Reminder: A7II now in Stock at Amazon, Adorama, Bhphoto and Sony US and Digitalrev.
Brian Smith (Click here) wrote a detailed hands-on of the new A7II. He confirms that some third party lenses will get the 3 and not 5 axis stabilization:
Other lenses will receive 3-axis IS from the camera IBIS – but even 3-axis is one axis more than what’s available with almost any other image stabilization system. Lens-based image stabilization only controls Pitch and Yaw (with one exception – Canon’s “Hybrid IS” in their 100mm macro). With this exception (at least for now), Sony and Olympus 5-axis IBIS are the only IS systems that offer X/Y or Roll compensation.
Another yet untold detail is that one:
The 5-Axis Sensor-Shift Stabilization mechanism also moves a magnesium-alloy heat sink that’s attached behind the sensor. This helps dissipate heat when shooting long video clips of long continuous still bursts.
Also no more “Phantom ISO changes”:
A relatively small change – but a good one – is that the control wheel no longer adjusts ISO without first selecting activating that control.
and:
ony A7II uses the same 24.3mp sensor used in A7 but it with different image processing that promises better high-ISO noise reduction for in-camera jpegs.
One more hands-on at ChipChick and noise test at Focus Numerique.
USA/Canada A7II links:
Sony Alpha a7II (Body Only) for $1,698 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore and Sony Store Canada.
Sony Alpha a7II with FE 28-70mm OSS Lens for $1,998 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore.
Sony 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G SSM II Lens for $1,148 at BHphoto.
EU A7II links:
Sony Alpha a7II (Body Only) for 1.799 Euro at Sony Germany, Sony UK, Jessops UK, Sony France, Sony Italy, Sony Spain, Sony Austria, Sony Switzerland, Sony Netherland, Sony Belgium, Sony Portugal, Sony Sweden, Sony Finland, Sony Norway.
Sony Alpha a7II with FE 28-70mm OSS Lens for 2.099 Euro at Amazon Germany, Wex UK, Jessops UK, Verkkokauppa.
Asian/Australia A7II link:
Sony A7II at Sony Store Australia, Digitalrev and Amazon Japan.
65 Responses
That stabilization looks more and more impressive.
And tomorrow:
“Pope really likes the 5-axis system in Sony A7II. He can easily shoot from the car when travelling. It used to be the opposite in 1980s.”
Pope confirms A7ii gets 3 axis stabilization on some 3rd party lenses.
Popes use technology when it helps to “strengthen the Catholic community around the world,” But how does 5 axis stabilization help accomplish this task?
Shaky faith.
Shifty Bishops agree. 5 axis gives pope 4 full stops of stabilization.
Why impressive, do you need it when shooting off your keyboard into the wall?
Yawn none of these things really matter when taking pictures. Pulitzer ran out of cash and tried a little paid marketing?
People work for money. What a concept.
And good luck to those with the talent & tenacity to pull it off.
People lie for money, too. Try thinking…
If you wish to assume the worst and be cynical to a fault, that’s your choice. Meanwhile, you can point to these so-called “lies” in Brian Smith’s review and make an actual argument, otherwise back to my first sentence. Try following…
Touched a nerve nerdie?
Yeah, because when you are a videographer shooting on a hot day it’s doesn’t matter that your camera overheats…
They’ll all over-heat given a hot enough day as will the videographer if he’s not got the sense to gauge the situation accordingly.
Did he win the Pulitzer with a Sony camera?
No it was a photograph you dip-shit.
He got that one eith his iphone
Hi Andrea, the link to the Brian Smith post is wrong. It should be:
http://briansmith.com/sony-a7ii-hands-on-review/
instead sends you back to the SAR homepage.
I guess at these hours of the evening we are all a bit done for 🙂
HULK find amazing how many UNSPONSORED reviews wobble cam gets…
HULK not sponsored?
They changed the mount on the Mark II. No more wobble.
Sorry to disappoint.
HULK Nikon camera only sell because SPONSORED review?
Sony has better Marketing and PR departments than I thought 🙂
Sony has done a good job of getting this camera into some great photographers hands over the last few weeks like Brian Smith, Gary Fong, Steve Huff, Michael Reichmann, Colby Brown etc
Read: Into the hands of bloggers who benefit from click-through sales.
Don’t know about others, but Huff is anything but great photographer. He’s just a guy weigh with questionable attitude.
Which of those are “good photographers” exactly? I mean good photographers, not catchy-writing non-photographing bloggers.
why people should believe Sony after abandon the mount A? all my friends sold Sony cameras and jump to Canon and Nikon. Why they didn’t go for E-mount? Because they felt
disappointed and cheated, sorry Sony
There is no abandoning… At least jet. You get high quality lenses for a mount and some of them also get new versions. But honestly.. I would completely understand if they close a mount development and concentrate on E-Mount. Professional users get a dumb a to E-Mount adapter and everybody is happy
The dumb A to E mount adapter does nothing for enthusiasts, let alone professional users
wake up my friend 🙂 that’s just marketing lies. Sony has very good marketing
department and spend a lot of money to make You believe them again. So throw your SSM and Zeiss optic or just have a denture entrylevel fun with some LAEA. Good boys don’t do twice the same mistake, sorry Sony
SONY
make.believe
Also because E mount fails in critical departments, where DSLRs excel.
In three years time your ‘clever’ friends will be moving again to another mount …
Not the best example to follow.
What is the cheated ?
Are you want to replace your gear every year ?
Oh how come no one left Canon when they abandoned FD mount? Learn history before complain much, Nikon is the only company using still using the same mount from the 1900s
Pentax K, Leica M, all medium format mounts, all still in use today.
does not matter abroad which ship is it (pancanikonpusamy), it is not important at all. the real concern, buy the Mount that you like most because in the end, that is about your own money, you must happy with your spending 😀
I never think there will be a perfect camera a.k.a God Camera which can pack all inch stuff in one and meet all desire needs such as:
-lightest and smallest body <RX1 size/50MP or above
-highest low light high ISO 1,000,000 ISO baseline (can see ghost’s ghost)
-5IBIS or above
-Full Nanocarbon.allum body
-Water sealed sealed 10meter min,/All kind weather sealed even in space
-Flexible touchable Hologram screen UI
-Startup time 0.001s
-2048 AF points hybrid insane fast and accurate AF
-totally silence shutter mode powered by Quiet 2.0
-whatever you call it….
is about how much you can tolerance with the camera limitation it has. So enjoy your gear you brought btw 😀
You have friends? If they are tools like you, happy they all switched to Canikon.
Come up with a better story next time, trolls here are getting worse every day ..
Yes please leave and don’t let the door hit you on your way out.
But do post a link to where you sell your A-mount stuff. Since although all crybabies say they are leaving A-mount, the A-mount prizes on ebay are as high as ever. I’d happily pick up your A-mount gear for a bargain.
Yes, please link! Please flood evilbay with cheap Sony and Minolta glass!
What is the definition of third party lenses? Only lenses which are connected via dumb adapters or also native E-Mount Sigma, Zeiss and samyang lenses?
When you buy a camera from Sony:
– You are considered one of the parties in this deal, the buyer
– Sony is the second party, the manufacturer/seller
– All other companies and people are third parties since they are not part of the contract between yourself (the buyer) and the seller.
If any of these third parties make lenses, these are third party lenses
A “Third Party” Lens is a Lens made by a “Second Party”.
It is a Lens that is either:
1.) Not made by the Manufacturer of the Camera OR
2.) A Lens that was not made by a “Second Party” with the “First Parties” approval.
So, if the Camera comes (non-ILC, or in a Kit) with a Ziess or Fujifilm (even a Canon Lens on a non-Canon Camera) Lens OR the SAME Lens (as the one you refer to) could be bought from the Camera Manufacturer’s Website THEN those are (essentially) ‘First Party’ Lens (or NOT “Third Party” Lenses).
IF the Camera Manufacturer will Warranty the Lens you buy directly from them OR will approve your use of Lens XYZ with their Camera (and cover the Camera (ONLY) under Warranty) if you buy Lens XYZ from wherever you want THEN those are (essentially) ‘First Party’ Lens (or NOT “Third Party” Lenses).
A “Third Party” Lens does not need to be smart or dumb, nor require any Adapter, to be a “Third Party” Lens. If you use a “Third Party” Lens and your Camera suffers ANY damage, it is not covered (unless your Warranty says it covers “Third Party” Lens, which as you might guess there is no reason it would).
IF you were to buy a “Third Party” Lens it would be your responsibility to ensure it fit and worked correctly with your Camera. The “Third Party” Lens Manufacturer can choose to use corrosive lubricants that spray the innards of your Camera and they are allowed to have little springs that pop off and rattle around inside your Camera — and you are allowed to buy these Lenses — the Camera Manufacturer will not approve such Lenses (this is especially true if they are less expensive than the “First Party” Lenses (of which the Mfg. does approve).
Thus, IF you do buy a “Third Party” Lens, it is not recommended to buy crap for cheap UNLESS your Camera is quite old and out of Warranty; and you have thoughts of buying a new Camera (RSN) in any event — THEN, it likely is a really good idea to prefer a “Third Party” Lens that has received great reviews and does not have the added premium of Mfg. approval.
It is also best to choose a “Third Party” Lens that is able to connect electronically to the Camera (without damage) so AF and IBIS can operate and any ‘Lens Corrections’ can be applied before the Image is .JPG’d.
.
One ‘Rule of Thumb’ is to spend (budget) between 50 to 150 % of the “Camera Body” value on a Lens. If the Lens is a common and easy to make variety you _might_ get a fairly good Lens for 50% of the Cost of the Body (IE: a $2000 Camera gets a $1000 Lens, an $6000 Camera gets a $3000 Lens) and then MAYBE you can realize much of the value of your Camera Body. IF you spend 150% of the value of the Camera Body then you should expect the best Lens possible EXCEPT for the few most expensive of all Lenses (which you would not need or you would not be asking this question).
So, a beginner should attempt to find a Camera with a Kit Lens that is offered for a low additional cost and is not a bad Lens. Failing that only buy ‘approved’ Lenses for your new Camera IF you want to take care if it.
The ONLY money a “Third Party” Lens can save you is: 1.) the Licensing Costs, 2.) lower labor rates in the Country where is is manufactured if those savings are passed to you, 3.) the cost of the research and effort to prototype it and maybe 4.) the TP Company pays lower costs to run a Company focused on ‘picking low hanging Fruit’.
Never purchase “Third Party” Ripcords, Airbags, etc. With Camera Lenses you are taking less of a chance and SOME “Third Party” are excellent quality, nearing that of much better Lenses for 1/3 the cost (trade the chance of damage for your Warranty, or wait until it expires). Always try to choose “Third Party” Lens Mfg. with a good rep.
Read until “spend between 50 to 150 % of the “Camera Body” value on a Lens”, where I disagreed. But points for effort.
You are allowed to do that.
Should you choose to read a bit further you can also do that.
While we await your “better advice” we will simply assume that you meant what you said and that “You disagree with the advice. People ought to spend outside the suggested range, or utilize Vlad’s Secret Forumula and base their calculations on that”.
If you read the disclaimers about how to apply those values, which comes after where you read up to, then you may better know the quality of my advice.
A lot of sarcasm over a mere disagreement. Clearly, no point for me sharing any advice, especially when yours wasn’t asked for. But I would say this : deciding on lens purchases based on camera body pricing is beyond ridiculous and an argument for that shouldn’t be needed.
Agree. That must be one of the most stupid things I ever read on a gear forum.
Please don’t share any advice, my belly is aching already.
Stick with what you know, which is FA.
http://www.logoi.com/pastimages/img/dracula_5.jpg
Ignore vlad, he’s a lonely guy trying to fit in, he does not even take pictures.
Are you awarding points now? Have you ever been outside shooting? Have you ever owned a camera?
Price politics US/Japan versus EU is unacceptable. € 500 Difference between A7II + 24-70mm on Amazon US and Amazon Germany. WTF!!!
Even between US and Japan sometimes. there are some very strange discrepancies.
Part of it could be that many manufacturers here (Japan) have divested themselves of after service and support. You don’t have good warrantees in Japan, often manufacturers don’t even even support their own stuff if, say, a wire is inside from a different manufacturer.
Importing countries pay import, tariffs, and in the case of Europe (I have no idea about USA), warrantees favour the end user. If something goes wrong in Japan, you are rarely ever covered.
US prices don’t have VAT included I think (correct me if I’m wrong).
True, but the difference is often significantly bigger than mere VAT. Also, prices of specific Voigtlander and Sony lenses differ greatly between US and Japan. It’d be interesting to know the reasons.
“some third party lenses will get the 3 and not 5 axis stabilization”
that will the flag most trolls will scream all over the internet, but
– this camera stabilizes any lense mounted, most cameras, even pro ones from canikon dont, plus they add 2 more axis stabilization with some lenses
– trolls will take that huge advantage from sony cameras and minimize it saying “bad sony, we want 5axis with all lenses” when in reality the a7ii its the only FF that stabilize any lense ever built, when some manufacter sell a ff camera that stabilize 5 axis to any lense ever manufactured, then we can say “bad sony”
– when even trolls can not troll with somehow valid arguments but only stupid ones, its asignal that a7 line up its best in town and only getting better, if a7ii not be able to satbilize some lenses with 5axis its the only “flaw” trolls can find, its aalmost perfect camera
– reminds me of shutter sound in a7r or ligth leake or short battery or some other “flaws”, trolls really are wotking hard in find excuses, good job sony
Yep, that is how trolls work. But it is the amount of trolls that is very revealing. You don’t have trolls on brands that suck.
Yes good job sony! Thanks for the abundance of sony fanboys that provide plenty of sustenance,. … mmmmmm
Meanwhile the Canon 7DmkII got an embarrassing Silver Award on Dpreview. Even more trolls will be visiting us here soon 😉
Embarrassing for whom? For the fauxtographers at dpreview? Or for the brick wall fauxtographers who buy Sony junk for gold?
for the 5 axis stabilization the camera needs focal length and focus distance information, on third party lenses the camera does not getting the information from the lens, so that is not a Sony issue…;)
Can we see Zebra in the EVF while taking photographs or it is only visible through the live view? How was it in the A7 and A7r?