Sony does it again, A7 II with 5-axis in-body stabilization

[RLPhoto]

Incremental sync speed is vastly over rated and not the panacea many seem to think it is. Besides, the 1D from 2002 synced at 1/500 and the 1D MkIV syncs at 1/300 AND, speedlites like the 600-EX-RT, 580 EX II, Nikon SB910 etc have full power flash duration in the 1/250-1/350 range anyway, shorter shutter speeds actually cut your power even when you are not in HSS.

I disagree. A FF camera with a sync speed @ 1/500th at that price would be a game changer. The X100 is already a hit with many strobists. It means I can stress my speedlites less, better battery life, and less headaches of battery pack swaps.

Of course you do.

However the X100 sync is a work a round that has it's own limitations, anything short of a true shutterless sensor read exposure and very short flash duration is. The real game changer in this area for serious pros has not been the X100 but the Profoto B1 Air kit, sync at any speed and any aperture, true HSS with a decent amount of power.

And now the Chinese are coming out with their own versions of powerful HSS enabled integrated battery powered studio strobe crossovers at a fraction the price, that is where the strobists that want to push boundaries should be looking, not at leaf shutter hacks.

The history of photography would say otherwise. The game changers have and will be when shutters and strobes will both reach a normal sync at insane speeds at normal prices. Right now, still a compromise with HSS. Scoro Broncolor packs and Schneider LS lenses is what serious pros look to, the average pro would like that eventually and a 1/500th sync FF camera is a good first step.

Edit: The X100 makes your argument against faster sync speeds irrelevant. It already works better than HSS w/o the workarounds.

 

[JohnDizzo15]

Also for the record, regardless of whether we call the x100 a work around, hack, etc, it still works pretty damn well.

 

[LOALTD]

Just going to echo the positivity here about Sony's unhinged aggressiveness in imaging.

I've been a Canon shooter since the original 5D and now I own the Mk III.

The jump in image/video quality from the Mk II to the Mk III was marginal at best. As I tell people "the Mk III is better than the Mk II in just about every single way...except image/video quality"

I've been running the Magic Lantern RAW video module though, and have been blown away by the quality (and file sizes! and processing time!), and I find myself doing a lot more video work.

5-axis IBIS is a GAME CHANGER for the silly videos I make: mainly hiking/mountaineering/ice-rock-climbing. The ability to shoot hand-held in early morning light with a big-aperture prime AND stabilization is HUGE.

At the very least, I can see myself getting a Sony A-series body in the future, to go alongside my Canon setup.

I've been telling people the only thing holding me back was the lack of IBIS but...I didn't expect this feature to arrive so soon! I'm still poor. So I'll now amend that statement to: "I'll get a Sony AX series body when they have IBIS AND 4k video in-camera".

 

[LOALTD]

...
I've been telling people the only thing holding me back was the lack of IBIS but...I didn't expect this feature to arrive so soon! I'm still poor. So I'll now amend that statement to: "I'll get a Sony AX series body when they have IBIS AND 4k video in-camera".

Sounds like the A7S Mark II is the camera for you?

You got it! 8)

 

[Lee Jay]

It's an EVF camera. I'm about as interested in that as I am square tires for my car.

 

[privatebydesign]

However the X100 sync is a work a round that has it's own limitations, anything short of a true shutterless sensor read exposure and very short flash duration is. The real game changer in this area for serious pros has not been the X100 but the Profoto B1 Air kit, sync at any speed and any aperture, true HSS with a decent amount of power.

And now the Chinese are coming out with their own versions of powerful HSS enabled integrated battery powered studio strobe crossovers at a fraction the price, that is where the strobists that want to push boundaries should be looking, not at leaf shutter hacks.

Very good point regarding what the best option for strobists may be. There are definitely limitations even with the x100 setup. However, the kit you're referring to starts at just shy of $4,000. I would love to have it. But for mere mortals like myself, a used x100 runs about 400-600 bucks nowadays (x100s for 800-950).

Haven't read anything about the chinese knockoff versions. But you definitely have my interest piqued. Although I don't know what price range they would fall into as even 25-50% of the cost of the name brand kit would be too expensive more many.

BTW, can you point me in the right direction with some names of the knockoffs? Thanks in advance.

The RoveLight RL600 has a fully integrated battery for $599, more than 8 times the power of a 600-EX-RT, and that includes the radio trigger with power control.

http://flashhavoc.com/flashpoint-rovelight-rl-600-review/

 

[stochasticmotions]

As a guy who is keeping his feet in both camps right now I am very happy to see sony advancing technology as quickly as they are. Before this Nikon and Canon had been acting like Intel had been in years past. Only adding tiny improvements to milk as much out of us as possible. AMD caught Intel at that game for a couple of years, and sony is now doing it to Canon. Intel took a bit of a beating but came back even stronger....and we will see what happens in this game.

For me this competition means that technology isn't sitting in a lab waiting to be brought out in a few years, but is starting to hit different cameras now. I love using my canon gear and continue to do so, but in the last six months I have been taking out the sony A6000 and the A7R more often due to size and weight and I can get the shots I want with either setup. Who knows what I'll be using next year but I will still be having just as much fun.

www.flickr.com\stochasticmotions

 

[risc32]

IBIS...? so, In Body Image Stabilization... okay, got it.

this new body has it, and it's a big deal? alright.
i thought/assumed that most of these sony cams had this all along. You know minolta had it almost a decade ago. i used it. it worked pretty well. you could see how well it was working in the viewfinder, but it worked. since sony took them over a good many years ago, i thought it was in just about everything they offered. I still jumped ship to Canon, and would again.
Frankly i'm still impressed that they managed to get this IBIS to work with a FF sensor, as at the time it was considered impossible.
sure, keep cranking out the products Sony. good luck ever finding the 3rd party/pro support that way. i'm sure people like magic lantern are interested in spending time unlocking your gear just so you can dumpster the whole thing a couple times a yr.(i wouldn't be surprised if the very core of the imaging pipeline is handed this way)

 

[andrewflo]

If they put out an a7s II with this tech or the a9 is competitive to what Canon/Nikon can offer in their DSLR bodies, the temptation to jump ship may be hard to resist!

Sony just made most lenses on the planet image stabilized with this new camera. Pretty incredible!

And I previously felt like the lack of 2.8 zooms was a huge downfall for Sony. Looks like those are coming soon as well.

 

[9VIII]

Yawn.

More redundant features that we already have on Canon cameras (IS via the lens). Notice the MP is right back to Canon standard range, does that mean they were right about keeping the MP count low all this time? (no)

I wish someone would just go ahead and make a 64MP full frame body.

 

[raptor3x]

And I previously felt like the lack of 2.8 zooms was a huge downfall for Sony. Looks like those are coming soon as well.

Has this actually been stated anywhere?

 

[kei00051]

Yawn.

More redundant features that we already have on Canon cameras (IS via the lens). Notice the MP is right back to Canon standard range, does that mean they were right about keeping the MP count low all this time? (no)

I wish someone would just go ahead and make a 64MP full frame body.

lol Just too painful to read these kind of comments

 

[Lawliet]

And I previously felt like the lack of 2.8 zooms was a huge downfall for Sony. Looks like those are coming soon as well.

Has this actually been stated anywhere?

They showed a 16-35/2.8II and 24-70/2.8II. Cavet emptor: They're A mount, whether they've got a motor&firmware that makes them play nicely with the A7II(A9?)'s native AF system remains to be seen.

 

[Lawliet]

ignoring mirrroless, sticking to old sensor technology.
only thing canon is improving on their sensors are video features (dual pixel) that i have no use for. while avoiding to do the next step and offer 4K.

And even that's quite smoke and mirrors - dual pixel sounds cool, but in which way is it better then everbody elses on sensor PDAF? Esp. considering that the old sensor tech prevents full readouts at a sufficient rate to make use of it's theoretical potential.

 

[JohnDizzo15]

However the X100 sync is a work a round that has it's own limitations, anything short of a true shutterless sensor read exposure and very short flash duration is. The real game changer in this area for serious pros has not been the X100 but the Profoto B1 Air kit, sync at any speed and any aperture, true HSS with a decent amount of power.

And now the Chinese are coming out with their own versions of powerful HSS enabled integrated battery powered studio strobe crossovers at a fraction the price, that is where the strobists that want to push boundaries should be looking, not at leaf shutter hacks.

Very good point regarding what the best option for strobists may be. There are definitely limitations even with the x100 setup. However, the kit you're referring to starts at just shy of $4,000. I would love to have it. But for mere mortals like myself, a used x100 runs about 400-600 bucks nowadays (x100s for 800-950).

Haven't read anything about the chinese knockoff versions. But you definitely have my interest piqued. Although I don't know what price range they would fall into as even 25-50% of the cost of the name brand kit would be too expensive more many.

BTW, can you point me in the right direction with some names of the knockoffs? Thanks in advance.

The RoveLight RL600 has a fully integrated battery for $599, more than 8 times the power of a 600-EX-RT, and that includes the radio trigger with power control.

http://flashhavoc.com/flashpoint-rovelight-rl-600-review/

Thanks for the info. Was digging around and saw that they had the flashpoint mount version for 379 on sale right now but read that the bowen mount version was preferable for it's universal compatibility. Almost pulled the trigger....lol.

 

[dgatwood]

Incremental sync speed is vastly over rated and not the panacea many seem to think it is. Besides, the 1D from 2002 synced at 1/500 and the 1D MkIV syncs at 1/300 AND, speedlites like the 600-EX-RT, 580 EX II, Nikon SB910 etc have full power flash duration in the 1/250-1/350 range anyway, shorter shutter speeds actually cut your power even when you are not in HSS.

I disagree. A FF camera with a sync speed @ 1/500th at that price would be a game changer. The X100 is already a hit with many strobists. It means I can stress my speedlites less, better battery life, and less headaches of battery pack swaps.

What we need is to move to electronic shutters with simultaneous parallel readout. With that, not only would you have almost infinitely fast shutter and sync speeds, but also the ability to store a photo as a stream of samples along with shake data and perform much more precise IS in post, for faster response beyond the capabilities of physical IS.

 

[Lawliet]

Let you google that for me :-> ... I read in a smart book I purchased that 1/1 flash of a 580ex2 is 1/800s?

That would be t0.5; t0.1 for a full discharge is much longer.
On the upside thats only for a full discharge - at half power you can already use a quarter of the shutter speed and effectively have gained one stop. And get twice the battery life, half the recycle time, less heat for free.

 

[expatinasia]

What I personally find interesting about all this is what Sony has held back and are about to put into the new A9 (is that their top of the range, their 1D? I find their naming system to be very confusing at times).

Even the guy at SAR seems more excited by what the A9 may well be, than this impressive announcement.

But hats off to Sony, I hope they keep questioning and innovating.

 

[Sportsgal501]

For me this competition means that technology isn't sitting in a lab waiting to be brought out in a few years, but is starting to hit different cameras now. I love using my canon gear and continue to do so, but in the last six months I have been taking out the sony A6000 and the A7R more often due to size and weight and I can get the shots I want with either setup. Who knows what I'll be using next year but I will still be having just as much fun.

www.flickr.com\stochasticmotions

I'm about to go the same route, I'm picking up a Pentax K-5 iis next week, my first film camera was a Ricoh. So, I'm excited to go back plus the weight of the camera had a lot to do with my decision to switch brands.After doing an event last week, I finally realized how much I dislike how heavy my 50D is and another reason why I didn't hop on a 7D Mark II (it's very heavy).
But I have been checking out the Sony lineup and will probably be picking up a Sony next year.

 

[AcutancePhotography]

I'm about to go the same route, I'm picking up a Pentax K-5 iis next week, my first film camera was a Ricoh. S

A friend of mine who is my photography mentor has a K-5 and he loves it. The K-5II is even better. He almost talked me into getting a K-3 and I am not sure I made the right decision in not getting it.