The New Sony A7R2 In The Mountains

Dale Matson

Although I am primarily a mountain landscape photographer, I was in the high Sierra Nevada Mountains to photograph Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep. My “Long” wildlife lens was my Sony G 70-200 f4 lens, which should have been at least a 400mm lens for the sheep. Needless to say, I will be looking for a lens with a longer reach in the future.

Having got this mea culpa out of the way, I want to talk about the performance of my new camera and the lenses I used for the mountain landscape. A camera is only as good as the lenses attached to it. I left my Canon 17-40mm f4 lens at home for the sake of the backpacking weight and opted for an adapted Nikon 24mm f2.8 lens for wide angle.[ I have some photographs taken with my adapted Canon 17-40mm f4 and the A7R2 here: http://midsierramusing.blogspot.com/2015/08/yosemite-day-hike-to-ostrander-lake.html.]
The Metabones Nikon to NEX adapter did not allow my camera to communicate with this lens. I set the lens aperture to 11 and kept the camera on “Auto”. The camera determined the exposure time of 1/160. The exposure time was available in the file data. I was pleased with the one shot I took with this lens and it certainly was a good pairing with the A7R2. It could have been used more often but at the altitude I was working, I left it out of my daypack and back at basecamp to keep the weight down. All of my shots were with the camera mode dial set on “Auto”.

I used my Sony Zeiss 55mm f1.8 lens for most of my “walking around” shots and was pleased with what a great pairing it was with the camera. I cannot say enough good about how crisp this lens is with this camera including instant autofocus and the fact that it is stabilized when paired with the A7R2. I used to get an occasional out of focus shot with this lens on the A7R.

This was the most often I have used the Sony G 70-200 f4 lens in the mountains. I don’t know if the lens OSS (which I kept “on”) works in conjunction with the camera IBIS but all my shots were handheld and I had no out of focus/blurry shots even at 200mm. This lens worked well as a mountain landscape lens.

I like the locking feature on the mode dial and have had it inadvertently change settings on my A7R. Although the camera is a tad heavier than the A7R I had no need for a tripod and the additional weight. It also feels better in the hands and is better balanced with the 70-200 lens.

I carried my camera in a Digital Holster 10 V2.0. which allowed me quick access and kept my hands free to scramble on boulders. It accommodates the camera and 55mm lens nicely and expands via a zipper at the bottom to accommodate the camera with the 70-200 mm lens on it.

The files were huge but large enough to crop to show the sheep at a distance of a half-mile. They literally could not be seen with the unaided eye. I have included several shots at full resolution. Feel free to comment or ask questions. I am an amateur photographer so it is better that I let the photographs speak for themselves. The "View Actual Size" on Mac preview were crisp and clear. I could read the name "Katadyn" on my green filter water bottle in front of my tent easily. The cropped sheep files are in the previous article.

Click On Photographs To Enlarge

 Mt. Whitney 200mm F5.6 1/250 

 Olancha Peak 

 Red Rock Canyon 55mm F8 1/125

 Mt. Whitney 55mm F10 1/160

 55mm F4 1/160

 70mm f4.5 1/100

 55mm f4 1/160 6:40am

 200mm f4 1/200

 200mm f4 1/200

 24mm Nikon Lens

 Olancha Peak 55mm f4 1/160

 Cottonwood Lakes Basin From Basecamp Above

Mt Whitney From Horseshoe Meadows Road 55mm F5.6 1/125 6:45pm