Sony a7c: one year with the camera

A year ago I got a Sony a7c full-frame mirrorless camera.

I had my doubts, would a full frame be worth it? Since I had to sell a lot of old photographic equipment (Samsung NX cameras, and lenses, and some other things). There was possible disappointment from inflated expectations.

No, the full frame didn't disappoint at all. On the contrary, I got exactly what I expected. And the Sony a7c camera did not disappoint, although of course it is far from perfect. Its drawbacks were known in advance.

The 24Mp resolution is enough, and the files (I shoot only in raw-ARW) are not so large to worry about this. More precisely, they are large for the resolution (no lossless compression), but I do not store a lot of photos on the camera, and I compress them with an archiver for long-term storage. They are well compressed.

As for the video capabilities, I "lost" 50/60 fps because they are only available in FullHD mode. And FullHD is unusable because of the high aliasing. But good 4K is more important to me. And the ability to record video without a software time limit.

Mostly, the only thing I don't like is the flip screen mechanism. I miss the one of Samsung NX500 - it suits me much better.

So I like Sony a7c, it satisfied me. I have no plans to replace it with anything else. And yes, I still have a few cameras with the 1.5 crop: Ricoh GR for every day, a spare Samsung NX10, and a suddenly appeared Samsung NX300, which is not quite healthy.

I already listed the lenses, and the list did not changed. I only use some of lenses on the a7c. Grouped by focal length:

28-30mm: Pentax K 28/3.5, Pentax K 30/2.8

35mmм: Pentax K 35/3.5

50-55mm: Pentax K 50/1.4, Pentax M 50/4 Macro, Pentax K 55/1.8

85mm: Гелиос-40 (Helios-40)  85/1.5, Vivitar 85/1.8

100-105mm: Takumar (Pre-set II) 105/2.8, Pentax M 100/4 Macro

I rarely use other (longer or shorter) focal lengths, or I don't use them at all.

As you can see, these are mostly Pentax (K bayonet) lenses from the 1970s for film SLR cameras. I use these lenses with the same K&F Concept adapter (I don't really like the design, but I have not found a replacement yet). And the additional aperture control is very useful (like a pre-set aperture control of old lenses). 

It is funny: I left Pentax (cameras), returned to Pentax (lenses).

I don't have any Sony autofocus lenses, nor do I have an explicit wish to purchase one. The support for non-electronic optics is pretty good. But I don't like, that I have to add focal length information (and lens model) by hand. This is the only moral limitation of using non-electronic lenses on this camera.

But purely theoretically, I'm thinking about some sort of autofocus lens. I haven't even decided on the focal length.

Sometimes I think of the Tamron 20-40mm F/2.8 Di III VXD. Yes, it's a zoom lens, which I'm not particularly a fan of. But right now, I'm using the questionable Вариозенитар (Variozenitar) 25-45/2.8-3.5 for this rare application. And (usable) f/2.8 aperture on full-frame is good, it's the equivalent of f/1.8 on a 1.5 crop frame, and I've never had anything faster among Samsung NX autofocus lenses.

Also, this Tamron will cover the lack of a wide angle. In my experience of Pentax DA 14/2.8 on a crop (equivalent to 20mm focal length on full-frame), I don't need a wider angle. A shorter focal length would be useful for videos forced to shoot in a crop mode (like it was in Samsung NX500 with 4K/UHD). On Sony a7c it's only 4K at 30 fps, there the cropping is relatively small, and I prefer 25 fps (not to risk with 50Hz powered artificial light).

And in general, Tamron's 20-40 mm is just a convenient universal focal length, given the current trend of going wide angle. But the reviews of this recent (2022) lens are still mixed. Some people really like it, while others find it a bit weak. So the interest remains only theoretical.

Also I would like a 35mm lens with f/1.4 (or faster if possible) and specifically on full frame. Autofocus is not required. There is a choice, but I haven't looked into it yet.

See also related notes:

• Вариозенитар 25-45/2.8-3.5 (2022-12-23)
• Опять Samsung NX300 (2022-10-01)
• Съёмка на полный кадр (2022-07-25)
• Sony a7c: границы кадра для фото и видео (2022-07-07)
• exiftool: информация об объективе в EXIF (2022-06-13)
• Sony a7c: видеовозможности (2022-06-08)
• Sony a7c: поддержка неэлектронных объективов (2022-04-26)
• Объективы (2022) (2022-04-13)
• Sony a7c: ARW, коммуникации (2022-04-09)
• K&F Concept: Адаптер Pentax K (DA) - Sony FE/E (2022-03-28)
• Sony α7c (Alpha 7C, a7c) (2022-03-18)
• Samsung NX, всего лучшего (2022-02-23)
• Почему 28 и 35 вытеснили 50 мм (мысли о фототехнике) (2022-02-05)
• Samsung NX500: "полнокадровый" FHD и кропнутый UHD (2016-04-27)
• Pentax DA 14/2.8 (2006-12-23)

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• Sony