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Anyone using the Sony A7?

 

Any thoughts or experience?

 

I've just bought one but haven't had the chance to use it yet. Looks to be a good lightweight full frame option, but I am a little doubtful about the quality of the kit zoom lens.

 

Any thoughts and observations welcome.

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Thanks for the reply Mark.

 

I am aware of some shortcomings with the A7R, however, it's the A7 I am questioning here, which, if I understand correctly does not suffer the same problems(?)

 

Hopefully DK will jump in here and clarify the difference, if any.

 

The camera can be returned at anytime within the next 7 days.

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Thanks Linda, I did read that. I would routinely replace the kit lens with Zeiss anyway in due course. I have yet to use a Sony lens that I like!!!!

 

One accepts that the Sony lenses aren't that great. What beats me is that Sony can produce a full frame, possibly, flagship camera body(?) and sell it with a C**p lens (note the capital C)

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Thanks Linda, I did read that. I would routinely replace the kit lens with Zeiss anyway in due course. I have yet to use a Sony lens that I like!!!!

 

One accepts that the Sony lenses aren't that great. What beats me is that Sony can produce a full frame, possibly, flagship camera body(?) and sell it with a C**p lens (note the capital C)

I think almost all camera manufacturers are guilty of this.Except perhaps Fuji.At least that's been my experience. Their 18-55 f2.8/4 was probably one of the best zooms I've used.

 

L

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I agree Linda. I haven't tried the Fuji Zooms, but their prime lenses are extremely good. With the exception of the 18mm, which is truly appalling in all areas!

 

Just for any followers of this thread, I have received some pictures from a bloke in Australia who has used the Sony 28-70 on his NEX 6 with very impressive results. From what I've seen of his pictures, if I don't like it on the A7, I'll use it on my NEX.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Ok, just to update anyone interested, I have returned the A7 and its lens for a refund. The lens is utterly appalling, maybe I had a bad copy, I don't know. Everyone I have spoken to is telling much the same story

 

The A7 itself is pretty good as far as I could tell, and I'm sure it performs well with the Zeiss 35 and 55 lenses.

 

Anyone thinking of buying the A7 "kit" with zoom lens..............BEWARE!!!!!!!

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I'm using the A7R and on my second kit lens. I bought one, and returned it as it was unusable for any photographic purposes (maybe the right size to flush down drains to clear them). I bought a second one on the promise of return if not OK, and this one is fine. It's not a wonderful lens when OSS stabilisation is turned on, but it cleans up well with OSS turned off. The difference is surprising and it's annoying that stabilisation is a menu item you can not set as a shortcut.

 

I have now been through over £1000-worth of eBay used wide angles - 15mm Heliar (colour shading impossible, sharpness superb), 21mm Color-Skopar (colour shading bad, pixel smearing spoils outer region sharpness at all apertures), 17mm f/4 Canon FD (fungus ruined), 20mm f/2.8 Canon FD (same), 19mm Vivitar f/3.8 (surprisingly good), 17mm f/3.5 Tokina RMC (very good really, keeping, getting a tilt mount for it), finally 20mm Canon FDn f/2.8 (good condition, no problems, appears to be almost perfect for the A7R).

 

I'm beginning to conclude, too, that the shutter-shock shake problem with the A7R is related to using IS/OSS lenses, or perhaps even just AF lenses. It hardly ever affects any of my manual lens shots unless using a long lens (which is fairly pointless with the A7R, it's really like a large format camera or rollfilm - wide to portrait range). Yet I can get it apparently making the kit zoom lose sharpness at settings which should be 100% stabilised, but can't be because if you use OSS, the elements seem to move off centre and make the left side unsharp, so you turn it off - but the shutter shock seems to affect the lens with OSS turned off. Everything is kept in place by being powered up. The lens won't even focus on infinity unless powered up. I think the way the elements are held makes them prone to moving if a sudden vibration is transmitted.

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Thats interesting David. It would seem clear to me that Sony haven't done their homework on this lens. I did everything I could think of to make it work, but it wasn't going to happen. The only use for this lens is as a vase to put flowers in, it is apparently waterproof afterall!!!!

 

And thats all it has going for it.

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Thats interesting David. It would seem clear to me that Sony haven't done their homework on this lens. I did everything I could think of to make it work, but it wasn't going to happen. The only use for this lens is as a vase to put flowers in, it is apparently waterproof afterall!!!!

 

And thats all it has going for it.

there is probably a sampling issue with this lens, but I don't believe it is a bad design or what so ever. It is just a kit lens. I tried one on the A7R, that is a more demanding camera (I was not planning to buy it, but David asked on another forum for samples in order to figure out if his first copy was normally bad or a bad sample) and the result was OK for what you expect from a kit lens. If you want to get the best of the new A7® cameras, wait for the 24-70 f4 or get the 35f2.8.

 

Regards

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