So as I said in my last post, I was thinking about either renting, or buying new gear for my upcoming trip to India. I seriously considered renting, but at the end of the day, I decided not to for a few reasons: 1) It would have cost me more than $400 to rent a Canon 6D mkII and a Sigma 35mm 1.4 for the period, 2) I wouldn’t have had enough time to get used to the camera, 3) if for whatever reason the rental camera/lens was defective, I wouldn’t have had enough time to replace it. So I decided to upgrade my gear.

I first considered buying a used Canon 6D, or even switch altogether to Nikon, but at the end of the day, they didn’t make that much sense. I have long migrated to a mirrorless system for a few (good) reasons, and having a separate SLR system was just not right. So instead, I decided to go for a used Sony A7R mkII. The A7RII is one of the most revered mirrorless cameras ever, for very good reasons: 1) It has a fantastic 42MP BSI sensor that is (or rather was) the king of resolution and low light performance, 2) it has built-in image stabilization, and 3) it has a great autofocus system with eye AF. I also had two more reasons for buying this camera: 1) It’s already depreciated quite a bit: It was $3,200 when announced, and I bought it used for $1,300 (I found a good local deal)!, 2) I have quite a few Sony APS-C lenses that would work with this camera in crop mode, and since this camera has whopping 42MP, the crop model would still yield more-than-enough 18MP photos. So basically, I can use this camera in two ways: 1) In full-frame mode, with FF lenses, 2) crop mode, with smaller lighter APS-C lenses. The best of both worlds!

But the whole reason to move to FF was to get those bokehlicious 35mm 1.4 and 85mm 1.8 lenses. So without beating around the bush, the first thing I did was to get the fantastic Sony 85mm 1.8. This is such a marvelous lens. 85mm 1.8 can’t get any better than this on any camera, period. It is tack sharp, with great contrast, great bokeh, fast silent focus and all that goodness in a modest package. I loved my Canon 85mm 1.8 lens, but it doesn’t hold a candle to the Sony. Enough said.

Now, for the 35mm 1.4 equivalent lens, I’m still debating with myself. I tried my Sigma 30mm 1.4 lens on the A7RII, and although it vignettes big time, I can easily get a usable 1x1 or 4x5 crop out of it. It is pretty sharp, and usable, and I love the square format, but it is still not a 35mm 1.4 equivalent lens. See, although it is a 1.4 lens, but it is 30mm, and not 35mm. That would make a difference: In terms of depth of field, it would be more like a 35mm 2.0, rather than a 35mm 1.4. That might sounds like an insignificant different, but to the trained eye (or you might say, to the one who has bokeh lust!), the difference is huge. I want to avoid buying a big pricy 35mm 1.4 lens, for implied reasons, so alternatively, I’m going to try to see if the Samyang 35mm 1.2 lens would be a good fit or not. The Samyang, or Rokinon one might say, is a manual APS-C lens that happens to work pretty well on FF cameras. So of course, I ordered one to see for myself, if it is indeed a good fit, and compare it with my Sigma 30mm 1.4. I might even write a review for it!

So far, testing the A7RII, I’m very pleased with the results: It handles pretty well, it has a fantastic sensor, and I love the FF look I get with it. Yeah yeah, I know, it’s a bit of a myth, but whatever it is, it looks good!

Stay tuned for my final update on the gear (photography and more) for India. More to come…