New to Sony with an A7


One kit to rule them all
by Johan Niels Kuiper, on Flickr

ºSony A7
ºTamron Adaptall 17mm 3.5 (type 51B)
ºCanon TS 35mm 2.8 S.S.C.
ºCanon FD 50mm 1.2L
ºCanon FD 55mm 3.5 macro (added since)
ºCanon FD 85mm 1.2L
ºCanon FD 135mm 2.0

Covers everything from ultra wide to tele, from ultra shallow DOF to ultra DOF, and perspective-corrected.
 
Most of my stuff these days is shot with an A7 and a 50mm elmarit-M and a WATE WA..but I'm not that picky..
If you shoot a lot of video..GH4/5 may be a better choice..
But 8 bills for full frame..you cant beat it..
Mine has been very reliable.
 
brand new original A7 for $800 shipped. I have a lot of manual focus glass. Somebody talk me out of it.

https://www.adorama.com/isoa7.html

The A7 is a very good body. The A7ii is better (in-body image stabilization and better ergonomics).

I like the sony mirrorless bodies a lot. Sony focus peaking and focus magnification makes it very usable with MF lenses.
 
Would like to have the a7ii to use the Techart AF adapter but for now the a7 is fine.

The a7 feels quality enough in hand. I'm not adapting RF wides so it's performing nicely.
I've never had any internal flare/reflection issue.
The Lens mount does need an upgrade and that's a bummer and shameful!
I have one of those tough mounts coming.... Easy Cheap fix.
Easier than replacing a sensor. :p
 
Focus peaking is fine on its own, but works even better when combined with focus magnification (esp. for critical focus):


I have the a6000 and setting it up with the Focus Magnification has made a huge improvement...
 
I too bought a first gen A7 a little while back, the small size appealed to me more than the A7ii, didnt really care about IBIS, and the bargain price of $480 sold me haha. Like you i had a bunch of old minolta glass that i thought would be great to adapt with the Laea4, but i found myself not using them, the adapter sucked my battery life down, and it was just too bulky for my liking, the ergonomics of a used A99 would be much better with those lenses IMO. So i sold off the adapter and the lenses, and ordered a few adapters, Om lenses go nicely on the first gen A7 as they are small (even with the rather large adapter) and also the nFd canon lenses, which are faily compact, and lightweight due to their plastic build.
waiting on a Ltm adapter to try the jupiter 12 out for a bit of fun, and the newly announced voigtlander FE 35mm f1.4 looks nice and compact and should hopefully perform better in the corners than the M version (on the original A7 anyway, im sure it's better on the A7s).

accessories i found useful were, an external battery charger and a few spare batteries, a few batteries, and depending on your kind of shooting, a leather half case or perhaps the cheap chinese L bracket from ebay. extends the body just that little bit more and gives your pinky a place to rest if you have big hands :)

either way, congratulations on your new purchase and I'm sure you will enjoy it. :)
 
A7 is $795 at B&H..a no brainer..
I paid $995 for mine..but it came with some freebies..and a leather case..
I just wish they would bring the price of the A7S down..it will fit in the same case..and is tiny..
 
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