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

32 000 spänn för en normal?

Zeiss har precis lanserat en ny normal som ska vara helt kompromisslös. Zeiss Otus 55mm 1.4 heter monstret. Zeiss brukar göra normaler som Planar-konstruktioner men valde den här gången en Distagon-design, som normalt bara används för vidvinklar.
Resultatet blev en pjäs på nästan ett kilo som är lika stor som Nikons och Canons 24-70-zoomar. Priset skulle inte heller vara en begränsning, så när Zeiss var klara hade de skapat en glugg för det facila priset av 32 000 kronor. Det är dubbelt så mycket som Nikons nya 58mm 1.4. Och då har Otus, till skillnad från Nikon, inte ens autofokus.

Men bra verkar det bli. Jag testade Otus som hastigast på Fotomässan i Stockholm. Den verkar vara helt fantastiskt bra!
Vad jag förstår är detta det första i en serie fasta objektiv för Nikon och Canon. Det ska bli intressant att se hur långt en Nikon D800E kan nå i konkurrensen med kameror som Leica S2 med dessa objektiv, 32 000 för en normal är dyrt men i jämförelse med de sisådär 225 000 kronor som en S2 kostar med normal är det billigt.

DXOMark har testat det nya objektivet och har bara lovord att komma med. I mätningarna utklassar den alla andra Nikon och Zeiss fasta objektiv som finns. De enda Nikon-objektiv som enligt DXOI Mark kommer i närheten är 85mm 1.8 och 85mm 1.4.

Nu känns det så där igen: Jag vill ha!

 Zeiss 55mm 1.4 at f2.8.

Zeiss 55mm 1.4 at f1.4

Som jämförelse, Sigma 50mm 1.4 at f2.8.