SAR note: This is a guest post from Daniel Cook and has been first posted on SonyAlphaForum. All images are copyrightet and you can see more of Daniel’s pictures at http://www.danielcook.com and https://www.flickr.com/photos/62198876@N02/.
A7S + Voigtlander Nokton 35mm 1.2 field test by Daniel Cook.
I have spent a while trying to find a camera that works for me; I have a Canon 5D Mark III, but I find it too cumbersome and imposing on my subjects for general daily use.
Primarily I wanted a camera that would suit street photography in the way that I enjoy it, which is up close and personal. Two most recent cameras which took up this role were the Ricoh GR and Sony RX1R – whilst excellent cameras, I still wanted more. So I bought the Sony A7S and to go with it a [shoplink 33268 ebay]Voigtlander Nokton 35mm 1.2 II[/shoplink].
The Sony A7S doesn’t get a lot of press when it comes to still photography; this might be due to the 12MP sensor for which, I too, had reservations. I needn’t have been concerned, the image files have plenty of detail for my usage. The two key features of the A7S which attracted me most were the silent shooting mode and high-ISO handling. When I’m within 1 – 2 metres of my subject, silent shooting mode helps immensely, it goes a long way to reduce my interference with the scene so that I can capture it in it’s completely natural state.
The legendary high-ISO handling of the A7S is just amazing, whilst I use my Canon 5D Mark III for professional work if I need to shoot in low-light the A7S will do a much better job. The following image shot at f1.2 and ISO 51,200 with some noise reduction applied using Lightroom.
The high-ISO handling is not just useful for low light situations either, I often shoot high-ISO during the day for my street photography. My “hip-shooting walkabout street photography style” relies on zone-focussing and fast shutter speeds to capture spontaneous moments from people around me. Typically I use f8 and 1/1000th shutter speed, the shutter speed is enough to compensate for my movement and subjects moving across the frame at close quarters, this is why I rely on high-ISO to make up for the shortfall of light hitting the sensor, The A7S is quite simply the best at doing this and I welcome all the high-ISO handling that technology can throw our way, perhaps one day I will be shooting like this at night too.
I’ve only had the camera for a little under a month and think it will be a long-term addition to my equipment.
Here’s a small collection of images I’ve started to build up with the Sony A7S and Voigtlander Nokton 35mm 1.2 II combo.
You can follow my photography on http://www.danielcook.com and https://www.flickr.com/photos/62198876@N02/
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Voigtlander Nokton 35mm 1.2 II on [shoplink 33268 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
Sony A7s store links:
Sony A7s in USA/CA at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Sony USA, Sony Canada.
Sony A7s in Eu at Sony DE, UK, ES, FR, IT, NL, BE, AT, CH, SE, NO, FI, PL. And Wex UK.
A7s Gariz leather case in [shoplink 27569 ebay]Black (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 27570 ebay]Brown (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 27571 ebay]Red (Click here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 27572 ebay]Orange (Click here)[/shoplink].