This is a Guest post from Andreas Peters:

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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.

The video you see here on top (via Youku.com) is a very extensive autofocus test of the new A7rII. Sadly it’s in Chinese only so only a small part of our readers will understand what they are talking about. Still you can scroll to the following minutes to see the autofocus speed: Minute 1:15, Minute 2:25, Minute 3:10 and Minute 4,47.

Our reader Jack also provided with a short description of the video (Thanks!):

This video is published by a group of Chinese professional photographer.They tested the A7r2 focusing ability using the native FE 70-200 f4 G lense , Alpha 70-200 f2.8 G lens with LA-EA3 and Alpha 70-200 f2.8 with LA-EA4.It’s obvious that the focusing speed is almost the same no matter using LA-EA3 or LA-EA4.
Besides, they also tested what they call the Eye Tracking AF.We can see that the focusing point  keeps trying to catch the tester’s eyes.
According to the testers, they are the only photographers who are permitted by Sony to release these review videos.So my advice is to hire a Chinese editor and translator because they will release another video about a7r2 using Canon ef lens and Nikon f lens tomorrow.

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.

LIke I told you in my previous post the new RX100m4 is in Stock for the first time today at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, FocusCamera, Uniquephoto. And if you want to see the RX100m4 1,000fps feature in action just watch the video below:

SHot in Handheld(!) mode at 40x which means eighty seconds on the video corresponds to two seconds in real-time. Take that MR. Einstein with you old “relativity theory” :)

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 Amazon DE and Sony DE, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT. Wex UK.
RX10m2 at Amazon DE and Sony 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.

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found via PetaPixel.

Matt Granger is a long time friend of SAR and one of the few reviewers that I think to be truly independent (hard to find them nowadays). ON the video above he shares his thoughts about the current state of the Sony A7 system. The question is: Beside all the hype for the A7rII is Mirrorles really catching up with the best DSLR on the market?

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.

Sony a7R II – Eye AF (AF-C)

Dpreview posted a full A7rII and RX100m4 Eye AF testing report. You can see the videos on Youtube:
Sony a7R II – Eye AF (AF-C) (video embedded on top of this post).
Sony a7R II – Continuous AF with Sigma 50mm F1.4 (Canon EF Mount)
Sony RX100 IV: Eye AF (AF-C)

Their conclusions are rather impressive:

1) A7rII with adapted 50mm Sigma EF lens: In fact, it’s this accurate phase-detect AF that allows the a7R II to focus the Sigma 50mm F1.4 lens with far more accuracy than a DSLR. We have to microadjust F1.4 primes all the time on DSLRs to get accurate focus out of them, and even then, peripheral AF points may continue to be off

2) A7rII with 24-70mm FE lens: The camera automatically finds the nearest eye, and continuously focuses on it, despite rather drastic and fast movement along the X, Y, and Z (distance) axes. No hunting, no jumping off to some other subject, just fast and effective AF on Richard’s eye.

3) Eye AF on the RX100m4: it’s really, really good, especially when you consider the RX100 IV has a contrast-detect only AF system.

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.