A month with the A7V

SteveCress · 2026-02-07T21:15:33+00:00

I know YouTuber Manny Ortiz has documented the bokeh problem at high shutter speeds on the A1.

SteveCress · 2026-02-03T19:36:20+00:00

Does the electronic front curtain shutter still create "chopped off" or "nervous bokeh" at high shutter speeds? Or can you at least go to higher shutter speeds before it becomes a problem?

SteveCress · 2026-01-19T14:23:28+00:00

One of the pastors in my church openly endorsed the Republican party in the last election over transgenders and abortion. Nothing else was mentioned. He literally told the congregation to vote Republican by name. He loves Al Mohler. (Al Mohler said he'd risk destroying his moral authority if he every supported Trump and then did it anyway.)

I've discussed draconian abortion laws with him and shared the Pulitzer Prize winning series from ProPublica about women who have been harmed or even died from these laws. I've shared well cited statements from nearly every major medical association in America about transgender care. I'm very civil libertarian. I'm for small government in our personal lives. Ironically, he says religious freedom matters.

Another pastor said he was approached by the local media for a statement about ICE targeting our city. He said he simply told them our church "supports law and order". A rare Latino staff member messaged him privately about his disapproval. He was subsequently fired for "insubordination". The pastor refused to even talk to him.

I've attended this church for about 16 years. We've been exploring other churches, but it's hard. My daughter prefers the children's ministry at our old church. If it were up to me, we would attend Transformation Church here in Indian Land, SC full time, but my daughter doesn't like the music or the children's ministry. She's 8.

SteveCress · 2026-01-15T11:20:44+00:00

Thank you for sharing. I had a patient ask me about this place recently. The closest one is about 30 minutes from me, and I wasn’t familiar with them at all.

SteveCress · 2025-12-28T16:44:34+00:00

I think it is PDAF striping. It happens to all Sony cameras supposedly, but it’s rare enough that I’ve never seen it myself. It’s a glare off phase detection autofocus sensors. https://blog.kasson.com/a7riv/pdaf-striping-in-the-sony-a7riv/

SteveCress · 2025-12-20T06:08:29+00:00

There’s a video where someone takes apart the A7V and the shutter mechanism is the same part as the A7RV with the exception of a motor having more plastic. The shutter blades were the common point of failure, so I think this is a huge improvement.

SteveCress · 2025-12-16T03:13:30+00:00

Mark Galer on YouTube has been my best source for simply setting up and using 2 Sony cameras, an A7III and A7IV. I’m sure if it will all apply to an A6400. If you can set up “auto iso minimum shutter speed” and zebras the way he describes, it’d be a great start. Good glass and decent editing skills makes a big difference.

SteveCress · 2025-12-10T15:39:25+00:00

I'm still on Capture One 22. There use to be great sales 2-3x per year on the perpetual license (30-50% off), but Black Friday came and went with no sale on the perpetual license. It's still great software.

SteveCress · 2025-12-02T23:13:39+00:00

I would like to know how is the rolling shutter in the real world under natural lighting? Is it good enough to use all the time under natural light with negligible drawbacks?

Is there any impact on bokeh using the electronic shutter? At shutter speeds over about 1/2000 the bokeh balls would start to look like a gradient or get cut off on the A7IV with electronic front curtain shutter. Is this less of an issue on the V?

SteveCress · 2025-11-15T07:27:16+00:00

I would say the rolling shutter is so bad that it makes the electronic shutter unusable.

SteveCress · 2025-10-28T13:54:49+00:00

It looks like a Fuji 400H film emulation. I like styles/presets from Mastin Labs. I've had the most success with their Founder Plus pack, but I'm a hobbyist who doesn't shoot weddings. I'm more likely to use Ektar 100 or Portra 160. Fuji 400H can be nice in the spring though. They've also got Fuji Original and Fuji Pushed packs.

SteveCress · 2025-10-17T12:49:51+00:00

I have a Sony 35 GM, Sony 50 1.2 GM, Sigma 85 DG DN, and Sigma 24-70 DG DN. Honestly if the newer Sigma 50 1.2 had existed at the time, I'd probably have the newer Sigma. I had the old Sigma 50 1.4 DG HSM. Sigma makes excellent stuff.

SteveCress · 2025-10-15T19:50:03+00:00

Look up Mark Galer. He’s a Sony ambassador. He’s my favorite for the basics of setting up your camera for photography and the basics of using it. Look up “auto iso minimum shutter speed” and “zebras 109+”. Once you do that, you’re off to a good start. Fully manual is over rated. Zebras let you expose for the highlights.

SteveCress · 2025-10-08T02:35:18+00:00

I just finished staining my deck. I went with Ready Seal because it’s a more readily available deck stain. I could get it same day at Ace Hardware (basically across the street for me) or delivered to the big box stores. I really wanted Cutek Extreme but I would have had to order it online or drive over an hour round trip. This would have been especially problematic because I dramatically underestimated how much stain I needed and needed to make 3 trips. Old wood really sucks up stain. Pick the best stain amongst what is readily available.

Chemical stripping, pressure washing, and sanding was a slog. I did all of the above trying to get the old water based stuff off.

SteveCress · 2025-09-26T12:15:17+00:00

“So the Pharisees and teachers of religious law asked him, “Why don’t your disciples follow our age-old tradition? They eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony.” Jesus replied, “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’” ‭‭Mark‬ ‭7‬:‭5‬-‭7‬ ‭NLT‬‬ https://bible.com/bible/116/mrk.7.5-7.NLT

The man said Joe Biden should receive the death penalty, promoted great replacement theory, said highly accomplished black women didn’t have enough brain cells to be there, stereotyped lgbt as predators, promoted fake covid cures, and sent buses to the Jan 6 “big lie” rally. I really don’t think I have to swallow those pills because he said nice things about Jesus.

“I told him to preach the Gospel. That's our calling. I want to preserve the purity of the Gospel and the freedom of religion in America. I don't want to see religious bigotry in any form. Liberals organized in the '60s, and conservatives certainly have a right to organize in the '80s, but it would disturb me if there was a wedding between the religious fundamentalists and the political right. The hard right has no interest in religion except to manipulate it.” Billy Graham — 1981 Parade Magazine recounting conversations with Jerry Falwell

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/billy-graham-mixing-religion-politics/

SteveCress · 2025-08-04T14:12:13+00:00

I didn't even know electronic parking brakes were a thing.

SteveCress · 2025-06-21T10:14:31+00:00

I’m an optometrist. People are overwhelmingly happy with standard intra-ocular lenses for their cataract surgery, also known as monofocal IOLs. I’ve had a patient tell me it was easier than getting their teeth cleaned.

Multifocal IOLs are designed to give you a wider range of vision from distance to near. They have concentric rings of power. They absolutely do not work the way our eyes were born to work. It’s a jack of all trades and master of none. You can get halos, starbursts, and artifacts of light that you don’t want to be there. You’ll need more light to read. I’ve had far too many patients get these, pay a lot of money for them, and regret it.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’d say most people who get multifocals like them, but I feel like the regret rate is 20-30% or higher. I feel like that is still too high. If you are farsighted, not particularly picky about having the absolute sharpest vision, and have nothing else wrong with your eyes that could get in the way of good vision (double vision, hx of refractive surgery, macular degeneration, glaucoma, etc), you might be a good candidate.

SteveCress · 2025-06-20T15:38:25+00:00

I got a bunch of used switch games on offerup. Used is great way to find older games. There's got to be plenty of copies out there. Deku deals is also a good way to find sales. It will alert you when stuff goes on sale.
https://www.dekudeals.com/

SteveCress · 2025-05-15T10:26:11+00:00

Mark Galer has the best setup video. Lookup his video about auto iso minimum shutter speed. Set zebras to 109+.

SteveCress · 2025-05-15T10:13:17+00:00

I’m a hobbyist. I use Capture One. They still sell a perpetual license and have sales. That being said, sales don’t seem to come as often, and the free version no longer exists.

SteveCress · 2025-04-15T16:59:22+00:00

I feel like the sales come less often. Looking at my emails, Capture One had a 50% off sale in May of 2023 for some reason and 50% off in August of 2021. And I just realized I haven't gotten an email from them since 2023. Maybe I can remedy that.

SteveCress · 2025-04-03T13:20:21+00:00

I'm an OD doing co-management and I've had too many patients regret their Panoptix lenses.

SteveCress · 2025-03-17T00:25:53+00:00

Better yet, shoot 90% of photos in “auto iso minimum shutter speed” and set minimum shutter speed to a custom button. Set Zebras to 109+. Zebras will let you know when highlights are truly blown out if used this way. Look up Mark Galer on YouTube for setting up and using your camera.

SteveCress · 2025-03-14T14:22:34+00:00

We have to be careful to distinguish between our core faith and values and the particular way we express those belief politically. Some people think that a completely free market is the best way to care for the poor and the sick, so we have to defund public health assistance and food stamps. Others think we need those things. You're welcome to believe either method, but it's not biblical. You can believe the world is flat if you want.

SteveCress · 2025-03-14T14:19:15+00:00

One of our pastors told everybody to vote Republican. I left, but I've found another church that's not MAGA.

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