Sony A7rII

Anyone able to give 1st impressions of the Sony A7rII (it is being delivered in the UK).

I think it will be a couple of weeks before there will be much meaningful user info since the rest of the world isn't getting release of the camera until 8/5 and then shipping and actually using enough to form a meaningful opinion takes some time too. But if there are any UK owners that have already done that, it would be interesting.

in the meantime here is the guide for the camera:
http://helpguide.sony.net/ilc/1520/v1/en/print.pdf

Quentin Bargate's samples from the UK look very promising, so far...

A couple of surprises in the box for the a7R2 - unlike the a7R, there was an external wall charger included in the box (in addition to the normal USB charger) and it came with two batteries!

E.J. Peiker wrote:A couple of surprises in the box for the a7R2 - unlike the a7R, there was an external wall charger included in the box (in addition to the normal USB charger) and it came with two batteries!

Does this mean you have one in your hands?
If so I hope you'll be doing a menu setup guide for the Mk II that you did for the a7R 

signgrap wrote:

E.J. Peiker wrote:A couple of surprises in the box for the a7R2 - unlike the a7R, there was an external wall charger included in the box (in addition to the normal USB charger) and it came with two batteries!

Does this mean you have one in your hands?
If so I hope you'll be doing a menu setup guide for the Mk II that you did for the a7R 

Yes - in my hand  

EJ you are one lucky dog...enjoy.  The 7rII has a lot to live up to being called the Jesus camera and all.  

I just wrote a blog post with some initial impressions: http://www.mojphoto.com/blog/2015/8/another-new-camera
mike

Mike which videos did you find most useful in setting the menu options?
Could you supply links?

Dick,
This one deals with the A72 but most is applicable: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APrti3EeUmE

Here is one for the A7R2: http://www.colbybrownphotography.com/15 ... ony-a7rii/

If you search on youtube or go to sonyalpharumors you can browse until you run out of gas....
Mike

There are some interesting tests about the Sony a7rII reported at http://blog.kasson.com. I am not in a position to judge the validity of the testing methods he is using but he seems pretty thorough...

http://blog.kasson.com

Best, Joerg

Joerg Rockenberger wrote:There are some interesting tests about the Sony a7rII reported at http://blog.kasson.com. I am not in a position to judge the validity of the testing methods he is using but he seems pretty thorough...

http://blog.kasson.com

Best, Joerg

For those of us into the techie geeky stuff, his blog is fascinating.  I love the one where he shot a 6 second exposure in bulb mode vs just dialing a regular 6second exposure and you can very clearly see that the camera drops to a 12 bit/pixel camera in bulb mode (which Sony states that it does so it isn't a surprise but amazing to see graphically the drop in information).  

BTW, for those that missed it, the camera also drops to 12 bit/pixel when shooting in continuous AF mode as opposed to single shot AF and also if you use silent shutter instead of standard shutter or electronic fist curtain shutter.  He also clearly shows that the way the gain circuitry works allows for higher dynamic range and lower noise at ISO 640 and ISO 800 than ISO 500. 

BTW, another great blog that is less techie and more real world use based is Brian Smith's:
http://briansmith.com/blog/

E.J. Peiker wrote:For those of us into the techie geeky stuff, his blog is fascinating.  I love the one where he shot a 6 second exposure in bulb mode vs just dialing a regular 6second exposure and you can very clearly see that the camera drops to a 12 bit/pixel camera in bulb mode (which Sony states that it does so it isn't a surprise but amazing to see graphically the drop in information).  

BTW, for those that missed it, the camera also drops to 12 bit/pixel when shooting in continuous AF mode as opposed to single shot AF and also if you use silent shutter instead of standard shutter or electronic fist curtain shutter.  He also clearly shows that the way the gain circuitry works allows for higher dynamic range and lower noise at ISO 640 and ISO 800 than ISO 500. 

Why would Sony implement the change in precision for certain modes? It seems so weird and arbitrary. Thanks. Joerg

Joerg Rockenberger wrote:

E.J. Peiker wrote:For those of us into the techie geeky stuff, his blog is fascinating.  I love the one where he shot a 6 second exposure in bulb mode vs just dialing a regular 6second exposure and you can very clearly see that the camera drops to a 12 bit/pixel camera in bulb mode (which Sony states that it does so it isn't a surprise but amazing to see graphically the drop in information).  

BTW, for those that missed it, the camera also drops to 12 bit/pixel when shooting in continuous AF mode as opposed to single shot AF and also if you use silent shutter instead of standard shutter or electronic fist curtain shutter.  He also clearly shows that the way the gain circuitry works allows for higher dynamic range and lower noise at ISO 640 and ISO 800 than ISO 500. 

Why would Sony implement the change in precision for certain modes? It seems so weird and arbitrary. Thanks. Joerg

It's all related to their 11/7bit strange RAW compression scheme but they haven't come out with the technical details as to why it's implemented that way.  This isn't a change from the previous a7 bodies.

Sony has stated that it could implement a lossless RAW file in the future if the demand is there.  Now what "demand" means to them is unclear since there has been so much bad press and petitions and everything else calling on them to give us a lossless format.  in reality, except for in very specific circumstances the RAW compression part doesn't matter much, I still think they should let the photographer make that decision - the same goes for this drop to 12 bit mode in certain shooting modes.  For me at least, that part doesn't matter much since I always shoot these cameras in single shot mode and EFC mode.  Bulb mose though could come into play.

Oh, also if you leave the dark frame subtraction (long exposure noise reduction) on it also drops to 12 bit regardless of whether the dark frame subtraction is actually happening so you most definitely want to set that to off and only turn it on when you really need it.

All that said, the increased detail due to the EFC and not having that humongous shutter shock that the a7R had is really really significant!!!  It simply transforms the sharpness of the 24-70 and 70-200 lenses.

Looking forward to your review. I traded in all my Canon gear & accessories for the Sony a7rII and the two Batis lenses. Now, I am waiting...

Joerg

I hadn't planned on writing a full blown review like I did on the a7R - something like that takes at least 100 hours for no pay   I may do a thing on the settings I use and I already did an overview of the changes in my last newsletter and will most likely add some experiential notes in my next one.  And of course, as necessary add my 2 cents worth here in the forums.

At this point I've gotten through the 320 page online manual with camera in hand and have it all configured the way I like (not the piece of crap guide that it comes packed with).  Since there is an extra user programmable button I've changed things a bit from the a7R.  Also you can now combine auto bracketing with a 2 second self timer which is nice from the standpoint of getting the camera settled after every exposure.

It still blows my mind that the majority of photographers that shell out thousands of dollars for cameras like this won't take the 6 hours to go through the manual with the camera to learn what it can do.

E.J. Peiker wrote:I hadn't planned on writing a full blown review like I did on the a7R - something like that takes at least 100 hours for no pay  

I can imagine. Makes sense. Whatever you share is surely much appreciated.

 Also you can now combine auto bracketing with a 2 second self timer which is nice from the standpoint of getting the camera settled after every exposure.

I think I read somewhere that auto-bracketing is also subject to the 12 bit processing as it is linked to continuous shooting. Though I can't remember where I picked this up (Lloyd Chamber's blog?). Do you know if true?

And I surely will read the manual once I have a camera in my hands. Actually, I always do.

Joerg

E.J. Peiker wrote:   . . . . .  He also clearly shows that the way the gain circuitry works allows for higher dynamic range and lower noise at ISO 640 and ISO 800 than ISO 500. 

E.J. Could you explain why this is the case?
I assume that these gains in DR are limited to these specific ISO's and aren't applicable to other ISO's. 

Joerg Rockenberger wrote:

E.J. Peiker wrote:I hadn't planned on writing a full blown review like I did on the a7R - something like that takes at least 100 hours for no pay  

I can imagine. Makes sense. Whatever you share is surely much appreciated.

 Also you can now combine auto bracketing with a 2 second self timer which is nice from the standpoint of getting the camera settled after every exposure.

I think I read somewhere that auto-bracketing is also subject to the 12 bit processing as it is linked to continuous shooting. Though I can't remember where I picked this up (Lloyd Chamber's blog?). Do you know if true?

And I surely will read the manual once I have a camera in my hands. Actually, I always do.

Joerg

There's two bracketing modes, one is continuous and the other is single shot so the latter definitely would not be.