So just interested to know what is your camera brand history if you did not start with sony

[AlphaWorld]

I still have my Sony a99ii and have started to realize I use it less than ever but given the collection of a-mount prime glass I will be keeping it and yes it's a great camera but it cannot shoot silent which I love and it's a real handful given my shoulder and wrist and back issues after 40 odd years in heavy construction, last year they were selling for 2k plus here in the Uk so I did consider selling it, Oh a quick news flash I still have my a77ii but that's a crop body and could come in handy. To be honest I have all my camera bodies bar 2 and they are the a7 mk1 I hated that slow to focus body and the other is the rxr mk1 which was excellent until it sucked in a load of crap on a trip to Grand Canyon America a known issue Sony haven't cracked on version 2 and that's 3k, I love that Zeiss 35 mm lens, well that turned in to a rant sorry people

That’s interesting - almost the complete opposite of me - I am down to two Sony bodies at the minute (well, I have packed up a third to give to someone when I see them next). I have moved house, mostly long distances, four times in the past decade or so, which encourages me to get rid of things I am not using. I think the main reason I still have an A7RIV is as a backup. Might replace it with an A7RV if/when that arrives. But I have neither Canon nor Nikon gear any more.

 

[spudhead]

That’s interesting - almost the complete opposite of me - I am down to two Sony bodies at the minute (well, I have packed up a third to give to someone when I see them next). I have moved house, mostly long distances, four times in the past decade or so, which encourages me to get rid of things I am not using. I think the main reason I still have an A7RIV is as a backup. Might replace it with an A7RV if/when that arrives. But I have neither Canon nor Nikon gear any more.

I should possibly explain a bit more when I came back to the hobby after 30 plus years away from photography due to kids and life and lack of time. It was a bit of shock how things had changed so much, I looked at the various systems on the market and went with sony due to the fact you could buy the old but still excellent minolta glass. So, I quickly tapped into the used market so bought well in terms of cost, I have had only ever bought 2 new camera bodies the a77ii and the a7 mk1 all the rest were used excellent low shutter count, the a99ii when bought was selling for 3k here in uk but I bought a light used body from my usual source for £1,200 uk because the rear screen had a heavy scratch on it, cost me 30 dollars for a replacement and took 10 minutes to change. I have only ever bought one new lens the 200-600, I bought the 300 g 2.8 I have for 2k when they were 6.5 k in the uk so there has never been the pressure to cash out quickly hence most of my gear will still in general not lose big money.

 

[Shooter41]

VIVITAR; OLYPUS; CANON; SONY Shooter41

 

[pmenear]

Started a long time ago with Zenith and Vivitar above and Nikonos below water. Then used Olympus, Canon and Nikon through the years. I still shoot Nikon mainly for flash, Olympus mirrorless underwater and added Sony for the first time because of the A1 with the 600mm f4 because its better than the nikon. No brand loyalty but I'm not attracted to the Z9 and I have never liked the way Canon manipulate the RAW images in camera.

 

[dav1d]

I have a similar story. Zenith EM followed by Pentax MX (which I still have). Aslo bough ME Super and P30T. Then bought Olympus XA for portablility, and stopped due the children. Got back into photography with a Panasonic bridge camera (forgot what model), followed by A6000 then A6500.

Dropped the A6500 and 18-135mm lens on Tuesday so waiting so see what the insurance company says. Do I buy another 6500 or go for A7 II or III? I'd miss some of the PlayMemories apps particularly the long exposure app on the A7 III. I also broke my 18-135mm lens so I hope to buy a new FE lens if I go full frame.

 

[Dknb]

Shot Nikon for 50 years. Got tired of waiting for Nikon Mirrorless lens offerings. Traded my 850 and 7ii for a7riv and A1. Use the A1 for wildlife and a7riv for macro. Happy ever since.

 

[Brownie]

Shot Nikon for 50 years. Got tired of waiting for Nikon Mirrorless lens offerings. Traded my 850 and 7ii for a7riv and A1. Use the A1 for wildlife and a7riv for macro. Happy ever since.

Wouldn't your DSLR lenses work on the mirrorless? When I decided to switch the lack of lens selection was a problem and one of the reasons I ended up at Sony, but I wasn't coming from a history with Nikon. I was under the (probably misguided) impression that both Canon and Nikon geared their mirrorless cameras to work with their own legacy glass.

 

[Dknb]

Wouldn't your DSLR lenses work on the mirrorless? When I decided to switch the lack of lens selection was a problem and one of the reasons I ended up at Sony, but I wasn't coming from a history with Nikon. I was under the (probably misguided) impression that both Canon and Nikon geared their mirrorless cameras to work with their own legacy glass.

Yes they did but got tired the switching the adapter plus having some Mirrorless lenses and some f lenses. Wanted all lenses to fit 2 bodies. Think I'm a little strange, at least my wife thinks so.

 

[Brownie]

Yes they did but got tired the switching the adapter plus having some Mirrorless lenses and some f lenses. Wanted all lenses to fit 2 bodies. Think I'm a little strange, at least my wife thinks so.

Nope, makes sense to me!

 

[Clix Pix]

Thing is, contrary to what Nikon promised in the beginning, their FTZ adapter did NOT work with all of their lenses, and even when it did sometimes it only did the job partially.....that is, a lens which was actually AF suddenly was unable to AF and had to be used for MF. I was not happy about all that and decided that the time was right to make the big switch. I had been a "Nikon Girl" since the early 1990's, but they lost me because they were not offering the native mirrorless lenses I would have wanted and they were playing games with that FTZ nonsense. So one day back in November of 2019 I took all my Nikon gear to the local camera shop and traded it in for a Sony A7R IV and a few lenses. It was a good move for me and I have never regretted doing that. I love my Sony A7R IV and my A1 and the lovely lenses which have come into the household over time.

 

[pmenear]

Thing is, contrary to what Nikon promised in the beginning, their FTZ adapter did NOT work with all of their lenses, and even when it did sometimes it only did the job partially.....that is, a lens which was actually AF suddenly was unable to AF and had to be used for MF. I was not happy about all that and decided that the time was right to make the big switch. I had been a "Nikon Girl" since the early 1990's, but they lost me because they were not offering the native mirrorless lenses I would have wanted and they were playing games with that FTZ nonsense. So one day back in November of 2019 I took all my Nikon gear to the local camera shop and traded it in for a Sony A7R IV and a few lenses. It was a good move for me and I have never regretted doing that. I love my Sony A7R IV and my A1 and the lovely lenses which have come into the household over time.

You got that right! You only get the full advantage of the 'new mirrorless AF' when used on the 'new mirrorless lenses'. I was faced with the same choice, buy the Z9 and all new Nikon lenses or buy the A1 and all new Sony lenses.

 

[Clix Pix]

That day in November that I made the Big Switch is a landmark in my photographic history and one which felt scary at the time and I am so, so glad that I did it. I loved my A7R IV from the very first day and the only thing that I kind of eventually started thinking about was that since I do frequently shoot wildlife (water birds, mostly) I really wanted something which would shoot continuous-high a little faster and so on. I had begun mulling over the idea of adding an A9 or A9II to the family when that was right around the time when the A1 was announced. The minute I read the specs I knew the A1 was destined to come into this household.....

And while Nikon fans who had shifted to Nikon's mirrorless line were still waiting for certain lenses to finally become available to them as native "Z" lenses, "making do" with that clumsy FTZ and their F-mount lenses, since that day in November 2019 when I made the switch, I was already happily shooting away with the Sony native E-Mount and FE-mount lenses that I'd been able to purchase immediately and as time when on when I wanted and needed them. No fuss, no muss....no two-year or lengthier wait!

Each of these wonderful Sony top-of-the-line cameras has her own role to play here and each does the job well. Sony's lenses are stellar and I love how they are updating older ones and making them even better than they originally were. My next Sony lens will be the 24-70 GM II, as that is a range I always liked and used frequently in my Nikon days and since reviews on the first Sony 24-70 GM were kind of "blah" I have been biding my time. Now that updated 24-70 GM II is here, available on store shelves, and hopefully before Christmastime it will be joining the family.

 

[Paul stuart]

olympus trip 35mm ,canon eos film ,then moved to digital sony bridge f828 then milc,panasonic g1 gh2 gh3 gh4 ,olympus omd em1 and em1.2 ,now use panasonic lx100 ,sony a7r3 my transisition camera to sony and the sony A1 .The choice is easier now for mirrorless most tech surpasses dslr and the lenses also ,although if i could choose right now i would go Z9 and the 800 pf f6.3 for wildlife ,and sony for everything else i like the compact light weight form factor for portrait ,event and landscapes

 

[Cαscαdian]

Pentax 1980-2000 SLRs, then a compact, then compact digital (Kodak ls443, Lumix lc40, Casio p505).
In 2008 I returned to big imaging with Sony's A200. That was the doldrums before SLT, and I couldn't afford the A700 (just missed the BestBuy closeouts), and went back to Pentax in 2010. Added μ43 off and on with decent results.

I have a K-s2 now, a gx85 with small μ43 lenses and now an A7.ii that can adapt my collection of small K-mount primes (28,50,85,135). Just picked up a Maxxum 100-300apo and I'm awaiting an la.ea3 adapter for nearly auto functionally except AF.

 

[mapleleaf56]

For me I started with a Nikon d3000 in 2010 and moved up to the D7000 then the D7200, from there I had a D500 and a D800… I then went mirrorless to a Z5 and a Z6ii using the Nikon 200-500 with the adapter which made it a little cumbersome but Nikon promised a 200-600 for the Z mount which never arrived and still hasn’t, so I decided to start looking into another system. I had read a lot about the Sony 200-600 and how good it was and it wouldn’t break the bank so I sold all my Nikon gear and went all in with Sony and the A7r4 and the A9ii and my only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner. My Sony gear is truly amazing…

 

[Ivanturas]

Professionally, I started with a Nikon N65QD, which I still own, although I don't have any lenses for it anymore, and a Sony VX2100, which I later on replaced with a Canon HV20 + Letus 35mm adapter and Nikon mount... so basically, FullHD 24p with de DoF of a 35mm camera, not without its issues of course, mostly in terms of darkness and lack of definition. I then replaced my HV20 and adapter with a Nikon D90, which was the first DSLR to shoot videos (yes, it's earlier than the 5D MkII, alas only 720p) and took on the role of both video and stills camera (although as mentioned, I still keep my N65 for whenever I feel like shooting film). That D90 got stolen and then replaced with another D90. That second D90 was then replaced with a D7500, which was the last one before getting my A6400, which was destroyed after a 30-meter drop while rappelling. I thought of saving for an FX30, which would have taken me forever, but for my birthday, I got the most amazing surprise and I now own my second A6400.

 

[lagaffe]

Just an amateur photographer.
Started with my father’s SRT-101, then a Maxxum 5, Maxxum 7d, Sony A700, A850, A99, A7ii and A7iv.

The great thing with sticking to a lineage is lens compatibility. Although ir was not really true while in the A-mount era. Good thing I did not sell the old lenses acquired through those years

 

[snegron]

Pentax K1000 back in 1979. Then Nikon and Mamiya medium format film cameras.Then transitioned to Nikon DSLR's because I already owned a bunch of lenses. I then "branched out" to Canon and micro four thirds with Panasonic and Olympus. I recently ventured into Sony with an A7c.

So, I'm now down to 3 systems I use regularly; Canon (R6 and 7dmk2), Panasonic (GX85) and Sony (A7c).

Today I sold my Nikon D750 with several lenses, so I won't be shooting Nikons anymore.

 

[Landshark99]

My first "camera" was a Kodak Brownie, my first 35mm camera was a Minolta HiMatic 7, then my first "real" camera was a Nikon F. As a professional i have used a lot of cameras, shot with Nikon F, F2, F3, then Canon for awhile, also both Canon and Nikon digital, there was also medium format cameras and view cameras as well, Bronica film, Contax film and digital digital, Hasselblad film and digital, Mamiya RZ67, 6 and 7 film, Fuji 680 film, Leaf,Rollei digital, Kodak DCS digital, Toyo 8X10 and 4X5, Sinar P 4x5, various minox, Ricoh GRs all different ones, Olympus Micro 4/3, Fuji APC and now Sony FE stuff. Lets just say a lot in the last 60 or more years. I forgot about all the Polaroids