Earlier this evening I was out with Tops Osoba and his merry band of streettogs trying our hands at night photography around London’s iconic Tower Bridge.
I was advised to bring a tripod, and almost everyone did, but I was keen to try the Sony A7II’s stabilisation in tandem with Leica’s finest, the 50mm Apo-Summicron.
Again, I was impressed by the way in which very slow speeds can be used without apparent camera shake. In this, the A7II is a world away from last year’s A7r which suffered from a noisy and vibratory shutter. And the Apo-Summicron is simply wonderful. It’s too early to tell how wonderful, and to what degree it lords itself above the humble 50mm Summicron or the faster 50mm Summilux.
What I have decided is that February is going to be a One Lens month as I take full advantage of the Apo-Summicron before it has to go back to daddy Leica. I’m preparing a One Lens and Three Camera challenge as I try the Apo on its buddy-buddy M-P and two upstarts in the shapes of the Sony and the Fuji X-T1.
The Simple Street Photography group operates through the admirable Meetup.com website and the frequent meets around London are always entertaining. A big ingredient is the social aspect, of course.
It’s great to meet fellow photographers, share knowledge and compare techniques. But the range of locations and events encourages you to get out and take photographs. In the last seven days they have been at the Civil War re-enactment on Sunday and, this evening, in the gloaming of the South Bank: Two completely different opportunities but both, in their way, stimulating.
If you’d like to take part go to Meetup.com and look for Simple Street Photography. Next outing for me is on Tuesday, February 3, when we are all walking from Stoke Newington to Shoreditch to cast our eyes and our lenses over the gentrification of this ancient part of London.
Above right: This is where they used to row ’em in to sample the delights of the Tower dungeons. Grammatically correct position of the apostrophe is a good sign, worth one less turn of the rack. This massive crop demonstrates the full-frame goodness of the A7 combined with the Apo-Summicron lens
(1) Three axis or five axis? The A7II has five-axis in-body stabilisation but only three axes are in operation when a third-party manual lens is mounted. Just in case anyone picks up on this.
Hello, nice photos! how the Sony compare with the Leica M? Have you compare both cameras with the Apo-summicron 50mm?
Thanks for sharing
I’m working on that at the moment. I’ve been comparing the Apo-Cron on the Leica, Sony A7II and Fuji X-T1. All are good but there isn’t a lot to choose between the Leica and the Sony. The Sony’s stabilisation does help in low light conditions, allowing lower ISO and much slower exposure without camera shake thank would be possible with the Leica or the Fuji. I am impressed by the Sony, frankly.
Thanks for the response. If I may I wanted also to ask, have you tried wider Leica lenses on the Sony, say a 35 mm?
Hi Henry,
I tried wider lenses last year with the A7r but not sure if I wrote about it. At the moment I’m concentrating on the 50mm FOV but will try wider lenses (to 28mm, which is the widest Leica lens I own) later and report on that. Admittedly 50mm is perhaps the least likely focal length to show up lens problems on the Sony, but I need to take a closer look at 35mm and 28mm. I doubt there will be anything that can’t be tackled in Lightroom if shooting RAW.
Thanks for the tip. Might well join you on the next walk.
All are welcome and it will be great to see you next Tuesday. I’m not sure what we will find between Stoke Newington and Shoreditch but it will be a nice social occasion. I like the daytime meets but, of course, not everyone has the luxury of being free during the week.
Amazing foto !!,great performance.