The A7rII with Canon EF lens (image courtesy: Newsshooter).

Video expert Dan Chung from Newsshooter had the chance to test the preproduction Sony A7rII and writes:

1) The S35 4K image really is free of any obvious errors – fine detail was incredibly well resolved and there was virtually no evidence of aliasing and moire at base ISO. When I looked at the image on a monitor it was very clean. It had excellent detail and in S-Log2 there was certainly a lot of information in the shadows and highlights. There was some noise in the shadows but nothing excessive.

2) The second big surprise is that the full-frame 4K mode also looks remarkably good. I assume that pixel-binning is being used to reduce the output of the 42-megapixel sensor to achieve this. The 4K full-frame output of the a7R II is really excellent. There are some traces of aliasing visible on lines of high contrast, but you really have to look for them. 

3) Low light performance was the third big surprise. I wasn’t expecting great things from a camera with such a high pixel count – I was wrong. The camera acquits itself very well even at 6400 ISO. Noise is present but the image was still usable.

4) The fourth big surprise came when I panned the camera from side to side looking for evidence of rolling shutter.

5) A small bad news: Autofocus with adapter EOS lenses does not work as well in video as it does in stills mode. The only way to get the PDAF working continuously in video is to use Sony’s own E-mount lenses. It doens’t work with A-mount or Canon EF lenses.

You can see all his four A7rII test videos on Vimeo (Click here).

A7rII and RX camera preorder list:
In USA:
A7rII at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore US, FocusCamera, Uniquephoto.
RX10m2 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, FocusCamera, Uniquephoto.
RX100m4 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, FocusCamera, Uniquephoto.
In Europe at:
A7rII at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT. Wex UK.
RX100m4 at DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT. Wex UK.
RX10m2 at DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT. Wex UK.
In Asia at:
A7rII at Digitalrev, CameraPro.
RX10m2 at Digitalrev, CameraPro.
RX100m4 at Digitalrev, CameraPro.

The new Canon 5DS 50 megapixel sensor got tested at DxOmark (Click here). And the big surprise is that it doesn’t even come close to the Sony 36 Megapixel sensor performance! DxO writes:

Thee EOS 5DS is far behind the best sensors we’ve tested. The Nikon D810 and the Sony A7R, for example, both offer around two-thirds of a stop better image quality, with overall scores of 97 and 95 points, respectively, compared to 87 for the 5DS.
For Color Sensitivity, the D810 and the A7R are also two-thirds of a stop better than the 5DS at base ISO.
For Dynamic Range, there’s a much bigger difference among the three sensors at base ISO, where the Nikon D810 and Sony A7R sensors are far ahead. Landscape scores of 14.8Ev for the D810, compared to 12.4Ev for the 5DS, put the Nikon over two stops ahead, and the A7R just under two stops ahead with 14.1Ev.

Now you can only imagine what score the new A7rII sensor will get. I bet it will break the 100 points barrier :)

Editor’s note: As usual some fanboy attacked me for using the term “far behind” in the title of this post. Please note that this what DxOmark said and not me…SonyAlphaRumors! As usual with those tests you have to take them with a bit of grain of salt. A good camera is not defined by the sensor quality only.

A7rII and RX camera preorder list:
In USA:
A7rII at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore US, FocusCamera, Uniquephoto.
RX10m2 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, FocusCamera, Uniquephoto.
RX100m4 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, FocusCamera, Uniquephoto.
In Europe at:
A7rII at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT. Wex UK.
RX100m4 at DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT. Wex UK.
RX10m2 at DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT. Wex UK.
In Asia at:
A7rII at Digitalrev, CameraPro.
RX10m2 at Digitalrev, CameraPro.
RX100m4 at Digitalrev, CameraPro.

At last we have it! This is the very first full size RAW(!) Sony A7rII image samples you can download and analyze. You can download it here: http://we.tl/X6ACE5UQem

Thanks to the anonymous source who sent me this!

A7rII and RX camera preorder list:
In USA:
A7rII at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore US, FocusCamera, Uniquephoto.
RX10m2 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, FocusCamera, Uniquephoto.
RX100m4 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, FocusCamera, Uniquephoto.
In Europe at:
A7rII at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT. Wex UK.
RX100m4 at DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT. Wex UK.
RX10m2 at DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT. Wex UK.
In Asia at:
A7rII at Digitalrev, CameraPro.
RX10m2 at Digitalrev, CameraPro.
RX100m4 at Digitalrev, CameraPro.

via Xitek Forum.

ISO 25600

The Chinese site Pconline posted the very first High ISO image samples taken with the brand new A7rII. Those are still not full size image samples. Click on them to see a little bigger version!

ISO 12800

Thanks Marc for sharing the link!

A7rII and RX camera preorder list:
In USA:
A7rII at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore US, FocusCamera, Uniquephoto.
RX10m2 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, FocusCamera, Uniquephoto.
RX100m4 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, FocusCamera, Uniquephoto.
In Europe at:
A7rII at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT. Wex UK.
RX100m4 at DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT. Wex UK.
RX10m2 at DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT. Wex UK.
In Asia at:
A7rII at Digitalrev, CameraPro.
RX10m2 at Digitalrev, CameraPro.
RX100m4 at Digitalrev, CameraPro.

Bon L posted that video on his Facebook page. It shows the Zeiss Batis OLED lens screen in the dark. Oh yes it’s that strong you can almost use it as a lamp :)

More Batis news:

Steve Huff posted that Batis hands-on video:

Updated post with new Batis lens pictures at 3Dkraft. 85mm Batis image samples at Diglloyd. And SAR reader Albert Dros (Click here) posted the Batis 25mm review:

So there you have it, the new Batis. A beautiful lens that without a doubt will sell very well. It’s beautifully designed both inside and outside. It’s tack sharp wide open from corner to corner, suffers from little distortion (without lens profiles for LR) and little CA.
Do I need this lens? Not really. My 16-35 is on my A7II 90% of the time and is great for all of my landscape work and offers a great range. I did fall in love with this Batis lens though. It just makes such a great package in combination with the A7II and is just so extremely sharp. I will miss the display on top of my lenses as I was already automatically looking at the top of my 16-35 lens when it was back on my A7II. I like to get creative and from that point this lens is also a great tool. I love primes and I would probably buy this lens in the future. I’m very interested to see how it performs on the new A7RII but it will most probably shine at it’s best on that body.

– Left: Zeiss 16-35 f4, middle: Zeiss Batis 25mm, right:  Zeiss 55mm f1.8 – (Image courtesy: Albert Dros)

Preorder links:
Zeiss Batis 85mm f/1.8 lens in US at Adorama, Bhphoto. In Eu at Amazon DE, WexUK. In Asia at Digitalrev.
Zeiss Batis 25mm f/2.0 lens at Adorama, Bhphoto. In EU at Amazon DE, WexUK. In Asia at Digitalrev.
In Europe and Asia the Loxias can be found in Stock via [shoplink 36456 ebay]eBay sellers (Click here)[/shoplink] and Digitalrev (Click here).

This is a Guest post from Andreas Peters:

—

Last weekend I did some image tests that could be of interest for all SAR readers (and may also be published in your rumors blog)…

As an APS-C camera owner (first Samsung NX11, then Sony Alpha 65 and since last year Sony Alpha 77II) I’m currently tempted to switch to a full frame Sony camera but I prefer a-mount to e-mount as the current A7 series autofocus technology does not convince me (I’m therefore waiting for the A99 successor as I also own some very good a-mount full frame lenses).
One of my colleagues recently sold his complete Canon equipment and switched over to a Sony A7II. This was a perfect situation to do a direct comparison of the image quality under bad light conditions. The idea of this test was to have a 1:1 comparison of an identical low light scene shot with two cameras that have a lot of the technical specifications in common (identical 24.3MP resolution, same sensor generation, same BIONZ X image processor).

** Equipment **
– Sony A7II with FE 55mm F1.8 ZA Carl Zeiss Sonnar T*
– Sony A77II with Sigma 18-35mm F1.8 DC HSM Art

** Test setup **
All pictures were taken in the same room with the only light provided by a single light bulb.
The cameras were (one after another) mounted on the same tripod.
The Sigma lens was zoomed in to 35mm (in order to have the same image frame).
Focus was set manually to the white glue bottle (in the center of the frame)
Cameras were in Aperture priority mode and the aperture was fixed at F2.8
ISO was set to 100, 200, 400, 800, 1’600, 3’200, 6’400, 12’800 and finally 25’600
A shutter delay of 2s was used to prevent any shaking of the camera
No flash was used

Pictures were taken in RAW and converted to JPEG (in original resolution) using Lightoom 6 (without any noise reduction and other optimizations).
Please also check the comments section of my flickr album which contains more details about the exact Lightroom settings used for the JPEG conversion.

Link to my flickr album which contains all images in full resolution:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andip66/sets/72157651289277893

** Results **
I was astonished to see that even a full frame sensor creates a lot of noise in higher ISO settings (honestly much more than I personally expected) when there is no noise reduction applied.
The amount of noise of the A77II in one ISO setting is – in best case – about the same as the A7II with 1 ISO setting higher (e.g. A77II at ISO 800 is similar to A7II at ISO 1’600).
At higher ISO’s (3’200 and above) this tends to go more towards a difference of almost 2 ISO settings higher.
When you furthermore take into consideration that the A77II even looses some light (due to the SLT technology) this result even more astonishing.

** Additional remarks **
It was not my intention to do a scientific test (those you can find all over the internet or in special photo magazines containing detailed Dead-Leaves, Kurtosis, etc. measures) but one from the real world which simply compares the images quality of two cameras which both provide optimal image quality for their sensor size.
All images are available in full resolution and can be downloaded – for your own pixel peeping comparison – from my flickr set “ISO comparison Sony A7II vs A77II”.
The tests at ISO 12’800 and 25’600 were done just for fun (in order to have a complete set of test results) as such high ISO values usually produce image quality which will not be satisfying (if you expect a perfect image quality).

kindes regards and greetings from Switzerland

Andreas

Sony a7rii with Metabones III and [shoplink 38276 ebay]Canon 70-200 f2.8 IS II[/shoplink]

SAR reader Paul Gero just sent me his feedback about the A7rII with canon glass test he made yesterday:

Yesterday I had a chance to get my hands on the Sony a7rII camera (it’s at Image One Camera and Video in Riverside today (7/3/15) until 5 PM, if you want to try it yourself!). I was especially interested in seeing how well the camera works with a Metabones III adapter and Canon EF glass — since so many pro photographers use EF lenses. I was very pleased with the results and I think Canon pros who want to use the glass they own on the smaller, lighter and full-featured Sony a7rii when it comes out very soon.
Please check out my blog post which includes some still photographs of the camera as well as a couple iPhone videos I did for Periscope yesterday.  Apologies in advance for the audio — busy store — but I think you’ll be able to get the sense that this camera will indeed work incredibly well with EF glass.  Note: the camera is not a final production model so the firmware will be even better and my Metabones probably should have updated firmware too.
Truly excited about what this camera is going to mean to my upcoming photography and projects!
Thanks to Rob Shelley​ from Sony and Shadi Sayes from Image One Camera & Video.
http://paulfgeroblog.com/hands-on-with-the-sony-a7rii-metabones-iii-adapter-and-canon-zoom-lenses/

Sony a7rii with [shoplink 38277 ebay]canon 24-105L IS[/shoplink] and Metabones 3

A7rII and RX camera preorder list:
In USA:
A7rII at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore US, FocusCamera, Uniquephoto.
RX10m2 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, FocusCamera, Uniquephoto.
RX100m4 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, FocusCamera, Uniquephoto.
In Europe at:
A7rII at Sony DE, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT. Wex UK.
RX100m4 at DE, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT. Wex UK.
RX10m2 at DE, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT. Wex UK.
In Asia at:
A7rII at Digitalrev, CameraPro.
RX10m2 at Digitalrev, CameraPro.
RX100m4 at Digitalrev, CameraPro.