Breaking news! Sony Announces Addition of Uncompressed 14-Bit RAW Still Image Capture for New α Cameras!!!!

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

Sony Alphauniverse just broke the news! Sony will add uncompressed 14-Bit RAW on the A7sII and via firmware upgrade on the A7rII and later to many more cameras. Read here:

Sony Electronics, a worldwide leader in digital imaging and the world’s largest image sensor manufacturer, has today announced user selectable Compressed and Uncompressed 14-Bit RAW image capture will be featured in the new α7S II once it arrives in stores this October.

Additionally, they have announced plans to add user selectable compressed or uncompressed 14-Bit RAW still image capture via firmware update to additional cameras beginning with the recently introduced α7R II full-frame mirrorless model.

“The voice of our α community remains the most important guiding force of our product development plans,” said Neal Manowitz, Deputy Vice President for Digital Imaging at Sony Electronics. “The addition of Uncompressed 14-Bit RAW processing is a direct result of customer feedback. Widely requested by photo and video enthusiasts, we believe the choice of RAW processing types will further elevate the performance of these extraordinary cameras.”

The α7S II and α7R II are compatible with Sony’s growing lineup of α -mount lenses, which now totals 63 different models including 12 native ‘FE’ full frame lenses. By early 2016, Sony will add an additional 8 new lenses to its FE full frame lineup, bringing the FE total to 20 lenses and the overall α -mount assortment to over 70 different models.

Wow! That’s a huge news! And as I reported yesterday the new FE lenses will be announced right before the Photoplus start in October! Expect new 24-70m GM, fast prime lens, telephoto len, 21mm FE Loxia and more.

And I can’t wait to see how much difference the 14BIT will make on my Sony A7rII! Thanks Sony for listening to your customers!

Sony Tidbits…


Sony FE 70-200 f4 – Photoshoot REVIEW by Matt Granger

First time out wih the FE16-35 (SonyAlphaForum).
Chromasira RX100m4 test videos on Youtube: One, Two, Three, Four, Five and Six.
Generating 3D-images in the 19th century (TheNakedCamera).
Sony RX10 II First Shots posted! Take a look at the new stacked-sensor high-speed superzoom (Imaging Resource).

Martin Wagner:My SloMo-Tutorial for the RX10M2 and RX100M4 …in German, but a lot of clips and the Menu…enjoy! https://vimeo.com/134112362

Alex:I am planning to shoot an indie feature film and I started to do some gear testing. Because of budget and features (codec, touch screen focus…) one of my main options is the A5100.
I heard a lot about the overheating issues, but sadly there is very little accurate information in the internet besides some random comments. So I put together a little video to show some real data before deciding whether or not buying an external recorder because of that. I hope it can be useful to some other Sony (future or current) users in case you want to share it on your “Tidbits” section.
Here is the link: https://youtu.be/M14jS5Hb9js

Sony Tidbits…


Portrait Shoot in an Ethiopian Church w/ Sony A7ii, Sony FE Zeiss 35mm, & Sony 90mm by Jason Lanier

Gorgeous A7 macro pictures at SonyAlphaForum.
Lokee – Coolest Adaptable Grip Cage to Make Video Better (Kickstarter).
PXW-FS7 In-Depth Review by RedShark News (Sony Blog).
Storm Chasing with the A7R at Richardfoxphotography.
Sony Distagon T* FE 35mm f/1.4 ZA Lens review at Talkemount.
Sony RX10 II review at Wimarys.
Subtle decentering in the Sony Zeiss 55mm f/1.8? (SonyAlphaForum).

Andrea:I just want to share with you this video, an example of an interview work/journalistic work entirely shot in 4K with my A7s + Atomos Shogun and two lenses, the Nikon Fisheye 16mm f2.8 and the canon fd 50mm 1.4. Edited in FCPX and color corrected with Color Finale. I conformed the video to 1080p.
The video was shot in Milan into the COOP stand in EXPO 2015.
‘Do you want to know how the supermarket of the future will be?’
The video is entirely subtitled in English.
Here the link: https://youtu.be/hoDjfmFuw6Y
I have to say the 4K quality of the A7s is just amazing. I really want to try asap the internal 4k of the new A7r2.

Hai:I see a lot of videos shot on A7ii, A7S etc. on SAR and though it would be a good joke to share my video shot on A77 (not even mark ii) https://vimeo.com/124074849

Zeiss Milvus lens tested on the Sony A7r and A7rII (Mirrorlessons, 3D-Kraft and Greg Waterman)

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Sony A7rII with Milvus lenses. Image courtesy: Mirrorlessons.

We have the world’s very first Sony A7rII and Zeiss Milvus tests!

Mirrorlessons writes:

Zeiss also stated that the Milvus lenses work well on Sony’s E-mount and Micro Four Thirds cameras because they are also designed for video. They are colour matched which makes them ideal for colour grading in video production. They get the same de-click mechanism from the Loxia family (you loosen a screw on the rear) and they are 4K ready.
The Milvus lenses almost look like they could have been built for any system and it seems that the family will grow faster than the Loxia/Batis family.


Zeiss Milvus on Sony A7r II – 4K video samples

3D-Kraft tested the 50 and 85mm Milvus on the A7rIi and writes:

It’s too early for a final conclusion, but my impression so far:

  • Build quality seems very solid, focus is smooth

  • Nice bokeh, high micro contrast

  • At open aperture not as sharp as an Otus and it does not have the apochromatic correction (especially for longitudinal CAs) you get with an Otus – but hey: these lenses are about 1/3 of the price of an Otus!

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Sony A7rII with Milvus 35mm lens (Image courtesy: Greg Waterman).

And Zeiss photographer Greg Waterman posted a full set of A7r and Milvus images on Flickr:

Everything shot on a7R and a Milvus 2/35 with a Metabones IV, handheld and wide open. We just booked a room at the Standard and played inside all day. Lighting was whatever was available in the hotel room (windows and lightbulbs). ISO 1600. The Milvus lenses are amazing. Exceptional build quality and incredible optics. Like a baby Otus :)

Here are the detailed Lens info and preorder links at BHphoto:
Zeiss Milvus 100mm f/2M ZE Lens for Canon EF at BHPhoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here).
Zeiss Milvus 100mm f/2M ZF.2 Lens for Nikon F at BHPhoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here).
Zeiss Milvus 21mm f/2.8 ZE Lens for Canon EF at BHPhoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here).
Zeiss Milvus 21mm f/2.8 ZE Lens for Nikon F at BHPhoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here).
Zeiss Milvus 35mm f/2 ZE Lens for Canon EF at BHPhoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here).
Zeiss Milvus 35mm f/2 ZE Lens for Nikon F at BHPhoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here).
Zeiss Milvus 50mm f/1.4 ZE Lens for Canon EF at BHPhoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here).
Zeiss Milvus 50mm f/1.4 ZF.2 Lens for Nikon F at BHPhoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here).
Zeiss Milvus 50mm f/2M ZE Lens for Canon EF at BHPhoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here).
Zeiss Milvus 50mm f/2M ZE Lens for Nikon F at BHPhoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here).
Zeiss Milvus 85mm f/1.4 ZE Lens for Canon EF at BHPhoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here).
Zeiss Milvus 85mm f/1.4 ZE Lens for Nikon F at BHPhoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here).

 

This week SAR readers photos selection.


Jonathan Ferland-Valois
Harbour Centre and parts of downtown Vancouver viewed from a rooftop. Which one? Probably shouldn’t say, but it was pretty high.
smile emoticon
Sony A6000 + Samyang 12mm f/2 @ f/4

1) Submit your picture with a message and picture here: facebook.com/sonyalpharumors or on the SonyAlphaForum image section.
2) Like and comment the pictures from other readers here: facebook.com/sonyalpharumors/photos_stream?tab=photos and on SonyAlphaForum.
3) A selection of most liked pictures by the community and by me SAR admin will be posted weekly on SAR.

Note: When sending a pic feel free to also add a link to your site to promote yourself!

Read more

Sony A7sII info from Newsshooter: “Has tweaked sensor, no 4K internal recording on APS-C mode”.

HOT! The new Sony A7sII can be preordered at Adorama now (Click here). And also the new FS5 camcorder (Click here).

Newsshooter collected some more detailed info about the A7sII:

1) For low light shooting Sony is claiming the a7S II is better by approximately 2 stops than the a7R II.
2) The only difference between the sensors A7s and A7sII sensors is that the colour science has been tweaked on the a7S II and should offer results that are similar to that of the a7R II. This is something that a lot of Sony fans will be very pleased to hear as the a7R II seems to offer more pleasing skin tones than that of the original a7S.
3) A7sII has “S-Log3 Cine” with more filmic look. S-Log3 or S-Log3 Cine gammas has been lowered to 1600 ISO instead of the 3200 for S-Log2 on the a7S.
4) Strangely enough there is no option to record 4K internally in APS-C crop mode, you can only record 4K internally in full frame mode.

Update: obviously in crop mode there are less pixels so 4k is impossible :)

The A7sII is now listed at BHphoto (Click here) and Adorama (Click here).