Hi Folks.
Well, I threatened to bore you with some more, and following the advice a couple of you gave me I did borrow some Sony gear and these are from that gear.
Please don’t rollock me for the dirty sensor, borrowed gear and I have done my best to clean up the shots. I was initially really upset about finding the sensor so dirty and nearly junked the whole series but the shots were a bit different from those taken with my own gear and I have had the odd spot on my sensors.
I inadvertently took a sensor check shot.
DSC00026_DxO by
Graham Stretch, on Flickr
Now some of the boat.
DSC00017_DxO by
Graham Stretch, on Flickr
DSC00065_DxO by
Graham Stretch, on Flickr
DSC00073_DxO by
Graham Stretch, on Flickr
DSC00149_DxO by
Graham Stretch, on Flickr
As for the gear, I had to get the expert to find stuff in the camera menu for me, I’m sure given time one could get used to the menu and terminology, no time.
I was not and am not convinced by the smaller is better argument, I kept starting the video whilst trying to use the AF ON back button, which garnered a big warning message which was confusing, something about class10 card, not you tried to start video! Then I was pressing the exposure lock button because I shortened my reach too much but I guess that was a muscle memory problem, plus I have quite large hands and thus prefer a larger body anyway.
I was not overly impressed with the EVF it seemed to flicker a bit, but I did like the implementation of the level in the viewfinder, I prefer that to the (less intrusive) Canon version. For those who don’t know, the Sony is similar to the Canon version in live view.
Reviewing the pictures on the viewfinder was novel and slightly easier than a sun swamped screen but useless for anything other than composition, for instance I couldn’t see the dust!
I thought the lenses were nice, but the zoom goes the wrong way! Most confusing when I was flipping between systems! There was not a lot to choose between them for weight and usability, but I guess a 100-400 f4.5-5.6 IS lens weight and size is basically down to physics?
BUT, if all that $#!+ on the sensor is what I had to look forwards to for not having a mirror, give me a mirror every day!
I think Canon may have borrowed a Sony camera and found the sensor dirty, hence their implementation of closing the shutter during lens change, or they just kept the line from the DSLR firmware that closes everything if you start to remove the lens in live view!
Cheers, Graham.