New 24mm XEEN on the new Sony A7rII (Image courtesy: DSLRmagazine)

As you know recently Samyang/Rokinon launched the new XEEN Cine lens line. Those lenses are much cheaper than other current Cine lenses from Zeiss and Schneider. Full specs and preorder are available at BHphoto:
Rokinon Xeen 24mm T1.5 Lens (Click here).
Rokinon Xeen 50mm T1.5 Lens (Click here).
Rokinon Xeen 85mm T1.5 Lens (Click here).

DSLRmagazine (google translation here) tested the lenses on the A7rII and added an interesting note. He got informed by Samyang that those lenses are not only superb for 4K recording but they are also 6K ready if Sony or other camera manufacturer will launch those kind of cameras in the near future.

Newsshooter tested those lenses on the Sony A7rII to see if they can come close to the Zeiss-Schneider quality:

In the test the XEEN lens appeared to be warmer than the Sony or Zeiss. In 4K the XEEN also appeared to be the sharpest of the three. The Sony had a nice image and bokeh was quite pleasant, but there was a slightly strange rendition of the light on the phone. To my eye the Zeiss did look more cinematic, but you may have a different opinion. The Zeiss was also the only lens to exhibit obvious lens flares.

XEEN 85mm T1.5 vs ZEISS CP.2 85mm T1.5 vs Sony CineAlta 85mm T2.0 with Sony a7R II. Ungraded

There is also a first impression review at BH Explora (Click here):

I found the Rokinon XEEN Cine Lenses to be well made, easy to work with, and overall I enjoyed the image quality. They rendered naturalistic images with good contrast and a pleasing, slightly warm feel. Intercutting between the lenses required no additional color correction beyond applying the same LUT to the footage. It is my preference to shoot more closed down than wide open, and I did feel the lenses performed best starting around T4, but I was still satisfied with footage shot at T1.5. Overall, I was pleased with the XEEN lenses and look forward to working with them again.

Full specs and preorder are available at BHphoto:
Rokinon Xeen 24mm T1.5 Lens (Click here).
Rokinon Xeen 50mm T1.5 Lens (Click here).
Rokinon Xeen 85mm T1.5 Lens (Click here).

A7r (not new A7rII) vs D810 RAW comparison by Photographylife

Dpreview analyzed Sony’s 11-7 bit RAW compression to see if there are any issues with those files:

Overall, the effects of this compression aren’t often visually significant. Their impact should mostly be understood as a reduction in processing latitude, since it tends only to be when you push and pull the Raw files that the missing data becomes visible. The compression curve throws away more shadow data than would be ideal: reducing dynamic range. There’s a further reduction if you shoot in a mode that drops the camera into 12-bit readout mode. Meanwhile, the localized compression of tonal differences only has an impact near high-contrast edges.

I am 100% sure Sony will fix this on future cameras. There is simply too much talk about it to avoid the problem. I just hope it’s really possible to add “real 14 RAW” via firmware update on the current cameras. Hopefully Sony is not using some kind of unavoidable hardware compression on our cameras…

More articles about that matter at Diglloyd, Photographylife, Kasson.

DxO (Click here) posted the RX10m2 sensor test results. It beats the rest of the competition and scores a 1 single point better than it’s predecessor.

Although detractors may gripe about the lack of any real improvements in sensor performance over its predecessor, the new stacked-type back-illuminated sensor in Sony Cyber-shot RX10 II performs particularly well, given the advances from the high-speed readout. Such advances include high bit-rate 4K (UHD) recording, ”slo-mo” recording, and lowered distortion or skew effects from rolling shutter. While the design has allowed the addition of the necessary electronics, there has been no negative impact on sensor performance. In fact, the noise floor, color sensitivity and dynamic range remain more or less unchanged over its conventional back-illuminated predecessor.

New RX10m2 reviews have been posted by WexUK and at Thephoblographer. SPanish RX10m2 review at Foto DNG. Spanish review on Youtube.

RX cameras store links:
In USA:
RX10m2 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, FocusCamera, Uniquephoto.
RX100m4 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, FocusCamera, Uniquephoto.
In Europe at:
RX100m4 at Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Wex UK.
RX10m2 at Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Wex UK.
In Asia at:
RX10m2 at Digitalrev, CameraPro.
RX100m4 at Digitalrev, CameraPro.

Dpreview added the A7rII in their interactive Studio Comparison Tool. So now dear Pixel Peepers tell us your holy word….is the A7rII image quality overall better than those offered by the Canon 5DSr and the Nikon D810?

Hot note: The A7rII is now in Stock at Bhphoto (Click here) , [shoplink 39842 ebay]BestBuy on eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] and Digitalrev.

A7rII preorder list:
In USA: at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore US, FocusCamera, Uniquephoto.
In Europe at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT. Wex UK.
In Asia at Digitalrev, CameraPro.

A7rII case:
Gariz leather case in [shoplink 39113 ebay]Black (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 39108 ebay]Camel (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 39110 ebay]Orange (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 39111 ebay]Brown (Click here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 39112 ebay]Red (Click here)[/shoplink]. Also available on Amazon US (Click here).
Gariz Alcantara case in [shoplink 39094 ebay]Black (Click here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 39095 ebay]Red (Click here)[/shoplink]. Also available on Amazon US (Click here).
Lim’s case in [shoplink 39107 ebay]Black (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 39102 ebay]Brown (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 39103 ebay]Red (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 39104 ebay]Yellow (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 39105 ebay]Navy Blue (Click here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 39106 ebay]Khaki (Click here)[/shoplink]. Also available on Amazon US (Click here).

Hot note: The A7rII is now in Stock at Bhphoto (Click here) , [shoplink 39842 ebay]BestBuy on eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] and Digitalrev.

It’s time for a new big Sony A7rII news and test roundup:

1) Sony updated their interactive system chart and added the A7rII. Thanks Lynn&Leen from SonyAlphaCameras for spotting this!

2) A7rII video review by Frank Doorhof and he says the A7rIi is Bloody Awesome :)

3) Fujirumors posted an article: “Fuji Fun Vs. Sony Specs…. a Story about my 3 days Flirt with the Sony A7rII and why I now Love Fujifilm even more!”.

More A7rII tidbits…
Sony uses terrible flip out screens to keep the cameras small? (Stronz Vanderploeg on Youtube).
The Sony A7R Mark II (Part 1) at Anticipatemedia.
Sony a7r II or…Panasonic DVX200PJ 4K? (Planet5D).
Sony A7RII – first works (SonyAlphaForum)
The Sony A7RII Camera Review. A Real world look (Steve Huff).
Why I’m not buying the Canon 5DS/R or the Sony a7RII (Photographyconcentrate).
Photographing red kites with A7rII and Sigma 150-600mm (Mirrorlessons).
Any Experience Shooting Sports w/a7Rii? (SonyAlphaForum).
A Visual Review of the Sony a7RII (Marcweisberg).
Quick Time-Lapse with the A7R2 and a rail system by Richardfoxphotography.
Sony A7R II : test terrain (Focus Numerique).
A Deep Dive Look at the Sony a7R II (AlphaUniverse).

A7rII preorder list:
In USA: at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore US, FocusCamera, Uniquephoto.
In Europe at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT. Wex UK.
In Asia at Digitalrev, CameraPro.

A7rII case:
Gariz leather case in [shoplink 39113 ebay]Black (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 39108 ebay]Camel (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 39110 ebay]Orange (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 39111 ebay]Brown (Click here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 39112 ebay]Red (Click here)[/shoplink]. Also available on Amazon US (Click here).
Gariz Alcantara case in [shoplink 39094 ebay]Black (Click here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 39095 ebay]Red (Click here)[/shoplink]. Also available on Amazon US (Click here).
Lim’s case in [shoplink 39107 ebay]Black (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 39102 ebay]Brown (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 39103 ebay]Red (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 39104 ebay]Yellow (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 39105 ebay]Navy Blue (Click here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 39106 ebay]Khaki (Click here)[/shoplink]. Also available on Amazon US (Click here).