Sony announced the new Sony A7sII. Stay tuned! I will keep updating this post!
Preorders:
The new Sony A7sII can be preordered at Adorama now (Click here). And also the new FS5 camcorder (Click here).
A7sII at BHphoto (Click here).
Key specs:
12MP Exmor CMOS sensor
RAW output 14 bit (real or lossy?)
Internal 4K recording with higher dynamic range
5 axis stabilization
Much improved AF in low light conditions (169 AF points)
The A7SII will be available in November 2015, at 3400€.
Press text, Image samples and videos:
Full Sony specs on that SonyAlphaRumors page.
Sony A7sII official press text: “Out of darkness cometh light” on that SonyAlphaRumors page.
5 Things You Need To Know About The New Sony Alpha a7S II (WexUK).
List fo real world pictures of the new Sony A7sII! (SonyAlphaCameras).
Sample photos at Sony.net Gallery.
α7S II – 4K low-light ISO comparison MOVIE | α | Sony (Youtube video on Sonyalphacameras).
α7S II – 5x Slow Motion “Landscape” in Full HD | α | Sony (Youtube video on Sonyalphacameras)
α7S II – 5-axis optical image stabilization | α | Sony (Youtube video on Sonyalphacameras)
α7S II – S-Gamut3.Cine/S-Log3 and S-Gamut3/S-Log3 movie | α | Sony (Youtube video on Sonyalphacameras)
α7S II – High quality 4K movie “Takigi-noh” in Full frame | α | Sony (Youtube video on Sonyalphacameras)
α7S II – Fast Intelligent AF for movie | α | Sony (Youtube video on Sonyalphacameras).
Presnetation at TheVideomode.
Newsshooter at IBC 2015: Sony A7s II first look from Dan Chung on Vimeo.
591 Responses
Sony did it again!
Current info:
Internal 4K
Same ISO 409600
Holy excrement! I didn’t expect that anywhere like this soon.
That was fast
A6100/A7000 M.I.A. -.-
“I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices of 7000 fans suddenly cried out in terror
A99II also MIA 🙂
Am I silly to be still waiting for that one?
A-mount is dead.
so it would seem.
LOL Andrea, I think it’s time for you to seriously reevaluate the credibility of your sources.
No new lens announcement, no a6000 successor and the a7sII was announced even though you said it wouldn’t be announce this year. How could you get everything so wrong?
Sony is that good in keeping information inside.
+1
You might need to reevaluate your sources…
It’s nit first timeSAR gets everything wrong.
People, the event is still underway… Could you just wait what is going to happen before you talk about how disappointed you are?
How could this guy plat with it on stage without giving specs
Perhaps there are no major advances in the specs to boast about – added stabilization and internal 4K.
I just started watching the conference when they were about to finish about imaging sector. What was said about a7sII?
Nothing much, internal 4K, full pixel binning/read-out and same 409600 ISO. Nothing about new sensor with faster read-out of OSPDAF.
They are really milking it now.
Bit dissapointed that they decided not to announce the lenses or lens roadmap.
Agree
Come on Sony, more info please !!!
So much for the stupid idea that Sony would be putting it in a stupid body like that ugly Canon monstrosity.
you can say about canon (Sensors) what you want, but any of thoose ugly
monstrosities (if you refer to te Cxxx line-up) has way better egonomics
than the sony body. way better.
Press release:
http://presscentre.sony.eu/pressreleases/sony-expands-range-of-compact-full-frame-mirrorless-cameras-with-the-launch-of-the-ultra-sensitive-a7s-ii-1216386
In addition to what we know:
Full hd 120 fps
12 MP
169 AF points EV-4
Same EVF A7rII
Same 500.000K shutter
LCS-EBF new case for sony a7rII, a7II and a7sII
I know I’m being whiny and it’s not about the megapickles, but 16MP would’ve made it ideal in my book. 12MP is okay.
Still only contrast detect AF. Probably no dramatic read-out speed improvement to reduce rolling shutter, they would have mentioned it if there was. No BSI for more sensitivity.
Internal 4K and IBIS is nice, but overall a pretty boring release, unlike the original A7s which broke a lot of new ground.
here’s a press link: http://presscentre.sony.eu/pressreleases/sony-expands-range-of-compact-full-frame-mirrorless-cameras-with-the-launch-of-the-ultra-sensitive-a7s-ii-1216386
Sony A7S ii? did not mention how many MP?
Wow, caught everybody by surprise but the main thing is, will there be any overheating issues like the A7RII with internal 4K?
it well might be that the same problems that plague A7RII will be with the A7S II. Then again the sensor size is different.. We will know once the cameras are on real users hands .. not before.
http://www.sony.com/electronics/interchangeable-lens-cameras/ilce-7sm2
It seems like basically the same sensor, S-log 3, 1080p@120fps, better EVF and LCD, much more AF points, internal UHD and 5-axis stabilization.
Good enough for me…
Yes yes yes!!! Pre-Order links plz!
http://presscentre.sony.eu/pressreleases/sony-expands-range-of-compact-full-frame-mirrorless-cameras-with-the-launch-of-the-ultra-sensitive-a7s-ii-1216386
slog3
fullHD 120p
yeah
Where do I pre-order? I have waited for this forever. Well done, Sony.
Available in Europe November 2015 €3400
“… available in Europe in November 2015, priced at approximately €3,400.” pass for me :/
Where is the seven new lenses. And no sign of the A99 II. Disappointing
I will aks my source again what’s going on. maybe they will show a roadmap later today…
yes, would like to see more rumors about a99m2, and the real-new a-mount lens. not just current updated version, with same formulation.
Oh no 🙁 the price of the A7SII is raised higher just like the A7RII.
It would seem the rumour machine failed once again, just like the A7R II…
At least we get some surprises…
Yup. It’s kind of nice to see in an odd way.
So my SR5 rumor on the S35 E-mount camcorder doens’t count? You only focus on SR3 rumors which y rnaking are not reliable? 🙂
I shouldn’t take everything so seriously.
However, this is quite a big one given that the A7 series is so important. It rather indicates Sony now have a strong policy regarding not leaking details about the Alpha range.
So I00% error rate! No lenses or APSC body as predicted, and A7SII as not predicted. But surely it’s what Admin should have expected: IBC is all about video, so the A7S is the only kind of camera it makes sense to announce there, and it doesn’t make much sense to announce still lenses….
More like 200% error rate! SAR said there would be no a7sII announcement this year.
I know right. 200% error rate is about right in the ball park.
Where did I write this???????
Not 100% error rate. I mean he got the “Sony” part right.
So my SR5 rumor about the camcorder was wrong? IBC is all about video so A6100 4K camera would not have fitted here?
Guys you have to start to read the rumor rankings. If I say A6100 is SR3 on September 11 it means only 50% chance this is happening. READ the ranking system!
I think people are getting upset because you’re not getting anything right lately, whatever you SR rating is.
You had nothing about the ArII, nothing about the AsII, you’ve been iterating the same rumors about the a6000 successor for more than 6 months now.
IMPORTANT: Not that you have to know about products before everyone does, but now your website (which no one is forced to visit, I understand that) seems like just a waste of time, mainly for personal affiliate purchase links, as opposed to how it was before.
14 bit RAW files for still image now available.
Always been 14-bit, but it’s still ARW 2.3 so 11+7 bit RAW file 🙂
Haha… no a6100 or a7000 this year! all suggest Sony is dumping aps-c and A mount to go full throttle on FF E-mount! I mean why wouldn’t they? aps-c is cheap with low profit margin, not to mention they have to compete with Fuji, Oly and Pana. A-mount is not going to be any better with Canikon around.
THIS will be my new camera next year. I also hoped for at least 16Mp, but 12 are ok too. IBIS + internal 4k + this damn good high iso… <3
Interesting, no PDAF?
I ve read something about a new AF-System… But not that many AF-Points like in the A7rII… would be sad 🙁
No Phase points ???? Seriously????
Too little pixels, can’t sacrifice them for PDAF~
Too little pixels? S II has actually many times larger pixels than R II.
I meant amount of pixel count, not size of each pixels
All i can say is that this website is bullshit !!!
Rumor 3 / 4 / 5 ?? HA ! bullshit..
No A6100 No A 7000 and No new lenses !
And a A7sII that you say it never been released this year !!
And what is with the A99ii announcement ???? ITS MID SEPTEMBER ?!
Keep cool. At least he entertained us 😀
You would probably do it better… yeah, right
Joke. SAR got everything wrong.
so my SR5 rumor on the camcorder were wrong? Damn you read too much SR3 rumors without knowing what SR3 means (50% chance it’s true). Teh SR5 was AGAIN correct.
It’s was a broadcast event, it would have surprised me if consumer camera was announced. Only videocam were announced.
So why did SAR tell everybody otherwise?
You do know that the R stands for Rumors, not official Sony statements.
Oh comment deleted?
Quote from SAR :
“SR4 (two trusted source heard about this): A60000
successor to be announced between now and PhotoPlus. Note: The rumor is
not SR5 because it happened once that Sony delayed the announcement of
that camera. Don’t want to bring bad luck again”
Yes between now and Photplus. So what’s wrong on that rumor for now?
A7sII is a videocamera?
Yes, for Sony the A7S is a camera for videographers primarily, nothing wrong on that rumor (the comment I was replying to was deleted, it was not directed to you 😉 )
Sony is disappointing again!
A full refresh on (F)E-Mount and no refresh on A-Mount (the one and only Alpha-Mount).
Some a7SII youtube videos:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLL06nPE7_lzPhzIhPzzmEIAA0YPWqR7KN&feature=iv&src_vid=CVLBHMbRMW4&annotation_id=annotation_2503780189
I got an SR 5 rumour. A new 5-4000 mm f.0,25 zoom lens is coming. Weighs around 200 gram. And is around one cm long. Who told me. A little bird. Because i can now belive those little birds as much as any rumours around here
Start your own rumour site then. Help your fellow man !
Or at least find a way to convert all your negativity into a harness-able form of energy !!! Solve the worlds energy problems. Plenty of negativity to found everywhere ! 😀
The rumour on this site here was: SR4 (one trusted source heard this): Sony will announce 7 new lenses (some in development and some for real). Among them we have new FE telephoto lens(es), fast portrait prime, 24-70mm GM and maybe some “Updated” A-mount lenses..
There was not one single lens on the event.
You speak the truth.
i see… so pro photographers means they could take hundred of photos but not allow other to do 1 inaccurate speculation. hmm…. when photographers miss the shot, take again and again and told other you cannot do wrong.
Yes true. And I stand to it. The source was right in the past. SO I don’t knwo why he is wrong now. Maybe they will shwo the roadmap later today? And the SR5 rumor on the camcorder were 100% spot on.
I guess it is not a Backside-illuminated sensor.
In essence, the A7S sensor in the A7R II body (and new shutter) with some sensor and processor tweaking to allow internal 4K recording. It would seem no PDAF so I suspect that AF performance won’t be too hot and it AF support for Canon lenses will be poor.
Disappointed. Given new IBIS is expected as with others Mark II series. Internal 4K is expected as with the new a7RmII.
So, what’s new?
The same 12MP? Now that’s unexpected for me. It should have been al least 16 or 20MP
I’ll pass.
12MP is best for 4K, which was expected not to change.
This is a video-optimized mirrorless camera.
I know that. So static photography is discounted for this camera?
*facepalm*. I don’t want to explain. I’m too tired to do this.
Sony is the technological juggernaut, after what they did with the a7rII, I would have expected them to easily have more MP and still have 4k mastered. Instead they didn’t really do much and just refreshed IBIS and internal 4k.
Have you used the camera and know this to be the case?
It would defeat the whole purpose of this camera if it had more megapixels!!
The purpose of this camera is video and low light. Not low MP. Sony has proven sensor technology increases every year, they can increase the MP no problem.
The goal is NOT to increase the MP count.
No because then you would have pixel binning – the whole point is this has full pixel readout and therefore no aliasing etc in video.
They kept 12 MP because it’s the right number to get 4k video without pixel binning, which is a big advantage for shooting video. If they had 16 or more MP, they’d have to use pixel binning and the video quality would be reduced. Also, 12 MP vs 16 MP isn’t a very big difference and wouldn’t justify the video quality loss. Look at the difference in the A7RII between 4k video in FF mode and S35 mode. It’s a good illustration of why 12 MP is the way to go for a video oriented camera. It’s not only about the size of the photosites.
That’s why he used it in static video mode on stage.
Sony is not interested in photography. 4k is useless
Yeah, that was a surprise. Would have expected at least 16MP.
Well if the 12mp is a new sensor that has even a 0.5 increase in DR and ISO performance, that alone is worth a worthy upgrade
OMG People! Quit ragging on SAR! Andrea sacrifices a lot of his time to this site. And they’re RUMOURS not facts. And we enjoy the speculation and intrigue. All these “This site is a joke” comments are really unnecessary.
No its necessary. I work in the science field and SAR to me is worse than the humanities. That’s pretty bad now.
Agreed – Alex K. Those who dislike the unreliable nature of rumors can either make their own site or wait for dpreview…
that shown us this world got many type of characters. we must always improve our manner 🙂
Yes enough with these negative comments, this is a rumor site after all.
People doens’t make a difference between SR5 and SR3 rumor. So they forget my only SR5 rumor was about the S35 camcroder and the specs I posted about that were 100% correct. SR3 or below has 50% or less chance to be correct.
When people are angry they always have to find someone to blame, and in this case that’s you (when it should be Sony).
A lot of us are eagerly waiting for the A6000 successor, and many have been very disapointed by this announcement :-
Your spec SR5 on FS5 100% correct ? I don’t think so. You said it has no slow mo, but it actually has 240 FPS full HD…… if this is no slow mo…..
don’t care what they said, rumors is not press, no need to guarrantee to be 100% correct.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrkIR70soxM
why not charge $100 by putting full read out chip to enable the slowmo recording 960fps will be fun with low light high iso together lol…
As for the new camera… Meh! I wanted an A7000 as a second body to my A7Rii. The FS5 however. I think I might have just messed myself. A C300ii killer that is a quarter of the weight and (possibly) a quarter of the price. I’m in!!!
WTF is C300ii killer? FS7 was already 1/2 the price of C300ii which is $15K, in the same price range as F5.
I guess I meant ANOTHER C300ii killer from Sony… Not quite in codec this time (only 4:2:0 8bit 4K) but certainly in price and size. Now if Sony could just licence and effectively implement Canon’s dual pixel autofocus, they could rule the world!
Hey guys take it easy on Admin, he’s human, a good guy and he just had a baby. He’s very busy these days lets give him one. And he didn’t get everyone wrong, the camcorder was spot on. On to the A7ii, I can’t lie I’m excited, but no sensor info ? no bsi or improvements on that front? I would have liked to see 4k 60p, but slog 3 is very welcomed. Looking forward to knowing more about the sensor.
Snore
Go to bed and get some sleep. Your fingers are typing nonsense.
It’s 10:36 am here.
Basically an A7S sensor in a A7II body plus some speed improvements and internal 4K. Rather expected specs, but a lot earlier than I anticipated.
And all you guys nagging about the 12MP, you do know this is a video oriented model, and that the 12MP is not a number picked by chance? Until 6K or 8K becomes the “standard”, 12MP is the way to go, so just accept it or buy an A7RII.
The ‘II’ models are just a refresh with IBIS and 4k. Hopefully the III next year will bring some serious significant improvements in AF and IQ.
Well, I suppose the A7RII “refresh” kinda raised the bar a lot.
Just?! It smashes the competition.
What competition is there in the A7, RX10, RX100 ?; Nikon could have done a A7 competitor in the Df range; by offering this with video, mirrorless and a similar sort of models to the A7.
OH MY GOD!!! THE DREAM CAMERA! Unfortunately, not having money this stuff will remain only a dream!
However Canon and Nikon are now prehistory XD
Hi Andrea, do not take notice of the comments. You are doing a good job and base yourself on the sources. If the sources are wrong you cannot do much 😉
Yeah, some people don’t understand the meaning of the secret word “rumors” or maybe they have issues dealing with anxiety and expectations – like a teenager.
Andrea you should get a job at Macrumors. Their rumors are always right it’s boring. Go there and mix it up a bit will ya?
So is fujirumors and nikonrumors. 43rumors almost always right. Worst are SAR and canonrumors
Nope. My SR5 on camcorder was right. SR3 from new sources plain wrong. But again, if people doens’t read rankings…
Agreed- its a great site
I guess all of us waiting for a new APS-C camara are not on Sony’s priority list and we’ll just have to keep on waiting…
If I could afford the FF body/lenses I will just simply jump into the FF wagon, Sony made clear today what they already stated: focus on FF (mirrorless) and everything else put on a B-list hold (including A-mount).
So let’s start saving now and maybe next year I can get an A7Sm3 for €4300 as prices just keep on rocketing and new A7-series updates keep on coming along.
The days of the “affordable FF” (A7) are gone, now is not about bringing FF to the masses but squeezing the hype and excitement created these last months with each subsecuent annoucement… smart move: marketing strategies are paying off since IBIS and internal-4k could have been already included in the first generation A7-series. This way Sony keep people excited every few months and getting upgrades!
Nevertheless, some of us are still are happy enough having a capable, exciting and bargain-priced a6/7xxx as it was the the a6000 back in the “old days”. The a6000 was a really good deal (as the A7 was), and it was one of the main reasons it sold so well.
The original a7 is still available as a ‘cheap’ FF option. Compare it with the Canon 6D and it doesn’t look so bad… The a7R/SII are indeed very expensive, but seeing as they’re presently peerless Sony could charge whatever they wanted and people with a specific need would be lining up to buy them. Anyway, when thinking about what you get for your £2500/£3000 from Sony, consider what you get from Leica for twice that…
or even a canon equivalent. the sony a7r2 and 7s2 is still a bargain
Sony has no name and reputation among photographers nowhere near as Leica. This price rocketing is rushed. They started making name with great and cheap options, but they are wrong if they think its time to make themselves Leica. Canon and Leica can fool people into buying overpriced stuff only because of long tradition and huge reputation. Sony has no such luxury yet.
Have you not noticed that the RII is backordered everywhere?
Yes, and do you know how miserable quantities those are, in comparison to D750 for example?
Low-light champion was born. I need two. Thanks, Sony.
I heard a rumor that the a6000 price just shot back up to $550! LOL! BH, Amazon, and everyone else says “oops we made a mistake!”
Seems like Sony wants to have less and less customers. Insane Euro pricing again … I have little hope for another afordable A6000 style camera coming.
I don’t get it. Do people really need to shoot in total darkness? It is cool that it goes to 400,000 ISO, but who really needs that. I know the s is a good camera, but I wonder who the target market is? Police surveillance? The price is a killer. I think Sony, is really limiting new users to migrate to mirrorless FF. Other than old models, there is noting in the $1000+ range.
No problem; it is just not for you then. People will be lining up for this one because it is the only FF 4K camera with this high sensitivity at this pricepoint.
Yes millions will line up for a 3400€ camera. Basically every cellphone-photographer will upgrade at that low price.
Previous version + 4k recorder is cheaper
Good point. Though I had to endure shooting an entire movie with an Atomos Ninja II attached to a DSLR and heavy monitor/recorders (it’s the batteries that zonk you) married to often lighter cameras are like trying to manipulate a golf ball that happens to be attached to a bowling ball–unweildy, unsteady. Oh, and you go through a fortune in HDMI cables.
nah
$1700 for shogun + $2400 for A7s is more expensive (B&H prices)
To be honest. Only my thinking. To show a picture with for example higher iso than iso 32800. Its like on Facebook. Show a picture with over colorized image. Its only a wow picture. And high iso. Its only for wow. Look its iso 204.000.
For wedding videographers the appeal is huge!! There are so many occasions when there is limited light and no time to set up lighting. Also it allows us not to always shoot wide open for certain shots.
400,000 is more just a fluke–it doesn’t really go that high without severe degradation. In reality 50,000 is the highest. I frequently work in modestly lit environments and as excited as I am to get some shots in extreme low light I’m more excited by the a7s’ ability to get higher f stop shots in very pretty ambient light. I mean, I love F1.4 but focusing is a pain.
Journalist, editorial shooters, that’s the target audience for this technology!
Will the IBIS cause overheating this time?
This is a disappointing update, as far as I can see. 4K, even in HDMI output mode, is still only 8-bit, as far as I can see. Same with the new camcorder announced. Typical Sony – produce a great sensor, and then cripple it with codec, much like they do with crappy 11+7 “Raw” in stills.
They’re so damn afraid of heat
In an interview, they said the 8bit output is hardware related (Bionz X), so they cannot change it via firmware update (don’t remember where I read it…)
Sure you’re right, which only reinforces my opinion that it’s not a serious update. Will have to wait and see if Bionz XI will have output suitable for pro work and grading. Bit of a shame.
Silly price. How much does the overhyped 4K video add to a STILLS camera?
What’s the native ISO for S-Log2 and S-Log3? The main reason that I don’t use it on my A7S is that I’d rather keep my ISO at a more reasonable 100 to 800, pushing up to 3200 if really needed.
Why? There’s no difference in noise or color. If it’s too bright, just use a filter.
So NO α6100? Too bad. Looks like maybe the α6100 will be Sony’s D400. Always talked anout, but never released.
Apple PowerBook G5
Duke Nukem Forever
Any word on RAW compression? Seems like this would be a great camera to start with given their are less pixels.
Spec just says 14 bit RAW
Sony seems lost their heads about pricing. Gentlemen, you were taking the market from canicon with low priced good gear. You did not finish that job. I expect Sony to decline again in market share, unfortunately.
Imaging is the only thing Sony is doing at the moment that is making them money. And they are ahead of the others by a wide margin. Don’t expect this to change any time soon.
Maybe Samsung will change gears and release a FF body and lenses, But Im not holding my breath for that.
It made them money because zillions bought cheap and nice aps-c e mount cameras, and entry a7. I doubt these highly priced cameras will bring them money. It is a bit arrogant to price every new camera that much above D810, which is still the best photographer`s tool in semi pro range. a6000 is the best camera up to 1000$. A7 is the best full frame in the world in its range, maybe even a7II. But these latest 2 models are too ambitious with pricing.
Low price cameras are what brings ppl in and it helps pave the way for these higher end cameras which are mainly for certain groups of professionals. In return I think these high end cameras make their lower end cameras look more like a premium brand.
So no stacked sensor this time … I really hoped they wait with this model and implement stacked sensor. With 12MP this should be easy?
Super slow mo at ISO 25600 with great reduced rolling shutter – then I would think about a >3k cam.
10fps with superbig buffer. This could have ben the “missing link” for some People.
So I continue to be happy with my A7s 🙂
Can I know when is the next possible camera announcement is due?
Thinking of buying an A6000 and the Australian cash back ends on 30th of this month. So in two minds.
Photoplus mid October
So mid october is the next thing. Ok. That means. If there is no new lenses then. There will be no more new lenses.
And we all can agree on one thing. If there is no new A99 II. Then Sony officially declare that mount as dead
If there is no A-mount we can confirm the fact the Sony Management is put together by a bunch of not very respect worthy individuals.
Thanks admin. It’s decided then, I’m gonna have an A6000 😀
Another good release from Sony which is putting more and more pressure on Nikon and Canon to be bold, only thing I don’t like about the recent releases of cameras and lenses is the price. If I get a Sony camera I will wait for about a year until the price comes down to a more sensible level.
is good to see some improvement and new features put into a7sii like 120fps in full hd and ibis..But how about 10bit output and built in filter? this is what i really hope for in a7sII. I rather they delay to announce a7sii and put these into it.
I guess this mean another 1 year wait for the A7SIII.
Agreed on 10-bit out. It was my biggest wish for this camera. Followed by 14-bit in bulb mode as I wanted it for astrophotography. Lossless RAW was number 3 on the list but none of those became reality 🙁
Built in ND though is unrealistic in such a small camera. Now with IBIS even less so.
Seems like a minor update from the A7S. I can’t find a single reason to justify the $1000 price difference. A7rii seems like a better deal.
Correct, I was hoping for BSI sensor
BSI effect in a 12mp FF sensor will be less than 1/3 of a stop. Believe me
Biggest improvement of BSI on a 12mp FF sensor is a faster readout-speed (rolling shutter) and better usability on sensor corners with some old film-lenses when the light rays are not anymore perpendicular.
The 1/3 stop is really negligible – I don’t expect a real improvement here.
Sure thing. BUT, the speed of data manipulation/extraction would have meant a lot for AF and other dependents.
I don’t think BSI has anything to do with read-out speed. Stacked sensor tech is all about speed. Two different things
$500 price difference for IBIS, stronger body, bigger better EVF, better AF, 4K internal, S-Log3, LUT preview etc.
‘Minor’ update is relative. We have been spoiled by A7R II update and maybe expected more again.
hate me all you want but i hope Sony Camera business fails like their TV, PC business , with their greedy pricing. However, i hope their sensor business do well.
Ultimately, Sony pricing will push prices up the whole industry.
They’re cheaper than Nikon and Canon Counter part so I dont know what the fuck you’re talking about.
What counter part? Da f ck are you talking about? Did i hurt your feeling or something?
yeah you hurt my feelings. Im in deep depression.
Go buy the A7 for under $1,000 if you are upset about “Greedy Pricing”, amazing deal
You must think Sony is the only brand in the market. Thanks BTW. I never said i’m in the market for full frame mirrorless, at least not from Sony A7* anyway.
You have a completely screwed up view. It is the market that determines the price and not Sony. Corporations are, rightfully, in business to make money. Why would low prices encourage any company to innovate? So, high price means new technology and now the last generation high tech is old and much cheaper. So, you get the tech. a year or so later for a more affordable price. With your regulated market price you get nothing, or at a minimum, slower progress. By the way, competition drives lower price and gives us better quality and does not, ultimately, drive prices up.
I knew i would piss people like you up. Sure, it is the market that determines, indeed. You are not the only one in that market. You are entitled to your opinion and i have mine.
None of these features are ” new technology”. They migrates from video department. Sure your can argue that IBIS , but stabilization feature is nothing new. IMO, the only thing advantage over others is its sensor. That’s about it.
It’s good for you that you think it’s ok for Sony to add up 500 -1000 dollars/ euros every time it renews a model. I don’t. Not many companies do the same, in fact very rarely. However, i don’t care much for Sony Full Frame at the moment, thus, like i said, Sony pricing will push prices up the whole industry.
SR5 camcorder info as wrong …nope! Sr3 rumor on A6100 was wrong yes. But again, read the SR ranking to learn how this site works. Please, take time to read 🙂
Andrea, I understand the nature of the rumor business, but the a6100 was sr4 would have been sr5, but you didn’t want to jinx
You are wrong.Read my post again here:
http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/sr3-some-more-extended-a6100-specs-and-a-full-rumor-recap/
It’s SR4 that it is coming betwene now and Photoplus. SR3 that it’s coming on Spet 11.
Sorry – you are correct, I misread. Still not the best day in rumor land.
Here is a screenshot
This to me looks like what it should have been when they introduced it as a7s.
mmmmm, nice…. buuut, wheres the updated lens roadmap?
no lens roadmap, SAR lied about that and the A6100/A7000
Well, to state that Admin ‘lied’ is a bit unfair. He’s dependent upon sources after all. But one wonders whether he was deliberately misled by the powers that be at Sony.
A6100 was SR3 so pelase read the rumor ranking first. SR4 abotu the A6100 is that it’s coming between now and Photoplus.
Abotu the Lens roamdap I am stillchecking. I still hope they will show the new lens roadmap in these days because that is what Sony told to one source in Amsterdam.
Has anybody how the AF works?
Here the descriptions…
With 169 AF points (25 contrast-detection points, plus nine central AF
points each divided into 16 segments, for a total of 25+(9×16)), this
speedy, accurate system ensures subject detection accuracy when shooting
stills even under low-visibility conditions with lighting as low as EV
-4. Moreover, AF speed for shooting Full HD movies is twice as fast as
in the α7S.
Huge, huge screw up by Sony for not giving this, and the PXW-FS5, 10bit 4K. Huge opportunity missed.
The screw up are the new prices. How is Sony going to sell the FS7 if the FS5 does the same thing cheaper and without the QXD cards? If codecs are that important to you go for a Blackmagic. Really. That’s what I shoot on.
FS7 has much more to offer. 4k 60p, 10bit, does the fs5 shot continues slowmotion?
I worded that incorrectly- what I meant to say was if Sony gave the FS5 10-bit 4K how would they sell the FS5. I’m with you on the FS7’s specs.
The FS5 does slow motion only in 1080P with bursts of 120 and 240 FPS. Kinda lame. The FS700 was better than that.
The only fullframe camera with 4k internal recording i can think of is the Canon 1dc, costing 8000 USD now. And it does not have IBIS or high ISO, and has 1.3x crop when recording 4k. 4k is everything for video professionals, becaus it lets them create better HD footage.
A7R2 is a much a better deal, as it’s a full usable photo camera and in 99% of all situations can do the same regarding video, as noise free iso at 12.800 is enough. The A7S2 is more like a Nikon D810a, which you can use for rare hobby situations like Astro photography or other events that happen in total darkness. In the A7R2 even in crop mode you have an additional internal zoom with clear 4K video that saves you money and weight on tele lenses, which isn’t possible on the A7S2 but much more useful than darkness shots.
one unknown factor is the AF performance (especially in low light). I have a feeling that this will finally be a camera that can FULLY compete with best DSLRs. Im not saying A7rII is bad, its actually pretty good, but its not quite there yet…
The autofocus for video demonstration on sony.com is quite bad…
Professional videographers not use autofocus
I am a professional videographer and I love the dual pixel autofocus of the canon c 100
Even for video, good AF can be quite good for some usecases. Especially for a dolly-zoom it is enough if I have to change my camera position and the focal length at the same time. Good if something else can take care of the focus.
But I am not a professional videographer.
Why would you think a7s has good AF? Does it have PDAF at all, and we know Sony isn’t proficient in CDAF algorithms.
Still CDAF only so you can start putting your hopes down. It will acquire focus in low light for sure but how fast? The a7RM2 will still hold best AF for mirrorless.
isn’t NX1 still better in terms of AF?
With two lenses maybe, when light is good.
+1 The a7sii is aimed at videographers and not photographers, I see little point in photographers complaining it doesn’t meet their needs when it is not designed to. That responsibility goes to the A7rii as you pointed out
But the thing is, the A7rII is already damn good as a video camera. S-log, internal 4k, S35, the fast PDAF (for when you need it). The A7sii doesn’t offer enough to justify the extra costs. Is there something I’m missing?
slog3, and 120fps in FullHD. And i guess a bit better lowlight performance. Maybe less rolling shutter.
A7Sii doesn’t have extra cost, it’s 200 dollars lower than A7Rii.
The A7s II is a stupid choice for tracked astrophotography where you capture the light trough long exposures and not high ISO. The A7 series drops to 12 bit precision in bulb mode (less DR, less color depth, smaller SNR…) and they have a lot of dark current (thermal “noise”). Additionaly the lossy compression not only won’t give you the entire sensor juice but create visible artifacts such as jaggies and the stairway effect wich is very prominent with startrail images.
Not wanting to point out the obvious but, it’s a camera aimed at video with stills secondary. The opposite to the A7rii which, is aimed at stills but does video as well.
I bought the A7rii largely for the 4k. I’m a stills photographer but video is becoming very important to clients so I need to have the option for both in package that handles high resolution for studio work as well.
These top end cameras are aimed at people who have a business need, or, prepared to spend the $ on their hobby.
According to your logic, Leica should not come out with a camera and Nikon, Canon and Sony should all stop selling high end cameras because cellphone can do every job that all photographers and videographers need to do.
I heard about this body could be made cheaper as the A-mount. But the price is showing in only one direction.
Sony think they can do what they want with their new sheep like acting customers.
Question, who holds the longer lever? Sony or the Customer?
Act responsable, don’t buy every sh!t on earth.
Being manufactured cheaper and being sold cheaper are two completely different things. Products are priced to suit a market. The only requirement as regards production costs are that the price has to be above the marginal cost of production.
Companies exist to make money. If they have a window of opportunity to recover more of the investment through higher prices to early adopters, they will often take it. It makes sense at the moment as potential demand will outstrip the ability to supply if the price was low. Over the medium term the evidence is that the price will reduce, especially if more competition appears.
I wonder if they, like apple are going to offer a deal to get their new camera for $x month.
Logical update if you look a7ii
Disappointing since a7rii
I’d be a lot more excited about this camera if it wasn’t for the price. The a7r II is fairly priced at $3,200 in my book. If Canon’s 5D mk IV were to come out today it’d be $4,000.
But the a7s II seems like it offers a lot less than the a7r II. A lot less R&D went into it, etc. It’s a much simpler camera with s different purpose. Just like an a7 II, but with an arguably more primitive sensor. (Not a bad thing.)
Compared to the new FS5, that is only $700 cheaper than the FS7 (with that s—–y 18-105mm lens), the a7s II with Sony’s legit cinema 28-135mm lens looks like a bargain.
Accroding to B&H it costs 2999$ and I think it is a pretty fair price for that camera.
Coming from a video perspective maybe I see it differently. I think I’d rather have a new a7s and the PIX-E5H 5″ external 4K recorder/monitor for the same price as the a7s II.
With the 28-135mm cinema lens, stabilization is taken care off. Or using an adapter, plenty of Canon (and soon, Nikon) zooms and primes will offer stabilization too.
I think Sony could have priced it at $2,500 and sold more– unless they just can’t crank out cameras fast enough, in which case they have production issues, and might as well price it high.
The FS5 price is laughable though. I’d still consider an a7s II, maybe, but the FS5 can go f—- itself. 🙂
CaNikon stabilized primes are few.
I’m including third parties, too. The new Tamrins have 35mm and 45mm covered. Canon has their trio of 24mm, 28mm and 35mm all IS if I remember correctly. The Batis 85mm is stabilized. Point is, the IBIS isn’t a make or break thing for video. Very cool, yes, but there are options.
The prices they announce are with a fairly high margin!! Ask for a bargain. You can easily get 10-13% discount. I did it 🙂
Right, bargains everywhere on the a7r II. As in, paying MSRP is currently a bargain. Look at eBay.
The margins aren’t they high. For Sony, maybe. But not for retailers.
I was pretty excited about the FS5, in fact, practically ready to buy it. But $6,700 body only? I was really thinking around $4,500 to $5,000 for the body.
The FS5 is $1,300 short of the FS7? What? I think that’s a mistake on Sony’s part– priced any higher than $6,000 just doesn’t make sense. I shot with a Sony PXW-X70 with the 1 inch sensor (available for $2,000) and it has the same specs- 4K at 30 FPS (8-bit), and 2K at 60 FPS (10-bit 4:2:2). And it comes with a lens. :p
So, there’s essentially a $5,300 premium you pay for the S35 sensor and that sh—–y 18-105mm f/4 (!) lens.
Huh,,, nice.
Makes me think that A7sII is just simply A7s sensor in A7II housing (+ internal 4K, very welcome)
Smart move, even if the only thing added is IBIS that would be more than enough for people to upgrade.
Nice coin-age, Sony.
Slinging mad volume and fat stacking Benjies, eh?
There is also internal 4k recording available which means no more bulky monitor required.
But yes $1k extra for these features seems a bit much considering its still basically last years sensor.
The A7rII could command a similar price for being simply ground breaking. High MP, superb video, internal 4k, great compatibility with 3rd party lenses etc.
This is at best a minor upgrade to the A7s.
More like 500USD extra, not 1K. The a7S was launched at 2499USD.
Last year’s A7S Sensor had 169 PDAF points?
According to the spec sheet this years A7sII has 0 PDAF points. It only does contrast detect AF, just like the original A7s.
a7SM2 doesn’t have PDAF points at all. What are you talking about!?
Thats 169 CDAF points. 😛
The A7s lacks any sort of PDAF points unlike the A7r II and hence you can’t get decent AF with Canon lenses.
Minor upgrade? You kidding? I think it is the goal posts have moved and the upgrades were ‘expected’, but if this came out without the A7 II or A7R II this would be revolutionary.
Its a next gen camera with previous gen sensor commanding a top of the line price.
When compared to the revolutionary changes brought out by the A7rII this camera feels like a minor upgrade to me.
So was the A7 II? Believe it or not this sensor was brand new on the original A7S, the A7R got a 3 year old sensor. You do t get new FF sensors every year.
Fully agree with you on the sensor. However the A7 II was released at a similar price point as the old A7 while having similar upgrades like IBIS, bigger grip, better LCD, minor improvements etc.
The A7s II has similar minor improvements but costs significantly more than the old A7s price.
And I use both the A7 and A7 II and I have no qualms using either body as I don’t find the A7 II significantly superior in any way.
If you add the external recorder for the A7s. The A7sII is cheaper…
Why are you all so Ignorant about the internal 4K? It captures in 8-bit 4:2:0 100Mbs. That translates to 25Mbs in Full Hd…consumer codec from a decade ago…
External will be much better at double the chroma resolution and greater data rates. Prores is also easier to manage and more fluently in grading Software. And there are recorders much smaller than the Atomos and also cheaper…
Minor upgrade?
IBIS alone made it a full upgrade. Not as big as the a7R upgrade but definitely more than just calling it minor.
IBIS is not minor.
Internal 4K was requested SINCE launch of A7s to compete with GH4.
For many, this is way better than the original A7s just to be able to stabiise any lens, without extra tools, and be able to record 4K without extra tools.
The questions here is: can the original a7s be updated to record internal 4K if the inside of the A7sII is technically the same as the A7s bar IBIS?
I bet it is the new processor (Bionz).
Bionz Y?
RAW output:
14 bit
Is that… losless?! 🙂
They would mention a new RAW format.
Looking at the price, Sony finally realized they can ask more for these beauties.
I was expecting at least 5fps with AF-C. But nope, still 5fps speed priority (only first frame with AF). How on earth, the A7RM2 with 42Mpx can manage 5fps but the A7SM2 with only 12Mpx does the same?
And only CDAF…will wait for reviews. Not convinced. TOO MUCH FOCUS ON VIDEO.
It seems that the 1DX/D4S competitor will have to wait. Will Sony do something about it? Will that honor be passed upon A-mount? (If they ever had plans of offering a 1DX/D4S competitor with A-mount…)
You don’t want to use continous shooting anyway as for now they drop the bit-depth wich has visible impact.
Likely it’s limited to 5fps due to the shutter… That’s why some cameras don’t shoot any faster in small RAW or JPEG.
Well, that’s why it was presented at IBC (short for International Broadcasting Convention), because it’s a videocamera (mainly) 🙂
Let me be straight thinking now
1) A99 II. It looks like they never will release this. So that means A-Mount is dead.
2) Lenses. It looks like Sony now has letting other manufactors like Zeiss take over the lens production. Maybe a great idea. Sony could then only produce slow lenses for the E-Mount system. E-Mount lenses for the consumers, and Zeiss lenses for people that want more quality and fast lenses.
They do have bunch of lenses in the pipeline. It has already been indicated by some leaks before. From what I heard from local distributor, they were supposed to announce the road-map months ago, but for some reason this has never been done…
The other way around in my opinion. Batis for consumers who are in it for the brand.
Sony G lens for the quality stuff. The 90mm G macro lens is particularly impressive to me, I love the feeling of its focus barrel having hard stopping points.
In some respects, this is welcome, but in others it makes life more difficult!
For much of my work, the A7s is perfect, but in other areas I was considering the A7RII for the better daylight performance and resolution. Given that this upgrade does not seem to be very substantial over the first model, it looks like the A7RII is the better choice, and to keep my A7Ss.
In addition, I’d hope it might lead to slightly better price for the A7RII (wishful thinking but unlikely!).
However, if this new ‘beast’ is actually much better in real life situations then I might just hang on and upgrade…
Well to be honest the A7S already had a number of things the original A7R didn’t have, so it was a more substantial upgrade and the A7S II has basically all the upgrades of the A7R II, with a few obvious exceptions. So the A7S II may not seem so much of a big deal. But it is a decent update for sure.
That’s basically my point. It is a decent update, to the extent that it slightly muddies the waters regarding an upgrade path.
I certainly can’t justify getting some A7RIIs together with A7SIIs, but I’m undecided whether to stick solely with the A7S line by upgrading, or to keep my existing A7Ss and get the A7RII to complement.
The latter will cost me about £2000 more, after taking into account selling existing gear, and I’ll have four bodies, but will give me extra options.
Of course, I’m pretty sure that’s the sort of conundrum Sony will want to create!
A7s as small everyday cam and A7RII for the real photo work. Perfect Setup – at least for me 🙂
Still 12-bit conversion in !!bulb!! (a big fuck you Sony from an astrophotographer), continous & silent mode…
Still lossy compression
Still 8-bit output
Still XAVC-S 4:2:0 (in 4k you have now quarter the data rate…like AVCHD)
All you gain as a serious videographer (who uses external and real stabilization systems) is slog3/cine.gamut?
This is only worth for the consumer who needs internal rec. and IBIS but of course at lower IQ than an a7s recorder combo.
Hopefully it doesn’t have heat problems now due to the IBIS present. Im not talking about long video capture…I’m talking dark current in long exposures 🙁
As an event photographer, to be convinced by this kind of camera, I need to know how good the AF-C is in low light… If it can focus accurately at -12 EV on a still subject but can’t follow a person walking quietly or two people dancing a slow it’s useless for me…
It might be better at focusing than original A7s, but do not expect any miracles. It seems to use same sensor, so no OSPDAF.
In a sense, this release might be a good news to wedding and event photographers. A7sII is clearly targeted at the video shooters and does not give whole lot to still shooters. Recently Sony said that their short term focus will be on wedding and event photogs, and A7sII is clearly not it. So there must be something else coming relatively soon.
I hope so… I’m perfectly fine with SLRs for now, but they’re just to heavy especially when you have both of them around your neck during few hours… I honestly don’t care a lot about mega high isos as long as 6400, 12800 and maybe 25600 are usable, but I will never step back in reliability regarding AF… Far above clean isos, that’s the most important for me…
Shouldn’t have any camera around your neck. I ditched neck straps years ago. Holster or no strap at all. For weddings, I carry two SLT’s strapped to me no prob.
Just because the resolution is the same, doesn’t mean it’s the same sensor.
The A7S did Not have 169 AF points. As far as I’m aware, no camera in the world has 169 contrast detection AF.
So it’s more of a leap of faith to believe it doesn’t have PDAF in my opinion.
Offician press release says nothing about PDAF. For all the other hybrid AF cameras (A7, A7II, A7rII) they always list number of PDAF points and CDAF areas seperately. From what you can read in the official release so far A7sII has 169 CDAF areas, not PDAF points.
I hope I am wrong though.
My bad, I hadn’t read it yet, so I just assumed.
Anyway, it still wouldn’t be the same sensor. By definition, it becomes a different sensor the moment they need new masks/casting equipment to produce the wafer of the Sensor.
This one clearly has improved AF from its predecessor.
The Fast Intelligent AF system employs 169 AF points, which is comprised of 25 contrast-detection points and nine central AF points that have been split into 16 segments each, in order to provide both speed and accuracy in low-light conditions down to -4 EV. No mention of PDAF
“Recently Sony said that their short term focus will be on wedding and event photogs”
Hmmm…then where are my DUAL CARD SLOTS!!!!
Where are they indeed 🙁
With the price and only 12Mp, I’ll wait for the CaNikon FF mirrorless that’s soon to be released.
Agree about the price and mp, but if you’re waiting for Canikon, you’ll be waiting a very long time
lol. why? isn’t 42 mp 7RM2 enough?
Yes because this just replaced every other model in the series?!
Internet people are smart…
SO boring! Where are my new lenses?
No BSI, same resolution, disappointing.
There is little to no benefit of putting BSI on a sensor with large photosites, Sony has mentioned this multiple times.
As for the resolution, the sensor was optimized for video. Specifically, it was designed so that 4K video capture can be done with no scaling, giving a 1:1 capture. If you raised the resolution, you couldn’t do this without cropping or scaling.
Crosstalk is more to do with having small photosites and narrow cell spacing rather than just BSI. Having large photosites overcomes a lot of crosstalk problems. They could use BSI to obtain more MP for the same sensitivity or just keep the same MP and get more sensitivity.
So as i said before, welcome back to the old normal. Good FF cameras will cost 3k and up.
The upcoming a99 mark II of whatever its name will be, will be priced not lower than 3499.00 US.
I am so happy my A7II was so nicely priced! Love this camera.
What about A7, A7II, D610, 6D? Aren’t those good FF cameras?
I was obviously talking about new releases and sort of flagship models.
This camera gives me a boner. Seems, besides the rolling shutter issue, this will be the perfect camera in my book. Too bad that I can’t afford it.
What they need now is a ~30Mpix BSI FF with layered PDAF sensors and next generation of Bionz to put into A9 speed machine. And perhaps A9r for those who feel A7rII is not high-end enough.
A little underwhelming. IBIS and internal 4k are nice, but that’s about it. Meh.
No BSI and no PADF so no dramatic increase in readout and such. Feels like they’re protecting the A7rII a bit, if you want the superior tracking and eye AF, this isn’t the camera for you. I had serious second thoughts about my A7rII preorder because I was thinking all the new tech would make it into the A7sII, not anymore.
My take on it is BSI at Full Frame is quite a bit of an experiment to even see if it could be possible and at what cost, at what faulty error margins.
When you experiment as Sony does, it would be unwise to be both your camera line ups. What if it didn’t work out? then the A7Rii would be screwed, but they wold still be able to show off the A7Sii.
Now, we pretty much know that Sony has problems manufacturing the A7Rii sensor in large enough quantities. So the cost of manufacturing it is really high with very few sensors making it through the quality check.
If Sony had used BSI on A7Sii as well, they might have bumped into production problems there as well, and that would raise the price significantly for the few samples that do make it through Quality check.
Cleary a dedicated video camera but no weather sealing at this price ?
Now that’s obvious Sony is sending A mount and APS-C E mount camera to bin by releasing a camera only a niche of users was looking for ( will A7s users upgrade to A7S II ? i doubt)….we were waiting for high end APS-C camera but by postponing since last spring, I m not sure it ll be game changer or will exist at all
Bad news is that all they pretty much did was a minor improvement on AF (which they probably could have done through a FW update), and added IBIS (which I don’t understand why when this does fine at idiotically high ISO’s).
Good news will be getting a used MKI on the cheap from the “gotta have it now whether or not I need it” crowd on Flea-Bay.
I don’t think you can add additional Autofocus points through software, it would be like Downloading more RAM from the internet.
IBIS is great for avoiding camera shake. It’s a feature that covers an infinite amount of old legacy glass from all sorts of mounts from other manufacturers.
Well, to me adding more CDAF points could be done via software. Do not confuse CDAF with PDAF.
So, you’re saying CDAF is completely software based?
No hardware circuitry anywhere?
If so, it makes me wonder why the cameras so far hadn’t covered the entire sensor in AF points, but only almost.
Because corners are always prone to lack of sharpness and since CDAF works based on contrast, you need the best sharpness to detect where you get the most contrast in the scene. Also, not everyone will focus into something in the extreme corners.
“If so, it makes me wonder why the cameras so far hadn’t covered the entire sensor in AF points, but only almost.”
That’s basically how it works on most DSLRs, they just don’t advertise how many AF points. Canon FF bodies, for example, have 2065 CDAF “AF points” by Sony terminology.
I’ll admit, I didn’t read what the AF improvement was. My main curiosity was if it was raised to 16MP and BSI or not. If it was better performance through adding more AF points then no. If it was AF improvement through revising the algorithm, then yes it could have. If it was a combination of both, then no again.
“I don’t think you can add additional Autofocus points through software, it would be like Downloading more RAM from the internet.”
In CDAF – you can.
Minor improvements?
– 4K internal
– IBIS
– more AF points (from 25 to 169)
– SLOG3
– EVF from A7RII
I don’t think it’s “that” minor 🙂
Yes, but the 4K internal isn’t using a codec which is suitable for pro use, which makes it little better, if any, in real terms, than its predecessor, and IBIS isn’t really relevant on a camera where you can shoot painlessly at relatively high ISO. That leaves quite minor ergonomics changes really. It’s sort of nice, but not what I’d call a genuinely meaningful upgrade in terms of IQ for stills or video.
High ISO doesn’t replace IBIS, like IBIS doesn’t replace high ISO.
When you are recording video on unstable platform like a car on off-road, IBIS helps you to get stable video but high ISO doesn’t.
When your subject is moving a lot, high ISO helps you to get fast shutter speed, IBIS doesn’t.
So when A7S was released, no internal 4K is “no good”. Now, it’s “4K internal XAVCS” is no good.
Seriously, never happy guys?
(BTW, a lot of people say that XAVCS is a great codec with a lot a latitude to work with)
The codec is ok for Full HD but when recording 4K you cut the relative data rates to a quarter.
It’s like 25Mb/s in 1080.
The Codec itself has nothing to do with latitude. Well indirectly it does as XAVC-S (a format not just a codec) is speced to have 8-bit. This is as bad as it gets regarding latitude. You only have great DR thanks to LOG wich packs a greater latitude in this tiny bit-depth….but with increased noise. All other parameters (such as color depth) remain limited to 8-bit.
Specs on BH says still 25 points.
Maybe BH has there info wrong, because the press release clearly says 169 AF points.
I guess BH just used their old info page for A7s…
Anyway, does not matter as they are CDAF still. And still 2.5 fps with C-AF (I bet even less in low light). With OSPDAF and 11fps as in a6000 it would be a decent sports camera, with its high ISO even with slow lenses like 70-200/4 and 24-240/6.3. Could use even decent DSLR teles. The only problem would be low battery life. But alas, it is a purely video thing now.
the 24-240 is almost f/4 at slower focals
For sport applications, you are not going to shoot at 24mm. It is going to be f/6.3.
Specs on Sony page and presentation say 169
New shutter (A7RII one) as well.
“and added IBIS (which I don’t understand why when this does fine at idiotically high ISO’s).”
ISO does not matter for stabilization in video. And if you can use 3-4 stops LOWER ISO with the IBIS, it is still be MUCH better quality.
Also you can’t use lower ISOs in video because of IBIS.
But this will be a low light beast for stills with fast primes.
What about the lenses?
WHAT ABOUT THE LENSES?
***WHAT ABOUT THE LENSES?***
… and so on
What about the A6100/7000, the RX2? Sigh
I don’t think A6100/7000 were scheduled for today, it was originally, but now the admin has stated that it is put back to Photoplus, over 3-4 weeks. And RX2 has not even been mentioned before. But as far as I could follow the lenses were scheduled for today. SO, @admin: what about the lenses?
a7sii was not stated so much compared to A6xxx but they released today
Yes. That’s a big mistake form that source. He got the info from Sony. Now I suspect we have another CP+ case.
If you remember I told you that Sony woudl show the new FE lenses in February at Cp+. But as we learned they showed those lenses in private to photogrpahers and only announced the lenses 1 week after! So let’s hope this is the case again.
Well…it seems the lenses were announced by Zeiss itself. You can use those on E-mount anyways.
Those zeiss lenses had nothing to do with the FE lenses admin mentioned several times yesterday.
sorry, forgot to write /jk or /s at the end.
How many do you need? With the Zeiss options, there are enough for any professional kit! If you’re looking for exotic primes, buy a Canon, if your looking for T&S buy a Canon. If you’re looking for audio integration an stellar video, buy a Sony. It’s easy, make a choice!
Why are People asking for BSI with a 12MP sensor?
As far as I know this wouldn’t make a lot difference, BSI is strong with small pixels?
…..but it would be coooooool!!!!!!
A7RM2 is still better regarding colorshift.
Also, readout times.
BSI does not affect readout times. But increases crosstalk. With huge pixels of A7s, no point.
It would further enhance the low-light performance as the quantum-efficency rises. This means less amplification for the same ISO value. Hence less noise, more dynamic range and color depth at a given ISO. Though they actually increased the QE with new color filters. This likely means the filter overlap more in their transmission spectra. Good for low-light, bad for color differentiation
Pfff! DIsappointment!!!
Where is a7000?!
Who cares about a7sII
Last chance. In 3-4 weeks from now before Photoplus.
Before? Or during?
Last chance?
no kidding……these cameras are not meant for regular people, by that I mean every day enthusiasts who don’t have unlimited funds for camera’s
The price is not
A total non-event. 1 niche product. Move along folks, nothing to see here.
Why is it 30% more expensive than A7S ?
Where are the new lenses?
Probably because of IBIS, Internal 4K and New body design. That’s it.
And new EVF.
Usually, new cameras bring new features but at the same price than their predecessors. Otherwise all the cameras would cost more than 10.000$ now
New features should come at the same cost.
It’s Sony. They don’t care. They think they can go away with the increased price tag because of the reputation they have have gained recently.
Because they can.
ISO above 25.600 is still amazing in the A7S2, but still unusable. The 120fps 1080p mode looks like the 250fps 1080p mode of the RX100 IV regarding quality: nice to have, but not usable as well. A7R2 seems to be the right choice.
I’m glad that the tipsters got it wrong on this one. Sony stuck with the winning A7 series body for this camera and didn’t make the A7SII a huge camera.
Slowly im getting worried about Alpha mount… there have been so many full-frame e-mount cameras recently and still no a99 successor, and the a99 was pretty mediocre.
Agree
“Slowly….”?
Indeed releasing A7Sii before A6xxx or any A mount camera is crystal clear policy…one mount one vision : high price FF camera for a few Sony users and dreaming to compete with Canikon by even stealing them customers;)
I wouldn’t argue about the future of the A mount (as it doesn’t look like it will be maintained) but I certainly disagree about the A99 being ‘mediocre’.
Certainly, it had some flaws, but so does every camera, and I found it to be fantastic. Only the weight at my age made me change, otherwise I would still have them.
It looks more and more like plan B for me.
Leave this respectless brand.
Down with Sony – Long life to Canikon
Invest only to a degree in which you are comfortable. I still shoot mostly A mount, but I’ve got my cash invested to only a few thousand now. I’ve passed on a few G series lenses I wanted do to lack of support.
With that said, great system! Still chugging along and I haven’t missed a shot. I bet A99 will be under 1k by next year and I’ll pick it up for a song. At those prices, who can complain.
I’m still investing into A-mount. E-mount lenses will be big anyways, so I will keep using A-mount because of mechanical coupling. Really hate focus-by-wire. Also, any 300mm f2.8 or 500mm f4 for mirrorless will be as big as current SLR lenses.
Just in case Sony drops A-mount, you can sell those lenses to E-mount users and switch to Canon and Nikon.
I also maintain a-mount lens & a850, waiting for a99mk2. While i want to say , E mount also worhy the investment, both system has its own cons/pros.
slowly?
Why would you want another A99 anyway? If you want EVF and a small camera go A7. If you wanna go DSLR do it with Canon or Nikon and forget about the A99II.
A7? Have you shot both the A7 and A99? You wouldn’t recommend an A7 over an A99 if you have. Different camera.
Forget A99II? NEVER!!!!!!! Goonies never say die…….
+1.
Will never move to E-mount unless ALL features of the A99 are there
Such as:
Ergonomics and handling of A-Mount Glas (the only Alpha-Mount) including Teleconverter 1.4x and 2.0x made by Sony
Battery life
full articulated LCD
better Layout
While I would not recommend A7, I would recommend A7rII over A99 for almost any type of photography.
The A7Rii guts would do a better job inside a A99 body.
but that can’t be used as Canikon fishing bate.
Sony has no interest in A mounters
yes i have and that’s why I say forget it. the only good and maybe only real camera from sony was the a850 (a900). it’s time to move on
I agree on the A900.
Yeah… As much as I missed it in the first 2 weeks … really happy that i switched to a D800. It’s a better overall camera than the a900. AF is very fast and accurate, great viewfinder and you can’t beat the detail of the files coming out of this monster.
I have yet to shoot anything above 24MP. I’m thinking about a D800 since the prices are coming down and starting to build up a Nikon system. Can you really tell much of a difference with 36 over 24? Looking at a few downloaded RAW files hasn’t done much for me.
The files from the D800 are huge. Make sure you have a fast PC, that is the downside. My 3rd gen i7 is just fast enough. my core2quad isnt anymore. On the upside are improved dynamic range over the A900, at least 1 Stop and massive improvement of low light capability. The micro detail you will see in the shots is almost scary. With right focus it will blow you away. Yo can crop a good deal, like leave only a 1/3 of the frame and still have a 30x20cm file at 300dpi. If you dont want 36mp you could consider the 5d mk III… its almost as good, and alot easier on the computer side. but the display screen sucks, because its always lying to you about contrast, especially with auto brightness.
I share your worries. I own an alpha 900 and had my alpha 77 stolen, but remains with plenty of nice A mount lenses. I was expecting some news about a nice alpha 99 successor. It reminds me Apple policy, with its excellent iPhoto. 15 years ago, they told us be confident, we have the best professional software to manage your pictures. I have now almost 100’000 picture and was desspointed when they annonced discontinution of iPhoto and Aperture and replacement with this poor “Photo”, made for portable telephone users. Sounds like Sony is willing to let us replace all our lenses with new lenses…
Slowly? 😉
No OSPDAF. I guess just a specialized took for video shooters with MF lenses.
No new FE-lenses, no A6100/A7000. Bit disappointing after all this rumors.
Another camera at extremely high Price level. This overprized new bodies do not meet my budget. Bit sad, but ok, that is market. Obviously enough people are willing to buy on this level
All depends on your output requirements and work flow dude. XAVCS is an excellent codec and a better log so more detail to grade with….Chill out.
– Does it have internal ND filters?
– Is the HDMI output 10-bit?
I really hope the sensitivity is increased this time. The A7S MK1 didn’t pick up on all the ghosts in my house.
So, not PDAF?
Looks like there is a pattern of steep price rising, of course we pay for goodies, but if the same will be true for A6100/7000 Sony may simply out price itself. Not every body is capable of paying $1600-3500 for good camera. And wedding photographers alone won’t be able to support the system as Canon is showing now.
Half baked release, and if it overheats after 5 minutes of 4k recording, it may be physically half baked. Not having a sensor with ospdaf doesn’t follow the rest of the mk2 cameras.
It would be hilarious if they priced it at $3,400+ and it overheats after 5 minutes of 4K but I don’t think they are that crazy lol
Now this is a really shocking news !
My sixth sense is not working any more with Sony :/
lawl, no lenses, lalw
Remmeber the Japanese show in February where I said there would be new lenses? They announced those 5 days after show. Let’s hope that’a also the case…
I don’t know if this is enough to tempt me back. I was really hoping for a 12mp a7RII with crazy fast readout times, 1080p240 and the most beautiful 1080p/4k in the land. The last one is probably the case.
It reads like they may have skimped on the AF here, but we will have to wait and see. That price, though. The a7RII seems like the much better camera and I’m a low MP kinda guy. I don’t think they did enough to distinguish this model in the mark II. It’s possible they may not think that the stills crowd takes 12mp seriously anymore.
Nikon Df + a7RII may be my combo
are other current/previous a7S owners stoked about this? obviously 4k internal and IBIS are very welcome, but I want that a7RII PDAF array and processing. Maybe Sony has my expectations too high. I just wish someone would check all my boxes so I don’t own four expensive cameras any more.
I bought the A7rII to replace the A7II and NX1 as a photo/video all-in-one powerhouse. I was a little concerned that the A7sII would be more suited for me needs, but no regrets after this announcement. I’ll take the superior AF and more MP over the A7sII, since I also have 4k internal, 5fps and so on.
Now had they bumped the MP to allow full 4k readout in crop mode and added PADF I might be thinking twice about the A7rII, but as it stands this is just meh when compared to the flagship.
that’s one of the interesting things about the a7RII…. you can pop the batis 25 or one of the 35s on there and leverage crop to change FOV. In video shooting, it is particularly useful because you have no loss in video resolution even in 4k. in the case of the a7RII, the video quality actually improves in crop.
The video out of the a7S is so beautiful, though. if I’m being realistic, I don’t shoot enough video to warrant it over the much more robust a7RII.
“and the most beautiful 1080p/4k in the land. The last one is probably the case.”
I think not, at normal frame rates 1080p is only 50mbps, vs 200 in GH4. For low light – sure, for normal light GH4 is better.
no way. I used both on a video project last year. a7S is way prettier, but I understand that is subjective. the gh4 is nice, though and has internal 4k but after using both, I bought an a7S.
If you prefer a video-stylized image it is.
Huh?
No pd focus with Canikon lenses means no new converts to E mount basesd on this camera.
Otherwise a nice upgrade fron the a7s.
The rumored a6100 specs are not that exciting, but at least will focus with Canikon lenses.
These are just not exciting new introductions…..and Canon has really stepped up the competion
In just teh last few days prototypes of.
120mp camera
8k Camcorder
And most impressive of all 3 new BR lenses….600mm, 85mm 35mm
Blue Spectrum Diffraction Optics is a major jump in lens technology.
I’m very impressed by this BR line prices…
Well 120MP in APS-H is quite useless in most scenarios due to diffraction.
Photographers these days don’t understand that resolution is limited to imaging area. Not due to trade-offs in QE, SNR and DR. Not because of lack of optics that resolve in the 2 micron region…
Diffraction!! Well unless you focus-stack or tilt. I guess you do macro of animals? Then prepare to drop 5K on a Schneider TS macro as focus-stacking is no option with moving animals.
Sony A7SII tagline: “Empty Wallet Fully Realized”
Anyone think the new gamut profiles, and more importantly the gamut display assist, might be rolled out as firmware upgrades in existing models?
No.
Why give that for free when they can charge for it in form of new camera? 😀
Not as groundbreaking as the A7rII.
The A7rII isn’t really groundbreaking. BSI sensor was already done by Samsung. Lots of MP’s is nothing to get hyped up about like no one knew it would happen. The ludicrous part is when people try to compare it to MF. It’s like those that compare FF to APS-C. So you can match the MP’s but not the DOF. Now Sony’s curved sensor, or Fuji/Panasonic’s organic sensor tech will be groundbreaking.
FF has shallower DOF, you can put f/0.95 lens on it, where are f/1.4 lenses for medium format? Typically MF lenses have f/2.8 or slower
There is a 80/1.9 for Mamiya 645 which is about the same as a 50/1.2 on FF but that’s only one. The rest are, as you’ve said, slower.
Mamiya 80mm 1.9, zeiss 80mm f2, hasselblad zeiss 110mm f2, noritar 80mm f2. All these have similar dof of f1.1.
The look of larger sensors regarding “plasticity” “3D-like” “depth” has nothing to do with the shallow DOF itself but with the transition from in- to out-of-focus regions. It’s not about the DOF but the steepness of the focus cut. Stereoscopic viewing creats a very radical cut even with a greater DOF. That’s how we see and that’s why a larger imaging area creates a better illusion of space. M43 with razor thin DOF can look flat. 654 with an entire human in focus can look very 3D.
At that point, you might as well say Samsung 28 Mp wasn’t groundbreaking because its BSI was already done by Sony even earlier.
The truth is no one else in the world other than Sony has the manufacturing capability to produce Full Frame BSI at an yield/efficiency where the sensors are still profitable when priced reasonably.
IMO, the ground breaking part of the A7rII is the ability to use fast AF on non-native lenses.
Sorry, I meant to reply to DrunkenRant.
A7Sii improvements:
+ IBIS
+ internal recording for 4K
A7Rii improvements
+ IBIS
+ 4K
+ internal recording for 4K
+ shutter problem fixed
+ silent shutter
+ 399 PDAF points
+ AF works with adapted lenses
+ completely new BSI-sensor
Maybe we figure out, that the A7Sii has some more improvements, but as it looks now, the improvements are quite less compared to A7Rii.
Not meant to be- but quite the upgrades. The shutter and 5 axis is worth an upgrade but maybe not at 3k.
With that said, Sony this is year is simply replacing their beta A7’s released first cycle. I doubt we’ll see any newer models next year.
Next year? Nikon mirror less FF.
Hopefully we’ll see new lenses
If Nikon keeps the option for lossless raw, they are going to sway some people.
But in terms of the pricetag, it is the same groundbreaking
Is this real 14 bits RAW ?
They would mention it in the press-release.
During the press conference they talked about the 4300, the new 4K broadcast camera. Showed some shots from a Football/Soccer tournament. The 4300 has Three 2/3″ sensors.
So it seems that Sony is position 3x 2/3″ for broadcast, Super35 for Hollywood (and documentary/news shooters) and Full Frame for wedding videographers.
There’s nothing for Hollywood in sony lineup.
F55
Cinealta linenis for “Hollywood,” F65 and f55.
That was irony…
Without inflection, sometimes it is difficult to tell.
How come this post is on top again?
Updates
So what about the A6000 replacement – were the rumors wrong – or will there be more announced today?
Its a broadcast event, so this is not the place, and rumor for today relase was only rated sr3
Not today. Trusted source said it would come between now and PhotoPLus!
What about lenses? Thanks.
so a6100 it may still come this year!!
No Rear illuminated sensor like in the a7rii? I thought that was important for gaining some light and DR.
Nope. At least not on a chip with huge pixels. On the A7RII it’s more about making room for extra logic than about improving sensitivity.
BSI allows to have more wires than FSI.
This allows a faster readout-speed. (Better for rolling shutter)
And BSI allows to use lenses that are not made for digital sensors. Good old film didn’t need the light rays as perpendicular as sensors do. BSI is better than FSI in this regards.
Faster readout and 12MP means no excuse for lossy RAW files- whether it matters or not. Missed opportunity for sure.
I personally do not understand this update.
Ok, they wanted to update the A7S series with the more solid body and mount, IBIS and the new larger EVF, but then should have released it at the same price point, or slightly higher, $2,500 – $2,700.
But $3,400 ?!? The remaining updates sound like software updates they developed for the A7RII to do 4K internally and now included in A7S firmware.
If there was a new BSI 12Mp sensor with even higher ISO, on-sensor PDAF points, or a new generation Bionz processor (or at least dual BionzX) I would understand the higher price, but now it seems overpriced.
They shocked our brain with mk1’s then now they shock our wallets
Internal 4k and mechanical IBIS are huge upgrades. The sensor is still very new and excellent.
Its $2999 at B&H, so for $500 you’re getting IBIS and 4k internal along with 120fps. 4k internal eliminates the need to spend $2000 for a Shogun or kitted Pix-E5. Its a bargain if you want another A7s.
Personally the extra $200 for the A7rII is well worth it instead of the A7sII. But that’s my opinion, YMMV.
The iso is not higher. Maybe less noise, but it has the same top level as the last one.
I think they should’ve waited till mid next year to release this camera and have BSI, PDAF with 1 million ISO.
Wedding and other event pros need f/2.8 zooms and decent battery life, A7 line has neither. “Stop the ceremony while I change my battery and lens!”
How many weddings have you shot with A7 line of cameras? I have with A7rII.
Battery life is not an issue. You don’t have to wait until juice runs out during a critical moment. Get a grip with two batteries and change depleted one when you have time.
Lack of native F2.8 zooms is not as bad either, existing A-mount F2.8 SSM zooms work incredibly well until they release native ones. Yes, using LA-EA3 is not ideal, but it’s by far not as bad as many like to say. There is a great native 35/1.4 available. There are 55/1.8 and 85/1.8 available which are razor sharp wide open and unlike DSLRs, you will nail the focus every time, even wide open.
Far more serious than your points is the lack of dual card slots for backup.
A7rII with adapter for DSLT lenses weighs more that D750. And now add 4 or more extra batteries, and it weighs WAY more. And you get compressed 11/7bit RAW instead of 14 bit. And only 5 fps. Why even bother?
I know quite a few friends that have switched from nikon to the a7 series to shoot weddings with. I bought my a7s exactly to shoot wedding videos with, switching from my 5d mk3, I no longer have to carry lights and stands. There’s actually a number of power solutions using a dummy battery and using external power, mine get’s about 10 hours recording time.
So, you do not use flash at all?
I guess Sony does not to worry about their flash system then ( not a great one)
The guys I shoot with use off camera, either with a phottix trigger and strobes or godox trigger/flash kit.
“wedding videos”
Videos? Maybe, should be better than any Canon except for dedicated video cameras.
No. I guess it is the (slightly reworked) design from Nikon D3 times, nobody knew about OSPDAF back then.
in the end expensive bug fix by Sony. to get dslr standard we have to wait two more refreshes.
BSI would be useless on this. If not worse then useless due to crosstalk inherent in the design (without ISOCELL type of tech).
Crosstalk is more to do with having small photosites and narrow cell spacing rather than just BSI.
I’m sure this is exciting for a few people, maybe. But but but…. lenses?
Yes, the ability to use every 135 format lens in existence isn’t enough.
As a portrait shooter, I’d agree with that sarcasm, if they had enabled Eye-AF on third party lenses. 🙂
Honestly, and as a videographer, I’m hardly compelled to get this over the A7rII. In practice only benefit would be the Slog3. Really wish that rumor regarding a different form factor (XC10/C00) would have been true. Bigger battery, built in ND, and no overheating would make it an instant buy.
And with Sony A7r2 you get super 35mm as well.
At law ISO, this will give you two good mode (FF and super 35)
a7s has super 35mm mode, this one should have it.
with 4K?
I meant super 35mm with 4k
Sweet!
Sony does claim sealing on their FE bodies and lenses, but there is no rubber in practice.
This looks cool to me. I’m happy with my a7s though. I’m personally just waiting to hear about an RX1 replacement. I’d rather drop 3k on that.
Totally agree with you. I want my RX2!
Don’t call it RX2. There’s never been an RX20 or RX200 😉
I think rx1 was just a proof of concept camera.
The patented curved sensor should be in a fixed-lens camera because the lens has to be optimized for it, so there’s definitely room for a new RX1.
Really bummed no A7000 has been announced…enough with the A7 updates! So many pro level cameras and no mid-range…I can’t afford a $3,000 body! Ahhhhh
If there actually is going to be a new APS-C camera, I suppose they’ll announce it dead last, well after any new FF models they have ready. It’s obvious that every marketing meeting inside Sony begins with several minutes of everyone holding hands and chanting “Move Up To Full Frame”. They don’t want to risk another APS-C success until every customer that might possibly be induced to buy FF has done so, and has begun their program of FF lens acquisition. They’re waiting for the last fence-sitters to commit.
Jeeze…
Well those looking at sub-$1000 body aren’t buying a $3000 body. The a6000 configurations have four spots on top of the Amazon rankings, its selling well. No need to rush a new model out when the current models are doing well.
What about causing people to switch to Fuji;’s APS-C cameras?? Is that part of the master plan?? The Law of Unintended Consequences will bite you in the ass every timr!!
Sounds like they are adopting Nikon’s latest plan. Focus on FF and give APS-C scraps…which is what led to me leaving Nikon.
I want APS-C HI-END, WE WANT NEX7II!
I want a 1″ pro body from Sony that works with Canon lenses.
sony a7 or a7ii. what is the point of aps c 😀
speed, mpx, crop for sport/bird and so on… Size…
+1
You have all of that in a7rii. Who need s mkre than 5fps, , and the size would be the only issue.
How about the price? and no… 5 fps is not good enough…
This worries me now, with all my Sony gears.
This is not their usual leap of innovation; they’re slowing down while pushing their prices up as high as possible.
Also, they’re now almost physically non-existent in the whole North America, except only in NY I guess, with their NY store and B&H.
It’s called Moore’s law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore's_law
CDAF only. So, still mostly videocamera.
I hope A9 will have this 12Mp sensor with ultra-fast AF, not 42Mp. Something like the legendary D700.
And Sony will charge you 5000$ for that
Even for us video guys we NEED PDAF. The A7RII’s focus pts would have been nice to make the A7SII a no brainer for me.
The legendary D700 has been replaced since, because newer cameras with more megapixels are as good in low light. The A9 will be better than 12 mp which is limiting for stills anyways.
What A9?
Supposedly, the first DSLR-grade mirrorless, if Sony decide to finally make one
I’ll believe it when I see it. Just like the RX2. Or the A99II.
The fact that they haven’t named any camera “9” does suggest they reserved it for a possible future camera. Now, they might never actually fill it in.
But there is definitely room in the Sony lineup for a larger body camera — dual card slots, more direct controls…. And there is definitely room for a more “performance” based camera… Faster burst rate, AF quality of the A7rii but without the super high 42mb resolution…
So I wouldn’t be 1 way or another on a possible A9. But I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw:
A9 — Body cross between A99 and A7 series… 24-32mb… 7-10 fps.. A7rii like focus system.. dual card slots, maybe built-in flash, etc.
Well they seem unwilling to produce an A99II, and A7RII is the opposite of what’s needed for reportage photography; and I don’t see Sony just surrendering to Canikon and being complacent with niche hipster cameras. So, a good full-sized weather-sealed low-MP workhorse is in order. Although I understand your concern, Sony’s actions of late make no sense, so they just might roll out another A7x.
They have an option to shoot with electronic shutter.
Good point. But it’s hard to believe that the S2 has only a quarter of the R2 processing power.
No kidding. i wouldn’t be surprised if Sony A9 line hits that 10,000$ mark though.
That’s just how great Sony think they are.
So A7SIII = PDAF + BIS?
Most people buy online anyway.
WAIT IS OVER! 😀
So is the hope.
And the money in the wallet for no reason!
I don’t understand Sony here… I mean the step up from A7s to A7s2 is too little, and now that there is the A7r2, there is not much point getting this camera, right. Looking at the result, may be videographers should use the A7r2 instead.
A7s vs A7s2
1. 5x stabilization is pretty much meaningless nowadays for videos production, who tend to use gimbal for further stabilization
2. 4K internally is a big step up indeed, but what about the compression. People with A7s may just invest to the atomos ninja to get uncompressed raw on their A7s…
3. Ok, 120 FPS in FHD and SLOG3 are probably the real change.
4. No evolution in terms of AF 🙁
A7r2 :
1. A7r2 : 4k on full sensor is good up to 6400 (from reports).
2. A7r2 offers two mode for 4k, FF and super 35mm. That’s a real advantage. Super 35mm show excellent result at high ISO.
3. Unfortunately, not sure if A7r2 will support slog3, I think from now it’s slog2.
4. AF should much faster on the A7r2, especially with Canon glass.
From a video perspective the weaknesses of the A7s has always been a weak consumer codec, so external recording had always been a given, no change here as still using XAVC. II now offers 4:2:2 color space on output vs 4:2:0, so that’s a giant leap in quality, especially for VFX / green screen work. The other major issue is rolling shutter. Don’t know if this was improved, but if it has, then by itself is worth the upgrade. Better EVF is nice, but since it’s in the wrong place, doesn’t really matter. IBIS also doesn’t matter, in my opinion should have been omitted, but if it doesn’t affect heat / cooling capability, isn’t a negative either, since it can be turned off. What’s autofocus?
You mean 8bit 4:2:2 on clean HDMI right ? not in body. Like the A7r2
I meant that the AF will be likely crap with non Sony lenses, unlike the A7r2. Anyway, not mandatory for video
Its very similar to the A7/A7II refresh. New body, IBIS and a price increase. Excluding PADF means its not joining the A7rII in my bag.
A7rII FF4k to me is too noisy above 3200, but in APS-c mode its fine to 25,600 if really needed. For me the A7s tops out at 51,200, so for my needs its one stop better.
+1 Chris. And the A7r2 has max ISo for 102 000, good enough to frame your shot for astrophotography.
This camera is not for photographer, but for ghostbuster. I regret migrating to sony. No attention at all for mid range camera
“7” line is not exactly Sony, Minolta top of the line. The “9” is. This supposes to be mid range camera.
I guess that changes now.
a7 mark ii 1300 usd, what are your mid range whining about 😀 ? i dont see any camera that cheap with that kind of specs 😀
$1300? it’s $1699 body only and soon $1999, mark my words, price increase across the board, A7iii will be announced at $1999 body only. I’m still happy with my A7ii/loxia 35 but that’s it for me, Fuji system in the works. Hope sony doesn’t forget about its prosumers.
hello? rx100 ii and the other one? rumors of a6100 coming. stop being stupid
Sony A7 design team must be good at Lego — take different parts, stick together and call it a new camera.
“7” line is not exactly Sony, Minolta top of the line. The “9” is. This supposes to be mid range.
I guess that changes now.
Welcome to the new member of the Canikony club, where lazy a$$ of camera manufacturers discuss on how to make new products by mixing parts from others 😉
Glad you had your fit. Time for a Popsicle now.
yea i think one would calm me down and think to something positive 😉
No thx. I’m a bit old — grew up w leica, zeiss cameras (bw-film days), the design aesthetics of, or the lack of, DSLR just never fit into my way of thinking, until mirrorless showed up.
we all wait for refresh of A mount or high-end APS-C lines , but Sony decided to release new FE video camera !!! For who are they working? Are they working only to please themself or to satisfy the pool of their users? Like Canikon users said they dont think Sony is a camera manufacturers, i wonder how they can attract new customers when they dont try to appeal to their actual users 😉
Pretty simple, Sony locks its eyes on the high margin business. Its recent pricing trend reflects the eagerness. It’s been in the red for a long time. Now is the time to reap.
It’s Sodom and Gomorrh back !!! After Zeiss and its f* lens for canikon only, Sony released a never so early expected camera instead of more wanted high end APS-C camera, big thumb down to Sony. Maybe they want all of us to buy FE camera and only focus on one camera line…then they could reduce R&D costs and become part of the Canikony ( lazy a$$) club
If I shot E mount- this would make me leave Sony- not upgrade to FE. I think their strategy is pretty clear. Do not support existing users- follow the easy quick money. That’s ok, it’ll come back to bite them soon enough. A7SII is a new trend. High cost, less feature rich upgrades…and still the worst interface on the planet.
what are you talking about ?! sony a7 series have so many features other cameras can dream only about them, silent shutter, IBIS, 4k full frame FULL READOUT !!! you are seriously shortsighted , wtf is wrong with you people ? canon 1dc costs 12 000 euros !!!! at the launch. the only camera that offers something siomiliar although at crop of 1.3
5 axis is certainly nice- I’m not dreaming about it though and I have it in M43. Silent shutter- other cameras have that feature and I’m not into creepy street photography. No need to sneak up on people- although for events- yeah, it’s cool. 4k full read out- if that’s your thing.
I’m a stills photographer kind of guy. I don’t focus much on video work. I fall asleep when filming stuff. The cost of the A7SII is sorta rediculous. I don’t care if they crammed it all in one body. It’s not enough to make me want to punch a baby squirrel.
WTF is wrong with you people? I don’t know- I’m slightly crazy and that’s why I shoot Sony. Isn’t it obvious?
A7S isn’t meant for a stills photographer, so only video people are going to be extremely interested in this one. The low light capability would be nice in a full frame camera with at least 20mp for me… I wish they’d make something like that with 11fps.
I’m now interested in an A7S for photography, cause now MK1 will drop in price
I honestly wouldn’t mind the A7S for a night camera, but I won’t pay more than 1000$ for a camera I’ll only use once or twice a month. Of course, you’d have to have some lenses too, otherwise you’re spending thousands.
if anything I see this announcement keeping A7s prices where they are.
Um… cool. But, does this mean there was no FE lens announcement? I was waiting to hear about new lenses. What happened?
Thanks MSN for lumping all cameras in with “things you shouldn’t buy.” Hard to believe, but the world has produced more than point and shoots. Keep the masses dumb I guess.
That’s alright; it’ll just make the rest of our pictures seem better when the phone shooters can’t duplicate the quality. 🙂
Sony Vids (and new Zeiss Lens, + More):
https://www.youtube.com/user/LowLightVideos
Hello I would like to add some stuff.
1.-Everyone bitching about the APS-C a6100 not coming out, maybe you can be a little patient, it may come this year later.
2.- And about this camera, it does a better 4k on FULL FRAME than A7Rii, the A7RII has no pixel binning and you have to use it on crop mode (super 35mm) to take full advantage of its Iso performance and sharpness without artifacts, this cripples the camera, so POINT FOR THE A7SII for video people.
3.- EVERY A7 SONY CAMERA has crop mode (super 35mm) which is APS-C it might not technically be the same, but gives you almost the same frame size, which is smaller than FULL FRAME THAT YOU ARE PAYING FOR, and you are just using part of your sensor (more depth of field and cropped lenses)
Your points are kinda ignorant. Lots of people don’t care about video, not to mention 4K. Also the A6000 and its sucessors are a lot smaller, cheaper, have much better AF and lot faster continuous shooting for sports and wildlife. The A7 series sucks at that.
At least there is hope!
Wow a lot of whinging here! So many people have been waiting for this camera! A7s was amazing and didnt need too much adding to it- but adding 5axis and 4k is more than enough for me. Nothing comes close to this in this price range for video. Amazing camera!
Exactely, thank you !!! FINALLY SOMEONE
But the thimg is why didnt they use bsi?
Those pixels are already do big, the gain of bsi would be negligible
I don’t think this is worth 3000$ at all… IBIS isn’t enough. 12mp isn’t fun to work with in the least. Though the high ISO capability is nice it just isn’t 3000$ nice.
Its primarily for video:) 12mp is necessary so there is no pixel binning in video mode. For photography there is the a7rII- for video its an incredible camera.
it has some compelling video features that you don’t understand. its basically a cinema camera albeit 8bit
1. It was supposed to come out a long time ago…
2. Don’t care about video.
3. Yeah? and how does an aps-c crop of 12mpx look compared to a 28~mpx aps-c?
And how about price? size and so on?
If you don´t care about video, then it is obvious that this is not the camera for you, all my points are video focused, and well yeah a long time ago 3 months, the camera refresh rate is really spoiling people, better to wait than to buy a camera that heats and turns of after 15 minutes of recording right???
price well it is high lol, and size I assume it will have the new a7mkII body weight and size
You do realise that you originally posted about the a6100? And how anyone who wanted that would be better off using an a7rII in crop mode?…
‘2. Don’t care about video.’
So why are you reading the news about this camera? It’s for those, who care. Take a7r2 or Canon.
Why am i reading the news? Because i wan’t to know about this camera… It’s not a video camera…
Why no BSI? And where’s the A7000?
Im wonderimg the same thing
As I’ve understood it, with larger pixel pitch, the benefit of bsi is smaller, since the wiring takes a smaller part part of the sensor area to begin with. Bsi on a sensor like this would hardly make any difference.
APS-C users don’t “want” smaller images, they “want” small, light cameras and lenses.
you are forgetting the most important one, since this full frame cameras are already pretty small, ——–cheaper——– and I am not talking about APSC cameras, I am talking about APSC mode on full frame cameras.
Disappointed. All these improvements should have come with mark 1 in the first place. Still no 10 bit, PDAF, BSI sensor, no global shutter, built in ND, weather sealing, touch screen, fully articulating screen, non lossy 14bit, USB 3.0, taking photos during recording. Not a worthy upgrade for the m1 users who already have rigs and external recorders. Hopefully shutter lag, recording speed and start up speed is improved.
I think something is messed up with the announced A7SII price or its reporting.
€3,400 in Europe and $2,999 in the US just don’t make sense.
Original A7S camera prices on Amazon:
£ 1,550 in the UK
€ 2,000 in Germany
$ 2,500 in the US
It makes sense for the new A7SII to be $500 more than the original version in the US, but no sense in being €1,400 more than the original version in Europe.
Video function is strengthened. It also has 5-axis.
I am not saying it is a bad camera, but I find the disparity in pricing between US/EU/UK strange.
for the US, old A7S model to new model A7SII
$2,500 -> $3,000 increase of $500 sounds reasonable
for the EU
€2,000 -> €3,400 increase of €1,400 is a bit insane!
Use the US price as the reference and then factor in the change in the exchange rate since the A7s was introduced.
Exchange rates are already accounted for in the current retail prices on Amazon that I quoted above.
The prices at which the original A7S was introduced don’t matter any more. Its the current prices that matter because customers will make their decision comparing the current price of the older generation with the newly announced camera.
So for the US they will see a $500 difference b/n the old model and the new, while in Europe we’ll see the ridiculous €1,400 difference that immediately puts the A7SII out of question and every intelligent person would go for the A7RII !!!
That’s EU pricing strategy for you. In Europe people enjoy paying high prices for virtually everything so why not get then to pay €1400 more ? Perhaps Europeans will enjoy their camera more as it is more expensive…
Almost all products are more expensive in Europe (not least because the quoted prices include VAT). What matters is not how much the price for a product increased in a given currency. If a currency is tanking you cannot blame a vendor for increasing the price in that currency. What matters is whether the relative price differential of products changes.
The A7s was announced on 9 April 2014 at a MSRP of $2499 and 2399 €. I don’t know from where you got your Amazon prices but if we start blaming Sony, I think we should start with the MSRP. Using the Dollar/Euro exchange rate from that day (1.3155), the European price converts into $3287 or 31.6% more expensive (if we exclude a VAT of 20%, that reduces to 9.6%).
The A7s II, announced yesterday 11 Sep 2015, carries a MSRP of $2999 and 3400€. At the exchange rate from yesterday (1.1339) that converts into $3855 or 28.5% more expensive (excluding VAT that reduces to 7.1%).
Or if we were to use your measures, the price in Dollar increased from the A7s to A7s II by 20% and in Euro by 41.7%. But from Sony’s point of view, calculating in Yen, they actually see a slightly larger revenue per camera sold increase for cameras sold in Dollars than in Euro.
Unfortunately determining the MSRPs for multiple markets is not as simple as you think. At least if you do it properly.
It’s not like getting one MSRP right, then hitting the enter button and getting a list of prices for other markets based on the exchange rates 🙂
You have to take in account many factors about this market, including competitors to the product in question. The closest competitor to the A7SII here obviously is the previous version A7S, although there are others as well, but here I just looked at the closest.
The prices I got are directly from Amazon, respectively .com/.de/.co.uk – simple.
This is the place where real sales happen, shipping hundreds of units every day, these are the REAL prices that the customer is happy to pay and the seller has come down to. It is a contract between two sides, not some sort of forex calculation.
If you want to come up with an MSRP that is realistic you take this in account otherwise it is just a number and in two months it is going to show in shops as reduced, -20%, etc.
So as I quoted already for the US, A7S -> A7SII:
$2,500 -> $3,000 difference of $500 sounds reasonable.
For the EU on the other hand:
€2,000 -> €3,400 difference of €1,400 is a bit insane, not going to happen. Everyone is going to go for the old model or competing product and correct me if I am wrong, but manufacturers want to sell, otherwise they will not be announcing an MSRP at all.
Getting MSRP is easy, just find the articles posted online at the introduction of a product and look what MSRP is mentioned in them. Not every article will be mentioning them, so you have to search a little bit. But that is just the minimum due diligence one should do before making any bold statements.
I have no idea how you get historical prices from Amazon. It rather seems you are comparing current pricing on the A7s, at a time when it has been on the market for over a year now with the introductory pricing of a new product. That’s comparing apples with oranges. You also seem to completely ignore the change in the exchange rate that I illustrated in detail. If a currency goes down, prices for imports generally eventually rise. The timeline and the degree at which the changed rates translate into price changes varies from company to company and even from product to product. Quite often, adjustments to prices after exchange rate changes are done with the introduction of new products. This is partly done because consumers don’t like prices that fluctuate with the daily exchange rate.
In the longer run, adjusting prices for exchange rate changes is not companies raising their prices but the value of the currency, the value of what people who live in that currency area own and earn being diminished.
Are you reading my posts at all ?!?
When the product price is calculated by some marketing expert at Sony he has to take in account the prices of competing products!!!
Do you get it?
Its not just a calculation based on exchange rates, if people in Dubai are happy to pay double Sony will put a higher price on it.
I am saying that someone at Sony did not do a good job calculating the price for this product.
And all competing products have to deal with changes in the exchange rate. So sooner or later everybody will have to increase their prices. But since often such adjustments are made with the introduction of new models, the prices for competing products from different companies will rise (or fall) at different points on the time axis. There is only limited possibility to set different real prices because of arbitrage between different countries.
When exchange rates change unfavourably, companies have the option to either eat the losses or increase prices. They might eat the losses if their competitors aren’t affected by the exchange rate moves because the competitors come from a different currency zone in order not to affect their competitive position. But with Japanese camera makers, their competitors come from the same currency area, so nobody has a competitive advantage.
What happened here was that Sony decided to increase the price worldwide for the new model, plus the Euro lost in value and Sony decided not the absorb the reduced margins due to the latter. This resulted in a nominal price increase that results in sticker shock for some (including apparently you judging from your comments, acerbated by the usual price increase between a year+ old product and a newly released one). Phrased differently, Sony has elected not to participate in a price war in the Euro area absorbing losses due exchange rate changes by not lowering their prices (in Dollar terms) compared to the US price.
The fact that they increased the price in Dollars as well just shows that they are not afraid to increase their prices compared to the competition. The same happened with the A7r II. Sony decided it needed (or could) increase the prices for their full-frame mirrorless bodies and that included correcting for the change in Euro’s value.
Your have to think about reality a bit more instead of losing your time with your theories.
The reality is that people in Europe don’t care about your exchange rates or imaginary price wars, but are making a choice between several options.
The result is it will not sell at this price, short and clear.
After a couple of months it will either show as reduced on Amazon -33% or something like that, or Sony will put it on their cash-back programmes so that they can shift a few units.
A7r mk2 sells for €3500 in Europe whilst it sells for $3200 in the U.S. My guess is that the EU value added tax is higher in EU… which makes everything so much more expensive than in the U.S. Even EU imported cars !
hoooray another E-Mount Cam… E-Mount really needs updates, the cameras are sooo old :/
Sorry, i don´t unterstand Sony. Slowly i also start believing A-mount is dead.
Why always new e-mount cams and really old cams (a99) get no update? Take the A7RII in a usefull body and sell it as “A9”,i just want a normal body and not a toy!
I’m getting really worried about a99 II
You’re saying you haven’t been already?
They should make one more model, to show those people how that thing just doesn’t sell in any way, maybe then they understand why.
I feel like the people on this site are spoiled adolecents. Take them to see the Louvre, boring! Never happy, all suck the big one. Not impressed by old tech that has already been announced. I hope your pictures are good otherwise you are just tech junkies waiting for a hit,but it’s never enough.
Their mostly tech junkies, is obvious.
Alpha 7 XYZ II/III/IV…I´m getting tired
..
Sorry Guys.. i dont get it…
The 12MP Sensor is the same as the “old non BSI” A7S… so all this new “features” for Video is (MOSTLY!) Firmeware update, IBIS and a little AF update…
Why should i pay so much more money for the same “old” Sensor just with Ibis & Firmeware updates ??
WTF Sony ? Im not a fu**ing Cashcow… Price this thing like the old A7S or GFY !!
Was expecting backlit 16mp & 399 AF points with internal 4k and 256,000 native ISO. I dont think the 3k is justified either like the improvements they made with the A7rII.
the AF points is obviously a issue with pixel density, there’s a much limited pixel count on the A7sII than the A7rII, and we don’t even know if it is on sensor PDAF.
12 MP allows them to offer 4K that (a) uses the full sensor width while (b) not requiring any resampling, it’s the sensor data 1:1, just cropped at the top and bottom to get 16:9 from the 3:2 sensor.
I agree. I at least thought we’d get 16mp for sony to appeal slightly more to photographers since a lot of people complained that 12 was a little low. I would have rather seen compromises in other areas. I don’t know, I just thought that with the way Sony has been innovating they could have found a way to bump it up to 16 and still come close to the previous sensor’s low light capabilities. I get the full sensor read out I guess. But Instead, it looks like we essentially got the A7S with stabilization and internal 4K, and even then there are reports we can’t shoot 4K in APS-C. What a bummer for those of us that wanted to use a speed booster in crop mode. Hate to say it but I think I’m going to have to go with the A7rii. Maybe pick up a much cheaper used original A7S for the times I need ultra low light capabilites. No way I’m paying essentially the same price for this as I would the A7R ii. I’ll just shoot 4K with it. It’s still not clear to me how much the auto focus has been improved on the mark ii as well. Kind of bummed out.
Still want to know how AF performs with adapters…
not the camera most people have been waiting for, and not quite the a7sii people were hoping for. a7sii is a niche camera, and the niche is smaller than a-mount niche.
I wonder how many returned their A7RII. You can get one brand new for under 2800.00 on amazon. Box is not in perfect condition- product is. They have a few. NO TAX.
Now let me see here. Let’s say you bought that thing for 3200.00. If you sold it on ebay I bet it’s worth around 2800.00. Ebay and Paypal fees add up to 339.00- add in the 400 about 190 in tax and you just lost 929 dollars. That my friends- is hilarious.
I seriously hope Sony stops the ridiculous madness of releasing bodies every year. The back end of this deal for consumers is absolutely abysmal- and yet people laugh at those shooting A mount.
These days You don’t get into the Sony system to save money. You definitely PAY a premium. It didn’t use to be that way….
I’m predicting the next A7000/6100 to cost $999-1199 body only
The only good thing is if you try a camera you feel you can use for a few years you know in about a year it will be half price. I am soooo mad i did not wait longer to get my a7 but looks like I will be getting the a7s original in a few months now.
Considering the A7s mk1 was $2500 usd when first released and the mk2 is $500 more, I think the update is worthwhile considering it was specifically designed to be a video camera first, and a stills camera second. Internal 4k, an improved AF, IBIS, and S Log 3 along with Cine Gamma 3. Now I hope it doesn’t suffer from the same over heating issues as the a7r mk2. Already broke one on a commercial shoot because of it…
42MP vs 12MP means that the A7r mk2 has a data flow of about 3 times higher than the A7s mk2. With such a difference I’d be surprised if the overheating issue was of the same magnitude between the cameras. But as always, the proof is in the pudding thus some testing will be required.
SonyAlphaRumors always says “trusted source” etc. But what ARE the sources?… I always see that being said but never “see” the source provided or the name of where the source is from? Are we ever provided with where the original source comes from? Like a link to it (on anything). Maybe a link to the source on where the a6100 came from? or where the lenses are talked about? I’m just curious where the sources come from and always see “trusted source” without any link to it
Sometimes there’s a link, and that’s when the source is another website. If there is no link, that means the source doesn’t want to be known, because he or she I’d in the industry. Those sources are not on the internet. I guess most of them are anonymous to admin. “Known source” means they have sent correct info on other occasions.
Actually it makes a big difference. Why do you think Samsung used it in the NX1? Firstly, it gives another 1/3-1 stop ISO performance. More importantly it allows the PDAF to respond fast enough to allow faster focusing with both the native as well as the third party lenses since the data flow is so much improved. And if done to perfection might even allow “shutter” speeds of up to 32k.
Samsung NX1 has a 28MPx Aps-C sensor vs a 12MPx Full-Frame sensor…
(28MPX/12MPX) * cropFactor = 3.5 times more space than the NX1 for wiring
-If BSI gives 1 stop on NX1: 1stop / 3.5 = 0.29 stop…
-The A7SII doesn’t have PDAF… It won’t really help it focus faster because of the data flow
-The data flow speed is really less important…especially if you compare it to a 28Mpx NX1 or a 42MPx A7RII
So are there no more announcements from Sony over the rest of the days of the show? Do they always just make all the announcements on day 1? New to all of this but really want to buy a Sony 7000 as I would like 4K recording if its going to have it. If its not I will just buy an A6000 or back to another Canon or maybe a Nikon instead.
The Amazon prices I quoted for the original A7S also include taxes but are actual prices at which Amazon DOES sell cameras:
£ 1,550 in the UK
€ 2,000 in Germany
$ 2,500 in the US
These are real prices, what people are willing to pay. You are quoting me some MSRPs while the cameras are not widely available and once the cameras becomes available at Amazon it is a totally different story.
I am pretty sure things will get back to normal when the camera becomes widely available and shows up on sites like Amazon that really do sell some units.
But if nothing has been messed up and this is Sony’s real MSRP policy it is just ridiculous and that’s why they have to make 2 long cash-back programmes a year in the EU that give you back 10-20% of the price.
Sony really missed the chance here to produce something that competes with the likes of the 1DX and the D4s, they have the technologies to do so. With a modest increase in MP they could’ve implemented PDAF and a redesigned shutter to allow continuous shooting to more than 5FPS. They already have the fast data readout from the A7Rii through copper, moving 12MP with copper could’ve even resulted potentially in a global shutter. I always thought the S in the a7s could be for sport and not just sensitivity as well. They have just set the bar too high for themselves with the A7RII
Wow ignorant is a strong word that shouldn’t be used that slightly, specially if you don’t consider the obvious information, Sony is targeting this camera for VIDEO, it has other cameras more focused on photo, in the a7 and crop frame sensors, normally I would feel insulted by being called ignorant, but being called that way by an ignorant person is just sad.
I will edit the original post I think I have to be more clear I’m POSTING ABOUT A VIDEO FOCUSED CAMERA, IF YOU ARE PHOTOGRAPHERS SONY HAS OTHER OPTIONS FOR YOU, DONT BE IGNORANT READ AND LEARN.
To clarify: I didn’t call you ignorant, just your points with regard to APS-C cameras/users. Because using the crop mode on my A7II is not remotely the same thing as actually using my A6000 for sports. Still I and apparently lots of other people would like something that’s a little more advanced and incorporates the advances Sony has made in the A7 line.
I strongly believe this is the future, like it or not, canon and Nikon are still on the big DSLR market, maybe you should consider those brands.
Maybe some of us don’t want to consider those brands, especially if we’ve invested heavily in A Mount glass over the years. Not everyone just arrived at A Mount yesterday.
Been saying this for a long time….what’s this, the 7th or 8th E Mount FF? Lovely.
Small photosites have nothing to do with it. Narrow spacing is the whole purpose of BSI – but does lead to increased crosstalk unless special measures (like in ISOCELL) are employed to reduce it.
La tenemos en arriendo Sony A7sII A7s2: http://lenscamerarental.blogspot.cl/2015/12/sony-a7sii-a7s2-con-grabacion-interna.html?view=flipcard