Sony A7R insights

This page is for documenting my ongoing experience with the Sony A7R. I’ll give it to you like I see it, some comments will praise the camera, others may upset the die-hard Sony owners.

**Please Sony, I’m tired of menu diving for “Format” card. Can you make it a two button push or let us assign it to a function button (Fn). For what it’s worth go to 65 for “Format”  – that’s 6th tab and 5th window. Too bad the old slang term for “throwing out” isn’t 65 but it’s 86’ed.

**SETUP IDEA: I like to be able to quickly move the focus point around the viewfinder often between shots. I set up Custom Key Setting, Right Button, Focus setting. So now I just right click the wheel and the focus point can be moved.

**Don’t you hate it when you see the battery at 15% and you still have lots of shooting you want to do? Well, unless you have a back up battery, it’s time to take control of your camera and save energy. Like I tell my kids, “turn those lights off or you can pay the bill.” Do they turn the lights off? NO, Have they paid a bill, NO. Am I wasting my breath, YES. But here it’s different, you want to save energy because you love to shoot.
So to save energy in your camera, instead of taking 10 minutes of precious battery life fumbling through the menu, write these down and put them in your phone:
A7R POWER SAVE
13 af illuminator off
21 auto review off
22 pre-af off
23 finder/monitor viewfinder
61 viewfinder brightness (a bit extreme)
61 audio signals (a bit extreme)
62 power save start time 10sec.
The first number is the tab, the second number is the window within that tab. If you don’t have the list with you just try to remember the essential numbers: 21, 22 and 23. Those will give you some extra shooting time.

**I went a little crazy on the shutter vibration article. Why the A7R? Emphasis on “R” – that’s because the shutter has to close, then open to begin exposure, then close, then open again. Lot’s going on! Have you ever heard an old adding machines when it’s adding numbers, I think it was the inspiration for the A7R sound, they are very similar.

Here’s the bottom line. Lenses 100mm or less don’t worry about it. Lenses over 100mm hand-held don’t worry about it. Lenses over 100mm on a tripod – worry a little – secure in 2 points if possible and keep shutter speeds over 1/100sec. When using a lens collar shutter vibration is most vulnerable in portrait orientation. Sony needs to allow us to put in a delay after first curtain closing and prior to exposure beginning – that way the vibrations have a chance to settle. 

**The Sony 10-18mm SEL F/4.0 is lens for APS-C format but it works on the full frame A7/R. Cool stuff and it’s OSS too. If you attach the lens on the A7/R then I suggest getting the Lens Correction Profile (lcp) from Dave Kilpatrick here is the link: http://www.photoclubalpha.com/AdobeCameraProfiles/ILCE-7R FF (E 10-18mm F4 OSS) – RAW.lcp.zip
Unzip, then drag the lcp file to C: Library>Application Support>Adobe>CameraRaw>LensProfile>1.0>Sony. Once in Photoshop you can go to Lens Correction to use it.

It’s best to keep the zoom over 12mm, the correction gets harder at 12mm and under. If you decide you must shoot at 12mm or under you can always crop off the bad and still get more than the APS-C. Check out that wavy distortion in the first image, called mustache distortion.

 

**FIRMWARE PLEASE: When I turn on “Viewfinder” to shoot using the EVF it would be nice if I could choose if I want the image to come up on the monitor.

**FIRMWARE PLEASE: When a menu item is greyed out and I select it, don’t leave me guessing why it’s greyed out. Give me details so I can make the change and not have to go to the manual.