Matt Granger has been busy shooting in Asia with the Sony A7rII. And on the video above he gives you an answer about the question whether the A7RII is a PRO camera or not. Just a hint: The answer is very looooong 🙂
And SOny Electronics also posted the video of the Alpha 7RII and Alpha 7SII Tech Talk:
New A7rII tests:
Micheal de Mentor posted that Sony A7Rii vs Canon 5Dsr Epic Shootout on Youtube.
Sony A7RII Mirrorless, two months later (Nicholas Goodden).
A7RII w/ Contax N Planar 50/1.4 at SonyAlphaForum.
a7r II vs 5DsR Thermal noise test by Marcio Cabral.
Sony a7R II Review for Video and Photographers by Wolfcrow.
Sony a7RII vs Canon 5DS | A Quick Comparison (SLRlounge).
A7rII store list:
In USA at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore US, FocusCamera, Uniquephoto.
In Europe at Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Wex UK and ParkCameras.
In Asia at Digitalrev, CameraPro.
96 Responses
The answer is long? No, the answer is non-existent.
He basically says nothing at all other than you can, if you want to. Well whoopity-do, I’m pretty sure most people could guess that for themselves!
Especially here in SAR many people have the very narrow-minded thinking of what a “Pro” is. What Matt told should be obvious for everyone. But it isn’t.
“For many people the horizon is a circle with radius zero. That is what they call their standpoint.” (A.Einstein)
“This is targeted at people who want hi-res, who are a little bit slow in how they’re shooting…”
Finally. A7R2 is cetainly not a reporter’s camera. That’s confirmed by many people write in their reviews. I don’t know why E-Mount fanboys on this site try to present A7R2 as a good-for-all solution.
I don’t know. In my opinion the camera speed doesn’t matter that much. I shot sports using a Linhof.
Does it get much slower than that?
Shure… If the photographer is not able to overcome the shortcomings of the camera… If he is not able to plan ahead and to previsualise…
Spray and pray.
Shooting sports with a Linhof doesn’t make you a professional sports photographer. I don’t see many sideline pros adopting your method. The famous ones have fairly consistent needs that your extravagant claim doesn’t provide.
I’m sure all kinds of things can be captured with all kinds of equipment, including an old Sony Symbian smartphone… and surely A7R2. But why ‘overcome the shortcomings’, when there are tools much better suited for an application and even specifically designed for it?
Not all cameras have leaf shutters.
Not all cameras are the same size.
Not all cameras have optical viewfinders.
Not all cameras have EVFs or LiveView.
Not all cameras have the same video features.
Not all cameras are light.
Not all cameras are hefty.
Not all cameras are “well made”.
Not all cameras are cheap.
Not all cameras are FF.
Not all cameras do everything perfectly.
Not one camera does everything perfectly.
But there would be a small group of cameras that can do that one thing perfectly FOR YOU!
Maybe even, a high possibility, ONLY ONE camera does what you need perfectly for you.
So much for PRO.
Sure, but what’s your point..?
He’s in need of his Med’s ?
You seriously didn’t get his point?
Yep, it’s just finding the camera’s strengths that suit your particular specialty, whether your are a pro or enthusiast. I think above all else we spend the money on “pro” bodies for the bulid quality and reliability that typically accompanies, but similar work can always be achieved for cheaper.
Thing is… Every camera has shortcomings.
What kind of camera would you use as a reporters camera?
(By the way… Most newspaper reporters I know use entry level DSLRs… Old Canon Rebels and the like.)
Ok, however speed (fps) matters to me in the sports that I shoot (track and field). I shoot the flat races 100m and 110 hurdles. I don’t like filming my athletes during a competion, I let someone else do the filming. Every inch from the starting blocks to the 3m point and to the getaway after hurdle number one is important to me and critical. I want as many frames that I can pull in 2.5 sec from the gun. With a position sitting directly even to hurdle one and shooting toward the starting blocks, its imperating that I pull every still possible. I shoot world class sprinters. There are only so many still cameras that will give me 20-60 stills in 2.5 secs.
I am a photojournalist. Read above.
Not everyone is the same and not everyone pretends to be a manic twitchy photographer thinking they “got the shot!”
F/8 and be there.
f2 3200 1/60th is more like it for me…
Concert photog? 🙂
Documentary. Anywhere.
A reporter’s camera? Like on old Speed Graflex, yea they were real speed demons.
You’ve been frozen for a long time, huh?
Is that term (reporters camera) part of the current vernacular, sounds as dated as the Speed Graflex.
It is.
A “reporters camera” the kit would come with a Fedora and a card that says ‘PRESS’ on the front of it.
I didn’t mean news reporters necessarily. Sorry, I haven’t been able to translate the word “репортаж” into English as a genre of photography. Dictionaries give me “photo reportage”, “photojournalism” and “event photography”, but it’s not limited to events and doesn’t imply professionals doing it
Press Photographer
No, not only press. Just regular people doing it as a hobby, amateurs, enthusiasts. It’s a genre of photography, not necessarily a job, same as ‘landscape’ or ‘portraits’
The term reporter’s camera is what’s depicted in Emph’s post, it’s not really a genre and I’ve never heard it used that way in context. If that’s how “репортаж” is translated there must be something lost in the translation.
“репортаж” translates to Reportage
Thank you. That’s what dictionaries told me as well.
The genre that I meant is where you shoot things happening as they go, with no control over the situation. Like a fire show, or a political rally, or a flashmob, or military excercise, or a LARP game… Non-posed photography. Can be an organized event or just something interesting spontaneously going on, so you shoot it and put it in a blog or social media… or indeed a news site, if you’re a professional.
Is it correct to translate that as ‘reportage’? So a camera designed for that would be… not reporter’s camera… reportage camera? Like Nikon D4 and such
Dokumentary?
Fedora is a cool OS, but I still like CentOS better.
i tried both and i prefer Ubuntu for a decade 😉
Of course, it is a great all-around solution. What are you even talking about? Even if we exclude reporters (which doesn’t make any sense), there would be 99% of photographers left.
Sony hasn’t built pro camera since A900
The new mirrorless Lieca body is considered a pro level moirrorless body by even the most criticle reviewers.
A body style like that shold be added to the Sony E mount lineup.
No, the last thing they need is faux style for a pure functional tool.
They need to listen to the FS series engineers.
well, it’s almost bigger than DSLR…
Since no one has published a field test under harsh conditions using the Leica that consideration may be nothing more than opinion based on looking at pictures of the body and nothing else.
It has the features many pros refuse to do without
Bigger battery
Dual card slot
Bigger controls, solid feel body , weather seal
Pros that will not buy the a7rii..would buy it with a bdy like this…of course not at Lieca price.
i am curious how many pros/people will be shooting with taht leica 😀
and you know that within 6 months Sony or someone will release an SL-killer for a third of the price.
somebody has to take 10 Leica SL’s into a Mongolian dust-storm and report in after that.
What reviewers? Spec reviews? It’s just because it is a Leica. Admittedly, it does have a couple of interesting features, but at that price, it should have a jet engine and wings.
My RX1 and RX100 are pro. I get paid for the work I produce with them.
The RX1 is not faster than my previous NEX 7 or 5n when it comes to focusing (except the RX100 which is faster than all) but I can work with it just like I did with my NEXs before.
Does that make them less pro? Is speed all it matters for photojournalism or documentary or fashion or anything?
The 5D2 I had before produced worse video than my RX100 (mark I) and worst stills than RX1 and NEX 7, and the AF was not trust worthy (told you it was in focus but it could be either out or in focus) and it didn’t shoot faster than…4 frames per second. Its focus was lacking under low light and the max ISO I could use for it was 2000 pending on banding in dark areas.
Yeah. That camera still produces great work today, albeit not for me anymore.
the nicest comment i have seen so far in this forum, thank yo u!
I’m sure if you list all pros in the world (people who get paid for taking photos) and their cameras, it will turn out that the most PRO camera of all time would be something like…. Canon 500D. Or, in several years, maybe an iPhone.
Any job CAN be possibly accomplished with almost any equipment. A prisoner can dig a tunnel with a spoon. But why do it, when you can buy a spade in any store?
Read below.
LOL – Maybe prisoners are not allowed to buy a spade
No custom WB for studio strobes with EVF. a7RII tethering crashes miserably on latest Macintosh Macbook Pro Retina and iMac 5K. I only use EMount when I absolutely must have the resolution that a99 can’t provide. Starting to really appreciate the SLT design with dust collecting on mirror rather than sensor. Much easier to blow/brush the replaceable mirror off than wrestle with the sensor cleaning.
EMount gains validation only after adopting AMount Alpha name, menus, lens lineup, larger grip, metal lens mount, body stabilization, etc, etc… EMount won’t mature fully until becoming real Alpha with larger battery, focus end stops, full VG controls, full LCD articulation, etc, etc…
Who cares whether this is a pro camera or not ? Those who want to use it, do it. Those who don’t want to use it, then don’t. Look at the features, the advantages and disadvantages and take your decision.
It’s interesting to hear about their experience shooting in the dust storm. I’d love to know which cameras survived and which didn’t!!
That said, I know professional photojournalists who shoot in areas of conflict (such as the Afghanistan desert). They use the most reliable, top-end gear from Nikon and Canon. It’s not even their own gear (it’s provided by their service). And yet… they wouldn’t even think of shooting in those conditions without properly protecting it with sleeves, plastic, electrical tape, etc.
I hope Matt provided some guidance to his group in this regard.
It doesn’t take more than a grain of sand or particle of dust traveling at high speed to jam an unprotected focal plane shutter because of its tight tolerances, in most cases these shutters are manufactured by third parties not the camera maker.
please consider pentax.
How can any ‘E’ mount camera be ‘Pro”? Surely a ‘Pro’ camera is one which any professional photographer can use, regardless of what he/she wants to shoot.
‘E’ mount cameras are surely good for studio work, landscapes, and most weddings … as long as the ‘Pro’ is shooting slow moving or posed objects. There is also the point that if a ‘Pro’ wants to fit a long native lens then he is also out of luck unless he wants to use a slow adapter.
Come on guys, the closest to a ‘Pro’ camera Sony has at present is the A77ii. That beast can do EVERYTHING and do it well. You can also fit just about any length lens you want without adapters and with great balance. And… just wait until Sony release their version of A99ii… then your jaw will drop!
The limited ‘E’ mount was never designed for the uses it’s now being put to and is being stretched until it breaks. Lens design is limited because the camera design is limited but because of its popularity among the streetshooters and snapshooters in certain countries it sold well and since then Sony has been trying to make a great camera out of what was designed to be a general purpose small interchangeable lens point and shoot!
There is no “Pro” camera, just Pro photographers
Well, at least he managed to jam the mirror of a7rii. Thats no small feat.
That was a brain fade on Matt’s part although is was obvious what he was talking about looking at the jammed shutter, he did an a clarifying annotation.
Seems to more more impressed with himself than anything else, sigh…
Long-time definition of a professional photographer: Someone who can guarantee the shot…anytime, anywhere, under any conditions. If you can’t do that…you’re not one.
I know a number of guys who work the at the Traffic Department selling photos to those who need one for their drivers licence. They use a simple point and shoot linked to a cheap laptop and printer with photo paper. They run a simple photo program that allows tethered shooting and they light up their subjects with a single florescent lamp. The black and white photos printed meet the requirements as set out by the department and true to third world country standards, a lot of photos brought in by the applicants “fail” to meet those requirements – but that’s another story altogether. These guys are making a very good living using a point and shoot and often make more money than your typical wedding photographer – there are hundreds of clients every day and there is no competition. Would a A7RII work in such a situation? You be the judge whether that point and shoot is a professional camera.
Considering that there are “pro’s” who use smartphone cameras and stuff like holgas, this isn’t an interesting question and I’m not sure why the internet camera blog industry is so obsessed with asking and answering it.
In fact, people look like a pro when they buy a pro camera. But none look like a pianist after buying a piano.
Considering that there are “pro’s” who use smartphone cameras and stuff like holgas, this isn’t an interesting question and I’m not sure why the internet camera blog industry is so obsessed with asking and answering it.
Sony needs to stick to making their superb sensors. Sony a7 series is not ready for prime time
Another totally unsubstantiated and stupid remark.
I get where he’s coming from and at least he explains his point very well, is the A7rII a ‘Pro’ camera, depends what you use it for… though it’s a little deceptive at the start of the video to say “We went with 3 A7rII’s and only 2 came back” and then at the end of the video say “Oh yeah, my D810 died too”…
On that sample, 66% of Sonys, 100% of Nikons and Matt Granger unreliable for pro work…
Suffice it to say changing lenses in a sandstorm is not recommended.
A7 is pro. It’s just a pro camera that happens to be missing dual card slots.
His opinion regarding dual slots does not necessarily make any practical sense.
Indeed, similar to using more than one card, rather than one large one, statistically you are more likely to experience a failure (i.e. if 1 in 100 cards will fail, you have a 1% chance with one card and a 2% chance with two that one will fail, but it’s not quite as simple as that!).
In addition, whether it matters will depend upon the nature of the failure and whether you are aware of it at the time.
Personally I’d rather carry an extra body for such eventualities as I don’t limit the chance of failure of a camera to the card slot.
People are using two card to have a back up copy in case one card fails. Not to count the expenses of losing one card.
Don’t get me wrong, I do understand the reasoning, but I think it’s not the ‘make or break’ issue that it’s sometimes made out to be.
Back in days of film it simply wasn’t an option, but I’ve had films split halfway and labs ruining others in processing, so there’s never an absolute certainty in anything!
Having dual cards requires the hardware to be set up to operate as the photographer needs; either duplicate RAW, JPEG, or one of each. But whichever option you choose (assuming it is available), to have it in the first place will either compromise performance or make the camera cost significantly more.
In the case of the A7Rii, I’d imagine all that extra file writing would add to the heating effect too!
I’m pretty sure Sony considered all the design choices and cost implications before deciding one slot was sufficient. Given the very low failure rate of quality cards I don’t have too much of an argument with that.
I doubt using two cards will hinder writing/heat performance, if anything. Writing should now be even faster comparing with raw+jpg, which is my choice anyway.
I do weddings and as of now- have been renting a secondary body. I use two bodies and have yet to experience any failures. With that said, I did have one card issue last year but was able to recover the data. With more work comes more concern. I want the cheap insurance and I do believe Sony could offer at least one body with this feature.
I shoot weddings too, but have two bodies with me and a spare in my bag for safety.
Probably the best insurance regarding cards is to make sure you buy quality and replace reasonably regularly.
Other than that, you absolutely must carry professional liability insurance. It won’t completely help a bride and groom, but you won’t be bankrupted if the worst happens!
That said, if you use two bodies wisely (part of the experience!) then you should have shots of all parts of the day on both of them, so if one card or camera goes ‘belly up’ there will still be plenty of shots for the couple.
I dont even know what the hell a pro camera is anymore.
Any camera is Pro if you make money using it. Sony a7rii is definitely a Pro camera for a certain group of photographers.
I agree … There are no pro – cameras as such but pro-photographers. I am in advertising photography for many years and trust me, you may be well surprised what camera I used to make in one week 65’s of $ and that did happen not just one time mind you.
You made $65 in a week? Please, tell me the advertising agency who pay so well…lol!
You may like to know Peter Kelly what accounts, rather than what agencies, however, I am just above the average mind you since some guys make way much more.
Mine income close to 300’s is a spit in the ocean, trust me. Also name under which I do these posts is not my name, therefore I can answer any question you may have …
… and so if you will assign your self to particular campain you hit a gold wane in ad-business rush.
Going back to equipment. There is realy nothing special to shoot with in nowadays it it is film or 80Mp medium format and everyting in between … including smart phones and with new Sony A7 cameras which are btw simply awesome.
It seems to be very funny when you see choose photographers with very fancy-schmansy equipmet doing week-end family pics … These guys are most critical and observent about photographic equipment.
In pro-photography it is all about to make client happy and ad-campain working for profits.
I can believe $300 is ‘a spit in the ocean’. I spend more on my mobile phone bill, so I don’t know how you survive!
I’m sure your clients must be delighted if you give them good work and only charge a few cents per picture.
My rate is over $150 per hour and I don’t think it’s nearly enough!
Ha, ha … you are almost funny … anyhow my rate is 2500.00 a day but doing advertising campaign is like fish and bicycle, totally different aspect how things are done.
If let’s say large size calendars ( I have done 7 of them ) they go in between 40-60’s. Large billboards 9 x 42 feet 20-25’s a pop …
When you have critical ad campaigns you can get from 8 to 12’s per shoot because there are just guys which will get a call for a quote and we are talking an international. Why? Because there are not many folks who can do it and an agency can count on them 100%.
Anyhow, we can go on and on … mind you there are NO ! free lunches in my business.
You’ll have to explain again, I’m afraid.
First you tell us you earn $65 a week. Then you mention 300 and now your rate is 2500, etc.
Please, what are the units you are talking about? 2500 dollars, pounds, bitcoins, chickens, helium balloons, or something far more intangible?
Peter Kelly, you have had the absence in classes in mathematics or most likely you have no wild idea how advertising business works for the commercial photographer, Ether way I am open to conversation but not to timewasting …
Maybe I should also mention to you, that I have submitted last year income close to 800’s. How about that. LOL, this must mess up your counting even more. Right?
You see Peter Kelly, being in the business where I am is NOT just about photography by itself, but there are a lot of issues which they do NOT teach you at Oxford University, trust me on this one.
In any case going back to the issue of SONY 7RII is this camera for the professional photographer or not, maybe I say maybe you may “picture” how pitiful this issue could be for people in the real world of professional photography since they do not care. They care only and only about one thing. Final result. For that circumstance, SONY 7RII is just perfect.
You had an income last year of $800? I could see someone managing on $80,000, or doing very nicely on $800,000, but only $800? You must be starving, you poor man!
I’ll spell it out, as you seem completely incapable of understanding sarcasm.
When you make a statement, you need to use the correct form and units, otherwise you look like a complete knob.
A professional power drill ist called professional, because it has attributes required by pros, like high power, durability, resistance against moisture and dust, or good customer support. You can use a cheap chinese hobby drill to make money, but that doesn’t make it a professional power drill.
At this point probably the iPhone might be the third more profitable “camera” for photographers, just behind Canikon
I suppose he could get good results from any camera. However for work people would prefer a capable system rather than just a good sensor.
I think the A7Rii is definitely more than enough for many kinds of pro work. Absolutely agree with your second sentence. Mostly speed and reliability are more important than the latest sensor specs.
But in all respect, when you say “…get good results from any camera…”, it doesn’t make any sense to me. It sounds a little bit like endlessly repeated phrases about how gear doesn’t matter. Gear matters. For any type of job, there are countless cameras you can not get good results with.
Of course, a talented photographer will still show his talent even with the crappiest camera, and a talentless jerk (like this K.R. mentioned by Ian) will still take crappy pictures even with the best camera.
Matt Granger contrary to some Pro ( K. R.) is very good at explaining and giving lots of arguments when talking. He is not advertising either and not narrow minded ( or fan boy) that s why i m often watching his reviews.
There’s none more pro than ken Rockwell
“… some Pro ( K. R.) …” Haha, never heard that one before.
Matt gave a balanced and nuanced answer to the pro issue and for that matter choosing any camera system
I think you can say there are buggaboos with EVERY camera system. I’ve had Canons fail massively and L lenses konk out many many times. I’ve had panasonic GH’s fall literally fall apart in my hands. (all on jobs of course). Fact is you need a couple of cameras on a job one to shoot and one in case you have problems with A cams. oh and try not to shoot in dust storms or if you do I’ll bet a point and shoot gets you everything you need. (PS’s are pretty good these days)
Wouldn’t a waterproof case also works?
for what?
documentary of a flashmob? sounds weird to me