Hi , from chris wray ( uk ) ex nikon Z system user

[HammyUK]

Hi,

After recently turning my back on nikons Z system due to poor tracking and lack of wildlife glass ( i already owned allot of F mount glass being the reason i went with thier mirrorless system )

I purchased a sony A7R iv/a , a 90mm macro and a 200-600mm lens which is still to arrive ( i imported it all due to the fact the savings i gained paid for the 200-600mm ) ( only need a flash / battery grip and a prime wide angle zoom etc etc now )

After testing it out beforehand at bempton cliffs where theres 100's of fast moving targets it clearly was night and day compared to nikons Z system especially in tracking birds in flight , the 60mp for crop factor @ 10fps is perfect.

Nikon are taking too long to bring out any decent affordable wildlife lenses with only a 400mm f2.8 being specualted by the end of the year. ( the battery life is poor and the autofocus is approx 50% slower on legacy glass via the FTZ convertor as opposed the native lens , also the vr is on permanently draining batteries )

Anyway i'm now 100% Sony ! just need a raw update for DXOphoto editing program

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

Welcome. I'm truly amazed that Nikon haven't kept up, a big drop of the ball from them. It's why I changed. Just trying to get the wife to think about it.

 

[Tim Mayo]

Welcome Chris and thanks for joining up here. Glad to hear that you are enjoying the switch already! It is a shame that Nikon is struggling, we need good competition to push development and keep the already silly prices in check.

 

[Clix Pix]

Hi, Chris, and welcome from another former Nikon user! Back in 2019 I was wrestling with the decision about where to go with my photography. I had a lot of Nikon gear and had been using it for years, but had not been keeping current with their latest DSLRs and F-mount lenses. Along the way I discovered Sony with the NEX 7 and later purchased an RX100 III , which was followed by the RX100 V, then VI, and VII. I also was very impressed by the amazing RX10 IV. So at this juncture I had enough experience with mirrorless to know that I liked it, and I definitely was aware that this was the direction in which the photographic industry was heading.

Once I came to grips with the idea that my next camera would be a mirrorless one, the next big decision was -- which? At this point Nikon was just getting ready to release their first mirrorless system, so I waited to see what that would be like. In the meantime I read reviews and thought about the Sony A7III as my first full-frame mirrorless, but then changed my mind and decided that the A7R III would be the one to get as it would meet my needs quite well.

So Nikon released its Z system and a few lenses....I wasn't impressed by the fact that although they assured their loyal customer base that they could still use "all of your F-mount lenses" with the FTZ adapter. Eh..... It didn't take long to find out that there were some "gotchas" in there. I wasn't enthused at having some of my AF lenses suddenly MF only or even having a few that weren't compatible at all with the FTZ. I looked at the "roadmap" of lenses they were offering and lenses that would be on the way over the next year or so, and was dismayed that there were no macro lenses on there. OK, now I was really leaning in the direction of Sony, and had just about made up my mind to get an A7R III when Sony announced the A7R IV.

So I waited some more, and that camera was definitely worth the wait! One day in late November I traded in all my Nikon gear and came home with the A7R IV, two macro lenses and the 135mm f/1.8. Just over a month later I added a long zoom, the 200-600mm. While Nikon was missing the boat Sony had the camera I wanted and the lenses I wanted and as time went on additional lenses that I also wanted. In the meantime friends who had loyally stuck with Nikon were using the FTZ adapter on some of their older lenses and waiting for more native Z lenses to come along. It's been a long wait for some of those lenses! Only recently did they finally get the macro lenses and they're still waiting for the long zooms. In the meantime, over the past nearly two years I've been very happily using my Sony macro lenses and long zooms. IMHO Nikon really blew it and it's clear that they are still way behind everybody else while Sony appears to be in the leading role now and on top of their game. I love my Sony gear and using it each day has been very satisfying and a real pleasure.

Enjoy your new 90mm macro (it's my favorite lens!) and the wonderful 200-600mm! Wide-angle zoom? Get the 12-24mm f/2.8 GM. It is a fantastic lens.

 

[Boojum]

Welcome to the board. This is a knowledgeable group and helpful.

 

[HammyUK]

thanks all, just selling off all my nikon odds and ends now before there worthless , my brother has also sold all his nikon gear , d5 / 600mm / 400 f2.8 etc etc he was so impressed by the sony

 

[Boojum]

thanks all, just selling off all my nikon odds and ends now before there worthless , my brother has also sold all his nikon gear , d5 / 600mm / 400 f2.8 etc etc he was so impressed by the sony

In the early 50's the LIFE photo crew went to cover the Korean War with Leica cameras and Leica lenses and came back with Leica cameras and Nikon lenses. Nikon was the bleeding edge for decades. It is sad to see them slipping into irrelevance. OTOH Sony has worked very hard to get where they are and now they seem to be crushing the pro market, too. I've been shooting Sony digital since 1999 now and have not yet been disappointed, other than that current shutter problem on these cameras, like my old A7M II. That is a huge disappointment. And I put a black mark by their name for not doing a recall on this. Other than that I am very happy. Happier than I am with the Leicas I have. They do not return as much for the more effort required. The choice is a simple one for me.

 

[Clix Pix]

Became a Nikon ex-pat back in the autumn of 2019 when I could see that Nikon's offerings for its new Z system of bodies and S lenses was not at all going to meet my needs. I traded in all of my Nikon gear and came home with a Sony A7R IV and three lenses, and have never been happier. I'm still loving the lenses and have added a few more plus recently have also added the new A1. Sony seems to really put out quality bodies and lenses. I'm more than glad that I took the plunge in switching systems!

 

[Boojum]

Became a Nikon ex-pat back in the autumn of 2019 when I could see that Nikon's offerings for its new Z system of bodies and S lenses was not at all going to meet my needs. I traded in all of my Nikon gear and came home with a Sony A7R IV and three lenses, and have never been happier. I'm still loving the lenses and have added a few more plus recently have also added the new A1. Sony seems to really put out quality bodies and lenses. I'm more than glad that I took the plunge in switching systems!

I have kept my lens inventory small: the Zeiss/Sony 55 mm f/1.8 which can count the eyelashes on a flea and the wonderful 24 - 240 zoom by Sony. I am not a pixel freak but do find both lenses sharp, the 55 especially. But even the Zeiss on my 22 year old Cybershot is good. I do have a Tamron 500 mm f/8 mirror telephoto and just bought another, the second version which is supposed to be better. For $135 it is worth a try. I am very pleased with the Sony lenses, and the body! I had an A7M II which I gave to a buddy with its 24 - 240 when I got a new A7M III and 24 - 240. I get more photos correctly exposed and focused than with a Leica. I can concentrate on composition. When it comes to betting my money is on Sony.

 

[Clix Pix]

When I bought those first three lenses I swore to myself that I wasn't going to do what I had done in the past and accumulate a bunch of lenses over the years -- I would take my time, only purchase a lens when the need became apparent, etc., etc. Yeah, well.... First, the need became apparent pretty quickly with regard to a longer lens than the 135, so I bought the 200-600. In the next couple of months I bought other lenses as the need arose, too. In the spring of 2020 I realized that, even though I loved that 200-600 dearly, it just wasn't going to be feasible for me to use as a lens for walking around the neighborhood, so I added the 100-400mm to the family (and it has quickly become a favorite!).

A lens that I had been lusting after for a long time finally became available again after being out-of-stock everywhere, so I snapped that up.....and then another lens jumped to the head of my list as something "needed" sooner rather than later..... And so it has gone. This spring I finally came to grips with getting something to shoot on the wide-angle side of things, which had been something I was lacking. A couple of other lenses found their way into the household because they were fast and I love fast lenses. Actually, now I think I'm done, at least for a good long while, as far as lenses, since I've got them in the focal lengths and apertures that I wanted and use the most..... I just need to keep enjoying using them all!

I am not a big fan of non-Sony lenses, but I have made an exception for the wonderful fast manual focus Voigtlander lenses that seem to have a magical quality about them when it comes to rendering colors. I also have a couple of what I consider "novelty" lenses, a Lensbaby Sol 45 that I picked up out of curiosity and an 11mm TTArtisans fisheye that I happened upon by accident.

The 1" 24-600mm lens on my RX10 IV is an amazing lens and it, along with the 1" Zeiss lenses on the RX100 series compact cameras that I've used for several years are what had already convinced me of the quality of Sony cameras. I liked the results I was getting and I liked how the Sony camera bodies worked, how they felt in my hands. I still do. That is why when the time came to be thinking of making the shift to full-frame mirrorless, Sony was the top contender, and while I took the time to wait and see what Nikon's new mirrorless Z series would have to offer and didn't even bother looking at any information about Canon at all, as I continued to happily shoot with my Sony RX10 IV and RX100 VII I knew instinctively, deep down, that there was a Sony FF camera in my future. I started out thinking about all this when the A7III and the A7R III were Sony's most popular cameras, and by the time I got around to actually doing anything, the A7R IV was freshly on the market and I knew there was no point in hesitating any longer. My new camera, lenses and system were just waiting for me to come and get them, bring them home......

 

[Boojum]

When I bought those first three lenses I swore to myself that I wasn't going to do what I had done in the past and accumulate a bunch of lenses over the years -- I would take my time, only purchase a lens when the need became apparent, etc., etc. Yeah, well.... First, the need became apparent pretty quickly with regard to a longer lens than the 135, so I bought the 200-600. In the next couple of months I bought other lenses as the need arose, too. In the spring of 2020 I realized that, even though I loved that 200-600 dearly, it just wasn't going to be feasible for me to use as a lens for walking around the neighborhood, so I added the 100-400mm to the family (and it has quickly become a favorite!).

A lens that I had been lusting after for a long time finally became available again after being out-of-stock everywhere, so I snapped that up.....and then another lens jumped to the head of my list as something "needed" sooner rather than later..... And so it has gone. This spring I finally came to grips with getting something to shoot on the wide-angle side of things, which had been something I was lacking. A couple of other lenses found their way into the household because they were fast and I love fast lenses. Actually, now I think I'm done, at least for a good long while, as far as lenses, since I've got them in the focal lengths and apertures that I wanted and use the most..... I just need to keep enjoying using them all!

I am not a big fan of non-Sony lenses, but I have made an exception for the wonderful fast manual focus Voigtlander lenses that seem to have a magical quality about them when it comes to rendering colors. I also have a couple of what I consider "novelty" lenses, a Lensbaby Sol 45 that I picked up out of curiosity and an 11mm TTArtisans fisheye that I happened upon by accident.

The 1" 24-600mm lens on my RX10 IV is an amazing lens and it, along with the 1" Zeiss lenses on the RX100 series compact cameras that I've used for several years are what had already convinced me of the quality of Sony cameras. I liked the results I was getting and I liked how the Sony camera bodies worked, how they felt in my hands. I still do. That is why when the time came to be thinking of making the shift to full-frame mirrorless, Sony was the top contender, and while I took the time to wait and see what Nikon's new mirrorless Z series would have to offer and didn't even bother looking at any information about Canon at all, as I continued to happily shoot with my Sony RX10 IV and RX100 VII I knew instinctively, deep down, that there was a Sony FF camera in my future. I started out thinking about all this when the A7III and the A7R III were Sony's most popular cameras, and by the time I got around to actually doing anything, the A7R IV was freshly on the market and I knew there was no point in hesitating any longer. My new camera, lenses and system were just waiting for me to come and get them, bring them home......

Superb rationalization, sir. My hat is off to you.

 

[Clix Pix]

Thanks! . Oh, and it's actually ma'am...... I know my user name is ambiguous and I for that matter so is my current avatar, so no way for anyone to realize that!

 

[Boojum]

Thanks! . Oh, and it's actually ma'am...... I know my user name is ambiguous and I for that matter so is my current avatar, so no way for anyone to realize that!

You just want another congratulation. OK. Superb rationalization, madam. My hat is off to you. ;o)