The image on top has been sent to me by a SAR reader. it has been taken with the Sony A7r and the superb 55mm Zeiss. You like the “Buddha” bokeh? I like it a lot 🙂
Today a couple of friends attended different Sony events:
Mike Kobal (Click here) had the chance to test the A7r camera displayed at the PDN show in New York City. And he writes:
AF speed with the new 55mm 1.8 Zeiss lens is VERY fast, FASTER then my Nikkor 50mm 1.4 on the D800E. If you happen to have a Nex 7 and the orig 16mm pancake, the FF 55mm Zeiss will focus just as fast, which, frankly, is quite amazing. As you probably know a 55mm requires a much higher level of accuracy and has a longer focus throw. I am impressed. This at regular indoor light levels. One has to wait and see how it performs in low light.
And Andrew from EosHD (Click here) had a hands-on in Berlin:
The A7R is Sony’s best handling camera to date. Excellent physical control layout and a unique rear card slot with angled door. Both headphone and mic jacks, unusual to find on a small camera like this.
The sensor is the best in the stills world, and second best in the video world just behind the 5D Mark III. If you’re shooting raw video with the Magic Lantern firmware on the 5D Mark III of course the A7R won’t improve on that for image quality, but if you need the convenience of a compressed codec and don’t mind a bit of occasional moire and aliasing then the A7R does a great job.
And a third report from a SAR reader that attended another Asian Sony hands-on event writes:
1. SEL1018 can be used at Focal Length 13-15mm but at it is optimal at 14mm with very subtle vignette at all aperture. At 10-12mm & 16-18mm you will need to crop the very heavy vignette off (actually it requires the crop or turn on the auto crop)
2. AWB for underwater (not sure if you already have this info)
3. A7 + FE lens, AF is very good comparable to DSLR
4. A7R AF is like NEX-7 a bit faster but still hunt
5. At low light, all lens with A7R hunts while A7 is ok
6. NTSC/PAL switchable so you can just buy from a cheaper place even though the TV system is not the same as your country with NTSC you get 24p/60p/60i, with PAL 25p/50p/50i (AVCHD 2.0 specs)
7. Pre-AF is quite battery intensive
8. B&W rendering is so nice
Support SonyAlphaRumors: After months of FF mirrorless rumor work I would be glad if you can support my work by making your A7-A7r purchase by using these links below. I will earn a small commission and you don’t pay one single penny more! Thanks!
Specs and Preorders in US and Canada (Click on store name to see direct preorder page):
Dedicated Sony announcement page at Amazon US (Click here).
Sony A7r body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony A7 body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
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, FI, SE, PT, WexUK, WexDE.
Sony A7 body at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, FI, FR, SE, PT, WexUK, WexDE, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon FR.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, FI, FR, WexUK, WexDE, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon FR.
Sony RX10 at Sony DE, 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.
Asia:
A7r at Digitalrev
A7 at Digitalrev.
A7 with 28-70mm lens at Digitalrev.
89 Responses
A7R faster AF than D800E? Sounds like Nirvana to me.
Tom, remember, this is only valid for the 1.8 55mm lens, optimized for the A7 series, a $1000 lens, compared to the 1.4 Nikkor. Still, very impressive stuff 🙂 I am psyched. I think I have to get both, the A7r and the RX10. lol. kidney for sale, anyone?
Good news. The 35mm should be as fast. And that RX10 is looking very interesting, definitely the worthy successor to the R1.
I have an R1 and was hoping that the RX10 would be APS-C at least. What is your take, Vlad?
Agreed, APS-C would have been nice. But, considering that sensors are much better today, that you have a significantly extended focal range (at a constant f2.8! and without going into 600mm madness) and that the camera is smaller and lighter, I’d say we have an extremely versatile offering here, which is what, imho, was the point of the R1. In that sense, it is a worthy successor. I was actually hoping for an APS-C RX10 with a very short focal range, allowing for a very small camera, in line with the RX100 and RX1, but that wouldn’t have been an R1 successor.
The Zeiss 35mm is fast. I used it the A7R at a launch event in a dimly light shop at night, I was super surprised that it could focus fast, on the eye, at short distances (less than 1m) and that it could focus at all. I own the SEL35F18 and a 5N, auto focus is useless at night
The Nikkor af-s 50.1.4g’s downside is its slow focus. Go to Nikon forums and you will soon get this impression. But still also he has not elaborated the conditions for the test so we still need to wait for in depth comparisons
I used to own Nikon 50mm 1.4G. It’s not the fastest lens within Nikon lens line esp in comparison to the zoom trinity. But it appears slow only because the other Nikon lenses are really fast. Try to compare with third party lenses and it’s no longer a slow lens.
I used to own Nikon 50mm 1.4G. It’s not the fastest lens within Nikon lens line esp in comparison to the zoom trinity. But it appears slow only because the other Nikon lenses are really fast. Try to compare with third party lenses and it’s no longer a slow lens.
So this result is extremely good – although, without side by side comparison on the same object, it’s hard to judge. But at least, it’s not as miserable as early Fuji or Canon EOS-M.
“If you happen to have a Nex 7 and the orig 16mm pancake, the FF 55mm Zeiss will focus just as fast” . . . having used the 16mm pancake, that’s still quite a bit slower than my Canon 6D in many situations. But good light this is good news. Then again, I’ve never been bothered by my mirrorless Sony cameras in good light; rather, the issues start to grow worrisome in lower and available light.
I played today with both the A7 and A7R in a Sony Store in Toronto. They had three lenses available: the 28-70mm, 35mm and 55mm.
I tested the focusing speed and sharpness for all three lenses:
1. A7R focuses faster than the Nex 7, which I own, but still hunts a bit in low light. I also have the D800 and I can affirm with certainty that the D800 focuses **much** faster than the A7R. 😀
2. A7 focus is very good. I was impressed with the focus tracking which worked very nicely with people walking in the store. Still not as fast as D800, but definitely a huge step forward from the Nex 7. I was on the fence whether I want the A7 or A7R, but the focusing speed convinced me to buy the A7.
3. Lens sharpness – the little I was able to test without a tripod and without being able to pixel peep at the pictures on a full screen convinced me not to waste money on the kit lens, as I intended initially. Also – the kit lens had a bit of play in the camera mount, which only added to my decision. I really liked the 55mm – amazing lens. I think that I will buy that lens initially with the camera, despite its exaggerated price – 1k for a 55mm 1.8 – come on!
4. The control buttons on the A7 look exactly like the ones on the A7R, even though they have plastic inside. The two camera had the same feeling in my hand, despite the extra magnesium enforcement that the A7R has.
Thanks. Most sensible review I have heard thus far.
I wonder which 85mm F1.4 lens would be best with the A7 … maybe just the manual Walimex, or Sigma or Sony/Zeiss A-mount? Also, it is still not clear if A-mount lenses will benefit from the on-sensor PDAF on the A7, or if the SLT adapter would be better to get than the one without mirror?
tobias, the EVF is fantastic, I think Walimex, Samyang, Rokinon, the new ones in Nex mount will be a total hit, I am sure mf won’t be a problem, the EVF is so sharp and clear I am confident it will snap right into focus, without focus peaking even 🙂
If not Sony release a FE 85mm prime lens within 6 months, they are crazy.
How fast it will be, time will tell.
While you wait you could buy a cheap 85mm f/1.4 Vivitar/Rokinon etc lens.
They are cheap and good, but full manual.
Great, I already have the Samyang 85mm F1.5 with a Nikon mount and NEX and MFT adapters. I think the existing NEX adpater that I have should work fine with a FF sensor but I’ll have to try it.
I meant F1.4, not the video version.
Sony, please, oh PLEASE, give us an 85mm FE!!
And maybe a 135mm.
I would love a 135 myself. Really, any high quality telephoto primes is what I’m really interested in now.
I will be getting either the canon 135 f2 or sony 135 1.8. I like 135 better than 85mm. I did keep my plastic fantastic 85mm 2.8 sony because that lens rocks and its light and full frame.
Or you could get the Zeiss 135mm f/1.8 with the A-mount adapter.
135mm is a monster of a lens. Kind of contradicts the idea of a small, light system…
I would gladly contradict or even look like a fool for that lens. I had it with the La-EA2 for nex but did not use it often because it was too long and my stupid A850 broke so I sold it. Now with the full frame A7 I can get much more use out of it. I only use it for models and people mostly so the size does not matter much to me. That is why I love the e-mount. I can take high quality with me in a small package or use giant lenses if I need to. I have small light m42 Russian 135mm I can take with me if I need small.
That may happen depending on the price I could get the canon for. I understand they are very close in image quality. I had the zeiss so it would be a re purchase for me if I go that route.
Pre-AF? Does this refer to automatic prefocusing even when there is no shutter half-press like Nex cameras do? It so, the battery life can be improved significantly by going to “back-button focusing” that one can do in Nex-7. (Set camera to MF and set AF/MF toggle to hold ==> voila, autofocus with back button only and no other pre-AF) The AF motors of FF lenses tend to have more glass to move, so automatic hunting will eat even more juice than it does in APS-C Nex. I recently shot about 650 frames on a single battery in a museum with my Nex-7 on back-button focus and aggressive sleep setting.
Anyone one think the the reason for the lack of an electronic curtain on the A7R is battery consumption? Nah, that doesn’t make sense since the A7 has it.
mike kobal must have drunk some poison… a7 faster af than d800? bullshit, maybe in live view, even my olympus is faster than an A7 in the dark
yeah, that magical a7 that you have in your hands to test….
well i have sir and i can confirm that in not that fast, is faster than rx1 but very far from actual dslr
I can confirm that A7R is fast, not OM-D fast but so much faster than any other e mount camera I’ve used.
This is based on A7R, Zeiss 35mm and dimly lit shop at night
Agreed, sounds like horseshit to me. 7 and 16mm fast ? Yeah, great deal, that’s NOT DSLR fast !!
With so many (rank amateurs) from Asia having had the chance to play around with the A7/7R, unless such claims are made who would give a damn about reading a blog now? Something “extra”- a new revelation is needed to make the headlines. 😉
…thanks to Andrew from EOSHD. This is all great news. I might be heading over to the Sony Center myself tomorrow if I can find a moment. That said it looks like the most amazing camera (and I am surprised hearing myself say that given that I ordered the A7R) is actually the RX-10. The quality differences between the FF A7R and the RX-10 judging from the little shot in Andrews brief hands on are enormous. If the A7R is HD the RX-10 looks like it would be 4K. That and another thing are tickling me with a question: If the increase in quality of the RX-10 is due to the readout of the full sensor before it gets downsampled to HD, than somewhere in the image pipeline of the camera there is a moment where we get a 5K signal at 60fps out of the 1inch sensor of the RX-10. Of course once the internal processing has taken a hold of it all that comes out the other end is HD, but what if someone would be able to unleash the cameras full potential. I know it’s unlikely, but it still gives an idea of what would already be possible today if it weren’t for (understandable) marketing concerns.
And what exactly would you do with the 5k video then? Pixel peep it on your HD LCD monitor?
Chris, 4K would be very useful on a RX10 now, I recon you will think differently in 5 years’ time when you watch that holiday movie you shot in 2013 in the best possible quality on your 4K TV/monitor . Reminds me of the HD area, when people with HD camera’s were laught at, because nobody had a HD TV…
…the main appeal of a 5K resolution in video is the same as a 36MP sensor: the ability to re-frame an image because there is enough resolution to allow for it. Yes in an ideal scenario you would always frame exactly what you need and at that point the increase from HD to 5K would serve little practical purpose. But if the majority of the material you are shooting is just documenting whatever attracts your attention at any given moment then the ability to reconsider what is interesting in an image at some later point is absolutely invaluable.
Yes storage is an issue at those resolutions, but if you are coming from 16mm it really isn’t by comparison.
…imagine a world in which Abraham Zapruder owned an RX-10 rather than his Bell&Howell 414PD.
It also gives the ability to pan and zoom in post while maintaining HD resolution.
…not to mention re-stabilizing hand held footage with either the build in filters in AEP or FCP or the fantastic Mercalli plug in from ProDad
Now I really can’t wait until this Saturday, when I hit up PDN. Finally get a chance to play with the A7/R.
Well… that’s pretty darn impressive! 🙂
Well, don’t believe A7/A7r focus faster than a DSLR.
But my RX100 focus ok fast (for me) so I guess also a A7/A7r will.
Nice to read PAL vs. NTSC is switchable.
Amazing a new discovery CDAF can be faster than PDAF. I think M43 users have known this for a long while.
😉
Nikon users would be most concernet with how fast it focuses with nikon lenses and an adapter. Also does nikon oss work with the combination.
There’s no adapter for Nikon that supports AF & VR now
There’s no adapter for Nikon that supports AF & VR now
Cool I guess, but I’ll be using tripod, manual focus and live view at 99% of the time.
Sounds like the A7 will indeed be better for low light accurate focussing over the A7r. I’ll get one with the kit lens, seems like a decent deal even though it won’t be of the best quality. I’ve got my old minolta primes to keep me going until I’ll save up for the 35mm Zeiss.
I’m getting the kit combo too. I don’t think the zoom will be so bad 🙂
It is quite possible. I’m almost sure both cameras uses fixed size patch for contrast estimation (because it should be done as fast as possible, thus no time for reading more pixels, downsampling them, etc). And A7 should have higher per pixel SNR because they are larger. So, for this case A7 has better estimation and thus focus faster. A7’s PD pixels should not work here though.
sure nice bokeh!
Did anybody that ordered the Zeiss zoom at the French shop Fnac (for 500 euros instead of 1200) got his order cancelled ? Thanks !
Just curious, missed the sale.
not because D800E, but 50 1.4G is known for slow to focus.
So what? The Ferrari 2013 race car is known to be slow, all that matters is the Red Bull car is faster hence the winner!
I checked the Zeiss site out a few times. They have no plans to release the Otus 55mm 1.4 in e or a-mount. What a shame. I know most people wouldn’t even consider it. However, if the reviews are stellar I’d give it some serious thought. What does that tell you about Zeiss’s commitment to Sony pro’s.
I would think their target market would be the huge existing base of pro cameras from Canon and Nikon. I’m just glad Sony is working with Zeiss for some of their new lenses.
AFAIK the only Zeiss lensesever released for Sony cameras are the Sony collaborations and the Tuit line. I might be wrong never checked if there is an exception.
http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/zeiss-will-launch-manual-focusing-lenses-for-the-a7-a7r/#comments
right. makes me think Zeiss believe strongly in the ef line. a-mount Zeiss was always Sony’s baby. not that it matters, those are great lenses no matter what.
For E Mount one can put Otus or similar high end MF lens into Metabones Mark III Smart Adapter and it will work as well as being native mount; obviously there is risk of manufacturing tolerances in the adapter, but but other than that Canon mount Otus would just fine.
It’s completely to trivial to adapt however so it doesn’t matter much. Steve Huff shot the Zeiss Otus on the A7R today although he wasn’t allowed to use an SD card to record the images.
Ugg…I think that RX10 just made it onto my shopping list.
Based on….
1) Kurt report on the (seemingly very adequate) focus speed of the A7r
2) Andrew Reids report on the video quality
3) the micro lens design
4) the fact that I’d like to use aps-c lenses in crop mode (for a little while at least)
I’ve changed my pre-order from the A7 to the A7r. Hope I did the right thing.
Sorry, I meant Mike’s comment on the focus speed (not Kurt!)
Mars — are you at all concerned about the file sizes, work flow, and hand hold ability with the 36mp ?
Yes, definitely. I always shoot RAW and process in Lightroom.
When I had the NEX-7, even the 24MP files were slow to load and work with.
Maybe not a huge issue if you’re you’re just processing a few images, but when I did a model portfolio shoot I shot over 500 images in a half day. And I hate to even think about processing vacation photos – yikes!
Definitely going to have to re-think my work-flow (not sure what the answer is but maybe some form of automation and two version of most images now – original and downsized?)
On the plus side:
– cropabilitly is nice
– ability to get 16MP in crop-mode is nice
– storage is cheap (speed is more the concern for me)
– high MP cameras are somewhat common now, so someone must have a good workflow and tips to share
Tips anyone?? 🙂
Upgrade your RAM as much as possible and run your OS and applications off an SSD. I edit D800 files on a MacBook Pro with these.
That will do it. My SSD drive I got last black friday saved me from upgrading my i7 quad core. Its crazy how fast it is and I upgraded the ram to 24gb for less than 100.00. Actually it was free since I sold the old ram for about that price.
I convert to dng during import. saves some space. any downsides to dng? any reason not to?
That bokeh is very smooth. That’s impressive! However there’s no way I can justify or have the need for a new camera and lenses. I’m an alpha mount user still.
“You like the “Buddha” bokeh? I like it a lot :)”
I like it a bit. Too bad he snapped it when Buddha had his eyes closed. So much for eye tracking. LOL.
Is this picture saying that the truth path to enlightenment is through an A7R and Zeiss 55mm?
Sticking with A7 preorder. Who knows what next year will bring in terms of higher sensors.
+1
ZEISS OTUS 55MM 1.4 FOR THE WIN. I want to see it on this thing. Give me the ultimate lens and strap it on!!!
Huff shot the Otus today,
http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2013/10/24/some-images-from-photo-plus-in-nyc-today-sony-zeiss-leica/
Seems like he may test it on the A7R next week. Seems like Sony is trying to get Zeiss to make it in FE mount
One comment below says that its night and day over the Zeiss 50mm 1.4. Really? Night and day? So what does that say about anyone using a sub 1k lens? They must be garbage. Give me a break. I’ll let dyxomark separate the truths from the facts.
The Sony RX10 appears to have exceptional close focusing at all focal lengths, which is interesting to me as a macro photographer. It’s also unusual with fixed lens zooms, which usually only focus close at the wide end. However, so far I can find very little information about this close focus ability, and it seems missing from most of the spec sheets. I’d be particularly interested if anyone who has tried one to find out what the close focus is like, and what sized object will fill the frame at the close focus at the long end?
Initially I wasn’t too interested because of the limited long end of the zoom. However, if it has this close focus ability at all focal lengths it might be interesting from a macro point of view.
I’m really look at the A7 or A7R, but there’s an outside chance I might have a use for the RX10 in a forthcoming project.
Scroll down and look at “More Room to Zoom at Will” Hope this helps. I preorder it already. The macro was one of the keys. at 200mm you can focus less then a foot.
Sorry forgot the link http://www.sony.net/Products/di/en-us/products/4axb/index.html#features
Have not shot the Nikon 50mm f1.4 + D800. But shot with both the Nikon 24mm f1.4 & 35mm f1.4. If the A7r AF in low light at this level it will be great, because in general SONY mirrorless has been MORE accurate on AF with f1.4 lens. And with more confidence because of Focus Peaking.
The Nikon50/1.4 is a very slow to focus lens as is the Nikon 35/1.4. That does not make the A7r faster than the D800 it simply makes the Zeiss 55/1.8 faster than the Nikon 50/1.4
+1
exactly, the 1.4 Nikkor isn’t the fastest lens in their line up, the 1.8 is faster.
Still, the sum of all things considered, in good light af speed was incredibly fast. Of course this doesn’t mean the A7r has faster af then the D800e, it just means the a7r/55mm zeiss combo is capable of faster af then the D800e/50mm 1.4 combo 🙂
my kidney is still up for sale
maybe this has been covered, but is there any update on sony and tethering? Just thinking about the A7r in studio settings and a more integrated tethering approach would be great to thoroughly review the hi-rez files.
I believe there were some patches before on other firmware updates, but i don’t think it was as seamless or full featured as the nikon/canon options? not sure – hoping you guys could fill me in.
Junk. Moving along to Nikon’s soon to be released retro monster.
ah fantasizing about the perfect dream camera has always been the best and it doesnt cost you a penny…