Sapporo station was huge , it was always crowded and busy.Probably it is one of the biggest stations in Japan. This time , I was waiting for my train to Wakkanai and shooting some odd things around this big station to kill my time.
Sapporo was really clean, almost no trash or anything on the side walk there, but everywhere else in Hokkaido was kind of dirty, I guess the locals there are not very well mannered or considerate people trashing craps every where.
And really odd thing there was I saw many times more girls than boys, there seemed to be no boy in this over 4 million living city, it was really odd.
And I found people in Sapporo kind of rude and not very kind at all.
Sapporo was a quite boring place. I think I will never go back to Sapporo ever again although I love the rest of Hokkaido and I will go back to Asahikawa, Wakkanai, Kushiro,etc, every year.
The new race.
I've owned a7II, a7R, a7,A6500,A6000,A6300,NEX5n, NEX6,NEX7, A100, A350, A700,A99V and A900.You may not easily find a bigger Sony camera supporter than me.....So I am obviously not an anit-Sony or mirrorless kind of person. I think I was one of the very first Emount adapters in the world, and I have probably spent more money than most of just temporarily moved to Sony because of the A7RMK2 kind of guys out there. But I am realistic and know the Sony system is still incomplete, on many levels it is not comparable to Nikon and Canon D-SLR systems and even not comparable to Sony's own A mount system just yet.Yes, the EMount cameras produce great images in right conditions.But they have ignored maybe minor but actually very important subtle evolutions that larger cameras earned through decades of camera companies listening to their customers, including pros.
Please do not be overly defensive about Sony, and definitely not deny or ignore the facts, ignoring or denying it,or overly defending Sony just spoils Sony and stops the potentially the most interesting and advanced arguably almost universal mount system from fully developing its full potential. I honestly believe the E mount is an almost universal hybrid mount system that might replace all of the current camera mount systems to make it just simple one mount if Sony listens to its customer base..
The EMount system would be better for everyone if Sony listened to a few annoyingly loud but honest professionals like Ming, Thom and Michael,who raise valid issues/points. No one will be hurt if Sony engineers understand it some subtle nuances that many photographers have actually relied on for decades for their real life work projects in the filed, and only way for Sony engineers to be able to get it correctly is to listen to likes of Ming or Thom or like that even if they are not Sony fan. Only listening to likes of Michael Reichemann,who seldom criticize about Sony or any camera, just spoil the E mount and stop it from fully development.
Some of us are really crippled by Sony ignoring these minor but important features.
Face it and see the reality, Sony is not listening, but rather mean to its user base.
Try not to express strong opinion on Sony or Mirrorless l keep that to myself and just write about the facts of the current state of the E mount system and its main issues in real life use:
1>Even the most avid Sony enthusiast has to admit that Sony really screws their customers over with a new model in every few months
far as depreciation. This is as opposed to Canon, say the 5D3
loosing 2/3rds of an A7 resale value in 14 months is just hard to stomach. Ming is right that wait a year for the R3 and the R2 will be way way down probably 1200-1500 used. And even now, at least in Japanese market there a quite few used A7RMK2 floating around the internet.
thats a tough bite in a year for all but the professionals. wait 2 years, and its likely under a grand...and there is no serious FW update to any of the original A7X cameras,I mean there were a few FW updates but they were all minor bug fixes not like Samsung adding many super new features to its NX1 every time Samsung updates it.
I think this is a very important point, and I think this actually hurts Sony not helps in the long run since this really scares those who buy the"system" rather than just a body kind of guys away from the E mount system, and those buying into the system not a camera actually spend much more money in the long run for Sony. I still have the original A7, along with the a7R, A7M2 and A6000 just because it is almost impossible to sell my A7 without losing too much money, and sheer IQ wise, none of newer A7X cameras is a huge upgrade to my ancient A7 and A7R(I know in a lab they are much better tested,but I mean in real life)
I actually have NEX5n andNEX6 too, although I haven't even touched them for a couple of years or so.
I tried to sell my NEX6 and NEX5n,which I hate but I could not get any significant money for them,so I just kept it for days I would have to shoot in intense rain, or in risky or dangerous places.
I know the a7M3 is coming very soon, and I'm already preparing for it, but I have feeling that I might just avoid it even if it is a great camera, I just hate Sony keeps depreciating every single body it releases in a matter of a few months, most of Sony cameras do not even have a couple of years of life even the expensive A7RM2 will have just a year of life, it is really silly.
2>The widely reported promise of adapted lenses working as well as their native mounts is a big marketing lie. In reality even with Sony's own LAEA 1, 3, 4 adapters, AF-C is incompatible with Continuous High bust mode. Must use Cont Low at 2fps, and it's about as accurate as an old Sony A100 focus system. Also, no Sony/Minolta tele-converters are compatible. It is not a replacement for DLSR or SLT tracking. I'd be interested to know if Canon teleconverters work with Metabones adapter,though. Yes native EMount lenses focus better. But the selection doesn't present itself as a full DSLR replacement. Where is SEL70-400 mm SSM?
3>In my rent studio shoot comparison, two A7M2 with the external battery grip got 710 shots writing RAW only. One D750 without the external battery grip got 1560 writing RAW+JPG on two cards. The A7M2 required computer/hard drive backing up, lens adapter, battery grip, making it the larger system to carry around than any Nikon or Canon or even Sony's own A mount camera such as the A99V,which I had a year ago.
And even more serious problem for studio shooting is the external vertical grip with two batteries will not transfer power to second battery when tethering. Sony Remote Camera Control software shuts down with low battery warning at 20% left on battery one. Will not clear until first battery replaced, regardless if second battery is present. Second batt is useless in tethering mode.Less power, less shots, more tether software startups. Same thing happens when installing software from Play Memories App Store. a99/900 transfer VG battery power smoothly for tethering.
So,Sony can actually do proper tethering for the A, but for E mount system Sony chooses not to do it properly, this is extremely odd to me.
4>EMount really complicates its AF usability with at least minimum two button push for AF selector points. No diagonal scrolling available to get there faster,... the same usability issue for magnifier and playback for manual focus. Two hurdles which make it slower than regular DLSR joystick instant control with horizontal scrolling for AF selector, magnifier, and magnified playback viewing.
For small bodies like the A7X, there may be no space for the simple joystick UI of the DSLRs, but at least Sony can put some sort of touch-AF feature in the A7X.
It is a big mystery to me that Sony always refuses to put touch screen UI in the A7X and A99X cameras.
As Tony Northrup says, touch screen U.I is really practical,especially for small cameras.
As an Olympus and Panasonic user, I know this very well.
I think every EVF camera needs touch AF feature and even better touch pad featre of the latest Olympus EM10M2.
5>The dumb metal thumb bracket accessory for RX1 has a lock for so-called muti interface shoe fit... but the flash adapters and microphones of any Sony A7X don't have any locks. Should that be the other way around? CaNikon have full metal locking sleds on their flashes, yet Sony has four plastic toes... not even full sleds.
It may get some unwanted water or any kind of liquid in side of the main board of the camera. So I taped it with some vinyl tape.
6>Sony actually fixed the plastic lens mount flexing with a A7m2 and R2, but never actually bother to recall the A7R and A7 to fix that issue. Even worse when it used with lens adapters, the mounting points are doubled, causing rotational wobbles when the bigger lenses are zoomed, even the size of my relatively small SAL 85 mm f1.4 ZA.. and, the adapters the only way for any A7X to use any f 2.8 zoom or f1.2 prime, that is really annoying.
7> there are many features that would cost nothing to implement and are clearly better in pro cameras but Sony tends to ignore those,as far as I remember Sony seldom adds new features with FW updates, but forces us to buy a new minor update or even worse just some annoying usability issue fixed model like the A6000 or the A7M2. All Sony cameras are not weather sealed, I think neither are all Sony lenses. I am sure assemblance of real water resistance isn't that expensive as the myriad of inexpensive water resistant consumer products proves these days. A hot shoe lock is simple and effective. Why would Sony decide their cameras shouldn't have one? What possible advantage is there eliminating it? Speaking of flash, why can't Sony implement real slow sync fill flash or real ring flash for proper macro shooting? It is beyond my understanding, and really shocks me how careless some of so-called pro camera designers are, I am sure they are not ignorant or obtuse people but careless, choose not to listen to the real user base. This kind of arrogance is always found anything Asian electronics company produce, they do not listen because of their silly egoistic pride, especially Japanese.
10> Sony cameras may switch raw bit rate to 12-bit output,which actually has about 11.9 bit of info to deal with, in a few specific shooting modes;in continuous, in bulb mode, and I think also in silent shutter mode..Actually,this really odd phenomenon/behavior of the A7X cameras is much more annoying and a serious issue than the lossy compressed 11-7 RAW that always criticized by likes of Loyd Chamber, Thom Hogan, and Ken Rockwell,because the sudden bit change in silent, continuous,bracketing and bulb modes may actually cause visible compression artifacts. The 11-7 raw compression actually does not cause any visible artifact except in extremely harsh bright high contrasty scene or super long exposure image.
In addition:
•Rear dial is horrible. Cheap and fiddly.
•Sony's menu system is confusing. Things are not grouped logically even for a guy like me having used almost every single Sony camera since about 2006.
•Shutter button is mushy, and makes the shooting experience feel slightly laggy, sometimes even slow.
•Startup is inconsistent. Sometimes it is almost instant, but most times, it takes a few seconds to get going, especially once it goes sleep or needs to format the card.
•Back button focus is very poor, because the button around the AEL switch is small and fiddly, even for my relatively small hands it is too small and awkward to navigate..
•Flash system is limited compared to Canon/Nikon, and it feels old dated without proper radio control mode.
To me, the slow formatting time is a really annoying problem, and Sony cameras cannot share the same card with some other brands cameras in a shooting session. It is really annoying for a person like me who shoot many brands camera systems at once.
Last week I was shooting macro with my Olympus EM5M2 and Sony A7 and A7M2(my A7R and A6000 are at Sony for sensor replacement service), I tried to use the card I was using in the Olympus in my Sony, my Sony A7,A7M2 and NEX5n rejected the card with saying something like this card needs to be re-formatted since it has corrupted files.
I put it back into my EM5M2, it then worked properly and properly read at least jpeg files although they were not Olympus but Sony files.
I found all other manufacture cameras can share one SD cards for one shooting session if forced to, but Sony, Sony cameras require dedicated cards that are formatted in the PC or Sony cameras.
This is really really annoying, sometimes SD cards used in the Sony become full, and sometimes take out the card from my Oly or Nikon and use it in my Sony, then Sony tries to format it every time. This never happens in other brand cameras, so the cards can be shared between Canon, Nikon and Olympus safely without any issue, but need some dedicated cards for Sony.
And, I do not know what my A7,A7M2,A6000 and A7R doing but every time I try to format a card in them, they take a several minutes or at least a couple of minutes to do it. Because of this I've missed a several shooting opportunities in last week.
I, like Michael and Kevin,see real advantages to many features in the A7 series and other mirrorless cameras vs. DSLR's. And I strongly believe EVF is the future, and that is the main reason why I use Sony and Olympus.I would have totally adopted them by now and sold all my DSLR gear if it weren't for the above mentioned idiocracies in design.
As I wrote above,proper weather sealing is quite cheap to apply these days, but Sony refuses to use it even for the flagship A7RMK2 that costs about 2 times more than the Nikon's real pro camera D810 in its home market Japan. Again, it is really beyond my comprehension, and quite stupid. If Sony listens to its users and fix all above issues, I am sure they will outsell Nikon, maybe not Canon, but at least beat Nikon.
All my Nikon cameras are sealed, and I think some of my Canons are too, If Nikon and Canon had it covered , professionals or any one shooting in harsh environment would not deal with the idiosyncrasies and broken U.I of Sony cameras to use them even if they actually prefer the EVF and mirrorless design of Sony.
I think It will be the new race contest.Will Sony actually listen to its user to fix its terribly awkward UI, general usability of the E system first, or will CaNikon loosen their silly pride guard down to answer to Sony with some more sophisticated true pro grade mirrorless camera first.
UPDATE: Now, I just confirm that Nikon DL series actual shipment date would be next January 17th as planned in last Nikon conference at Nikon D3400 launch. But it may delay even further to next CP+ show in Yokohama Japan(in Feb 2017).
So it is already promised to be a failed product line before the actual launch. I think Nikon is really stupid, I mean I don't think phones or mirrorless killing Nikon but itself, it obtuse marketing killing it.
UPDATE2: I find Fuji's "Kaizen" policy very very attractive and their repair service seems excellent. I also like the new Joystick AF selector. So I may test my X-T2 a bit longer than I expected. However, I find the X-Pro 2 still a bit better body than the XT2 in terms of build and ergonomics.
The X-T2 Joystick is sometimes unusable when I look into the EVF since my nose sometimes touch the Joystick.
The quality of the body is obviously worse than that of the X-Pro2. The X-Pro2 is generally faster(I don't mean AF speed, but general operation speed). But when using a tele photo zoom or any big lens I think the X-T2 is better since it has the external grip option that counterbalances the weight of a big lens better.
The Sony A6300 really needed a similar grip to really take all its AF and speed advantages over the A7X series.
So I always saw the Sony A6300 as a halfhearted effort of Sony that was carefully deigned not to invade the A7X territory. It is a shame, since the A6300 has the potential to be the best camera for the most majority of ILC users.
In the end, for now, I decided to keep Canon, Fuji, Sony and Nikon and eventually pick one and sell all the others.
IMHO, Canon EF and Sony E seem to be the most future-proof systems, but I have feeling I may be happier with Fuji than either Canon or Sony in the long run.
In my mind, Nikon is ,like Leica's CEO kindly points out , already one leg in the grave kind of system, and I do not think they are any relevant now unless they some how just really immediately come up with a serious F mount mirrorless camera that takes full advantage of the F mount eco system.
I think until I get comfortable with the Fuji AF system, I keep my D750, but once I get hang of it, I do not need Nikon any more.
So in near future, I will be using just 3 system rather than 4 systems.
UPDATE3: Many people including myself thought Nikon is dying if not already dead by now, but in reality Nikon sells many many more units than Sony and Nikon is now working on new type of sensor design and they may collaborate with Pentax and Olympus to set up a new sensor company. If this plays out well, then Sony will be the loser since they will have no one to sell their mediocre so-called Fullframe sensors any more. And as a result their highend camera prices will go up significantly.
And now Sony has just announced they've just decided to spin off their imaging division and now it is an independent business under Sony corp's supervision, just like their sensor group.....
This means now Sony imaging is not a part of Sony but their subsidiary, and therefore, to Sony device group, the imaging group is just a customer,nothing special, in fact,considering its size of market share in relation to that of Nikon, Sony imaging group is a lower class customer to the device group.
So there is no more reason for Sony device technology to keep the best sensor for in-house use. In fact now Sony device tech must compete with the new sensor company Nikon Olympus Ricoh have just established here and some European sensor designers such as CMOSIS, who makes the Leica SL sensor and M sensor.
And do not forget there is always Canon if Sony does not sell anything to Nikon.........Canon will start selling it and there will be Panasonic and Tower Jazz also........so Nikon will not have any problem choosing sensor suppliers any more.
Sony must sell their best sensors to Nikon, Olympus, and Pentax , or Sony will lose them, Sony cannot choose customers any more.
If Sony is smart, it will not compete with Nikon or Olympus in camera market. After all, Nikon is the biggest customer of Sony.......but Sony also buys steppers from Nikon anyway. So Sony is not dominating the sensor market, or controlling Nikon as many Sony fanboys think..........and the just announced Spun-off of their imaging division makes Sony camera business less trust-worthy........... Sony thinks every business as a short term investment and runs it to make it temporarily profitable and then spins it off.
After that? of course sells it to anyone willing to buy it.........like Sony did with the Vaio PC business, TV business, etc,etc.
That is why no one really trust Sony in the long run, we long term Sony users just use its cameras but always know it is a back-up plan or step-gap solution......
After all no serious camera buyers are as obtuse as many spec-chasers and review sites think they are. None one buys into a big expensive camera system just for an amazing set of features in a body or two...................there are many many more important aspects to a system camera than just a set of great features...
UPDATE4: Now my first 2 copies of FE16-35mm f4 suddenly died and I just bought my 3rd copy of it.........and sadly found it terrible this time.
It is obvious buying any Sony Zeiss FE lens is like picking up an extremely difficult to win lottery ticket..........it might be great but most of times you get mediocre copies of it.
My first 16-35mm f4 was excellent , the second one was even better-almost outstanding, then this third one is literally lousy. I am returning it and get a new copy but I am not expecting to get a better one, I guess I was extremely lucky with my first two copies of this lens........I guess I will force the dealer to exchange my FE16-35mm f4 for the Voiklander 15mm f4.
Sony QC is just terrible, and it is not worth any premium over other cheap off-brand lens maker like Samyang, Tamron and Sigma. In fact, Sony is even worse than Tamron and much worse than Sigma Art series with respect to QC. I have had 4 Tamron VC lenses in EF and F mount and they performed fairly consistent....
I really miss Tamron 90mm macro, now I guess a brand name means nothing when it comes to QC and general after sales support. In fact, Tamron and Voiklander provided me the best service of any lens maker I have ever dealt with. It is extremely frustrating every time I spend more than 110000 yen or 1075 USD, I still have to worry about terrible sample variations.
I think we have to appreciate Roger Cicala's excellent site. He is the only one guy testing more than 5 copies of any given lens. All other reviewers just merely test one copy of each lens.........useless.