You can now have some fun and play with the JPG and RAW comparison tool that just added the A7r images (Click here). There is also a new A7-A7r experience review article (Click here). And there is a surprising statement:

After shooting with the α7 and α7R for some time, I preferred the α7R for its faster, more reliable autofocus and better images overall. Naturally, I wanted to prefer the α7, with its lower-res 24MP sensor and lower price. The main reason I preferred the α7R: I liked the images better, and I liked the experience better. The α7’s JPEG noise suppression looks quite overprocessed, giving even out-of-focus areas a brush-stroke appearance, and its phase-detect autofocus isn’t as fast, nor as accurate (we’ll be testing further to confirm and characterize this).

So, now it’s the A7r that has a faster AF?

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Specs and Preorders 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 Preorders 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

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

A trusted source just told me that “the pre-ordered quantities are almost 200% bigger than expected by Sony“. That’s great news! It means they already sold triple as expected! Now imagine how much more they could sell with a rangefinder designed version (NEX-7 alike).

And now a new review:
CameraLabs (Click here) published the full Sony A7r review. And I like that first part of their conclusions:

“I’ll cut straight to the chase: the Sony Alpha A7r is one of the most impressive and exciting cameras I’ve ever tested. This is a camera which delivers the quality of the Nikon D800e in a body which weighs half as much and costs almost one third less….most high-end photographers I speak to cite the absence of full-frame models with AF as what’s holding them back from dumping their DSLRs and adopting mirrorless. Well Sony’s now removed that barrier with not one but two full-frame mirrorless bodies.”

Obviously the camera gets the “Highly Recommended” mark :)

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Specs and Preorders 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 Preorders 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

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

Click on image to enlarge

Zeiss 55mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS. Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT

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At very beginning some readers were disappointed to see that new Zeiss 55mm f/1.8 lens didn’t have a faster f/1.4 aperture. That said, the Zeiss 55mm shows an impressive performance! The graphs here show the FE lens versus the $4,000 Otus 55mm Zeiss. UPDATE: We are obviously are comparing apple and oranges as MTF graph do not match the same aperture. But as you see at medium apertures the lenses are on par. But obviously the Otus has been designed to give you a maximum sharpness at f/1.4 aperture. And compared to the Zeiss FE the corners are sharper when shooting wide open (f/1.4 the Otus and f/1.8 the FE). But not really by that much!

Click on image to enlarge

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MTF graph source: Zeiss Otus pdf, Zeiss FE page.

Zeiss 55mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS. Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT

Contax G lenses are well-known high quality, well priced and autofocus capable lenses. And thanks to the new soon to be released Techart adapter you will be able to use them with full AF and Aperture control on your A7-A7r. Just check the video on top to see how it works! That’s really good news considered we only can buy two native FE primes with AF.

Here is the list of great G lenses with links to eBay price:
Hologon 16mm; 1:8 on [shoplink 16235 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
Biogon T* 21 mm; 1:2,8 on [shoplink 16236 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
Biogon T* 28 mm; 1:2,8 on [shoplink 16237 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
Planar T* 35 mm; 1:2,0 on [shoplink 16238 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
Planar T* 45 mm; 1:2,0 on [shoplink 16239 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
Sonnar T* 90 mm; 1:2,8 on [shoplink 16240 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
Vario-Sonnar T* 35 – 70 mm; 1:3,5-5,6 on [shoplink 16241 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

Sony A7 Eye AF Test

A7r images samples in New York by Marc Morris.
A couple of new legacy lens tests at Siammirrorless. Go one page further to see more test images.
RX10 hands-on and samples (on second page) at Fotopolis.
Sony RX10 images at Digitalcamerareview and CameraLabs.
RX10 english manual download at Sony Asia.
SLRclub RX10 videos on Youtube.
Sony Cyber-shot RX10 Real-world Samples (Dpreview).

Anonymous: “Photovision (like BH in NYC) announces the presentation of the Sony A7, 7r in the following citys and dates: http://photovision.ch/neu/index.php?menu=Aktuell&teaser=ja&lan=d&aktuellid=3“

Anonymous: “Apparently in Australia you can order the a7r & a7 with a bundled metabones adapter: http://www.digidirect.com.au/slr_cameras/sony/sony_alpha_a7r_full-frame_mirrorless_camera_body has that made it to the US yet?”

Miguel: “See this tool to convert Sony A7r files to Nikon raw format, NEF: http://bagnonm.blogspot.com.es/2013/11/raw2nef-converting-sony-a7r-raw-files.html. Having a workflow based on Nikon cameras, I started sometime ago using a Leica M9. The DNG files that it produces forced me in principle to add another RAW developing program, so I chose to write a tool to convert from DNG to NEF, and keep rolling without modifying my setup.”

Beta with support for Sony A7/A7R (ILCE-7/ILCE-7R):
http://www.raw-photo-processor.com/RPP/Overview.html
http://www.raw-photo-processor.com/RPP/RPP64_1655Beta.zip

Specs and Preorders 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 Preorders 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

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

Sony sensor engeneers told at Imaging Resource that “the A7 use the same sensor as the Sony A99, which does in fact have offset microlenses.”

Honestly, didn’t know the A99 had offset microlenses. I have searched the web and found no info about the A99 having that. Did you know it? Would like to find some hard evidence somewhere…

Note: Siammirrorless site crashed after me linking to his site. His Legacy Test will be posted soon on another site with stronger server. Will link to it as soon as it is there!

Image courtesy: Yuri Afanasiev

On Mclassic and on Flickr you can see a first image comparison between the Leica M and Sony A7r. This is just a rough comparison but you can easily see how much more detail the A7r resolves. And at first glance it looks like the A7r has a tiny better performance on corners too.

A7r vs A7 High ISO samples at CameraLabs:

In my view I’d say the A7r is the winner here, capturing finer details at the lower sensitivities and only barely falling behind at higher ISOs – an advantage which is effectively eroded if you down-sample the A7r images or print them the same size.

Full Sony A7r review at Fotopolis (google translation here). The camera got the highest ranking because of the “sensational picture quality” and “To sum up, the Sony A7R are currently the best offer on the market photo“.

Also the German site Chip.de (google translation here) ranked the A7r as one of the best camera ever tested while the A7 is the best camera in terms of value for money.

Unwire Hong Kong posted sample images of A7r. In short, they don’t think the AF is fast enough, but the EVF is so good that he feels like viewing through a OVF.

A7 vs other 24MP cameras at Imaging Resource.

Sony A7 review at Clubsnap. Sony A7r test at Clubsnap.

Specs and Preorders 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 Preorders 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

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