Miguel Quiles just posted that A7rII autofocus test video shot with the Metabones EF adapter and the [shoplink 37566 ebay]Tamron 15-30mm Canon mount lens[/shoplink]. So what’s your first impression from that quick test?
And Gordon Laing from CameraLabs posted a short A7rII hands-on video which at last includes the first shutter noise test (minute 1). Damn is it silent compared to the “old” A7r! He also quickly tested the Canon 24mm lens autofocusing performance (minute 3):
Also new is that Sony Exclusive Look from Uniquephoto:
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.
77 Responses
Umm, sure, it’s fast, except for those times when it is not.
My ancient A65 never has focus issues in good light, as witnessed here in the video.
And here I was hoping for a breakthrough, so that E-Mount would finally be an option for me, to use with my A-Mount lenses. I guess it will take just a bit longer for a viable DSLR alternative to be available.
The moment where the focus got lost in the video happens with almost any camera lens combination under the right conditions, I’ve seen it on Nikon, Canon, Sony and several others. Wait for more testing, don’t jump to conclusions.
Well, I hope you’re right, cause in this video, non-native AF capability isn’t impressive at all.
I disagree, it was very quick only exhibiting that one anomaly. Most of the focus locks were almost instant. And it will likely improve as the algorithms are updated.
Well, that’s why I said, it’s fast, except for when it is not. What I got from this video, is that when subject is near the current focused distance, refocus is fast. Except for that anomaly. I however did not see the macro to infinity, and back test, as well as a low light test.
As you said, let us wait for a more thorough test before we jump to conclusions.
Wouldn’t macro to infinity depend more on the lens and lens motor than on the camera? I thought camera speed was important to find focus and lock it. The long travel between points of focus should depend on the lens (if the lens has a motor in it -but all of those have).
Not impressive in comparison to what?
The focus speed will be useful for most usecases and that is a massive step up from previous generations to say the least.
I comparison to a DSLR. I don’t care what other people have. I also don’t want to compromise with sufficient. I’m looking to replace my ancient by today’s standards A65, and so far from what I see, it’s AF is faster and is more reliable, than what A7rII has to offer with A-Mount glass.
If you have the original A7r and used it with LA-EA3, well then good for you. As for me, I need a quick and reliable AF. Current A-Mount offerings are doing the job just fine for me, but i’m also hoping that E-Mount would bring more options, so that I’d have an A5000-like camera for pocketability, and A7rII-like camera for whenever I need a top perfomance.
The video capabilities in A7rII as well as a bunch of other bells and whistles make it a very impressive option, but I can’t compromise my current AF capabilities.
First video guy test is bad.
I have noticed that with the NEX 7, RX1 and 5n, if your exposure is good (not overexposed as he had it on the video – or underexposed for that matter) the focusing is much faster because the camera doesnt need to darken/brighten the image to find contrast. Not very good. The indoor test as well…the girl, the bag and the wall are same-ish focusing distance.
But… second video. Electronic first curtain shutter! YES!!! Can’t tell what he is focusing on, though, to showcase the Canon lens and cam combo.
Third video: That mic is a bit big. Is it chupa chups branded?
The presenter wasn’t looking at the live view display when aiming the camera and was moving between three different objects at different distances. Once he highlighted one object the focus locked on rather quickly. Not bad for a non native lens, my D800 would occasionally hunt a bit using my Tamron 70-200 F2.8 but rarely presented a problem when shooting.
…and shooting THROUGH THE WINDOW GLASS…
The third video is not working for me, anyone else experiencing a problem with it?
UPDATE: Disregard post, it just started playing.
For all others. It’s blank until about 1:18 mark
People keep talking about instant lock, I have not seen a camera/lens
combo that actually have “instant lock”. Every shot i take I always
have to check for focus. this goes for all canon FF, pentax, nikon
FF,sony…etc. The tech is just not there for 100% accurate instant
lock.
Point is who cares about tiny incremental speed differences. I will gladly shell out 4k
when cameras can pull crisp 500mp (all in focus), true human eye dynamic range, from a video footage …i can wait 20 years. For now any will do.
Instant focus is different for everyone. For me it’s AF in under 1s. The anomaly that A7rII had in first video in good light is very dissapointing. It took about 4s for it to lock on during that anomaly. Now, as @disqus_9a6qis3Fqj:disqus mentioned in comments below, all cameras exhibit such anomalies, and I agree. However, it was a high contrast transition that camera was trying to lock on to, which is even more dissapointing. There was also no difference in focus distance between the previous shot and anomalous attempt, making it a yet another negative point in the test.
Lets wait for a proper AF test and comparison, but so far – yes it is an improvement, but still not a DSLR worthy replacement as per short limited tests provided.
Do note though that it isn’t the human eye that does the DR but rather the human brain. The human brain even do HDR since it composes images and thus whole scenes using different exposures for different parts of that image. 🙂
LOL!!! It focuses as fast as my X-Pro1 with native lens 😉 And faster in some situations
Gordon’s head is shiney.
You intolerant hairist.
Would be nice to see continuous AF as well.
https://instagram.com/p/3xJAJskSJ0/
Thanks!
The AF with Canon lenses is game changing.
Didn’t think it would be that fast. It’s as fast as my old NEX 6, totally usable for most situations.
I found it to be better than expected, but lock on took longer in some situations than I hoped for. Could be preproduction model dependent. What about dim light? This shouldn’t happen on events or weddings. But it certainly is usable.
The exposure with the Tamron seem quite a bit off as well, something that could impact the speed. Note the 1/40 @ 2.8 while he points the camera outside in what seems to be in the middle of the day.
I also wonder about dim light. Focusing in dim like can be a bit of a hassle as it is. I don’t think the focus is/or will be good enough for serious shooting at weddings though, if… someone doesn’t create an adapter that is tuned for the new Sony PDAF-system.
One also has to anknowledge that the focus speed in these videos are using old adapters pre-A7r II and that there might be things that can be done to improve focusing speed and accuracy even further.
The A7r II is certainly an interesting camera to say the least..
I guess this very moment thousands of “kids” decided what they are going to get for Christmas.
Once there was a mighty Konika, now let’s call it Sonica (Sony + Canon). Viva la revolution a la photographic!
At that price point? Average amount spend for presents in Germany is around 230 Euros in _total_.
I think “kids” in this case is an ironic reference (note the quotes) to excitable men inclined to buy themselves one of these “boy toys” for Christmas, whatever happens.
They say the difference between men and boys is just the cost of their toys…
That’s true. But if this number is part of some Gaussian distribution, an A7rii at this price is far down the right tail (unless our signal is intermittent) ;-).
Well I didn’t said this Christmas of 2015, maybe in 2016 – when price will fall closer to $2000.
the technical quality of the first video is so bad, you really wonder if the guy is credible when he says something… his tests don’t look convincing either.
Would you rather I play around and test the camera and not share the results? Some of the comments around here just crack me up! 🙂
Miguel don’t worry. There is always someone complaining! Care about those who make constructive critics rather than just general non-argumentative statements.
Keep on going posting videos Miguel!!! 🙂
I know, people just love to complain. 🙂
Hopefully, some other appreciate that you share your first impressions. Thanks.
No hard feelings friend, but the worst possible answer one can give when criticized about his job is “Imagine if i didnt do the job at all.”
In the vid you insist that the content is good, therefore we should overlook exposure and sound problems. I see no problems with exposure/sound, but precisely with the content. The guy who recorded the video failed to keep the focus on LCD screen, where you try to show us the A7rII focusing capabilities. This is what makes video unusable as information source.
I doubt that Miguel was paid to post that impression therefor “Imagine if i didnt do the job at all.” is not valid. P.S. I would like to see AF-C and Eye focus tested please.
I dont know, nor i care if he is paid or not. He certainly was not paid by me, so i am not entitled to be angry, which i am not. I couldnt care less. He didnt decieve anyone, but his response is a bit arrogant. Even if he made the vid completely volountarily, he did it lousy and cannot hope to get praise for it.
P.S.: Pat36. Please keep in mind this is a very short hands-on test done in a very limited time (and space). Of course this is not a real “scientific” review. I am happy Miguel managed to post the very first testvideo! At last we can at leats get a taste of how the A7rIi works with EF lenses!
Thanks for sharing sir,
Thank you so much for posting this video – it doesn’t matter what some people say – it’s what this video showed to us that matters. We really appreciate to see something new about A7RII AF on non native lenses.
Sorry, but because the shots on the camera were overexposed you can rarely tell what actually happened with the focus. I, personally, can’t even tell focus is moving because your screen is overexposed.
As for the ones I can see, it still looks painfully slow, but that could also be I’m used to D800 focus speeds.
My D800 focused well but not exactly a speed demon, looked similar to the demonstration video using the A7RII. In live view mode the D800 was as slow as molasses in January.
Miguel! Miguel! Did you check if AF-C works? Please tell us quickly! As you can tell, I’m very eager to know.
we called that ‘keyboard warriors’
Exciting year for cameras, let’s be honest. We have modern Leica, A7II – first camera with FF sensor and IBIS and now this monster that might bring more than acceptable AF with Canon lenses to Alpha cameras. Who knows what else is coming…
How about the greatest fixed lens 1inch Sonys ever?
Well, yes, and not completely. The speed of focus throw depends on a lens motor. Ability to calculate the amount of throw and when to stop is all camera.
viltrox adapter or metabones? post says metabones but miguel says viltrox. D: which one is it. granted performance is probably the same with any other adapter. thanks for the video!
That’s great for Canon lenses, probably a game changer for many people
But what about A-Mount lenses, especially in AF-C?
FE still has no f/2.8 zooms, so A-Mounts are the only option here… they need to work just as fast as native FE lenses, utilizing all 399 points, if Sony is serious about this
Yep. Some people will choose canon 50/1.8 stm instead of sel55f18 🙂
The good: works with adapted lenses aceptable
The bad: LA-EA4 adapter ist said to be faster, so A99 is, A77, A77ii and almost all Canikons
Funny (and sad at the same time) situation… A7RII works with all Canon lenses and _some_ A-mount. Kaz, where is the LA-EA5?!?
AF looks pretty good in the two samples, but a 5d3 wouldn’t hunt as much, especially with the Tamron 15-30. It is impressive considering the fact there an adapter, but as expected the claims of faster than Canon AF with Canon lenses is overblown. I’m still preordering. Thanks for posting.
My 2cents:
1. A7rII looks like general, studio to landscape camera(D810 and 5Dsr etc) with slower frame rate.
2. A7sII(18-22MP) might become sports camera – higher frame rate, even higher ISO, maybe even better AF system than a7rII? I’ll take one of each of course.
Hopefully by then Zeiss Batis 135mm f2 and 200mm f2(f2.8) will arrive at same time 🙂
Take one of each huh. $$$
will sell my 1Dx and couple big whites. Would that be enough 🙂
With better mount, better DR, better noise and higher resolution. 🙂
Sony’s marketing (“previously users had to choose between high resolution….”) suggests there will be no a7sII
Although if you read answers by Sony Engineers who designed A7RII they say A7s is better in low light than the new A7RII https://thibaultroland.wordpress.com/2015/06/15/a7rii-insiders-information-from-top-sony-engineers/
how much better? 2% ? it’s still doesn’t imply next a7s
I don’t know how much better. DXO will decide
Hopefully we can get some third party native lenses.
A-mount lenses should work as good or better than these adapted canons (ssm ones anyway). Looking forward to seeing tests.
they will I am sure of it, well am sure the ssm will.
Looking forward for AF-C test on moving object.
Any chance that firmware update on the a7II will solve this for us pioneers who bought it? I am in pain watching the speed of that adapted autofocus. I even have the same viltrox adapter (first video) and my focus hunt is like 4 seconds per shot. 🙁 Arghhh! I only bought this thing 6 months ago!
Any word about AF-C? Fast single shot auto focus has its uses, but many of us have been waiting to get good continuous AF compatibility on Canon-mount lenses, as Sony seems to not pay heed to our need for good birding/sports lenses. It’s good to see fast AF using Viltrox though!
Now, I understand that the LA-EA1 / LA-EA3 with an a7Rii and A-mount lenses will provide a solution, but many of us have invested in Canon-mount glass and adapters already due to the Image Stabilisation issue and expensive Sony adapters.
Admin, any idea what megapixel, and what type of AF coverage, the A7RII gets when shooting stills in APS-C mode? Would love to know!
I see A7R2 has 1920×1280 video listed. So it’s the first E-mount stills camera which can write video using FULL AREA of sensor?
Regarding shutter noise:
Does anybody know whether that shutter sound in the video is already the silent mode, or is this the “normal” shutter noise and there is an additional silent mode which is quieter or completely silent?
Thanks!
Testing AF with ultrawide lens is a pure nonsense. At 15mm focal length and f/2.8 aperture, hyperfocal distance is 2,7m and everything from 1,3m to infinity is in focus, so there’s not much work for the AF module to do. It would be much more interesting to se how this behaves with 85/1.4 or 135/1.8.
AF system doesn’t care what you consider “hyperfocal distance”.
In a way it does. PDAF system cares for the displacement of image replicas. When the focal plane lays in the hyperfocal region the displacement tends to be so small that PDAF considers image to be in focus and rarely needs to make adjustment, you get almost instant focus confirmation.
Incidentally I use both the A7II and the Viltrox adapter as well ! 🙂
Unfortunately no there is no firmware update that can fix this. The new camera has a very different AF system so no we have to use slow AF. 🙁
I guess it’s too bad for us, but really not a huge negative. Our camera is half the price and has amazing capabilities for the cost and size!
Silent shutter is electronic, there are no moving parts involved, therefore it makes no sound. Hence the expression “silent”.