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].

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

Atomos Shogun meets Sony A7S in 4k & GH4 get 10bit 4:2:2 and more… from Stefan Czech on Vimeo.

The Atomos Shogun 4K recorder preorders for your Sony A7s are now shipping at BHphoto (Click here) and at Adorama (Click here). And these are the very first two video (p)reviews to check out if you want to see how it works!

Atomos Shogun feets Sony A7S..best of…in 4k UHD

Atomos Shogun Introduction from Atomos Video on Vimeo.

P.S.: First firmware update at atomos.com/support/. And do not forget there is also an Atomos Sony A7/r/s compatible power station you can preorder at BHphoto (Click here).

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].

Note on video from Cinema5d: Before you watch the video: I was attempting trying a new audio wireless device which unfortunately does not work well with this camera. The result is a distorted audio track. The camera it-self produces better sound then in this video.

Cinema5D (Click here) tested the Sony A77II with the new firmware upgrade which improves autofocus and adds XAVC-S codec:

The new Sony A77mII will not make loyal Canon or Nikon users to replace their camera with that one (unlike the case of the Sony A7s). Also, if you are looking for an easy way to use your Canon lenses, then Sony’s E-mount is the way to go. If you are in the market for a good APS-C photo camera that can shoot good quality video, then the Sony A77mII is a very valid option.

It’s certainly good news to see that Sony took care of current A77II owners and offered that major update. Hope they will keep doing that on all cameras just like Fuji does!

$300 off on the Sony A77II with grip at Amazon, Adorama and SonyStore.
$600 off on the Sony A77II with lens and grip at Amazon, Adorama and SonyStore.

Atomos Shogun Introduction from Atomos Video on Vimeo.

Note for German readers: You have plenty of new Sony Blitzangebote today (check list at Dealsrunner).

The Atomos Shogun is finally shipping (in Germany at Redcoon in USA at BHphoto). If you own the A7s and want to record 4K this is the way to go. So let’s read the first previews:

EosHD (Click here) writes:

Something which I am very much looking forward to testing is the support for LUTs. When shooting S-LOG 2 on the A7S without the Shogun it is very difficult to get the correct exposure monitoring from the flat image. The Shogun will allow you to record in S-LOG but monitor in Rec 709 or with a LUT applied so you can see the final look of the footage whilst shooting. It’s a high end IPS panel as well so colour should be absolutely stunning on the display. Additionally Atomos offer a tool to calibrate the screen, with their Spyder device. Further useful features include a start / stop trigger so you can trigger recording on the Shogun the normal way with the camera’s video button, along with time code, WIFI remote control and optional CFast card adapter.

3Dkraft (click here) writes:

The hardware ist finished but the new “AtomOS6” video operating system currently supports only a subset of the announced features:

Atomos assures to release the remaining features in a few weeks. The good news is that the most important feature – the 4K ProRes HDMI recording – is available right now in order to enable the full 4K recording performance of the Sony A7S.

The most curious new E-mount lens got tested at DSLRmagazine (google translation here). It’s actually an M-mount lens designed specifically to be used on E-mount cameras with the VM-E close focus adapter. The reviewer findings are:

– Center resolution is very high
– Corner resolution is only “sufficient”
– It has surprisingly little chromatic aberrations
– The lens value is not the performance it delivers but the unique kind of image quality and small size.

There are some image samples posted on that DSLRmagazine page. And DC.Fever also tested the same lens on the new A7II.

The new Voigtländer Heliar 40mm 2.8 for FE cameras is in Stock in [shoplink 30996 ebay]Germany on eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 30997 ebay]Hong Kong on eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. It’s also available for preorder at BHphoto (Click here) and CameraQueest (Click here).

Reminder: A7II now in Stock at Amazon, Adorama, Bhphoto and Sony US and Digitalrev.

Dennis Biela posted the video you see on top with the following comment:

Sony loaned me a production a7II camera for a upcoming photo shoot and in testing out the camera I found that it has a huge image buffer. If you shoot in jpg fine and use a fast SD card like Sony’s new high speed SDXC memory cards you will not fill the buffer to the limit and can shoot continuously at 5 frames per sec. all day. In the video I only stopped shooting so not to bore people. As to raw files they are different you can shoot up to 25ish images still a respectable amount. Another interesting fact is the camera does not have a high speed mode like the a77II meaning that you can shoot at 5 fps at what ever f-stop you want unlike some cameras where shooting at high speed means you shoot at the maximum lens opening. 5 fps is not extremely fast like 12 or 8 but with the fact that you can keep shooting for a long duration of images and the camera can track focus at this speed I feel its a big leap for the a7 class of mirrorless cameras.

Allin Popescu (Click here) wrote a very detailed A7II test with many samples and videos. His findings on the 5 axis system and autofocus are:

To conclude on the stabilisation subject, I must say that 5 axis IBIS in Sony a7II works best on wide to medium focal lengths, but looses its effectiveness while you go towards tele zone (over 135-180 mm and beyond). At those focals, any simple movement translates to long jumps over the image sensor, and it’s movement to compensate for it it’s limited to millimetres. That’s why, for tele lenses, the best system is the Optical Stabilisation.
I tell you that this new model behaves excellently at focusing, much better than it’s older brother, especially in low light.

Paul Gero (Click here) writes:

I have been testing this camera and as you can see from the photographs below being able to shoot handheld at 1/4 of a second with a 200mm focal length is pretty impressive.  As long as your subject is stable, then sharp photographs are now possible in what we jokingly referred to as the “Hail Mary” range of light (hold your breath, dig your elbows into your body and say a prayer before you shoot at a slow shutter speed shot — thank you Bill Allard for that description). 

——

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.