Review: Sony A7R II by LensRentals.com

[Sony]

To dilbert: I've read many of what you posted and my feeling is that either you get paid from Sony or you have a lot of Sony's stocks.

 

[expatinasia]

To dilbert: I've read many of what you posted and my feeling is that either you get paid from Sony or you have a lot of Sony's stocks.

Says the person whose username is "Sony".

Do you work for Sony?

If not, I think your username is very misleading.

 

[roguewave]

To dilbert: I've read many of what you posted and my feeling is that either you get paid from Sony or you have a lot of Sony's stocks.

Just for the record...

I don't work for any of these companies and nor have I in the past: Canon, Nikon, Sony, Pansonic, Samsung, Tamron, Zeiss, Sigma, Tokina.

I don't own any of these companies: Canon, Nikon, Sony, Pansonic, Samsung, Tamron, Zeiss, Sigma, Tokina.

How about Fuji, Olympus, Leica, Pentax... ?

 

[arthurbikemad]

I loose interest when the, not with this and can't with that starts... :'( Did I read that right, no AI servo with EF glass.. that's me out then.

 

[arthurbikemad]

I'd not mind a loaner

 

[KrisK]

Pros:
- 4K Video Camera
- 42MP Full Frame images
- Works with all your Canon lenses through Metabones adapter
- Cheaper than 5Ds
- Sensor based stabilization (adds IS to all your lenses!)
- Class leading IQ
- Sony don't hold back on features to prevent them eating their own lunch
- Built in Wi-Fi
- Build in NFC
- No AA Filter (5DsR is more popular than 5Ds)
- Excellent high ISO

Cons:
- Lossy compression on raw stills
- Not many native mount lenses at this point in time
- AF isn't yet the equal of 1DX/5DIII

Cons:
-Severe rolling shutter in 4K Crop (the highest quality mode)
-Reports of overheating when recording 4K internally

Internal 4K was a headline feature for this camera.
I'm surprised they released the thing before sorting out the heat dissipation.

 

[fragilesi]

- Sony don't hold back on features to prevent them eating their own lunch

Sounds like you can use this thing to cook you own lunch while you're taking 4k video at the same time. Maybe Canon hold back features for other reasons than the strange conspiracy theories that so many seem to subscribe to so readily.

 

[KrisK]

...
-Severe rolling shutter in 4K Crop (the highest quality mode)
...

Rolling shutter is common to all digital video cameras except those with a global shutter.

Rolling shutter is common to motion picture cameras, as well.

The problem isn't that it exists, but how severe it is.

 

[fragilesi]

- Sony don't hold back on features to prevent them eating their own lunch

Sounds like you can use this thing to cook you own lunch while you're taking 4k video at the same time. Maybe Canon hold back features for other reasons than the strange conspiracy theories that so many seem to subscribe to so readily.

Yes. Canon fits into the class of company where lesser products are prevented from offering the features of more expensive products because it might lead to fewer sales of the more expensive product.

The thing is, if you don't eat your own lunch, someone else will.

Well Sony clearly have a better approach, release a camera that doubles as a microwave. What could possibly go wrong with releasing features without being sure that they will work well?

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Once they arrive in stock here in Spokane, I'll probably go in and try one. I have big hands and have difficulty with small controls, so the only way is for me to try one.

It seems unlikely that I'd actually buy one though.

You mind if I ask, Why a7 series? A7II and A7rII has same body size. Yes, it's smaller than 6D.

If you chasing after high MP, the 5DsR is really good, plus huge L lenses to chose.

Dylan


I could not try a A7II since they were out of stock, but did try a A7s, they have a ton of those that won't sell. However, that was just a few days after the A7RII was announced, and there were no ergonomic comparisons. The A7s would actually work for me as far as being physically usable.

I'm not after 42 mp, but would like to eliminate the flapping mirror and improve AF accuracy. I think that the A7R II comes a long way towards what I'd like, but I really would prefer higher ISO and 20-26 mp. As long as I can reduce the output to a lower MP and get good high ISO, that is a work-around. 12 MP is not enough to let me crop as much as I'd like.

The reason to buy a high mp camera for me, would to be able to crop severely, but the per pixel noise gets pretty high.

 

[RGF]

...
-Severe rolling shutter in 4K Crop (the highest quality mode)
...

Rolling shutter is common to all digital video cameras except those with a global shutter.

I know very limit about video.

What is rolling shutter and what is global shutter.

Thanks

 

[raptor3x]

- Sensor based stabilization (adds IS to all your lenses!)

Are we sure about that? Or does IBIS require communication between the lens and the body? I recall you don't get 5-axis IBIS if you aren't using recent native lenses because they don't communicate the info required for translation, just rotation. Do the roll/pitch/yaw components of IBIS work with dumb lenses?

I haven't seen any information on that. I wouldn't have thought that the lenses supply telemetry, only the body?

Assuming it works the same as on the A7II, the IBIS will still function with non-native lenses but the effectiveness is significantly reduced because the camera has no information about focus distance.

 

[Dylan777]

Once they arrive in stock here in Spokane, I'll probably go in and try one. I have big hands and have difficulty with small controls, so the only way is for me to try one.

It seems unlikely that I'd actually buy one though.

You mind if I ask, Why a7 series? A7II and A7rII has same body size. Yes, it's smaller than 6D.

If you chasing after high MP, the 5DsR is really good, plus huge L lenses to chose.

Dylan


I could not try a A7II since they were out of stock, but did try a A7s, they have a ton of those that won't sell. However, that was just a few days after the A7RII was announced, and there were no ergonomic comparisons. The A7s would actually work for me as far as being physically usable.

I'm not after 42 mp, but would like to eliminate the flapping mirror and improve AF accuracy. I think that the A7R II comes a long way towards what I'd like, but I really would prefer higher ISO and 20-26 mp. As long as I can reduce the output to a lower MP and get good high ISO, that is a work-around. 12 MP is not enough to let me crop as much as I'd like.

The reason to buy a high mp camera for me, would to be able to crop severely, but the per pixel noise gets pretty high.

42MP is not small. Since the day I upgrade my PC, handling larger MP raw files became much more friendly.

If you ok with a7s body size, I think you going to like the a7rII/a7II body. The new bigger grip on a7ii helps balance out with native 70-200. The needs for longer native lenses, 135mm f2 and 200mm f2.8, is high for Sony A7 shooters. Bigger grip will help up coming FE lenses. Which bring me back to square one, if the mirrorless body is big as DSLR(6D) then I don't see the point buying mirrorless

I brought a7s + FE28mm + FE55mm + rented FE16-35mm and of course my fav. 1Dx + 100-400 to Hawaii recently. Believe it or not, the 1Dx combo never left the bag. All photos were shots with just Sony.

We about to take a small trip to LEGOLAND. I'm going take new a7rii + FE28mm + FE55mm ONLY.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

To dilbert: I've read many of what you posted and my feeling is that either you get paid from Sony or you have a lot of Sony's stocks.

Just for the record...

I don't work for any of these companies and nor have I in the past: Canon, Nikon, Sony, Pansonic, Samsung, Tamron, Zeiss, Sigma, Tokina, Fuji, Olympus, Pentax, Hasselblad, Mamiya, Phase One.

I don't own any of these companies: Canon, Nikon, Sony, Pansonic, Samsung, Tamron, Zeiss, Sigma, Tokina, Fuji, Olympus, Pentax, Hasselblad, Mamiya, Phase One.

Nor do I know anyone from or that works there presently or in the past any of those companies.

I've also been accused of being paid off :

I should be so lucky.

Go ahead, camera companies, send me samples of your latest and greatest cameras and lenses, I'll be happy to test and review them. Wine and dine me, fly me to the factory in Japan or Sweden or, in the case of Nikon, Thailand.

 

[sdsr]

Assuming it works the same as on the A7II, the IBIS will still function with non-native lenses but the effectiveness is significantly reduced because the camera has no information about focus distance.

Maybe this is a dumb question, but why does focus distance, as oppose to the focal length of the lens (which you tell the camera manually), matter in IBIS?

 

[sdsr]

- Works with all your Canon lenses through Metabones adapter

The a7rII may be much faster than its predecessors, but is there any reason to suppose that it allows AF with more lenses than the a7/a7II/a7r/a7s? With those, only a minority of Canon lenses get AF. So the extent to which it "works with all" of them may be rather limited, to the extent that AF matters. If it doesn't, this particular advantage suddenly becomes huge - via adapters you can attach just about any lens, regardless of who made it.

A couple more advantages - EVF and, because it's mirrorless, not having to deal with AFMA.

(Of course, these advantages aren't unique to Sony mirrorless.)

 

[duffer5]

Interesting to see a more thorough review of the camera. I like the size of it. While I like my 5D III and 7D II there are times where they are their lens are just too heavy and something smaller but high quality would be preferable.
I wish personally Canon would produce a smaller lighter camera with a good sensor.
I know alot of people like the chunkiness of the current bodies but I think in years to come they will be seen as being like old laptops or CRT TV's.
There is a strange pink tone in alot of the photos. There is also a photo half way down of an elderly man with a very strange hair-do. I don't know if it was a joke or whether he's always like that. The photos used to demonstrate the camera didn't really impress me to rush out to buy it.
I'm looking forward to seeing more creative and detailed photos. The high ISO performance seems to be good.
I'd like to have heard more of any weaknesses it had to see if I could live with them.
Is there any chance Canon will produce a smaller format high MP full frame camera?

+1 I have the same lineup in my gear, and I reflect your sentiments regarding the size of those camera bodies. Size does matter, especially when travelling or hiking.

 

[3kramd5]

Assuming it works the same as on the A7II, the IBIS will still function with non-native lenses but the effectiveness is significantly reduced because the camera has no information about focus distance.

Maybe this is a dumb question, but why does focus distance, as oppose to the focal length of the lens (which you tell the camera manually), matter in IBIS?

Focal length is required for pitch and yaw rotation stabilization, and focal distance is required for x and y translation stabilization.

See:

- Sensor based stabilization (adds IS to all your lenses!)

Are we sure about that? Or does IBIS require communication between the lens and the body? I recall you don't get 5-axis IBIS if you aren't using recent native lenses because they don't communicate the info required for translation, just rotation. Do the roll/pitch/yaw components of IBIS work with dumb lenses?

I haven't seen any information on that. I wouldn't have thought that the lenses supply telemetry, only the body?

But in that case, the camera can still only have the focal length input, and not the focal distance–which has to do with how far away from the sensor the lens is. From the focal length information, it can figure out the right amount of pitch and yaw to provide. However, roll compensation doesn’t require any information from the lens because it is always available. Roll compensation is all based on how the user moves the camera around as you can see in the graph above.

The behavior of the system is largely dependent on the lens. The lens bears a responsibility if it’s going to enjoy five axis stabilization. It needs to provide focal length and focal distance to the system. But we put in a provision for you to manually put in the focal length. But you cannot put in focus distance. We thought that would be pretty cumbersome.”

So, I presume you'll roll compensation with any lens, roll/pitch/yaw for lenses if FL is supplied, and roll/pitch/yaw/x/y only for lenses which transmit focal distance data.

Cons:
...

Another is the loss of precision (to 12-bit linear) when either bulb mode or the fully electronic shutter are enabled. If you want very long exposures with zero camera shake, you lose DR and gain noise. I rarely shoot longer than 30 seconds, and would probably stack multiple exposures rather than go to bulb mode as a workaround, but there is no way to work around the electronic shutter limitation.

 

[bwana]

I know very limit about video.

What is rolling shutter and what is global shutter.

Thanks

Think of it this way:

- A global shutter reads the sensor information all at once. Each frame of video is essentially a still picture.

- A rolling shutter reads the sensor information line by line. If the camera is panning or something is moving in the frame, it will get skewed.

Global shutters are preferred; however, it takes a very fast processor to capture full frames instantaneously and the larger the sensor the harder the problem.

Rolling shutters are the most common video approach and the best fix for the skewing is, of course, to have the absolutely fastest sensor readout possible! Sony claims the A7R II sensor readout is about 3-3.5x faster than the A7R; still a rolling shutter but should have less skewing...

bwa

 

[fragilesi]

Does that mean my camera can cook breakfast/lunch/dinner for me when I'm out on a shoot?

Only with 4k video apparently. Sony obviously crippled this camera by not enabling this feature for other shooting modes ;D