2559 - Here We Go Again


Sony has new mirrorless full-frame E-mount cameras, and they do not have only one of them, no, they’ve got two. Everybody drools.

They both are extremely light cameras, especially but not only as full-frame cameras go. In fact the 36Β megapixel A7R is slightly lighter than Olympus’ OM-D E-M1. That’s impressive, but only until you start adding lenses. Yes, there is a small and light 35/2.8 lens, but everything else is big and heavy, and there’s not much of it either. Two lenses will be available almost immediately, five sometime in spring, and one of them will come only as a kit lens for the 24 megapixel A7. Thus the top of the line A7R seems to be restricted to using a 35/2.8 lens only for a few months. Two of the zooms overlap completely. Crazy? Well, not if 35Β mm is what you’re looking for, but certainly so in any other case πŸ˜„

Apart from the lens issue there is the usual idiotic decision to stabilize lenses and not the sensor. The zooms will be stabilized, the primes won’t. And that’s from a company that has access to Olympus’ five-axis IBIS! You see me puzzled. To me all those decisions seem absurd. They are not what I’d expect from engineers, they don’t look marketing-inspired. The only explanation that comes to my mind is free-wheeling, totally clueless top management. Or maybe rolls of the dice πŸ™‚

The Song of the Day is “Here We Go Again” by Ray Charles and Norah Jones. Hear it on YouTube.


There are 2 comments

April   (2013-10-23)

My first love was a little Fuji bridge camera -- which I still have, in a shoebox. πŸ™‚ Eventually, it couldn't satisfy my needs so I acquired my new best friend forever: the D300. At some point, that's going to bite the dust and I'll have to enter into a new relationship. Ack! All a roundabout way of saying: When I moved to the D300, I knew what I wanted that I couldn't accomplish with the Fuji. Now, I'm not sure what my criteria are for changing to another system. Your posts keep me thinking about that, instead of being seduced.

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andreas   (2013-10-23)

Well, I think we're already way into the "good enough" range today. You really have to have very special needs in order to be forced to use a certain camera model. Normally that would be sports with long lenses under extreme weather conditions πŸ™‚ Other than that you can just use whatever you want to carry or what satisfies your desires for shallow DOF. For me I found out that shallow DOF can be achieved with Micro Four Thirds if you want it, though you sometimes have to get closer. It's not my prime concern these day though. Overall a very portable kit is my personal sweet spot. Ymmv.

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