Sony A7Rv: Contest Winner Relieved - Keeping or Sending It Back?

Hi and welcome to another episode of Jeff and Angie Photography WTF Stop. So today we're going to discuss, first and foremost, did I keep the A7R V or did I send it back? And next we are going to announce the winner of the photo contest. Uh, I asked people to post pictures of their favorite images for 2022 and Let me tell you, it was tough. It was really, really tough. We narrowed it down to 5 images to share with you on the video, and we'll announce the grand prize winner of the $25 gift card at the end, so stay tuned. All right, so here are a few of the specs. Um, the sensor is still the same 60-megapixel sensor. It does have 8 stops of in-body stabilization, which is pretty awesome, and 10 frames per second. Video: 8K 24 frames per second, 4K 60 frames per second. I don't really use these to do a lot of video with. I use my A7 IV. This was mainly going to be my macro and landscape camera, the fully articulated screen, which is awesome. And then you also got the multi-shot pixel shift high resolution, which I've actually never used that. I don't know that I ever would. And then you got the focus bracketing mode, which is one of the main reasons I wanted this camera. And you get all that for $3,898 for body only. Okay, so first and foremost, the Sony A7R V. So this camera has the same sensor. The only thing they really did is put a new processor in this camera, and I'll tell you right now that it processes images a lot faster. than the predecessor, the, say, the Sony A7R IV. And the tracking on it is significantly better than the predecessor, the A7R IV, but it does not compare to the A7 IV or the A1 as far as the tracking goes. I took it out and I did— took it out to a friend's ranch and I did some birds, I did some butterflies, I did Bailey, I did cows and bulls and horses. Oh, and I tried out the focus stacking, the focus stacking, which is a really cool feature. And it works really well. And then at the end of the evening, I did a couple landscapes. So let's just kind of review some of the images, and I'll let you know whether I kept it or sent it back after we review these images. This little kestrel here, I was fortunate enough to be able to spend about probably almost 30 minutes with him. He kept going up and then diving back down to get bugs out of the dirt road that was in front of me, and this was the only successful image I was able to get with the Sony A7R V. The other images of him flying down to get the bugs were blurry. The only images that were clear were of him sitting on the branches, which the ones on the branches turned out phenomenal. These next few images were taken down by the bay, and they're all pretty slow-moving birds, but I was able to capture them in focus without any issues. And then when I went over to try to take some photographs using the insect detect, I could not get it to catch the butterfly at all. It just was really struggling. to find the butterfly. It kept wanting to focus on the dirt. Then I also tried to find some spiders and get it to focus on the spiders, and I just really had no luck whatsoever with the insect detect. All right guys, so don't forget to like, subscribe, and leave comments below about your opinions on this camera. And also If you're a new subscriber, write subscribe below. I'll be interested to see who subscribes. So stay tuned. Next month I have a surprise. I'll be giving away a tripod. So stay tuned and watch the video that's coming up in about 3 weeks, I think it is. It'll be a Sirui tripod, one that isn't even released yet. So stay tuned. So here I moved over to Bailey. I had her running at me, and here are 5 of the images that were successful that I took of her. And I had her do it probably about 5 times, and with a total of over 150 photos, and these were the only 5 Actually, there was 8 that were in focus, but here's 5 of the images that were in focus. So then I moved on to some animals that were not moving around real fast, and the detail that comes out of this camera is absolutely amazing. That's one thing I do really love about it. And then after that, I found some mushrooms and I did a little focus stack image. Here it is here. This consists of about 25 images. Turned out pretty good. And then here's the few landscapes that I took at the end of the evening. The detail in them is just simply amazing. Okay, so the final verdict will be revealed in just a minute. First, I want to go over the The 3 reasons, 3 reasons that I bought this camera. Number 1 was the focus bracketing. I thought that was a really cool feature that would come in handy when doing macro photography and even some landscapes too. That would be pretty cool. And then number 2 was the improved autofocus system, and number 3 was the cool little tilty flippy screen thing on the back. I just, I really like that screen, but I ended up sending it back. Those 3 items didn't weigh out the cost of $3,800. The reason that I sent it back was mainly because of the autofocus. I didn't feel that it was an improvement. It's definitely an improvement over the A7R IV, but the other new camera that they came out with, the A1, and then also the A7 IV camera, I personally, I think that they have better autofocus systems in them. Unless you're doing a lot of people photography, which I don't really do people, I do wildlife and nature. On occasion I do my granddaughter for her senior portraits or whatever she may want at the time. But I don't really photograph people. I photograph wildlife and birds and dogs and they're always on the move and they're fast and I need an autofocus that's going to keep up with them. So that's the reason that I sent it back. Is it a great camera? Yes, it's a great camera. Is it a great camera for me? No. So that is the reason I sent it back. So with that said, now let's go ahead and jump into the photo contest, and I will show you the 5 images that were selected, the finalists, and I'll show you the winner. All right, so here is a beautiful snowy owl by Leroy Buckley. And then we got this nice big bull elk by Rita Mathis. Then we got this beautiful bald eagle in front of an American flag by Tom Jones. And last of the 4 finalists is this short-eared owl By Shelley Kirst, and drum roll. Here we go. The finalist is Leroy Buckley with this beautiful image of a sunflower with a bluebird in it. I think it's a blue bunting. Congratulations. All right. Well, I hope you enjoyed this week's video. Don't forget to like and subscribe and join us. Should be about two weeks. I should have another video out. I'm expecting to have that tripod video out, so stay tuned and you could be the lucky winner of a new tripod.