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The Sony A7II

dandrewk

New member
Right on schedule, Adobe released an updated ACR for the new Sony. This will work for Photoshop, with the LR update coming next week.

For those of us "early adopters" who don't want to wait a week or go through creating a DNG with Adobe's DNG converter, I've split out the A7ii profile folder into my Dropbox for download:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rpxow4gbc66y61z/Sony ILCE-7M2.zip?dl=0

Unzip the file and put it into your directory folder with all the other Adobe camera profiles.

As my camera is still on the truck, I won't be able to test this. In the meantime, if someone has a RAW file from the A7ii, or can point me to where I can download one, I'd be happy to test it.
 

Bill Caulfeild-Browne

Well-known member
"Out for delivery"

My three favorite words. ;)
My, we are an impatient lot, aren't we? (I include "me" in the "we"!)

Unfortunately I have to wait until the 17th for shipping from Sony in Canada. Not sure why the delay - usually we get Sony gear a day or two ahead of the US, but not this time.

So my favourite three words will have to wait a week and I'll have to live vicariously through the rest of you lucky early adopters. Maybe if you tell me how bad the camera is my heart rate will return to normal.

Season's Greetings to you all,
Bill
 
The Eagle has landed.

Picked mine up a couple hours ago. Haven't had a lot of time to play but here are some very early impressions.

1. IBIS is as advertised. Works great with my A-mount 135/1.8 on the LAEA. No visual confirmation of IBIS status like you had on A-mount which I miss, but it is doing its job.

2. Ergonomics - hmmm, I'm not as excited as some reviewers. I prefer the original A7's front and rear dials for aperture and shutter as they are much more rigid and provide better feedback. The new plastic dials are soft and quiet so will likely be a personal preference. I also don't care for how close the front dial is to the power switch. I have already turned the camera off inadvertently once. The shutter button placement, at first appears to be more ideal but I'm not so sure. It is positioned farther to the right of the camera body so you have to pull your finger away from the camera in order to fit the fingertip on the button. Maybe with a soft release I could get used to shooting using the crease of my finger which would be more comfortable. The button itself is less spongy than the A7's and requires less pressure to activate.

Haven't noticed any difference in the EVF although there may be some.

Keep in mind, I griped about some of the ergonomics of the original when it came out but today it feels like second nature to operate.

Beyond IBIS and ergonomics I haven't dug too deep yet but I did discover one KILLER feature that I am not aware was available on the A7 or A7s - Focus Hold. You can now program Focus Hold to any of the custom buttons, allowing you to hold initial focus between multiple shots. I can't tell you how many times I wished I had this feature outside of my lenses that have a hold button. BTW, C3 is about the only button you can comfortably program this feature to.
 

dandrewk

New member
^^^

There is a review that claims IBIS is only activated at time of shutter release for third party lenses with no info supplied by the lens. This includes Nikon, Leica and several others.

Can you verify this if you have the appropriate lens and adapter? It would be a disappointed to not have IBIS for manual focus, especially when zoomed in.
 
V

Vivek

Guest
The Eagle has landed.

Picked mine up a couple hours ago. Haven't had a lot of time to play but here are some very early impressions.

1. IBIS is as advertised. Works great with my A-mount 135/1.8 on the LAEA. No visual confirmation of IBIS status like you had on A-mount which I miss, but it is doing its job.

2. Ergonomics - hmmm, I'm not as excited as some reviewers. I prefer the original A7's front and rear dials for aperture and shutter as they are much more rigid and provide better feedback. The new plastic dials are soft and quiet so will likely be a personal preference. I also don't care for how close the front dial is to the power switch. I have already turned the camera off inadvertently once. The shutter button placement, at first appears to be more ideal but I'm not so sure. It is positioned farther to the right of the camera body so you have to pull your finger away from the camera in order to fit the fingertip on the button. Maybe with a soft release I could get used to shooting using the crease of my finger which would be more comfortable. The button itself is less spongy than the A7's and requires less pressure to activate.

Haven't noticed any difference in the EVF although there may be some.

Keep in mind, I griped about some of the ergonomics of the original when it came out but today it feels like second nature to operate.

Beyond IBIS and ergonomics I haven't dug too deep yet but I did discover one KILLER feature that I am not aware was available on the A7 or A7s - Focus Hold. You can now program Focus Hold to any of the custom buttons, allowing you to hold initial focus between multiple shots. I can't tell you how many times I wished I had this feature outside of my lenses that have a hold button. BTW, C3 is about the only button you can comfortably program this feature to.
Thanks, Chad. would you mind shifting this to this thread?

http://www.getdpi.com/forum/sony/52742-new-a7ii-users-reports.html
 
^^^

There is a review that claims IBIS is only activated at time of shutter release for third party lenses with no info supplied by the lens. This includes Nikon, Leica and several others.

Can you verify this if you have the appropriate lens and adapter? It would be a disappointed to not have IBIS for manual focus, especially when zoomed in.

From my tests:

Steady Shot, when turned on, will activate when using focus zoom. You do NOT have to have the shutter half-pressed to activate.

In normal composition view (not zoomed in) you DO need to press the shutter to activate Steady Shot.

I think this is a very smart way to get the benefit of IBIS without a constant battery drain.

I confirmed this on the LAEA-4, the TechArt Contax G adapter, a VM M-mount adapter (no electronics) and a Fotodiox Contax G adapter (no electronics)
 

dandrewk

New member
Indeed, just confirmed it myself. I tested it with my Nikkor 105mm macro. When zooming in twice, BIG difference is jiggle with IBIS set to on. When set to off, I feel like I am riding on a bumpy road in a truck with a poor suspension system. When set to on, it's more like riding in a Lexus. :)

There's no button to push, it's always there when you need it. For those worried about a battery drain, you can always turn IBIS off in the menu. You can even assign a custom button if you wish.
 

Tim

Active member
I'm not seeing a pile of used A7 cameras in the "Gear For Sale" section... yet.

NB: its hard to say A7 plural, is it A7s ?, then plural A7s is A7ss or A7ses?
 

jonoslack

Active member
Jono,

Are you referring to problems with EFC and R lenses? If so, what problem did you experience with longer R lenses? Thanks.

John
Hi John
Just simple camera shake - I found I needed a very fast shutter speed (2xfocal length) even using EFC. Maybe it was mybad (but I reckon on 1/2 focal length on M cameras) - we shall see!
 

jonoslack

Active member
I was lucky Barry. I placed my Oder at £1299 and WEX honoured that price.
I collected it today. time for a quick snap before sunset.



All the best
 

Barry Haines

Active member
I was lucky Barry. I placed my Oder at £1299 and WEX honoured that price.
I collected it today. time for a quick snap before sunset.
All the best
Well that was a good fair price Jono, you did very well. Wex are a decent enough company with good after sales service. Both of my A7R's came from there and I would happily use them again. Not sure what gives with their current selling strategy, which is £100 more than retail though on the A72! - They probably need to make up a bit extra for selling yours at just £1299 :LOL:

I recently tried out Panamoz just for a change with my 16-35mm FE, it arrived within 5 days including the weekend from HK, with excellent tracking all the way (BACS £926 Total)...No extras to pay on arrival + with their own 3 year Panamoz Warranty, I would be happy enough to use them again also. Congrats on your new camera (enjoy), I look forward to hearing your assessment...Cheers Barry
 
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