Hi from remote tropical Australia

[Cuppa]

G'day folks,
Newbie here. My wife & I have been travelling in Australia for the past 5 years, since we retired. During that time we have kept an online blog recording our travels as well as developing an interest in birds & photographing them. Our preference is to be far from the madding crowd & that is how we found ourselves in the middle of a remote rainforest toward the very tip of Australia, the Iron Range rainforest on Cape York. Another thing we have discovered as we have travelled is that we enjoy the opportunities to stop in different environments for periods long enough to observe & experience different seasons & to get to know local flora & fauna. We are not especially scientific about this, but learn through immersion. To this end we have been doing a bit of caretaking in places of interest between periods of travel. We arrived in this rainforest a month ago & expect to be here for a year.

For the past almost 5 years I have used a Sony A6500, this replaced a Canon sx10is, which did the job, but never well. On the basis of good memories of a diminutive Sony T1, I bought the A6500 & immediately gained the image quality for our blog that I had been hoping for. Unfortunately, a few weeks ago a problem arose with the A6500 which I believe to be the result of the humidity of 4 consecutive wet seasons (monsoon) in northern Australia. Over the past few weeks the intermittent problem has become an 'every time I switch it on' problem. A error message as soon as I switch the camera on saying the camera is overheating, followed by the camera switching itself off. An unreliable camera is a waste of time. Consultation with the nearest camera repair shop (2,500kms away) confirmed my fears that their is a high probability of corrosion on the camera's motherboard & that freight & repair costs make it not a viable option.

Internet (slow & flaky at the best of times) through which our phone works (wifi calling) is satellite based, & falls over each time it rains or gets cloudy. There is no cell phone signal without going to the nearest civilisation, the nearby aboriginal community of Lockhart River with a single shop & a 3g only phone service - forget data! The only shop is the small general store which is supplied via a weekly sea barge when it turns up - which it doesn't always. We love it, but the remoteness does present challenges when a camera dies & needs replacing.

So what to do? I looked at getting a replacement - either an A6500 or A6600, but such things are simply not available new in Australia at the moment, possibly in a month or two, but no guarantee of that. apparently there is a world shortage of computer chips which as well as limiting the number of new cars available is also impacting the availability of new cameras. I was told that Sony are currently focussing on the full frame line up to the exclusion of the APS-c line up.

My decision, for better or worse has been to make my wallet sweat a little, & to shell out for a new A7iii, even though most of my lenses are APS-c lenses - at least I'll have a useable camera (rather than seeing all the birds around me & getting no pics). The money has been paid & the shop (the nearest camera retailer, 800kms south of here) has it packaged up & ready to send. The owners of the research station we are caretaking are flying up next week & will collect it & bring it up for me.

Thus I expect I will be on a new learning curve when I begin to set it up, & hope that this friendly seeming forum might be ok with what may be some fairly basic newbie questions from me.

For what it's worth my lenses are as follows:
Sony /Zeiss 16-70mm sel1670Z This is my ’standard’ everyday lens -used most except for birds.
Sony 35mm Sel54118 - bought for low light camp fire shots - but virtually never used.
Sony 10-18mm Sel1018 - mainly landscapes where wide angle adds impact.
Sony 55-210mm Sel55210 - often used with an Olympus 1.4x magnifying attachment - easier& quicker to use in the rainforest that the larger heavier Sigma.
Sigma 15-600mm DG - bird close ups

The A7iv appealed with it's AI bird eye tracking, but at at least Aus$1000 more it was out of reach. It'll probably never happen but I can dream of a firmware update which adds this to the A7iii.

Regards
Cuppa
Blog - A Nomadic Life.

 

[AlphaWorld]

Sony stopped making APS-C bodies (or most of them, at least) for a while because of the chip crunch. I believe they turned some of the production lines back on recently, so you might see some appear soon.

However, an A7III is not a bad option, especially if you think you might lash out for a full frame lens or two in the not too distant future.

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

Welcome Cuppa!
AlphaWorld is correct, Sony stopped all APSC body production, but the a6400 has resumed production and I think the ZVE10 as well.
This will sound sacrilegious in this group, but if I were in the harshest conditions, I might be tempted to go with an Olympus OM-1 instead of a Sony. Just curious if you had considered it, definitely don't want to make you feel less happy about the A7III purchase because that's a great camera body and we're all here because we love Sony.

 

[Cuppa]

Hi @FowlersFreeTime & @Brownie Thanks for the welcome. A friend has an OM1 & I was very impressed with it, & would have loved it, but I simply was not in a position to spend Aus$10k+ on a whole new set up, so needed an e mount camera, & really wanted it ASAP which ruled out the ASP-C range. Supplier thought they may be coming back online 'soon' but couldn't guarantee a supply date.

As I understand it the A6400 doesn't have image stabilisation built in, & that was something I wanted.

I do have concerns about the lower megapixel count of the A7iii in APS-C mode, but at the time of my decision to buy a replacement camera I had little other choice (other than waiting for an unknown period which potentially could stretch into months). If cropping becomes a significant quality issue for me I suppose I may have to consider this with my shooting until such time as I can afford new lenses. Cropping is more common on shots with my Sigma lens which I think may not need to be used in APS-C mode (not certain on that though) .

I made my choice & may regret it if the APS-C models become available sooner rather than later.

 

[Jeff A]

Hi @FowlersFreeTime & @Brownie Thanks for the welcome. A friend has an OM1 & I was very impressed with it, & would have loved it, but I simply was not in a position to spend Aus$10k+ on a whole new set up, so needed an e mount camera, & really wanted it ASAP which ruled out the ASP-C range. Supplier thought they may be coming back online 'soon' but couldn't guarantee a supply date.

As I understand it the A6400 doesn't have image stabilisation built in, & that was something I wanted.

I do have concerns about the lower megapixel count of the A7iii in APS-C mode, but at the time of my decision to buy a replacement camera I had little other choice (other than waiting for an unknown period which potentially could stretch into months). If cropping becomes a significant quality issue for me I suppose I may have to consider this with my shooting until such time as I can afford new lenses. Cropping is more common on shots with my Sigma lens which I think may not need to be used in APS-C mode (not certain on that though) .

I made my choice & may regret it if the APS-C models become available sooner rather than later.

Regret buying the A7 III?? I doubt it Cuppa, as it is a damn fine camera. Enjoy your new camera.

 

[Cuppa]

Thanks @charlyee (& @Brownie ) it’s reassuring that I’ll be able to use my ‘monster’ Sigma lens in both FF & ‘crop frame’ mode whilst I’m up here in the northern ‘jungle’ . A lot of small , but unique to this area, birds, where even with the 900mm reach on the now defunct A6500 need cropping . The good news is that whilst explaining the issues of using APS-C lenses on a FF camera together with various solutions to my wife last night, she agreed that if I need to I should get the Sony 100–400 Gmaster lens. (Big grin). I imagine if (when) I get it it won’t be until we have returned home in around 12 months time, as our travelling storage space is limited, & my Pelican Case is full. Her agreement, a very pleasant surprise, has nevertheless made me feel far better about choosing the A7iii. May also sell other lenses to buy a FF equivalent of the 16 to 70 & maybe the 10 to 18. Travelling with those two plus the 100 to 400(with an extender?) would reduce the bulk & I think be just as useful (probably more so) as what I have now. My Sigma - the ‘Contemporary’ not the Sport isn’t bad, but it is heavy & with comparatively slow AF. Lots of shots missed because I couldn’t hold it up any longer, or when I rested my arms & lifted it again the bird moved before I could focus.

 

[Cuppa]

One of the last shots I took with my failing A6500 with Sigma 150-600 on full extension, hand held & heavily cropped. A Red-cheeked Parrot, which exists only in the Iron Range rainforest. Yes I had been using back button focussing for a while. That'll be another learning curve on the A7iii, working out how to set it up! Galapagos is something I can only dream about!

• ILCE-6500
• 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | Contemporary 015
• 600.0 mm
• ƒ/6.3
• 1/500 sec
• ISO 200

 

[Slug]

A6400 is a great little camera and many of my best Bird in flight photos have been taken with it.

 

[Tim Mayo]

Welcome Cuppa and thank you for joining up here and posting such a great introduction! I've just taken a quick look at your blog and it looks like a fantastic adventure! Sorry to hear about the troubles with your A6500. The a7III should be better sealed against moisture, just don't drop it in any rivers! You are not missing out on too much without the Bird Eye AF, it's nice to have but certainly not essential. If you have any questions about this forum please don't hesitate to ask.

 

[Cuppa]

Thanks Tim. Fingers crossed that the new camera might arrive in the next day or two..