“Those Goddamn Hippies” – DRIFT – Music Video – ZEISS Batis Review from Nino Leitner on Vimeo.

And Nino Leitner from Cinema5D posted that great video shot with the new Batis lenses and writes:

The Batis lenses should be considered by video shooters who need a very lightweight option on their E-Mount cameras, who don’t work with a focus puller or focus marks, or who own a gimbal like a MoVi M5 or DJI Ronin, as the low weight is perfect for these devices. Photographers who shoot on E-Mount cameras like the A7 series should get the Batis lenses if they are looking for decent autofocus, low weight and a very sexy new kind of bokeh. It goes without saying that these lenses are extremely sharp, which is usually ZEISS’s top priority when designing lenses. They are certainly not as sharp as the OTUS line, but they also come in in a different price bracket!

Popphoto posted a short Batis lens hands-on report:

In terms of sharpness, my eyeball tests suggests what you might already suspect: When you get the focus right, both lenses are extremely sharp, even under scrutiny available thanks to the A7r’s big resolution. The bokeh on both lenses is nice and smooth, with round specular highlights thanks to the circular aperture.

Miguel Quiles shot a BTS video for Rangefinder Magazine using the new Batis 85 and the A7II: youtube.com/watch?v=sMaX6gAH4FM

Fe 90 vs Batis 85 AF by Ahmed Saihati on Vimeo.

Batis store links:
Zeiss Batis 85mm f/1.8 lens in US at Adorama, Bhphoto. In Eu at Amazon DE, WexUK. In Asia at Digitalrev.
Zeiss Batis 25mm f/2.0 lens at Adorama, Bhphoto. In EU at Amazon DE, WexUK. In Asia at Digitalrev.

Our friends over at Newsshhooter (Click here) posted a short test of the new Sony A7rII with the Batis and Touit lenses. They were of course focused on the video performance of the camera:

I tried shooting a couple of test shots at ISO 5000 which I expected to be pretty unusable. It turns out that they were much better than I thought and you can see them at the end of the video. The high ISO performance might not match the a7S, but it is much better than several other ‘professional’ large sensor camcorders and for many people I think it will be good enough.

More A7rII tests:
A7RII versus Pentax 645Z (Photoclubalpha).
Rolling shutter test on Youtube by Jon Roberts.
Constantly updated user tests and impression at SonyAlphaForum.

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.

Batis store links:
Zeiss Batis 85mm f/1.8 lens in US at Adorama, Bhphoto. In Eu at Amazon DE, WexUK. In Asia at Digitalrev.
Zeiss Batis 25mm f/2.0 lens at Adorama, Bhphoto. In EU at Amazon DE, WexUK. In Asia at Digitalrev.

Image courtesy: Cinema5D

Cinema5D tested the video capability of the camera and writes:

We did test the dynamic range and found there’s about 12.3 stops of dynamic range on the Sony A7RII. So that’s very nice. The A7S does about 11.8 in 4K (with an external recorder) and the Sony FS7 goes up to 12.4 in our tests.
It is amazing though to see this kind of quality recorded internally in such a small camera body. And the A7S was recorded in ProRes, so the XAVC-S codec on the A7RII is certainly doing a god job here. Wow!

EosHD writes:

The 5 axis stabilised 42MP sensor appears at first glance to be a game changer. I have never known such a well balanced, high performance chip. It looks significantly less noisy at first glance than the Canon 5DS. I say Canon have a lot of catching up to do.

More A7rII tests:
First shots with sony a7RII – S-log2 – 35mm (Youtube).
Sony α7R II review – DAY 2: 4K VIDEO MODES, DYNAMIC RANGE AND PICTURE PROFILES TEST (Youtube).
Test shots by Matthias Walter on Flickr.

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.

The A7rII is shipping in EU and Asia and will ship in six days from now in US according to Amazon (August 5). And here are the latest A7rII news:

1) You can download the full A7rII Help Guide here: http://helpguide.sony.net/ilc/1520/v1/en/print.pdf

2) Pixel peepers can download the many A7rII JPG and RAW images at Photographyblog.

3) High ISO images by Ricky Ban on Flickr.

4) A7Rii first impressions thread at SonyAlphaForum.

5) Sean Cook: “I just opened the files you linked to this morning, and for the first time we have a true high-iso photo. I have opened it in Adobe Camera Raw, and have attached the fullsize photo, a 100% crop and a 2000 pixel wide version. The photo is shot at ISo 25,600, and being an A7s owner, I have to say the file looks really good. I don’t generally shoot my A7s at 25,600 of couches in daylight, so I can’t say exactly how it compares, but it looks basically on par with the A7s. Maybe 1/2 stop behind: https://www.flickr.com/photos/97048644@N07/albums”

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.

Above you can watch a short A7rII autofocus speed test with A-mount lenses. 

Many European readers from Germany, France and UK (Wex UK) told me their preorder shipped today! This means Adobe is right in time today because they added RAW support on the new A7rII and RX cameras and Lens Profiles for the new Batis lenses. Full info here: blogs.adobe.com/lightroomjournal/2015/07/lightroom-6-1-1-is-now-available.html.

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.

Batis store links:
Zeiss Batis 85mm f/1.8 lens in US at Adorama, Bhphoto. In Eu at Amazon DE, WexUK. In Asia at Digitalrev.
Zeiss Batis 25mm f/2.0 lens at Adorama, Bhphoto. In EU at Amazon DE, WexUK. In Asia at Digitalrev.

SAR reader Albert tested the new Sony 90mm FE macro lens autofocus performance and posted the results on SonyAlphaForum (Click here). He noticed the autofocus is fast even at full aperture and so reliable that it can focus on the ant eyes! Check all the autotofocus macro pictures on SonyAlphaForum! P.S.: And be sure to join our new forum :)

This is really a great lens and cause of sleepless nights because I don’t know if I should get that one or the new 85mm Batis :(

90mm links:
In USA at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, [shoplink 37938 ebay]eBay US (Click here)[/shoplink].
In Europe at [shoplink 37991 ebay]Fotomundus[/shoplink], Amazon Germany, Sony Germany, Sony UK, Sony FR, Sony IT, Sony ES, Sony NL, Sony BE, Sony AT, Sony CH, Sony SE, Sony FI, Sony NO, Sony PT.
In Asia at Digitalrev, Sony Australia.

Batis links:
Zeiss Batis 85mm f/1.8 lens in US at Adorama, Bhphoto. In Eu at Amazon DE, WexUK. In Asia at Digitalrev.
Zeiss Batis 25mm f/2.0 lens at Adorama, Bhphoto. In EU at Amazon DE, WexUK. In Asia at Digitalrev.

Dpreview (Click here) posted the full RX100m4 review. The camera gets an impressive 85% score and the Gold Award:

The RX100 IV gains some headline-grabbing features such as high frame rate and 4K video but it’s the smaller features that most impressed us. Continuous eye tracking, fast Raw burst modes with AF, and small user-interface changes have made the Mark IV the most responsive and enjoyable RX100 yet. It’s the most expensive in the series but is peerless in terms of capability.

And Mirrorlessons posted the slow motion test video at 100, 250, 500 and 1000fps with the RX100 IV:

A funny 1000 fps slow mo test by Joyce on Youtube.

A7rII and RX camera preorder list:
In USA:
A7rII at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore US, FocusCamera, Uniquephoto.
RX10m2 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, FocusCamera, Uniquephoto.
RX100m4 at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, FocusCamera, Uniquephoto.
In Europe at:
A7rII at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT. Wex UK.
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:
A7rII at Digitalrev, CameraPro.
RX10m2 at Digitalrev, CameraPro.
RX100m4 at Digitalrev, CameraPro.