CES news: Sony FDR-AX33 Review and the new actioncamera Advanced SteadyShot feature.

The Drone market is exploding since years and Sony added one special feature to stand out with their new 4K action camera. It’s the “Advanced SteadyShot” feature. The video on top shows how it works. And Cinema5D (Click here) posted the very first AX33 review. This is a 4K camcorder for $999. There is also a Vimeo video here.

New CES stuff preorders:
USA: 4k action camera at BHphoto (Click here). 4k camercorders at BHphoto (Click here) and Sony Store (Click here).
Europe: Sony Germany, Sony UK, Sony France, Sony Italy, Sony Spain, Sony Holland, Sony Belgium, Sony Austria, Sony Switzerland, Sony Portugal, Sony Sweden, Sony Norway, Sony Finland.

New A7II tests. And in Stock at BestBuy.

Sony A7 vs. A7II – sensor stabilizer test from Nino Leitner on Vimeo.

Note: The A7II is in Stock at [shoplink 32184 ebay]BestBuy (Click here)[/shoplink].

There is a new Sony A7 vs. A7II – comparison & stabilizer test at Cinema5D (Click here). And I hope they are right when they write this:

I think we can expect an A7r Mark II and A7s Mark II at some point in 2015, if Sony keeps up with the rapid succesion of recent camera introductions.

And here is also a new Sony A7II 3 Axis IS with Nikon 500mm f/4P and Canon FD200mm f/2.8 by Patrick Murphy-Racey:

USA/Canada A7II links:
Sony Alpha a7II (Body Only) for $1,698 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore and Sony Store Canada.
Sony Alpha a7II with FE 28-70mm OSS Lens for $1,998 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore.
Sony 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G SSM II Lens for $1,148 at BHphoto.

EU A7II links:
Sony Alpha a7II (Body Only) for 1.799 Euro at Sony Germany, Sony UK, Jessops UK, Sony France, Sony Italy, Sony Spain, Sony Austria, Sony Switzerland, Sony Netherland, Sony Belgium, Sony Portugal, Sony Sweden, Sony Finland, Sony Norway.
Sony Alpha a7II with FE 28-70mm OSS Lens for 2.099 Euro at Amazon Germany, Wex UK, Jessops UK, Verkkokauppa.

Asian/Australia A7II link:
Sony A7II at Sony Store Australia, Digitalrev and Amazon Japan.

Atomos 4K and A7s double review at Newshooter and EosHD.

Sony a7S/ Atomos Shogun 4K And HD Test from Matthew Allard ACS on Vimeo.

We have two new A7s with Atomos 4K recorder test and as you will read the reviewers conclusions are not very positive:

Newshooter (Click here) writes:

Overall the Shogun ticks a lot of boxes and I think most users will be very happy with it. At the end of the day the Shogun delivers what it promises – 4K recording on a budget, a great screen and easy to use interface.

EosHD writes:

I’m learning as I go when it comes to the feel of the images and how it compares to the 1D C, GH4 and NX1 in 4K. So far the A7S 4K image to the Shogun has impressed but it isn’t as good as the 1D C. I think it’s great for enthusiasts and low-budget filmmakers who want to max out image quality on the A7S. But for me the shortcomings are significant

And a bug report: FYI on how the Sony a7S breaks SLog 2 when outputting via HDMI (Atomos Forum).

A7II hands on by Cameralabs measures 3 stop advantage with 5 axis.

[shoplink 32075 ebay]A7II[/shoplink]

First a quick note: The A7II kit is in Stock at [shoplink 32075 ebay]BestBuy eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] and via third party resellers at Amazon (Click here).

Of course the big feature of the new camera is the 5 axis system. CameraLabs (Click here) tested it and writes:

On the conditions of the day, I required a shutter speed of at least 1/25 to handhold the 55mm for a sharp result without stabilisation. With stabilisation enabled, I could achieve the same result at 0.3 seconds, which represents three stops of compensation.
The built-in stabilisation definitely helps, at least with the FE 55mm lens, but it won’t smooth out wobbles to anywhere near the same degree for video as the Olympus IBIS. I’ll add many more examples and comparisons in my final review.
One of the most compelling aspects of the A7 series was being able to adapt lenses from any system without a crop, and now to have them all stabilised (even if it’s by a small degree) will make the A7 II an extremely tempting proposition – even more so since the launch price is the same as the A7 before it, while the original model becomes discounted.

P.S.: Some image samples with the A7II have been posted on SonyAlphaForum.

Tamron SP 15-30mm MTF charts (beats the much more expensive Nikon).

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We have first info about the new Tamron SP 15-30mm A-mount lens. Image samples can be seen at DC.watch. And there is also a full MTF chart posted by BlogNaver (found via Dicahub). It’s interesting to look at the chart because the lens is rumored to resolve the future Sony 50Megapixel FF sensor resolution:

A012MTF_J_E_4c_20140826_b

The MTF resolution is impressive even at widest aperture. And also on the telephoto end the resolution remains high. By comparison here is the MTF chart of the AF-S Nikkor 14-24mm F2.8G ED lens:

 

nikon-14-24mm-mtf

The Tamron has no official US price yet but it’s rumored to be around $1,500. So much cheaper than the Nikon. The Tamron A-mount lens is listed at BHphoto (Click here) and should be available soon for preorder.

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Sony A7s with Atomos Shogun recorder test: download the full 4K video.

Pearl Beach: Atomos Shogun and Sony a7S 4K test by Matt Allard from Dan Chung on Vimeo.

Newsshooter shared that video and on the full 4K video can be downloaded on their Vimeo page:

As far as the image is concerned the a7S does seem to exhibit more noise in 4K mode versus it’s output in HD. This is most likely the camera and sensor that are doing this – all the recorder is doing is capturing the output from the HDMI as it receives it. At super high ISOs the noise it quite obvious before any kind of post noise reduction is applied. It would also appear that the crop mode is noiser than the full frame – as you would expect. You can download the video above for yourself from Vimeo if you want to make your own judgements.

Sony A7s store links:
Sony A7s in USA/CA at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Sony USA, Sony Canada.
Sony A7s in Eu at Sony DE, UK, ES, FR, IT, NL, BE, AT, CH, SE, NO, FI, PL. And Wex UK.
A7s Gariz leather case in [shoplink 27569 ebay]Black (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 27570 ebay]Brown (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 27571 ebay]Red (Click here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 27572 ebay]Orange (Click here)[/shoplink].

New Sony A7II tests by Alex Koloskov, Tony Northup, Planet Alpha and more!


Sony a7II review: 5-Axis Sensor-Shift Stabilization vs optical stabilization (OSS)

Sony A7II and Zeiss Sonnar 35mm 2.8 Unboxing *UPDATE V1* (MirrorlessReview).
Sony a7II vs a7S vs Nikon D810 Low-light/High ISO Video Test (Youtube)
Sony A7 II First Impressions at Planet Alpha.
A7II is part of the best Camera Equipment of The Year – 2014 at Luminous Landscape.
Sony a7 II Review by BeforeYouBuy on Youtube.
Plenty of new videos posted last week on Youtube.
A7II image samples by Gustav on Dyxum.
A Comparison of How Olympus and Sony’s 5 Axis Stabilization Work (ThePhoBlographer).
Japanese test at DC.watch and Itmedia.
Capture one (now 8.1) supports the new sony a7ii

USA/Canada A7II links:
Sony Alpha a7II (Body Only) for $1,698 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore and Sony Store Canada.
Sony Alpha a7II with FE 28-70mm OSS Lens for $1,998 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore.
Sony 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G SSM II Lens for $1,148 at BHphoto.

EU A7II links:
Sony Alpha a7II (Body Only) for 1.799 Euro at Sony Germany, Sony UK, Jessops UK, Sony France, Sony Italy, Sony Spain, Sony Austria, Sony Switzerland, Sony Netherland, Sony Belgium, Sony Portugal, Sony Sweden, Sony Finland, Sony Norway.
Sony Alpha a7II with FE 28-70mm OSS Lens for 2.099 Euro at Amazon Germany, Wex UK, Jessops UK, Verkkokauppa.

Asian/Australia A7II link:
Sony A7II at Sony Store Australia, Digitalrev and Amazon Japan.

A7II Bug Reminder:

The A7II has a strange bug on the 5 axis stabilization settings. David Sampson (Viramati) found the bug and Jono Slack sums it up at Dpreview:

If you attach a 3rd party lens after using an OSS (eg the 24-70 FE) lens then IBIS does not work
If you attach a 3rd party lens after using a non OSS lens (eg the 55 f1.8) then IBIS does work.

There is a workaround to fix the issue when it appears. David S. sent me this:

If you unmount (take off) an OSS lens without turning the camera off (or at least turn it off after you have removed the lens) then when you attach a third party (dumb) adaptor ‘steady shot’ (IBIS) continues to work normally. Of course this is not a thing a photographer would normally do as it usually common sense to turn the camera off when changing lenses so would still benefit from a firmware upgrade