The full English A7-A7r user manual can now be downloaded here: http://download.sony-asia.com/consumer/IM/4478729112.pdf
And here are some more A7-A7r news:
The well known blogger and photogrpaher Chase Jarvis (Click here) wrote a one minute review of the new A7-A7r cameras: “The shallow depth of field on the 2.8 lens is dreamy. Getting a nice shallow depth of field in a camera this compact feels like cheating.”
A7R-LA-EA4 and minolta 100mm F2.8 MACRO at Dyxum. Image samples by SLRlounge. Sony Alpha 7 with Canon TSE lenses test at Professionele Fotografie Magazine. Sony A7 at 12.8000 ISO at Thodorismarkou. High ISO A7r image samples at Dyxum. Sony A7r with Leica 40/2 Summicron-C, ZF 35/1.4 and CV 40/2 at Fredmiranda.
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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. TheCameraStore Canada.
Sony A7 body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS. TheCameraStore Canada.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS. TheCameraStore Canada.
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, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE.
Sony A7 body at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon FR.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon FR.
Sony RX10 at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, 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
Zeiss 24-70mm at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, SE, PT
Asia:
A7r at Digitalrev.
A7 at Digitalrev, Amazon Cina.
A7 with 28-70mm lens at Digitalrev.
74 Responses
Not sure if similar language was in prior NEX manuals, but it’s interesting that on page 87, there is an express recognition that the camera can overheat when recording video.
Add me on that list but I’m pretty sure the A7 allows back button focus. This sounds different on the A7 team the N7 because the N7 requires you to be on manual focus mode.If the A7 allows you to be on autofocus mode and disable the half button shutter, you’ll have the benefit of having a center box indicating the focus area and the ability to move it around. Something you can’t do with the N7 which would be awesome for me.
yes, very worried about this. are there any tests that have been done on how big of an issue this is?
i want to get an A7 for video instead of a 5DMkIII, but if it’s going to overheat then forget it.
Every large(APSC++) sensor photography camera overheats significantly compared to a true video cam. I remember reading a blog of a production house about how they use multiple DSLRs so there’s a camera for use while letting the other to cool down.
Agreed. I would be surprised if the 5D3 is any better. They probably just don’t tell you about it.
Except for the fact that 5D3 can do raw video…
And no… neither the 5d3 or the 5d2 overheats like that. Have you tried googling?
I Googled it and the Canon 5D2 and 5D3 both will overheat if used for an extended period of time while recording video. I also read the same thing that just me described a year or so back. Where a TV production company was filming an episode of “House” and used multiple 5D3’s to allow them to cool down due to extended filming.
The 5D III raw is a hack. It’s not supported by Canon. You need huge cards to take just a few minutes of raw video (that’s hundreds of dollars on cards) and take hours to debayer those files in computer.
It’s not a practical solution.
@Edf: How long exactly is an “extended period of time?
@vinim: It’s raw video… doesn’t matter who it’s supported by, it’s going to take time to demosaic the frames. But I think you’re forgetting that in the time it takes to convert one 22mp still raw frame, you can convert about 11 raw video frames. So the question is how slow is your computer? 🙂
The data rate you need for raw video is like 120mb/s, which means you can record almost 18 minutes on a $300 128GB CF card. Sure, it’s not for recording family videos the kids will never watch but next to the price of the body and lenses and more importantly what can be done with raw video, it’s all worthwhile for anyone recording serious footage.
Give it a go before you diss it 😉
Manual’s a bit hard going isn’t it! One thing I notice, it mentions being able to remove AF from half press of shutter button, but it doesn’t mention re assigning it elsewhere, I presume it’s possible – did anyone try on a pre production model?
Probably same as on NEX 7. I’ve got focus set on MF and have the AF/MF button on the back set to hold. Now the camera only autofocuses when I press and hold the AF/MF button on the back (you can also set the button to toggle to switch between AF/MF). I’m certainly hoping the a7R does the same because I prefer to control when/how the camera AFs vice doing it with half press of shutter button.
David
I hope so too, I hate AF and AE being bundled together! Preorder now in!
New! 4 seconds ago | Reply
Add me on that list but I’m pretty sure the A7 allows back button focus. This sounds different on the A7 team the N7 because the N7 requires you to be on manual focus mode.If the A7 allows you to be on autofocus mode and disable the half button shutter, you’ll have the benefit of having a center box indicating the focus area and the ability to move it around. Something you can’t do with the N7 which would be awesome for me.
That would be sweet!
My ideal focus setup:
Disable Autofocus from shutter. Configure the AF/MF/AEL button to push hold for autofocus. Configure the AF/MF/AEL switch to switch between Auto Focus Mode and Manual Focus mode. It should be really called the AF/MF switch Configure center back button such than when you push on it, you select the auto focus point, and moving left,right,up,down on the circle dial allows you to move the focus point. Double clicking the center button puts the focus point back in the center. I’d use the top custom button to turn on/off peaking so that, when in manual focus mode, the peaking colors can be put away when I don’t want the colors to distract my view.
– In autofocus mode, this would enable me to push-autofocus instead of half/press autofocus and still give me control of where the focus point is.
– If I need to shoot in manual focus mode, such as in video, I’d flip down the switch to put it in manual focus mode and still use the back-focus button to grab focus while using the focus ring to fine tune or gradually focus shift for video.
The A7r seems one step closer than the N7 since it seems to allow you to disable half-shutter focus even in auto focus mode (if I interpret their manual correctly). Unfortunately, I don’t see a quick way to switch back and forth between manual/auto focus if you are using the af/mf button for focus hold.
Still – it’s not bad at all!
That’s how my RX1 works also so I’m pretty sure it can also work on the A7.
None of these recent reports by you are “rumors”. This is nothing but hawking crap regarding the a7 a7r. Does sony pay you to promote RELEASED products? there are no rumors here. How about some rumors ABOUT FUTURE sony products? Sorry, but its really getting a bit old to read all these released product reports on a rumor site.
You troll, this site always gives lots of rumours. He’s just giving us even more info on new cameras. Stop making yourself look silly and shut up.
+1 to Caleb
+2
For your information, this post has been posted under REVIEWS an not RUMORS…
relax dude.. take a deep breath
Somebody definitely woke up on the wrong side of the bed.
Chill dude, by mid December to January you’ll hear all about February event rumours, A mount *cough* A mount *cough*
Please visit other sites if you don’t like how I work. It has been pleasure to have you here 🙂
🙂
I do visit others, and I will continue to visit this one, and will further continue to voice any criticism I have, like it or not. Amazing to me how quickly ppl like to silence the voices with which they do not agree…. tough
You come here for free but you are right you are free to voice your opinion. Also you are free to leave.
Amazing how naive you must be if you think people embrace reactions like yours, when the only thing you do is spout non constructive nonsense and suggest the admin could be paid by Sony on the fly. Besides, if spouting nonsense and false accusations are your thing, get used to us too, bouncing the ball back.
Empty or silent(for weeks) blogs don’t get viewers, so who’s paying for the servers and service then?
And making up rumors for the sake of bringing more frequent rumors, kills a rumor website in no time for leaving it with zero credibility.
Use those brains, it helps.
exactly, jckonicek the moronic idiot doesn’t understand that the admin can’t post rumors when he doesn’t have credible rumors.
And it’s better to post links to review and info then just post nothing at all.
Lame try. Maybe you should learn the difference between voicing a criticism and voicing an-empty-criticism-that-doesn’t-make-any-sense-along-with-a-personal-attack. Then, maybe you’ll understand people’s reactions here.
I love your work and all your effort.
Please keep it up.
I love this site! keep doing the same things!
Andrea please go on like this, your site is great and you’re doing an awesome job!
SAR ADMIN is the best. If you dont like it here go away.
The sky is going to fall, flash will be required for taking any photo, people will switch to Canikon and there won’t be anymore Alpha cameras. SR0.5
Does that work for you?
Already received my LA-EA4 yesterday. Now waiting for the a7…
Does it work on your APS-C camera, if you have one? Any issues?
It already works if you have firmware version 05 and up.
sorry, I’m not very familiar with these adapters, but this is the one which converts A7 to A99, correct?
Rather to A55, in terms of AF.
it covers full frame, if that’s what you’re asking. but the af module is not the same as a99, it’s the one used in the a65 afaik but I could be wrong.
What is your favourite A-mount lens?
jckonicek is probably an envious Nikon or Canon user :>
if are you sad, that your great two were not able to put a good sensor for a good price in a SMALL FF camera body yet… you shouldn’t attack us, but your holy camera manufacturer…
A7 news/articles seem to be irrelevant to him and that’s why he’s complaining. More than likely he feels left out, because he’s a Nex or a-mount user. what an a-hole.
It will work well with my Canon shift tilt lenses also! Awesome! That is the nail in the coffin for me, will order a A7r tomorrow. Will gladly give up hiking with my 5D3.
I like reading about sony innovating but as a former Sony shooter I’m kind of upset with the performance or operating of the newly released cameras. Slow boot up time, poor battery life, loud shutter, poor wide angle performance, AF speed sucks – reminds me of a99.
A99 slow? mine is fast. Smh……….. A99 is the best handling ff out there.
You should buy a eos-m I hear they are better than sonys.
Yes, especially when compared against other FF ILC of the same price, weight and size.
Oh wait, there are none.
Most of the tested cameras do not have the proper firmware yet. They were announced less than a month ago. Battery life is bad, but that is simply an inherent problem to EVFs, we all just deal with it. Wide angle performance of lenses designed for rangefinder cameras isn’t Sony’s problem when you think about it.
When they mean slow they are probably comparing it to a OVF. I know my a99 is slow to other people who uses a Canon but to me it is fast.
People who uses OVF are used to powering it on and not have to wait for the viewfinder to power up. Since they are used to OVF they can look into it, power On, and shoot. With EVF then have to wait for it to power up and 3 seconds are too long for them. Also they are not used to the LCD swapping over to EVF which is another second delay.
I just keep my camera set to always leave EVF ON so there is no lag when I bring the camera up to my eyes.
I do see your point, but does your A99 take 3 seconds to start? My NEX-7 takes around a second to start. Given that I tend to turn off the camera very often to save battery, 3 seconds would be annoying.
So why are you wasting your time on this blog since you are a “former” Sony user.
I’m pretty sure that there will be a lot of manual focus lenses attached to the A7/A7R. But where are the functions that support such lenses? Again, nothing from Sony apart from focus peaking. Someone should read a Nikon user manual especially the section “Non-CPU lens” (i. e. page 144 in the F6 user manual). It takes just a little bit of extra SOFTWARE(!) to make us smile!
People have been using adapted lenses in fully manual ways like forever and been getting great shots too. The focus peaking makes manual focusing extremely easy to the point it’s better than through a SLR OVF or a GG finder. It’s most definitely better than RF focusing too. So what are you whining about? Would you like Sony to send an assistant to focus your photos for you? Will that solve your problem?
I love how ppl are bashing Sony for every little mistakes or omission they make but I hear nothing about how the Nikon Df basically didn’t do any innovation (could be peaking or anything) to aid those with manual lenses, heck you cant even add a split-prism to it.
The non-CPU lens basically just allow you to set your aperture and to get exif readout, it doesn’t help you to focus better like peaking does. Nice feature to have but peaking > exif information.
It’s not about focus assistance alone. I’m aware of focus peaking and love this feature. If the camera software would support non-cpu lenses in a better way, much more could be possible. Fuji has shown it with their programmable Leica M-Adapter. And also Steady Shot could be possible, if this is a build in feature of the camera body. Not for the A7/A7R, but may be for new cameras.
What exactly do you expect from the camera body with adapted lenses with no electronics? What ever you think is currently impossible because there’s “less support” possible.
Way to not really explain the focusing system, Sony.
For $20.00 – i’ll help them write a better manual.
Looks like there’s no (separate) battery charger again.
Guess I’ll have to be sure to keep my old NEX charger to charge-up the spare.
Actually, USB in-camera charging is a bonus. For less than the price of an extra NP-FW50, you can get a USB external rechargeable battery. Leave it connected to the camera and charging while it is in your bag. Enough juice for multiple charges and will do your phone and (in a pinch) tablet too.
There are a lot of quite cheap external chargers (universal type or NP-FW50 special) available from second sources. Most of them even have extra features like the possibility to connect to your car battery or have some USB sockets for charging your smart phone too.
I use such beasts both for NP-FW50s and for FM500H w/o any problems for 2 years now…
Good to know – thanks dCartier and Achim!
this link from the manual does not work http://www.sony.co.jp/imsoft/mac/
Autofocus appears to be nothing special ,not the fastest , no real reviews with moving subjects in lowlight
Not everybody need focus moving subject in low light.
The whining in the comments is hilarious… Sony finally has given a digital camera (or two) that is better than what pretty much everyone here has so people are struggling so hard to come up with reasons to not get off their computer chairs and keep their money warm in their pockets.
manual for A7/A7r
english 96 pages
[url]http://pdf.crse.com/manuals/4478729112.pdf[/url]
English Francais Deutsch Espanol Italiano Portugues Nederlands Polski Svenska Suomi Norsk Dansk
http://pdf.crse.com/manuals/4478729412.pdf
679 pages
For other languages change x in 4478729×12.pdf
I have to grin at the computer screen when I see people expecting the A7, which cost USD1,700 to have an af system with speed in the ballpark of the Nikon D4 (USD6,000) or the Canon 1Dx (USD6,800). Seriously…. if Sony was to come out with a camera that can do that, you will be sure there will be a hell lot more haters bashing it out on this site. Hahaha…..
The manual appears to be pretty incomplete. For example, there’s not a single mention of the “Eye AF” feature, which is one of the major innovations of these cameras in my view. There’s nothing about the flash TTL system, or how to use it. etc.
Hopefully they’ll release an updated manual with more details.
I kind of agree. I feel like a lot of Sony manuals are… say… not very clear or complete. This might be a product where I buy a “shooting with the A7” book, which I am sure will come out given the popularity.
That said, I just cannot wait to play with it. I pick it up next Friday, and it feels like time is going so slow.
Can anyone suggest a manual lens that would give the look and feel of the 135 Sony Zeiss but in a smaller package , would any of the wider angle lenses but with a wider aperture be able to re create that look or i have to live with that weight on the A7? I had one for the Sony Alpha 99 and those photos are the best i’ve ever taken…
So you want the Zeiss look or you want a wide angle lens? Must it be only 135mm lens or any tele length counts as well? (85, 100)
There’s the Leica 135 f/3,4 M mount, sadly neither Zeiss nor Voigtlander makes a M mount 135
The only other 135 that I know of which is small and lightweight is the Nikon Ai-S 135 f2,8 or f2
Sadly all the lens I mentioned will have a different rendering then the Zeiss.
I am looking for the same subject isolation and look , it’s an amazing lens. I am tempted to buy it again, but I already sold it once and replaced the a99 with the rx1 because of the weight. The quality of the rx1 is great but no more wow look. Had this look on the canon 85mm 1.2 as well.
Might just go for the 85 1.4 with an adapter, though I wonder how fast is the focusing through that adapter?
Right now the photos with the 55 1.8 look generic. So no lenses for the Fe mount that would tempt me to switch from the rx1 to get the kind of photos I was getting with the a99 and 135mm Zeiss. 🙁
The manual didn’t mention anything abt High Speed Sync 🙁