SONY A7II + SAMYANG 14mm 1080P Davinci Resolve Grading (SonyAlphaForum).

Reminder: Europeans can now also preorder the new A7rII and RX cameras:
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.

Shootout Again! 645D Vs A7R (RiceHigh).
Zeiss 2.8/28 vs Sony FE 2/28 vs Minolta MC 2/28 (Philip Reeve).
Around the world with Sony RX1R (TappedNZ).
So how much light is 1/3rd of a stop? I try and see what difference it really makes (SonyAlphaForum).
The four E-mount lens babies listed on Store.lensbaby.com.
Sony Highlights Full Line of 4K and High Dynamic Range Technologies at Cine Gear 2015 (Sony Blog).

Firoz Ahmad‎: “I shot this short film with the Sony A7S + PP6 a couple months ago. https://vimeo.com/127373367”

William: “I work as a professional freelance photojournalist.Sometimes I do street photography just for my own personal projects. Here is a link to a video I created shot with the Sony A7s at the Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles, Ca. https://vimeo.com/116312000“

First a heads-up: The Sony A7rII and the new RX cameras are now available for preorder in USA and in Europe. So check out the updated preorder list here:
In USA:
A7rII at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, Uniquephoto.
RX10m2 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, Uniquephoto.
RX100m4 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, 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.
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Mirrorlessons interviewed the Sony Europe Product Managers Y. Hori and R. Noguchi. And here are some of the key info they shared:

1) Image stabilization: The A7r II image stabilisation unit itself is more advanced and complicated than the one used on the A7II. This because it has almost double the number of pixels of the A7II. That said the A7rII has same 4.5 step compensation as the A7II.

2) A-mount future: Sony answered that yes they are still developing the DSLT line and: “SLT cameras still offers some advantages like longer batter life, better grip, and whole functionally is still like DSLRs. We believe customers are still there and that they will love these DSLT cameras.”

3) Uncompressed RAW: Mr Hori simply says: “I’ve heard of this request. If there is a high demand, we can consider developing it in the future.”

4) A7sII: When asked if we can expect to see a new A7sII Mr. Hori answer is: “I hope so. *laughs* Of course I cannot comment but you can imagine, before today, the people wanted in-body stabilisation for the A7r. That was the most frequent feedback from the consumers. So we made this A7r II with even higher resolution. But I cannot comment on future products.”

To sum up: I really do hope Sony will at last announce a new A99II sometimes in September to give the A-mount line a proper “revival”. And on the E-mount front I guess no SAR reader has any single doubt there will be a new A7sII within 6-9 months from now :)

Cine Gear interviewed the Zeiss US manager and here are some info spilled out:

– Batis is a “progression” of the [shoplink 37732 ebay]Touit lens series[/shoplink].
– A7 platform is “exploding” on the market. It’s a hot camera mount system and our job is to do lenses for it.
– Also women are interested in the A7 series
– Batis focusing is quick and silent
– Documentary shooters prefer autofocus lenses like the [shoplink 37734 ebay]Batis[/shoplink]
– Strategy with Batis lenses is not to compete with other lenses from Sony
– Difference between Sony-Zeiss lenses ([shoplink 37736 ebay]like 55mm FE[/shoplink]) and Zeiss lenses (like [shoplink 37735 ebay]Loxia[/shoplink] and [shoplink 37734 ebay]Batis[/shoplink]):  Sony follows Zeiss and design protocol but manufacturers and distributes the lens independently from Zeiss

Both Batis lenses are now available for preorder in USA and Europe (UK/Germany)
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).

The software maker DxO just made their very first hardware. And it’s a [shoplink 37764 ebay]Sony QX[/shoplink] competitor, a plugin photocamera! The “DxO One” uses the Sony 1 inch 20MP sensor in a very compact and portable device which unlike the QX cameras you simply plugin into your iPhone. I have not tested that jiggle yet but from the pictures it really looks like a more handy solution than the Sony QX. it’s more compact, it has a hardware connection (no Wifi or Bluetooth connection needed) and also from the ergonomic it looks more “balanced”.

There is a short video and many more info on their DxO website. What do you think about it?

There is some confusion about the shipping date of the new A7rII. Sony officially stated the camera will ship in August. But different stores give different dates:

USA:
July 28 at BHphoto (Click here)
August 30 at Amazon (Click here)
Europe:
August 7 at Cameta Germany (Click here).
August at Wexphotographic UK (Click here).
Asia:
Late July at CameraPro Australia (Click here).

Let’s see what store placed the correct “guess” on the date :)

More A7rII news:
Sony A7R II, RX10 II, RX100 IV Hands-on Photos (Photographyblog).
Sony A7R II: primeras impresiones (Quesabesde).
Hands-On with the Sony RX10 MKII and RX100 MK4 (Mirrorlessons).
Field test by Brian Smith.
Sony brings all its new tech to A7 line (Cnet Youtube)
SONY A7R II – toma de contacto y analisis (DSLRmagazine).
Sony Alpha 7R II, CyberShot RX10 II und RX100 IV: Revolutionäre Sensortechnologie? (Photoscala).

USA preorders:
A7rII at Amazon (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Uniquephoto.
RX10m2 at Amazon (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Uniquephoto.
RX100m4 at Amazon (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here), Uniquephoto.

Europe preorders:
A7rII at Sony DE, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT.
RX100m4 at DE, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT.
RX100m2 at DE, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT.

Short heads up: I got the final confirmation the Sony A7rII (and RX100m4/RX10m2) online preorders will start at exactly 11am London time. If you preorder the new camera at BHphoto using my affiliated links you will have the chance to win a $100 rebate! Feel free to also send me links of other stores accepting preorders. This way we will make sure SAR readers will get the first in line on the very long A7rII preorder list :)

Rebate action notes: Four preorders will be randomly chosen by BHphoto. They will get notified by BH and get the $100 off (The A7rII will cost $3098). This “action” is available for all worldwide preorders and not only for US!

One more thing: SAR reader Alin Popescu was present at the Sony London A7rII presentation event. He told me that:

YES – you can charge via USB while using the camera (possible maybe with new firmware updates for other cameras too)
YES YES – you can reprogram the Record Video button to be used with any other customizable button (not with the shutter button though). Here is a small Demo video I did to show this feature
https://youtu.be/bSd2aQLK_LU
YES – new ISO Auto Minimum Shutter Speed
New focus area Flexble Spot with area (or something like this, I forgot the name). What it does, it uses close focus points to the one selected
And many more goodies. I’ve posted some more images on my blog – http://www.alinpopescu.eu/blog/test-hands-on-cu-a7r-ii-rx100-iv-si-rx10-ii-hands-on/

Store links:
In USA:
A7rII at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, Uniquephoto.
RX10m2 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, Uniquephoto.
RX100m4 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, 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.
RX100m2 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.

Sony slide via DSLRmagazine.

Hot reminder: Today at 11:00 London time be sure to be online on SAR! A7rII preorders will officially start at that time…wordlwide! And SAR will give away an extra $100 discount on four A7rII cameras!

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Sony Artisan Thibault Roland has a short Question and Answer session with Sony Tokyo. Here is some answers (full text at Thibault Roland’s blog).

Question: Is the Dynamic Range better and noise level lower than that of the a7R?
Answer: Yes! No formal test was done (it’s coming), but they confirmed that they were very impressed by the quality of the system

Question: Is the higher sensitivity going to be detrimental to noise level?
Answer: No! 1/ In the new design, the photodiodes are closer to the surface of the sensor, and that allows them to detect more light, hence a higher sensitivity. This sensor has a better detection rate in low light conditions than a “regular” sensor. 2/ The change of materials to connect the diodes to the rest of the electronics ensures a lower noise level as well. They did not go into specifics but these seem to be a two key points.

Question:Will the a7R II replace the a7S in terms of image quality at high sensitivity?
Answer:No! We were told that at the same high ISO number, the a7S will outperform the a7R II. The a7R II is “ideal for mostly still photographers who want to shoot videos and 4K from time to time, but videographers will still want to use the a7S in low light conditions”

Question: What about hot pixels?
Answer: They came up with an internal method to make them “not a problem anymore”

Question: Life expectancy:
Answer: I was absolutely amazed to hear them say that the shutter of the a7R II is expected to last more than 500K cycles!!! Yes, you read it right: 500K as in more than HALF A MILLION CLICKS!!

Question: Is the new build more resistant?
Answer: Yes! Because it is now made entirely of magnesium, the body is stronger and more resistant

Question: (LCD screen) Is it still going to be on all the time during long exposures?
Answer: Yes, but they are working on it to eventually turn it off

Question: (Lenses) Performance and resolution:
Answer: Some have raised the question as to if Sony lenses are build to provide a high enough resolution for high density sensors. We had the confirmation that the lenses had been designed with this particular aspect in mind. The engineers are confident that the optical quality of the lenses is more than sufficient for high resolution sensors.

Question: Autofocus performance:
Answer: We were confirmed that AF of Canon lenses was “much faster than before. With adapters (and in particular with a firmware updated Metabones mark IV) Canon lenses are almost as fast as on a Canon body“.
We were also told that the adapter for Sony A mount lenses made the AF very fast, but slightly slower than on an A mount body. We were told that “A mount lenses will find another life thanks to it”.

Question: What about the battery life?
Answer: It will be “slightly better than that of the a7R

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Time zone reminder: The preorders will start on June 17 at…
8am Los Angeles time
11m New York time
16.00 London time
17:00 Berlin time
24:00 Tokyo time.

Store links:
In USA:
A7rII at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, Uniquephoto.
RX10m2 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, Uniquephoto.
RX100m4 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, 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.
RX100m2 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.