This is how the Zeiss Batis OLED screens shines in the dark :)

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Bon L posted that video on his Facebook page. It shows the Zeiss Batis OLED lens screen in the dark. Oh yes it’s that strong you can almost use it as a lamp :)

More Batis news:

Steve Huff posted that Batis hands-on video:

Updated post with new Batis lens pictures at 3Dkraft. 85mm Batis image samples at Diglloyd. And SAR reader Albert Dros (Click here) posted the Batis 25mm review:

So there you have it, the new Batis. A beautiful lens that without a doubt will sell very well. It’s beautifully designed both inside and outside. It’s tack sharp wide open from corner to corner, suffers from little distortion (without lens profiles for LR) and little CA.
Do I need this lens? Not really. My 16-35 is on my A7II 90% of the time and is great for all of my landscape work and offers a great range. I did fall in love with this Batis lens though. It just makes such a great package in combination with the A7II and is just so extremely sharp. I will miss the display on top of my lenses as I was already automatically looking at the top of my 16-35 lens when it was back on my A7II. I like to get creative and from that point this lens is also a great tool. I love primes and I would probably buy this lens in the future. I’m very interested to see how it performs on the new A7RII but it will most probably shine at it’s best on that body.


– Left: Zeiss 16-35 f4, middle: Zeiss Batis 25mm, right:  Zeiss 55mm f1.8 – (Image courtesy: Albert Dros)

 

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).

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Sony A7rII and RX cameras now listed at Sony UK.

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A7rIIUK

At last you can preorder the new Sony cameras at Sony UK too (Click here and scroll down). All other Sony European stores A7rII links: Sony DE, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT. Thanks Jon for spotting the UK link! RemindeR: Download the A7rII manual here: http://download.sony-asia.com/consumer/IM/4576983111.pdf.

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

 

 

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Ulysses announces a new leather case for the Sony A7II (and A7rII).

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The Japanese company Ulysses announced a new A7II leather case which also works on the new A7rII. It’s already listed on eBay where you can see more pics. You can get it in [shoplink 37912 ebay]Black (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 37913 ebay]Blue (Click here)[/shoplink] or [shoplink 37914 ebay]Brown (Click here)[/shoplink].

Just recently Gariz launched an extremely gorgeous Alcantara version of their A7II case (and also that one works on the new A7rII). You can already buy it here:
On eBay  in [shoplink 36899 ebay]Black (Click here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 36900 ebay]Red (Click here)[/shoplink].
On Amazon US in Black (Click here) and Red (Click here).

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Download the full new Sony A7rII 104 pages long(!) manual.

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If you (like me) are a future Sony A7rII owner than download the full manual here: http://download.sony-asia.com/consumer/IM/4576983111.pdf (Thanks Berek for sharing the link!). Among the interesting info we also have the description of how to solve that annoying issue of the small HDMI cable coming off when recording:

And there is also a first A7rII test with the Contax [shoplink 38307 ebay]G16 hologon[/shoplink] lens at cityusam01.blogspot.tw.

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

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Guest post by Andreas Peters: A-mount vs E-mount (A77II vs A7II).

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A77II

This is a Guest post from Andreas Peters:

Last weekend I did some image tests that could be of interest for all SAR readers (and may also be published in your rumors blog)…

As an APS-C camera owner (first Samsung NX11, then Sony Alpha 65 and since last year Sony Alpha 77II) I’m currently tempted to switch to a full frame Sony camera but I prefer a-mount to e-mount as the current A7 series autofocus technology does not convince me (I’m therefore waiting for the A99 successor as I also own some very good a-mount full frame lenses).
One of my colleagues recently sold his complete Canon equipment and switched over to a Sony A7II. This was a perfect situation to do a direct comparison of the image quality under bad light conditions. The idea of this test was to have a 1:1 comparison of an identical low light scene shot with two cameras that have a lot of the technical specifications in common (identical 24.3MP resolution, same sensor generation, same BIONZ X image processor).

** Equipment **
Sony A7II with FE 55mm F1.8 ZA Carl Zeiss Sonnar T*
Sony A77II with Sigma 18-35mm F1.8 DC HSM Art

** Test setup **
All pictures were taken in the same room with the only light provided by a single light bulb.
The cameras were (one after another) mounted on the same tripod.
The Sigma lens was zoomed in to 35mm (in order to have the same image frame).
Focus was set manually to the white glue bottle (in the center of the frame)
Cameras were in Aperture priority mode and the aperture was fixed at F2.8
ISO was set to 100, 200, 400, 800, 1’600, 3’200, 6’400, 12’800 and finally 25’600
A shutter delay of 2s was used to prevent any shaking of the camera
No flash was used

Pictures were taken in RAW and converted to JPEG (in original resolution) using Lightoom 6 (without any noise reduction and other optimizations).
Please also check the comments section of my flickr album which contains more details about the exact Lightroom settings used for the JPEG conversion.

Link to my flickr album which contains all images in full resolution:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andip66/sets/72157651289277893

** Results **
I was astonished to see that even a full frame sensor creates a lot of noise in higher ISO settings (honestly much more than I personally expected) when there is no noise reduction applied.
The amount of noise of the A77II in one ISO setting is – in best case – about the same as the A7II with 1 ISO setting higher (e.g. A77II at ISO 800 is similar to A7II at ISO 1’600).
At higher ISO’s (3’200 and above) this tends to go more towards a difference of almost 2 ISO settings higher.
When you furthermore take into consideration that the A77II even looses some light (due to the SLT technology) this result even more astonishing.

** Additional remarks **
It was not my intention to do a scientific test (those you can find all over the internet or in special photo magazines containing detailed Dead-Leaves, Kurtosis, etc. measures) but one from the real world which simply compares the images quality of two cameras which both provide optimal image quality for their sensor size.
All images are available in full resolution and can be downloaded – for your own pixel peeping comparison – from my flickr set “ISO comparison Sony A7II vs A77II”.
The tests at ISO 12’800 and 25’600 were done just for fun (in order to have a complete set of test results) as such high ISO values usually produce image quality which will not be satisfying (if you expect a perfect image quality).

kindes regards and greetings from Switzerland

Andreas

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This week SAR readers photos selection.

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post-3869-0-03340600-1434804853
Anders on SonyAlphaForum.
Blossoming [A7II + 55mm in Japan]

1) Submit your picture with a message and picture here: facebook.com/sonyalpharumors or on the SonyAlphaForum image section.
2) Like and comment the pictures from other readers here: facebook.com/sonyalpharumors/photos_stream?tab=photos and on SonyAlphaForum.
3) A selection of most liked pictures by the community and by me SAR admin will be posted weekly on SAR.

Note: When sending a pic feel free to also add a link to your site to promote yourself!

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