A7rII review by Mark Galer

SAR readers notified me that their US preorders and EU preorders (Sony Germany and Fotomundus) are shipping the camera today! Check out the usual A7rII preorder list:
In USA: at Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore US, FocusCamera, Uniquephoto, [shoplink 39078 ebay]BestBuy eBay[/shoplink], BestBuy.
In Europe at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT. Wex UK.
In Asia at Digitalrev, CameraPro.

Marg Galers review:

Here is a review movie on YouTube (embedded on top).: https://youtu.be/uu43uhx8gsI
Here is a 4K sample movie on YouTube at ISO 3,200: https://youtu.be/vJQs3IwzjLU
Here is a link to a folder of Raw files captured with the A7RII: http://adobe.ly/1ItECWN
Gallery of 4K files on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/markgaler/sets/72157655787552128

New A7rII test:

Plenty of readers and bloggers keep sending me links to their A7rII test. So here is a new roundup and to start with something different let’s talk about the “negatives” listed by Alex Pasquini:

There are a LOT of cool things about this camera but for now I’m just going to concentrate on some negatives.

• Switching between Full Frame and Super 35 has to be through the menu. You’re unable to assign it to a shortcut. Sony please fix this through a firmware update!
• I’ve found Peaking to be a little buggy, sometimes it just stops working, haven’t narrowed it down to why just yet!
• Magnify during recording to check focus is awesome. Downside is, it’s still quite hard to tell without peaking. In the Canon 5dMk3 the image kind of popped into focus. With the Sony it’s a little more subtle. Need to get used to this.
• You can’t take photos in video mode. Pretty annoying. 
• When shooting 4k it can be a little slow to start. Not an instance record, a lag of a second or so. A bit frustrating when shooting fast action like skateboarding but not a massive deal. 

More A7rII tests:
Ongoing A7rII owners report at SonyAlphaForum
Long time Nikon (D4/D4S) wedding photographer’s first thoughts on the a7rII with examples. She will be selling the Nikons and replacing with Sony (Agatomaszek.com).
Handheld shooting and grading test (Youtube).
Sony A7R II with the Sony FE 55mm Sample Images (Photographyblog).
Sony A7R II with the Sony FE 28mm Sample Images (Photographyblog).
Sony A7R II with the Sony FE 90mm Sample Images (Photographyblog).
New RAW and JPG files availabe at SonyAlphaForum via Le Butler.
Slow motion and slow shutter test at Newsshooter.
Image samples by Brian Smith.
Sony a7R II – First hand impressions + RAW Download (Brian Matiash).
A Mega Star is Born: Sony Singapore unveils its much anticipated full frame mirrorless A7RM2 camera (Stardoms).

Sony α7R II review – DAY 3: FIRST IMPRESSIONS AND LOW LIGHT TESTS

The A7II bug found by David Sampson is also “valid” on the new A7rII:

If you attach a 3rd party lens after using an OSS (eg the 24-70 FE) lens then IBIS does not work
If you attach a 3rd party lens after using a non OSS lens (eg the 55 f1.8) then IBIS does work.

There is a workaround to fix the issue when it appears. David S. sent me this:

If you unmount (take off) an OSS lens without turning the camera off (or at least turn it off after you have removed the lens) then when you attach a third party (dumb) adaptor ‘steady shot’ (IBIS) continues to work normally. Of course this is not a thing a photographer would normally do as it usually common sense to turn the camera off when changing lenses so would still benefit from a firmware upgrade

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.

Uniquephoto (Click here) organized a special A7rII launch event with Sony Artisans. If you cannot participate don’t worry, there is a livestreaming too.

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.

This is the very first Dynamic Range image test comparison between the Canon 5DSr and Sony A7rII done by Tim Parkin from On Landscape. Tim writes:

“We can obviously see a considerable difference here and so straight out of lightroom the A7Rii is nothing short of incredible. Let me remind you, this is +5 exposure and +100 shadow recovery!”

With the Mark II the A7r has grown-up quickly to become a camera that needs no excuses. I still lament the absence of a touch-screen, but otherwise the A7r Mark II is shaping up to be an extremely promising camera.

Image courtesy: Cinema5D

Reminder: A7rII shipping in USA! The first preorders will ship tomorrow from all major stores like Amazon, BHphoto, Adorama, SonyStore US, FocusCamera, Uniquephoto. Plenty of SAR readers got notified by those stores their camera will ship tomorrow or aftertomorrow :)

–

The cine sites Cinema5D and Newshsooter are eagerly testing the video quality of the new A7rII. Today both posted their rolling shutter test and both came to the same conclusion:

Cinema5D writes:

Rolling shutter on the new Sony A7RII is both good and bad. If you need a camera with good rolling shutter performance in 4K (UHD) you can either resort to the Sony A7RII Full Frame Mode or avoid this camera altogether and go with the Panasonic GH4 instead. The Sony A7s performs better, but the difference isn’t huge.

Newsshooter writes:

The results re-affirmed to me what I knew from my earlier tests. The jello effect is pretty bad when the camera is set in S35 mode. It is very similar to the performance of the sister a7S in full frame mode. For fast moving subjects and sports this could be a real problem. Luckily if you switch to full frame mode its a different story. The rolling shutter is much reduced. How much? well it is very close to the M4/3 sensor of the GH4. This comes as quite a surprise as the GH4 sensor is much smaller.

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 Gariz case
The current A7II Gariz cases suite perfectly for the A7rII too:
Alcantara case in [shoplink 38168 ebay]Red (Click here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 38169 ebay]Black (Click here)[/shoplink].
Leather case in [shoplink 38164 ebay]Orange (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 38165 ebay]Red (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 38166 ebay]Black (Click here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 38167 ebay]Brown (Click here)[/shoplink].
As this is the same A7II case you can buy them all also at Amazon US (Click here).

A very first fully detailed A7rII review has been posted by Mobile01. It’s not in English but there are plenty of pictures and tests you can check.

First impressions by DearSusans:

A minor miracle appears to have occurred in that two of my favourite M lenses – the 18mm Super Elmar and 24mm Elmar – appear to show no colour fringing, whereas they were simply awful on the original A7. The 18mm Super Elmar and 24mm Elmar still have some problems (vignetting and softness at the edges) but are much, much better than they were on the A7r1. I would think anything from 35mm on will perform well.

A7RII 12-bit mode. How to avoid it by Fred Miranda.
The Sony A7RMII does 10 frames with auto bracket for an extreme HDR pic (Flickr by Richard Banton).
Sony A7RII 1st Thoughts, Images & Video by Steve Huff.
A7rII cage from Varavon (Newshhooter).
This is a 181mp panorama which turns out to be a 153mb file (Wayne G on Flickr).
New A7rII image samples and owners reports on 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.

A7rII Gariz case
The current A7II Gariz cases suite perfectly for the A7rII too:
Alcantara case in [shoplink 38168 ebay]Red (Click here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 38169 ebay]Black (Click here)[/shoplink].
Leather case in [shoplink 38164 ebay]Orange (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 38165 ebay]Red (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 38166 ebay]Black (Click here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 38167 ebay]Brown (Click here)[/shoplink].
As this is the same A7II case you can buy them all also at Amazon US (Click here).