Store links:
In USA:
A7rII at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, Uniquephoto.
RX10m2 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, Uniquephoto.
RX100m4 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, Uniquephoto.
In Europe at:
A7rII at Sony DE, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT. Wex UK.
RX100m4 at DE, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT. Wex UK.
RX100m2 at DE, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT. Wex UK.
In Asia at:
A7rII at Digitalrev, CameraPro.
RX10m2 at Digitalrev, CameraPro.
RX100m4 at Digitalrev, CameraPro.
Sony A7r Mk II Autofocus Demo (video on top) by The Phoblographer:
The original Sony A7 has terribly slow autofocus performance–slower than molasses. But from what we’re seeing so far, the Sony A7r Mk II is incredibly fast. In fact, it’s faster than the Sony A7 Mk II and about as fast as the Leica Q.
Dpreview had a short hands-on and writes:
Ergonomically, the a7R II is to the original a7R what the a7 II is to the a7. The grip is much deeper and more defined, the control dial layout is different and the body is a little chunkier. If you’ve used an a7 II, the new a7R II will feel immediately familiar. Near-identical in fact. Interestingly, in a highly unscientific test, it did seem to us that the a7R II’s control dials move a little more freely than the somewhat stiff dials on the a7 II.
Interview with Interview with Sony Artisan Brian Smith about the A7rII:
More tidbits: First look by Adorama (Click here). 5 Reasons Why You Will Want One by Patrick Murphy.
A7rII Image samples via Sony.net:
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Reminder:
Sony decided to allow preorders of the three new camera starting from June 17 at 16.00 London time (confirmed via BHphoto). In other timezones this means:
8am Los Angeles time
11m New York time
17:00 Berlin time
24:00 Tokyo time.
Be sure to be online on SAR on that hour as I will link to all major stores offering preorder options on the very first minute! If you want the camera as soon as it gets stay tuned on SAR 🙂
104 Responses
I’, afraid, the A7R II is a “must have”…
Good for you. I am heading to m4/3 exactly for Sony reasons that it can’t really offer the small package with the quality I need.
While A7r II is excellent by specs sheet, it is not so much better than even existing m4/3 based the samples Sony has given (photos, 4K video etc) that it is worth to stay in Alpha line.
When I want quality and I want “Full Frame” then I rent a medium format that blows out every “crop format” like A7r II.
So you’re insane, good for you.
Why would you say that, he’s just saying he can’t afford it and is looking for ways to justify that.
no… he say’s the a7 series is not much better than existing m4/3…which is BS
Oh well in that case, yes lol
But I don’t think anyone’s can be that stupid.
My money is on the troll-bait 🙂
I understand he (Mk.82) prefers smaller cameras. Fine for him, the m43 really offers good quality and a fine selection of lenses. If I could effort it, I would also go medium format. But right now as an amateur, Sony FF is the sweet spot for me. Before the A7, APS-C was the sweet spot for me, but not anymore.
This is on the button for me. Before the A99 with Zeiss glass was a far fetched dream financially. Now I have an A7mkII with a 55mm 1.8 and some great lenses with adaptors. I am taking photos I never thought I could with my old A77 and A700.
I understand the A7rmkII is a great camera, if I could afford it I’d buy it in a heartbeat, but the A7mkII is perfect for what I need right now. Time to get collecting some more E mount lenses first!
It obviously depends on what you need, but it boggles my mind that you find m43 photo quality nearly as good.
One advantage of a smaller format should be cheaper lenses to manufacture. On the contrary, good m43 lenses are quite expensive. I do not see the point of overpaying in comparison to a slightly more expensive full frame lens.
Consider also the price of a flagship olympus camera which is again priced above competing aps-c’s and comparable to some a7 models. Bad, bad pricing.
That and the lower dynamic range put me off m43. Except for the IBIS high resolution mode, this new camera is superior in every way compared to whatever m43 offers at the moment. I would recommend reconsidering your position.
As an E-M1 user, I’m awed at what a capable and versatile camera the A7R II seems to have become, now that it has IBIS and full A-Mount compatibility. If hand-held supertele and macro photography weren’t two of my major fields – now, for the first time, I would be tempted to switch to Sony. But for supertele and macro the smaller format still has its advantages, even if the 42 MP sensor already reduces them quite substantially.
Yes, and you should review it with some RF lenses 🙂
I read your previous work on rangefinder lenses on the A7/R with great interest, thank you for that.
Do you expect that the BSI sensor stack would eliminate most problems with rangefinder lenses and give us a platform similar in quality to the Leica M?
Thanks
I want to hear the shutter!
Yes, I also want a confident shutter that says: I am here
Sony killed it. They are never boring.
I guess we now know how A7r II won’t cannivalize on A7 II sales; price difference. It’s quite substantial.
You can almost buy 2 a7 II. What will Sony do with no camera in the a7 line in the $2k price range?
They will keep on selling the a7r and a7s.
they have… it’s called a7s
Yeah, exactly.
The A7r has gone down in price by around $500 (incl vat) though.
Between 1 jan 2014 – jun 2015 the price for the A7r has dropped from $2,418 to around $1,935 (incl VAT!). Numbers roughly converted from Swedish krona (SEK) and discounting any sort of special deals.
You can actually buy two and have change. I saw more than one non registered with warranty and receipt and hardly used a7II sell on ebay for about 1200
Where’s the approx. 4 MP EVF ?
Where’s Hi-Resolution with sensor moving à la Pentax / Olympus ?
Anyone know if there’s full size samples?
Nice! Finally a back illuminated sensor in that size! The low light performance must be amazing and it should solve problems with all the wide angle range finder lenses.
But… What’s the sync speed? Please don’t tell me, that it is 1/160 again…
1/250
I have a feeling that all the delay in releasing the A7R II was because Sony did last minute changes in sensor resolution.
It was planned to be the same 36MP
Only a feeling
I agree. The A7r II was probably planned to use the same sensor but only add stuff from the A7 II like IBIS. I guess they tried that but found out that their intended target audience would rather just buy the A7 II instead making the intended A7r II not the “pro level” -choice they intended it to be.
The launch day being in August is a bit disappointing though; i actually expected to be able to buy the camera in july.
Agreed with July release time frame which just in time for Summer vacation.
It’s the first BSI FF sensor in the world. Brand new design not really even very closely related to anything that’s been used in any camera before.
You don’t pull that kind of sensor out of hat for “last minute changes” in few months, that thing has been in development for YEARS make no mistake.
Umm .. Yes maybe .. It was a feeling only
Maybe because I don’t know about that BSI sensor :/
I suppose it’s possible they were developing the sensor for A9 or whatever but just lately managed to improve yields to make it more economical and therefore decided to include it in a “lesser” body on relatively short schedule.
who says (for sure) that there will be an a9?
Agreed. This is no tweaking of an existing design. That sensor is new, in just about every way possible, whilst still remaining Bayer pattern. What is the game changer is the incredibly high read rate. That makes many things possible. It allows for faster EVF refresh rates, better AF as more points can be read faster, video without line-skipping and so on. That it can do this without overheating and making power drain excessive is very impressive.
What I had not appreciated was that, by moving to BSI, it would be possible to use things like wider circuit interconnects, add more functionality and so on without adversely impacting light collection. It’s clearly more important on sensors with relatively small pixels, but there are surely also gains on lower resolution versions, even if they won’t be as pronounced. That A7 II, whilst impressive at the time, now looks like a stop-gap. I wonder how long it will be before an A7 III appears. The A7S could benefit too, but that has a very different sensor design to the A7 & A7R. However, if they could boost the read rate on the A7S sensor by a similar factor it would make a big difference to the rolling shutter artefacts it is prone too.
I wonder if such a method would allow for a move to a true global shutter in time.
I intend to put my money where my mouth is by buying this camera.
At about 25000 HKD, it is a lot of money; but it is also a lot of camera. With every passing month from the release of the 7II, I have been suspecting that the changes would be major. I have not been disappointed. I have been reading through the information on Sony.net and I am impressed; to me, it is easily twice the camera than the existing 7R.
That Sony have added silent shooting on a 42.4 megapixel camera is a triumph of engineering. I was dismissive of the rumour that this would be available on the 7RII. I am happy to be proven wrong. Silent shooting is one of the capabilities that I love on my 7S and to have it on a high resolution model is monumental. I suspect many others will agree. Add to this EFCS and reduced shutter vibration, the 7RII is proving to be a much more capable camera.
Another aspect that impresses me is the improvement to the viewfinder magnification. I have tried using the Loxias and had come away thinking that it could be fantastically difficult to accomplish focus because the image in the viewfinder was lacking in clarity when at high magnification. It seems Sony has made significant improvements to this.
The video capabilities are another major surprise to me. I thought that Sony would consider video as an afterthought on the 7RII and leave it to the 7SII to excel in that area; but again I have been proven wrong and am glad to be. With internal 4K at XAVC S 30p/100Mbps and major improvements to video capabilities in general, the 7RII might get people who were not much interested in video to give it a try just because the capability is there and it would be foolish, in my opinion, not to develop your skills set given that you have the option.
The new auto-focus capabilities of the 7RII is another major surprise for me. From 25 point CDAF to 399 point PDAF with 25 point CDAF is no small accomplishment. Add to this the -2 to 20 EV sensitivity range, the expandable flexible spot options, eye AF in continuous AF and 5 fps in continuous AF, it becomes clear that Sony is manoeuvring this camera into the strengths that were once only available in the A mount range. I suspect that many A mount users will be intrigued by what this camera has on offer.
Of course IBIS was expected; but when added to the above improvements, the 7RII is a technological tour de force and all the more impressive. Those non-stabilised primes by Sony and Zeiss are going to be finding a nice home on this this body. One more thing I would like to add is that the eye-piece for the EVF is redesigned and appears to be more comfortable. I am glad to see Sony paying attention to this aspect as the current eye-piece, in my opinion, is quite uncomfortable.
Naturally, there are aspects that I do not like. Namely that I prefer the dials on the first generations of the α7 range and that there is no USB 3, no 802.11ac and no touch screen. However, I am willing to overlook these aspects (for now) and continue taking pictures and videos.
With more lenses on the way from Sony and Zeiss adding the Batis line and more Loxias to full-frame E mount, I think Sony is moving from strength to strength and will reap great rewards. For me, the price is justified when you consider the research and development that was necessary to produce this camera and the features it delivers. I am eager to combine this body with the 90mm G macro, Sony-Zeiss 35/1.4 and 25/2 Batis. Good times to come!
5 minutes at 4K.. yeah wow…. not!
So what about A9? Is it still coming? In which areas should it be better then A7 II? I’m used to buy 9-class cameras. I cannot easily convinced myself to purchase 7-class body, although a really nice one.
Use a knive, a 3D-printer and some glue to change the 7 to a 9.
fixed
Sounds like a great conversation-starter. 🙂
And it’s even a A9RII! 🙂
Dont’t do it!
This would force you to rename all the firmware-update files, too.
Hey child, go to mama to have some milk
A9 hasn’t been confirmed in any meaningful way. If all you want is the prestige of saying I own the best, go spend $50,000 on some medium format gear.
Otherwise, ask yourself what you need that you don’t currently have. If the A7rII has these features why hold out for the possibility of an A9 that would possibly cost $3,000 to $5,000?
Exactly, higher incidence angles are drawn by Sony in their chart. BSI and anti-reflective coating are very interesting indeed.
Is it compatable with the LA-EA4 Adaptor ? I noticed in the article about the camera that it says LA-EA3 and LA-EA1 (isnt the LA-EA1 discontinued?). How is the A7r2 working out for A mount lenses?
You can use the LA-EA4, but you’re probably stuck with the LA-EA4’s outdated and slow AF (I know, I have one). Might as well sell it and get the LA-EA3 in order to use the new 339 Phase detect AF
IF you dont have screw-drive lenses and IF the the new AF does indeed work faster then the LA-EA4 with the lenses you have. Remember the updates of the SSM motors? I’d wait and see how it works with “old” SSM/SAM lenses etc…
Are you shure about this? According to Sony the LA-EA4 supports phase-detection AF, and not the LA-EA3.
https://us.en.kb.sony.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/37304/~/what-is-the-difference-between-the-la-ea1,-la-ea2,-la-ea3,-and-la-ea4-lens
The store websites say June 11, like you sayat the top of page.
But at the bottom of the page tyo say jun ll.
I this correct or a typo?
Sorry typo. It’s June 17.
A loudsy interview video with Brian. Don’t they have better camera to do a video? Sony rings any bell?
So what about the A7000? I hope A7rII, RX100m4 and RX10m2 is not all that they are going announce for now … an intrigue
Not too surprisingly…Canon rumor sites are already talking about the possibility of a Canon BSI sensor.
Samsung opened the can of worms with the first apsc 28mp bsi sensor.
Sony was forced to follow
Canon and Nikon will also be forced to follow…of course Nikon will simply use the Sony sensor for thier new ff f mount mirrorless camera to be anounced around the end of this year or the begining of next year.l
What do you mean by forced to follow? You think they developed the sensor from scratch in less than 6 months? Sour grapes!
What do you mean “sour grapes”
I do not own Canon or Samsung cameras.
Forced to follow as in recular CMOS sensor cannot perform at a comparable level to bsi with high res/small pixel sensors.
Canon will be forced to compete or face an ever increasing performance gap.
Considering that Sony cameras will now accept Canon lenses Canon cannot afford to let that happen.
Canon is at a disadvantage in that they cannot develope a new sensor as quickly as Sony.
Canon claims they will use the best available sensor regardless of who makes it.
Will they?
I mean you. They are forced to follow by the technology. It should have been in development for atleast over a year and has been a long time coming and has nothing to do with Samsung’s NX1
BSI on this size of sensor (APS-C or FF) is 99% marketing spin.
The Samsung APS-C sensor does not exceed other state-of-the-art APS-C sensors.
My theory is that the 1/4 stop boost of BSI is enough to compensate the 1/4 stop penalty of adding PDAF points on the sensor, hence keeping the DxOMark score up. It’s all about marketing spin, nobody notices a 1/4 stop difference IRL.
1/4 stop is a 1/4 stop
It’s just another step in sensor-technology progression. For 1/4 stop improvement I would claim, sensor tech needs about 3 years.
But the bigger improvment of BSI here is the faster readout-speed compared to conventional sensors. BSI allows put even more wires and connectors in the layer, without blocking any light.
Only pixel size matters, sensor size is irrelevant.
42mp AND 102,400 iso is not hype
Exmor tech has only achieved that at up to 24mp.
Several new sony patents have appeared specofically for improving bsi sensors
BSI sensor may behave better with WA lenses.
5 minutes 4k? is this a bad joke?
so sony wanted to get 4k on the feature list at all cost?
the sensor will be an interesting thing.
thought i don´t expect the same wonders as some noobs who are thrilled by buzzwords.
overall a good camera.. but 4K? honestly sony?
5 minutes 4k? is this a bad joke?so sony wanted to get 4k on the feature list at all cost?the sensor will be an interesting thing.thought i don´t expect the same wonders as some noobs who are thrilled by buzzwords.overall a good camera.. but 4K? honestly sony?
The Price of this camera is a Joke I think that’s a huge mistake, I don’t really think photo-guys will be super exited about more pixels or in body IS in Exchange of worst ISO performance, Video guys (like me) will be waiting for the a7sII instead to avoid moire and alliasing (caused for line skipping) . I don’t think this camera been popular at this price.
1. price will drop
2. Up to now all each Sony FF mirrorless body was just a lousy compromise. A7Rii is still not my dream camera, but I don’t dare to speak of a compromise any longer. Sony knows that and that justifys the price tag.
I personally think all cameras are overpriced, but if you compare the a7rII to what is on the market, the price seems in line with the competition. Not that there is anything comparable out there.
I am more than happy to pay this price. For the features there is nothing comparable. RIP 5DS
I can’t afford this. I am very happy with my A7mkII. But wow, Sony are again doing amazing things. Maybe wanting this camera is the push I need to try and make more cash with my photography.
Well done, very impressed!
The dude in the first shot doesn’t look very happy. I guess he’s not happy with lossy compression either.
I did not remember to read anything about lossy compression in A7Rii.
But I remember rumors that Sony had been working on a new raw-compression for A7Rii.
If you know more and I missed something, please let me know.
That they didn’t say anything speaks volumes as to there being no change.
This camera is anounced since 18 hours. There is more other fancy stuff to talk about. RAW compression is not yet the topic right now – we will have to wait.
IMO there is nothing wrong with RAW compression. It it’s lossless, perfect. If it is a changed lossy, but better then the A7R ones, okay. Just the way, how Sony did it up to now is disappointing.
(Note: I am software-developer for embedded systems and work a lot with data-compression algorithms. I have really an excellent background in topics like that)
It is not lossless or perfect. Dozens of experts have documented the problem. https://sonyvnikon.wordpress.com/2015/03/18/we-are-not-alone-sonys-lossy-117-bit-raw-files/
I know this topic very well and agree with dozens of experts.
But in general the problem is not that it is lossy.
The problem is the Way Sony is doing lossy compression.
In a camera where IQ is of the essence lossy compressing of RAW’s is quite a huge deal though.
They don’t want to admit that there even is such an issue.
Llloyd reports lossy compression on new camera
Dprevew writes
ARW 2.3 for A7R and
ARW 2.3 for A7Rii
=> So it looks like the same crap lossy format again 🙁
I’d like to see full size samples.
This amazing BSI sensor could be well used for a Zeiss Ikon D and the ZM lens line. The legendary Zeiss OVF and a modern digital focus confirmation/digital rangefinder would be great.
any word about the AF assist beam of flashes finally working?
A recorder will get you hours of 4k. 5 minutes is great, much better than zero.
How much will IBIS change the weight? For 150g I wouldn’t care. I find IBIS excellent and would be willing to carry more weight just for that.
I understand your view and think IBIS is great, but 150g less is a very good decrease when it is applied to a single item in the backpack. 150 off the camera, 100 off one lens, 200 off the backpack itself, 150 off the jacket etc. In the end, it makes a big difference.
I don’t think it’s a bad thing. The times I want internal 4K is for super mobility and I wouldn’t use a 5 minute take with that. 1 or 2 minutes at the most. Otherwise, use a recorder and you are fine.
Maybe you should unload your gun before a date.
depends if I like her or not
me too
I voted that I’d not buy any.
Still too early to know if all my issues have been addressed from my A7r:
-2 button presses to enable focus assist.
-Return playback to how NEX-7 was implemented.
-The outright lie that the camera raw is 14bit, it’s not even 12bit.
-Button map to toggle LCD and EVF.
-Sounds like minimum shutter speed setting has been included.
I just hope I have the patience to wait for the price drop, but I am not betting on it.
Presales start in a couple hours and all they have to show is some very small low res?
Stupid.
What about that lower DR? I’ve been shooting them side by side and the hyped extra 2 stops of DR is just that- hype. I have yet to be able to really illustrate the differences. Maybe it is me.
I like to base all of my camera purchase off of 400 pixel wide JPEGS. Who else ?
You don’t get it. Downresing from 42Mpx to 400 wide is how they achieve clean high ISO 🙂 Also, better for your computer. Double whammy.
I didnt think the A7r II had the 5min 4k limit. Just the RX100m4 due to Heating issues i suspect. I havent read anywhere that it applies to the A7RII, maybe i missed it?
Admin will you please post when Hi res Images are available? Thanks!
I sure learn a whole lot from image samples that are the whole image at 640 x 480.
The A7RII Auto focus video has to be the worst camera video ever uploaded to youtube.
I was not expecting Sony to publish the full specification on their website that early. It took them ages for every other a7 camera.
You are mistaken; that limit applies to the RX100M4. According to information on Sony.net, the continuous recording limit is 29 minutes.
Paid $1,900 CDN for A7R when it first came out, but….$4,000CDN for the A7RII !!!! Way overpriced. Twice the cost, Sony wake up, if you want this camera to be sold cut the price by at least 33%. I wont be touching it until the price drops to a respectable level like $2500 to $3000 CDN. Its a shame, because the A7R is a great camera but for the out of focus pics, and noisy shutter. Count me out, but I have to admit it seems that you have corrected your mistakes from previous model. But I wont be paying the price. Time to switch brands again.
Does anyone know if the 2/10 second timer delay has been decoupled from the AEB? That would also be very useful addition to the new version?
Here are some mountain shots from this week.
http://midsierramusing.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-new-sony-a7r2-in-mountains.html