First SAR readers image quality comparison between old and new A7-A7r firmware.

Courtesy: Tobias

SAR reader Tobias posted the full A7 ISO scale comparison on Flickr (Click here) before and after the firmware upgrade. There seems to be no noticeable difference. Another test at Talkemount (Click here) shows a major improvement on A7r JPG images taken with NR off.

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Firmware download links for A7R
Mac – Sony US, Sony Germany, Sony UK, Sony France, Sony Spain, Sony Italy, Sony Holland, Sony Belgium, Sony Austria, Sony Switzerland, Sony Finland, Sony Sweden, Sony Norway, Sony Portugal, Sony Australia
Windows – Sony US, Sony Germany, Sony UK, Sony France, Sony Spain, Sony Italy, Sony Holland, Sony Belgium, Sony Austria, Sony Switzerland, Sony Finland, Sony Sweden, Sony Norway, Sony Portugal, Sony Australia
Firmware download links for A7
Mac – Sony US, Sony Germany, Sony UK, Sony France, Sony Spain, Sony Italy, Sony Holland, Sony Belgium, Sony Austria, Sony Switzerland, Sony Finland, Sony Sweden, Sony Norway, Sony Portugal, Sony Australia
Windows – Sony US, Sony Germany, Sony UK, Sony France, Sony Spain, Sony Italy, Sony Holland, Sony Belgium, Sony Austria, Sony Switzerland, Sony Finland, Sony Sweden, Sony Norway, Sony Portugal, Sony Australia

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Specs and Store Links in US and Canada:
Dedicated Sony announcement page at Amazon US (Click here).
Sony A7r body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS. TheCameraStore Canada.
Sony A7 body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS. TheCameraStore Canada.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS. TheCameraStore Canada.
Sony RX10 at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Zeiss 24-70mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Zeiss 35mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Zeiss 55mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
70-200mm A-mount at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony A-Mount to E-Mount Lens Adapter at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
Sony A to E adapter with mirror at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
A7/A7r leather case at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
A7/A7r vertical grip at Amazon, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony W Series Battery Charger at Amazon, BHphoto.
Sony FA-CS1M Off-Camera Shoe at BHphoto.
Semi-Hard LCD Screen Protector for A7-A7r at Amazon, BHphoto.

Specs and Store Links in Europe:
Sony A7r body at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE.
Sony A7 body at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon FR.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon FR.
Sony RX10 at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE.
Zeiss 35mm at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT,
Zeiss 55mm at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT
Zeiss 24-70mm at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, SE, PT
Sony G 28-70mm lens at Sony DE, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO.

Asia:
A7r at Digitalrev.
A7 at Digitalrev, Amazon Cina.
A7 with 28-70mm lens at Digitalrev.

Sony RX10 gets Gold Award at Dpreview. Sony’s 1 inch sensor outclasses new Nikon V3 sensor!

The RX10 outclasses the newly announced Nikon 1 V3!

The superb Sony RX10 just got the Gold Award at Dpreview.

While it takes quite a bit of head-scratching to figure out where the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX10 fits in the market, a few things are clear. First, in image quality terms, it’s the best big zoom camera on the market. Second, its video quality is top-notch, and Sony provides tools that work very well in most respects. Finally – and unfortunately – it’s very expensive, especially for a fixed lens camera.

And DxOmark tested the newly announced Nikon 1 V3 camera. Well, the 1 inch Aptina sensor used by the Nikon is quantum leaps behind the Sony 1 inch sensor used by the RX10 or RX100II.

RX10 store links:
Sony RX10 at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony RX10 at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE.

First feedback on the A7-A7r firmware update improvements.


A first menu and on/off speed test after the upgrade

The A7 and A7r firmware update is finally available. Startup time, autofocus and the quality of high ISO JPG images improved. I would greatly appreciate if someone can share an image quality comparison to see the difference. I am at work now and have no time to do a proper testing yet. Anyway, here are a couple of feedbacks from SAR readers:

UPDATE: Here is a video from Jason Perry (Instagram) showing an increased AF performance.

Rowland: “I just updated my a7, it looks like sony did a great job this time. The camera do turn on quicker(not much but quicker is better :P ), and it seems the autofoucs speed is also incresed. And for the image quality, I think the greatest change is high ISO performance, especially form 1600 to 6400, the noise is reduced and maintain more details, and the false color is reduced dramatically.”

Minipixels: “Awesome! Definitely some improvements to AF and start up time but I’m still uncertain where the “image quality improvements” are….has anybody done any in-depth comparisons??

Roy:A7r: Startup is now 1 sec..Much faster. AF seems faster now as i tested it with the same lens on the NEX6 and it used to be slower now it’s faster!
NEX6: my 2470Z and 55Z are both now supported byt he camera with OSS (2470) and PDAF. Previously wasn’t.. Overall, it’s an update that actually improved something..Let’s hope Sony keeps this up.

ArneStartup time reduced from about 4 seconds to 1. AF in challenging low contrast against backlight seems to be improved too.

Firmware download links:

A7R
Mac – Sony US, Sony Germany, Sony UK, Sony France, Sony Spain, Sony Italy, Sony Holland, Sony Belgium, Sony Austria, Sony Switzerland, Sony Finland, Sony Sweden, Sony Norway, Sony Portugal, Sony Australia
Windows – Sony US, Sony Germany, Sony UK, Sony France, Sony Spain, Sony Italy, Sony Holland, Sony Belgium, Sony Austria, Sony Switzerland, Sony Finland, Sony Sweden, Sony Norway, Sony Portugal, Sony Australia
A7
Mac – Sony US, Sony Germany, Sony UK, Sony France, Sony Spain, Sony Italy, Sony Holland, Sony Belgium, Sony Austria, Sony Switzerland, Sony Finland, Sony Sweden, Sony Norway, Sony Portugal, Sony Australia
Windows – Sony US, Sony Germany, Sony UK, Sony France, Sony Spain, Sony Italy, Sony Holland, Sony Belgium, Sony Austria, Sony Switzerland, Sony Finland, Sony Sweden, Sony Norway, Sony Portugal, Sony Australia
NEX5R
Mac – Sony US, Sony Australia
Windows – Sony US, Sony Australia
NEX5T
Mac – Sony US, Sony Australia
Windows – Sony US, Sony Australia
NEX6
Mac – Sony US, Sony Australia
Windows – Sony US, Sony Australia

A5000 is now shipping in Asia and Europe. First reviews roundup!

With all the A6000 buzz we forgot there is another new Sony camera that is now starting to ship in Asia and Europe!

In Europe it in Stock at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, AT, NO, FI, SE, CH, PL and at non Sony stores like Redcoon DE, Amazon DE and Amazon UK.
In Asia it ships at Digitalrev (Click here) and Amazon Japan (Click here).
In USA it will ship soon at Amazon US (Click here), BHphoto (Click here) and at SonyStore US (Click here).

First A5000 test:
You can read full reviews of the camera at Trustedreviews and ePhotozine. And some mroe image samples at Photograpbyblog.

Test of the new Zeiss 24-70mm on the Sony A7R (Guest post by Dierk Topp)

The following is a guest post written by Dierk topp. Please contact me (Andrea) at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com if you want to write an article to be published on SAR. Thanks!

Test of the new Zeiss Vario-Tessar FE 4/24-79 ZA OSS on the Sony A7R

This is no professional test and was planed for my own judgment of the lens.  After looking at these images I hope, that we soon will get profiles included in the next Adobe Camera Raw!

Setup:
autofocus, tripod, horizontal control with  bubble level, IR remote control
LR 5.3 default development, export JPG 92%, sharpening for screen during export
OOC JPEG images with camera defaults (I never use JPEG out of the camera and did not adjust any settings)
focal lengths 24, 50 and 70mm, with f/4, f/5.6 and f/8
I found severe distortions in all focal lengths and apertures  in the RAW files. These distortions seem to be very good corrected in the camera JPEG with the effect, that you loose parts of the 100% image!
I added the OOC images with f/4 for these three focal lengths. EXIF is included in all images.

You find all test images in full resolution on my flickr album (Click here)
together with a set of the OSS test images, of course a complete individual result!

as example 50mm at f/4 from RAW

and OOC JPEG

P.S.: The new Zeiss 24-70mm is in Stock in USA at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS, and in Europe at Sony DE, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, SE, PT (Click on country name to see the lens site).

Full A6000 review at SLRclub.

The Korean site SLRclub posted the full A6000 review. As usual they do post the text as jpg. picture and that’s why there is no english translation. But it’s worth to check out the site to see their youtube autofocus tests and the many image samples they posted.

For portueges&brazilian friend: An A6000 unboxing in brazilian portuguese  on youtube :)

Sony A6000 preorder list with US and Europe links:
Sony A6000 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama, BHphoto (Click here), SonyStore (Click here). In Europe at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, AT, NL, BE, CH, FI, SE, PT, WexUK.
Silver A6000 at WexUK (Click here).
Sony A6000 with lens at Amazon (Click here), Adorama, BHphoto (Click here), SonyStore (Click here)Sony Canada (Click here), WexUK (Click here).
Silver A6000 with lens at WexUK (Click here).
Sony 70-200mm FE at Amazon (CLick here), BHphoto (Click here), SonyStore (Click here). In Europe at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, AT, NL, BE, CH, FI, SE, PT

Sony a99 with and without mirror at ISO 100 and 6400 (by Maxime Siegler)

SAR reader Maxime Siegler tested the Sony A99 Image quality with and without the semitransparent mirror. yes, he removed the mirror fromx his camera :)

This exposure of “mirror, ISO 100, 6s, f/1.4” was matched to that of “mirrorless, ISO 100, 6s, f/1.4” by using the exposure slider (+0.5) in ACR >>> mirror match, ISO 100, 6s, f/1.4, +0.5
mirror, ISO 100, 6s, f/1.4
mirrorless, ISO 100, 6s, f/1.4

This exposure of “mirror, ISO 6400, 1/13s, f/1.4” was matched to that of “mirrorless, ISO 6400, 1/13s, f/1.4” by using the exposure slider (+0.5) in ACR >>> mirror match, ISO 6400, 1/3s, f/1.4, +0.5
mirror, ISO 6400, 1/13s, f/1.4
mirrorless, ISO 6400, 1/13s, f/1.4

His conclusions are that the “mirrorless” shots have:
* cleaner high ISO files, i.e., the noise pattern remains relatively smooth at ISO 6400 by ca. 1/2 stop (maybe slightly more).
* slightly more refined details.

This isn’t a suprise for none of us. We already knew there is some (negligible?) loss with the mirror. If Sony keeps developing the SLT tech I hope they will offer a mirror lockup feature on future cameras. Not impossible

A similar test made with the A55 SLT camera has been made years ago by Thesybersite.