Tag Archives: Sony A7iii

Gear, Landscapes, Nature

Testing the Sony A7iii in the Snow

Since I bought the Sony A7iii, I haven’t had a good chance to get out and test its abilities much.  There have been a few pictures of the cat, a few of my family, but nothing that really had me focusing on the camera and the photography.  With some free time on a Sunday afternoon, the snow started falling and a winter weather advisory was announced.  When I hear something like that, it’s a signal to pack up the gear and get in the woods.

The snow was falling fast, but that didn’t bother me.  I made sure to bring a towel so I could cover the camera and lens with it while the camera was sitting on the tripod.  This kept most of the snow off of it and didn’t test out Sony’s weatherproofing too much.  The bag that I carried, a Peak Design Sling 10l however, was completely covered in snow and water.  To my surprise, the inside of the bag was dry.  I expect that performance from my Billingham’s, but seeing the Peak Design bag do that well gives me confidence about taking it out in more inclement weather.  I may have to give the Peak Design Shell camera cover another look for situations like this.

The kit I went out with today was the Sony A7iii with the Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 mounted.  With the snow coming down strong, I didn’t want to be changing lenses, so I left the 50mm at home.  Also in the Sling 10L was the usual assortment of landscape/nature accessories; tripod, remote shutter release, Breakthrough X2 10-stop ND filter, cleaning supplies, batteries, etc.  I only attached the ND for a single shot by a lake, but I was glad to have packed it for that.

The Sony is vastly different than my old Fuji X camera’s, but it’s a camera and the most important controls (shutter speed, aperture, ISO) are easy to set and now that the camera is configured to my liking, using it is becoming 2nd nature.  The processing of RAW files is still a bit foreign to me for the Sony though, especially since I recently switched from Adobe Lightroom to darktable.  As with the Sony menu system, it’s just different and time is needed to master it. Overall, I’m still very happy with the switch and hope to be able to fully utilize the camera and software soon.

Gear

Silencing the Sony A7iii Strap Rings

Now that I’ve had the Sony A7iii camera for a few days now, I’ve come to really enjoy it and get a sense of just how powerful of a tool it can be.  Sure it has some quirks that can be complained about, but overall, it’s an amazing camera considering the price point.

Having said that, one thing has been really bugging me since I first picked it up and that is the strap rings that come on the camera.  They are the usual triangular split rings with plastic cover that every camera has, but for some reason they seem to be much louder that other camera’s I’ve owned.  I took them off for a day, then questioned how I’d attach neck strap and fiddled with a tripod-mount strap for a bit. Once I got tired of only having that option, I thought about how to quiet them down so I won’t hear them when shooting video.  My solution was a pair of rubber O-rings on each lug that keep the triangle split-ring in a mostly static position until pressure is applied to it.

As you can see, there are 2 different sizes of O-rings.  To install, I removed the plastic clip and the triangle split-ring.  I then slid the larger O-ring first followed by the smaller O-ring onto the strap lug.  Holding those in place with one hand, I reinstalled the triangle split-ring on the lug and then slid the plastic cover back on.  And just like that, no more clatter from loose split-rings.  The nice thing about this is that on the right side grip, my hand naturally rests just underneath the split-ring as it sticks straight out.  So I’m not fighting with it when I go to grip the camera.  The split-rings will still freely move when a strap is attached and they pivot without issue, but there is just enough pressure on them to keep them moving around by themselves.  The beautiful sound of silence.

The sizes I got for the O-rings are below.  They were each about 50 cents from a local hardware store.

2 of the bigger O-rings: 1/4″ x 1/2″ x 1/8″ #9

2 of the smaller O-rings: 7/16″ x 9/16″ x 1/16″

Gear

The Siren call of Full Frame

You don’t need a full frame sensor.  Full frame just makes the camera’s more expensive and the lenses bigger.  APS-C is the best compromise.  These are the things that ran through my head as I was hitting the “Place Order” button on a brand new Sony A7iii camera and Sony 50mm f/1.8 prime lens.  The rational part of my brain was drowned out by images of crazy bokeh, status and the glorious size of the 35mm full frame digital sensor.  As I placed the order, I kept thinking of the times that I scoffed at the Sony cameras, the company in general and the fanboi’s who fawned over them.  I was a Fuji shooter, I had a taste for the classic controls, the beautiful bodies and the petite ‘Fujicrons’.

So what happened you ask?  I started shooting more video, more low light stuff and was a bit let down by the path Fuji was taking.  After starting to get more serious into video shooting, my X-Pro2 was making things a bit more difficult.  Those classic controls I love so much for photography make video shooting a bit more difficult than necessary.  Complete lack of IBIS in any model except the X-H1 was a bother.  Battery life was always a concern.  No real 3rd party lens support was a bit concerning. The reasons started to pile up.  Soon enough, I was engrossed in YouTube review video’s of the Sony A7iii and comparisons.  After a month or so of researching, I decided to take the plunge.  I was in the Fuji ecosystem for over 5 years, so it was time for a change.  I only lasted for 2 years in the micro 4/3 system, so 5 was an eternity!

The change concluded with me selling all of my Fuji X gear (except my X-T1 and 18-55mm for backup) for a Sony A7iii, Sony 50mm f/1.8 and a Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8.  That Tamron is a killer lens at just over a pound in weight but a bright f/2.8 aperture throughout the zoom range.

So how does this new full frame wonder compare size wise to my beloved Fuji cameras and lenses?  Let’s have a look at a few cellphone pictures since both cameras I own are in the pictures.

The above is my X-T1 with the Fuji 18-55mm mounted next to the new Sony A7iii with 50mm f/1.8.  The cameras are essentially the same size, albeit one has a full frame 35mm sensor. The lenses are different yes, but if I had bought the kit Sony lens, a 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6, then those sizes would have been very comparable as well.  Bottom line is that these are very similar in size and that is quite an amazing feat.

What are some other pros for the Sony?  The Sony has twice the battery life as the Fuji cameras, even the brand new X-T3, X-T30 or X-H1.  The Sony has IBIS, which is amazing.  I remember having this on my Olympus OMD E-M5 (when I used a micro 4/3 system back from 2012 to 2013) and thinking back then how amazing that was.  Moving to Fuji, I resigned myself to rely on lenses with built in IS and for photography, I was generally fine with this.  Once I started doing some more video however, that changed quickly.  In a test shot, I had the Tamron 28-75mm zoomed to 75mm and was taking shots at 1/10 of a second handheld that were very sharp with no signs of camera shake.  The autofocus of the Sony is a level ahead of the Fuji system as well.  In single AF-S mode, both camera’s are about equal I’d say, but when it comes to continuous tracking and face detection, the Sony just leaps ahead.  Face and eye detect on the Sony is something to behold.

The bad things for the Sony is the menu system.  I won’t go into detail since it’s been covered for years, but you better read the manual a few times, watch some youtube videos and then customize the buttons and quick menu so you never have to jump back into it.  Now that I have the camera set up to my liking, it’s actually a joy to use.  The other negatives are due to physics.  Yes, the Sony has some nice compact glass to use like the Sony Zeiss 35mm f/2.8 or even smaller Rokinon 35mm f/2.8, but most of the lenses are bigger since it’s a full frame camera.  As long as you expect that, it’s not a big issue.

Long story short, as much as I loved my Fuji X gear, I found it was time to move on to something with a bit more performance that will make my shooting easier.  I haven’t had the chance to get out and take tons of test shots, but I will be soon.  In the meantime, here are some typical cat pictures until it stops raining outside.