Brand Agnostic Corner: No System Is Perfect.

When folks start blathering about the superiority of one for profit entity over another I check out. Mentally, physically, and/or virtually depending on the venue or platform. Nothing has changed since a 2014 post where I stated:

I have always been baffled by emotional allegiances to for profit entities including sports, entertainment, technology, automobiles, etc. That sports team is at the end of the day a corporation looking to make a dime off of the consumer. The greater the emotional allegiance that can be cultivated the greater the profit.

Hard pass for me. Check please. No thank you.

There are good things and bad things about all. In the end, it comes down to personal preference. More specifically what traits are most important to an individual and what shortcomings can be overlooked.

The topic at hand.

Full disclosure. All camera brands on the market could be my main system, money tree in hand even the digital medium format and brands that rhyme with Micah. Sony is currently my main system. My chosen big boy camera bag brand. The reasons it was chosen are pretty straightforward.

• They were first to the mirrorless full frame interchangeable lens AF party. I say AF because Leica is the first mirrorless full frame digital camera I believe. And being first Sony did not rest on their laurels. This brought other advantages.
  • A broader native mirrorless lens selection. I am utterly smitten with the Tamron 35-150mm f/2-2.8 to the point that I would have a hard time choosing a system where it was not available. Personal preference. But even that is based on business decisions, not camera capabilities.
  • Much broader third party lens support, especially considering some brands not allowing third party support. Their choice but that turned me away from a brand I was considering.
  • Massive vintage lens adapting support. Near any lens can be used, many retaining AF.
  • Older bodies on the market that are inexpensive and very competent, like the A7II and a6000, if I needed a camera quickly.
• AF. Self explanatory.
  • So competent is the AF that it is almost unsporting and a large reason why I often use older less competent AF or MF gear. And I know that makes no sense. But a few may understand what I am on about.

That is it for me. There are other reasons why I like Sony, the wunderkind tilt-flip-spin screen on the A7RV for instance, but none would matter if the above were not true.

There are also things that I do not like about Sony, but I have gotten over them because of what I stated above and courtesy of incremental improvements.

• Ergonomics.
  • Excluding the A7C and A7RV I currently run with, earlier models did not feel as good in hand as other brands.
  • Addressed to my satisfaction with the release of the A7RIV and beyond bodies.
• Menus.
  • Near diabolical in the early days. Like Windows Office Suite products I have sat staring at the back of a Sony camera in the past thinking, “I know I changed this before… but where the heck was it in the menus?”
  • Addressed for me when they added MyMenu with the A7III where I can drop my most used settings for easy access.

But there is one area where Sony has let me down with no resolution.

• No compact, competent, inexpensive native prime lens.

While I guess I could thank Sony because my hunt for a small, light, and competent 50mm-ish lens has been the topic for many of my posts. This is true for full frame and APS-C. Mangled metaphor ahead. Two lenses that should have been stars on paper were trash in reality. I have stated this before but after a few recent Utter Nonsense posts it reared its head again.

Full frame.

I have been playing around with the MC11 adapter and the EF Canon lenses. The last one used was the 50mm f/1,8 STM which I believe is one of if not the best 50mm nifty fifty lens ever made. I will include the RF variant with it. I like the EF variant so much that it is the main reason I bought the EOS twins. And I like the RF variant, and its STM brethren,…

…so much that if Canon had not locked their RF mount from third party vendors, especially Tamron, there is a good chance I would have switched to Canon RF at one point.

Well after using the adapted Canon 50mm I put the Sony FE 50mm f/1.8 on this morning.

Sony’s take on the nifty fifty. Had never tried them back to back before this morning. The result was jarring. I had made peace with the Sony nifty fifty in a post last year after a firmware update. But after using the Canon adapted side by side I must admit I was wrong. In direct comparison the Sony was noisy and dog slow to focus hunting back and forth for a bit before finding focus. It made a Sony camera focus like a slow-witted contrast-only AF camera. It was far worse than the adapted Canon. I say again… a years old SLR lens from another brand attached by an adapter from a third company performed better than a native Sony lens. And the Canon is better built and has an AF/MF switch? I immediately took the Sony 50mm off the camera.

Fortunately, I do have another native solution. I attached the 55mm ZEISS f/1.8 that came out way before the Sony 50mm and it has immediate focus acquisition and was perfectly silent. Turns out I had never tried those lenses back to back either. Why did Sony do this? Not good. A ZEISS lens that costs nearly a thousand dollars new had better perform this way. But just why Sony? In the past, I had asked (I have no delusions that they would listen to me. Just wanted to put it out into the ether.) Sony for a second generation FE 50mm f/1.8. No dice. So what that ended up looking like for me was breaking down and purchasing a 55mm years later after depreciation had set in really well. The 40mm f/2.5 I adore does not count either. A different animal considering its form factor, build, features, and price point.

I will likely trade the 50mm for film at my local camera shop because I will never use it over the adapted Canon or the ZEISS 55mm. Update. I went to the camera shop and sold both the Sony 50mm f/1.8 and the Sony 55mm f/1.8… That was not the plan. It dawned on me as I was on my way to the camera shop. The Sony 40mm f/2.5 G is the daily lens for me.

APS-C.

I find it surprising given the many excellent lenses that they have produced, but Sony made two trash prime lenses. The 50mm above and the APS-C pancake 20mm f/2.8. If the 20mm was any good I might have never left APS-C Sony years ago. It should have been the perfect answer to the X100 series. I mean look at it.

But no. Similar to the 50mm it has two fatal flaws.

• Meh AF.
• IQ only a mother could love.

So disappointing. I wish Sony had made a second generation of this lens also. Fortunately for Sony APS-C users SIGMA came to the rescue with three excellent fast primes.

All three Sigma f/1.4 lenses combined with a case used to cost exactly $19 more than one Sony 24mm f/1.8 lens by the way.

But none are the pancake lens the Sony 20mm should have been.

Moving on.

The pull of a proper 50mm lens is so strong I seriously considered getting a Panasonic S5II, now that phase detect AF is on the table, when they put the 50mm f/1.8 kit on sale. A full frame camera and a 50mm f/1.8 lens for less than $2,000? Yes please. The only thing that stopped me is this.

I am sure the S5II is better for video, but for stills I can not imagine it being better. Since stills is my main focus this will do just fine. Too redundant to justify. I still want the S5II kit of course. But I am good.

But here is the thing. As stated earlier I still like Sony. Every brand has its pluses and minuses. Here are a few examples for other brands from my perspective. I.e. personal opinion that should bother no one secure with their own decision making.

Canon.

• Pluses
  • Great ergonomics.
  • If you are moving over from EOS this is a great choice.
• Minuses
  • The limiting, as mentioned earlier, of third party glass.
    • It looks like this is being lifted, but I already have what I want with my current system so there is little to no motivation to switch.
  • The Sony camera model structure works better for me.
    • My A7C/A7RV pairing is perfect for me. A great mix of purposes and body styles that can be used with the same lenses.

Nikon.

• Pluses
  • Great ergonomics.
  • If you are moving over from Nikon DSLRs this is a great choice.
• Minuses
  • While more open to third party lenses than Canon Sony got a large head start.
    • Add in things like the (rumored to be a) rebranded Tamron as a more expensive Nikon 17-28mm and I am good where I am.
  • The Sony camera model structure works better for me.
    • My A7C/A7RV pairing is perfect for me. A great mix of purposes and body styles that can be used with the same lenses.

L Mount Alliance (Panasonic/Leica/SIGMA).

• Pluses
  • Great ergonomics (Panasonic and Leica).
  • Outside the box design (SIGMA).
  • Must credit them for joining the phase detect crew though…
• Minuses
  • …they waited so late there are no older models I would consider as a bargain option like the other brands.
  • They also started so late that, even though the L Mount Alliance is being fed by three brands, there are fewer lens choices.
    • Even fewer if you are looking for good bang for buck options.
    • Little third party lens support.

Nothing listed above would be deal breakers for me if I decided to pick any of those brands. As I have stated repeatedly in this space I could make do with any of them. But I am good.

Please note that this was not a hit piece on any brand including Sony. I do not like two Sony lenses… Big whoop.

For anyone else?

Run what you brung. Whatever floats your boat. Whatever is clever Trevor. So on and so forth. Have fun. Show me what you did with it after.

Life is too short to quibble about things that do not matter.

I use and go on about gear as a distraction and personal therapy but it is only the resulting image that really matters in the end.

Happy capturing.

-ELW