the world wants to know!?

Tom A said:
Ok, I admit bought myself a Sony 7. I had tried a variety of other digital Rf' (EVF and "glass") but though they are interesting, they did nothing that the regular M's and Nikon Rf's could not do with film. I regard the Sony 7 as a "platform" for using lenses, new and old, partly for fun and partly to see how they work on this newfangled digital thing. It will not relegate my film cameras to dusty corners - I still like the tangible sense of film. I take a picture, develop the film and I have something to look at against a lamp or lightbox - and I can do it today or living long enough, decades from now, without having to reformat anything - just file it in it's file page.
The Sony 7 is good for this : I have adapters for M lenses, Nikon SLR, Pentax M42 and some adapter that will allow me to use my remaining Leica DSLR lenses on it. All in all I have about 70-80 lenses that I can adapt to it! One body - all those lenses.
Yes. I hate the "menus" - far to complex and not easy to wade through - too many options - way too many. Instruction manuals written by "nerds" who probably never took a shot.
At the moment I am using it in colour - why go half way! However. soon I will figure out the monochrome setting and switch.
I look at it as a bit of a game changer of a camera. It is not a Leica/Canon/Nikon etc - it is whatever lens you put on it. I am OK with the electronic viewfinder - it has high enough resolution and the focus confirmation thingie is quite "cute" with the red edges flashing - a bit like a 60 drug experience!
At the moment i am using it with various M-lenses - mostly because I just got the VM Close Focus adapter. Works as a regular M-adapter, but with a flick on the little red lever - it will allow you to focus closer than a lens' closest focussing distance. How close depends on the focal length - but in a sense it is a DR Summicron set-up for everything from a Heliar 12mm to whatever focal length you can adapt to the M-mount, Brilliant concept!!! So far I have tried it with Summicron 75, Summilux 75, Nokton 50 f1.1, Nokton 50mm f1.5 and at the moment I have a Nokton 21f2.8 on the camera.
Yesterday I tried out an old Nikkor 200f4 (non -AI) and was amazed at the quality of the lens - and if the weather stays sunny tomorrow I take my 400/560 Telyt out. It is my 20 ft lens - anything further away from the car than 20ft will not be shot with this combination!
I am enjoying it - but I can't take it seriously yet - too many years of film and chemistry to switch in 48 hours! I am having fun though - and sometimes when you look at shot and realize that it has been shot at 5000 iso, you are amazed how good that looks. Film at 5000 iso is not that reliable!
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The close focus is amazing. I have since found that I can almost use a 35mm Summilux ASPH as a high ratio macro lens. Obviously not all lenses will work so well, but to escape the 1m close focus distance of older Leica glass is refreshing.

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This is an older pic with the NEX-7 and a 28mm Elmarit v4 at 0.25m...pretty cool to see what the bokeh of such lenses actually looks like:D
 
I'm with you on all counts about the A7, Tom. It's a bit clunky until you get it set up correctly, and between the foolishly chaotic menus and crapola documentation, it's a bit of a challenge. It's got just enough configuration functions that I can make it work the way I want it to.

But I think you said it best right here:

... It is not a Leica/Canon/Nikon etc - it is whatever lens you put on it. ...
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That's the key, for me. The body is eh, the buttons and dials are absurdly scattered, the menus are a joke, but it has an excellent viewfinder and a sensor that can be used with a huge variety of lenses and return what the lens does, like film does, without the sensor influencing it overly.

Particularly with SLR lenses. I bought it specifically for the Leica R lenses and the photos it makes with them are right on the same wavelength as the same lenses do on film with the Leicaflex SL. I also have used my favorite little set of Nikkors and the photos look as much like what comes out of the Nikon F as I have ever seen.

I haven't used the M lenses on it yet ... still waiting for the adapter to arrive. I suspect that some of them will have some difficulties.

A chameleon, a very accommodating sensor, a great way to put these old sensors back to work.

G
 
good on you tom!
i'm happy for you guys that have been waiting for a camera/sensor that you can use your old lenses on. it must feel great!
 
back alley said:
good on you tom!
i'm happy for you guys that have been waiting for a camera/sensor that you can use your old lenses on. it must feel great!
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It does. These old Leica R lenses (I have R lenses made between 1965 and 1980) are just incredibly good quality and have that Leica Look™. :)

Having a sensor of the right format and quality to use them with is a huge kick. They'll see a lot more use now.

G
 
YYV_146 said:
The close focus is amazing. I have since found that I can almost use a 35mm Summilux ASPH as a high ratio macro lens. Obviously not all lenses will work so well, but to escape the 1m close focus distance of older Leica glass is refreshing.

4.jpg


This is an older pic with the NEX-7 and a 28mm Elmarit v4 at 0.25m...pretty cool to see what the bokeh of such lenses actually looks like:D
Click to expand...

A lens like the Nokton 50 f1.1 which has close focus limit of 1 meter - gets really interesting at 0.7 m. A DR Noctilux as some said to me.
 
tom -- just a warning, might not matter to you, but if you switch the camera to monochrome you'll be shooting in jpeg format, letting the camera decide on how much of the image to keep and use in the file. if you shoot in raw, you can make those decisions later, including converting to grayscale, degree of contrast and sharpness and grain, etc. The entire image is there. if you're already shooting in jpeg for your color shots and letting the camera do the calculating, then you won't mind the monochrome setting.
 
Vince, I knew about the RAW stuff - but I just keep shooting Jpeg fine with it - so switching should not be a problem. I like the camera platform. Amazingly flexible - I keep stuffing various lenses on and looking at the result. The colour is not perfect, but I no longer shoot colour in film - so not a big issue for me. Just stuck a Voigtlander 58mm f1.4 (Nikon SLR mount) on it today. If the weather warms up a bit I will also cycle through some wide angles (12/15/18/21 and 25 in the next couple of days.
 
lets face it the a7 is basically a dream come true for vintage glass, it s what the digital fm4 or the Om5 should have been. i m going A7 too, it s just a matter of time. too much good glass around to ignore.
tom have you tested the nhs heliar on it yet?
 
Thanks to those who posted their shots. I think an A7 is in my future but not for a year or two, when the price (inevitably) drops. Until then, I'll make do with the R1 for my "Sony Supercam" fix.

;)
 
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Sony 7 and Voigtlander Heliar 50mm f3.5. Focus is on the nearest headlight cluster. I was just trying the lens on the 7 and it works very well - though do not collapse the lens as you would probably damage the sensor. It warrants more "testing" too. Small, lightweight and with the "flexible" iso of the Sony 7, the slower speed of the lens is not as critical as with film.
 
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