Day 3 With the Sony A7RII. Just some quick Samples..
So day three with the A7RII here in Portland just ended, and I am tired. So tired that I am now in my pajamas laying in bed and dozing off as I write this. Because I am so beat, I will keep the text short and let the images speak for themselves.
Also, for those who have been asking, I will post full res files in my full review in 2-3 weeks. I will test certain Leica lenses on the camera as well. So stay tuned for that.
For now, just a few more images from today. Myself and almost everyone here is loving this camera. Was speaking with some well known camera reviewer names today and they agree that this is a phenomenal camera. From its snappy AF, to excellent tracking C-AF to it much better build, quieter shutter, superb high ISO performance and great video it is so much different than the 1st gen A7 bodies…AND THIS IS GOOD.
Stay tuned for my full review soon.
For now, take a look at some images from today and yesterday afternoon with various lenses.
You can order the A7RII at Amazon or B&H Photo. They just started shipping today!
All EXIF is embedded. Lenses used were the Zeiss Batis 25 and 85, Sony Zeiss 35 1.4, Zeiss Loxia 50 f/2, Zeiss 16-35
TO SEE THESE CORRECTLY YOU MUST CLICK ON THEM TO SEE THEM LARGER!! IF YOU DO NOT THEY WILL NOT LOOK AS INTENDED. Thank You!
Hello from spain , i have Sony 7 II and i want to sell it and p33 handycam 4k to buey the 7rII. Congratulations for your photos are wonderfull ¡
I would like to see how 15-21 mm UWA Zeiss and Leica lenses do on the new A7R II, particularly on edges & in corners. I have some Leica M and non-Sony Zeiss glass I would like to adapt to the A7R II.
The 15 Voigtlander is awesome, and problem free. It is a Leica mount and prob the best 15 I have used. I prefer it to the Zeiss 15 and Leica 18.
Hi, Steve – thanks for your reply. I have had a lot of color fringing problems using Zeiss 15mm Leica mount, Voightlander 12mm, and Leica 21mm on the A7 II and especially the A7R. I have just used the Zeiss 15mm ZM on my new A7R II for landscapes and it works the way the Zeiss people originally said it should with Leicas and film. I am very happy. I emailed Brandon three shots from the Vioghtlander 12mm last week, and can send some from the 15mm. I would be interested in a discussion of UWA problems with previous Sony A7x cameras as well as the vast improvement with the A7RII. Cheers, and thanks for your reviews. FaceBook, etc.
I liked the portrait of the young woman. Then again, who wouldn’t? 🙂
She’s obviously not from Portland, they must have flown her in for the shoot 🙂
It looks like the remote trigger dedicated for Interfit 180 or 360 (sold under this name in US – link: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1079148-REG/interfit_str226_strobies_pro_flash_360w_s_kit.html ) or the same, but cheaper, sold under name Genesis Reporter 180 or 360 in Europe (link: http://www.genesisgear.pl/en/lite-reporter/51-genesis-reporter-360). I own one from Genesis (I think they are the original vendor of this) and beside it doesn’t allow HSS it works well. The strobe itself is quite powerful and for the money it’s definitely good choice.
It looks like the remote trigger dedicated for Interfit 180 or 360 (sold under this name in US – link: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1079148-REG/interfit_str226_strobies_pro_flash_360w_s_kit.html ) or the same, but cheaper, sold under name Genesis Reporter 180 or 360 in Europe (link: http://www.genesisgear.pl/en/lite-reporter/51-genesis-reporter-360). I own one from Genesis (I have the feeling they are the original vendor ) and beside it doesn’t allow HSS it works well. The strobe itself is quite powerful and for the money it’s definitely good choice.
Steve,
Your comment, “The fact that nearly any lens can be used on it is a bonus.”
This is not true for prior A7 models with the adapter?
I can use any less in my A7s and 98% of them on my A7II, the old A7R and A7 not all did well, but only those 28mm and wider.
I haven’t seen anyone either ask ur inform about the file size coming out of this badboy, so I’ll ask; how big will your jpegs and raws be approximately? Cheers!
Steve, few questions:
I’ve asked this for A7II and I will for this, how does it compare to the E-M1 in terms of responsiveness. I use E-M1’s near eye detect with great success with my toddlers and I’ve struggled to let go of my M43 kit mostly for this function. Now that A7RII has continuous eye detect autofocus I’m hoping that problem is solved. My kids move even when I ask them to smile and stand still. and I take lots of candids and if the A7RII compares well with the EM1 in this regard I can start transitioning systems.
I also count heavily on E-M1’s continuous autofocus with things like Soccer games. When you do your final review is it possible to do a test on moving subjects? I get a 70% or so success rate with my son running at me full speed.
Sadly AGAIN no touch screen for the A7. Moving autofocus points isn’t the best on the A7 series thus far is it improved in any way on the A7RII?
The A7RII’s C-AF is better than the E-M1’s from what I seen so far. It’s quite amazing actually. Do not compare this to the A7, A7R, A7S, A7II. It has a new sensor, new AF system, New Enhanced 5 Axis, etc. It’s fantastic in every way. The fact that nearly any lens can be used on it is a bonus.
Nice! Ditching an entire kit would definately justify the price tag for me. I know it’s not really your style but if you can on your full review. A quick test of the eye detect would be much appreciated. I know a good amount of Olympus users really enjoy that feature and if Sony got it right this time. It’ll help a bit with those who aren’t happy about that lack of touch screen!
Much thanks for your day to day updates. Sony owes you a bonus or gift or something =p.
With such a good sensor i wonder if it’s the glass holding it back. Interesting to see the results as more people get their hands on it. I wonder if it will take Otis range of lenses to really bring out the differences. So far not that impressed, but really we’re at where shooting a “real/normal” ISOs all good cameras are hard to tell apart. User interface/feel etc seem more important to me than absolute IQ. Anxious to read your full review Steve after you’ve had more time with the camera.
The glass i not holding it back but letting it shine. ALL FE glass can out resolve the A7RII sensor.
Nice variety of shots and the first one looks about as 3-D as it gets – real show stopper. I’ll reserve judgement on skin tone color as it is difficult to know what the ambient light color temperature was for these shots.
Can you share your feedback on color artifacts, banding and pixilation issues that people are complaining with Sony? What are your findings with raw files from this camera on those issues?
Ive commented on this many many times. I will say it again, the whole thing is for pixel peepers not photographers. You will not see any issues in any print or online file. I have never seen one artifact in my A7II, A7S or this A7RII. I do not pixel peep as pixel peeping has no place in photography. I have a gorgeous 20X40 print from my A7II and guess what? Looks amazing and no artifacts or pixilation or banding. None. Have not seen it and even if I strained my eyes at 100-300% views on a large 4K screen it would be tough to find anything. So this is drummed up from either those who are stuck with Canon or Nikon or pixel peepers who only care about pixel peeping and not taking real photos.
I can understand the problem in astrophotography where it can come up, but not in any other photography as you can say. Yet it isn’t such a problem it is reason to avoid Sony.
I shoot astro/nightscape photography with both the A7S and A7R and have never seen the problem… But I guess if you wish to blow the images up to 300-400% you’ll see something?
Yes, it is a pixel peepers thing 😉
Thanks Steve for your comment.
if think if you have very fine tonal gradients then you can run into banding problems because of compressed 11-bit raw files…
Hi Steve
does it offer a smaller RAW setting that still gives great result??, as the 40MP will require some hardware upgrades to process!
Suggest you download the A7RII manual. Pg.77:
Full Frame:
When [Aspect Ratio] is 3:2 When [Aspect Ratio] is 16:9
L:42M 7952 × 5304 pixels L:36M 7952 × 4472 pixels
M:18M 5168 × 3448 pixels M:15M 5168 × 2912 pixels
S:11M 3984 × 2656 pixels S:8.9M 3984 × 2240 pixels
When [APS-C/Super 35mm] is set to [On]:
When [Aspect Ratio] is 3:2 When [Aspect Ratio] is 16:9
L:18M 5168 × 3448 pixels L:15M 5168 × 2912 pixels
M:11M 3984 × 2656 pixels M:8.9M 3984 × 2240 pixels
S:4.5M 2592 × 1728 pixels S:3.8M 2592 × 1456 pixels
This is an incomplete quote from the page. Underneat that it says:
Notes
• When [ Quality] is set to [RAW] or [RAW & JPEG], the image size for RAW
images corresponds to [L].
So raw is the full shabingbang.
can you please test internal 4k video. as a friend is suffering from overheat and crash when it did.
I shot about 5 minutes and had no issues, but again, my review will be in 2-3 weeks. Thank you.
Do these camera still convert 14-bit files into 11-bit?
As Steve said in a former post, these pics are OOC JPEGs. Colors can be put right in PP when the RAW converters are available.
If this camera comes close to the agility of an OM-D E-M1 then I am really interested. And if Zeiss would give us a lovely 35 to 50mm standard Batis, I’d get nervous.
Despite all the GAS, Sony really seems to have achieved something nice with the A7RII.
I’m about to pull the trigger and buy a7rii, one question to you guys which will be your first lens choice 35 1.4 or 55 1.8 ?
Thanks
I went with the 35 1.4, more versatile. Landscapes and environmental portraits.
The 35 1.4 is a hell of a lens.
This camera is supposedly about small size. So the choice is the 55 1.8. It’s much smaller and lighter than the MASSIVE 35 1.4. It’s also cheaper in price. (However, I prefer the 35 1.4.)
i would love the 35 1.4 but went for the 55 1.8 and the 35 2.8 and an very very happy. The 35 f2.8 is a pretty great lens too and it’s tiny and light and pretty much lives on my camera. A nice compromise
No one can answer that but you…what focal length do you prefer?? Personally I would buy the 35mm but someone else would go for the 50mm…They’re both good lenses but the 35mm is pretty big.
Agree with Clint that it is a personal question for you to answer. I have had the 35mm 1.4 for two days. Not too big for me and the pics are wonderful. That’s with “just” the A7R. Again a personal point of view, the 35 offers more of an opportunity to landscape as needed. The 25 is too wide if going to do portraits – and the 35 won’t warp a portrait as long as you don’t get too close… plus with the high pixels, you can always zoom in and in and…
Get the Zeiss Batis 25mm & call it a day!
I agree with FRI 13 . Lovely photos,
I also agree that all photos have a red tendency especially the faces.
Love the images. What kind of wireless trigger is the one on the last image?
As I know you like the Otus lenses, I’m looking forward to your thoughts about the pairing of the Otus with the A7RII. Thank you, very much.
Otus lenses are WAY too huge, I am not a fan for that reason. I am a fan of the IQ as it is beautiful, but would never buy one for my use as I would hate using it due to the size, then adding the adapter makes it even bigger. The Batis lenses are not too far off, and made for E mount and much much smaller.
Ah, I see that you were not compelled by your guest contributor, Dirk De Paepe’s essay on the subject. I do appreciate your views. Before deciding I will try the combination out myself. Thank you, very much.
Good set of samples. And looks like camera pushes red and blue channel easily at max and over losing details in OOC.