New A7II Users Reports

[scho]

Hi I see some corner colour problems here so am wondering if you have tried the correction tool in LR5 for voigtlander lenses. The 12mm one works pretty well but overdose the vignetting correction

Hi David, Yes, I've also used both the flat field correction (DNG only, but works well) and the alternative LR provided lens profile for the CV 15. The latter does not remove all of the color cast and it over compensates vignetting. I'm still tuning the profile for the Phigment adapter which is a trial and error process. It is similar to the flat field or LCC approach using a "white wall" image for correction, but so far not working as well as the flat field process in LR.

 

[Paratom]

This has been known since NEX-5N days. The T uses that very same sensor in an expensive monobody.

Maybe. I often hear the Story from the same sensor in various cams but output looks quite different. xvario vs T vs A vs Pentax K etc.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Btw B&H has the vertical grip in stock. I was going to rent one but they may not have it time to ship to me, sooooooooooo like any good gear slut whore I bought one. Lol

Keep you posted on its functions and feel.

 

[bcaslis]

I got an A7 II this morning. First impressions are that it feels much heavier and bigger than I remember. I immediately ran into the IBIS bug when switching from the stock 28-70 lens to an old manual Nikon lens. Hard to see how Sony missed that one.

Not sure what to think yet. First few shots have the expected image quality but the IBIS is leaving me unimpressed so far and I'm not certain about the handling.

 

[Mark Muse]

If you are waiting for Sony to release an LCD cover, I don't think they will. The same cover for the RX series works on the A7ii:

Amazon.com : Sony PCKLM15 LCD Protector for DSC-RX1 (Black) : Digital Camera Screen Protector Foils : Camera & Photo

I just got one. Works beautifully.

Is there an AR coating? Unlikely at that price.

 

[dandrewk]

​

Is there an AR coating? Unlikely at that price.

Doubtful, as it's the same shield as all Sony shields.

The good news is that it is very easy it install and reinstall.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

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

 

[Paratom]

BY the way...my first impression is that the color of the A7II is better than that of the A/ / A7s. Just my impression.
C-AF also seems to work better than I expected for a mirrorless camera.
The 24-70 seems to work fine on the A7II.

 

[jankapp]

Maybe. I often hear the Story from the same sensor in various cams but output looks quite different. xvario vs T vs A vs Pentax K etc.

You can expect, that the firmware is different.
Jan

 

[Paratom]

You can expect, that the firmware is different.
Jan

All I know is the output from those cameras is different from eachother and not so easy to make one to look like another. specially color.

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

I don't own this camera and probably won't buy it, at least not now, but did go through a few practical and ergonomic sides of it today, simulating shooting situations that would be typical for my line of work. Here are my comments:

- Nice shutter sound. Not unlike the E-1. I would be able to live with that.
- Although better than the original version, the camera still feels small in my hand, and my thumb doesn't find any comfortable rest on the back. The vertical grip would probably help a lot.
- I'm not sure what kind of card was used (I forgot to check), but I was surprised how long it took to empty a full buffer.
- The viewfinder looks extremely crowded with all information visible and some of the symbols used weren't logically shaped or placed the way I see it. This may be because I'm used to the GH3, which is exemplary in this regard, but I feel it's worth a comment anyway.
- The viewfinder generally didn't impress me, but I haven't used other mirrorless cameras in a while.
- Even with "Image review" switched off, the viewfinder does show a slide show of taken photos during a burst. Each image coming up in the finder is clearly frozen, which wouldn't be the case if it showed real world action. The nice brochure that Sony has printed for this camera shows a number of motor sports photos, something I can say for sure that this camera is not suitable for, at least not on a professional level.

Generally, it's clearly a major upgrade from the first version, and a camera that it would be very easy to live with for most uses. Excellent size for travel and everyday use and not too heavy. I do see now that at least for the time being, I do prefer optical viewfinders, at least the large, good quality ones, compared to electronic ones.

 

[Ron Pfister]

A very useful thread - thank you all! I'm very interested in the A7II, but will probably hold off until it's clear what the successor of the A7R will look like. However, I'm very curious about IBIS performance with longer lenses (180mm to 400mm). I'd love to see some side-by-sides with IS on and off. TIA for any feedback on this!

 

[Guy Mancuso]

I shot 2000 images tonight with the A7II and the Za70-200 2.8 in continuos Af and it's pretty dang good. Not quite the A6000 but damn close and it's working great. Although I'm not thrilled at the compression with in camera jpegs. Little blotchy but sharp images. I may switch to raw as I still have to make files smaller for upload anyway and I'm thinking C1 maybe faster at processing to exact size needed than running a action in CS6 to make the files smaller. Not only that the compression is far better coming from the Raw. I'll shoot in the morning about another 1000 images than process them out than move on to shooting about another 2500 images later in the day but this smaller shoot I'm going to switch to raw. Plus I can make some adjustments than apply to all than run a big batch.

But more important this camera has what it needed now. I may buy a second one and closet it and just save it.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

The vertical grip is killer with it . I shot 3 solid hours straight with it and my arthritis did not kick in on my hands. Very comfortable shooting verticals.

 

[iiiNelson]

I don't own this camera and probably won't buy it, at least not now, but did go through a few practical and ergonomic sides of it today, simulating shooting situations that would be typical for my line of work. Here are my comments:

- Nice shutter sound. Not unlike the E-1. I would be able to live with that.
- Although better than the original version, the camera still feels small in my hand, and my thumb doesn't find any comfortable rest on the back. The vertical grip would probably help a lot.
- I'm not sure what kind of card was used (I forgot to check), but I was surprised how long it took to empty a full buffer.
- The viewfinder looks extremely crowded with all information visible and some of the symbols used weren't logically shaped or placed the way I see it. This may be because I'm used to the GH3, which is exemplary in this regard, but I feel it's worth a comment anyway.
- The viewfinder generally didn't impress me, but I haven't used other mirrorless cameras in a while.
- Even with "Image review" switched off, the viewfinder does show a slide show of taken photos during a burst. Each image coming up in the finder is clearly frozen, which wouldn't be the case if it showed real world action. The nice brochure that Sony has printed for this camera shows a number of motor sports photos, something I can say for sure that this camera is not suitable for, at least not on a professional level.

Generally, it's clearly a major upgrade from the first version, and a camera that it would be very easy to live with for most uses. Excellent size for travel and everyday use and not too heavy. I do see now that at least for the time being, I do prefer optical viewfinders, at least the large, good quality ones, compared to electronic ones.

From everything I read the shutter sound is about the same or close to the same as the Sony A7mk1. I never have issues with buffer size or having to wait to take pictures even with my A7R so you most likely was experiencing a limitation of the SD card than the camera. I have image review off on all of my cameras and the camera simply will not review an image unless you press the image review button. User error possibly?

As for the motorsports photos I think you commented on this in the past and Chad showed F1 shots from the Austin Grand Prix so the camera is capable in the right hands but that doesn't mean it's the most capable when compared to something like a 1Dx or D4s.

The display has several overlays and they are all on by default unless to cycle through the "Display" button to change the information shown. I usually still with shutter speed, aperture value, ISO, battery reserve power, and the histogram - clean and simple. So chalk that up to user unfamiliarity.

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

As for the motorsports photos I think you commented on this in the past and Chad showed F1 shots from the Austin Grand Prix so the camera is capable in the right hands but that doesn't mean it's the most capable when compared to something like a 1Dx or D4s.

Chad presented pan shots of formula cars travelling down a straight in broad daylight. You can do that with a camera phone. The question was if the viewfinder presents a slide show or the real action. It presents a slide show, which won't reflect changes in speed and/or direction of the subject soon enough for pan shots at slow shutter speed to be sharp. A Digital Rebel from 10 years ago would be better suited for this.

In the A7 II brochure, Sony has used no less than 7 photos of moving cars, of which 2 are pan shots over one and two pages. They are clearly out to prove a point here. They tried the same when they launched the A77, where they showed a burst of a gymnast taken straight on. Since that was a video, any experienced sports shooter would see that the video showed a slide show, but normal consumers don't necessarily notice things like that.

As for the buffer, the A7 needs 19 seconds to empty the buffer when shooting jpegs and 11 second when shooting RAW (SanDisk Extreme Pro (95Mb/sec) SDHC card). I don't know the reason for the big difference, but 19 seconds is an eternity when shooting sports. That's almost as long as my Fuji S3 took back in 2005. The Fuji had a "somewhat" smaller buffer though; 3 frames when shooting RAW with maximum DR

I don't know if the A7 II is faster.

 

[Viramati]

From everything I read the shutter sound is about the same or close to the same as the Sony A7mk1.

Shooting the A7s and A7II side by side the volume sounds about the same but the tone of the A7II is a little lower, a little less acute which can make it seem a little quieter.

 

[Guy Mancuso]

I have yet to hit the buffer Raw or Jpeg. Difference is size no question and shutter seems a touch quieter than the A7 version 1. It actually maybe the sound itself maybe being more dense in tone. Not sure but I actually like it. I know Im actually firing the dang thing. The review takes the shooting speeds down. This show when shooting fast I just turn review off as that speeds the camera very much. Its so easy to hit review button when you get a chance to pause so its not a issue.

 

[iiiNelson]

Chad presented pan shots of formula cars travelling down a straight in broad daylight. You can do that with a camera phone. The question was if the viewfinder presents a slide show or the real action. It presents a slide show, which won't reflect changes in speed and/or direction of the subject soon enough for pan shots at slow shutter speed to be sharp. A Digital Rebel from 10 years ago would be better suited for this.

In the A7 II brochure, Sony has used no less than 7 photos of moving cars, of which 2 are pan shots over one and two pages. They are clearly out to prove a point here. They tried the same when they launched the A77, where they showed a burst of a gymnast taken straight on. Since that was a video, any experienced sports shooter would see that the video showed a slide show, but normal consumers don't necessarily notice things like that.

As for the buffer, the A7 needs 19 seconds to empty the buffer when shooting jpegs and 11 second when shooting RAW (SanDisk Extreme Pro (95Mb/sec) SDHC card). I don't know the reason for the big difference, but 19 seconds is an eternity when shooting sports. That's almost as long as my Fuji S3 took back in 2005. The Fuji had a "somewhat" smaller buffer though; 3 frames when shooting RAW with maximum DR

I don't know if the A7 II is faster.

I only use Sandisk Extreme and a Extreme Pros with write speeds varying between. 45-95/MB... I've never had an issue waiting on the camera to take my next shot in my normal uses. I'm not saying you wouldn't but you really need to live with one to make an informed opinion regarding the FE cameras.

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

I only use Sandisk Extreme and a Extreme Pros with write speeds varying between. 45-95/MB... I've never had an issue waiting on the camera to take my next shot in my normal uses. I'm not saying you wouldn't but you really need to live with one to make an informed opinion regarding the FE cameras.

The test we did was relatively extreme from a "normal" users point of view. We shot several bursts totaling somewhere between 50 and 100 jpegs until the buffer was full, typically something that would happen at a sports event. I didn't time the emptying of the buffer myself, but found the figures at dpr, who are usually very reliable when it comes to technical facts like that. For most photographers, this won't be an issue at all, and the buffer seems to be more than deep enough for any "normal" use.