That Philip Bloom a7S Seminar will make you want to buy the A7s now :)

If you have some spare time watch this great Philip Bloom Sony a7S seminar video (courtesy of BHphoto). Philip is not only a very good filmmaker but also a very good teacher. Current A7s owners could learn quite some things from the video. And at the end of the seminar non A7s owners will probably be tempted to grab their credit card to buy the camera the second after the seminar video ends :)

If you have not so much time just watch the video from minute 20 to understand why the A7s is so special! Thanks Philip for sharing all your insights on the A7s!

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].

Big 3Dkraft wide angle test: New Zeiss 16-35mm outperforms the $5,200 Leica Tri Elmar!

bigcomparison

3D-Kraft (Click here) made the very first serious wide angle lens comparison between the new Zeiss 16-35mm FE lens and those other lenses:

  • Olympus OM Zuiko Auto-W 21mm f/3.5
  • Voigtlander Ultron 21mm f/1.8 ASPH
  • Leica Wide Angle Tri Elmar (WATE) 16-21mm f/4 ASPH
  • Leica Super Elmar 21mm f/3.4 ASPH

And at the end on the Sony A7r the new Zeiss even outperforms the [shoplink 30684 ebay]$5,200 Leica Tri Elmar[/shoplink]! Of course note that the A7r is not really M-mount lens wide angle friendly. But it’s good to know the Zeiss 16-35mm FE is that good! 3D-Kraft writes:

At open aperture, the Sony/Zeiss FE 16-35 beats all other lenses and at 16mm it performs best. It delivers high and consistent performance across the whole focal length range only getting a bit weaker at the long end (35mm). It has the least vignetting and the good results at open aperture together with the optical stabilization make it a winner also for videos at low light.

New 16-35mm Zeiss FE lens store links:
USA/Canada  at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Sony Store US, Sony Canada.
Europe at Sony DE, UK, ES, IT, FR, CH, AT, NL, BE, FI, SE, NO, PT.
Australia and Asia at Sony AUS, Amazon Japan and Digitalrev.

New A7II previews by EosHD (5 axis not as good as on the E-M1) and Pocket-Lint (continuous AF much improved).

EOSHD Sony A7 II test shoot with 5 axis SteadyShot Inside from Andrew Reid on Vimeo.

We finally have first native english hands-on previews with the new Sony A7II. As usual keep in mind those are previews and not full tests. So any conclusion you read here is subject to change after serious in deep testings.

EosHD focused his test on the video aspects of the camera and the 5 axis stabilization. He writes:

The 5 axis stabilisation system is also somewhat underwhelming. I didn’t find it as effective for video as the system Olympus employ in their OM-D E-M1. Handheld pans and tilts are not so much the issue, it is the lack of damping on very high frequency jitter. Granted it was a very cold day and my hand was a little shakier than it normally is! But the difference is obvious. Sony seem to have their own system and it just doesn’t work as well as the one in the E-M1 for video.
The system undoubtedly has an advantage for stills, but even then the advantages vs the A7S are debatable. The A7S can shoot at such high ISOs, you can use a shutter speed like 1/100 to avoid blur from camera shake in low light. The A7 II can certainly shoot at speeds like 1/10 handheld and get a sharp shot, meaning you can shoot at lower ISOs than on the A7S in low light but the A7S is pretty much as clean at ISO 12,800 as the A7 II is at 3200!

Pocket Lint tested the autofocus performance and writes:

We got to play with the original A7 and the A7 II and did find the new model to be quicker. Perhaps most notably in continuous autofocus, where it’s automated adjustment between subjects at different distances wasn’t as far behind our Nikon D810 (which we also had in tow) as the earlier system.

USA preorders:
Sony Alpha a7II  (Body Only) for $1,698 at Amazon (non available), BHphoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here), SonyStore (Click here).
Sony Alpha a7II  with FE 28-70mm OSS Lens for $1,998 at Amazon (non available), BHphoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here), SonyStore (Click here).
Sony 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G SSM II Lens for $1,148 at BHphoto (Click here).

EU preorders:
Sony Alpha a7II  (Body Only) for 1.799 Euro at Amazon Germany (Click here) and at Sony UK (Click here), Wex UK (Click here).
Sony Alpha a7II  with FE 28-70mm OSS Lens for 2.099 Euro at Amazon Germany (Click here) and at Wex UK (Click here). In Finland at Verkkokauppa.

Amazon explains why they do not accept A7II preorders anymore. And new A7II previews!

1417220374_DSC08258
Image courtesy: SLRclub

SAR reader Oleg (Thanks!) got this mail from Amazon which explains why they removed the A7II preorder option (Click here):

Since Sony hasn’t given us a date that we will receive and be able to ship these, we do not have a date listed. I checked on your order and it is still in effect. We are not allowing more pre-orders at this time as we have filled our pre-order slots.

A new A7II preview has been posted on the Korean SLRClub site. The reviewers first impressions are:

– He thinks the A7II grip is the best of all mirrorless system cameras.
–  A7II is matt like the A99. Therefore, It is mightier than A7 on the scratches and dusts.
– Boot up time is faster than on the A7. You can press the shutter button before display is turned on!
– A cons is the body weight and size.

He also posted a Simple AF Tracking Test (GIF included): http://www.slrclub.com/bbs/vx2.php?id=minolta_forum&divpage=168&no=897313

Plenty of A7II image samples have been posted on Fengniao.

USA preorders:
Sony Alpha a7II  (Body Only) for $1,698 at Amazon (non available), BHphoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here), SonyStore (Click here).
Sony Alpha a7II  with FE 28-70mm OSS Lens for $1,998 at Amazon (non available), BHphoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here), SonyStore (Click here).
Sony 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G SSM II Lens for $1,148 at BHphoto (Click here).

EU preorders:
Sony Alpha a7II  (Body Only) for 1.799 Euro at Amazon Germany (Click here) and at Sony UK (Click here), Wex UK (Click here).
Sony Alpha a7II  with FE 28-70mm OSS Lens for 2.099 Euro at Amazon Germany (Click here) and at Wex UK (Click here). In Finland at Verkkokauppa.

Short A7II hands-on video by WhatDigitalCamera.

WhatDigitalCamera posted that short A7II first look video. And as you know since yesterday evening also UK readers can preorder the camera at Sony UK (Click here).

USA preorders:
Sony Alpha a7II  (Body Only) for $1,698 at Amazon (non available), BHphoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here), SonyStore (Click here).
Sony Alpha a7II  with FE 28-70mm OSS Lens for $1,998 at Amazon (non available), BHphoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here), SonyStore (Click here).
Sony 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G SSM II Lens for $1,148 at BHphoto (Click here).

EU preorders:
Sony Alpha a7II  (Body Only) for 1.799 Euro at Amazon Germany (Click here) and at Sony UK (Click here), Wex UK (Click here).
Sony Alpha a7II  with FE 28-70mm OSS Lens for 2.099 Euro at Amazon Germany (Click here) and at Wex UK (Click here). In Finland at Verkkokauppa.

First “Chinese” Sony A7II review and new image samples.

A7II

Reminder: The new A7II preorders are up at BHphoto , Adorama and SonyStore!

The very first full Sony A7II review has been posted in China at Dc.it168.com (google translation here). Image samples can be seen on that page (Click here). These are the reviewers conclusion:

– A great evolution but not a revolution over the A7
– Autofocus Speed is faster than the one from the A7 but still slower than the A6000
– Image quality is the same of the A7
– Ergonomic is much improved and also the camera “feels” better in terms of build quality

Pretty “obvious” conclusions I would say :)

P.S.: A7II announcement at Fotointern.ch.

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

EU preorders:
Sony Alpha a7II  (Body Only) for 1.799 Euro at Amazon Germany (Click here) and 1299 pounds at Wex UK (Click here).
Sony Alpha a7II  with FE 28-70mm OSS Lens for 2.099 Euro at Amazon Germany (Click here) and 1699 pounds at Wex UK (Click here). In Finland at Verkkokauppa.

Short A7II hands-on report by ItsDanK! UPDATE: additional korean test.

10407279_10154889735725230_2131798036522338732_n

Since yesterday the A7II is available for preorder in USA and in few Eu stores (strangely still no preorder options at Sony EU). ItsDanK is one of the very few lucky guys that got his hands on the A7II and he writes:

Things to note:

  1. The dials are quite nice and rubberized now
  2. The entire body is quite a bit thicker, noticeably.
  3. Weight is also increased.
  4. There’s a manual function for the steadyshot to adjust for third party lenses all the way up to 1000mm.
  5. I’m so use to the shutter button being on top that it’s almost weird to use the grip shutter.
  6. New mag alloy rubberized spec finish for the body, quite grippy.
  7. Steadyshot is pretty awesome and more noticeable with longer focal lengths (obviously).
  8. a6000 like AF box dots whilst focusing. This uses hybrid AF with contrast and phase detect (on sensor) working together at the same time.

All good news so far!

UDPATE: A Korean readers sent me info on Korean A7II tests:

http://www.slrclub.com/bbs/vx2.php?id=minolta_forum&divpage=168&no=896986
http://www.sony.co.kr/alpha/handler/AlphaIndex-Start
Sony Korea announced that Sony A7II will be launched at 12/2 Tue.
That means its a first launch in the world and so many sony mirrorless cameras sold in korea.

http://www.slrclub.com/bbs/vx2.php?id=minolta_forum&no=896844
BTW, here a short review of Sony A7II. That explains
– a7ii is more heavier than a7 but the hand grip is better than a7.
– (just felling)viewfinder is better than a7’s one. he felling that framerate is increased.
– AF is more more faster than a7 but not good at low light scene (compare with A7s).
– AF Tracking is better like A6000 in the phase detection area.
– 5-axis stabilization is nice. check that article. (he succeed with 55F18 lens and 1/8)
– boot time is much faster than A7, feels like 2x.
– does not show the flare (halation) — check: http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1247655/144 (http://www.vahonen.com/2013/A7temp/20131226chruchFlareCrop.jpg)
he feels that new A7II is like A8 not A7II. :p
and the here is some shots taken with A7ii : http://www.slrclub.com/bbs/vx2.php?id=minolta_forum&divpage=168&no=896978&category=3

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

EU preorders:
Sony Alpha a7II  (Body Only) for 1.799 Euro at Amazon Germany (Click here) and 1299 pounds at Wex UK (Click here).
Sony Alpha a7II  with FE 28-70mm OSS Lens for 2.099 Euro at Amazon Germany (Click here) and 1699 pounds at Wex UK (Click here). In Finland at Verkkokauppa.