camera, Sony Alpha 7

My thoughts about the Sony Alpha 7r II

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So Sony announced their newest flagship camera and it got a lot of hype. And after my initial enthusiasm cooled down a bit I collect my thoughts and ask myself the essential question: Would the a7rII improve my photography if I upgraded from my Alpha 7?

sony_alpha-7r-ii-_05

Image quality

The specs tell us that the camera will sport a 42MP back side illuminated (BSI) sensor.

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Uncategorized

Useful Accessory for the Sony Alpha 7: A L-Bracket

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What is an L-bracket?

An L-bracket is a peace of metal which serves about three functions:

  • It makes it possible to mount the camera in portrait orientation on a tripod
  • It is a more solid connection to the camera than quick release plates because it has a much bigger area of contact to the camera.
  • It increases the size of the grip and makes holding the camera easier.
lwinkel-4
my L-bracket

For me an L-brackets has improved the everyday experience of my Sony Alpha 7 and I think too few people know about L-brackets so I want to share my experience in this post.

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lenses, Uncategorized

Old against New: Zeiss 2.8/28 vs Sony FE 2/28 vs Minolta MC 2/28

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I wanted to see how my new FE 2/28 compares against my older manual lenses, so I ran a comparison between four lenses:

  • The Minolta MD 2.8/28 is very small, light and affordable
  • The Carl Zeiss Distagon 2.8/28 T* enjoys a very good reputation and it is a bit more expensive at around 250€.
  • The Minolta MC 2/28 is the oldest and fastest of the bunch, it was introduced in 1975. My copy has some fungus in it and other copies might be better.
  • The Sony FE 2/28 is brand new and the most expensive one at 450€.
DSC03689
Minolta MD 2.8/28 | Zeiss 2.8/28 | Sony FE 2/28 | Minolta MC 2/28

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camera, Review

Samsung NX1 – Impressions and thoughts from a Sony a7 user

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My friend Matt had a review copy of the Samsung NX1 at his hand so we met up and I could get some hands on experience with this new camera which created quite some buzz.

This is in no way an in depth review, just some thoughts and impressions after using it for about five hours.

NX1a7

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lenses, Minolta SR mount

The rated List of Minolta MD/MC Lenses on the Sony a7

138 Comments

I like and use Minolta SR lenses a lot and this is a growing database of them.

Please read my about lens ratings page to understand how the ratings are to be read.

All ratings are based on my experience with these lenses on my fullframe Sony Alpha 7.

If you purchase the lens through one of the affiliate-links in this article we get a small compensation with no additional cost to you.

Wide-Angle lenses

Minolta MD FISH-EYE Rokkor 16mm 1:2.8 (3-3.5/5)

  • MC16f2p8f/2.8: The center is excellent, and most of the image  sharp enough, midframe sharpness is actually lower than near corner sharpness wile the far corners are unsharp. Vignetting is surprisingly low.
  • f/5.6: noticeably better than f/4, most of the image is very sharp, only the far corners are unsharp
  • f/11: very good sharpness across the frame. Flare resistance is average and CA pronounced.
  • A rather heavy lens with integrated filters and lens hood. Built quality is excellent

Fisheye lenses are very hard to master, I wasn’t really succesfull at it. But this is a good lens, so good in fact that it also came in Leica R-mount and the same optical design is still used by the current Sony 2.8/16 Fisheye.
There is a younger MD version which is supposedly not as good.

full resolution samples | test 

Get the lens at ebay.de | ebay.com | ebay.co.uk (affiliate links)

Minolta MD 20mm 1:2.8 (2/5)

  • MD20At f/2.8 a small central region is sharp, bokeh is ugly and vignetting very noticeable
  • The lens suffers from a very pronounced midzone dip so important parts of the image are unsharp, even stopped down.
  • Ergonomics are great, it is very small and light

It might be that the copy I tested had an issue with the floating elements design which caused the midzone dip.

flickr set | full resolution samples | test | review

Get the lens at ebay.de | ebay.com | ebay.co.uk  (affiliate links)

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