Is the new Sony 5 axis image stabilization really a deal breaker? Just watch Matt Granger’s video above to hear his opinion on it!

And Diggloyd is asking Sony why the new Sony A7R II has no Pixel Shift:

Conspicuously missing from the Sony A7R II feature set is Olympus-style pixel shift, which in my testing can deliver roughly a 32-megapixel image from a 16-megapixel sensor. On the 42-megapixel Sony A7R II sensor, a similar technology would deliver ~63 megapixels, or maybe more like ~80 megapixels using a Zeiss Otus.
It’s a pity that Sony is not offering pixel shift, since it has Olympus-style sensor stabilization. Perhaps it will appear in a firmware update, but that seems dubious, since it is a terrific feature to brag about at a product release (and would be a first for a full frame camera).

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.

Matt Granger (Click here) compared the Batis vs Otus 85mm lenses. Of course the [shoplink 38439 ebay]four times more expensive Otus lens[/shoplink] is a better lens. But how close does the new Batis get to it? Check it out on the video below:

And Mirrorlessons made a Batis 85mm vs 90mm macro vs 55mm f/1.8 comparison:

You will notice that the Zeiss Batis has a smoother bokeh and produces less of a “swirl” effect than the 90mm. But the latter looks good in terms of bokeh rendering too. Both are really sharp. The 55mm on the a6000 does a good job as well. It is slightly less sharp but this is also due to the lower resolution of the a6000. The bokeh is less smooth than the other two lenses but I like its rendering and it remains a more than valid choice for portraits.

Preorder 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.
In Europe and Asia the Loxias can be found in Stock via [shoplink 36456 ebay]eBay sellers (Click here)[/shoplink] and Digitalrev (Click here).

Dpreview posted their first impression review:

The RX100 IV fits pretty well in your hands, though those with large hands might find controls to be on the small side. The camera can be operated with one hand, though you’ll need your other hand for rotating the control ring around the lens.

Philip Bloom tested both new RX cameras and writes:

The 250fps (240 in NTSC) is excellent when in “quality mode” although just 2 second buffer and a 20 second write to card time. The 500fps (480 in NTSC) is passable on certain things, avoid hard lines if you can as it will moire and alias like crazy! 1000 fps (960 in NTSC) is ugly as hell but I still managed to get away with it in my test film. In the real world I can’t see me using past 250 fps very often. The modes where you can record twice as long are much poorer quality so I avoid them.

Ken Rockwell also tested the new RX100m4 and writes:

The RX100 Mk IV is a fantastic point-and-shoot camera that quickly and easily makes great photos in any light, and its larger-than-most point-and-shoots sensor giving sharper, cleaner images than cell phones or most other pocket cameras.

Call the Cleaner! Sony RX100 IV 250fps, 500fps & 1000fps from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.

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.

Zeiss photographer Christian Dandyk had the unqiue chance to test the new Batis lenses for seven months already! He now posted his full review of the lenses at alphafotograf.de.

I have recently been asked several times which of the two Batis lenses I would recommend more. I can’t really answer this question because their areas of application are too different, even if they both feature the same high level of optics. Regardless of where I use them, they have always delivered the impressive results I demand. Photographers tend to quickly try to find fault with something – my search failed and that is a good thing as we like to say in Berlin.

Christian can be seen on the official promo video here:

Preorder 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.
In Europe and Asia the Loxias can be found in Stock via [shoplink 36456 ebay]eBay sellers (Click here)[/shoplink] and Digitalrev (Click here).

The A7rII with Canon EF lens (image courtesy: Newsshooter).

Video expert Dan Chung from Newsshooter had the chance to test the preproduction Sony A7rII and writes:

1) The S35 4K image really is free of any obvious errors – fine detail was incredibly well resolved and there was virtually no evidence of aliasing and moire at base ISO. When I looked at the image on a monitor it was very clean. It had excellent detail and in S-Log2 there was certainly a lot of information in the shadows and highlights. There was some noise in the shadows but nothing excessive.

2) The second big surprise is that the full-frame 4K mode also looks remarkably good. I assume that pixel-binning is being used to reduce the output of the 42-megapixel sensor to achieve this. The 4K full-frame output of the a7R II is really excellent. There are some traces of aliasing visible on lines of high contrast, but you really have to look for them. 

3) Low light performance was the third big surprise. I wasn’t expecting great things from a camera with such a high pixel count – I was wrong. The camera acquits itself very well even at 6400 ISO. Noise is present but the image was still usable.

4) The fourth big surprise came when I panned the camera from side to side looking for evidence of rolling shutter.

5) A small bad news: Autofocus with adapter EOS lenses does not work as well in video as it does in stills mode. The only way to get the PDAF working continuously in video is to use Sony’s own E-mount lenses. It doens’t work with A-mount or Canon EF lenses.

You can see all his four A7rII test videos on Vimeo (Click here).

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.

The new Canon 5DS 50 megapixel sensor got tested at DxOmark (Click here). And the big surprise is that it doesn’t even come close to the Sony 36 Megapixel sensor performance! DxO writes:

Thee EOS 5DS is far behind the best sensors we’ve tested. The Nikon D810 and the Sony A7R, for example, both offer around two-thirds of a stop better image quality, with overall scores of 97 and 95 points, respectively, compared to 87 for the 5DS.
For Color Sensitivity, the D810 and the A7R are also two-thirds of a stop better than the 5DS at base ISO.
For Dynamic Range, there’s a much bigger difference among the three sensors at base ISO, where the Nikon D810 and Sony A7R sensors are far ahead. Landscape scores of 14.8Ev for the D810, compared to 12.4Ev for the 5DS, put the Nikon over two stops ahead, and the A7R just under two stops ahead with 14.1Ev.

Now you can only imagine what score the new A7rII sensor will get. I bet it will break the 100 points barrier :)

Editor’s note: As usual some fanboy attacked me for using the term “far behind” in the title of this post. Please note that this what DxOmark said and not me…SonyAlphaRumors! As usual with those tests you have to take them with a bit of grain of salt. A good camera is not defined by the sensor quality only.

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.

At last we have it! This is the very first full size RAW(!) Sony A7rII image samples you can download and analyze. You can download it here: http://we.tl/X6ACE5UQem

Thanks to the anonymous source who sent me this!

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.

via Xitek Forum.