So, are you bothered?

[tashley]

A straw poll of owners and would-be owners of the A7R:

Please state if you are
An owner (and for how long now)
Have ordered and not yet taken delivery
A prospective owner

and if you are bothered by:

Orange peel effect
Jaggies
Shutter sound
Shutter vibrations
Colour shading with native lenses if you have them and with non-native lenses if you have tried them.

I'll start, next post.

 

[tashley]

I have owned an A7R for about a month
Orange peel bothers me slightly, not a deal killer.
Jaggies bother me a bit more but again, not a deal killer
Shutter sound bothers me less but I'd prefer it quieter
Vibrations have yet to bother me
Colour shading bothers me a little but I understand that it 'goes with the territory'.

 

[k-hawinkler]

Thanks Tim. Could you please give a one sentence description what you mean by Orange peel effect?

 

[Ron Pfister]

I've owned the A7R for about three weeks now, and have only had limited time to shoot with it. However, my assessment is pretty much identical to yours, Tim.

In terms of vibration, I have yet to test a number of my lenses, and to determine which support rig will be the go-to for use with the A7R.

As far as color shading goes, I'm not bothered because I will likely not be using M-glass with the A7R (except if I take the camera along with just one lens, and then it would be the ZM 2/50 for now).

Over-all, for me it is the image quality in such a small package that is attractive. Compared to an SLR rig, the A7R combined with a handful of compact Zeiss and Leica SLR primes that can do the fantastic sensor justice make for a wonderfully portable kit.

Edit: yesterday, I compared the images I have thus far taken with the A7R and Zeiss C/Y and ZF.2 and Leica-R lenses to those taken with the NEX-7 and Zeiss ZM glass. The A7R is clearly in a different league, and that's exactly what I was hoping for.

 

[Knorp]

Owning for 3 weeks
Orange peel: not seen it in my photos
Jaggies: bothers me since I started digital photography
Shutter sound: my M9 is loud too
Vibrations: bothers me because others keep mentioning it
Colour shading: no issue so far using non M-lenses

Kind regards

 

[tashley]

Thanks Tim. Could you please give a one sentence description what you mean by Orange peel effect?

Sure, sorry - it is a phrase that Lloyd Chambers uses to describe the appearance of files at 100% when given sharpening to any reasonable level, it sort of looks a bit randomly bumpy, like orange peel.

 

[Michiel Schierbeek]

Orange peel is new (for me), so how could it bother me?

I am sure the jaggies will get solved by updates in LR or ACR in the meantime Sony IDC helps. As long it does not show up in prints, I am happy.

Shutter sound, hmm... don't really know. Even close by to people, I just have to push the button and nobody killed me till now.

Vibrations are no problem. I am not shaky yet. Otherwise the tripod will do.

Bothers me with certain lenses I own and I can see that it is frustrating to a lot of people that certain great lenses don't shine on this camera. (for me for example the Biogon ZM 25) But there are enough alternatives available, may be not so good, but still better as they were ever before, with this great FF sensor.

Verdict: I love it! I is a dream camera for a notorious lens adaptor (read lens addict)

 

[k-hawinkler]

I have had the A7R for about 10 days now.
At a minimum it's a wonderful FF P&S camera for me with the FE 35/2.8.
So far none of the issues you listed have bothered me.
But I still have to test most of my lenses on the A7R.
I prefer the A7R over my D800E for manual focus lenses, even for manual Nikkor lenses.
To get a similar manual focus precision with the D800E I need to use a loupe in liveview.
The A7R is definitely a keeper for me until a better one is available with 5-axis IBIS.

 

[Vivek]

My major issue with the A7R plus a lens is that I can not find it easily! The thing has a prominent hump unlike the NEx' and is not exactly tiny but is invisible to me in plain sight, for whatever reason. Hate that. Not sure if it is worth keeping at all.

Orange peel sounds enticing though. It has a fantastic smell that I absolutely love! Chambership is not bad after all.

 

[k-hawinkler]

Vivek, I like your sense of humor! :ROTFL:

 

[vjbelle]

Yup..... I'm bothered but only by the shutter vibration (only with my Leica 90mm) which I cannot calm down even with a Gitzo 3 series and Arca Z1. My solution is to shoot 250 or above (up to ISO 800) or 1 sec and below. Easily accomplished with a six stop ND. Those situations may be in the 5% or less area so not the biggest deal in the world but still a bother.

Victor

 

[contrelamontre]

Owning for 3 weeks
Orange peel: not seen it in my photos
Jaggies: bothers me since I started digital photography
Shutter sound: my M9 is loud too
Vibrations: bothers me because others keep mentioning it
Colour shading: no issue so far using non M-lenses

Kind regards

Substitute "M9" with D800 and D700 and the above is exactly what's my take on it.

And add to that: I really appreciate this new toy - ehm tool, I mean of course - since it is spot-on, what I was expecting based on available information. So for me, no testing but, enjoying, i.e. making pictures, that are on my mind.

 

[jagsiva]

Tim,

Have had the A7R w/35FE for a couple of weeks. My expectations were different when I got this camera. I wanted something small with good IQ when I am travelling. For ultimate IQ, I'd turn to the D800E or IQ180.

Given this, I am quite pleased at what this little camera can do. The menu system is a little buggy and a bit of a joke. The custom button layout could have been a little better, especially if you're going to assign functions to them that you'd like to use with your eye to the VF. Sometimes there are unexplained pauses between shots and VF blackouts, but I suspect this is firmware that needs to be fully baked.

The WA M-lens issues are a little disappointing as well, but I think with select lenses and C1 LCC, I can find a suitable solution.

I love the VF for manual focussing, love the size, love the availability of tactile controls, and hope we have some good native lenses showing up soon.

Bottom line is that It has exceeded my expectations

 

[hcubell]

I have the A7R. I am quite concerned about the shutter vibration issue as I was hoping to be able to use the A7R as a vastly more portable alternative to my D800E and my h1/IQ180. I have done my own preliminary tests with the E mount 18-200mm lens at 200mm at 1/30 and 1/350 with camera mounted on a RRS BH-55 head with a gitzo 3 series tripod. The loss of sharpness is obvious. Not subtle. I ran a similar test with my h1/IQ 180 and a Hassy 210mm lens and there is no loss of sharpness. For me, this is a big deal as ?I am not a wide angle guy. I do landscapes, but tend to use lenses in the 50-200mm range.
Perhaps I should consider returning the A7R and getting the A7.

 

[GrahamB]

I have the A7R. I am quite concerned about the shutter vibration issue as I was hoping to be able to use the A7R as a vastly more portable alternative to my D800E and my h1/IQ180. I have done my own preliminary tests with the E mount 18-200mm lens at 200mm at 1/30 and 1/350 with camera mounted on a RRS BH-55 head with a gitzo 3 series tripod. The loss of sharpness is obvious. Not subtle. I ran a similar test with my h1/IQ 180 and a Hassy 210mm lens and there is no loss of sharpness. For me, this is a big deal as ?I am not a wide angle guy. I do landscapes, but tend to use lenses in the 50-200mm range.
Perhaps I should consider returning the A7R and getting the A7.

Did you use a remote cable release to actuate the shutter?

Graham

 

[hcubell]

Did you use a remote cable release to actuate the shutter?

Graham

No, the self timer at 10 seconds.

 

[jonoslack]

A straw poll of owners and would-be owners of the A7R:

Please state if you are
An owner (and for how long now) Was for 3 days
A prospective owner might go back

and if you are bothered by:

NO Orange peel effect
NO Jaggies
MILDLY Shutter sound
YES Shutter vibrations
MILDLY Colour shading with native lenses if you have them and with non-native lenses if you have tried them.

. . . . and the one you missed:
YES smeared corners with non-native WA lenses

My problem really is not that either of the problems seems very common (they clearly aren't) - but they do all exist, and they're rather unpredictable (especially the shutter vibrations) . . . . . . . and although I don't mind taking a few shots to get a setup shot right, finding later that a shot is ruined by smearing or camera shake is not great (you can usually deal with colour shift if needed).

 

[slickster]

A7r and FE35 for a week.
Orange peel-no, but find it interesting
Jaggies-no
Shutter-no
Vibrations-a little, have used bean bag for tests when encountered with improvement.
Color shading-no

Have been testing my nikon glass with the Novaflex and am quite happy so far. 14-24 and 24-70 have been pleasers so far. Manual focus is sooo much easier for my eyes as to make it enjoyable again. I am very enthused with what I see are improvements over my d800e.

 

[scho]

A straw poll of owners and would-be owners of the A7R:

Please state if you are
An owner (and for how long now)
Have ordered and not yet taken delivery
A prospective owner

and if you are bothered by:

Orange peel effect
Jaggies
Shutter sound
Shutter vibrations
Colour shading with native lenses if you have them and with non-native lenses if you have tried them.

I'll start, next post.

Owner A7R+FE 35 for two weeks.
Orange peel effect -No
Jaggies - No
Shutter sound -No
Shutter vibrations - Yes, with long lenses
Colour shading with native lenses if you have them and with non-native lenses if you have tried them - No, an easy fix in LR
As Jono pointed out corner/edge smearing is a problem with some wides and unfortunately that includes some I had hoped would do better.

 

[Mark K]

A straw poll of owners and would-be owners of the A7R:

Please state if you are
An owner (and for how long now)
Have ordered and not yet taken delivery
A prospective owner

and if you are bothered by:

Orange peel effect
Jaggies
Shutter sound
Shutter vibrations
Colour shading with native lenses if you have them and with non-native lenses if you have tried them.

I'll start, next post.

I was about to post my feelings about my 7 and I saw this...hope this is very similar to 7r.
Orange peel effect: is this the colour I found from my A7...worse if I attach a Sigma lens on it
Jaggies: no
Shutter sound: Do we have a choice?
Shutter vibrations: I have to live with it
Colour shading: no