Fast lens vs big sensor. Which one will you choose?


sin77

Senior Member
Nov 28, 2004
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Lets ignore brands, prices, the physical size and weight of camera and lens.

To make it tough, you can only choose 1 of the following.

Option 1 - full frame + f4

Option 2 - aps-c + f2.8

Option 3 - micro4/3 + f1.8
 

Option 1. Allow another option of MF sensor and I will chose it instead.
 

Thinking whether to sell all my nikon and m4/3 stuffs to get Sony a7r ii.
 

Really depends on what you shoot and need it for.
 

Based on the lens options you listed, all of them will have the same low light capability - meaning they have at the same max aperture equivalent for their sensor.

Difference will be their sensor size advantages/disadvantages of low noise/camera size etc etc..

Talking about Sony vs other brands, not putting the others down but the EVF advantage is huge. Yes, live view is close, but you lose the focusing speed. See Gary Fong's video which explains it very well.

Yes, I use the Sony, primarily for size and also with my long sight problem - live view is a real pain - EVF takes care of it while retaining all the live view features.
 

Thinking whether to sell all my nikon and m4/3 stuffs to get Sony a7r ii.

Get Sony a7r ii...and some legacy F mount glass...and be happy! If you have the wheelbase I say go for it! :D

You ever thought of Df? It has incredible sensor. You could keep best of what you have and sell rest including sb900...don't need it anymore if you have Df...lol
 

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Lets ignore brands, prices, the physical size and weight of camera and lens. To make it tough, you can only choose 1 of the following. Option 1 - full frame + f4 Option 2 - aps-c + f2.8 Option 3 - micro4/3 + f1.8

Quite a vogue question to me.
What is consider a fast lens? 50mm 1.4?
And also I guess it has to depend on what u shoot.
 

Thinking whether to sell all my nikon and m4/3 stuffs to get Sony a7r ii.



It's a great camera this Sony but how important is AF to you? If you intend to keep your Nikon lens to use with it, you might be disappointed as it is the most sluggish compared even to Canon using the metabone adapter. I intend to keep my Nikon FX lens at least till I can afford to upgrade them to the Zeiss...etc when i get a mirrorless but even then, i am not looking to change my D4 for the present generation. But I can see my future in another few years down the road to change to a mirror-less but it will not be get a lighter gear. I am fine with heavyweight for stability.

But the technology that is going into the cameras like the Sony... Silly Canon and Nikon is too slow to embrace which i think if they don't will be their lost.

I take the Full frame + F4 like my 70-200mm any day. It is awesome.

PS: The battery life is also a bother to me to have to buy a lot more to charge and bring around. Hope that will improve when I get down to buying the next 2 generation if Nikon do drop the ball.
 

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I'll go with option 1 since i have switched to full frame last October. The angles of view is similar to the good old days when I used my film SLR camera.
 

Option 1 - full frame + f4

a7rii + 24-70 f4

i had 5diii + 24-70mk ii uber heavy
 

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Is Sony A7ii AF slower than a DSLR FR ? Examples Nikon D610 ??
Assuming that both make use of the same f/2.8 len.
 

Took me a while to jump to Sony. Dumped all my Nikon gears at an amazing loss but no regrets. Happy w Sony.

Hi Jace,

I just sold all my Nikon FF gear as well, but I switched to M43. The specs and reviews for Sony's newest cameras and lenses all looked amazing, but it didn't seem too different from my Nikon stuff, and the weight and size were the biggest issues for me.

I'm guessing the size and weight were not the main issues for you then; do you mind sharing why you switched? Curious ;p
 

If i am limited to only a F4 lens on full frame, i will buy a m4/3 with F1.8 lens.

I bought into full frame systems because I want to achieve the shallow DOF and effects that is much harder to achieve with a m4/3 setup. Smaller, lighter, faster shutter speeds (use lower ISOs), whats not to like? Bokeh will be close or equivalent to the F4 lenses on full frame.
 

All things (size/cost/noise/af-speed/DR/IQ) being equal, I will pick the m43/f1.8.

All options have similar depth of field/bokeh, but the m43 sensor will have more light (f1.8) for a similar shot. This will give you better IQ.

But life isn't that fair. M43 ISO performance still falls behind the larger sensor. Dynamic range at different ISO also matters a lot.

My main criteria for switching a system will be lens availability. I've been tempted to switch over to an A7 for awhile, but the lack of (affordable+fast) lens does put me off.

Every system has its advantages, and my current Nikon setup (I shoot nature, legos and family) provides me the best lens selection (for now)
 

All things (size/cost/noise/af-speed/DR/IQ) being equal, I will pick the m43/f1.8.

All options have similar depth of field/bokeh, but the m43 sensor will have more light (f1.8) for a similar shot. This will give you better IQ.

But life isn't that fair. M43 ISO performance still falls behind the larger sensor. Dynamic range at different ISO also matters a lot.

My main criteria for switching a system will be lens availability. I've been tempted to switch over to an A7 for awhile, but the lack of (affordable+fast) lens does put me off.

Every system has its advantages, and my current Nikon setup (I shoot nature, legos and family) provides me the best lens selection (for now)

Most of my Sony A7 user friends didn't dump their DSLR to go fully into Sony A7 series.
 

Most of my Sony A7 user friends didn't dump their DSLR to go fully into Sony A7 series.

Dual system ? I'm thinking of that.. sell off the normal lens, keep my tele and macros on Nikon, and get a A7 to start
 

I am thinking of the A7 with the mod because cost to buy in with the mod included is around 1500 if you go with used unit...that is a deal...whole lot of FF camera for that kind of money.