Sony A7r First Impressions For Macro

While waiting for some coin shots to up load I thought I would post some learning points. Today I have been taking outside photos and learning what the camera can do. First off I tried out my sigma 105mm macro and had an interesting experiences. To use the Sigma lens I had to fit the LA EA 4 adapter. this adapter takes the camera to an equivalent Af camera to my sony A 65. Effectively all I was doing was putting the translucent mirror box back onto the camera. Supposedly when you switch a Af lens to manual the camera should automatically switch to manual focus disabling the screw drive for the AF. That doesn't happen with my EX sigma 105; the switch on the lens operates by moving the end of the lens from Af to MF. When I set the lens to MF the camera remained in AF mode( dangerous as it can damage the lens' AF mechanism). I am pretty sure there is a way to switch the camera to Full manual mode(ie: disable the auto focus) so I will be hunting through the online manual to find out how.
As I had been using manual lenses most of the day. I forgot to set the aperture, so the picture I took with the lens were wide open with a significant loss of DOF. However the areas of the coin that were in focus were brilliant!!.

I then tried the Minolta 25-70 zoom with Macro focus. I gained some impressive photos from this lens using an extension tube with my A 65. Problem is Sony warns against using extension tubes with the required adapter.....the result... that lens isn't good enough woth out an extension ring. So I switched to my Novoflex adapter and put on a Minolta MD(manual focus)35-70mm zoom with macro. It works but you can't get the coin image to fill the field of the sensor. So I attached the 1-1 adapter from the MD 50mm macro and tried the zoom lens with that and it performed brillaintly. From my experiences so far...I can say the Minolta Rokkor 50mm macro is going to be the most used lens. Sony won't be adding a FF e mount Macro lens to their stable for at least a year and when they do it won't be cheap. The Minolta MD 50mm macro cost me US$70.00 in Europe dealers are selling it for €150 - €300.00


Edit 3 hours later and finally the first picture has finished uploading to Photobucket( I didn't reduce its size!)


Sigma 105 mm at 2.8( should have been at 8)

Finally I managed to upload to photo bucket one of the other pictures I had taken. It was shot using the Rokkor(minolta) 35-70 mm zoom (with Macro) which I mounted on the 1-1 adapter that comes with the Minolta MD 50mm macro.

I finally worked out how to use some of the manual focus assistance features: Focus peaking, which I was already using; when this function is on, the areas of highest contrast are highlighted. The function I next found is most useful...it is a magnification feature....by pushing a button a small rectangle is shown in the view finder...you move it to where you want the focus to be. Confirm by operating the cameras "enter" button and that area is then magnified so that you can adjust the focus. Here's the shot...I am going to have to up the lighting but this shot really shows what the camera can do with a US$50.00 - $60 lens (Note the lens in question was also badged by Leica)

An up date: on my A65 I loved using the sigma EX 105mm macro but on the A7r its annoying. I have to keep setting the camera to manual focus (Switching the lens to manual focus does not disconnect the screw drive). By switching to manual focus I don't mean just the main control but also a secondary control. Clearly this is a case of too many whistles and bells. The Af would be fine but it really hunts ( if it works) on the A7r. I suspect the old 105mm I am using has communication problems with the camera(an issue it is known to have with the sony A99).
I am looking for a new 100 mm(or longer if its usable) macro. So far the gem has been, as already commented on, the Minolta MD 50mm macro. It only goes 1-1 with the custom extension tube that comes with it but its simple to use and produces very sold results with absolutely no distortion. I understand Sony will be bringing out a macro lens for the A7r. That said that new sony lens will be a g lens probably with image stabilization( something else to turn off) so it will have a price that matches the cost of the camera. I suppose I could try the Minolta MD 100mm macro (but it would have to be light years ahead of the 50mm to be worthwhile) or its AF counterpart.

New learning point.



Finally I got the app onto my smart phone, which as a result, now acts as a remote shutter release. Its taken me a couple of weeks to work out how to do it...the biggest problem was memory space on the smart phone. I had to be brutal and delete some other apps. Prior to this I was using a 10 second delayed shutter release a bit of a pain when you want to take a series of photos. So now I can tether this camera to my smart phone....next part of the learning curve tethering to my lap top.

Anecdotal: I had zero problems with a Canon XSi/100mm Macro combination, attached via the camera's screw mount. That setup considerably outweighs yours - the camera 65g heavier and the lens 150g heavier. So, I'm thinking in your case the camera mount might be a viable option.

Edit: I've seen it mentioned online that only the A7 has EFSC; not the A7R. I've no idea whatsoever why they did it that way.

That's contrary to what we'd originally thought and heard, as well. It makes no sense that they'd configure them that way; the A7 is the "do it for me" model, while the A7R is the "overclocker's" model.

Roommate decided to pick one up and it arrived last week. Now he's waiting on the adapter to use the Canon lenses, can't wait to try this one out and compare it with the 5D mkII and mk III ( all of those cameras are now in the house along with the 7D now). This sensor looks like a real winner!