This is a guest post from Alfred Corrodi. To write articles for this site contact me (Andrea) at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com.
A7r IR photography by Alfred Corrodi
I admit, I am a camera hedonist (sounds better than gear head, I guess). My personal “mission”, besides admiration for craftsmanship and technology, is that I constantly look for the tool which lets me shoot the situation at hand the way I interpret it, there and then.
This is a purely personal, subjective interaction between me and the gear. When using my Leica M’s, for instance, I approach a situation differently from when I use my Medium Format gear (yes, I am a bit “older” so naturally I progressed through MF and still use it much of the time). I am all digital now, 35mm format and MF, have been for the last 10 years. The creative freedom that digital originally brought is now, in my humble opinion, greatly enhanced by the Sony A7.
I am not doing a gear review here. Everything written about the gear I use, at least the stuff written by sensible people, about Leica M and S, Hasselblad H, Nikon D’s and Sony A7 and its near and far siblings, is correct. Nothing to add.
The point I am making here is, that I like creative freedom, and that the first truly high quality (IQ) solution of its kind in the respective segment of “versatility”, the Sony A7(R), has just added to it. That is what I try to express here.
I first bought a couple of A7 and R’s as an all-inclusive “backup” solution experiment, for my Leica M’s (M9 and mostly 240’s) and all the lenses I collected over about 30 years (including Leica R lenses).
But then after a while, loving my Leica Monochrom but craving for an EVF for instance, I took the plunge and had one A7R body converted to infrared only for a try and step towards a better BW solution (*). The infrared conversion is relatively easy to do, that is why we started with it. It is a >830nm IR conversion, so pure IR. Next will be a pure black and white conversion, which usually destroys a couple of sensors to get it right (aka it is a bit expensive …).
Why do it? What about that creative freedom? See for yourselves. Anybody reading this ever shot infrared film? I did. What a pain.
Doing such things with the Sony’s is relatively cheap (mind you, I shoot Leica M and S and Hasselblad H5 … ), gives you phenomenal IQ, comes in a small package to add to my bag, and the purpose of it all, gives me great fun in what Ming Thein may call pushing the shooting envelope, at least in one direction. In short, it adds to creative freedom easily and affordably.
The conversion was done by Dan Llewelyn of LDPnet (www.maxmax.com). Great guy, great job, he does such things a lot and knows his trade. I use the beta version of AccuRaw https://sites.google.com/site/accuraw/ to develop those files (thanks Sandy and sorry for some stupid questions along the way). It lets you fully control the raw process and bypass de-bayering for instance.
As a final remark, after having used the stock A7’s with some native lenses I sold all my Nikon gear (D800E, D4) or retired it to my shelf for display with all the pro gear back to the 60’s F’s. No use anymore for a DSLR between MF and A7’s, and I don’t shoot sports.
And yes, despite the fact that: The A’s menus stink, the shutter vibration on the R is bad enough, battery life is embarassing, firmware upgrade a scary process, raw compression inexcusable, auto ISO lacking and dumb, … but no gear review here …
Sign of the times for DSLRs, perhaps?
Alfred
PS: you need a good live view for IR shooting as IR light focuses on a different plane from visible light and lenses behave a bit differently in the spectrum, too.
For truly remarkable cover of the topic, consult Lloyd Chambers http://diglloyd.com/index-dip.html
(*) and a standard A7 body to no anti aliasing filter “hot rod”, which is pointless btw, as the filter is very weak to begin with
Some more image samples from Alfred Corrodi (Click on it to enlarge).
Specs and Store Links in US and Canada:
Dedicated Sony announcement page at Amazon US (Click here).
Sony A7r body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS. TheCameraStore Canada.
Sony A7 body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS. TheCameraStore Canada.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS. TheCameraStore Canada.
Sony RX10 at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Zeiss 24-70mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Zeiss 35mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Zeiss 55mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
70-200mm A-mount at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony A-Mount to E-Mount Lens Adapter at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
Sony A to E adapter with mirror at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
A7/A7r leather case at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
A7/A7r vertical grip at Amazon, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony W Series Battery Charger at Amazon, BHphoto.
Sony FA-CS1M Off-Camera Shoe at BHphoto.
Semi-Hard LCD Screen Protector for A7-A7r at Amazon, BHphoto.
Specs and Store Links in Europe:
Sony A7r body at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE.
Sony A7 body at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon FR.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon FR.
Sony RX10 at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE.
Zeiss 35mm at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT,
Zeiss 55mm at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT
Zeiss 24-70mm at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, SE, PT
Sony G 28-70mm lens at Sony DE, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO.
Asia:
A7r at Digitalrev.
A7 at Digitalrev, Amazon Cina.
A7 with 28-70mm lens at Digitalrev.
