shooting video on location with the Sony A7: first impression review (Mike Kobal)

Roger Cicala from Lensrentals (Click here) tested the Sony A7r and the Zeiss 35mm FE lens. This is what he thinks about the camera:

If I were to make a quick summary:

• The A7R delivers amazing resolution. At least as good as a Nikon D800e.
• The two Sony-Zeiss prime lenses (the 35mm we tested, and the 55mm tested by SLRgear.com) are excellent. Hopefully other native-mount lenses will also be excellent.
• Other-brand, standard-range (35mm and up) shot on a well-matched adapter give superb center resolution, better than you would get on the native mount camera, unless that camera is a D800e. Corner resolution is very good, although less than amazing.
• Given past experience, and several early reports, shooting lenses wider than 35mm on an adapter is going to be a bit more challenging. I doubt we’ll be able to make too many generalizations. Rather each lens will have to be evaluated on the A7R to see how it performs.

A7r review at ThePhoBlographer.

Sony is receiving the Editor’s Choice award out of the pure innovation that was put into this product; but we need to warn you again about the autofocusing. If you’re adapting all of your legacy glass over to it, you won’t need to worry about that problem at all. The image quality, more than anything else, is what also makes us smitten for the A7r.

Low Light Test with Sony A7r at Eruditephotography.
First wooden grip for the A7r (Xitek).
Official English translated review of the A7 at SLRclub (Click here).
Sony A7R – full frame T0.95 with the SLR Magic HyperPrime (and special guest, Leica Noctilux 50mm F0.95) at EosHD.
Sony bedroht Leica (Die Welt).
Sony a7 WiFi Smart Remote Control App Update (Youtube).
A really great A7 with non-FF lens test at Per Analogia (google translation here).

Thodiris: “last night I did a nice concert with the sony a7 and the following lenses:
carl zeiss fe 35mm/f2.8
carl zeiss 16-35mm/f2.8 & la-ea4
minolta 85mm/f1.4 & la-ea4
I was very impressed with the focusing of the carl zeiss fe 35mm/f2.8 lens, it never missed focus or “hunted”.
you can see the images (all ISO 6400) here, with a footnote under each image: http://thodorismarkou.com/blog/2013/12/morcheeba-athens-gagarin-sony-a7-high-iso/”

Carl: “A7 with SEL18-55mm. I sold my Nex-5R but before I made some tests with the sel18-55mm mounted on the A7 (it gave me 10Mpx cropped RAWs)… I’m waiting for a better lens to experience the full quality of this camera. You can check the results (edited) here http://www.flickr.com/photos/carlbphoto/sets/72157638687019276/”

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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.

Image courtesy: ThePhoBlographer

Chris Gampat from ThePhoBlographer (Click here) tested the Zeiss 35mm FE lens and writes:

This lens is sharp, not too contrasty, has magnificent bokeh, and is very devoid of any flaws. In fact, it’s tough to find any 35mm mirrorless lens on the market that can beat this lens right now.

And the most unusual test with the Zeiss 35mm FE has been posted on Flickr (Click here). It’s a “Bikini” test:

New Sony A7R Test Photos of Bikini Swimsuit Model Goddess! Carl Zeiss Sony Sonnar T* FE 35mm f/2.8 ZA Lens finished in Lightroom 5.3 ! Was using the B+W 49mm Kaesemann Circular Polarizer MRC Filter on bright, sunny day. Check out the low glare off the rocks and water and the bright blue sky! Super sharp images and crystal-clear pictures!

I hope for our women followers that someone will do the sampe test with sexy firemans :)

UPDATE: Handheld lowlight testing I did last night with the Sony A7r with 35 Zeiss FE lens at Eruditephotography

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I (Andrea) own this lens since two weeks and now I found the time to start testing it. From the first samples I shot I can easily say I am very happy with the image quality in all his aspects. But for my kind of shooting (low light and interior) I really would love to have at leats 1 stop more (f/2.0 or even f/1.8). Hope Sony will do a faster (althaugh bigger) 35mm lens. Oh, yes, it’s a bit too expensive lens too.

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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.