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Sony A7RII/ Batis 25mm , Batis 85mm and Sony 35mm 1.4 System Tests

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Raws for the Noise test

https://www.hightail.com/download/bXBhT214ZEt3NUpOeDhUQw


Steady shot on or off with Tripod

One would think coming from my Canon days with IS when on tripod you turn IS off. Well you would assume that be the case with Sony as well and maybe thats a great assumption. But turning this off and on is a PITA frankly. So i thought what the heck lets test it. So i figured what would be best is a longer lens as it would show any movement of the sensor better. So i used the Batis 85mm. All I got long so folks try this with longer glass. Than i thought lets try to shoot at a slow handheld speed which would surely be using IBIS so it was 1/6th of a second. What i did not expect was no effect at all.

Now i am on a tripod and locked down like glue but my guess here and i do not know the answer but I am hoping the answer is when IBIS is at rest than it stays at rest. This way it senses no movement so it just pauses or turns off.Again i don't know the answer but if that was the case than you would not have to turn IBIS off and frankly after this test. Im not so sure you have too because i see no effect at all. I would think movement with it on





 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
What you don't know was i did this whole thread in private behind the scenes here at GetDPI because I have the control to do that but this took a long time and i wanted it as one piece. I left the A7RII at the end so we can talk about it and I can add more test to the back end of this. Im not going to give a commentary here as most of it has already been said but as i said in the beginning this is the most exciting camera in recent years and so far its hitting the ceiling. Yes there are some niggles and yes Sony needs to work on the 14 Bit Lossy raw. Frankly Im a little tired of reading about it. Why I am not going there on this piece , plenty of forums and threads working out the stars 16 million miles away and if they are streaking. It had to be said. LOL

Anyway have fun all the raws are up. Hopefully this answers a few questions and sparks some more questions. Yes the Batis rocks the house . LOL

Im going to have fun now and put up some FUN images instead of this boring stuff.
 
Very interesting stuff. Thanks for taking the time to put it together!

PS
It looks like your 6400 noise reduction shots might be swapped; the 'after' version looks noisier to me.
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Very interesting stuff. Thanks for taking the time to put it together!

PS
It looks like your 6400 noise reduction shots might be swapped; the 'after' version looks noisier to me.
It might have been me Mike. I was getting a little winery at that point. Been up since 5 am working on it. The raws are there so please play with them and see what works best.
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Gotta run to the store but I have some images like this to post for sure so please check in later

Batis 25mm. Folks BUY this lens

 
The raws are there so please play with them and see what works best.
Here's a very quick pass from Lightroom, with my usual settings, plus noise reduction. I went for slightly less detail and a little smoother noise. (settings shown below)

As you've already pointed out: remarkable results at this ISO.

Guy's noise level tests 07.jpg

Screen Shot 2015-08-22 at 2.47.02 PM.jpg
 

jamato8

New member
Why do I read these threads?? Excellent work and examples. Gahhh, my pocket feeling lighter but the Batis lenses aren't around right now so I guess for some time I am safe. lol
 

Ken_R

New member
Awesome test. Pretty much answered all my questions regarding the A7RII Image Quality. :thumbs:

Also, since you have a lot of experience with a wide range of camera / lens combinations your opinion has a lot of weight.

Thanks for sharing.
 

tashley

Subscriber Member
Thank you hugely for all the work and all the sharing Guy.

There's so much to digest but for sure those lenses look amazing. Will read and re-read until i have questions.
 

ShooterSteve

New member
Thanks Guy. Great job in illustrating just how good this camera is.

However I didn't think lower bit depth, (from 14 to 12), would effect shadow detail. I thought it effected colors by reducing the number of levels of gray available for each channel. I believe by limiting the steps in density it can also cause banding. In any case I always thought 12bit color was more then enough for great images in most cases.

Please correct me if I'm confused here.
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Thanks Guy. Great job in illustrating just how good this camera is.

However I didn't think lower bit depth, (from 14 to 12), would effect shadow detail. I thought it effected colors by reducing the number of levels of gray available for each channel. I believe by limiting the steps in density it can also cause banding. In any case I always thought 12bit color was more then enough for great images in most cases.

Please correct me if I'm confused here.

I thought it was shadows mostly but could be wrong. Im hoping our engineers here will tear them apart and give us some answers. I thought it was a good test image because it has a lot of color and also a lot of deep shadows so maybe we can learn something from it. I honestly don't think I have been faced with 12 bit before, so I am very curious as well because Silent mode could be very handy and if its a very small loss in IQ than that maybe okay. Also there are other shooting situations it drops into 12 bit so the more we can truly learn on a real world basis than thats good data for us end users. I love the science but we deal in either printing or delivering of high quality images. So where is our wall
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Some from the Batis 85 all of this are handheld. Im doing creative processing now

Shot at ISO 100 1/25 at 1.8. Love that IBIS



shot at 4.5





shot at F2.2



 
Guy thanks for this thread. It helps a lot to understand this camera and lenses. Downloading the files now.
Would be interesting comparing the FORD truck file to the one you shot with the 50mxp LEAF back a while ago.
 

eleanorbrown

New member
Thank you Guy!!! This review work is fabulous and so helpful. I have had the Batis lenses on order since latter part of April and B&H has told me they still don't know when they will come in. I have also learned I don't have to turn off the sensor steadyshot off when on tripod....notice no difference whether on or off. Thanks again for all your work and time on this! I really like this camera! eleanor

PS I downloaded the 2 RAWs of Big Bronco and compared in C1. tried several things to push them over their limits including blowing out the shadow area and magnifying to the max C1 offers. To my eye I see literally no difference. Would also have liked to compare these to a lossless RAW shot the same time.
 
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Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Guy thanks for this thread. It helps a lot to understand this camera and lenses. Downloading the files now.
Would be interesting comparing the FORD truck file to the one you shot with the 50mxp LEAF back a while ago.
Been thinking about that. It was the last time I was there and shot the Credo 50 with the Phase 55mm lens I believe. Might have to look into that
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Thank you Guy!!! This review work is fabulous and so helpful. I have had the Batis lenses on order since latter part of April and B&H has told me they still don't know when they will come in. I have also learned I don't have to turn off the sensor steadyshot off when on tripod....notice no difference whether on or off. Thanks again for all your work and time on this! I really like this camera! eleanor

PS I downloaded the 2 RAWs of Big Bronco and compared in C1. tried several things to push them over their limits including blowing out the shadow area and magnifying to the max C1 offers. To my eye I see literally no difference. Would also have liked to compare these to a lossless RAW shot the same time.
Thanks Eleanor for working on the files. Im just not seeing anything either on the 12 bit/14 bit scenario. Also good hear about IBIS on and off with tripod. Maybe my guess is correct that IBIS just goes to rest when it senses no movement. Might just take that off one of my custom buttons now.
 

jrp

Member
Thanks for all this material and for your generosity in making the raws available.

Here is a lab test http://www.focus-numerique.com/test-2182/objectif-sony-distagon-t-fe-35-mm-f14-za-flash-test-8.html#p04 of the 35mm f1.4 that corroborates your finding that you need to get to f/4 to bring up the edges. In that respect, it seems no exception to most fast lenses, although I think that if you are prepared to forgo AF, the Summilux or the ZM Zeiss might be even better. (Here are some comparison shots http://www.talkemount.com/threads/13322/: as ever, it is hard to distinguish lenses from compressed web browser shots even on a retina screen.)
 
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