Image courtesy: Imaging Resource

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Imaging Resource (Click here) added a couple of interesting A7r comparisons with other cameras:
– A7r vs Canon 5DmarkIII: “the Sony A7R clearly overshadows it with much more fine detail, particularly on the mosaic and fabrics.”
– A7r vs D800E: “Both cameras here show fantastic detail. The Sony actually does a better with the mosaic in its default JPEGs than the Nikon.”
– A7r vs Pentax 645D: “The camera that shocked the staff of IR with the amazing level of detail it showed now has a competitor with the Sony A7R. The mosaic crop shows slightly crisper detail in the A7R’s image, while the Pentax still produces a cleaner image of the red fabric.”
– A7r vs RX1R: “The A7R pulls ahead in the fabric crop however, with better fine detail in red fabric.”

Conclusion: “it’s clear that the Sony A7R delivers fantastic image quality, across a broad range of ISO levels. Sony seems to have finally gotten a handle on their in-camera JPEG processing”

Part two of the A7r review by Frank Doorhof is now online:

What I really like about the files from the A7r is the quality of the “pixels” now let me explain. A lot of RAW images are fine but as soon as you start pushing the pixels around they will often break down, this can be because of dynamic range, noise or simply because….. you fill in the blanks. Medium format files are in my experience always rock solid, as long as you don’t lift too much shadows they can be pushed around like crazy without “breaking”. The A7r files are very close, due to the lack of the AA filter the images are incredibly sharp, and I really mean incredibly sharp, there is detail there that you will never see on a normal DSLR, however you have to realize that your choice of glass get’s incredibly important, if you use mediocre glass you will get very mediocre results

Also our friends from Digitalversus (Click here) published their full Sony A7r review. They say the A7r sets a new standard in term of image quality. Overall score is only 4/5, but this is due to an odd rating system where short battery life or “long” starting time (3s) wheigh has much as control or image quality is the overall score.

Specs and Preorders in US and Canada (Click on store name to see direct preorder page):
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

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

Image courtesy: Camerasize.com.

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With the introduction of the new Nikon DF (specs here at Amazon) one more company enters the “Retro” (hype?) momentum. Dpreview writes: “My worry about the Df is that Nikon might have gone too far backwards for the sake of cosmetic appeal, without really adding any practical benefit to the shooting experience.” That said cosmetics matters and it’s nice to buy and own a good-looking camera!

The question I would like you to answer now is. Would you like Sony to offer a retro alike A- or/and E-mount camera? Or would you prefer Sony to improve the current more modern design? They could take some inspiration from great Minolta camera slike the [shoplink 22551 ebay]X-700 (here on eBay)[/shoplink] or the [shoplink 22567 ebay]X-700 (here on eBay)[/shoplink].

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P.S.: I would be already happy if Sony would remove the orange paint from the mount ring :)

Some said the A7 and A7r are ugly but Nikon made an even more crazy new camera design. UPDATE: The Nikon DF has just been announced (Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto).

After Fuji and Olympus also Nikon is trying to give some touch of “old” design to their digital cameras. Don’t know if it would be a wise move for Sony too. Let’s say, something like a [shoplink 22551 ebay]Minolta X-700 (here on eBay)[/shoplink] could be nice or not?

[shoplink 22551 ebay][/shoplink]

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In October we had that big A7-A7r announcement. But it won’t be long until we will get our next big Sony event:

A trusted sources already unveiled to me that Sony will launch new APS-C and Full Frame cameras in Q1 2014 already! He couldn’t unveil more details, he only added one hint: One of the new cameras will be very loved by the SAR community :)

Note: From February 13 to 16 there will be the big CP+ show in Japan. Sounds like the right time for such an announcement!

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Message to sources: You can send me more info anonymously by using the contact form you see on the very right of your browser. You can also contact me directly at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com.

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Reminder (SR = Sonyrumor):
SR1=probably fake rumor
SR2=rumor from unknown sources
SR3=50% chance it is correct
SR4=rumor from known sources
SR5=almost certainly correct!

Lenstip (Click here) published the very first image samples taken with the new Sigma 24-105mm f/4.0 Full Frame lens. They used the Canon mount version but as you know the lens is available for A-mount too at Amazon (Click here), BHphoto (Click here) and Adorama (Click here).

Sigma loves to make huge fast tele lenses like the 500mm f/4.5 EX DG APO Autofocus Lens for Sony/Minolta A Mount (here at BHphoto). And it looks like there could be two more such lenses in 2014. According got Canonrumors Sigma will launch a new Sigma 300mm f/2.8 OS and 400mm f/2.8 OS tele prime lens in 2014. A new 500mm and 800mm zoom lens could also be announced although CR says it’s not sure about it. Yep, finally some new great tele to take sports pictures or spy your neighborhood ;)

P.S.: And a new tele lens from Tamron will be announced next week (via Photorumors).

Egami spotted a new Sony patent describing a sort of Full Frame [shoplink 22467 ebay]NEX-5 alike camera body[/shoplink]. This would become an insane small body! Yes, it’s possible to make such a camera but does it make sense if the FF lenses are so big? I doubt it Sony will launch a camera like that.

But on the other site one very trusted source already told me that there will be a couple of new FF E-mount bodies in 2014. So let’s see! I would prefer to get a NEX-7 alike FF camera first….

This is the NEX-5 vs A7r size comparison via Camerasize: