NatureScapes.net Forums

This might just be the ticket for me.

I've been taking my 1DX (now v2), 7D2, A7R2, Rx1R2  and various lenses on my trips to Africa. There are four kinds of batteries in the carry-on not to mention  three different kinds of memory cards, two kinds of card readers and various ext hard disks. The bags become too heavy for me to carry on the long walks in the airports.

If the AF on the A9 is close to the 1DX2 and the new Sony 100-400 as good as the MkII Canon version, I would switch all my Canon gear to Sony in a heartbeat. I can live without the extra reach of the 7D2 plus 400 DO MkII that I carry, or I can use the APS-C feature of the Sony (it may just be about the same except for the drop in MPx count).

Any news/info on the AF of this new camera vs the Canon flagship? It may be too much to hope for, but if it can at least be like the 7D2 it would be enough for me.

Pradeep

Primus wrote:I can live without the extra reach of the 7D2 plus 400 DO MkII that I carry, or I can use the APS-C feature of the Sony (it may just be about the same except for the drop in MPx count).

I wonder how this lens will work with the a6500. That camera has a 24MP crop sensor (1.5x)

Jens Peermann wrote:

Primus wrote:I can live without the extra reach of the 7D2 plus 400 DO MkII that I carry, or I can use the APS-C feature of the Sony (it may just be about the same except for the drop in MPx count).

I wonder how this lens will work with the a6500. That camera has a 24MP crop sensor (1.5x)

Yes of course that is certainly an option, but then you've got another battery to deal with and may not get all the bells and whistles of the A9. The APS-C version of the A9 will drop the pixel count much less than the a6500. 

I suspect the new lens will work just great with any of the A series. 

Primus wrote:
I suspect the new lens will work just great with any of the A series. 

It will work with an E-mount aX camera or aXXXX camera but it will not work with an A-mount aXX camera like the a77 Mk II or a99 Mk II.

I would have been happier if they made an E mount version of the A99II, 20FPS is over kill. 10-12 FPS is adequate for my purposes.

E.J. Peiker wrote:

Primus wrote:
I suspect the new lens will work just great with any of the A series. 

It will work with an E-mount aX camera or aXXXX camera but it will not work with an A-mount aXX camera like the a77 Mk II or a99 Mk II.

Oops, I meant any E or FE mount camera.  Question is, how good is this new lens. I find the 24-70GM to be the sharpest zoom in this range I have used, it is better at 24mm than my Batis 25. 

Pradeep

There's some more information on Brian Smith's website.

Primus wrote:Yes of course that is certainly an option, but then you've got another battery to deal with and may not get all the bells and whistles of the A9. The APS-C version of the A9 will drop the pixel count much less than the a6500.

The a6500 is not completely without bells and whistles either. My favorite is the touch sensor that let's me move the focus area (or point) while looking through the viewfinder. A very helpful feature. And it is an APS-C camera, which means it will give you 24mp images, compared to the 10.6mp images you will get from the a9 in APS-C mode.

Seems to be alot of moaning already on the DPreview page. "Buffer take 2 minutes to clear, rubbish!" Yes OK a complete blackout is pretty bad but the buffer has to be full. The fact it has over 200shot compressed RAW buffer (if I need to to shoot fast I would be using compressed I think) is hardly a set back. My 5D4 gives me twentyish and they are also compressed.

BUT I do find Sony are really pushing their prices on bodies.

Jens Peermann wrote:

Primus wrote:Yes of course that is certainly an option, but then you've got another battery to deal with and may not get all the bells and whistles of the A9. The APS-C version of the A9 will drop the pixel count much less than the a6500.

The a6500 is not completely without bells and whistles either. My favorite is the touch sensor that let's me move the focus area (or point) while looking through the viewfinder. A very helpful feature. And it is an APS-C camera, which means it will give you 24mp images, compared to the 10.6mp images you will get from the a9 in APS-C mode.

Yes, it would be a very useful little camera to take along if the longest FL I can muster is 400mm. Must think about this.

Pradeep

Interesting camera for sure.  Just needed some verification. With mirrorless cameras like the a9 that use contrast detect AF, (as opposed to DSLR's phase detect) you no longer need to perform the arduous task of focus tuning (which I never seem to get right)?

 I realize on the whole DSLR focus on moving subjects is still superior, but from what I read the Sony a9 may be closing this gap.

Scotty wrote:Interesting camera for sure.  Just needed some verification. With mirrorless cameras like the a9 that use contrast detect AF, (as opposed to DSLR's phase detect) you no longer need to perform the arduous task of focus tuning (which I never seem to get right)?

 I realize on the whole DSLR focus on moving subjects is still superior, but from what I read the Sony a9 may be closing this gap.

Many are saying that the A9 with its combo of Phase and Contrast Af beats the 1dxII and is similar to the D5.  Will have to wait until tomorrow for some examples.

The reviews (obviously done by people Sony invited) are pretty good. Seems the battery life is finally sorted out too.

Would like to know how well adapted lenses work of course, but Sony have not let anyone do that yet.

Neilyb wrote:Would like to know how well adapted lenses work of course, but Sony have not let anyone do that yet.

I am in the market for a 100-400, to be used with my a6500, so the Sony would be a natural choice. But then, there's also the Sigma 100-400, which may not be quite as stellar as the Sony, but possibly adequate for what I will use it for. Particularly since Sigma promises all Sony camera functions to be available for it's MC-11 compatible lenses, something not possible with most other 3rd party lenses (if any at all). And the Sigma's price of only 1/3 the Sony's is also hard to ignore.

However, neither one of the two lenses is available yet and I haven't seen any comparisons of pre-production samples. So it's hard to make a decision for now.

Scotty wrote:Interesting camera for sure.  Just needed some verification. With mirrorless cameras like the a9 that use contrast detect AF, (as opposed to DSLR's phase detect) you no longer need to perform the arduous task of focus tuning (which I never seem to get right)?

 I realize on the whole DSLR focus on moving subjects is still superior, but from what I read the Sony a9 may be closing this gap.

AFAIK the a9 (in common with a few of the current Sony bodies) uses a combination of phase-detect and contrast-detect AF, both taking the data from the sensor rather than from a secondary system as a DSLR does.  Using data from the sensor rather than from a secondary system is why focus tuning a.k.a. AF micro-adjustment is not required.

As Doug said, when you do the AF on the actual imaging sensor, there is no need to do an AF fine tune or as Canon calls it, microadjust. The whole purpose for those adjustments is to compensate for any differences in the light path distance due to tolerances between the imaging sensor and the completely separate and differently located AF sensor on a DSLR.

Looks like this lens is the new sharpness champion for lenses in this class besting the previous benchmark Canon 100-400 II:
https://www.dxomark.com/Reviews/Sony-FE ... -tele-zoom

E.J. Peiker wrote:Looks like this lens is the new sharpness champion for lenses in this class besting the previous benchmark Canon 100-400 II:
https://www.dxomark.com/Reviews/Sony-FE-100-400mm-F4.5-5.6-GM-OSS-lens-review-Compact-and-optically-excellent-tele-zoom

This is the lens I have been wanting for a long time. Wish it could be used on a D500 

Tim Zurowski wrote:

E.J. Peiker wrote:Looks like this lens is the new sharpness champion for lenses in this class besting the previous benchmark Canon 100-400 II:
https://www.dxomark.com/Reviews/Sony-FE-100-400mm-F4.5-5.6-GM-OSS-lens-review-Compact-and-optically-excellent-tele-zoom

This is the lens I have been wanting for a long time. Wish it could be used on a D500 

You have Nikon's 80/400 II 

Mike in O wrote: You have Nikon's 80/400 II 

No I don't, and I wouldn't want it.