SAR readers DAN sent me the link to his video. It shows how the A7rII start-up time seems to have been reduced on the new 3.0 firmware:

Just a quick test of the new 3.0 Firmware and how much fast the boot time is over 2.0. Pretty negligible, but every bit helps, I suppose. Other benefits to the 3.0 firmware are well welcomed.

I hope other readers can confirm this. And I do hope Sony will reduce the many lags of the camera during normal operation (not only at startup) via future firmware update.

Imaging Resource choose the Sony A7rII as the best camera of the year:

Like its predecessor, the Sony A7R II is a groundbreaking camera, and redefines what is possible in a full-frame mirrorless camera body. For the first time in an “R”-series A7 body, there’s phase-detection autofocus. Jam-packed with no less than 399 focus points covering most of the image frame, the A7R II provides swift, accurate autofocus lock and capable tracking, even with adapted Alpha-mount or third-party lenses. And courtesy of backside-illumination technology, the A7R II provides sufficiently good noise characteristics to allow handheld shooting under typical city street lighting, even with its higher resolution of 42.4 megapixels.
But perhaps most impressive of all, the A7R II is also now capable of 4K video capture completely in-camera, using the entire width of the image frame. And all of this comes wrapped in an impressively compact yet configurable body, which now sports noticeably better ergonomics than its predecessor. In a nutshell, the Sony A7R II is a truly spectacular camera that gives demanding photographers incredible capabilities while significantly lightening the load in their camera bags.

Surely not a surprise Sony got the prize :)

Sony A7rII store links: [shopcountry 43363]

By the way, the camera of the year for Barney Britton (Dpreview) is the RX1rII. And Imaging Resource mentioned the RX1rII for featuiring the technology of the year (for its Variable Low Pass Filter technology).

The video on top proves that overheating issues is now gone thanks to the new 3.0 A7rII firmware. The video has been shot for 2:51 hours(!) in super 35, 24p 100mbps mode. Jonathan writes:

As I’m posting I’m still recording and I’m at 2 hours and 51 minutes. I’m going to stop. Just to be clear. The recording still stop at 29:50 each time. I just pressed record immediately after it stopped. Overheating would normally occur right after the first recording.

The new firmware also improved the chromatic aberration correction on the Sony A7rII and A7sII camera.

A7rII download page at Sony.com (Click here).
A7sII download page at Sony.com (Click here).

Sony Sony über alles! That’s the hymn TheCameraStoreTV is singing in their best 2015 gear awards: The Sony A7rII is the best camera, the FS5 the best video camera and the Batis 85mm the best lens!

And if you want to know what’s the worst camera, well check out the video above :)

Store links for the best Gear:
A7rII at [shopcountry 43363].
FS5 at [shopcountry 43364].
Batis 85mm at [shopcountry 43365].

[shoplink 43319 ebay][/shoplink]

[shoplink 43319 ebay]Shenikon eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] is the first store having the Loxia 21mm lens in Stock and shipping.

Photographyblog posted the full Loxia 21mm lens review and writes:

The Zeiss Loxia 21mm F2.8 is an exceptional wide-angle prime lens. You’d expect sharpness to be high across the frame from such a premium optic, and it doesn’t disappoint. As with its older brethren, if you can learn to love the manual-focus only nature of this lens, the Zeiss Loxia 21mm F2.8 is a superb wide-angle optic for full-frame E-Mount Sony owners.

UPDATE: You get a $399 Metabones EF smart adapter for free(!) with the Sony A7rII sold by BHphoto (Click here).

Imaging Resource posted the full Sony A7rII review and writes:

Image quality has also taken a sizeable step forwards in the Sony A7R II. In terms of resolution when shooting with a quality lens, its detail-gathering is simply spectacular. In fact, it comes surprisingly close to what medium-format cameras are capable of in a far, far more compact body.

Current A7rII deals:
$200 gift card with Amazon US (Use “CAMERAGIFT” as code).
A7rII Deluxe at Amazon US (Click here)
$160 reward on the A7rII sold by BHphoto (Click here).
Ssuperbundle deal on the Sony A7rII sold by Focuscamera (Click here).
New low price on the A7rII at Amazon Germany (Click here).

[shoplink 43239 ebay][/shoplink]

Roger from Lensrentals analyzed the build quality of the new
[shoplink 43239 ebay]Zeiss FE 35mm f/1.4 lens[/shoplink] and concludes:

“The Sony 35mm f/1.4 doesn’t give me everything I want in a lens. But it really does show that Sony is learning and improving with each product. The autofocus system is much more robust in this lens than in previous ones. The weather / dust resistance is phenomenal. The build construction is good. The optics, well, I think perhaps that may be a generation away (The one negative is that the Sony 35mm f/1.4 does not have much in the way of adjustable optics).”

Zeiss FE 35mm store price check: [shopcountry 43239].