Understanding Compression of the Sony A7R II Uncompressed ARW Raw Format (Diglloyd).

A7rII

Diglloyd posted two new A7rII articles:
Understanding Compression of the Sony A7R II Uncompressed ARW Raw Format
and
Reader Question: Convert to DNG for Sony’s Space-Wasting 14-bit Uncompressed RAW Files?.

And here are two key insights he shares about the new A7rII uncompressed RAW format:

1) The Sony A7R II captures 14 bits per photosite. The Sony uncompressed raw format then stores these 14 bits in 16 bits, bloating the file by 14%. In other words, Sony wastes about 9MB per image for no value or purpose at all. So Sony users lose triply: wasted storage, degraded camera responsiveness, fewer shots before the camera buffer fills.

2) A lossless-compressed format can save far more than even the bit packing mentioned above. Nikon and Canon use Huffman encoding. But it might be that the CPU in the Sony cameras is not fast enough for Huffman encoding?

In short, we would all save space, time and have a faster camera if Sony could add lossless-compressed files and not use the 16bit format. Let’s hope Sony has this on their todo list for the next firmware update!

Sony A7rII store links to [shopcountry 41860].

Zeiss Batis 85mm f/1.8 in Stock at eBay UK (worldwide shipment).

[shoplink 41868 ebay]Bildschirmfoto 2015-10-23 um 16.17.31[/shoplink]

It’s still almost impossible to find the Batis lenses in Stock. So you may jump on this one:
Two Batis 85mm Batis lenses are for sale at [shoplink 41868 ebay]eBay UK (Click here)[/shoplink]. Comes with three years Zeiss warranty and ships worldwide.
They also have two Batis 25mm lenses for sale again through their [shoplink 41870 ebay]eBay UK store (Click here)[/shoplink]

Batis store links:
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.

Sony A7rII deal at Digitalrev.

A7rII_Digitalrev

There is a deal on the brand new Sony A7rII sold at Digitalrev (Click here). The value of the price drop depends from the country you are buying from.

More EU deals:
Special A6000 deal at Amazon DE (Click here).
Bis zu 50 EUR Sofortrabatt auf den Kaufpreis beim Kauf einer ausgewählten Sony Kamera at Amazon DE (Click here).
​Sony Alpha 7 Kamera mit gratis Flashstar Rucksack at Amazon DE (Click here).
Up to 200 pounds off at Amazon UK (read details here).

$850 off on the Sony A7s! Buy five of them and watch here what happens… :)

[shoplink 41872 ebay]A7s_savings[/shoplink]

The super deal of the day is that A7s that sells with $850 discount and 1 years US seller warranty on [shoplink 41872 ebay]eBay US (Click here)[/shoplink].

It’s now so cheap you can buy five of them to create that 360 degree A7s camera:

[shoplink 41798 ebay]A7s_o[/shoplink]

Dom Azyl St-Amant wrote on facebook:

We’ll be shooting Northern lights, 360×220 degrees, resolution of 6k x 6k. Here’s the monster, 5x A7s, 5x 4k recorder, 5x canon 15mm.

And there is a long list of special PhotoPlus deals running at BHphoto (Click here). Please use the code “PPEBH15” to get the discount on some of those products.

New Sony A7sII review by Cinema5D!

a

Cinema5D (Click here) reviewed the new Sony A7sII. They like the camera that much they should rename their website CinemaA7 :)
This is their conclusion:

The Sony a7S II feels like a matured product. It is truly amazing to see how much technology is packed inside this little thing. As a documentary film shooter, this will become my preferred working tool. I treat those cameras like “a brain” that can be expended or minimise depending on the type of work I do. Additionally, I prefer internal 4K recording over an external device when ever possible or needed, so the Sony a7s II is the perfect working tool for me.

Last but not least, It is also worth mentioning that I did not have any overheating issues with the camera during the long shooting day. All was shot inside at normal room temperature. I would love to hear other user’s experiences and see if they had similar issues as reported with the a7R II.

And here are more brand new A7sII tests:


Sony A7SII vs Sony FS7 – Slog3 S-Gamut3.Cine Test by Creative Grit on Vimeo.

Sony a7S II : 4K Hands On Video (Adorama Pro).
Sony A7S II – Overview | A7S II VS A7R II by Armando Ferreira.
Sony A7S II First Shots: Giant pixels get updated processing to accompany those 14-bit RAW files (Imaging Resource).
Sony a7S II Unboxing and Low Light Test Footage (Digitalrev)

Sony A7sII is now shipping in USA at Amazon, BHphoto, FocusCamera, Adorama. And in Europe/Asia at ParkCameras, WexUK, Jessops and Digitalrev.

(SR4) Sony to announce a new A68! To be unveiled in early November already!

[shoplink 41647 ebay]

sony_slt_a65

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At last I have some good rumor for the A-mount folks! According to one source Sony will very soon announce the new Sony A68 APS-C A-mount camera! It will replace the [shoplink 41647 ebay]current A65 model (image on top)[/shoplink].

Those are a few specs of the new A68 camera:
24 megapixel sensor
79 AF points
19 AF Cross points.
Price around $600
Announcement in November

One more thing: At that point I don’t know if also the FE lenses will be announced in early November or the next few days at Photoplus. Eight FE lenses will be released between now and early Spring.

Stay tuned on SAR and subscribe the newsletter to get info when it matters:

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Reminder (SR = Sonyrumor):
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SR5=almost certainly correct!

Sony FE and A-mount announcements…

Bildschirmfoto 2015-10-21 um 09.59.38

I know for certain Sony is going to announce the new A-mount camera AFTER the Photoplus show. What I still don’t know is on what day exactly Sony will announce the new FE lenses. The PhotoPlus show is starting today so we may hear more about it the next 24-48 hours.

One small hint: Gary Fong just posted on Facebook:

“I told my agent that I’m coming down to the US for an unexpected meeting with Sony.”

So let’s hope this is for the new FE lenses!