Which Sony A7 would be best to pair with OM Zuikos?

Keith

Keith

The best camera is one that still works!
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This has been my plan for some time ... to buy a used A7 and an adapter to pair with my fairly decent range of OM Zuikos ... one of which is the relatively hard to get 50mm f1.2 along with others ranging from 24mm to 200mm. Even though I don't shoot film these days I have no real intention of parting with my OM bodies or Zuiko lenses but would like to put the lenses to good use.

My question is ... which sensor would best suit the OM lenses. I'll probably get a 2nd model A7 as they fit within my budget but which body ... the base model A, the S or would I be better with the R? I intend this combination to be my daily shooter so I hope I am on the right path ... and if I really, really need AF I can use my D4 :)
 
The A7II had upgrades over the original A7 such as IBIS, better body design with bigger grip and the sensor cover was reputedly redesigned to reduce sensor reflections. I went for the A7II for these reasons and it works well with various Pentax K and M42 lenses. If I were starting again the A7S always looked interesting for low light work.

You might also want to consider a grip depending on hand size and handling preference but probably not needed for a daily carry.
 
Don't know if you're open to the nikon Z cameras Keith but I wholly recommend the Z6 as a manual focus based mirrorless body. Sensor works really well with even the wide angle M-mount lenses and their viewfinder is huge and high res.
 
Having now been down the Nex-7>A7ii>A7iii path with my adapted lenses, I'd strongly suggest stretching the budget or waiting till you can afford an A7iii vs the A7ii. The main reason is the better performance at high ISO's. Trust me, it is worth it, even in this rank amateurs opinion. You'll be happy with the camera for a long time.
 
The second (and later) generation Sony cameras offer lossless raw format, the original series used a bizarre (chaotic) lossy-compression scheme. I would skip the first generation.

For all legacy lenses- the "S" version offers high-iso, the A7S-II seems to go in the $750 range.
Anything above 24MPixels for legacy lenses is probably overkill.
 
My biggest complain about the Mk i and ii models was the poor battery life.

Manual focusing on mirrorless is a bit hit and miss. Zooming-in is slow, focus peaking is not super accurate. The Mk ii and above are compatible with the Leica-M to E mount AF adaptor which is a fun tool.

All Sony sensors have a thick cover glass which doesn't work well with RF wides but is fine with SLR glass.
 
I have a Sony a7, a7iii and a Nikon Z6. I prefer the Sonys overall, but if you plan to commonly use OM lenses wider than 28mm I think that the Z6 has better performance/sharpness in the corners of the frame. I tested my a7iii against the Z6 using CV 21 and 15 LTM lenses, Canon 19mm LTM and Canon 28 and 25mm LTM and the Nikon was definately sharper in corners. I prefer the color rendition of the Sonys over the Nikon, but that is easly fixed in post-processing.
 
OlivierAOP said:
My biggest complain about the Mk i and ii models was the poor battery life.

Manual focusing on mirrorless is a bit hit and miss. Zooming-in is slow, focus peaking is not super accurate. The Mk ii and above are compatible with the Leica-M to E mount AF adaptor which is a fun tool.

All Sony sensors have a thick cover glass which doesn't work well with RF wides but is fine with SLR glass.
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I found dedicating focus magnification to one of the back buttons worked quite quickly. It still needs a good eye to focus well.
 
AlwaysOnAuto said:
Having now been down the Nex-7>A7ii>A7iii path with my adapted lenses, I'd strongly suggest stretching the budget or waiting till you can afford an A7iii vs the A7ii. The main reason is the better performance at high ISO's. Trust me, it is worth it, even in this rank amateurs opinion. You'll be happy with the camera for a long time.
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I concur! I have an A7II and an A7III; the A7III is vastly superior in many ways.

All the best,
Mike
 
Thanks for the input so far ... I hadn't realised that the iii was so much better than the ii so I may try and stretch the budget in that direction. This move is being funded by unused gear being sold in the classifieds so it may take the sale of that Zeiss in there to get it going. Alternately I've considred selling something else, keeping the C Sonnar and adapting it to the A7 along with the 35nn f2 Biogon I have. Photography for me currently has become an exercise in recycling and not buying anything new!
 
I hear you on that, Keith. I treated myself to a new A7iii for Christmas last year I think it was, maybe the year before. First new camera for me in some time. Most of my others are used. The iii was eye opening for me. I've since added an A9 and A7Riii to round out my stable. I'd sell the A7ii but I love shooting it with my manual lenses just because. No real reason and battery use is an issue but I've accumulated 6 or 7 of them so it's not really a problem for me. Just remembering to bring a charged spare with me is though.
 
AlwaysOnAuto said:
I hear you on that, Keith. I treated myself to a new A7iii for Christmas last year I think it was, maybe the year before. First new camera for me in some time. Most of my others are used. The iii was eye opening for me. I've since added an A9 and A7Riii to round out my stable. I'd sell the A7ii but I love shooting it with my manual lenses just because. No real reason and battery use is an issue but I've accumulated 6 or 7 of them so it's not really a problem for me. Just remembering to bring a charged spare with me is though.
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How bad is the battery life of the 7ii ... I'm a DPMerrill user so battery life is very subjective in my world! :)
 
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I'm not a rapid fire shooter so I've never really run into a problem with the battery on my A7ii. I will usually make sure to charge up a couple before going out for the day though, just in case. As it is now, the batteries don't get used as much as before so I'm sure they're suffering from sitting unused. Every once in a while I'll go thru my stuff and charge them all up, just for drill.
 
AlwaysOnAuto said:
I'm not a rapid fire shooter so I've never really run into a problem with the battery on my A7ii. I will usually make sure to charge up a couple before going out for the day though, just in case. As it is now, the batteries don't get used as much as before so I'm sure they're suffering from sitting unused. Every once in a while I'll go thru my stuff and charge them all up, just for drill.
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This seems like a good idea 👍
 
I have used my Zuiko lenses on a couple of mirrorless digital bodies. I recommending selecting a camera which has a large, high resolution viewfinder. Manual lenses of any flavor are more difficult to focus on smaller, low resolution viewfinders. Focus peaking helps but is not a replacement for a large, high resolution viewfinder.
 
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Zuiko-logist said:
the A7S always looked interesting for low light work.
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Lower resolution sensors being better for low light work is a myth. It's folk wisdom that gained traction from people doing pixel-level comparisons online. When comparing at equivalent print sizes, the noise advantage between two sensors of different resolution but otherwise equivalent technology isn't really there. The only low light advantage is for video.

DPReviewTV video explaining this
 
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