Imaging Resource choose the Sony A7rII as the best camera of the year:
Like its predecessor, the Sony A7R II is a groundbreaking camera, and redefines what is possible in a full-frame mirrorless camera body. For the first time in an “R”-series A7 body, there’s phase-detection autofocus. Jam-packed with no less than 399 focus points covering most of the image frame, the A7R II provides swift, accurate autofocus lock and capable tracking, even with adapted Alpha-mount or third-party lenses. And courtesy of backside-illumination technology, the A7R II provides sufficiently good noise characteristics to allow handheld shooting under typical city street lighting, even with its higher resolution of 42.4 megapixels.
But perhaps most impressive of all, the A7R II is also now capable of 4K video capture completely in-camera, using the entire width of the image frame. And all of this comes wrapped in an impressively compact yet configurable body, which now sports noticeably better ergonomics than its predecessor. In a nutshell, the Sony A7R II is a truly spectacular camera that gives demanding photographers incredible capabilities while significantly lightening the load in their camera bags.
Surely not a surprise Sony got the prize 🙂
Sony A7rII store links: [shopcountry 43363]
By the way, the camera of the year for Barney Britton (Dpreview) is the RX1rII. And Imaging Resource mentioned the RX1rII for featuiring the technology of the year (for its Variable Low Pass Filter technology).
33 Responses
I want this camera so bad but I can’t afford it. The FE series camera mounts are still pretty new to me and I need to invest in the lens first. Hopefully by the time I can get to it, it’ll be cheaper or maybe the A7r3 will come out by that time who knows! I played with it at the store and I just love the feel.
Starting with the top model can be a pricey thing yes. Why not look for a used A7 or A7II and start building your FE lens library and get acquainted with the system first? I started with NEX cameras and was always suspecting a FF model would come sooner or later. By the time the A7/A7R got introduced, I had about 40 lenses and a bunch of adapters I could use right off the bat.
That makes good sense….spend more of your available cash on lenses first!
I already have the A7, been using it since it came out, thats why I’m trying to invest in lens first. I wasn’t going to buy lens without a camera lol.
I’m using mostly adapted lens right now from Canon and Minolta. The only Native FE lens i have is the 16-35 f4 and the kit lens. Suprisingly, the kit lens is pretty nice.
So, what lenses do you have and what lenses do you need?
I’m waiting to get my hands on the batis 85. I’m going to get the 55 1.8 soon. I want something wide and fast for astrophotography so maybe loxia 21 2.8. Something faster would be nice. I’d love to get a 70-200 2.8 if it comes out. Right now I’m using Sony zeiss 16-35 f4. Canon 24-70, Canon 70-200 f2.8 and canon 50 1.4. Ive been using minoltas alot instead of Canon just because I like the colors. There is something about it that looks nice. In the end, I want all native lens by the time I upgrade cameras
Those Canon lenses of yours will perform far better on the A7RII than they ever did on the A7. Happy now? 😉
To be honest, I could easily accept using my A7RII with only three or four good primes (not a big fan of zooms). And this comes from a guy who has 60-70 lenses at home (lost count).
Zooms I kind of need for shooting Weddingss. It gets a bit difficult with Primes. I do prefer Primes, but having a zoom or 2 can add versatility and make things easier for me. I’m just tired of using adapters for professional work. Sometimes it gives me problems like the AF not working so I have to unlock and lock again to reconnect the AF. I’m not sure why. Plus I want eye AF and other nifty features the A7 series have to offer. A lot of these features are shut off while using Canon lens and Minolta lens that I have. I’m not really complaining or anything, I’m just patiently waiting as I use what I have now.
Okay, you do weddings. That puts it in another perspective. Yeah, Eye AF should be really useful for your kind of work, it really is magical. So I definitely understand why you want FE zooms.
Nice choice for first lens.
“…the A7R II provides swift, accurate autofocus lock and capable tracking, even with adapted Alpha-mount or third-party lenses..” Nope, it does not. Lock-on and tracking is “invalid with this lens” (Tamron 150-600). So is zone, expand flexible spot and eye-autofocus. Love the camera anyway.
They’ve chosen the A7r2 as the best camera “overall”. The best “professional” camera is the 5ds r http://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2015/12/17/cameras-of-the-year-best-enthusiast-and-pro-cameras-of-2015.
So they pick them by the biggest Mp number? Figures…
LOL no idea 🙂 Some 80Mpx medium format should be the winner then.
seems to be a growing chorus of complaints of an 80 percent auto focus hit rate, 20 percent unusable for pro use, guess sony will get that right in iteration number 3
That doesn’t sound bad to me.
5DS/SR :The result is that many shots are completely misfocused, with a hit-rate of approximately 30% with a 35L shot at F1.8.
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canon-eos-5ds-sr/6
Take a look at the nearly perfect hit rate demonstrated by the Sony a7R II in a similar test with a Sony FE 35mm F1.4 lens.
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sony-alpha-7r-ii/12#RW
Absolutely scientific test. No doubt.
Very interesting tests! The PDAD alone is not as accurate as CDAF, and also a lot depends on the lens – some are more consistent than others. Based on my personal experience I get much more in focus shots on the 5dsr + 70-200 f/2.8L II for the moving subjects, compared to the A7r2 + 55 f/1.8 (both lenses wide open). The 70-200 f/2.8L II is 12 years newer than the old 35L from 1998 though. For the still subjects I would say they are even. The accuracy difference for the moving subjects is even more significant if I put a Canon lens on the Metabones mk4, but for the still subjects the A7r2 is winning because the CDAF kicks in (assuming the light is good enough to use the small spot size). In low light I have to increase the spot size to M or L, and then the accuracy will suffer again. Well, it’s kind of tricky, really hard to tell what’s better – that’s why I’m keeping both 🙂
In my eyes- the camera of the year has been the same since 2007. I’ll let you guess- it’s BIG and it’s epic.
Maaaaaa diiiiiiiiiiiaaaaaaaaakkkkkkk!
Red Epic?
Didn’t think of that one but that’s a good pick!
Funny how for me the ergonomics were an issue when I first got the A7R2. It felt too small. Now, I just mounted a Loxia 35 on it and it feels huge.
When I first got A7rII (my first A7x camera), it felt so tiny and awkward, compared to the A99 and A850 which I used before, often gripped. Now it is other way around – A7rII feels just the right size while any large DSLR feels like a bloated abomination 😉
Lol.
jive with CameraTVStore 😀
Why is A7 R2 body only (!) 4141 € on amazon??
Amazon.de has no A7Rii itself (which is indeed surprising), the only item is from a UK seller. The odd price is due to (sh*tty) exchange rates. So, this is not the official price in Germany.
and it gets the BODY HEAT PRICE for 2015.
after 2 days ( b-roll cam) and 12,13 problematique sits, this pice of
crapp was outsourced. It is if, only 899,-$ worth but for 3900-you would,
if you want a mediumquality cam, get 70% of the Fs-5..if.
For customers, who have time, and do not shoot 4k, it is fine…2,3minutes long.
But it is a Pain in the ass. marketing-sony-bloatware fife minus !
-overheating
-sow in adapter sit with Nikor
-does loose its program in overheating
-to much roll
-banding in s-log worser than on old F3.. and so on.
this is touristcam. but not in on this pricetag!!!
Use it like an amateur, and you will get amateur result.
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I rented A7rii and A7ii and while the jpgs are better on both of those than A7, the A7 is still excellent camera for printing up to 24″ with no diff in image quality in the print.