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New A7II Users Reports

ecsh

New member
Jorgen
Nothing personal, but you seem to be very outspoken about all Sony cameras lately. Just trying one in a store or reading specs on DPR does not really make me want to listen to the impressions you have any longer on Sony products. Are you getting paid by the M4/3 consortium?
YMMV and i know what Vivek means.
Joe
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
Jorgen
Nothing personal, but you seem to be very outspoken about all Sony cameras lately. Just trying one in a store or reading specs on DPR does not really make me want to listen to the impressions you have any longer on Sony products. Are you getting paid by the M4/3 consortium?
YMMV and i know what Vivek means.
Joe
I just sold all my m4/3 gear, did a thorough comparison between Sony and Nikon and found that Nikon suits my use better right now. If one can accept to live with an optical viewfinder, the D810 is superior to the A7 bodies in every respect except size and weight, and even those advantages disappear when you fit the vertical grip to the A7 II. Still, I will need a mirrorless camera in the future, and follow Sony's development in this field very closely. That includes trying out cameras in the shop as well as in the field.

When I tried the A7 II this week, it was specifically to check the claim that it's a suitable camera for sports photography. It isn't. It mostly behaves the same way as other mirrorless camera, and there are several other models with much better ergonomics (GH4, E-M1 and NX1 to mention a few). As has been pointed out by many, the A7 models really need the extra grip to be comfortable to hold over time, since the body is to low to offer comfortable rest for the thumb.
 
Jorgen,

The Sony A7 platform is not for you, not for your style of shooting nor your subjects. You are clearly a DSLR guy and that is great. You need high speed, fast AF and fast lenses.

Right now, Sony is in limbo, halfway between A-mount and the promise of FE mount. For a high speed shooter like yourself, they aren't there yet and we can all agree on that. I use A-mount lenses with the LA-EA4 adapter and the AF just isn't in the same league as a native DSLR. Same for native FE AF although I would argue hard that it is more accurate and the speed is getting very close - they just need to close the low light gap.

So I find all your arguments perfectly valid - for you. But let's try and have some perspective and recognize the Sonys for what they are. Today they do many things with no peer - great sensor quality in a compact package that can use just about any lens, a hint and promise of excellent native lenses, IBIS, high resolution, or high sensitivity (take your pick). In other areas they still lag - AF speed, Deep native lens lineup, etc. but the writing is on the wall and to your dismay, Sony has the development pedal to the metal - thus quick dev cycles.

You call it rampant consumerism, I call it Sony gunning for the top. They may not make it but it is fun watching them try.
 
One final thought before I drop off.

Last week I was on vacation with another family and my buddy had his Canon 5D MkIII with him on the beach. He looked at me and asked where my camera was. I had the A7II in my windbreaker pocket. He looked down at his camera in disgust.

Later that night on New Years Eve we were in a bar and I asked him where his camera was. He left it at home because he didn't want to lug around a DSLR. I had the RX1 in my jacket pocket again and the photos of that evening were highly entertaining. So glad I had it.

Modern DSLRs are not take everywhere cameras. They are tanks that are designed for purpose work. The fact that my little A7II and RX1 have sensors that trump a Canon 5D mkIII, can mount tiny, incredible lenses and produce rich files, is all I need to have faith in the platform.
 
Okay they vertical grip just showed up. MUST HAVE for verticals its so comfortable its scary. Everything is perfect balanced in your hand. Totally different than the A7 one. Even the battery cover for the camera to take off is now a switch and it retracts the pins do. Much better setup and the grip is to deeper. Now the C3 button is just dead on your thumb. So you may want to change that Function. Here maybe the zoom magnifier would be a good choice and the AF/MF button is just below it so a pretty handy 2 function setup here. The grip is pretty deep so plenty of gripping power. Its a keeper but it sure is a expensive one. 350 is a little over the top
Guy - Can you charge with the batteries in it? That was a big shortcoming of the original grip and I was hoping they addressed it.
 

ohnri

New member
If one can accept to live with an optical viewfinder, the D810 is superior to the A7 bodies in every respect except size and weight, and even those advantages disappear when you fit the vertical grip to the A7 II.
My main cameras are the Nikon D4, the D800 and the Sony a7.

It is not correct to assert that the Nikon is superior in every respect save size, weight and the EVF.

I find any number of advantages to the a7, most strikingly, the ability to mount my favorite lens of all time, the Leica Noct.

And the size and weight advantages remain when both cameras are fitted with vertical grips. Although, personally, I find no need for a vertical grip on my a7 with any lens.

Given the choice between an a7II and a D810 I would go for the a7II every time.

However, there is nothing in the Sony line up that equals my D4. It is a pity that Nikon won't make a camera with the speed of a D4s and the size of a D750. It would sell like hotcakes. It would also, likely, drastically cut the sales of the D4s.

-Bill
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Had a few no Af at all and froze up. Of course I removed battery and rebooted but not sure where it's coming from. This was before and after firmware update and with native FE and ZA lenses. I'm leaning at vertical grip. I did remove it for my assistant tonight. He seems to be running okay. But this is a guess. My other thought we been shooting all day and camera got warm from heavy shooting. We clicked in about 2900 images today.

Not sure what to make if it but otherwise this body has been a gem. Love it really
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
In total this week about 13k in just this body. Outside this electronic issue its been very durable and taking hard shooting well but we need to keep reporting these things as it helps others.
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
I forgot to look for a port. Right now it's on my assistant shoulder bag. I'm in production booth as he is shooting awards. I'll check though
 

Ron Pfister

Member
I'm curious what the range of manual focal length settings is for IBIS on the A7II. I would be very grateful if one of you could post this. Also, I'm curious if the range has changed at all with the recent FW upgrade. TIA!
 

MGrayson

Subscriber and Workshop Member
Ron,

It's 8mm to 1000mm. This is post-update, but I think it was the same yesterday.

My own "tests" (pre-update) gave me 3-4 stop, but It may be more an issue of absolute time. I could get 1/10 second sharp results with lenses from 50mm to 200mm, with keeper rate decreasing to less than 1 in 3 at 1/2 second. Probably not as good as the E-M1, but then I can't use the same lenses on that camera.

--Matt
 

Annna T

Active member
I'm curious what the range of manual focal length settings is for IBIS on the A7II. I would be very grateful if one of you could post this. Also, I'm curious if the range has changed at all with the recent FW upgrade. TIA!
There was a video showing the menu at the launch. I don't remember exactly the bounds, but it was very comprehensive, going from very wide to very long. So comprehensive that I was kept wondering about how well it would work with longer tele lenses. First reports are rather pisitive yet. The focusing distance may have an influence too, not only the focal length, especially for non native glass unable to communicate with the body.

I guess the tone of reports will follow the usual trend : over enthusiastic at the beginning and then over negative.. It will take some time before everything is sorted out, given the complexity of the Sony IBIS system and the different operating modes employed with the different lenses used (native lenses with OSS, native lenses without OSS, lenses designed for the Sony DSLRs series and communicating with the body given the right adapter, non native lenses non communicating with the body and non native lenses using a smart adapter). Add the focusing distance, the skill of the photographer and any prediction becomes difficult.
 

Paratom

Well-known member
Just coming back from 2 week ski-vacation where I used the A7II.
I brought 24-70,70-200,35/2.8 and 55/1.8.
Overall I habe been pretty happy with the combination. I have used the zooms whenever there was enough light and found them to work really well.
I also found the continous AF pretty good for a mirrorless camera.
The A7II with the 35 prime or 50 prime is considerably smaller than a DSLR. When you use the zooms the difference is not that pronounced any more.
Anyways-I have decided to sell my 5dIII and Canon equipment.
The one area where I still think Sony have to improve is user interface. Just way to many menues and too many function buttons and too small buttons.
Any DLSR is much clearer to use IMO. On the other side I am happy with the smaller size and IQ so for my needs the A7II seems to fit pretty well.
 
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Bill Caulfeild-Browne

Well-known member
Had a few no Af at all and froze up. Of course I removed battery and rebooted but not sure where it's coming from. This was before and after firmware update and with native FE and ZA lenses. I'm leaning at vertical grip. I did remove it for my assistant tonight. He seems to be running okay. But this is a guess. My other thought we been shooting all day and camera got warm from heavy shooting. We clicked in about 2900 images today.

Not sure what to make if it but otherwise this body has been a gem. Love it really
I had a problem after the firmware upgrade too. The camera would only shoot Jpgs, not Raw! Of course I made sure the quality was set to Raw; even when shooting Raw + Jpg, only the Jpg was visible. The Raw files showed up as "0 bytes" though the number (ARW) showed up.

Anyway, I did the obvious - removed card and battery then performed an "Initialize" and now everything is fine.

Just in case anyone else has the problem!

Bill
 

MikalWGrass

New member
Chad, thanks for the comments about the a900. I really enjoy your sports photos and the attempt to use what you have and work around whatever issues you may have.

Recently I read an article about concert shooters being limited to a limited amount of shooting from one or two spots. Are you encountering these issues? I know it is off topic but I was curious.

Thanks.
 

Rawfa

Active member
I'm on a similar boat to Jorgen. I'm a massive fan of the e-mount system (already had the NEX5, NEX5N, NEX7, NEX3F, A6000, TWO A7, A5100) but for my pro work I need fast reliable AF and fast glass...preferably FF. I think that compared to Fuji (who got on the mirrorless train later than Sony), Sony had a more conservative posture when it came to lenses, but they are slowly getting A LOT of things right. I would go as far as to say that my gut feeling tells me the A9 will set the standard for the e-mount system...many rumors say it will be a truly PRO camera, which leads me to believe blazing fast and accurate AF, dual sd card slots, IBIS and a few other tricks up their sleeves. I for once am rooting for this system and cannot wait for the day that I can confidently sell all my a-mount gear and replace it all with e-mount.
 
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