My housing distributor also told me he doesn't recommend the Inon UCL-67 for the Sony 90mm macro, so I'm going to test a few other diopters too - let me know if any recommendations that works well w the 90mm specifically. A9II is 2x the price, A1 is 3x. A9 is smaller than A9II/A1 also and fits better in my hands (does feel heavy tho after getting used to A7C). Someone locally recently upgraded to A1 and is selling his A9+housing, I think his old A9 is the answer for me. I think I could probably get used to manual focus on A7C eventually but the EVF swayed me - thought it wouldn't be an issue with the magnified viewfinder but it is. And I didn't think I would care about the blackout free shooting but it was nice! All the EVFs were a huge upgrade over A7C, I wonder if part of my issue is I just couldn't see clearly when it's in focus cuz the EVF is so tiny. This is all above water so who knows how it stacks up underwater. I did also find the tracking on the A9/A9II/A1 to be much better as well, rarely loses the focus point when I hold down back button focus and recompose, whereas the A7C will if I move too fast or in low light. I could see an improvement in A1 vs A9, and the EVF is incredible, but A9 seems fast enough. I could definitely see a huge improvement in AF speed especially in low light on the A9, could see some improvement from A7IV vs A7C but not too much, and between A9 and A9II also not too much. I went into the Sony store today and tried the new A7IV, as well as the A9 and A9II, and A1 for fun but did not seriously consider it due to price. Does anyone know? I don't want to invest in new strobes or HSS connection for sure. I'm shooting Inon Z330s with a fiber optics cable and Nauticam mini flash trigger, but my housing distributor said he wasn't sure if my current set up can do 1/400 even with the camera body change. The other thing that intrigued me about the A1 is the 1/400 sync speed - my A7C can only do 1/160 although I've been shooting up to 1/250 and the black bar on top is not too noticeable and can easily be cropped - it does cover 1/3 of the frame at 1/320 tho. I have noticed a huge difference at how quickly I can find the right focus between my first few dives and right now- but I'm not sure if there is a limit to what the A7C can do and if either the A7RIV or the A1 can AF in the scenarios like the 2 above where there is no contrast on the subject. My dilemma is I JUST bought the A7C (selected for its compact size) and can still get 80% of the shots I want even if it takes me a bit longer - so question whether it's worth upgrading to the A7RIV or A1 or if I just need more practice and get better. The A7C has the same sensor and AF performance as the A7III I believe - and I have heard the A7RIV is a huge step up in AF performance - with the A1 being even better (I have read Backscatters' review which calls the A1 + 90mm macro lens the best combo even better than Nikon D850). I spent 5min trying to get it to focus before giving up in both instances. If the subject has color I can pretty much get it right, but where I still struggle with the lens finding the correct focus is when there is no contrast or a lot of sand - 2 examples were when we were in a sandy bottom, there was a bit of surge and current blowing lots of particles around, and I was trying to take photos of 1) a black seahorse, 2) a black leaf fish - in both cases the camera just can't find the eye w AF even with a focus light. Initially I found the lens very frustrating to use compared to my old Nikon, as the focus would keep hunting and is very slow, or sometimes can't find the subject at all, but after a week getting used to the working distance and switching the focus limiter on I've gotten some great shots, and even find super macro with the UCL-67 on not as frustrating. I've been shooting the Sony for about a week now in Anilao and Puerto Galera, with the 90mm lens almost always on 0.28-0.5mm focus limiter, and sometimes with a Inon UCL 67 (+15) diopter added on top. I recently swapped from a Nikon D7500 cropped-sensor DSLR w 85mm DX macro lens to a FF Sony A7C w 90mm macro lens.
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