Hatch1921
Well-known member
- Post score: 22
- #1
Hi all,
A little backstory, I've shot Nikon for the past few years, and I wanted to give Sony and the A1 a try. This is my first venture into the mirrorless world, and it's been amazing, frustrating, head-scratching, and everything between. Today is the 16th day with the combo and I've had highs and lows with the system. I'm sure 99% of my issues are user error based, from slow shutter speeds with the longer focal length, selecting the wrong focus settings, you name it. I have been able to capture several images of the past couple of weeks I would personally hang on my wall, shots I don't believe I would have been able to capture with my D850 just based on shutter speeds and AF tracking.
I spent Friday afternoon, Saturday, and Sunday morning at Bosque snapping away.
Positives
Negatives
Overall
All in all... it's been a positive experience -- now... do sell the combo and order the Z9 and wait? I honestly don't know what to do...when I hit shots with this thing.... I'm 100% all in... but the OSS / Auto ISO and grip space have me scratching my head. I'll give it some thought... continue working the images from the past two weeks and make the decision in the next day or so. It's a great problem to have... amazing times we are living in when it comes to the tech we have at our fingertips.
Thanks for making it this far as I babble on... on to the images. If you photograph wildlife and haven't been to Bosque.. make the trip...it has a lot to offer.
Hatch
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Sony A1+200-600 by hatch1921, on Flickr
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Sony A1 + 200-600 by hatch1921, on Flickr
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Sony A1+200-600 by hatch1921, on Flickr
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Sony A1 +200-600 by hatch1921, on Flickr
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Sony A1 + 200-600 by hatch1921, on Flickr
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Sony A1+200-600 by hatch1921, on Flickr
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Sony A1 +200-600 by hatch1921, on Flickr
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Sony A1 + 200-600 by hatch1921, on Flickr
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Sony A1 + 200-600 by hatch1921, on Flickr
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Sony A1 + 200-600 by hatch1921, on Flickr
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Sony A1 + 200-600 by hatch1921, on Flickr
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Sony A1 + 200-600 by hatch1921, on Flickr
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Sony A1 + 200-600 by hatch1921, on Flickr
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Sony A1 + 200-600 by hatch1921, on Flickr
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Sony A1 + 200-600 by hatch1921, on Flickr
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Sony A1 + 200-600 by hatch1921, on Flickr
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Sony A1 + 200-600 by hatch1921, on Flickr'
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Sony A1 + 200-600 by hatch1921, on Flickr
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Sony A1 + 200-600 by hatch1921, on Flickr
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Sony A1 + 200-600 by hatch1921, on Flickr
A little backstory, I've shot Nikon for the past few years, and I wanted to give Sony and the A1 a try. This is my first venture into the mirrorless world, and it's been amazing, frustrating, head-scratching, and everything between. Today is the 16th day with the combo and I've had highs and lows with the system. I'm sure 99% of my issues are user error based, from slow shutter speeds with the longer focal length, selecting the wrong focus settings, you name it. I have been able to capture several images of the past couple of weeks I would personally hang on my wall, shots I don't believe I would have been able to capture with my D850 just based on shutter speeds and AF tracking.
I spent Friday afternoon, Saturday, and Sunday morning at Bosque snapping away.
Positives
- FPS -- a gift and a burden as you can fill up the cards quickly. I have shots that give me options to which were the strongest images in the series.
- 200-600 --zooming--- sounds a little nutty but I've shot primes for so long I had to keep telling myself you can zoom in and out. I captured images I wouldn't have just using my 500pf thanks to being able to zoom.
- Buffer -- zero issues shooting long bursts of images and ever bogging down the camera.
- AF tracking/acquiring focus -- it does a really nice job finding and sticking to the subject, even when there were challenging scenes of brush in the way, I was able to keep the focus point on the eye of the animal. Yes, there were times it would focus on the stick in front of the subject, I haven't shot a camera that hasn't.
- Colors -- coming from Nikon --- I think Sony has done a great job with the color science on the A1, I'm really enjoying what the camera is capturing/producing color wise.
- EVF -- zero issues with the EVF and its performance. Being able to shoot bursts of images blackout free is a great experience.
Negatives
- OSS -- I shot the first day and a half with OSS on the lens set to 3 based on a suggestion from a 200-600 shooter that made mention the lens performs much better off of mode -- reviewed the images, tons were soft. Now… I know several factors outside of OSS can produce soft images. Handholding, shutter speeds too low, atmospheric conditions, etc. I shot the evening of Saturday and then Sunday morning with the OSS off. Images were crisp, even with me handholding down to slow shutter speeds in several different scenarios. My "keeper rate" increased considerably. I don't know if this is common with the 200-600 as I only purchased one lens to give Sony a try and I don't have another lens with OSS on it to test.
- Auto ISO -- my experience and it could be user error, maybe based on the metering setting (multi) that I was using...it sucked. That's about as plain as I can put it. Compared to my D850, Auto ISO on the A1 was a nightmare. As soon as I started making the ISO choices, all was well. There were scenes that should have been ISO 1000 (when I made the choice) that Auto ISO was setting to 8000 or more. Again, this could be 100% my fault as I haven't spent that much time with the system, I just know as soon as I turned it off, life was better. lol
- 200-600 -- front heavy compared to how well balanced my D850/500pf combo is.
- Post processing -- I feel I must work the hell out of the images compared to my D850 files. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of latitude, and the files can be worked to produce print worthy shots. I do think I see more ISO in the lower ISO ranges than what the D850 produces. With PureRAW or Topaz---things clean up very well. Again, I just think it's taking me more time in post to get more out of the files. Or I'm just crazy
Overall
- Even if I didn't capture a single shot, I still had a great time at Bosque, it's hard not to enjoy the place. Tons of wildlife to view! The weather was in the upper 60's in the evening and 30's in the morning, crystal clear skies, no pollution... just a wonderful place to clear the mind and forget about work/life/responsibilities.
- I shot over 6000 images (all electronic shutter) and I have more than enough shots to fill my office walls. I missed a ton of great moments as well, odds are... my fault based on so many things I could have done better looking back. One big one... why drag a monopod along with a great Wimberly head on it... and never use it? That was a big mistake and one I'll not repeat going forward
- The camera/lens combo is very capable of capturing amazing images… user error cost me a ton of potentially stellar images. I'm still not sure about the OSS and Auto ISO.. could be me…could be the setup?
- Ergonomics - I have the grip on the camera -- the setup was comfortable. I broke my middle finger early on in life and it's a little deformed ROFL so... the space between the lens and the camera ... my finger hits and rubs. It's not Sony's fault... but... I didn't like not having the space.
All in all... it's been a positive experience -- now... do sell the combo and order the Z9 and wait? I honestly don't know what to do...when I hit shots with this thing.... I'm 100% all in... but the OSS / Auto ISO and grip space have me scratching my head. I'll give it some thought... continue working the images from the past two weeks and make the decision in the next day or so. It's a great problem to have... amazing times we are living in when it comes to the tech we have at our fingertips.
Thanks for making it this far as I babble on... on to the images. If you photograph wildlife and haven't been to Bosque.. make the trip...it has a lot to offer.
Hatch
01
Sony A1+200-600 by hatch1921, on Flickr
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Sony A1 + 200-600 by hatch1921, on Flickr
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Sony A1+200-600 by hatch1921, on Flickr
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Sony A1 +200-600 by hatch1921, on Flickr
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Sony A1 + 200-600 by hatch1921, on Flickr
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Sony A1+200-600 by hatch1921, on Flickr
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Sony A1 +200-600 by hatch1921, on Flickr
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Sony A1 + 200-600 by hatch1921, on Flickr
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Sony A1 + 200-600 by hatch1921, on Flickr
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Sony A1 + 200-600 by hatch1921, on Flickr
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Sony A1 + 200-600 by hatch1921, on Flickr
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Sony A1 + 200-600 by hatch1921, on Flickr
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Sony A1 + 200-600 by hatch1921, on Flickr
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Sony A1 + 200-600 by hatch1921, on Flickr
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Sony A1 + 200-600 by hatch1921, on Flickr
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Sony A1 + 200-600 by hatch1921, on Flickr
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Sony A1 + 200-600 by hatch1921, on Flickr'
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Sony A1 + 200-600 by hatch1921, on Flickr
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Sony A1 + 200-600 by hatch1921, on Flickr
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