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April Q&A forum (Patreon)

Published:
2021-04-01 23:06:07
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

Please ask all of your general Alpha questions in this forum during the month of April.


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Comments

Ulli Seeberger

Hi Mark, I am wondering what would be the better combination. I have a 400mm 2.8 that I can use with my A7RIV or use the lens with my new A1. At the moment I am shooting more landscape and static images with it, of course with sports and action photography the choice is clear (A1). Can (if yes in which cases) the additional 11 MP of the A7RIV make a difference with the 400 2.8 or would you generally lean more towards the A1. I am thinking of selling my A7RIV but because of the resolution advantage I am also considering to keep it for a little longer. Thanks

Todd Cary

Hello Mark - I am having problems setting up Sony Imaging Edge Desktop Remote with the Sony A1:connection not found. I have no problems with my A7R M3. Have you had experience with tethered shooting with the A1 or do you have a reference/source where I can get all of the settings required. With appreciation, Todd

Ian Locock

Hi Mark, Firstly thanks for your support of the Alpha community, you have been a great help in my transition from Canon to Sony over the past year. I shoot mainly wildlife and landscape with odd forays into aviation, sport and the occasional astro using an A9 and A7R iv. I'm looking to invest in an A1, but really don't need 3 cameras. My dilemma is should I sell both current cameras and replace them with an A9 ii, or should I just sell the A7R iv. I need 2 cameras capable of fast action, but also question the step down from 61mp to 50mp for landscape work. Your thoughts would be appreciated please. Thanks, Ian.

Mark Galer
>>58817179

If you can keep the ISO down to 320 or lower on the A7RIV (helped by wider apertures and slower shutter speeds) then this will have the edge on quality over the A1. The ability to discern this extra quality, however, will depend on how someone is viewing your images. If you are lucky enough to have an 8K TV or you have printed your images 1 meter (3 feet wide) and the viewing distance is close the viewer may be able to pick the A7RIV advantage. If you are viewing on a 15" laptop or a 4K screen at a distance the difference in quality will no longer be an issue.

Mark Galer
>>58841648

I haven't tethered the A1 yet but will take a look at this when I get a chance. The A7RIV and A9II cameras tethered more easily than previous cameras because of changes in the Network menus. Connection not found was a traditional problem on cameras that preceded the A7RIV because Cloud services working the the background created a conflict, e.g. Google Drive would prevent the camera being found. let me get back to you on this one.

Mark Galer
>>58855045

The performance differences between the A9 and A9II are quite small if your are not a professional sports shoot who needs to get images back to their picture editor quickly. Here is a link to four comparison charts - https://flic.kr/s/aHsmL6voEY - There are dozens of improvements but very few that impact on image quality or AF performance. I am currently using the A9II and A7C as my B and C cameras but often pick up the A7C over the A9II as the C fits in a small messenger back with three lightweight primes while the A1 is primarily used with the heavier and longer telephoto lenses. I can see myself selling the A9II the more I use the A7C. The extra 10 megapixels of the A7RIV are only noticeable when you print images 5 or 6 feet wide or you are showcasing your images on an 8K TV.

Juan David

Hello Mark, If I’m using my 6100 only to take images of birds, is it worth to leave “Face/eye priority AF” set to ON? Or should I set it to OFF? By the other hand, SONY help guide says in its note: “The camera operations are different when using the custom key to execute [Eye AF].” If I assign “EYE AF” to a custom button, what would be the benefit in bird photography? I know that if I use "animal" subject detection, tracking options are disabled… Please your advice…

Mark Galer
>>58893796

You can leave Eye AF on. Animal Eye AF cannot, however, be selected if you select a tracking Focus Area. Tracking is more important than Animal Eye AF when your subjects are moving and at a distance. This video tutorial will explain why Eye AF assigned to a custom key is different to regular Eye AF: https://youtu.be/XHRg2GYzTQI

Todd Cary

Mark - Have you used a 2X extender on the Sony 100-400mm lens? And if you have, does the AF work well? I have heard that on makes of cameras do not do their AF well with 2X extenders. Thank you

Mark Galer
>>58909036

I have used the 2x Extender with the 400mm GM and the 100-400 GM < https://flic.kr/s/aHsm5VFfqB > There will be some loss of AF performance and fine detail. My first choice would be to use the 1.4x TC, shoot in APS-C Mode and/or crop in post before considering the 2x Teleconverter. The slight loss in AF performance my not be significant if your subject is static or moving slowly.

Maggie White

I am keen to buy an A1 but see there seems to be quite a few problems with EVF blackouts. Have you any comments about this? I don't want to part with all that money only to find a problem.

Mark Galer
>>59214562

This question has appeared in the April forum instead of the May forum but I will answer it here - I commented on the A1 issue in the last seminar and offered my workarounds to resolve the problem until the engineers in Japan rectify the problem via a firmware fix. This includes using an extended Eye Cup, Wearing a Peak cap when the sun is low and setting the Monitor off to 2 seconds so that the monitor is never on when the camera is raised to the eye. This last option my preclude the need for the other two options. It is very predictable when this is likely to happen so you can be prepared in these situations where the sun is low and to your right - it has to be just an an angle so that it is able to shine on the eye sensor just at that point where the camera is raised to the eye.

newson

Hello. I have an A7C with several lenses and, at first, I was illusioned by the idea of producing 4K videos with the great results I've seen on YouTube. All the videos that amazed used some kind of LUTS and/or heavy modifications. I even invest on the LEEMING LUT package, follow the instructions faithfully but the results I got was disappointing. I think I'll be better if I stop using LUTs and instead try and use the best settings on my camera, so I don't need to do any kind of post-processing. Could you please share some settings you use in the A7C or in general any of the Alpha cameras, so one can get great videos without any PP? Thank you so much!

Mark Galer
>>59260647

We have moved to a new Q&A forum now that we are in May. Can you please copy and paste this into the new forum so other Patrons can join the conversation - thanks.

Patrick Brown

Hi Mark. Thank you for this splendid resource. What's the reasoning behind your recommendation to change Movie setting from Flexible Exp. Mode to P/A/S/M? One thing that was drilled into me in the early days of video shooting was to keep my shutter speed constant at 2x frame rate. That's possible with Flexible Exp. Mode, as it it allows shutter, aperture and ISO to be manual or auto. I find that in PASM I can adjust aperture to get the depth of field I want, but the camera automatically adjust shutter and ISO to fit, which means my project will be shot in a random collection of difference shutter speeds. I'm sure I'm missing something. Is the rule of constant shutter speed at 2x frame rate perhaps outdated ... or is there a way to get that with PASM?

Mark Galer
>>59291484

I like the idea of the the Flexible Exposure Mode but as I don't shoot movies on a regular basis I was getting caught out hunting for the correct Custom Key to press. I work on auto pilot most of the time when shooting stills and I typically found myself pressing C2 to change the Focus Area when it was no longer assigned to the C2 Key for movies. My typical video workflow is still to lock in the Shutter Speed at 2x the frame rate in Manual Exposure Mode and then rotate a declicked aperture ring to fine-tune exposure. I can still move ISO from Manual to Auto if I want the camera to shoot in Semi-Auto. If I was primarily a movie shooter I may have given the Flexible Exposure Mode longer to get used to it. I also decided that Flexible Exposure mode would throw a lot of new users who had loaded my settings but had not encountered this mode on their previous cameras ...and then they may wonder how to revert to a more standard PSAM workflow without having to read the eBook. So, yes I can shoot everything at the same frame rate in Manual with ISO Auto.

Patrick Brown

Sorry, Mark, I'm still missing something. When in Movie mode, how do I find Manual exposure mode to lock the shutter speed? If I move the dial to M, set the exposure, then set the dial back to Movie, the shutter speed still varies automatically. And, does 'declicked aperture ring' mean I have would have to use a lens with an aperture ring?At present I'm using FE2.8 24-70mm and when Exposure Control Type is set to PASM I don't know how to control either shutter speed or aperture... front and back dials are inactive, so they both vary automatically, meaning I'm out of luck with both constant shutter speed and depth of focus control.

Mark Galer
>>59305939

When you are in Movie Mode on the Shoot Mode Dial you can change the Exposure Mode by pressing the Fn key and then choosing the Exposure Mode from the bottom row (right side) of the FN menu. Movie shooters prefer lenses with aperture rings on the lens that can be turned without clicking. Sony GM prime lenses and the 20mm G lens have aperture rings with a declick button so when the ring is turned it either clicks or rotted smoothly. If you are adjusting exposure while filing it is preferable that you don't jump exposure in 1/3 stop increments. The front and rear dial are not inactive when you switch the Exposure Mode to Manual.

Nery Payne

Hi Mark, I own an 7IV, an upgrade from A mount. I can’t get auto focus to work for video. Still images works well. I’m using a mount adaptor LA-EA5 lens Sony SAL 24-70 ZA . How can I get auto focus to work for video? Sony A 7IV ILCE-7M4 . Thanks

Mark Galer
>>93097664

This is the April 2021 Q&A forum. Please use the current Q&A forum which is always the pinned post directly below the banner image when using aWeb browser.