DC.watch (google translation here) interviewed the Sony team who developed the A7-A7r cameras. As you can see from the picture this is quite a young team! If these guys are reading SAR than let me say one thing: Well done guys! You really did a great job! I can imagine it was quite a challenge (and an excitement) to create something completely new. Doesn’t happen very often in the camera industry where usually company tend to focus on conservative development of existing camera.
They have been interviewed by DC.watch and I will report some of the key info. The google translation tool is messing up a lot so please excuse me in advance if there is some mistake. Hope Japanese Friends can check up my text 🙂
These are the names and roles of the people on the picture:
Front row left (sitting): Sokabe Taku, the Responsible Designer
Front row middle (sitting): Sudo Takahiro, Design Leader
Front row right (sitting): Daisuke Sato, Product Planner
Back row left (standing): Hosoi Masaharu, Responsible for optical design.
Back row middle (standing): Hasegawa Yoichi, Responsible for autofocus design.
Back row right (standing): Foshan Sakiken, Responsible for quality design.
Some key info from the interview:
– They confirm the NEX name is gone forever. Everything is branded as ALPHA now.
– Right from the start the main goal was to create something small. A DSLR quality in a small package.
– One of the hardest challenges was to add the 1/8.000 shutter in such a small body
– The A7r contrast AF is faster than in other Sony mirrorless cameras due the new algorithm and Bionz X processor. AF is 35% faster than the one on the NEX-7. And that has been achieved by keeping a high accuracy
– The LAEA4 adapter and Sony A99 translucent tech are “almost” equal.
– EVF brightness has been increased by 30% and contrast is three times higher over the external FDA-EA1MK EVF.
– 4K video recording has not been added on the 7-series because of power consumption issues such as thermal dissipation.
– To place the EVF in the middle has the advantage on larger lenses that you are on the optical axis.
– The body would have become large with the EVF placed ion the corner like it is on the NEX-7.
– we are actively involved in the development of larger aperture lenses.
Again, thanks Sony guys for working hard to fulfill our …dreams 🙂
—
Specs and Preorders in US and Canada:
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
Zeiss 24-70mm at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, SE, PT
Sony G 28-70mm lens at Sony DE, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO.
Asia:
A7r at Digitalrev.
A7 at Digitalrev, Amazon Cina.
A7 with 28-70mm lens at Digitalrev.
111 Responses
those lenses probably will be released along a replacement for the A7(r)…
No lenses. Atrocious fps. small battery/low stamina, no ibis, same old sensors as A99 and D800, huge smearing and magenta cast on almost all M-mount wide and ultra-wide angles lenses, soft blurry video much worse than RX10….
Need I go on…
Great concept, bad execution!
#1 problem is that SONY doesn’t understand that OPTICS is more important that camera bodies.
You can’t be a successful camera maker if you are not also a successful optics designer and manufacturer. There is simply no way about that and no amount of talking about adapting other camera maker’s lenses will change that.
I give a “B” for effort and “C” for execution.
???
???
I regularly read comments on how essential large sets of lenses are but what is the basis for saying this?
1/2 of DSLR buyers never take off the kit lens the camera came from. Most of the rest buy 1 or 2 common lenses that satisfy common needs.
Personally, for ASPC NEX if the system added a 85 mm f 1.4 or 1.8 and a 70-200 mm f 2.8 the existing infrastructure would handle almost everything I want.
While there are professionals and other high end users who have greater needs then this there are many more who do not. I think those with really specific and demanding needs have no business buying brand new systems because there is no way they will be mature enough simply because there has not been time to build the system out.
I think Sony should keep improving their lens selection but as long as they do I do not see a crisis.
Even pro shooters I know don’t own that many lenses- especially wedding photographers. Making drama for that 5 percent who have to have it all IMO is a waste of breathe. Sony needs to focus on getting SSM in ALL their lenses including their ZA line-up- and weather seal since so many consumers seem to have to have it. More marketing appeal than anything IMO.
Try harder
Small, robust body
Low price
Full Frame
One off the nicest EVFs on the market
Roomy buffer for High Speed Priority – 30 images (5 seconds) in RAW and almost 9 seconds in JPEG
Top rated sensor with incredible image quality
Ability to use all existing A-Mount lenses with blistering fast AF
Ability to use many legacy mount lenses
Nice OEM grip to provide extra battery life
Sounds like PhotoNut is a glass half full kind of guy
Photonut, you got your nickname partially right…just drop the Photo part because you are nuts based on your comment or you should change to Phototroll which fits you better.
C’mon, give them some time for lenses. How many lenses Nikon develop per year? How many Canon develop per year? How many lenses Sony develop per year? This year alone they (Sony) have launched a lot for both A and E mount, both Fullframe and APS-C and here you’re complaining about optics. Yes, some are just upgrades, but the others aren’t.
PhotoNut,
This may sound like a stupid question, but… did you actually use the camera? can you say that you personally verified that what you are saying is correct?
I don’t think ANY concept is perfectly executed when it comes to cameras, especially if they know they have to come up with something better next year. It’s part of the business. But I do think that Sony broke a barrier here and it is indeed a revolutionary camera. I’m sure the next version will be even better. As far as the glass, Zeiss glass has never disappointed me, and now that Olympus will be doing lenses for Sony, then I think it would be nuts NOT to give this camera a try
Fantastic job Sony a7/r team. Congrats and greetings from Vancouver Island, Canada
I hope that the Sony A7 and A7R firmware can be upgraded to support a 1.2x, 1.3x, 1.4x crop options on the A7 and A7R which would give the photographer greater flexibility when using APS-C E-mount lenses with the fullframe At/A7R.
I find this feature very helpful. The Nikon D800 has a 1.2x option which allows me to use the Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G DX APS-C lens on the full frame 36mp D800 with a FOV of 42mm lens and still get a resolution of approx. 25mp and also a smaller my RAW files. The Nikkor 28mm f/1.8G on the other hand provides me with a FOV of 33.6mp.
While at it, perhaps Sony can also include a 1.1x crop option? Not only will this do away with having have to crop the photo during post-processing, it will also yield a smaller RAW file.
By incorporating the above-mentioned crop options, the A7/A7R would have one key advantage over the Nikon D800 in terms of still having a full view on the EVF rather than the smaller cropped view on the Nikon D800 when the crop feature is enabled.
The Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 is an APS-C lens but I can be used to good effect with the Nikon D800 using the 1.2x crop option.
As much as I like the A7R and have pre-ordered it along with the 35mm f/2.8, 55mm f/1.8 and the 24-70mm f/4 lenses, I have had to cancel my pre-orders after I diverted and donated all of my budgeted funds for the camera and lenses to the typhoon victims in the Philippines. But I look forward to Sony’s new cameras continually improving.
Two other features I would like Sony to incorporate on its next batch of cameras are:
1. IR port in front AND at the rear of the camera.
2. Touchscreen (My NEX-5N has this but not my NEX-7; the touchscreen is incredibly helpful).
I wouldn’t buy A7/A7R if it has touchscreen. I don’t feel that this is wise descision to incorporate touch screen in such camera. My Nex5 (1st ed.) and Nex7 always traveled with me, laying at back of screen (with lens pointed vertically up). When I used hard screen cover at NEX5, nothing wrong happened. When I used orginal PCK-LM semi-hard screen protector with Nex-7, my screen was slightly damaged. I know that You may feel I use it wrongly but I care more about my lenses than about the body. Much of them cost the same as body or even more. I plan to use all of them (all are FF lenses) with my newer bodies, even with my pre-ordered A7.
Best regards, WZ.
You wouldn’t buy a camera if it had a touch screen??? Turn the touch screen off if you don’t like that feature! Its incredibly handy IMO.
Touch screen does not compromise on the glass safety of the lcd. Don’t worry yourself about something you have not experienced. Millions of people nowadays are carrying their smart phones with them everywhere they go and you know what? Those touch screens are more reliable than the older non-touchscreen ones.
What you wrote makes no sense. You wouldn’t buy a camera with a touch screen because your NEX-7’s non-touch screen broke? Seriously…
I need UWA lens 14-24 to be exact.
In addition to using the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 on crop mode at smaller aperture opening to get a near equivalent of the 14-24mm on the wide end, please read my other suggestion to the Sony engineers below.
Yes, 14-24 f2.8 … but really … it probably sits at 14mm when you bust out this lens. so a better IQ 14mm f2.8 prime that is smaller is Best 🙂
I agree. The main reason I own a wide zoom is to take advantage of the wide end. The new FE mount system is really growing on me and this will most likely be where I am heading on the next body purchase.
One way by which the Sony designers can help the A7/A7R get quick and easy access to the existing huge lens library from Canon and Nikon is to develop or to work with companies like Sigma and Tamron to develop a full-featured adapter that would allow the CaNikon lenses to work with the A7/A7R. In one move, the Sony A7/A7R would have the biggest lens library which not even Canon or Nikon on its own can match.
There is such adapter to work with Canon lenses, Conurus/Metabones Smart Adapter III. It is a little pity that there isn’t such adapter to Nikon/Pentax lenses, but I don’t cry out. I use only Carl Zeiss lenses and aside Contax N (not converted to EOS) and Sinar ZH, there isn’t any problem to use Carl Zeiss lenses from PreWar Contax RF mount to current Otus with ZF.2/ZE mount.
Best regards, WZ.
OR, how about a SONY designed Nikon Adapter like the LAEA4 … But, please have at least 1 AF on the 1/3 crossing points … So, the AF can be at least close to the same lens on a D800. and all the controls …. that would be amazing!
fyi: I LOVE the LAEA4 … the 50mm f1.4 ZA SSM , AF in low light just as fast on the A7r as the a99. It make sense, but I was not expecting it. AND, I think it was also AF slightly faster than the A7 + 55mm f1.8 ZA combo. That was a Surprise!
Nice to hear some of the reasoning behind the design and the style of the body by comparison with the NEX-7.
(and design led by a young looking Jackie Chan :))
I thought they would be bathing in caviar, drinking Don P, while the Berlin philharmonic plays in the background in a specifically made for purpose lowrider limo (with the lab attached to the back)
That would be a fair compensation to these guys.
+1
Thank you for bring such amazing product. Never underestimate the power of Sony.
Some of the design decisions make a lot more sense now. When they say “larger aperure”, do they mean larger than what’s currently available or larger than f4? The real disappointment for me was the lack of oss on primes… I’d have probably been all over it if the 55/1.8 was stabilised 🙁
Interesting that they killed the nex brand, but God only knows how they’ll differentiate a and e mount bodies going forwards (not that the staff in the UK Sony stores seem to know the difference anyway).
I bet we’ll see a stabilized 50mm in future.
By not putting OSS in the 55mm Zeiss is staying true to their philosophy, and leaving room for Sony to introduce one.
And by Fast they mean REALLY FAST lenses like f/4…
We should all congratulate these guys on a great design project.
E-Mount = NEX; A-Mount = Alpha … that would make sense. I wish they would confirm to make a much better firmware support job as in the past. I wish they would also commit to avoid the production of crappy lenses, instead offering an alternative to very expensive Zeiss lenses. Minolta did that right! Young doesn’t mean they are willing to learn what the customers need. The decision to place the EVF into the middle of the body is perfect from UX perspective, well done.
I wonder how many of them are from the Alpha team actually? Noticed also how abrupt they were being asked about Minolta, NEX and number “7”. Sure they did a great job, the one that could be done two years ago. And pity the sensor problem has not been solved yet.
agreed!
IBIS would be nice…all my alpha glass stabilised. Not to mention legacy glass and other zeiss primes…
More aspect rations would be nice, 4:3 and 1:1 especially. So you could take square pictures with an APS-C lens without losing too much resolution.
bring us those primes. i want to see some f/1.4
Who would’ve though that Sony would make faster lenses?
Great work, Sony guys!
I read this rumor/news with wry amusement. There was some speculative pictures posted recently showing a possible A9 etc. The discussion got onto faster lenses and some people with (evidently) limited optical knowledge gave poster Chris Lewis a very hard time and were (imo) very rude to him.
For those who were telling Chris that faster lenses were impossible – Hah! just goes to show what those guys know!
As you could see from the exchange Chris and I had, I gave him a bit of a hard time because I thought he was saying (like a lot of m4/3 people say), “Since Panasonic can make a tiny 25/1.4, Sony should be able to as well.”
He came back later and clarified that he did not expect full frame lenses to be the same size as m4/3 or APS-C lenses.
Of course fast lenses are possible. Canon, Nikon, Leica, et al have been making F1.2+ lenses for over 40 years; there’s always the price to pay in size, though… bigger, brighter image circle = bigger lens.
What a lot of people don’t consider is that a 25mm on an M4/3 has the same FoV as 50mm on FF (and about 35mm on APS-C). A 50mm/f1.4 would necessarily have a lens approximately twice the diameter (assuming approximately equivalent design principles). It will also have to be notably longer. Perhaps not quite twice as long, but 30-40mm or so. Of course such a lens will deliver four times the number of photons for the same exposure settings (so has the potential for better IQ).
If you want to compare what a 25mm/f1.4 on FF would look like on M4/3, it would be a 12.5mm f1.4. That’s a totally different issue – such a lens would almost certainly have to be retrofocal in nature (to deal with lens registration and edge issues) and therefore relatively bulky.
The general point is that, for the most part, it’s far easier to design fast prime lenses with focal lengths reasonably close to the diagonal size of the sensor. Comparing the relative bulk of lenses of equivalent FoV without allowing for the differences in sensor size is bad enough, but doing so without even allowing for FoV variances is ridiculous.
Большое спасибо !
I am also very greatful for deliver us such cameras as Sony A7/A7R. I wish only a little better corner performance of A7R but it is still great. I changed my order from A7R to A7 due to poor performance of micro-lens designs.
Best regards, WZ.
“- Right from the start the main goal was to create something small. A DSLR quality in a SMALL package.”
“- To place the EVF in the middle has the advantage on LARGER lenses that you are on the optical axis.”
This illustrates why there is a design problem at Sony (and most camera manufacturers for that matter). If you design something to be small, then what’s the point in justifying putting the EVF in the mount axis because it’s better for larger lenses ? Where is the coherence ? They go on saying that “the body would have become large with the EVF placed in the corner like it is on the NEX-7”. Now that’s a slightly better argument, although I personally think that the A7/A7r bodies are in fact slightly too small, at least beyond the point where it brings too many drawbacks compared to the size advantage (battery life, cramped controls, poor handling with larger lenses, etc.).
Using a big lens doesn’t mean you have to put a big camera on it. The sizes of lens and camera are independent.
If anything, the heavier the lens, the more you want to save weight on the camera.
Hem…. nope. I prefer something that’s properly balanced with a size, weight and grip that’s coherent with the lens in front of the camera. I’m pretty certain, after having handled the A7/A7r, that very few people will appreciate using it with the upcoming 70-200mm telephoto lens.
Hmmmm, yes. It is just natural to support the lens (if large) rather than the body, hence the lighter the body the less unbalanced the whole combo, easy …
The nice thing is, you still have options. If you’re only going to be shooting big lenses, and you want a big body to go with them, you have plenty of other choices.
For people that think like you and want to shoot small lenses (i.e. MUST have a small body for the small lens) how many options are there? How many of those options are full frame?
My opinion is that there’s no problem with a big lens on a small body, it worked fine for me with the NEX-5 and NEX-7… but, of course you’re entitled to you opinion as well. Worst case, you can always add the vertical grip and/or screw a lead weight into the tripod mount to add some mass to the body.
It would seem you have extensive experience with the A7/A7r and large lenses. Please share a deeper report of your impressions.
If not, you make me sad.
Just like all the SLR apologists that complained endlessly about the cramped controls of the NEX-7 and never used one for a single day to realize it was actually quite nice.
I have bear-size hands and use the EOS-M with a 70-300mm with no issues. What is your excuse?
lol … agreed!
To each their own. Just because its right for you, doesn’t mean its OK for everyone. Thats what people on these boards seem to forget and try to preach their own.
I have A65 with SAL1650 and Tamron 70-300 USD. The camera with 16-50 feels properly balanced, but when I attach a Tamron, I wish I bought A77 instead as it becomes not as comfortable to hold with the right hand. But just because its not comfortable for me, i’m not saying that you shouldn’t use a Sigma 50-500 with your Nex7… Its all a matter of opinion.
Or even a Sigma 200-500 F/2.8 for that matter. I’d laugh my *** off if I saw you with that combo, but heck, its just an opinion.
With a battery grip attached, the camera is actually quite big. So I guess one of the advantages of a small camera is it can be transformed to a big cam when needed.
I wish I could have tried the grip bu it was unavailable then. But I’d bet there are other issues with the built-in grip that will still make the camera awkward to handle with longer, larger or heavier lenses (shutter release button placement, built-in grip shape, etc.)
This is what I love about the A7/r – the flexibility. On one hand it can be a compact cam almost the size of the RX1 but when needed, slap the grip and LAEA-4 adapter on and you have a mini A99. What other system can do that?
I’d agree with the others. Placing the EVF in the middle to facilitate use with larger lenses is simply the logical decision, when this doesn’t affect usage of smaller lenses or the overall package. They satisfy one constraint and make the camera more flexible, that is the point.
Also, that idea of a “weight and grip that’s coherent with the lens” is quite strange. Is there some design rule about that? Starting at which focal length does it become coherent to use a mirrorless camera? And aren’t then DSLRs incoherent when using pancake lenses?
Exactly. I don’t particularly enjoy using my 5DIII with the 40mm pancake.
Interesting. Where would you place your limit for using a lens on an a7/r? I mean, can you give some lens as an example? I do think that there is an ergonomics aspect somewhere there, but for the most part it is simply getting used to it.
I found that it was very nicely balanced with the 55mm f1.8 when I tried it. Dare I say I preferred it for handling purposes to the 35mm. On the other hand already felt that the kit lens was a bit cumbersome to use. One of the things I didn’t like is the lack of space between your right hand finger at the front and the lens mount. Also, after holding this configuration in my right hand for a while it already started to be a little painful and slippery. In addition, as it’s already been said, your index finger is in a slightly weird and unnatural position – you may get used to it though, but I’m ready to bet this is one of the things Sony will redesign with the A7 mark II – or let’s rather say that I find that there is a contradiction between the very rangefinderesque shutter release position and the rubber grip part that’s half-way between the way you’d hold a rangefinder and the way you’d hold a DSLR.
I don’t think there is a precise limit – I think it rather has to do with the overall combination. As an example I particularly dislike using my 40mm pancake on my 5DIII, but when I tried it with the 6D, it felt perfectly fine. I discovered that the reason is that the bottom left of the 5DIII is bigger, more distanced from the lens mount and squarer than the one from the 6D. As such the palm of my left hand is in a slightly awkward position when holding the combo. The alternative is not to support the lens and bottom of the camera per se, and hold the left side of the camera as you may hold a rangefinder – but in that case the weight of the camera starts to be a bit of an issue, particularly since most of the weight is on the mount axis (pentaprism and all that DSLR jazz).
I also don’t think that DSLRs are always brilliant for hand-holding larger or heavier lenses – I’m not too fond of the 5DIII in the regard, although it already is miles better than my previous’ D700. For some reason the ones I’ve always felt better with are the Pentax K7/K5/K3 cameras.
Yep, I also like the Pentaxes quite a lot. I still haven’t had the opportunity to try the a7, but the location of the shutter struck me as a bad idea immediately. I don’t see why they didn’t keep the NEX-7 interface, I find it particularly comfortable. As to bigger lenses, I’ve found that given that I am supporting most of the weight of the package with my left hand, I actually prefer a lighter camera. The only beef I generally have with mirrorless is the grip, but Sony has done a good job of making an actually usable one, at least comparatively to other brands.
In any case, thanks for taking the time to write this, I might use it 🙂
Actually, I don’t think the shutter release is badly placed per se, but that its relationship with the built-in grip and the lenses that may be used is bad.
A Leica M or a Fuji X-pro 1 have a rather similar shutter release placement – and with most M mount lenses and X prime lenses it usually works fine IMHO. It’s just that because of its placement, your fingers are naturally placed in a position that’s more akin to holding a vertical stick than holding a wine bottle – and I’ve always found this position slippery with bigger / heavier lenses (there is nothing better for muscling up your fingers than trying to hold a Leica M8 / M9 without a thumb grip with a Noctilux attached to it).
These cameras are designed for people who would much rather carry a small camera. You are obviously not the target of these cameras. There are plenty of large camera options for you to choose from. Even Sony has cameras such as A99 which is large. I personally appreciate that Sony has been trying to build small, compact, light weight that yet conform to the highest image quality. Cheers.
If Sony’ goal is to make a small camera, then it make little sense to justify putting the EVF in the middle by saying that it’s better for longer or larger lenses. Their second argument has more potential to be valid.
There’s a difference between small camera and smallest possible camera (no compromises). Really, what’s so hard to understand here.
People who are too lazy to carry a camera should not be using one. They should be in a seniors home being taken care of by a nurse.
Way to go – great job Sony Development Team!!
Glad to hear faster lenses are in the works (which will really show-off the beautiful bokeh capabilities of full-frame).
Unfortunately I had to cancel my A7 pre-order just recenlty (switched to the A7r instead). Hope I still get it soon.
“Hosoi Masaharu, Responsible for optical design.”
Could not help notice that he is the only one with glasses! 🙂
Well done, you all! 🙂
His glasses must be fully corrected and multi-coated,hahahaha.
Best design in years. With this camera design process, function was priority. The form then followed with simplicity. This camera is also the solution for my vintage lenses (Leica Hasselblad Minolta).
I would love to see a 24-135 f4 professional quality lens for my day to day get the job done tool.
thank you
George
While I think that the A7/A7r series are great cameras, there is a conflict between making smaller and lighter cameras and making fast, but large and heavy lenses.
I think that, for most people, the APS-C sensor is big enough (look what OM/Panny is doing with the 4/3) and hope that they will build a true successor to the NEX7. At the same time, I think that they should work on making smaller and lighter lenses that maintain top quality. Olympus managed to build good lenses for the original OM film cameras.
I want, desperately, to replace my Nikon, but I want a camera/lens package that is significantly smaller/lighter without giving up quality. Oh, and keep working on that AF speed!
Cool how the optical designer is the only one who wears glasses. Is he designing lenses, or the viewfinder optics?
they look so proud, all of them
They should be. I find these interviews with the actual minds behind the product to be a very good practice.
Slapping together parts that Sony has already produced, and mounting an aftermarket Seiko VF hump that only Snufaluphagous would be proud of, does not constitute “design”. Also, sounds like they are defensive about that SLR shape, they know the only award they could possibly take down for aesthetics is if LEGO has a convention in downtown tokyo.
You sure know a lot about design.
First off, snafaluphagous was damn awesome. Second, what product doesn’t recycle existing parts today? It would be cost prohibitive go from scratch- say hello to a 4k A7R- no thanks.
They sure look happy. It must be a great feeling to have been apart of such an amazing product. To bad we don’t have more of these types of jobs over in american. Non-the-less keep it up!
I would be content if Sony comes up with some relatively cheap and light FF lenses w/ AF. Something similar to Nikon’s AF-D line. Because 1000+USD for a 55mm f1.8 lens is just ridiculous.
Very good read. I’d be interested to know how long/feasible it will be until Sony can make a camera like this do 4K. They specifically said heat dissipation would be an issue doing 4K.
However it would be nice to have it as an option but perhaps limited recording time. The specs say BIONZ X is capable of reading 5K so really hope they add that as an option even without binning pixels. If it can do 30 seconds or whatnot that’d be perfect for my use.
I’d imagine it won’t take long. The RX1 was released only a year after the NEX-7 and from what I hear it doesn’t have the issue.
yep… some F1.4 and perhaps a 1.2 prime would be very welcomed. That said, a nice ~20mm that’s sharp into the corners would be priority. After that a 35/1.4, 50/1.2 and 85//1.4 line up that is optically exceptional would really make this system shine. Otherwise they’re just nice cameras but not a real system. Of course, Zeiss is supposedly designing manual focus lenses for the FE mount so that would be interesting. Would love to see the 35/1.4 distagon adopted to the FE mount and shrunk down a bit. Perhaps something more in line with the contax 35/1.4 and not the ZE behemoth
They are doing soo many things right.
But when the heck will they start using a new CODEC ????
24/28 mbit is soo low against other Cameras and makes color correction a pain in the ass.
Of course, you can spend another 700 bucks on an HDMI recorder, but Sony is able to get it right from the beginning on.
Don’t get it wrong, I love the sony Cameras, but this simply fixable issue is the only thing that makes it almost uninteresting for videographers.
Impressive & well done, congrats!
Jackie Chan build the A7R???????????
plz sony, let Chuck Norris develop the next Alpha FullFrame!!!!
If it hurts you, buy from Solms. Nice prices too. 😉
If Chuck Norris designed it, then it would be “You don’t use A7r Mk II to take pictures, it uses you”
Chuck who?
You’re smoking some strong stuff there if you think Chuck is anything worthwhile. Chuck karate no contact champ.
Is that so obvious from the picture? LOL!
Respect!!
I have found the A77 Development team here.
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/39862000/jpg/_39862217_rontramps245.jpg&imgrefurl=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/photo_gallery/3490393.stm&usg=__h-YbeiZmo9I9TZkSny6chNdz258=&h=245&w=300&sz=17&hl=en&start=3&sig2=YWq8CjPxVd7Dh7tIQAXUfA&zoom=1&tbnid=zAZdZh2wqmYntM:&tbnh=95&tbnw=116&ei=tHaPUoqsFcrm7AaIyoHQBQ&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dtwo%2Bronnies%2Btramps%26safe%3Dvss%26sa%3DX%26biw%3D1366%26bih%3D628%26sout%3D1%26tbm%3Disch&itbs=1&sa=X&ved=0CC4QrQMwAg
Very possible. Maybe soon but not now.
A7 or A7R… hmmm, i’m thinking i get the A7 over the 7R….. I called the Sony NYC Store again today, just to troll and find out things, and they said “no early shipments, the earliest will be December 2 because December 1 falls on a Sunday”…. But in store will be December, while supplies last. That being said, i think B & H will ship their on friday the 29th because of the Sunday release.
I’m still not sure what is best a7 or a7r..ordered the a7 and I may stick with my decision but I wish Sony made it clearer on the differences that in the end of the day seem less obvious and mixed up….they should have called one the 7s for speed and 7r for resolution and made the differences between the two more obvious….
The statement about top EVF being on-axis makes zero sense. The sensor for the EVF is the camera sensor itself so it is exactly on-axis and could not be otherwise. The display for the EVF is above the axis instead of above and to the left. I find the NEX-7 EVF location to be much superior and a more compact design.
I’m not sure if you’ve tried it, but I find having the viewfinder aligned with the lens gives more stability, especially when you’re shooting at lower then the recommended shutter speed, it’s still possible to do it even with the viewfinder aligned to the left, but I personally find that my hit rate is higher with the mid viewfinder. Of course the sad part is you lose the neat rangefinder look, but the middle bump is not that bad at all. And it’s not that Sony purposely made the bump that way, the EVF on the A7/r and NEX 7 is different, the A7/r bump has the EVF + 3 layer glass which require more space then the NEX 7 EVF
Thanks Andrea for all your work!
Has there been anymore mention of bringing back some of the Minolta Rokkor Classics like the 58mm 1.2?
So these are the 6 guys who make any Sony camera purchase obsolete in six months.
I still think the middle EVF and limited video options were calls made by marketing/management. The SLR look is hot right now (even Fuji is rumored to be getting in on the action) and even better 1080P from these cameras could threaten Sony’s FS and VG line. Personally I think the latter decision in particular is a wasted opportunity. Had Sony stepped up the video it could have led to a nice halo effect like the Canon 5D. Instead they’re waiting to release a 1Dc competitor which will be great but not affordable enough to capture the minds and hearts of the much, much larger aspiring filmmaking market.
rant over. And I’ll still get one of the A7 despite some silly shortcomings (IMHO).
” To place the EVF in the middle has the advantage on larger lenses that you are on the optical axis.”…and that makes sense how?
A lower base ISO would be much more appreciated than a one stop faster but terribly loud shutter…but oh wait they used an old sensor…
IMO they could’ve encorporated 1/1000s leaf shutters into the FE lenses, and you (or the camera could according to the current exposure) which shutter to use, to maximize usablity and keep operation silent.
Congratulations to the team on the awesome new cameras!
Guy’s, you just moved the world a bit.
Don’t worry Admin. I read the original article and your translation. They are perfect. No mistake 🙂
Thanks for letting me know this 🙂
I have noticed incredible performance on the A7r stopped down with MF lenses. Like I have never seen before on any camera. In the interview, they go on about the special diffraction reduction for “any lens”. But I am still not sure this feature would work with out a signal from the lens, i.e. old manual focus lens, or Leica lens, maybe doesn’t work? It seems to, but i’d like to confirm that 🙂
Congratulations guys. For all the groundbreaking work. Some of you might have worked on the Rx1 and Nex as well(guessing). Great stuff.
I knew there was a face in the technical department for all the good work coming out of Sony in the last few years. Didn’t guess it was such a young face. So then, what would be the age of those working under these people?
As an engineer and user of Sony equipment and particularly I would love there to be a forum where the designers actually participate. We use the Sony 7 series and I am a little frustrated that the team doesn’t understand how crippling it is to have current the lossy raw compression. One can easily see from the DP review samples the huge difference in raw results from Nikon 810 and Sony A7R. I see this almost every day when I have to pull out detail from raw images from the A7R.