structural integrity in the camera itself.
As the camera is working within specification there is no fix/repair for this particular issue, however your feedback has been recorded and passed on to the appropriate departments.
Thank you again, I will now be closing this case as there is no further action required.
Not a problem for Sony it seems.
I suspect there’s probably tolerance issues at play. So some people probably do have issues with light leak. But the vast majority that claim they do need to do a control test first. I used the native 35 mm f2.8 and used electrical tape around the lenshood and cap. The first thing I noticed in a closed bathroom with no lights is iso 25600 produces color noise around the edges on it’s own. I’m guessing heat noise? Shinning a flashlight all around the edges doesn’t change the pattern. Neither does repeating the test out in the sun. Once you drop the iso from 25600, it starts to go away. So i’m not entirely convinced iso 25600 will give you clean results since it produces it’s own false positives in 0 light environments.
Honestly, if you really have a light leak, a low iso set at 30 seconds should be enough. Shining a flashlight at a leak on a 30 second exposure is going to show streaks regardless of iso. It also eliminates the false positives higher iso settings produce. Plus I can’t think of anybody who takes high iso 30 second exposures in real life…so if that’s what it takes to show your leak, it’s a non issue.
I did the test with native lenses (kit and 35mm Zeiss). At ISO25600 I had intense light leaks. I even had light leaks at ISO3200.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/104699863@N05/12884931694/in/set-72157641761263313
This was taken with
FE 28-70mm F3.5-5.6 OSS
Very slight light leaks. You have view image on a black background
I couldn’t see it but only looked at in the comments here. If it’s there it must be slight. I think the colour cast on the FE 35 is worse but I don’t consider that a problem.
I can see it on the desktop version of this site but it didn’t show on my phone.
Is an umbrella too obvious a solution.
The people that actually found this out and tested this, do you actually take photos or just do stupid crap like this with unreasonable exposure times to “prove” there are problems with a product?
– Those exposures don’t really concern anyone but astrophotographers and even then they don’t use ISO that high
– Now shining a flashlight through that to get light leaks are even more unreasonable
So after accounting for all of this, this is the ABSOLUTELY WORST CASE SCENARIO that won’t affect people’s photos for 99% of the time and what you have proved is that there isn’t a problem, just a very VERY picky and bored people with too much money that doesn’t take photos trying to find a problem that is well within the error correction range.
The practicality of the light leak test is similar to test crashing a car at 1000 kph by putting it on a cart with jet engines. The result is smash! But what does it mean to an ordinary driver and the manufacturer ? That the car can be made somewhat ‘better’ ? At what cost and to what benefit ?
Wake up, Testers.
Funny, all of these Sony-defenders bashing the light leaked test are missing the point; the test case is extreme because nobody want to wait 5 hours in ISO 50 to look for light leak. Even the light leak may not affect most people, IT SHOULDN’T HAPPEN IN THE FIRST PLACE!!
No, it’s funny that their galleries are nothing but these test photos and when they do have photos, they’re not very good.
And it’s not Sony-defending, I wouldn’t blame it on any manufacturer if they had this problem at that extreme exposures.
Then I don’t take you seriously anyway because you problem do “cosplay photography” anyway so your opinion is already invalid. LOL
Ahahahahahahahaha! Light Leak….LOL
When I’ll find a problem in a real picture I will search a solution. Don’t waste your time searching pointless problems. You could find how many “problems” as many as you likes… LOL
Do you use ND filters and shallow DOF with long exposure?
That´s real life situation. A7R has problems and Sony should better acknowledge them and search for the fix.
http://community.sony.com/t5/Alpha-NEX-Cameras/A7-A7R-Light-leaks/td-p/254835/page/8
Bottom line, it’s unacceptable that people buying a camera for long exposure landscapes or astro-photography end up with something that’s useless for their needs. We were quick enough to point the finger at canon over the 5d iii issues…
Yes I do. Last week a 10 minutes exposure, no problem at all. I’ve heard it all before ( Nikkor 24/70 light leak). Funny…never had a single shot ruined. 😉
That’s how totally clueless person looks like.
Roger Cicala, who did a teardown of the A7R, did note that he didn’t see any gaskets inside it.
Gaskets are only one type of weather sealing.
Yes, perhaps, but it’s the type commonly used in weather sealed DSLRs, and in the Olympus E-M1/E-M5, for example.
Anyway, in the comments to the article at Imaging Resource, someone asked Roger Cicala about the sealing, and this was his answer:
“The fact that it has few screw holes and minimal body pieces is
positive, as is the 1/4″ lip around the clamshell seal of the front and
back. But I saw no gaskets, particularly would have liked to see one
around the EVF which apparently depends on the rubber eyecup for a seal.
Personally I won’t take one in the rain without a baggie over it. But that holds true for me with any other camera.”
Just did some test with various adapters. From Metabones, Fotodiox and generic ones. All of them have varying degrees of failure. I taped off different areas to see where it was failing most. Most of them failed at where the adapted lens met the adapter.
One of my friends had his Voightlander 50 F/1.2 come flying off of his lens recently because the adapter was too loose, so it motivated me to adjust my adapters (all of them have adjustment flanges). After I adjusted the adapter and redid the test, there were no light leaks.
As for FE lenses, I don’t own any so I can’t make comments on that, but adjusting my adapters fixed my issues.
Product defect and Misrepresentation , sony should recall and fix
Recall all of the two affected cameras?
Really pathetic. It should be obvious by now that they have no accountability unless there is a class action suit. Only Olympus seems to actually produce a well tested, supported and competent product. Buyers should be aware (BEWARE) that companies like Sony and Nikon rush their product to market, avoid customer service dealing with their product defects and wont own up to their mistakes until petitioned to do so by a court of law. It is practically “The Asian business model”.
And yet Olympus has been embroiled in massive corporate fraud, loses money hand over fist with the camera division, and has almost non-existent support for the few buyers in NA. So, yeah, they’re a shining example of how to do it right…
What about the “pro” 12-40 falling apart , failed E-M5 bodies, body coating falling off and plenty others if you care to look. The onlyu reason you are liable to hear more about a Canon or Nikon issue { all brands have them} are due to their huge number of sales compared to mFT. Canon sells more of its base DSLR than the whole of mFT put together.
Enlighten me. Why is the test done with a $1 body cap instead of using a lens with lightsealed (lens cap and more) front ?
How do you know that the testresult doesn’t show that the body cap isn’t perfect?
( where are all the OVF guys saying that liftleak is normal , it’s part of the OVF nature)
Until somebody puts a camera with lens under the tap (as has been done with Oly E-M5+12-50 and Oly E-M1+12-40) and it continues to work well, all the claims of weather-sealing are pure BS.
Those cameras don’t work well the image quality is dreadful so there must be something seriously flawed inside them lol
Which cameras are dreadful ?
Weather-sealed doesn’t necessarily mean splash proof. Sony claims it is “moisture resistant”, which may only mean that it withstands foggy conditions or a light drizzle. I doubt that A7R is sealed to the same standard as Olympus and Pentax are known for.
Seems the site interface has changed… Anyway, I saw a video on YouTube of a Russian man demonstrating the A7 or A7r weatherproof by putting the camera under a water tap. He showed that there were no issues afterwards.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7hvJTGW4BA
Does this count?
Use the camera as it should be used. Otherwise you will always find problems. No matter which camera you will try….
Just tested my A7r with the native FE35mm lens and there is no leak at all. Previously when I was using a metabones M to E mount adapter I did notice light leakage. I sent an email to them and they acknowledge the problem and promise to send a replacement. But it took them a month to reply and by them I’ve already sold my adapter and got a voigtlander instead. Tested it again and there is no light leakage but it’s not weather sealed. I assume no adapter out there is weather sealed and not all Sony FE mount lenses are weather sealed as well.
I’ve just run the test using my 28-70 FE kit lens (see http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/53234716) and there is no leaks, even when rocking the lens on the mount at all angles. A tempest in a body cap. Chicken Little lives.
Sony CH Site list writes A7r is dust an weather resistant design. No sign of hiding anything
Weatherproof/moisture resistant/sealed!? My ass, Sony, my a7r took a splash of seawater while shooting the Oregon coast yesterday and know what? It now have a mind of its own-dialing/setting its own aperture, focal length and what not!!! Good job Sony-NOT!!!
Come on, was it really a splash or more of a dip?
I’ve had some rain on my NEX 5N on several occasions, thats not even advertised as weather resistant, and never had any issues with it.