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Philip Freedman

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Everything posted by Philip Freedman

  1. Unfortunately I only have the original A7r (mark 1) - at least, at the moment !
  2. I have just bought a second-hand XPro2 and a 35 f2 XF lens, to try out against my Sony A7r (Mark I) with FE 55 lens and my A6500 which I use either with a Loxia 35 or a Sony 35 2.8. A few test shots on the XPro2 look very promising but here are some random comments; 1. Having dithered for a long time between MF, AF and back button AF, my current preference is AF and a shutter button that has a clear half-press position to trigger the AFS without accidentally firing the shutter. The XPro2 meets that requirement. 2. I mainly use aperture priority and like to be able to glance down at the camera and see what aperture is set without having to look at the back screen or bring the EVF up to the eye. On my D810 there is a display window on the top-plate that shows this and other settings but mirrorless cameras are too small to have a top window so I prefer a lens with an aperture ring on a mirrorless camera. Most of the XF lenses have an aperture ring as well as being AF whilst only the MF Sony/Zeiss lenses have them. 3. The A6500 has a fantastically large EVF and its eye point is sufficiently long for me, as a spectacles wearer. It is much better than the small EVF/OVF on the XPro2 for someone like me. I imagined that, having been a film Leica enthusiast, I would like the OVF of the XPro2 but I now prefer a modern EVF for the WYSIWYG aspect including the ability to see over or under exposure before taking the shot. 4. The last comment also means that I appreciate a dedicated exposure compensation dial. 5. I also prefer dual SD card slots, not only for backup purposes but also to split RAW from JPEG so that I can take out the card with the JPEGs and import just them into my iPad Pro for previewing if away from home. 6. Since I am getting older I appreciate a camera that is significantly lighter than my D810. 7. I prefer a less-conspicuous rangefinder-style body. The XPro2 ticks many but not all of these boxes. The A6500 is lighter, has a larger integral grip, and ticks other (but not all) of these boxes. An XT2 or one of the more recent Sony A full frame cameras might provide more of my desired features but with an SLR style body and with the Sony being at increased cost and weight. Finding a reasonably priced camera and lens combination that meets all my preferences is proving difficult! Philip
  3. My main camera is a full frame D810. I also have an old lightweight DX camera, a D5100, and a few DX lenses. On my D810 I use back button focus and just the central focus point and I would like to use the same set up on my DX camera but the focus point on the D5100 is hard to see in the viewfinder and tends to move too easily and the rear buttons are not easy to use. I am keen to replace the D5100 with one of the current small lightweight Nikon DX models. Can anyone with actual hands-on experience (no guesswork, please) recommend one that is suitable for use in this way. Thanks Philip.
  4. Having started to take video with my D810, and being keen on steadiness but reluctant to carry around a full size tripod, I have been using a small but sturdy Manfrotto mini tripod with built in ball and socket, which I place on a suitable low wall or table where possible. I am pleased wth the rock steady results and would now like to get a suitable fluid pan and tilt head to put on top of the ball head (which I will use just for levelling). It needs to be sturdy and smooth but not too big or heavy. Any ideas appreciated. Thanks Philip.
  5. Thanks all. Makes it much easier not to have to switch picture control when changing between still and video. Philip
  6. Lorne - many thanks but does that mean that I would have to make adjustments in Lightroom to counteract the picture control settings? If so it would probably be more efficient to switch the picture control settings in the camera. Philip
  7. I have just started to use my D810 for video as well as stills. I have set a custom picture control wth reduced sharpening etc for video use. Do I have to change the pictures control setting back to normal every time I want to take a still picture and then back again to take in video? I am taking only raw still pictures, not JPEGs. Or does the camera ignore the picture settings when taking in raw? I use Lightroom to convert to DNG etc. Thanks Philip
  8. Thanks for all your helpful comments. I didn't see that you have to set the NEF + JPEG twice, in different settings. I will give that a try. Many thanks Philip
  9. <p>I set my D810 with the SD card as first and the CF card as second and set it to record NEFs on the SD card and JPEGs on the CF card. However on copying them into a new folder on my iMac using a card reader and Finder, the images on both cards have file suffixes NEF and none say JPEG. I tried importing the files from the CF card directly into Lightroom as an alternative and they still showed up as NEFs. Any ideas?<br> Thanks Philip</p>
  10. In some cameras the zoom-in review only works properly if one captures in Raw + JPEG and not just Raw only, since the small JPEG that is captured by default with Raw is of low resolution. I have acquired a Sony A7r to use with some old Leica lenses. I will experiment with it but does anyone know whether it works in that way or can I just select Raw only and still be able to get a proper image review? I prefer to take Raw and develop in Lightroom. Thanks Philip
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