Quick note for Germans: Since today you can preorder the Batis lenses at Amazon: 85mm (Click here) and 25mm (Click here).

Digglloyd is the first site publishing the full graph of the new Batis lenses! Links:
Batis 85mm MTF at Diggloyd.
Batis 25mm MTF at Diggloyd.

Here are some of his early conclusions:

BATIS 85mm:
– Overall contrast is superb wide open, even into the corners.
– Stopping down a bit more delivers outstanding micro contrast at f/5.6, far exceeding most lenses and no less good than the very best Leica M lens.
Has some pincushion distortion. Seems that distortion was traded off for uniformly high sharpness and a smaller/lighter design, knowing that the camera can correct for it automatically (or the raw converter).

BATIS 25mm:
– Modest micro contrast at f/2. However, overall contrast is superb wide open, even into the corners, and that very high overall contrast is critical to visual impact of the image.
– Most notable, the performance is exceptionally uniform at all apertures from center to corner. This is highly unusual for a 25mm lens.

Both lenses are now available for preorder in USA and Europe (UK/Germany)
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.
Lens shade for 85mm at Adorama, Bhphoto.
Lens shade for 25mm at Adorama, Bhphoto.

The very first full size image samples taken with the new 85mm and 25mm Batis lenses have been posted on Flickr by Zeiss:
Full set of 85mm f/1.8 Batis image samples (Click here)
Full set of 25mm f/2.0 Batis image samples (Click here)

Would like to know what you think about the quality delivered by those new lenses!

Both lenses are now available for preorder at BH and Adorama:
Zeiss Batis 85mm f/1.8 lens in US at Adorama, Bhphoto. In Eu at WexUK. In Asia at Digitalrev.
Zeiss Batis 25mm f/2.0 lens at Adorama, Bhphoto. In EU at WexUK. In Asia at Digitalrev.
Lens shade for 85mm at Adorama, Bhphoto.
Lens shade for 25mm at Adorama, Bhphoto.

A7s at [shopcountry 35949]

Vice News shot a series about Boko Haram and used the Sony A7s to record in complete dark scenes. You can see the full video on Youtube (Click here). That kind of reportage would be almost impossible to make without the A7s.

3Dkraft (article here):

“The video from the “Carnival of Venice 2015” is now public. It was recorded with Sony A7S, Atomos Shogun, Zeiss FE 16-35/4 OSS and Zeiss FE 1.8/55. The wideangle clips shot from tripod show the real potential of this combination. Unfortunately, the handheld portrait shots moving around the masks show the loss of quality due to the lack of stabilization of the A7S and the FE 1.8/55 even after digital stabilization (warp) in post processing. Scenes like that require a glidecam, brushless gimbal and additional OSS for professional demands. Irrespective of these little technical imperfections, this video shows the art and beauty of the masks and the scenery in Venice Carnival. Beside that, the article shows some zoomable images taken out as single frames from the video showing the quality of the 4K recording (still in process..).
YouTube (4K/2160p): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1sTOu1e6wk
Vimeo (Download of the original 4K file for Vimeo members): https://vimeo.com/124041563“

Sony A7s Supercut Review by Stronzvanderploeg:

Overall the Sony A7s an incredibly specced camera especially considering the relatively low price point. If you need low-light or mirrorless full frame, it’s definitely the camera for you but just know, you’ll have to deal with a lot of workarounds and you’ll have to learn and adjust to some of the backwards design decisions.

Mark:

I’m a long time reader of Sony Alpha Rumors (I’ve been using Sony since the A900), and would like to pass on my recent experiments with combining the A7s with a Microsoft Kinect for a mixture of 2D video and 3D animation. I put together a blog article and some example videos showing how to combine the two devices using DepthKit software, and thought it might be interesting for your readers:
DepthKit with Microsoft Kinect + Sony A7s
http://idezo.ch/depthkit-with-microsoft-kinect-sony-a7s/
DepthKit – NASA Space Sounds Experiment
https://vimeo.com/124230332
idezo Labs: DepthKit with Microsoft Kinect + Sony A7s
https://vimeo.com/124167201

Kay Burn:

“My name is Kay Burn and I shoot photos and video underwater (and aerial work too).  
I recently housed my A7s with a Metabones adapter and the Canon 100mm f2.8 IS L in a Nauticam housing and used a prototype port and focus gear to shoot some macro video in the Lembeh Strait in Indonesia. I thought you might be interested to see how it performs;
https://vimeo.com/124127993
More details are available on the vimeo page itself.“

Sony A7s store links:
Sony A7s in USA/CA at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Sony USA, Sony Canada.
Sony A7s in Eu at Sony DE, UK, ES, FR, IT, NL, BE, AT, CH, SE, NO, FI, PL. And Wex UK.
A7s Gariz leather case in [shoplink 27569 ebay]Black (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 27570 ebay]Brown (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 27571 ebay]Red (Click here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 27572 ebay]Orange (Click here)[/shoplink].