Image courtesy: 3D-kraft.

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Quick note for US readers: The Sony A7r is today in Stock at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), [shoplink 23364 ebay]Adorama eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 23363 ebay]Bestbuy eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

Michael Reichmann from Luminous Landscape (Click here) tested the world best camera (so he calls the A7r) with the worlds best lenses (Leica M-mount):

Altogether a very sweet camera, and one that Sony should be proud of. Canon and Nikon look like they’ve been left at the gate, with Sony now running a race almost all of their own. Recent Sony cameras have been innovative. Canon in particular just seems to churn out minor revisions to cameras that have been around for ages. The only companies who are pushing the envelope in any way comparable to Sony are Olympus and FujiFilm.

As you no doubt have heard and read elsewhere the Sony A7r is a pretty terrific camera.

If you own some Leica M or third party M mount lenses, and have an eye on Sony’s latest uber-camera, then I think that you’ll find they make a remarkable combination, so long as with wide angle lenses, at least, you’re willing to make an effort to get the most from them.

As he writes in the article even wide-angle Leica Lenses work fine on the A/r if you can work out the vignetting and color casting issue using the The Adobe DNG Flat Field Plug-In.

Image source: SLRclub.

We have three sites with interesting test on the new Zeiss 35mm f/2.8 FE lens.

Leica Boss is the first site mentioning an important flaw of the otherwise great Zeiss 35mm f/2.8 FE lens:

“That problem is some significant color shifts that are in a bizarro “target” pattern that can make correction an absolute nightmare.” It can be fixed “with some effort by using Adobe Labs “Flat Field” plugin for Lightroom“. But overall you shouldn’t be worried because “In the vast majority of images, this color shift will not be visible.“

Photographyblog writes:

At f/2.8 it may not be as bright as some people might wish, but at a mere 120g and 3.6cms in length, it makes for a very portable full-frame package when mounted on the A7/A7R, delivering great image quality with the minimum of fuss, including some lovely bokeh effects when shooting wide-open.

Dearsusans writes:

Although much of the Zeiss DNA is present (fantastic optics, crappy lens cap ) there is also a touch of modern Leica fluidity in this lens. Fantastic sharpness and clarity are delivered with the mellow smoothness that makes my eyes water. This is the antithesis of the Distagon 21/2.8 and its ruthless scrutiny into every detail and occasional harshness (don’t hate me ).

SAR note: I own the that lens and had little time for testing yet. I actually like the lens performance and havent’ noticed the flaw mentioned by Leica Boss on any of my (few) pictures. But I still think the lens price is too high for what it does. Hope third party lens makers will soon give us cheaper FE lens alternatives.
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Specs and Preorders in US and Canada:
Dedicated Sony announcement page at Amazon US (Click here).
Sony A7r body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS. TheCameraStore Canada.
Sony A7 body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS. TheCameraStore Canada.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS. TheCameraStore Canada.
Sony RX10 at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Zeiss 24-70mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Zeiss 35mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Zeiss 55mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
70-200mm A-mount at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony A-Mount to E-Mount Lens Adapter at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
Sony A to E adapter with mirror at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
A7/A7r leather case at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
A7/A7r vertical grip at Amazon, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony W Series Battery Charger at Amazon, BHphoto.
Sony FA-CS1M Off-Camera Shoe at BHphoto.
Semi-Hard LCD Screen Protector for A7-A7r at Amazon, BHphoto.

Specs and Preorders in Europe:
Sony A7r body at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT,  WexUK, WexDE.
Sony A7 body at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon FR.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit Sony  DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon FR.
Sony RX10 at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE.
Zeiss 35mm at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT,
Zeiss 55mm at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT
Zeiss 24-70mm at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, SE, PT
Sony G 28-70mm lens at Sony DE, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO.

Asia:
A7r at Digitalrev.
A7 at Digitalrev, Amazon Cina.
A7 with 28-70mm lens at Digitalrev.

Lawrence: “Some people are wondering how loud the shutter sound of the a7R actually is. I did a quick comparison between the a7R and some other cameras (M3, E-M5, OM-2)”–

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SAR editor’s note: All SAR reader are free to submit links or full articles to be posted on SAR. Just contact me at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com. Thanks!
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Pascal: “my A7r finally arrived and what a machine it is ! It is the first camera I have owned (Nikon D800e included) that gives that elusive medium format look to photographs. I was expecting a lot from it but it delivers even more. What a fantastic machine. The more I use it, the more I love it !  If you’re interested, here’s my review (with more to follow) : http://www.dearsusan.net/2013/12/07/sony-a7r-first-impressions-the-magnificent-seven/”

Chad: “First paid work with the A7 at http://chadwadsworth.blogspot.com/2013/12/first-paid-work-with-sony-a7.html”

Mike: “Bokeh comparison: Sony A7, Nikkor 50mm 1.4D vs Fuji X-E1, Fuji FX 35mm 1.4: http://www.mikekobal.com/blog/?p=9907”

Marcus: “I have added a Album to Facebook and uploaded some pictures in flickr from the A7.
https://www.facebook.com/marcus.rosth
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrosth/

Sanji: “You posted a video unboxing I did of the Sony A7R. Well now I have a follow up in the form of a full blown review having purchased the camera. It’s done using a bunch of lenses – m-mount, zeiss, sigma, canon from 15mm to 300mm. It would be great if you could share this with your readers as I believe they will find it entertaining and very useful.
Sony A7r, Fuji X-E2, Panasonic GH3 – DOF and Noise comparisons (<a href=”http://soundimageplus.blogspot.be/2013/11/sony-a7r-fuji-x-e2-panasonic-gh3-dof.html”>Soundimagesplus</a>).You don’t need to wait for FE lenses to have a good time with the A7R :)
http://sanjio.com/wp/blog/2013/11/22/sony-a7r-review/”

Buzz: “Confessions of a Camera Addict — How Sony Breaks My Bank: http://www.the.me/confessions-of-a-camera-addict-how-sony-breaks-my-bank/#ixzz2ms88Kmub”

Tobin: “Hot on the heals of my riveting A7R shutter sound comparison video, here’s an in depth review of the A7R and various Leica R lenses, includes usability, size comparison etc.
http://tobinators.com/blog/index.php/2013/11/everything-else/sony-a7r-review/
Eddy: a number of people have been complaining about the battery life of the A7R. My experience is otherwise: last Saturday I went to the Zoo in Antwerp, to try the A7R. I had the 24mm f2 and 70-400 GII with me, including the LA-EA4, AF was used all the time. I had only one spare battery with me and changed this only when I was back at home. I had 777 images (RAW+JPEG) on my memory card… So this is about double of the ‘official’ battery life.
What might be the difference: I immediately put the camera in ‘airplane mode’, which cuts the WiFi and NFC. I know from my smart phone that  those options can draw a lot of energy. Also I put the ‘Auto Review’ to off. I guess these small tweaks can make a big difference.
I assume that the official battery life is measured with everything turned on. And that some people who are complaining, base their judgement on these official figures, not on real life tests like mine.
I’ve also put this info into this thread:
http://www.dyxum.com/dforum/battery-life-a7-a7r_topic103190.html”

Paul: “Just find some lightroom developed samples on web (In Chinese) text: http://www.dcfever.com/sony/readnews.php?id=9490&page=4
sample gallery: http://www.dcfever.com/cameras/viewsamples.php?set=937”

Michel: “I’ve shot a few pictures of some of my manual lenses on the Sony A7. I hope this gives an idea about the size of various combinations. Here is the album: http://imgur.com/a/IhReb”

Alik: “I’ve got some low light test shots of the Sony A7r. The high ISO performance is kind of mind blowing. In the next day or two I’ll also be doing a speed comparison video for the Metabones EF to E mount adapter. I hear it’s a littler slower. I’d like to see. I’ll let you know when that’s done. But check out my samples images. http://alikgriffin.com/sony-a7r-mirrorless-review-and-sample-photos. You can get full size original images by clicking them.”

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Specs and Preorders in US and Canada:
Dedicated Sony announcement page at Amazon US (Click here).
Sony A7r body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS. TheCameraStore Canada.
Sony A7 body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS. TheCameraStore Canada.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS. TheCameraStore Canada.
Sony RX10 at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Zeiss 24-70mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Zeiss 35mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Zeiss 55mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
70-200mm A-mount at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony A-Mount to E-Mount Lens Adapter at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
Sony A to E adapter with mirror at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
A7/A7r leather case at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
A7/A7r vertical grip at Amazon, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony W Series Battery Charger at Amazon, BHphoto.
Sony FA-CS1M Off-Camera Shoe at BHphoto.
Semi-Hard LCD Screen Protector for A7-A7r at Amazon, BHphoto.

Specs and Preorders in Europe:
Sony A7r body at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT,  WexUK, WexDE.
Sony A7 body at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon FR.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit Sony  DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon FR.
Sony RX10 at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE.
Zeiss 35mm at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT,
Zeiss 55mm at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT
Zeiss 24-70mm at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, SE, PT
Sony G 28-70mm lens at Sony DE, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO.

Asia:
A7r at Digitalrev.
A7 at Digitalrev, Amazon Cina.
A7 with 28-70mm lens at Digitalrev.

This video was recorded using two Sony A7R in 1080p50 mode. Lenses used were the Zeiss FE 2.8/35 (long shot) and the Carl Zeiss Planar T* 1.4/85 for Contax (hand-held camera) – both used wide open. from Hacky on Vimeo.

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This is the seocnd part of SAR readers “homemade” legacy lens test :) Feel free to share your reviews and tests by sending links at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com. Thanks!

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Helge:

Helge posted the full test of the wide angle lenses that will work absolutely fine on the A7r at 3D-kraft (Click here). This includes the:
– [shoplink 10509 ebay]Tri Elmar 16-18-21mm (here on eBay)[/shoplink] – [shoplink 21602 ebay]Voigtlander Ultron 21mm f/1.8 ASPH (here on eBay)[/shoplink] – SEL 10-18mm (here at Amazon)

Helge writes:

Those who asserted that the Sony A7R is not suited to be used in combination with Leica (and other range finder) wide angle M lenses propably arrived at a too vague conclusion. In fact it depends on the particular lens design. Lenses with an extremely compact and symmetric design may produce problems with color shift and edge smearing even on the sensor of the A7R with shifted microlenses whereas lenses with a more telecentric design like the Leica WATE perform perfectly fine without color shift and without edge smearing on the A7R.

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Eakchat:

Infinity: A7 + [shoplink 21794 ebay]35mm Summilux ASPH FLE (here on eBay)[/shoplink]:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eakakeeak/sets/72157637971621114/

Infinity: A7 + [shoplink 21797 ebay]35mm Biogon ZM (here on eBay)[/shoplink]:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eakakeeak/sets/72157637971932445/

Infinity: A7 + [shoplink 23171 ebay]Nikkor 35/1.4 AI-S (here on eBay)[/shoplink]:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eakakeeak/sets/72157637973004986/

Falloff: A7 + [shoplink 21794 ebay]35mm Summilux ASPH FLE (here on eBay)[/shoplink]:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eakakeeak/sets/72157637970103166/

Falloff: A7 + [shoplink 21797 ebay]35mm Biogon ZM (here on eBay)[/shoplink]:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eakakeeak/sets/72157637969915845/

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Bao:

BTW, I’ve updated the post to include 3 tests,
1. Infinity at night
2. Infinity at day
3. Close up on a white wall

The original post:
http://forum.xitek.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=1237149&page=1&ordertype=1#pid50853112

The direct link to orignal images of all three tests on flickr is:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23000374@N05/sets/72157637885106276/

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Xexets:

Small nitty gritty test I did with A7R + [shoplink 21797 ebay]Zeiss biogon 35/2 ZM (here on eBay)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 12485 ebay]Planar 50/2 ZM (here on eBay)[/shoplink]

http://xexets.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/a7r-test-with-zeiss-zm-biogon-352-and.html

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Lupico: 

Super-Elmar 21 on the Sony A7 at http://www.lupico.com/cameras/quick-snap-leica-super-elmar-21mm-on-sony-a7/

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Martin:

Sony Alpha7 with [shoplink 10220 ebay]Zeiss C Sonnar 50 1.5 ZM(here on eBay)[/shoplink]

http://martinlux.tumblr.com/post/67837101571/freiburg-november-2013-sony-alpha7-with-zeiss

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Specs and Preorders in Europe:
Sony A7r body at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT,  WexUK, WexDE.
Sony A7 body at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon FR.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit Sony  DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon FR.
Sony RX10 at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE.
Zeiss 35mm at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT,
Zeiss 55mm at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT
Zeiss 24-70mm at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, SE, PT
Sony G 28-70mm lens at Sony DE, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO.

Specs and Preorders in US and Canada:
Dedicated Sony announcement page at Amazon US (Click here).
Sony A7r body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS. TheCameraStore Canada.
Sony A7 body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS. TheCameraStore Canada.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS. TheCameraStore Canada.
Sony RX10 at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Zeiss 24-70mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Zeiss 35mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Zeiss 55mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
70-200mm A-mount at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony A-Mount to E-Mount Lens Adapter at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
Sony A to E adapter with mirror at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
A7/A7r leather case at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
A7/A7r vertical grip at Amazon, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony W Series Battery Charger at Amazon, BHphoto.
Sony FA-CS1M Off-Camera Shoe at BHphoto.
Semi-Hard LCD Screen Protector for A7-A7r at Amazon, BHphoto.

Asia:
A7r at Digitalrev.
A7 at Digitalrev, Amazon Cina.
A7 with 28-70mm lens at Digitalrev.

The first 200 Zeiss 5mm FE lenses went on sale on December 4th in Korea. For some unknown reason Sony picked up Korea as the one country that ships the new stuff first. As I told you the lenses were sold out in 2 minutes. Before to switch over to two new lens reviews note that the lens is set to ship…

…on December 10 already at Sonystore Canada.
…on December 22 in US at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto and SonyStore US.
…on December 20 in [shoplink 23246 ebay]Japan (source eBay sellers)[/shoplink].
…and late January only in Europe according to Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT.

The new Zeiss FE reviews:

The Korean site SLRclub (Click here) posted the full lens review. As usual google translation tool doesn’t work but you can see plenty of great image samples and also many clear to understand tests like for example this one:

The tests show a top quality performance of the lens with the only visible limit the a bit high vignetting at wider aperture.

Photographyblog also posted the full Zeiss 55mm f/1.8 lens review and writes:

Offering fast and reliable auto-focusing, intuitive manual focusing and the usual Carl Zeiss levels of build quality that’s weather-tight too, this prime lens is a perfect partner to the flagship A7R camera, helping to extract bags of detail from its 36 megapixel full-frame sensor. Highly recommended if you’re about to invest in the fledgling 35mm full-frame E-mount system.

I have that lens already on my preorder list. But it’s pity we Europeans have to wait that much longer to get our lens :(

And here are again the preorder links:
USA/Canada: Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonyStore US and Sonystore Canada.
Europe: Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT

Chris Niccolls really explained in the best possible way the many flaws and very few positives of the Sony QX cameras. I think Sony should give him the 2014-2015 prototypes for testing so that Sony has time to adjust the flaws before they release them. So please Sony, send him the new A1, A79, A9, A77 and what else you have in your engineers office :)