42.4MP… ignoring medium format, who would’ve thought that we’d have to call that not class-leading? You can thank the Canon 5DS and 5DS R for that, which the a7R II falls short of with respect to resolution. And yet, in almost every other respect, the sensor in the a7R II is bound to outclass the 50.6MP sensors in Canon’s latest high-resolution beasts.
One could remark that in challenging the giants, Sony must innovate to offer a competitive advantage. And one would be absolutely right. But the level of innovation and effort that we’re seeing here is formidable. I haven’t even touched the surface in this opinion piece
And Trustedreviews also got his hands on the A7rII and writes:
The Sony Alpha A7R II is a dream camera for many. It takes everything that made the A7 and A7R so important, then adds and improves so much it comfortably outpaces the rate of improvements we see from Nikon and Canon in their DSLR ranges. Sony is not treading water. This is a system camera that should interest professionals as well as just keen hobbyists, while its impressive video skills mean it’s anything but a stills-only specialist.
This is the very first short video showing the Nikon F to Sony E-mount electronic adapter at work. There is yet no info when the adapter will go for sale.
Current autofocus adapter available for other lens mounts:
Canon EF from Metabones (Click here) and [shoplink 37432 ebay]Kipon (Click here)[/shoplink].
Contax from [shoplink 37433 ebay]Techart (Click here)[/shoplink].
Kai from Digitalrev posted that short Batis Lens review. And he really likes them both!
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).
A7rII Autofocus tests: These are three new videos made to show the autofocus performance of the new A7rII. Sony still didn’t allow journalists to record videos on their SD cards so we have to wait a couple of weeks more before to see real more “scientific” tests.
Sony A7R II + LA-EA3 + 70-300mm SSM (A-mount)
Sony A7R II + Metabones Smart Adapter + Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 STM
Kai and the A7rII: This week the Canon 5Ds 50 Megapixel camera started to ship via many stores like Amazon US. But the new A7rII really stole the spotlight from the Canon. Even not-so-Sony-friendly Kai from Digitalrev just posted an article saying the A7rII is a “Canon 5Ds R Killer“:
High-resolution, 5-axis stablisation, 4k video, faster autofocus, better shutter – these are not marginal improvements but rather changes of a colossal scale. Other camera manufacturers should take note: the a7R II is how a product update should be done.
When you look at what Canon are coming up with and then what Sony are doing, you can’t help but think that Canon are holding something back, playing it safe. In this comparison, there is no comparison because it has become quite apparent that Sony is the one that we should be eagerly anticipating to make the next big moves.
My thoughts: I believe the Sony A7rII 42MP files will match the Canon 5Ds files in terms of resolution because of the newers Sony sensor technology. And I have no doubt dynamic range will be higher ont he Sony! Can’t wait to see the comparison between the two to see if I was right with my speculations!
One more thing: Hugh Brownstones thoughts about the A7rII:
In other words.. the whole nine yards. Everything but the kitchen sink. You asked for it, – you got it. Think of a cliche. This stands in stark contrast with the rest of the industry that doles our new features slowly, an upgrade here, a tweak there, a new feature once a year or so. This is the norm for some companies… keep the development costs low, and keep selling new cameras with a bit of extra chrome and shiny wheels now and then to keep the faithful happy. But with the A7rII, following quickly on the heals of the A7, A7r, A7s and A7II, Sony has wrapped all of the goodies (and then some) into one package. Available in August for US $3200, it isn’t even priced as outrageously as one might think a new flagship camera might.
Buyingcamera listed the negatives of the new A7rII camera on SonyAlphaForum post:
Weight on the breaking point of being too heavy Battery (old fashioned lithium-ion, they could at least design a new 2,000mah battery in the same size case) No true 14bit uncompressed raw (I’m sure they’d have advertised it if it existed). If bandwidth is an issue, they could give you the option of a 1FPS instead of 5FPS mode. This would be great for landscapes. No dual card slots or the option for redundancy (even if it used the USB port to write to a separate card reader, that’d be something) Bigger. Both cameras are uncomfortable to me (I have large hands) and I found the previous model slightly more comfortable. Price. Sony does what it always does and it’s upsetting to know that it’ll be nearly half the price in a years time. I know digital cameras are destined to be this way but sony pricing scheme has always been more annoying than other companies. Lenses. FE lenses are sealed, no gasket. Some zeiss lenses either have a gasket and no sealing, or sealing and no gasket. I’d rather they just had sealing and a gasket, like canon lenses. Sealing. Sony sealing usually always sucks and I doubt this is going to be different.
The a7RII has a better autofocus system than the a7II—a much better system in fact, with hundreds of more phase detection points. It’s so fast that Sony even mentioned in their press conference that the a7RII will be able to focus competitor lenses (e.g., Nikon and Canon) at native speeds.
First of all, the native sensitivity of the camera is 100-25600 ISO but can also be extended to 102400 ISO. In video mode, the maximum is 25600. The question is: how good is the A7rII at the highest sensitivities? Because if the gap with the A7s has been reduced, the latter might not look as unique as it did a few months ago. Moreover, many users have complained about not having internal 4K recording on the A7s: you need an external recorder, which means a bigger investment. The A7rII can do everything on its own and since the HDMI output is still valid, the external recorder becomes an option for better quality (4:2:2 8bit) and is not a constraint anymore if you want 4K video.
Sony get a serious rasberry for one of the most ridiculous advertising BS slogans of all time. ‘Imaging beyond our eyes’ !!! Surely one of the most ridiculous examples of meaningless ad agency speak ever committed to print. A shame since Sony have addressed most of the missing features of the A7r.
If you really think 42.4 megapixels is going to take you to realms far beyond your 36 megapixel sensor, think again. It is the same step up as from 18 megapixels to 21 megapixels, a move Canon made without absolutely transforming the images created, or about the same as from 10mp to 12mp. There’s one big difference – it does not make the jump to any larger common print or repro size. Remember going from 6 to 8? That was from sub-full-page to a decent full page resolution, for US or A-size documents at a touch under 300dpi. 24 megapixels took us to a really sharp A2, 36 megapixels takes us to a acceptable A1, and all that 42 does is to make a slightly better A1 but not 300dpi.
The camera is weather sealed, and has a newly developed shutter unit which is designed for vibration suppression, plus silent shooting, and is rated for 500,000 shutter releases! There are currently 13 FE lenses, with Sony planning on having 20 lenses available by early 2016.
More A7rII tidbits:
Evaluated: “Sony, Fix These Things and Win” aka How Does the Sony A7R II Stack Up? (Diglloyd).
A7rII full breakdown at SonyAlphaLab.
Top 7 Game Changing Features of the Sony A7RII by Ilovehatephoto.
Forget 42MP, 5 Axis IS, Silent Shutter: Why PDAF Is So Important To Mention About the Sony A7RII (Patrick Murphy).
A7Rii is actually cheaper than the A7ii (Medium).
Sony confirma que la A7R II llegará en verano por 3.500 euros (Quesabesde).
Some fun: There is really a SAR reader trying to get money to buy the A7rIi through Indiegogo (Click here). Good Luck!
Preorders will be available from June 17 only at 11am New York Time!!! A7rII will ship in August. The RX10m2 and the RX100m4 will be available in July. Full press coverage here at SonyAlphaRumors.
“Even though there was not much time for an in-depth look, I am sure, both members of the new Batis family will find friends easily and sell like hot cakes. The Batis 1.8/85 may not have the level of perfection like an Otus 1.4/85 and relies more on lens correction profiles provided by camera firmware and/or raw processors but taking into account the enormous resolution and processing speed of today’s cameras, this seems like a very well balanced compromise. This allows to provide a professional grade lens it in a compact and lightweight form factor including autofocus and optical stabilization with a reasonable price tag.
The Batis 2/25 surprised me with extraordinary sharpness across the whole frame right from open aperture in a compact, lightweight housing. At f/2.0 you may have to correct some vignetting and some minor CAs but these almost disappear already when you stop down one step to f/2.8. Thanks to its wide aperture and short close focus, it provides additional options to play with depth of field and shows a pleasing bokeh not available when using wide angle zoom lenses.”
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).
