Sony a7R II Field Report

Have had a fully charged battery in my A7r since Friday. The a7r is in Airplane mode but is still at 100%. I have even used it for a few frames yesterday. Sounds like a real bug in the newer body.

Neilyb wrote:Have had a fully charged battery in my A7r since Friday. The a7r is in Airplane mode but is still at 100%. I have even used it for a few frames yesterday. Sounds like a real bug in the newer body.

Yeah, the a7R doesn't do this.  It's the II.

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/614441 ... ressed-raw

For now it is uncompressed 14-bit. Seems Sony are not sure if the processors can handle lossless compressed? (but they manage lossy compression?).

"The company (Sony) says it will continue to listen and will investigate the development of a lossless compression system if there's sufficient user demand." This quote is from the DPR article. 
So how do we give Sony feedback that there is "sufficient user demand"?

Here is DPR's review of the a7R II:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sony-alpha-7r-ii

signgrap wrote:Here is DPR's review of the a7R II:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sony-alpha-7r-ii

Not really, it is a "First Impressions Review" whatever that means. Where are you [font=sans-serif]Phil Askey with your one-stop reviews?[/font]


Cheers,


Jim

Some more quantitative analysis of the underexposure utilizing the 100+ Zebra setting as EJ and I noted above:

http://blog.kasson.com/?p=11882

Joerg

Joerg Rockenberger wrote:Some more quantitative analysis of the underexposure utilizing the 100+ Zebra setting as EJ and I noted above:

http://blog.kasson.com/?p=11882

Joerg

Yup, I found it to be conservative by about 2/3 of a stop.  

With respect to longer lenses than 200 for the A7RII, Sony has a very good 70-400/4-5.6 (the v.II has improved AF, nano AR coating, weather sealing and a more "traditional" white color (vs. silver) compared to the v.I, but otherwise is optically the same). The lens can be used with the LAE-3 adapter, utilizing the camera's on sensor phase detect AF system. Sony Artisan Brian Smith reports that AF performance is "fast and accurate" (his words, not mine). He reports that AF performance is also fast and accurate with Sony's A-mount 500/4 (but there are other reports from some users indicating they had a problem - as noted in an earlier post in this thread). I don't have the A7RII (or any 7 series camera at this point), so can't provide any assessment of how Sony's A-mount lenses work, but Brian's blog is a great starting point: 

http://briansmith.com/sony-a-mount-lens ... rii-guide/

He also provided an assessment of some Canon and other lenses using the Metabones and other adapters:

http://briansmith.com/?s=Canon+lenses+on+A7R+II

One (big) caveat regarding Brian's assessments is that they were done at B&H, rather than in the field, which can be a quite different experience.

For example, I have a Canon shooting photographer friend who recently obtained the A7R II and used it on a trip to Svalbard with his 200-400 (despite also having a 5DSr). Though his preliminary tests in a store demo shooting with the Metabones adapter were not promising regarding the 200-400's AF performance, in the field he was pleasantly surprised with the AF performance, though it was not 100% good. It seems that particularly with telephoto lenses the A7R II's AF performance can be highly dependent on the ambient light level and the inherent contrast in the subject matter, more so than "traditional" DSLR phase detect systems.

No doubt as more Canon shooters delve into the A7R II there will be more reports how it performs in a variety of situations, with a variety of lenses. It also will be interesting to read about any improvements that the latest firmware upgrade for the Metabones adapter may provide.

If that Metabones IV didn't have the very latest firmware (v. 0.44) which has only been out a couple of weeks, it would not have performed nearly as well as it does now.  Many of the early Metabones issues, especially at longer focal lengths in the zoom range of zoom lenses are no more.

Slight correction Mark...no weather sealing added to the 70/400g2 from the g1.

Another report on long lens compatibility with the a7rII: https://luminous-landscape.com/sony-a7rii-long-lenses/

Joerg

I have not updated my Matabones IV firmware yet (don't know how easy it would be). However, I did a very brief test with my new Canon 400 DO MkII and was pleasantly surprised to see the AF is really quick, and works much better than my 70-200 f4 IS. Need to test more, but that will take a few days as we are having this wonderful weather on the East coast


I just updated the firmware on the Metabones - to v0.44,  it was easier than doing so on my Canon cameras! Took less than a minute. Now let's see how it performs.

Pradeep

Note that Metabones just released v 0.45 firmware for the Canon EF to Sony E mount adapter which improves AF performance even further. At this point, there should be very little difference in the performance of Canon lenses on Canon cameras and Canon lenses on the a7R II for non-action photography.

DP Review just released their in depth review of the a7R II - lengthy read.
http://www.dpreview.com/articles/326152 ... -ii-review

I'm renting an A7RII and Metabones adapter for a week.  I'll be using it primarily with a Canon 24-70 f2.8 II but will also try it on a 100-400 II.   Primary use will be landscapes and stationary or slow moving animals on a tripod but I'll try some hand-held as well.

I've picked up tips from EJ's excellent field review and am open to any other suggestions.  I'd prefer not to spend 6 hours studying the manual and would like to employ a fairly simple procedure in the field.  I'll also be using my 5Dsr and while I don't plan any critical testing I will try both bodies on the same lens in a variety of situations.

I'd like to be able to concentrate on scenes without being distracted too much by the camera itself and will appreciate any suggestions that will help me accomplish this.  I've never used a mirrorless camera and am looking forward to the experience.

prairiewing wrote:I'm renting an A7RII and Metabones adapter for a week.  I'll be using it primarily with a Canon 24-70 f2.8 II but will also try it on a 100-400 II.   Primary use will be landscapes and stationary or slow moving animals on a tripod but I'll try some hand-held as well.

I've picked up tips from EJ's excellent field review and am open to any other suggestions.  I'd prefer not to spend 6 hours studying the manual and would like to employ a fairly simple procedure in the field.  I'll also be using my 5Dsr and while I don't plan any critical testing I will try both bodies on the same lens in a variety of situations.

I'd like to be able to concentrate on scenes without being distracted too much by the camera itself and will appreciate any suggestions that will help me accomplish this.  I've never used a mirrorless camera and am looking forward to the experience.

Remember to turn off image stabilization when using on a tripod and make sure your metabones is using 46 firmware.

Thanks Mike. I assume the metabones from LensRentals will have the latest firmware but I'll check with them.

Pat:

The Metabones IV that I just returned to lens rental had the latest firmware.

Thanks Rocky. Did you use it with an A7rII?