Why didn't I just get the a7riii in the first place!!!!

[gary stepic]

I bit the bullet and ordered the a7riii. I am upset at myself (certainly not the first time) for not getting this camera when it came out instead of going cheaper and getting the a7rii (someone will be getting a never used camera at a used price). i used to do a ton of sports but now am limiting my sports shooting to college basketball and grandkids sports. I thought the a6300 would be good enough for sports and I would use the a7rii for landscapes. Earlier last summer I bought the Canon 80D and 70-200 2.8 just for the basketball games. i did get the Metabones V so the Canon lens did the job ok on the a6300.

The more i kept reading about the a7riii the more interested I became in the camera for sports. A couple of factors that I should have thought more about before buying the a7rii. From a reply on my other thread I now know the crop mode is a great tool. I thought I needed the a6300 for that extra reach but with the crop mode I really don't. I can now use my Sony FE 70-200 4.0 and get similar or better results than the Canon 70-200 2.8 on the 80D or a6300 with adaptor. This is assuming iso 3200 would be as good as iso 2000 on Canon 80D or a6300. From what I have been reading iso 6400 should get excellent results and I probably will not need to push it that far.

One factor I never gave much thought to was dynamic range but this actually is a huge advantage of the a7riii (I hope so anyway). In the University of New Mexico arena lighting end right at the base line instead of extending just a little past it like most other arenas. This means if a player is near the baseline their head or face is brightly lit when looking up and their bodies are in dark shadows. I often have to tone down highlights and lighten up shadows in post for a decent looking shot. I will be real curious how those same shots will look on the a7riii. There will be a few more games to shoot and I can hardly wait.

So bye bye 80D, Canon 70-200 and 24-70 2.8 lenses. Being able to sell those will more than make up for the hit I am taking selling something I just bought and the higher price of the newer model. Time to start counting the hours before the camera is delivered.

Gary

 

[Brandneutral]

I bit the bullet and ordered the a7riii. I am upset at myself (certainly not the first time) for not getting this camera when it came out instead of going cheaper and getting the a7rii (someone will be getting a never used camera at a used price). i used to do a ton of sports but now am limiting my sports shooting to college basketball and grandkids sports. I thought the a6300 would be good enough for sports and I would use the a7rii for landscapes. Earlier last summer I bought the Canon 80D and 70-200 2.8 just for the basketball games. i did get the Metabones V so the Canon lens did the job ok on the a6300.

The more i kept reading about the a7riii the more interested I became in the camera for sports. A couple of factors that I should have thought more about before buying the a7rii. From a reply on my other thread I now know the crop mode is a great tool. I thought I needed the a6300 for that extra reach but with the crop mode I really don't. I can now use my Sony FE 70-200 4.0 and get similar or better results than the Canon 70-200 2.8 on the 80D or a6300 with adaptor. This is assuming iso 3200 would be as good as iso 2000 on Canon 80D or a6300. From what I have been reading iso 6400 should get excellent results and I probably will not need to push it that far.

One factor I never gave much thought to was dynamic range but this actually is a huge advantage of the a7riii (I hope so anyway). In the University of New Mexico arena lighting end right at the base line instead of extending just a little past it like most other arenas. This means if a player is near the baseline their head or face is brightly lit when looking up and their bodies are in dark shadows. I often have to tone down highlights and lighten up shadows in post for a decent looking shot. I will be real curious how those same shots will look on the a7riii. There will be a few more games to shoot and I can hardly wait.

So bye bye 80D, Canon 70-200 and 24-70 2.8 lenses. Being able to sell those will more than make up for the hit I am taking selling something I just bought and the higher price of the newer model. Time to start counting the hours before the camera is delivered.

Gary

 

[gary stepic]

I will still keep the a6300. i always like to have two cameras when shooting sports, one with a wide lens and one with a longer lens. It is also a great travel camera for places where I may not want to take the a7riii. Even traveling I like to have two cameras.

My wife passed away last May so my decision making process was not that great last summer. Common advice is never make big decisions soon after something like that happens and I should have heeded that advice. i also bought a Canon 5DM4 which I am selling. After getting all my new Canon gear I remembered why I got rid of it a couple years earlier - the size and weight.

Part of my personal recovery was to get back into photography. She passed away from a serious stroke so my life basically came to a halt last couple of years. Originally I was not going to shoot anymore sports after over 10 years shooting them all for college and high school. Some friends of mine talked me into getting back into UNM Lobo basketball and posting my galleries in a sports fan internet site.

Gary

 

[K1000usr]

Gary, you are on the right track. It is hard to make exactly the most optimized decisions on gadgets, particularly with the pace of new products out there, and also given the personal (rough) situation that you went through -- sorry to hear that. I think you will enjoy the new camera. And that is what matters. Please share some pictures with the new gadget

 

[teddoman]

Part of my personal recovery was to get back into photography. She passed away from a serious stroke so my life basically came to a halt last couple of years. Originally I was not going to shoot anymore sports after over 10 years shooting them all for college and high school. Some friends of mine talked me into getting back into UNM Lobo basketball and posting my galleries in a sports fan internet site.

Sorry to hear but glad photography helped play a role. I've read about art therapies so I'm not surprised it played a theraputic role for you.

I moved away many years ago. It would've been great to have an A9 when I watched Hunter Greene and Luc Longley play in the Pit.

 

[gary stepic]

Yep, I remember those days. I have been in New Mexico since late 70's but started the sports shooting about 13 or 14 years ago.

 

[paul wassermann]

I bit the bullet and ordered the a7riii. I am upset at myself (certainly not the first time) for not getting this camera when it came out instead of going cheaper and getting the a7rii (someone will be getting a never used camera at a used price). i used to do a ton of sports but now am limiting my sports shooting to college basketball and grandkids sports. I thought the a6300 would be good enough for sports and I would use the a7rii for landscapes. Earlier last summer I bought the Canon 80D and 70-200 2.8 just for the basketball games. i did get the Metabones V so the Canon lens did the job ok on the a6300.

The more i kept reading about the a7riii the more interested I became in the camera for sports. A couple of factors that I should have thought more about before buying the a7rii. From a reply on my other thread I now know the crop mode is a great tool. I thought I needed the a6300 for that extra reach but with the crop mode I really don't. I can now use my Sony FE 70-200 4.0 and get similar or better results than the Canon 70-200 2.8 on the 80D or a6300 with adaptor. This is assuming iso 3200 would be as good as iso 2000 on Canon 80D or a6300. From what I have been reading iso 6400 should get excellent results and I probably will not need to push it that far.

One factor I never gave much thought to was dynamic range but this actually is a huge advantage of the a7riii (I hope so anyway). In the University of New Mexico arena lighting end right at the base line instead of extending just a little past it like most other arenas. This means if a player is near the baseline their head or face is brightly lit when looking up and their bodies are in dark shadows. I often have to tone down highlights and lighten up shadows in post for a decent looking shot. I will be real curious how those same shots will look on the a7riii. There will be a few more games to shoot and I can hardly wait.

So bye bye 80D, Canon 70-200 and 24-70 2.8 lenses. Being able to sell those will more than make up for the hit I am taking selling something I just bought and the higher price of the newer model. Time to start counting the hours before the camera is delivered.

Gary

--
http://www.thetruthresource.org

Are you aware of the Sony A9? Not too late to change your mind (again).

 

[gary stepic]

I am aware of what the a9 can do but my first priority was a landscape camera. I can now travel more than i ever have before and want to start visiting National parks.

I will not make any money shooting sports and never really needed to "machine gun" shoot.

Something that I have never seen discussed when comparing a9 to a7riii when shooting sports is the dynamic range difference. For me, because of the situation I described in this thread is improved dynamic range may be a bigger deal than a faster shoot rate. Maybe in the real world no difference but I will soon find out.

Gary

 

[paul wassermann]

I am aware of what the a9 can do but my first priority was a landscape camera. I can now travel more than i ever have before and want to start visiting National parks.

I will not make any money shooting sports and never really needed to "machine gun" shoot.

Gary

 

[gary stepic]

I can understand why you would think that, I guess I want a camera that can do double duty as a sports camera and landscape camera and not tempted in the least to get a9.

 

[paul wassermann]

I can understand why you would think that, I guess I want a camera that can do double duty as a sports camera and landscape camera and not tempted in the least to get a9.

 

[samtheman2014]

I am terribly sorry for your loss Gary , few of us could claim to be in their most logical decision making frame of mind when dealing with such profound loss. I think if you shoot anything that moves fast the a7RIII is a better choice than the mk II . The mk III fixed basically all the little gotchas of the mk II, lucky for me I shoot mainly landscape and macro so its temptations are easy to resit. Whatever you decide I hope you enjoy it

 

[G Rash]

You're in a wonderful region for landscapes, especially with a little travel to nearby states, so I think you'll really enjoy your a7r iii.

 

[PhilthePhrame]

I sold my a7R2 and a6300 to buy the a7R3. I kept the a6000. I'm happy with the a7R3, but wish I'd kept the a6300 - it's a great body. You've left yourself with a great kit. Enjoy!

 

[nacho2710]

I sold my a7R2 and a6300 to buy the a7R3. I kept the a6000. I'm happy with the a7R3, but wish I'd kept the a6300 - it's a great body. You've left yourself with a great kit. Enjoy!

May I ask what are you missing about A6300? Weight and size or anything else?

Thanks in advance!

 

[gary stepic]

Gary, you are correct about being in a great area. I will get a chance to give the camera a good test for sports and landscapes soon. I will be shooting our basketball games in Las Vegas in a few weeks and on the way have booked two nights at the Grand Canyon Village. It has been years since I have seen the Grand Canyon and it was mainly just a side track drive by on our way to California. I ordered the Voightlander 15mm with the camera and my guess is it will be a good lends to photograph the Canyon. On the other extreme will take my Canon 100-400 lens. I have not really had a chance to use it since i bought this past summer. For the tournament I will use the Sony FE 70-200 4.0, another lens I have not used much up to this point.

Gary

 

[PhilthePhrame]

I sold my a7R2 and a6300 to buy the a7R3. I kept the a6000. I'm happy with the a7R3, but wish I'd kept the a6300 - it's a great body. You've left yourself with a great kit. Enjoy!

May I ask what are you missing about A6300? Weight and size or anything else?

Thanks in advance!

What I am missing about the a6300 is its snappy focus and silent shutter, and it did feel nice in the hand. It also feels more refined.

I kept the a6000 because of its light weight for travel daily walk-about and because its the re-sell value is so low compared to its "value" I thought I may as well keep it.

 

[gary stepic]

It is really handy to have two cameras even if just for traveling. There may be places and times when I don't want to carry a bigger more expensive camera. When I do have the a7riii I will keep the 24-105 parked on it as much as I can and have the 10-18 on the a6300. To me this is a good combo for walking around cities and towns. I will have the Voightlander 15mm for when I need a higher quality shot, pretty small lens. I am debating about keeping my Canon 100-400 because of it's size but if I have that lens in my travel bag I could also keep it on the a6300 if there is more of a need for tele shots. I personally think the a6300/a6500 is a great companion camera to the a7rii/a7riii.

Even for my basketball games I will keep a wider lens on the a6300 and a longer lens on the a7riii.

Gary

 

[col4bin]

Enjoy your new camera. I bought the A7RIII last month another selling all my Fuji gear. Best decision I have made with camera gear.

 

[nacho2710]

I sold my a7R2 and a6300 to buy the a7R3. I kept the a6000. I'm happy with the a7R3, but wish I'd kept the a6300 - it's a great body. You've left yourself with a great kit. Enjoy!

May I ask what are you missing about A6300? Weight and size or anything else?

Thanks in advance!

What I am missing about the a6300 is its snappy focus and silent shutter, and it did feel nice in the hand. It also feels more refined.

I kept the a6000 because of its light weight for travel daily walk-about and because its the re-sell value is so low compared to its "value" I thought I may as well keep it.

Oh, I see. Thanks and sorry. I understood that you were missing the snappy focus of the A6300 with your new A7RIII. I didn’t realize you kept the A6000, which is not like the A6300/A6500 and A7RIII in the AF deparment. I recently adquired the A9 and I’m trying to put to my taste. Anyway, I have a great deal in a brand new A7RIII from an authorized dealer so I’m trying to decide between get it and be done or not. I can’t test it or rent it so... But everybody seem quite happy with the A7RIiI AF. The same or very simliar to the A6300/6500 one. Can you confirm that point?

thanks in advance!