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Got my Sony A7rII - sharing experience

ErikKaffehr

ErikKaffehr

Well-known member
Hi,

I got my Sony A7rII yesterday. First evening was spent putting things together and finding out things. Today I had some opportunity for some real shooting.

First samples are posted here: http://echophoto.dnsalias.net/ekr/Articles/Sony_A7rII/FirstShots/

I plan to use existing A-mount lenses with the Sony LA-EA3 adapter but also get some new lenses. Initial shooting was with:

A-mount lenses:

  • Sony 70-400/4-5.6G, this lens seems to work very well with Sony A7rII
  • Sony 24-70/2.8 ZA lens, this also works well with the Sony A7rII

Fe-Mount lenses: I have two right now
  • Sony 28-70/3.5-5.6 lens
  • Sony 90/2.8G Macro
The Sony 28-70/3.5-5.6 cannot hold a candle to the 24-70/2.8 ZA, but may still be usable. Small and convenient with decent central sharpness.
The Sony 90/2.8 Macro needs more testing under controlled conditions.

I also have a newly bought Canon 24/3.5 TSE, it also cannot hold a candle to the 24-70/2.8ZA so far. Perhaps a bad sample?

Other impressions:

AF with the Sony 90/2.8G Macro is very fast. AF seems usable with macro. Great!

AF with A-mount lenses not so great but workable. Obvious closed loop operation.

The camera is nicely made but maybe to small. I mostly shoot tripod.

Battery life is indeed short, I would think. But it used to improve a bit. Batteries are coming into shape, less playing around. Using decent options to save power, etc.


Best regards
Erik
 
ErikKaffehr

ErikKaffehr

Well-known member
Hi,

I have now run some controlled tests on the Sony 90/2.8G macro at 1.8 m on a flat target. It outresolves the sensor and possibly the target in both center and corners at all tested apertures, f/2.8, f/4.5, f/8. So I guess it is very good. I think I need to do more testing as I feel I may have seen some issues in the field. High resolution photography is tricky.

Best regards
Erik


ErikKaffehr said:
Hi,

I got my Sony A7rII yesterday. First evening was spent putting things together and finding out things. Today I had some opportunity for some real shooting.

First samples are posted here: http://echophoto.dnsalias.net/ekr/Articles/Sony_A7rII/FirstShots/

I plan to use existing A-mount lenses with the Sony LA-EA3 adapter but also get some new lenses. Initial shooting was with:

A-mount lenses:

  • Sony 70-400/4-5.6G, this lens seems to work very well with Sony A7rII
  • Sony 24-70/2.8 ZA lens, this also works well with the Sony A7rII

Fe-Mount lenses: I have two right now
  • Sony 28-70/3.5-5.6 lens
  • Sony 90/2.8G Macro
The Sony 28-70/3.5-5.6 cannot hold a candle to the 24-70/2.8 ZA, but may still be usable. Small and convenient with decent central sharpness.
The Sony 90/2.8 Macro needs more testing under controlled conditions.

I also have a newly bought Canon 24/3.5 TSE, it also cannot hold a candle to the 24-70/2.8ZA so far. Perhaps a bad sample?

Other impressions:

AF with the Sony 90/2.8G Macro is very fast. AF seems usable with macro. Great!

AF with A-mount lenses not so great but workable. Obvious closed loop operation.

The camera is nicely made but maybe to small. I mostly shoot tripod.

Battery life is indeed short, I would think. But it used to improve a bit. Batteries are coming into shape, less playing around. Using decent options to save power, etc.

Best regards
Erik
Click to expand...
 
U

Uaiomex

Member
Erik, I'd love to see a resolution and 4 minute expositions comparison tests made with the P45+ and the Sony.
Congratulations for your new baby. How exciting!
Eduardo
 
M

mbroomfield

New member
My 24mm mk 2 TSE had to go back to Canon for an adjustment (bought used). Compared to another lens when on a trip mine was noticeably inferior .. needed to get to F8-11 to get sharp in the corners.
 
ErikKaffehr

ErikKaffehr

Well-known member
Hi,

Thanks, my is brand new so it is still under warranty.

Best regards
Erik

mbroomfield said:
My 24mm mk 2 TSE had to go back to Canon for an adjustment (bought used). Compared to another lens when on a trip mine was noticeably inferior .. needed to get to F8-11 to get sharp in the corners.
Click to expand...
 
ErikKaffehr

ErikKaffehr

Well-known member
Hi,

I guess I will have some resolution comparison within some days and some 4 minute comparisons, too. But I am preparing for a vacations period so testing is not my top priority.

Best regards
Erik

Uaiomex said:
Erik, I'd love to see a resolution and 4 minute expositions comparison tests made with the P45+ and the Sony.
Congratulations for your new baby. How exciting!
Eduardo
Click to expand...
 
J

jpaulmoore

Active member
Erik, I have the Canon 24mm TSE ll lens and it is tack sharp. I use this lens on almost every architecture shoot I do. I had the previous version and it was junk.
Regards,
J. Paul
 
ErikKaffehr

ErikKaffehr

Well-known member
Hi,

I have shot a comparison image with the P45+/Distagon 40/4 vs A7rII with Canon 24/3.5 TSE LII and also P45+/Macro Planar 120/4CFi vs A7rII with Sony 90/2.8G.

Images are here (full size jpeg and also raw): http://echophoto.dnsalias.net/ekr/Articles/Sony_A7rII/P45vsA7rII/

My findings? Distagon beats Canon 24/3.5 TSE LII and Sony 90/2.8 G Macro beats the Macro Planar 120/4, but not a lot of difference between them in either case. The Canon 24/3.5 TSE LII may be a weak sample.

This is just a quick and dirty test. I have absolutely not worked with colour and stuff.

Best regards
Erik


Uaiomex said:
Erik, I'd love to see a resolution and 4 minute expositions comparison tests made with the P45+ and the Sony.
Congratulations for your new baby. How exciting!
Eduardo
Click to expand...
 
ErikKaffehr

ErikKaffehr

Well-known member
Hi,

Now I am on travel with a whacky internet. I just wanted to add some observations.

Battery life is short, indeed. I can live with that.

The Metabones adapter I have has a glitch problem, works sometimes.

The 24-70/2.8ZA works fine.

The Sony 90/2.8G is crasy sharp, as expected

Will post samples, in two weeks.

Best regards
Erik
 
ErikKaffehr

ErikKaffehr

Well-known member
Re: Got my Sony A7rII - sharing experience some updates...

Hi,

I was looking trough pictures shot with some Sigma lenses, the 12-24/4-5.6 and the 10/2.8 APS-C fisheye. Both work reasonably well. Corners are weak on the 12-24 but the sweet spot is large and pretty sharp.

The Metabones was working yesterday, so I got a bunch of pictures with Canon 24/3.5 TSE LII using shifts. Quite useful. Not quite the great image quality I hoped for, but quite OK.

Shooting the Sony 70-400 zoom at 400 I noticed som local area unsharpness I have not seen before. Could be field curvature or just bad air.

Generally I am quite happy with the camera.

Just to make it clear, I am mostly shooting f/8 on tripod. Also I regard a lens to be sharp when it looks sharp at actual pixels. The 90 macro is crazy sharp, never seen anything like it, the other lenses don't play in that division. But they can outresolve the sensor, albeit they may take a bit of extra sharpening. The 24-70/2.8 ZA is quiet impressive.
Best regards
Erik

I cannot post images, unfurtanetly, because of limited internet connection, but will put up a lot of images when I get home in twelve days.
 
Last edited:
ErikKaffehr

ErikKaffehr

Well-known member
Re: Got my Sony A7rII - shooting dark places

Hi,

The recent days I was shooting at some dark places, both free hand at high ISO and on tripod at base ISO. The locations were medival/pre mediaval churches with little or no illumination.

In the first case I was using aperture f/8 - f/11 and most of my lenses, Sigma 12-24/4.5-5.6, Sony 24-70/2.8ZA, Canon 24/3.5 TSEII, Sony 70-400/4-5.6G.

The AF lenses worked well, the manual focus lenses were focused manually using live view. Viewing with the EVF was quite good, much better than with naked eye. The 12X magnified was a bit noise but popped in/out of focus well.

The high ISO images at 3200-6400 ISO may be usable, but dynamic range is reduced, so I guess I need to resort to HDR processing.

Images coming early next week.

Best regards
Erik

Ps. The Metabones was not kind to me today, it fails intermittently. I presume it can be fixed, but warranty repairs don't help me when I am on travel.
 
ErikKaffehr

ErikKaffehr

Well-known member
Re: Got my Sony A7rII - tendency to overexpose?

Hi,

In high contrast situations I felt the older SLT models exposed near optimum. My experience suggests that the A7rII may have a tendency to clip highlights with default auto exposure. Need to analyse images with RawDigger to know for sure.

Some histogram chimping is called for

Best regards
Erik
 
ErikKaffehr

ErikKaffehr

Well-known member
Re: Got my Sony A7rII - shooting dark places

Hi,

Thanks for info. Unfortunately, I think that my problem is more hardware than software. I ordered a new one, I will claim warranty on the old one, so when I got it repaired or replaced I will try to sell it at a decent price.

Best regards
Erik


Annna T said:
Your throes may be over : Metabones has issued an update for the adapter and A7r2 link to more info here : Metabones adds phase-detect autofocus (PDAF) support for the Sony Alpha 7RII. | sonyalpharumors
Click to expand...
 
ErikKaffehr

ErikKaffehr

Well-known member
Re: Got my Sony A7rII - samples

Hi,

I just posted a set of samples here: http://echophoto.dnsalias.net/ekr/Articles/Shoots/Sony_A7rII_samples/

I will add some comments later on, but you can download the files and play with them. Please don't spread the images, but feel free to discuss within this site.

All images are at "full" size, except this one which is an actual pixels crop: http://echophoto.dnsalias.net/ekr/Articles/Shoots/Sony_A7rII_samples/20150905-_DSC0485.jpg

All images are accompanied with raw images in DNG format.

Best regards
Erik
 
K

kevin2i

New member
Interesting read, lots of good input, and well, a few . . .:loco:
However, I read oversimplification, such as "Innovate or Die".
Even Kodak is brought up as an example.

But . . . Kodak invented the digital camera. Sold the first DSLR. Kodak jumped big into digital imaging (everywhere). Leica guys -- where does the awesome M9 CCD sensor come from? (Kodak, if you didn't know).

Not a lack of investment nor a lack of innovation on Kodak's part. Besides the huge silver chain around the neck, Kodak lacked focusing the innovation into well designed products that meet the market's needs. If you go back and read the reviews - most Kodak's get reviewed: "WOW, amazing technology, almost a decent camera if . . . ."
Innovation doesn't always save a company. And innovation can be deadly (see CONTAX).

I have a lot of Canon Gear. Lot of Leica gear, but sold the M9 body. Held off on the 240 and got an A7r . . . well, if that compares to a Canon Rebel, the A7rII is a 5dII. The jump is great because the superior EVF and overall use/feel of the camera. Feels much more responsive. Should Canon be afraid?

Well, not really. Canon should be afraid of Sony in the sensor department. At this level image quality is top priority, and Canon is starting to lose its edge. The sensor technologies are more important (since the affect all models) and I am hoping Canon can stay competitive.

I would love to see a Canon FF mirrorless - hopefully it will have microlenses and take Leica lenses.:bugeyes:. Or how about a 6x6 that can use new MF digital lenses or cropped 35mm.:shocked:

Even though the menu system needs improvement, I have to say the a7RII feels like a pro-grade tool, while the A7R felt 'pro-sumer.' My friend shoots video (professionally) and says there is a lot of interest in the S series cameras. Interesting times: I would not write off Canon just yet.
 
ErikKaffehr

ErikKaffehr

Well-known member
Hi,

I don't think the thread discusses Kodak or Canon, just the A7rII. Have you posted on the wrong thread?

If you refer to a specific posting, please quote. No one wants to dig trough a whole thread to find out which posting you are responding to.

Best regards
Erik


kevin2i said:
Interesting read, lots of good input, and well, a few . . .:loco:
However, I read oversimplification, such as "Innovate or Die".
Even Kodak is brought up as an example.

But . . . Kodak invented the digital camera. Sold the first DSLR. Kodak jumped big into digital imaging (everywhere). Leica guys -- where does the awesome M9 CCD sensor come from? (Kodak, if you didn't know).

Not a lack of investment nor a lack of innovation on Kodak's part. Besides the huge silver chain around the neck, Kodak lacked focusing the innovation into well designed products that meet the market's needs. If you go back and read the reviews - most Kodak's get reviewed: "WOW, amazing technology, almost a decent camera if . . . ."
Innovation doesn't always save a company. And innovation can be deadly (see CONTAX).

I have a lot of Canon Gear. Lot of Leica gear, but sold the M9 body. Held off on the 240 and got an A7r . . . well, if that compares to a Canon Rebel, the A7rII is a 5dII. The jump is great because the superior EVF and overall use/feel of the camera. Feels much more responsive. Should Canon be afraid?

Well, not really. Canon should be afraid of Sony in the sensor department. At this level image quality is top priority, and Canon is starting to lose its edge. The sensor technologies are more important (since the affect all models) and I am hoping Canon can stay competitive.

I would love to see a Canon FF mirrorless - hopefully it will have microlenses and take Leica lenses.:bugeyes:. Or how about a 6x6 that can use new MF digital lenses or cropped 35mm.:shocked:

Even though the menu system needs improvement, I have to say the a7RII feels like a pro-grade tool, while the A7R felt 'pro-sumer.' My friend shoots video (professionally) and says there is a lot of interest in the S series cameras. Interesting times: I would not write off Canon just yet.
Click to expand...
 
ErikKaffehr

ErikKaffehr

Well-known member
Re: Got my Sony A7rII - shooting dark places

Hi,

Thanks for input. I got a new Metabones IV adapter and that one works. Firmware update didn't help the original one. It is not about AF, as the only Canon lens I have is the 24/3.5 TSE LII, but about aperture control. Camera doesn't see the lens.

The new adapter works, at least for now. But the original one also worked on day one.

Best regards
Erik

Annna T said:
Your throes may be over : Metabones has issued an update for the adapter and A7r2 link to more info here : Metabones adds phase-detect autofocus (PDAF) support for the Sony Alpha 7RII. | sonyalpharumors
Click to expand...
 
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