mandonbossi
New member
So would love to hear some thoughts on an issue I am currently having. Would love to hear any suggestions you guys may have.. 
I currently have a Sony A7RII with a mishmash of manual focus lenses.. I do like the camera but my main frustration with it is that it only allows you to see in the native 3:2 aspect ratio of the sensor. I still shoot with a 5x4 and 6x7 film camera and both of these have similar looking ratios. I really hate the "skinny" 3:2 format and really wish that the Sony A7RII would offer a 5:4, 6:7 or even a 4:3 ratio.
My workaround for this is having to tape the rear LCD to a 5:4 ratio but this obviously has some major drawbacks and really isn't that feasible.. The main issues are viewing the camera as if it is a cheap point and shoot (as in not having your eye up to it for stability) and having issues with glare in bright conditions. I have even gone to the hassle of attaching a "video" viewer to the rear LCD (similar to a Zacuto or LCDVF) but this basically increases the size of a Sony A7RII to that of a DSLR and the rear LCD is nowhere near the quality of the EVF and causes eye strain much quicker..
The majority of what I am interested in is slower tripod based work and for this I can get away with taping off the rear to a 5:4 format and then using the EVF for fine focusing, exposure etc etc.
I am looking to start doing more work that requires a handheld approach and I can not think of a way to do this successfully with the A7RII and keep a similar 5:4 format. I would really love to just keep one system but this is a real drawback for me. As a result, I am looking to get a second camera that would enable me to present my images in this 5:4 ratio.
So my current options are;
* Get a Nikon D810 and use the 5:4 aspect ratio that camera has. This places a semi transparent mask in the OVF, cropping off the sides.. Tried it for a short while the other day and really liked it.
* Get a Canon 5DIII and have my local repair store place a 5:4 crop with some tape on the focusing screen. Not as ideal as the Nikon but would be a more successful second camera to the Sony with the ability to share lenses with autofocus.
So advantages for the Nikon D810 would be that it shares a somewhat similar Sony sensor and therefore I could expect similar results with regards to exposure, post processing etc etc. File sizes are similar as well. The 5:4 aspect ratio is a feature of the camera and works well and I would not have to mess about with getting a technician to place a "mask" on the focusing screen.
The downsides are that there is currently no reliable autofocus adapter for Nikon lenses to work with the Sony.
Advantages for the Canon is that you can get good, reliable autofocus results with Canon glass on the Sony via either the Metabones or the Sigma MC-11. This could be very useful in shooting an event/wedding or something similar.
Downsides are that the sensor is not nearly as good as either the A7RII/D810 and I would need to mess about getting a mask placed on the focus screen.
So what do you guys think? Any suggestions?
Before I get the inevitable barrage of "just crop in post" comments, please do not bother. There IS a difference (to me at least) between viewing something in its intended output format (either in the OVF or EVF) and just cropping later. I have tried this on the A7RII. If you set it to the grid with the most lines, a 5:4 ratio would cut off exactly halfway between the last line and the edge of the screen. So you can have a guess at it but this is not even close in comparison to the D810 (masking off the OVF) or more recently, the Fuji GFX, which completely masks off the EVF to a number of desired aspect ratios.
Am not sure why Sony has not implemented this in their cameras, it would make a big difference to the shooting experience in my personal opinion.
Thanks in advance, any help or suggestions (or maybe something I am missing) would be really appreciated!
I currently have a Sony A7RII with a mishmash of manual focus lenses.. I do like the camera but my main frustration with it is that it only allows you to see in the native 3:2 aspect ratio of the sensor. I still shoot with a 5x4 and 6x7 film camera and both of these have similar looking ratios. I really hate the "skinny" 3:2 format and really wish that the Sony A7RII would offer a 5:4, 6:7 or even a 4:3 ratio.
My workaround for this is having to tape the rear LCD to a 5:4 ratio but this obviously has some major drawbacks and really isn't that feasible.. The main issues are viewing the camera as if it is a cheap point and shoot (as in not having your eye up to it for stability) and having issues with glare in bright conditions. I have even gone to the hassle of attaching a "video" viewer to the rear LCD (similar to a Zacuto or LCDVF) but this basically increases the size of a Sony A7RII to that of a DSLR and the rear LCD is nowhere near the quality of the EVF and causes eye strain much quicker..
The majority of what I am interested in is slower tripod based work and for this I can get away with taping off the rear to a 5:4 format and then using the EVF for fine focusing, exposure etc etc.
I am looking to start doing more work that requires a handheld approach and I can not think of a way to do this successfully with the A7RII and keep a similar 5:4 format. I would really love to just keep one system but this is a real drawback for me. As a result, I am looking to get a second camera that would enable me to present my images in this 5:4 ratio.
So my current options are;
* Get a Nikon D810 and use the 5:4 aspect ratio that camera has. This places a semi transparent mask in the OVF, cropping off the sides.. Tried it for a short while the other day and really liked it.
* Get a Canon 5DIII and have my local repair store place a 5:4 crop with some tape on the focusing screen. Not as ideal as the Nikon but would be a more successful second camera to the Sony with the ability to share lenses with autofocus.
So advantages for the Nikon D810 would be that it shares a somewhat similar Sony sensor and therefore I could expect similar results with regards to exposure, post processing etc etc. File sizes are similar as well. The 5:4 aspect ratio is a feature of the camera and works well and I would not have to mess about with getting a technician to place a "mask" on the focusing screen.
The downsides are that there is currently no reliable autofocus adapter for Nikon lenses to work with the Sony.
Advantages for the Canon is that you can get good, reliable autofocus results with Canon glass on the Sony via either the Metabones or the Sigma MC-11. This could be very useful in shooting an event/wedding or something similar.
Downsides are that the sensor is not nearly as good as either the A7RII/D810 and I would need to mess about getting a mask placed on the focus screen.
So what do you guys think? Any suggestions?
Before I get the inevitable barrage of "just crop in post" comments, please do not bother. There IS a difference (to me at least) between viewing something in its intended output format (either in the OVF or EVF) and just cropping later. I have tried this on the A7RII. If you set it to the grid with the most lines, a 5:4 ratio would cut off exactly halfway between the last line and the edge of the screen. So you can have a guess at it but this is not even close in comparison to the D810 (masking off the OVF) or more recently, the Fuji GFX, which completely masks off the EVF to a number of desired aspect ratios.
Am not sure why Sony has not implemented this in their cameras, it would make a big difference to the shooting experience in my personal opinion.
Thanks in advance, any help or suggestions (or maybe something I am missing) would be really appreciated!
