It’s Sunday but the A7-A73 news storm still isn’t over. Here is a roundup of more tests and samples:

1) National Geographic photographer Michale Yamashita posted a set of Landscape pictures on Facebook.
2) DearSusans writes:  “I noticed quite a few negative comments about the pricing of the news Zeiss lenses for Sony. I think that’s ridiculous. Have you read Brian Smith’s preview ? Have you seen the pixel peeper 100% enlargement of the eye ? The lens is sharp but what really stunned me is that this doesn’t look like a CMOS image. To me it looks like a CCD. I *know* it’s a CMOS, but it *feels* like a CCD. It is so clean and free of digital artifacts such as demosaicing and noise. I’ve never seen such quality outside an M9. Even the M240 doesn’t have it ! I wrote to Brian about it and he tells me it’s probably the BIONX Z engine. I can’t wait to see this for myself !”
3) AAron: “youtube a73 -> Well this is a Korean photographer reviewing Sony A7/R. I don’t think you should post this since it is in Korean.. but you should note that he was AMAZED by A7R’s detail, almost similar to medium format camera. Also he mentions the new microlens technology vastly improves sharpness in the corner I am not sure you knew about this but Sony implemented new diffraction correction technology (also mentioned in dpreview). He shot some images at f22 at night with 55mm f1.8 and images are still sharp. You can probably post this video that he made with the camera :)”
4) Nasim posted an article comparing A7 and A7r on Photographylife.
5) Hands-on video, many new photos – also size compared to nex6, rx1 and omd at Fotopolis.
6) Article with pictures taken with a7 at Dutch press-event at Photofacts.
7) Sony Alpha 7 & 7R: Vollformat-DSLM im Praxis-Test at Chip.de (German)
8) A7-A7r ISO comparison at ZOL.
9) Sony A7/A7R-samples on Flickr.
10) Sony A7 video samples and RX10 video sample by Camerahoarders.
11) Sony A7(R) — Optical Options by Tim Ashley
12) Hands-on report by Photoscala (German).

Support SonyAlphaRumors: After months of FF mirrorless rumor work I would be glad if you can support my work by making your A7-A7r purchase by using these links below. I will earn a small commission and you don’t pay one single penny more! Thanks!

Specs and Preorders in US and Canada (Click on store name to see direct preorder page):
Dedicated Sony announcement page at Amazon US (Click here).
Sony A7r body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony A7 body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
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, FI, WexUK, WexDE.
Sony A7 body at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, FI, FR, WexUK, WexDE.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, FI, FR, WexUK, WexDE.
Sony RX10 at Sony DE, WexUK, WexDE.
Zeiss 35mm at Sony DE.
Zeiss 55mm at Sony DE.

It is Ron Scheffler super well made 21mm test that convinced me to grab the [shoplink 21602 ebay]Voigtländer Ultron 21mm f/1,8 (here on eBay)[/shoplink]. But the question is…how good do M-mount lenses work on the new A7-A7r cameras? Well, Ron just published an impressive(!) list of image samples taken with a huge amount of Leica, Zeiss and Voigtlander lenses. You can read the article and download tons of image samples here: http://www.ronscheffler.com/techtalk/?p=224.

Important note: Ron tested the A7 and not the A7r. And it looks like it’s the A7r and not the A7(!) has has offset micro lenses  that might do better with rangefinder lenses (Source: Sony.net A7r and Sonynet A7 and Sony Australia video at 17:30).

The conclusion is quite negative for the A7.

I’ll spill the beans now – none of the rangefinder lenses performed as well on the a7 as they do on the M9, specifically referring to image smearing into the edges/corners. Some are not so bad and are good enough when stopped down sufficiently, but some are outright horrible (ZM21, 28 Cron), to the point where one would think the lens was defective. Naturally there were some variable that couldn’t be tested, such as whether the Novoflex NEX-Leica M adapter I used was perfect.

and

My take on the results: I’m hoping these lenses will fare better on the a7R. Results on the a7 are for the most part disappointing. All I can surmise at the moment is that the toppings on the a7′s sensor work against achieving optimal (or in some cases, good enough) results with the rangefinder lenses I had available for this test.

I would wait before to draw any conclusions yet. The camera wasn’t final production, the adapter may be not perfect, there are still some uncertain factors that could have influenced negatively the test.

Specs and Preorders in US and Canada (Click on store name to see direct preorder page):
Dedicated Sony announcement page at Amazon US (Click here).
Sony A7r body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony A7 body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
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, FI, WexUK, WexDE.
Sony A7 body at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, FI, FR, WexUK, WexDE. Amazon DE, UK, FR.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, FI, FR, WexUK, WexDE. Amazon DE, UK, FR.
Sony RX10 at Sony DE, WexUK, WexDE.
Zeiss 35mm at Sony DE.
Zeiss 55mm at Sony DE.

SAR reader SingLag was so kind to share A7 & A7R Raw samples shot with the Zeiss 35/2.8 & 55/1.8 lenses. You can download them here http://www.sendspace.com/file/7b7f0o -> The right button to click is: “Click here to start download from sendspace”. You can open the images on Sony Image data converter (here for win and here for mac).

Support SonyAlphaRumors: After months of FF mirrorless rumor work I would be glad if you can support my work by making your A7-A7r purchase by using these links below. I will earn a small commission and you don’t pay one single penny more! Thanks!

Specs and Preorders in US and Canada (Click on store name to see direct preorder page):
Dedicated Sony announcement page at Amazon US (Click here).
Sony A7r body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony A7 body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
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, FI, WexUK, WexDE.
Sony A7 body at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, FI, FR, WexUK, WexDE.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, FI, FR, WexUK, WexDE.
Sony RX10 at Sony DE, WexUK, WexDE.
Zeiss 35mm at Sony DE.
Zeiss 55mm at Sony DE.

Photoreview Australia (Click here) is the first website posting a full Sony A7 review (Preorders: Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS). This is what they write about the Image Quality:

Images shot with the sample camera and Zeiss Sonnar T FE 35mm f/2.8 ZA lens, contained an impressive amount of detail and showed accurate colour reproduction with well-managed saturation in the default camera settings. These subjective assessments were confirmed by Imatest testing, which showed the camera to be capable of meeting and even exceeding expectations for the sensor’s resolution across a wide range of sensitivity settings.

The conclusion:

We feel the new Sony cameras present a challenge to other camera manufacturers to take a different approach and bring some excitement (and competition) to the middle and upper ends of the interchangeable-lens camera line-ups. We’d like to see some innovative products emerging from the Canon and Nikon stables…Olympus and Panasonic will likely feel the hot breath of competition on their backs. It will be interesting to see which directions they follow, whether towards full-frame CSCs or further innovations and improvements to their M4/3 products. Whatever happens, this appears to be the beginning of a great time for digital photographers.

–

Specs and Preorders in US and Canada (Click on store name to see direct preorder page):
Dedicated Sony announcement page at Amazon US (Click here).
Sony A7r body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony A7 body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
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, FI, WexUK, WexDE.
Sony A7 body at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, FI, FR, WexUK, WexDE.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, FI, FR, WexUK, WexDE.
Sony RX10 at Sony DE, WexUK, WexDE.
Zeiss 35mm at Sony DE.
Zeiss 55mm at Sony DE.