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For those of you considering purchasing a Sony A7R for Landscape photography, here are some of my experiences.
Using Other Lenses Not Made For The Sony
All the lenses I own are Canon L glass. I was initially a bit nervous about getting the Sony A7R and using my Canon lenses; however, I’ve heard that the Metabones Adapter for the Sony works perfectly. First off, anyone who says it’s perfect is wrong. It’s not. It’s only good enough for landscape photography, video, or other types of photography where more manual lens control is required. It just auto-focuses too slowly. But everything else works perfectly. The images are great, and I don’t get any extra chromatic aberrations, which I’ve noticed around the edges of my ultra-wide lenses. (Mine are the Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II and the Samyang 14mm f/2.8). So lenses work perfectly. No loss of IQ, extremely sharp because the A7r sensor is extremely sharp. Maybe a bit more chromatic aberrations on my longer lenses, actually. But I’m still testing that.
Long Exposure Day Photography
Some have experienced light leak issues where the ring connects to the camera. Hasn’t bothered me yet. Easy to fix, and Canon and Nikon both have light leak issues when doing long exposure photography, so you should always cover your camera, especially the eyepiece, when doing long exposures during the day. Like 30 seconds to 1 minute with 9-10 stop ND filters. Although people said the Canon 5Dmkii had leak issues, I have never experienced them, and I always shoot long exposure day photography.
Reliability
It’s a nice camera. So far, it has been reliable. Batteries don’t last as long, so get a few extras. I got an extra Sony and cheap Wasabi Batteries, which work perfectly. After not using it for a few weeks, I pulled one out of my camera bag, and it was still 100%. It just does not have quite as much power as the Sony OEM.
Ford Tough does not build the Metabones Adapter. If you’re shooting daily, you’ll have to bring one of the hex wrenches and tighten it every few days. If the screws on the adapter come loose, you’ll start having exposure and f-stop problems. It isn’t very pleasant when it happens when you’re at Bryce Canyon, and you only have that 10-minute window of awesome light.
Astronomy Photography
Forget about seeing anything at night through your camera. It’s all digital. To frame for astronomy photography, you have to max your ISO and start shooting test shots to get your framing, then set your desired ISO and shutter speed to get the shot. Reset max ISO again to reframe your shot, etc. For that reason, it’s probably not the best camera to get if you’re solely into Astronomy photography. I don’t shoot a lot of stars because I live in Los Angeles. We only have the other kind here.
HDR Photography
HDR photography on the Sony A7r is pretty much fine in the day. But at night, you have to do it manually. To shoot HDR photos, you have to hold the button down constantly. No 2-second timer, then pop pop pop like with Canon and Nikon. You can do a 2-second timer on one photo at a time. So, you have to expose each shot manually.
If you’re serious about shooting HDR Photography, you should take a look at my guide here.
Luckily, the A7R has a good dynamic range, so you don’t need to shoot as much HDR.
Camera Shake From Shutter
The camera does shake a bit from the shutter. Make sure you have a decent tripod that can keep the thing stable. You might think the camera is light, so you only need lightweight tripods now. However, I think 25% of my Bryce Canyon shots came out with a camera shake motion blur from the shutter. Not sure exactly. It was also a little windy, though. I have a meFoto tripod, which I have loved so far.
Conclusions And My Future Plans
It is a great camera for landscape photography. Just take your time with each shot; all the problems above aren’t problems. And if you get annoyed by those problems, go out and start shooting film for a few weeks and return to the Sony A7r. You’ll love it even more. 🙂
I plan to eventually retire my Canon lenses as Sony and Zeiss introduce new ones. I’ll go all prime on this camera as I’m tired of the lower quality from Zooms. I’m waiting for 24mm, 14mm, and 85mm. I’ll likely always keep my Canon 70-200mm f2.8L IS II since that lens is pimp.
