Anyone shoot the a7ii on dark rides?

Eswift

Mouseketeer
Joined
Feb 8, 2016
If yes, how was it?

I'm currently using a SL1 with a sigma dc hsm 1.4. I did not do well last time but I was ignorant of so much. I've learned a lot since (best thing about hobbies!) I'm thinking of getting the a7ii for an upcoming trip to tokyo, I want it for the city shots. It'd be a nice bonus if it did better in the dark than the sl1. I'll be keeping the sl1 for telephoto things.

I'm curious if I'm maybe just better off getting a wide lens, the 10 - 18 maybe, for the canon. I'm leaning towards sony just because canon is absolutely all over the map with their camera mounts right now, and I'm tired of the lack of IBIS at this point.
 
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I'm curious about this as well (I'll be shooting on an SL2), and am contemplating using a 50mm 1.8 or 10-18mm wide on dark rides, or even just my iPhone X or Pixel 2XL on a gimbal (as I'm filming rather than taking photos on the attractions)
 
Using your phone might be a no go, you can't have lights on. The screen will be horrible for other guests. Can you film with the screen off?

The 50mm 1.8 is probably too much zoom on a crop lens :/.
 
I've used phone on ride before, the screen being on minimum brightness and given the dark nature of the attraction, the screen becomes basically black.

I was concerned about the crop of the 50mm, especially because of the additional 1.6x crop the SL2 will give it, I'm still trying to find examples of someone using a 50mm on darks.

My main concern about using the 10-18mm is that it's only a f/4.0
 


I've used phone on ride before, the screen being on minimum brightness and given the dark nature of the attraction, the screen becomes basically black.

I was concerned about the crop of the 50mm, especially because of the additional 1.6x crop the SL2 will give it, I'm still trying to find examples of someone using a 50mm on darks.

My main concern about using the 10-18mm is that it's only a f/4.0

I've used the 50mm 1.8,and it's way too zoomed on most. It'd be fine on some, pirates, small world. Any old school dark ride, it's not going to work.

I have a degenerative neurological thing where I shake, so I can't shoot 4.0 in that light. I use the sigma 35mm 1.4, i got it at a really reasonable price used, I think 250 canadian. I'd look around for that one. I love it. The 50mm I barely used and had for years.

You want to shoot (I'm told), around 1/60 or 1/80. I'm not sure what that will look like at f 4.0.

About the sony, I found some examples of the a6300, and WOW.
 
If yes, how was it?

I'm currently using a SL1 with a sigma dc hsm 1.4. I did not do well last time but I was ignorant of so much. I've learned a lot since (best thing about hobbies!) I'm thinking of getting the a7ii for an upcoming trip to tokyo, I want it for the city shots. It'd be a nice bonus if it did better in the dark than the sl1. I'll be keeping the sl1 for telephoto things.

I'm curious if I'm maybe just better off getting a wide lens, the 10 - 18 maybe, for the canon. I'm leaning towards sony just because canon is absolutely all over the map with their camera mounts right now, and I'm tired of the lack of IBIS at this point.

Full frame is definitely going to be better for night and low light shots
The two big NY online camera retailers have a 30 day return policy - makes it easy to try out new gear
www.flickr.com/photos/mmirrorless
 
I’ve used the A7II at WDW but not on dark rides. I always found the A7II to have focus struggles when the light goes down. I also never liked the high ISO of the A7II and didn’t find it better than the Fuji X cameras. The grain does not look good and I don’t like using noise reduction.

I just purchased the Canon RP and love it. I have the adapter and use my EF lenses right now. I will buy the RF 35 f1.8 macro as soon as I can. Adapted EF lenses on the RP work better than on the 6D. Adapted lenses on the A7II with the Sigma MC-11 were not good in my experience. If you have EF lenses and want a FF body, the RP is a no brained.
 


I’ve used the A7II at WDW but not on dark rides. I always found the A7II to have focus struggles when the light goes down. I also never liked the high ISO of the A7II and didn’t find it better than the Fuji X cameras. The grain does not look good and I don’t like using noise reduction.

I just purchased the Canon RP and love it. I have the adapter and use my EF lenses right now. I will buy the RF 35 f1.8 macro as soon as I can. Adapted EF lenses on the RP work better than on the 6D. Adapted lenses on the A7II with the Sigma MC-11 were not good in my experience. If you have EF lenses and want a FF body, the RP is a no brained.

yes, and from what I've read Sigma and other lens manufacturers are now making lens for mirrorless cameras.
It's just a question of when DSLR's are discontinued and mirrorless completely takes over
www.flickr.com/photos/mmirrorless
 
Ideally you'd want a lens with really good wide open performance, not just a fast aperture, which eliminates most of the Canon, Nikon, Sony, or Sigma inexpensive primes. I mean, what's the point of having the fast aperture if the corners are blurry messes and the center is pretty poor too? Especially on dark rides, things like coma from point light sources become real issues.

A wide angle with IS/VR is a decent way to go, or just crank the ISO up. The 58mm Voigtlander or 24mm f/1.8 Nikkor would be my lenses of choice in a dark ride if I was taking one specifically for that, or any of the f/1.4 first party primes (I would not go third party for this, too many AF issues). And of course, money no object, the 58 f/1.2 Noct would be the lens to take.

As for AF in them, depending on your camera it can be fine or it can just fail miserably. The Sony A7III and A9 would be an OK choice, but the Nikon Z6, or especially the D500, D5 or D850 will handle it without much issue. On the Canon side, you're basically into 1D territory to get usable AF on dark rides - but there are two tricks to mitigate this. The first is to pick a single AF point and put it onto something bright that the AF system can grab onto, in which case even film SLRs should snag focus. Faces are good ones, they tend to have enough light. The second (and what I normally do) is to get good at manually focusing.
 
The new Sony 28mm f/1.4 and the A7 II or A7III should be a great combination for dark rides. The A7 III would probably be a better choice, because it has better image quality and you'll need to carry fewer batteries. Check out the Disney Image Makers channel on YouTube. It's two guys who shoot Disney World on vacation. You get a interesting mixture of opinion because one shoot Nikon and the other Canon.

Take a look at the DJI Osmo Pocket for filming. The gimbal results in really smooth video, the price is reasonable and the size and weight beat using a phone on a gimbal.
 
The new Sony 28mm f/1.4 and the A7 II or A7III should be a great combination for dark rides. The A7 III would probably be a better choice, because it has better image quality and you'll need to carry fewer batteries. Check out the Disney Image Makers channel on YouTube. It's two guys who shoot Disney World on vacation. You get a interesting mixture of opinion because one shoot Nikon and the other Canon.
Between the A7II and A7III the image quality is identical for most purposes, unless you shoot JPEG or need lossless compression for shadow recovery. The A7III however will AF in much lower light - not as low as the Z6 with 2.0 firmware, but pretty close.

The 28mm f/1.4 is a pretty good lens and would do OK in that situation, I'm personally not thrilled by a 28mm focal length though - it looks like a cell phone or my Coolpix A. On full frame, I'd rather take a 24mm or 35mm, but that's just me. :)
 
Between the A7II and A7III the image quality is identical for most purposes, unless you shoot JPEG or need lossless compression for shadow recovery. The A7III however will AF in much lower light - not as low as the Z6 with 2.0 firmware, but pretty close.

The 28mm f/1.4 is a pretty good lens and would do OK in that situation, I'm personally not thrilled by a 28mm focal length though - it looks like a cell phone or my Coolpix A. On full frame, I'd rather take a 24mm or 35mm, but that's just me. :)

I would take my little $100 Canon 22mm f/2 'pancake' on a mirrorless crop
www.flickr.com/photos/mmirrorless
 
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I would take my little $100 Canon 22mm f/2 'pancake' on a mirrorless crop
That's 35 f/2.8 in full frame terms. A good small lens, but obviously not in the same league as a full frame sensor with genuinely fast glass in the dark. Couple a 35 f/1.4 with the 16 MP Nikon or 12 MP Sony sensor and it's basically night vision. :)
 

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