Amazing colors with Sony A7

The Sony A7 is the most amazing camera, maybe with exception of Leica M9 and M. I did own an M9 and wanted an M, men settled for the Sony mainly since I really can use auto focus.
I have stated before here that the Sony with the amazing Zeiss Sonnar 55mm really can measure itself with Leica when it comes to sharpness and how it handels colors.
Just have a look at some of the photographs som this summer.

I won´t go back

I did actually buy an adapter for my Leica lenses to the Sony A7. I will not use it.
Everybody seems to love the idea to keep shooting manual focus even after buying a great AF camera. I have met several photographers who only shoots manual with a Sony A7 or A7r. I don't get it.
It´s not that I cant nail the focus with the focus peeking function. It works quite well. Its just that its is unnecessary complicated. In most cases I just want the image to be sharp. Yay. The Sony takes care o that.
Sometimes I want to fucus on a particular part in the image. Well, big surprise, the Sony is quite capable of fixing that as well. Easier than focus peeking. Just set the camera to fucus on one single spot, and there you go. If I really want to manually focus, I just turn the ring on the lens and thats it.
For me the only remaining argument to use manual Leica lenses would be hat they are much better than the Zeiss glass. But with a truly amazing lens like the Sonnar 55mm, thats not an issue.

Here are a portrait of Hanna, first with a Leica Summarit 90mm (one of my favorite Leica lenses) and then with the Sonnar. You can argue which ons is better, but I don´t see a reason to trade the Zeiss AF for the Summarit.

Hanna with Sony A7 and Summarit 90mm

Hanna with Sony A7 and Sonnar 55mm

I have not tested the 35mm yet, and I suspect that Leicas Summicron ASPH is way better. On the other hand, I will get an amazing 35mm in the shape of Sigmas 35mm 1.4 ART to my Nikon for a third of the cost of the Summicron. And that has AF as well. Leica really needs to look out!

More colorful Sony-images

Just making my point. The Sony can produce great colors. The Sonnar 55 is actually an amaxin lens. m still not convinced that the crispiness is on par with the Leica M9 when its as its best, but close and definitely on par with the new Leica M.

I think the Leicas CCD still can produce some magic, but for 99 percent of cases, the modern 24 megapixel is better. To start with, the Sony is usable above 800 asa, and it does not screw up the colors all the time:)

What about the feeling? Can Sony compare to Leica?

I have lived with my new Sony A7 for a few weeks now. I got an adapter for my Leica lenses, but I have to admit I hardly use it. Manual focusing just doesn't work that well for me. Without Leicas rangefinder, I prefer to let my camera take care of focusing.
The big question for me is if the Sony/Sonnar combo really can compete with the excellent image quality I did get from my M9 with the amazing Summarit 90 and 35mm:s. There is something in the CCD sensor that just blows me away.
Here is just one example of what the Leica can do with a Summarit.

California,USA

The Leica mage is amazing in it´s quality and colors. But so far I´m more than happy with the result from the Sony. I have not made poster size prints, but I will order a few next week. From what I see on the screen, the colors, sharpness and bokeh are world class. No wonder that the Sonnar 55mm has been dubbed a Zeiss Otus lite. I can honestly say that the lens outperforms Leicas standard Summicron 50mm easily and it can rival Leicas legendary Summilux 50m.
What I have yet to determine is if the combo can deliver the same level of crispiness as the Leica. I know it´s close, but not 100% sure its on par.
Have a look here and judge for yourself.

Smart way to read magazines

Here is a useful thing for all of you that loves to read lot of photo publications. It quickly drains your wallet to buy three or four magazines a month. A nice solution if you have an iPad, Galaxy tablet or pc is the new Swedish service Readly, that just launched in the US. Think of it as a Spotify or Netflix for magazines.
You can read several photo magazines for only $ 9,99 per month, or SEK 99 if you live in Sweden.
Right now you will get titles such as Shutterbug, Popular Photography and American Photo. In total more than 140 different magazines are included in Readly US.
For Swedish users, Readly can access more tan a dozen Swedish photo magazines and in total almost 160 various titles.
I love Readly both since I can get a new magazine without making the trip to the store, and I can download as many titles to my iPad that I ever need before a trip, without having to drag a ton of paper.

Here you can find out more about Readly and how you get the app from different parts of the world.

Then how about the reading experience? Photography is pretty demanding, and we all want nice prints, don´t we. Im actually quite happy with how well Readly has taken the magazine experience to digital. Especially if you have an iPad with a retina display, the image quality will be excellent. So you won´t really miss paper that much. If you don´t believe me, trial is free, so you have nothing to lose!

Soon he will be reading digitally!

Why Sony A7 is a better street camera than Leica M(9)

It´s a few weeks now since I traded my Leica M9 for a Sony A7. A crazy thing to do, many people would say, but so far I don´t have any regrets (except missing the feeling to own a digital Leica). I have to admit that in most cases the Sony is a better camera.
The Zeiss Sonnar 55mm is huge, but the body is actually the same size.The lens quality is amazing, clearly up to Leica standards. The 24 megapixel sensor is to my knowledge comparable to Leicas M. And most important, I  love autofocus. I did not think I would ever write that, but the fact is, I love AF.
Yes, its a different way of taking pictures the slow Leica way. And yes, it has many advantages. But at the end of the day, I get more usable photos out of the Sony than I did with the Leica. And the people who sees my photos only cares about the picture, not what camera I used to take it. So If I get more good photographs out of a modern AF camera, It´s time to trade.

Here are a few shots from a 15 minutes walk today in Stockholm. I doubt I would get as many sharp shots from the M9 in that short time.

Is the 55mm really that good? (part 1)

Before getting the SonyA7 and a prime 55mm I read a few reviews on the web of the lens and every tester seems to be impressed by the glass. DXO Mark claims its the best AF lens they have ever tested, a lens thats only rivaled by the Otus 55mm.
The 55mm 1.8 is not small, in fact for a 1.8 lens it´s huge. And it´s not chap. Again, for a normal 1.8 lens its very expensive. Only Leica thinks its OK to charge more for a slow 50mm lens.
But when shooting with the lens I realized, it´s worth the money. The contrast and the crispiness is absolutely first class. What I see when I shot portraits reminds me of when I had a chance to briefly test the already legendary Zeiss Otus 55mm 1.4 on my Nikon D600. This is obviously first class glass.

Just for fun I did a small test shot this morning, comparing the Sony A7 and Zeiss 55mm with my Sigma 50mm 1.4 on my D600. The cameras are comparable, both are 24 megapixel and have modern and similar sensors. (Yes, they are not 36 megapixel, but thats i really something will never ever notice since I don´t do 50 inch prints.)
Also I chose the Sigma in stead of my Nikon 50mm, since the Sigma is a much more ambitious lens than Nikons older 50mm. (The new 58mm 1.4 is another story.)

Have a look for yourself and see what you think.

 In case you wonder, The pictures are first Sigma then Sony:)

None of the pictures have been edited, just concerted from RAW. The Sigma is in my opinion a bit smoother. The Nikon/Sigma also produces a bit lighter photos. The Sony would probably need a bit editing in Photoshop, but the end result is sharper, crispier and more contrasty.By far!

What I don´t like with the Sony A7

There are a few things i don´t like with the Sony A7 and some things I really hope that Sony will fix. The mediocre autofocus in bad light is an issue, but since I also have a Nikon D600, i can live with it. I bought the camera for street and I mainly shoot that in daylight. There is no built in flash, and thats an issue for a compact. I get the camera since its small so I don´t want to carry an extra accessory.
And I really don´t like the size of the 55mm. Its a great lens and I´m sure there is an explanation for why is has to be big. But still, it´s bulky and heavy.
I really really hope that Sony or a third party will come up with a panncake-style 40-45mm. F2.8 or fine, if its just more compact.
That would make it possible to me to bring the camera ion my briefcase, now its just too big.
But besides that, I love it!

Stockholm

Hanna

Stockholm, Old Town

Stockholm, Old Town

Stockholm, Old Towm

Why Sony A7 Is The New Leica

I have been shooting street with a Leica M9 for the past three years, and most of the time I loved the camera. It has been with me to New York, London. Paris and Shanghai. Some of the results can be found here.

But still I came to realize that the M9 was not the ideal camera  for me. No matter how much I loved the rangefinder, the manual focus and the Leica glass, life with the M9 just became more and more frustrating. I really missed live view and a usable high ISO. And to be honest, I missed focus too often.

So a few weeks ago I finally decided to part with my digital rangefinder. The plan was to use the money to buy a Fuji X E2 with its fast auto focus, amazing X-trans sensor and excellent lenses. But i decided to give the Sony a chance, mostly so that I could feel the Fuji was the right choice.

But when I got the Sony in my hands, I had that special feeling that this is the instrument I want to use. 15 minutes later I left the store with a Sony A7 and a Zeiss 55mm 1.8. (And a huge hole in my bank account....)

This weekend I took the Sony for a walk in Stockholm's Old Town. I shot tons of pictures and back home by the computer all my doubts around AF-speed and that the lens is too big was gone. The results was amazing. When the Leica a good day gave me one usable shot out of three, the Sony is spot on 70-80 percent of the time. A huge improvement. The sensor gives great pictures at least up to 3200 ISO, which means that I can take great pictures later in the evening and earlier in the morning.

Live view means I can compose the picture without rising the camera to my eye. That means a lot in many settings.

In short, I have a camera that is just as quick as I want it. For me street is all about capturing the moment. Fast AF gives me the opportunity to capture even more moments.

Do I miss the Leica see-through rangefinder? Absolutely, but maybe not as much as I first thought. For me the only similar camera, the Fuji X-Pro1 is way too slow. The Fuji X100s has a 35mm and I prefer 50mm, so that was never an option, although its a great camera. I love the small size of the Sony. Thats almost comparable to a Leica M9 body, even if the lens is much bigger than Leicas. The electronic viewfinder is if not great so at least more than good enough.

Here are just a few shots that I took last Saturday. All pictures are with the 55mm 1.8 lens.

I´ll come back to talk more about the Sonys amazing color capabilities and why the cheaper A7 was the right choice for me.

First Impressions of the Sony A7

I have done the unthinkable, sold my trusted Leica M9 and bought a Sony A7. OK, I got a ´n old mechanical Leica M6 in the trade, so Im not leaving Leica all together. But my new tool for street will be an A7 with the Zeiss 55mm 1.8.
Lets be honest. The Sony with lens is just over 3200 dollars in Sweden. You par more than twice that for a Leica M240 body. In terms of image quality the two cameras are comparable and I can still use my Leica lenses on the A7 body. Not many rational arguments to stick to Leica, Im afraid...

Here are some early shots with the A7.

Analog Efex Pro

Google och Nik Sotware har uppdaterat sviten med mer godis. Min nya favorit heter Analog Efex Pro, som gör att man enkelt kam efterlikna gamla tiders kameror. En 100 år gammal glasplåt är lika enkel att fixa som ett bleknat färgfoto från 60-talet.

Precs som Color Efex Pro och Silver Efex pro är Analog ett plugin som fungerar med Lightroom och Photoshop (också Elements). Pris 150 dollar för hela sviten gör att det är en nobrainer.

Här är några exempel:

Färgbild Old Camera

 Silver Efex Pro

 Vintage Camera

 Vintage 2

 Wet Plate

Originalet