Sport photographer Philip Palermo (Engadget) tested the A7rII in the possible least favorable scenario: Sports Photography. And the conclusion is surprisingly positive:

The A7R II held its own for the most part — despite not really being designed as a pro-level sports cam. I wish write times were peppier and hopefully Sony’s designers find ways to cram a bigger battery and, perhaps, a second memory card slot into this line’s compact frame. But overall, I came away impressed with how far Sony’s come with this line. Both the A7 bodies and first-party lens lineups are steadily improving. And thanks to the company’s rapid pace of deployment (six new models in two years) it seems like we’ve finally reached the point where “pretty damn good for a mirrorless camera” has turned into just “pretty damn good.”

And Dpreview updated their first impression review of the camera:

Looking at the a7R against the a7R II doesn’t reveal anything immediately mind-blowing. Linear resolution is increased by around 8%, but the differences go deeper than just a megapixel count. It may seem silly to focus at all on JPEG quality on such a heavy-hitting camera, but there are some changes worth mentioning. The JPEG engine for the a7R II shows great improvements over the a7R.
What difference does BSI technology make? Compared to the a7R there’s already an immediate difference. In fact, the gain is nearly a full stop over its predecessor. At 51,200, the maximum for the Nikon D810, the a7R II is again ahead by roughly one stop. Interesting, but what if the sensor is bigger and gathers more light, like the sensor in the Pentax 645Z? Almost unbelievably, they’re right on par with each other.

Ivo Scholz also posted his A7rII review:

I used to shoot with Canon, Nikon and Fujifilm. All of those have their advantages (well, except for Canon), but none of those camera manufacturers have come this close to a perfect camera. The A7RII is small, light and sturdy. It feels great, sounds nice and shoots wonderful pictures. Its EVF is by far the best I’ve seen and the autofocus is better than ever.

A7rII store list:
In USA: at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore US, FocusCamera, Uniquephoto.
In Europe at Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Wex UK and ParkCameras.
In Asia at Digitalrev, CameraPro.

The A7sII preorder list:
In USA at Amazon, BHphoto, FocusCamera, Adorama.
In Europe at WexUK.
In Asia soon at Digitalrev.

Here are some test videos shot with the new DEO Saker Falcon Lite Canon EF to Sony FE adapter. You can preorder the lens directly at Deo (Click here) and within the next days on [shoplink 40637 ebay]eBay (Search link here)[/shoplink].

AF Speed Test II : Canon EF 24mm f/1.4 II on Sony a7rII camera

AF speed Test 1: Canon EF 50/1.2 L on Sony a7R II

DEO Saker Falcon Lite (beta) AF test on Sony a7R II

Image from DPreview showing the absent artifacts on the new 14 Bit RAW file (on the right)

DPreview is the first site having access to Sony’s new 14 Bit uncompressed RAW files. They tested it and those are the benefits they noticed:

1) No Artifacts on high contrast edges: “no longer introduce errors and artefacts around high-contrast edges.”
2) Very small Dynamic range improvement: “There’s possibly a tiny improvement if you try to brighten very deep shadows but the difference is so subtle that we don’t consider it to be photographically significant. But, even without this, the camera’s Raw files are more flexible than they were before.”

The files are twice as big as the previous compressed RAW files. And also very interesting: Sony’s new 14 BIT upgrade offers “uncompressed RAW files” and not “losslessly-compressed Raw”. The reasons are limitations of working with the cameras’ existing processors. But Sony said they will investigate the possibility to add “lossless compression system if there’s sufficient user demand.”

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A7rII store list:
In USA: at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore US, FocusCamera, Uniquephoto.
In Europe at Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Wex UK and ParkCameras.
In Asia at Digitalrev, CameraPro.

The A7sII preorder list:
In USA at Amazon, BHphoto, FocusCamera, Adorama.
In Europe at WexUK.
In Asia soon at Digitalrev.

TheCameraStoreTV team posted their Sony A7R II Hands-On Field Test Part 1 With Kyle Marquardt. And they compared it against the Canon 5DSr and they say the A7rII simply blows the Canon out of the water! With one exception: The Canon still beats the A7rII for sports photography because of the much more accurate autofocusing on moving objects. Something Sony has to improve on the future A9 :)

More A7rII tests:
A7rII Dynamic Range Tests at Luminous Landscape with a video from Michael Tapas who defines the A7rIi as a “very very very game changing camera“!
A7r II and Voigtlander lenses (Mirrorlessons).

A7rII preorder list:
In USA: at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore US, FocusCamera, Uniquephoto.
In Europe at Amazon DE, Amazon UK, Wex UK and ParkCameras.
In Asia at Digitalrev, CameraPro.

A7rII case:
Gariz leather case in [shoplink 39113 ebay]Black (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 39108 ebay]Camel (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 39110 ebay]Orange (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 39111 ebay]Brown (Click here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 39112 ebay]Red (Click here)[/shoplink]. Also available on Amazon US (Click here).
Gariz Alcantara case in [shoplink 39094 ebay]Black (Click here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 39095 ebay]Red (Click here)[/shoplink]. Also available on Amazon US (Click here).
Lim’s case in [shoplink 39107 ebay]Black (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 39102 ebay]Brown (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 39103 ebay]Red (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 39104 ebay]Yellow (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 39105 ebay]Navy Blue (Click here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 39106 ebay]Khaki (Click here)[/shoplink]. Also available on Amazon US (Click here).

Image courtesy: Photozone.

According to plenty of reviewers the Zeiss FE 24-70mm lens seems to not be worth of the Zeiss badge. The latest harsh critic is coming via Ken Rockwell whom compared the A6000 vs A7rII and Canon 5Dsr image quality performance. And the real weak spot in his comparison seems to be the Zeiss FE 24-70mm lens:

The reason the Sony A6000 & 16-50mm OSS look about the same as the Sony A7R II and Zeiss FE 24-70mm f/4 OSS is because the Zeiss FE 24-70mm f/4 OSS is pretty soft in the corners, so the better performance of the 16-50mm OSS renders the $598 combination about the same as the $4,300 Sony combo. Ouch, sometimes the truth hurts — sorry Sony.

Lately also Matt Granger shared his very negative opinion about the lens. More lens reviews with the same kind of conclusion can be read at Photozone. and SLRgrear too.

I guess we really need a new 24-70mm f/2.8 FE zoom soon. And please Sony…it should be really good (a Zeiss badge alone doesn’t do it) and it should be NOT more expensive than the [shoplink 40693 ebay]Nikon 24-70mm[/shoplink] and [shoplink 40694 ebay]Canon 24-70mm[/shoplink] lenses!

Reminder: Maybe that “SEL2470 GM” lens registered lately by Sony in Russia will finally be the one 24-70mm lens we were waiting for?

Click the play button on the video on top to hear Kai’s opinion on the new RX10m2.

Mark Galer tested the RX10m2 and writes:

For photographers who are looking for one camera that will do everything this could well be the one. My only reservation about recommending this camera to anyone would be for those photographers who take pleasure in collecting lenses. As one photographer put it “we date our cameras but marry our lenses”. Wise investment in good glass is never a waste of money and The RX10 II has some seriously good glass attached to it. It is only the permanent ‘attachment’ of the T* glass that one must consider before investing in the RX10 II. I would highly recommend this camera after these considerations have taken place.

Photographyblog also reviewed the camera and writes:

Ultimately, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX10 II is a great camera that’ll satisfy photographers of all abilities. It’s also a worthy successor to the original model and offers a much more accomplished shooting experience than typical small-sensor bridge cameras. Our only major gripe is the price hike over the original RX10, which is both significant and tough to justify next to the Panasonic FZ1000, its Leica V-Lux (Typ 114) sister camera, and the Canon PowerShot G3 X, which all pack a 1-inch sensor and more optical zoom for much less money.

New RX cameras store links:
In USA:
RX10m2 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, FocusCamera, Uniquephoto.
RX100m4 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, FocusCamera, Uniquephoto.
In Europe at:
RX100m4 at DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT. Wex UK.
RX10m2 at DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT. Wex UK.
In Asia at:
RX10m2 at Digitalrev, CameraPro.
RX100m4 at Digitalrev, CameraPro.

Matt Granger shared his impressions on the new A7rII he used on his Bhutan trip. There are also a wish list for the future A7rIII or A9…just watch the video to hear them all!

On the video above Kai compares the Sony A7rII vs the Canon 5DSr. And for him the winner is the A7rII because “Sony is showing the way in terms of new technology” and it’s the “most exciting camera“.

A7rII preorder list:
In USA: at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore US, FocusCamera, Uniquephoto.
In Europe at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT. Wex UK.
In Asia at Digitalrev, CameraPro.

A7rII case:
Gariz leather case in [shoplink 39113 ebay]Black (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 39108 ebay]Camel (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 39110 ebay]Orange (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 39111 ebay]Brown (Click here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 39112 ebay]Red (Click here)[/shoplink]. Also available on Amazon US (Click here).
Gariz Alcantara case in [shoplink 39094 ebay]Black (Click here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 39095 ebay]Red (Click here)[/shoplink]. Also available on Amazon US (Click here).
Lim’s case in [shoplink 39107 ebay]Black (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 39102 ebay]Brown (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 39103 ebay]Red (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 39104 ebay]Yellow (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 39105 ebay]Navy Blue (Click here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 39106 ebay]Khaki (Click here)[/shoplink]. Also available on Amazon US (Click here).