If it weren't for Nikon, I'd probably still be stuck on cheap wine, Ikea cheese, and awkward, purple-lipped hangovers. But thanks to the wonders of the D800's ridiculous live view system and a jumpy exposure dial, I’ve been rammed into the wonderful world of the single malt scotch. I owe you one, Nikon.
*hiccup!*
But after a year with the D800, I'm done. I'm done with all the quibbling idiocy and bigness that pushed me to scotch. That’s not to say that I’m done with scotch; today I'm enjoying the ubiquitous Glenfiddich- one of those brands that appeals to everyone. You know: it is found at all the groceries around town and even in the upscale places. Its low end is more expensive than Jack Daniels, and comes in a more handy bottles. That stuff shams quality. You know, it touts things like weather seals and magnesium alloy. It slaps on an orange ring that says something like, "35mm FULL-FRAME CMOS IMAGE SENSOR" for the poor folk that love labels and loudness. What, we were talking whiskey? Glenfiddich has its goods and bads- and a taste which you can recommend to every sundry guest visiting your grotto. And while Sony lack the high-end, well thought-out cameras, they always have the best tech. And tech, not build quality or impeccable finish, are the easy talking points of the masses.
“I got that new full-frame bloody hell camera, dude!” You slur through scotch-spiced lips as your mate cants the last of your quickly-hidden Jack Daniels. He daintily lifts your a7r between two fingers, his pinky pointed like the Queen. “Cheers!” he says and tips it back. Only then do you notice that your nice Zeiss 2.8/35 FE is on the coffee table, that the dude is drinking out of your shiny-new camera.
“Double the volume, mate. 35mm full-frame for the win’s what I say.” Just how well sealed is that Sony…
NOTE: this reviewer owns no autofocus lenses in any mount. This reviewer uses Nikkor Ai/S lenses and Leica M/LTM lenses. There will be no comments about AF speed or accuracy. This is a review of the a7r's operational performance as compared with the Nikon D800 and the Fujifilm X-Pro 1. It is a work of opinion as built from experience in the way this review uses a camera and what he expects from it. Fanboys, you will be upset. Level-headed readers, you may find something to think about. If you want effusive language, check out Steve Huff's review.
spec
porridge: haptics
The a7r is a camera with outward trappings of tradition. It's got a prism hump (but no prism). It's got an exposure compensation dial. It's got a grip straight out of the 1990s. And it is the same size as the SLR you used from the 1970s till you bought your first DSLR. The a7r isn’t a traditional SLR though. It’s got an OLED screen in the place of an optical finder in its complicated prism/mirror getup. And underneath its magnesium skin, it bristles with wires and blinking lights. And it feels it. For some, that last part will complicate things. For others, it will delight. For me, the a7r is a wonder at work and a curse when out and about.
Why is that?
Sony.
Sony threw out traditions like the half-press shutter, like labelled buttons, like clear finder optics. In their place is customisation and tech. I have nothing against customisation and tech. Nothing at all. But that bloody shutter button travels nearly all the way down with no resistance. Fshawt! Fshawt! It guarantees that you will make unexpected exposures. It is the single most ridiculous haptic failure I've seen in any non point-and-shoot camera. Its travel distance is ridiculously shallow. And it wiggles too much. It is both cheaply made and a cheaply installed.
Nikon have failed in many places. The D800 is way too large and features too small a viewfinder. It's live view is crap. Its exposure dial is too easy to nudge. 1/125 flips to 1/160 and 1/200 and up and up multiple times in an afternoon. But never whilst using any Nikon camera have I inadvertently triggered an exposure. With the Sony, it happens multiple times in a shoot. And since the battery life on both my Profoto B2 and and my a7r is dire, that is a bugger.
There is a total of fifteen buttons and dials (not counting directional buttons and switches) and two release levers. Only a handful of them have a single, specific use. The others are programmable. Yay! Customisation! It’s the 21st century, gramps! Get with the programme.
But gramps has a point. Technology is only helpful when it works naturally, when it gets out of the way. The good news for geeks is that the a7r feels fully like a computer. It invites the user to setup her camera just the way she likes. But like a 1990’s computer. You need to read up on every function, and remember crazy key combo and exercise your fingers and muscle memories in order to put every dial to work. And where did that damn trash can icon get off to?
It also means that if you ask some nice tourist to take your photo, you'll have to first hold a lecture.
“You see, that’s the button I programmed for aperture! And that’s ISO. If the photo is dark, just-“
“Dude, you just want me to shoot or what?”
*flash!*
“Ah shit, man, you pressed the shutter already! Just don’t press it until you are sure we are smiling and in focus.”
“How do I focus, then?”
“Just press the shutter down halfway-“
*flash!*
“Like this?”
“WTF man! Can’t you use a camera? I said press it down halfway!”
*and here comes the punch in the nose*
To complicate matters, the menus aren't lickety split. They roll from page to page to page and no matter which organisation style you choose, they bunch together in the same, horizontal sprawl. You will wade and wade and wade through pages of related and unrelated items. It is a mess. Why?
Sony.
The a7r is the first camera I've owned that won't let me change its operational language. I bought mine in Tokyo. In Tokyo, Japanese is popular. That won't change anytime soon. And Japanese is rife with the phonetic parlance-ification of foreign words intelligible only to the native Japanese. If you don't read Japanese like a Japanese, don't buy this camera in Japan. If you buy it for someone as a gift, make damn well sure it is the international version, or one localised for your language.
You can customise every function of the a7r but the language. Time to open another bottle.
porridge: ergonomics
If you are coming from cheap point and shoot cameras the shutter button and ridiculous menu system may not annoy you so much. And neither will the either/or EVF/LCD display.
Operational delay
But if you have come from even the cheapest of DSLRs out there, small things, like the EVF automatically turning off when not held up to the eye, or when changed from portrait to landscape and back again, may annoy you. Literally the smallest of repositions will cause the EVF to switch off. And before it switches back on again, there is a delay. Always a delay. In auto, it switches to the large rear LCD or the EVF, whichever you will use for a particular exposure. But always after a delay. In auto mode, the LCD flicks on and off as ambient light changes. Thus, you are forced into an either/or situation. Sadly, the constantly switching EVF makes choosing the EVF very poor.
When shooting in low light, the frame rate drops to single digits. And even in perfect light, there is brief lag when the camera is swung from side to side. Delay delay delay.
Delays are the a7r’s way of separating you from the direct experience of operating a simple box meant to reproduce what is seen through a lens. Boot up time. EVF lag. The way the EVF compensates for dark/light. Unlabelled buttons. A single output language. Programmable everything but at what expense? Sony give the freedom of programmability with one hand, but with the other, create an operational system that works at best as via proxy.
LCD or EVF, not both
If you choose to compose through the EVF, you must view your photos through the EVF. Despite myriad options, image review cannot be set through the large, beautiful LCD. It’s one or the other. Auto mode defaults to the LCD but as soon as you decide to use the eye-level finder, expect delays.
Environmental psychosis
Operational psychosis is evident at every turn. If it's not the long start up time, it's the lack of labelled buttons, of display delays, of ridiculous menus, of proving whenever possible that it is a computer before it is a camera.
As good a thing as customisation can be, it can also drive wedges between operator and operation. Imagine a car whose steering wheel turned with the slightest of nudges. That is the a7r’s shutter button. Imagine a car whose clutch, brake, and accelerator pedals were user programmable. That is the a7r’s interface. On the outside, it seems a great thing. But such programmability drives a wedge between user and clear utility (not to mention safety). Had cameras not been around for hundreds of years, or already had working, usable interfaces that pretty much everyone understood at a glance, I would glory in unlabelled buttons meant for my abuse. But I cannot. Choice is only good when understood from the framework of logical restriction.
What began with the electronic SLR has become a hodgepodge of confusion. A Nikon user cannot immediately pick up a Canon and understand how to change aperture, ISO, focus point, shutter speed, etc., and so on. Ditto Sony, Pentax, Olympus, etc..
Each brand has cobbled together an interface it feels is best, and in doing so, left the camera less intelligible than before. The a7r epitomises that.
ohmage: ergonomics
There is good news, though. Firstly, the a7r is as small as a traditional SLR. In fact, it is roughly the same size as my Nikon FE. The small grip works for wrapping a couple of fingers around. Because its shoulder height is similar to a Nikon FE, the a7r tends to nestle its weight into the palm of the hand. This, too, is good news. But I think that many people will complain about this. They will want a larger grip. For heavy, large lenses, where weight is balanced by the left arm and the right serves merely as a steadying mechanism, it is an apt complaint. But for anything smaller than 200mm, this smaller form factor is better insurance than the combination of large body and grip, that relies on prehensile strength alone, to support a camera.
Traditionally sized bodies utilise gravity and prehensile strength as well as the heal of the palm to support the camera. That’s 3 vs 1 in favour of a small body. If you tend to dangle a camera from one hand, the palm will always be stronger and more supportive than five fingers wrapped around a grip. Combined with the a7r’s small, but strong thumb lean, this system works well. But then again, I'm a practical user.
When operating adapted LTM or M lenses, focus ridges and tabs fall into perfect place. Attaching SLR lenses is workable, but the long adapter mitigates strong supportive ergonomics, which allow quick reach between aperture and focus ring. Now the left hand must travel another several centimetres from its supporting position to change focus or aperture.
porridge: build and finish quality
"But it's weather sealed and metal! It just gotta be good!”
Weather sealing
The a7r isn't weather sealed. There are no gaskets around any port or door. The accessory shoe bares its contacts to the world. Ditto every hinge. The body won’t easily let in moisture, but its apertures will. That’s like an insulated house having no glass in its windows and no door beyond its foyer. Weather sealing aside, the tilting LCD is built to living room, not to photographic standards. You can wiggle a finger nail between the LCD bezel and the screen. There is no sheath protecting the ribbon of wires at the back of the screen. I don't have time to go into all the particulars, but suffice it to say that This camera isn’t built to the standards we associate with the word ‘professional’ (as can be seen on Sony’s EU or UK pages).
Body flex/sturdiness
The a7r body is more prone to flex than any similarly priced DSLR is. The a7r’s top and front frame seem solid. The bottom of the camera comes together in a metal/plastic seam rather than a solid plate. The good news is that its dials click with firm detents and are not easy to nudge. On the negative side, the exposure compensation dial doesn’t indicate position by feel. Neither does the mode dial. And the back buttons are spaced poorly for thumb usage.
The flaps and hinges covering the a7r's ports are flimsy and made of brittle plastic. One wrong press or lean and they will snap.
The a7/r’s lack of gasket-sealed ports shows that Sony are willing only to half way in claiming to be sealed. It is far more exposed than Olympus’ OMD series cameras. Ditto when compared against the D600 or Canon 6D. On what platform are Sony competing? Size? The a7r is refreshingly small, but only next to today’s DSLR cameras. It is virtually the same size as the Leica M9 and Fujifilm X-pro 1. In other words, it is the same size or slightly larger than traditional SLR cameras were. But next to something like a Nikon FE, it is much less well-built.
Accessory shoe
Incessantly I complain about the X-Pro 1’s flimsy accessory shoe. The Sony’s at least, isn’t painted. Its dull titanium colour will look great both today and tomorrow. What won’t, however, is how it flexes and pulls at the camera body. Large flashes are awful to use with the a7/r bodies anyway. They are far too top-heavy. But they are a necessary evil for some of us. And the a7r’s flash shoe isn’t as sturdy as the D600’s is, and certainly not up to the standards of the D800.
If you are an event photographer who makes heavy use of the accessory shoe, expect issues birthed out of Sony’s inattention to build quality details.
ohmage: still life studio ergonomics
I have been pretty starkly against Sony until now. But someone has to be. The a7r is not a great piece of engineering. It is a great piece of technology wrapped in a so-so body and weighed down by interface misses that remove the photographer farther from the simple act of photographing than ever before in a full frame camera.
But none of that matters for the still life photographer. Many of us use large format lenses on bellows with digital backs. A growing number of us have moved to 135 format cameras like the D800, which has enough resolution to cover most of our needs.
Back when I got into the still life game, the man above me was moving away from large format cameras. He did that by using a Canon 5DMKII and a couple of good tilt-shift lenses. It was a good move. His studio never printed larger than a meter in any one direction. And on the canvass or whatever it was as he printed to, the 5DMKII's output was well up to snuff.
So when I upgraded from a D200 (yep) to a D800, I felt covered. Early on, my client list was studded with sake distilleries and inns. I shot audio stuff, too, but mostly on the side. Things changed abruptly in 2011. But portable and living rooms audio took up more and more of my time. The D800 enabled much more technical photography than the D200 did, specifically because my 135 format lenses worked exactly as they were intended to be used. But the real game changes were live view and tethered shooting.
And what differences they made.
But until I picked up the a7r I didn't realise just how poor the D800’s live view was. Increasingly I shoot macro still life in complex setups that require numerous lights, reflectors, and a lot of back-and-forthing between lighting equipment, subject, and camera. Framing a photograph and remotely triggering the D800 from an iPhone requires expensive add-ons and/or software. And no matter what software/hardware I use, there is no way to escape the D800’s, noisy, grainy, pixelated, live view.
Wireless tethering
With the a7r, all I needed was an ad-hoc wifi connection and the pre-installed PlayMemories app. With the same PlayMemories installed on my iPhone or iPad, my real-time viewer travels with me as I scoot around the studio, nudging reflectors, swinging lights, and gulping down whisky. Combined with modelling lights, this setup saves me minutes every quarter of hour behind the camera. If shooting for an entire day, those minutes become hours.
Tilt-able LCD
If you use constant lighting or have simple setups that don’t benefit from real-time viewing, the tilt-able LCD is a back saver. After a day of shooting speakers or headphones for a magazine with the D800, my back really pains me. Now I can stand straight or sit in a chair and shoot. While I don’t think that LCD frame is made very well, it supplies good, saturated colours and contrast. It is also much less grainy than is the D800’s rear LCD.
With the lens stopped down, the a7r’s LCD frame rate is also much better than the D800’s. Its output is less noisy and normalised for much easier focusing and framing. Going back to the Nikon is painful. And because I am going to sell the D800, I won’t have to.
Adaptability
With Nikon, I am limited to F-mount or with the use of mount adapters, large format lenses. The E mount allows me to use nearly any lens out there. Certain Nikon lenses even work better with the a7r. One such is the PC Micro Nikkor 85mm 1:2.8D, which I use for 95% of what I shoot. The Sony prism hump is much smaller than the D800’s is. And because I need to use the Novoflex ASTAT and NEX / NIK adapter set, the heavy lens is better balanced on the tripod and flexes less. The last bit is incredibly helpful for fine focus tuning.
I have tried a number of NEX / NIK adapters out there and not a one is as helpful as the Novoflex. The collared tripod adapter is strong enough to support the largest non-collared lenses out there and allows the camera to rotate. There isn’t a better made, nor better thought-out option for the E mount. But then again, unlike Sony, Novoflex think of the big picture.
Size and weight
While I tend to spend most of my time shooting in the same small studio, sometimes I am called to week-long location shoots. Always I take a backup. A single D800 weighs twice what an a7r does and takes up twice the space. Another bonus is that I can use a lighter or thinner tripod head. That space and weight savings can be saved for necessities like … batteries.
Image quality
None of the above advantages come at a price against what ultimately is important: image quality. The a7r is as good for what I do as the D800 is. It has the same surprisingly great low-light performance, the same deep shadow detail, the same friendliness toward sharpening.
Note: the following photographs are not advertising photographs but are representative of a certain style of advertising photography which is requested by some clients. They are unedited and shot haphazardly for the purposes of this review. The a7r worked beautifully. Click for larger.
porridge: still life studio ergonomics
But all is not well.
External lighting
The a7r has slower flash sync speed than does the D800. It also relies on clunky adapters when connecting PC terminal cables. Fortunately for me, my Flashwaves III system works perfectly. It has PC sync terminals as well as 2,5mm and 3,5mm stereo jacks in case I’m stranded with equipment that needs is or a really cluttered studio. If you make use of PC sync and wireless, you will need to think/re-think your wireless adapters.
Grey card syncing
The D800’s ability to store grey-card synced white balance profiles in-camera is a real time-saver. The a7r lacks this function. I’ve had to go back to syncing my final shots with a grey-card scene test in post production. Even the X-Pro 1 will sync to a grey card. Maybe that is its one, true, professional feature.
Battery life
This is probably the biggest a7r issue. While using the OVF, the D800 lasts me all day on a single charge, typically longer. Even with heavy live-view usage, I can get several hundred photos on a single charge. With the a7r, I am lucky to get a hundred. Again, I rely heavily on live view and may spend hours taking those one hundred images- sometimes even days; at others, a few minutes. The a7r has the worst battery life out of every 35mm equivalent digital camera I’ve used for still life photography. I have three batteries for the D800. I’ve never used the 3rd in a single shoot. I rarely get to the second. With the a7r, I am guaranteed to use at least three batteries in a single location shoot. Strange and sinister it is that Sony didn’t include a battery charger. That 50-70$ extra will be a requirement for most shooters, still life or no.
Operational speed
While I expected battery life to be a downer, the constant pauses and power saving twirks that keep that battery alive for a few more exposures, irk. It could be because I use non-native lenses. The camera has no idea it is in operation. While carefully adjusting focus, the a7r will think it should rest the display. Down goes the LCD. This cannot be turned off. Waking it again takes slightly longer than does shutting the camera off and then powering on again.
NOTE: the below images were taken via the Nikkor 50/2 Ai (left) and the Nikkor 85/1,8K (Ai converted - right). Click for larger.
ohmage: output
The a7r’s output is phenomenal. Its shadows can safely be lifted two or three stops. It responds well to sharpening and noise reduction. There are details galore. Surprisingly, white balance is more accurate out of camera than the D800. Colours are vibrant, gradations smooth, and scenes dynamic.
To be honest, still life audio photography in general requires less dynamic range than does any kind of people photography. And to be even more honest, the images I make for work are about as exciting to the average camera enthusiast as Canada’s favourite sport, curling. But I have included a gaggle of images to qualify this in the public minds as a review.
NOTE: the below images were taken via the Nikkor 85/1,8K (Ai converted). Click for larger.
The a7r is so good that any image-heavy review becomes more a review of the lens, editing style, or photographer’s mettle than it does of the camera. That said, I use only Ai/S and old LTM or M lenses. I cannot comment on AF or focus hunting. I can comment on manual focus and free lensing, working with adapters, with teleconverters, etc.
I have encountered no lens that isn’t up to the a7r’s 36 megapixel snuff. When shot wide open, the Voightländer Ultra Wide-Heliar 12mm f/5,6 and the Leica Summilux 50/1,4 (pre-ASPH) are the softest in my collection. The Heliar never quite sharpens fully up on any of the following cameras: Leica M9, Fujifilm X-Pro 1, or the Sony a7r. But it creates wonderful colours, amazing flare, and is sharp enough for detailed prints. The Summilux sharpens up past f/2. It is my favourite 50mm lens. Such painterly OOF rendition, such beautiful colours, such beautiful flare.
My sharpest lens is the Nikkor 50/2 Ai from sometime in the 1970’s. In the centre it is sharper than my Zeiss Makro Planar 2/100 ZF and is responseible for bitingly sharp advertising prints for magazines and DAC manufacturers. It is sharp on the D800. It is sharp on the a7r. It will be sharp on the next, higher-megapixel camera.
36 sharp megapixels is freeing. The more the better. If and when 35mm photographer hits 50+ megapixels, I will jump in with no fear that any of my lenses will be the worse for it. And that is that. The a7r produces amazing photographs.
NOTE: the below images were taken via the Nikkor 85/1,8K (Ai converted) #1,2; #3 was taken with the Nikkor 50/2 Ai; #4 with the Leica Summilux 50/1,4 pre-ASPH. Click for larger.
porridge: fun factor
Last year, I dragged the D800 and the fantastic Nikkor 105/2,5 Ai/S to Tokyo Disneyland. It was a drag. Heavy, hard, and loud. Months later I gave up and purchased an X-Pro 1 for when out and about. Quiet, traditionally sized, and easy to adapt. Its major problems are the same as the Sony’s: it is ridiculously slow to operate, and its operation stutters. It works sometimes, it doesn’t others. But at least it is fun to operate. The Sony is not.
Handling speed
The Sony a7r is the same size as the X-Pro 1. Apart from horrendous ON/OFF lag, it is far more responsive. Checking fine focus at 14x never is subject to the camera saying ‘no’. Frequently, the X-Pro 1 will not respond to my input. While shooting the casual Canon 35/2 LTM review, this happened no fewer than 15 times. Neither my wife nor I are that patient. The Sony is responsive- just not compared to a DSLR or any manual camera since the dawn of 35mm photography. But superior to the Fuji it definitely is.
ISO, shutter speed, aperture
Changing the necessaries: ISO, shutter speed, and focus, are much faster, too. But so, too, is a DSLR. What Fuji gets right is allowing a photographer to see the settings of the camera without having the camera on. The Sony fails as poorly as every DSLR apart from the massive new Nikon Df. With the exception of shutter speed, not a single setting is as straight forward. Sony’s method is to give you loads of options. But a benevolent bevy of options comes at the expense of immediate understanding. As I said above, the same awful layout that has Nikon users wondering how to use Canon cameras and vice versa, runs true for the Sony. How do you make the basic changes that affect an exposure: ISO? Shutter speed? You have to read a review, or the manual.
Pick up a Nikon FE and there are no questions to ask. The X-Pro 1, for all its sloth, is, next to the a7r, an easy camera to operate. Next to the M9, it is a monster of complication, but then again, Fujifilm did not aim for traditional shooting the way Leica did. Sony threw it all out. Three cameras from three different companies should NOT require a user to learn the basics all over again.
Where Sony trump Fujifilm is their lone traditional control: the exposure compensation dial. Its click stops are firm, not prone to sudden swings to minus two or plus 1 as is the X-Pro 1’s dial. Firm as it is, it lacks a tangible stop for 0. Again, I’d not expect Sony to ‘get’ that detail.
I use Nikkor Ai/S and Leica M/LTM lenses. Aperture setting troubles are completely obviated because settings are only changeable on the lens.
Focusing
On paper, and in comparison to the other mirror less cameras I have used, Sony’s EVF is a marvel. Parts of it certainly are: it is large, bright, and high-resolution. Checking focus is easy and fast. I am much more confident with the a7r than I am with the Fujifilm when using magnified focus. The EVF stutters far less often and is more contrasty.
But with the good comes the bad. The larger screen area shows pixels more than does the X-Pro 1’s. And somehow, the contrast is less realistic. The X-Pro 1’s EVF has more natural colours and responds to incoming light closer to how your eye works. Again, the a7r adds layers between you and the simple work of photographing. I have also found that in good light and without focus peaking, I am better able to achieve critical focus with the X-Pro 1 and the same lenses.
That large EVF is still smaller than the D800, and next to a clear prism/mirror, it provides less contrast and fine, resolved details. Without focus peaking and image magnification, the a7r simply isn’t in the same league as the D800 is for focusing any glass, fast or slow. My favourite Nikkor, the 50/2 Ai converted (six blades) pops into focus even on my wife’s D5000. On the a7r, it does not. The EVF doesn’t have the resolution to show a clear plane of focus. Focus peaking is a great wonder, but again, relies on layers of interface in order to enact what should be one of the simplest tasks in photography.
The only time I have found the EVF to deliver better results is in poor light, where its internal circuit amps up the signal. I was able to focus to printable levels with the a7r and Leica Summilux 50/1,4 (pre-ASPH) whereas I wouldn’t be able to with the Nikon D800 and Nikkor 50/2. The 60$ Nikkor is the sharper lens, so this isn’t a case of expensive vs. cheap.
It’s a computer attached to a lens
In short, the a7r feels and acts like a computer attached to some glass. That’s good news for tech-lovers and for people who are done with simple interfaces and are lovers of silicon. For decades, consumer electronic technology has been defined by Japanese manufacturers. The Japanese make excellent, reliable silicon, but much of it is hampered by obtuse interfaces. Hell, the entire country is. My vacuum cleaner has three off switches on the same control dial, for god’s sake. Very little in Japan is straightforward or obvious. The Japanese love obfuscation. They do it in speech, they do it in work, they do it in design. They chime on about, "simple is best" but never practice it. It’s no wonder it takes them 18 hours to get through an 8 hour work day.
Perhaps they mean, "keeping it simple is stupid".
Japanese manufacturers: it is possible to design obvious, ergonomic, and simple devices that still are packed with technology. New doesn’t necessitate operational redesign. New for the sake of new is an atrocious idea. But it’s one that Sony seem to love. The a7r is more complex to operate than any other full frame camera. It starts up more slowly, has poorer view optics than its full frame competition, and much worse battery life. It is also built to poorer overall standards. On the flip side, its output is astoundingly good. But if and when the competition from Fujifilm makes something simpler that sports a similar sensor, I’ll jump ship. I got the a7r precisely because it is a computer attached to a lens. For my work, I need just that. And it has made what I do a lot easier.
Note: The below photographs are SOOC crops. Click for larger.
Conclusion
But the a7r does not make the act of photography more enjoyable. It is a psychotically designed machine. Using it becomes work. And while I love the a7r’s interface and output in my occupation, carrying it, holding it, shooting my favourite lenses with it- all the things I dig when at leisure, have never felt more like work.
While frustration with the above hasn’t pushed me back to into scotch, I am drinking more than ever before.
Why?
Because I like to see things through to completion. And because something besides work in this new Sony life of mine has to be good.
ohmage: 3
porridge: 5