In Stock status: The A7rII is in Stock at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, and Digitalrev!

This is probably the most “philosophical” A7rII review to date. Dearsusans claims that “While my informal and brief testing can’t let me conclude that anything in the quantity department is any better than before (resolution, dynamic range …) quality is a quantum leap ahead in the A7rII.”

And with Quality they mean theA7rII images have a much improved “aesthetics” suggesting that Sony completely changed the way images get produced:

It seems that, through the combination of slightly lower contrast, better white balance and something else…colours show better differentiation. Without being more saturated, they feel bolder and more balanced. Photographs, even when pushed hard, don’t get that slightly cartoonish look that happened on occasion with the previous camera.
Black and White photos: What I’m seeing is not only more clarity, notably in the shadows, but also better, smoother tonality. Even with contrast pushed significantly read way too much, as above ? ), photographs remain rich and smooth. This was not always the case with the A7r which could sometimes become grainy and harsh.

They have done what only film manufacturers bothered to do before them. They have crafted a look.

A7rII (left) vs A7r (right): “Colours and tones are more differentiated, the photo seems brighter and more lively. Resolution is also slightly better and holds sharpening better, too.”

A7rII preorder list:
In USA: at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, FocusCamera, Uniquephoto.
In Europe at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT. Wex UK.
In Asia at Digitalrev, CameraPro.

A7rII case:
Gariz leather case in [shoplink 39113 ebay]Black (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 39108 ebay]Camel (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 39110 ebay]Orange (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 39111 ebay]Brown (Click here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 39112 ebay]Red (Click here)[/shoplink]. Also available on Amazon US (Click here).
Gariz Alcantara case in [shoplink 39094 ebay]Black (Click here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 39095 ebay]Red (Click here)[/shoplink]. Also available on Amazon US (Click here).
Lim’s case in [shoplink 39107 ebay]Black (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 39102 ebay]Brown (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 39103 ebay]Red (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 39104 ebay]Yellow (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 39105 ebay]Navy Blue (Click here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 39106 ebay]Khaki (Click here)[/shoplink]. Also available on Amazon US (Click here).

Image courtesy: Gregwatermann.com.

Zeiss Ambassador Greg Watermann sent me this:

I recently tested the new Batis lenses shooting actress Kassandra Kanaar in Hollywood. You can see the photos she approved here: http://www.gregwatermann.com/clients/KKanaar_2015/. All pics were shot handheld and wide open on an a7R. Zeiss made a behind the scenes of our shoot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azRl6i06BD4. And you can see more info at the bottom of this page: zeiss.com. The optical performance was exceptional. Beautiful skin texture, obviously sharp, no chromatic aberration, and wonderful to focus manually. The Image Stabilization is amazing and the lenses are perfectly balanced on the camera. All images shot handheld and wide open.

There is also a full 85mm Batis review at Admiringlight:

The lens is simply spectacularly sharp, and starts that crazy sharpness right from f/1.8.  Wide open shots display exceptional clarity and gorgeous background blur while providing a flattering contrast profile for portraits.  I simply love the look of the images from this lens. It’s an absolutely top-tier optic and one that I’m already saving my pennies to purchase for myself.

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.

While the 55mm FE lens is the best autofocus lens ever tested I noticed on the DxO interactive graph that the new 90mm FE G lens is actually the sharpest lens in their database. Even sharper than the $4,000 Zeiss Otus lens line!

This also means I changed my mind and I will go for the FE 90mm macro and not for the Batis :)

90mm links:
In USA at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, [shoplink 37938 ebay]eBay US (Click here)[/shoplink].
In Europe at [shoplink 37991 ebay]Fotomundus[/shoplink], Amazon Germany, Sony Germany, Sony UK, Sony FR, Sony IT, Sony ES, Sony NL, Sony BE, Sony AT, Sony CH, Sony SE, Sony FI, Sony NO, Sony PT.
In Asia at Digitalrev, Sony Australia.

P.S.: Sony FE 90mm f/2.8 Macro OSS G Lens Review by SonyAlphaLab on Youtube.