GAS ... SONY A7RII

[Frank Fremerey]

Today I sat in mass and .... normally I should have my heart with god .... suddenly lighting strikes me and I know:

I must have a Sony A7Rii ASAP

Now practical questions arise:

1) where can I try before I buy?
2) which is the best Nikon F adapter with full AF support?
3) beside the two BATIS gems and the 2.0/90mm Macro which native lenses do I need?
4) Is there an Alpha-Sinar-plate available?

[Akira]

1) Sorry, I can't answer.
2) Unfortunately, there is no F adapter that supports AF.  I think Sony E, m4/3 and Canon EOS happened to use the same communication protocoll.  There doesn't seem to be any hope for E type Nikkor support either...
3) Zeiss 55/1.8 maybe?
4) Why don't you add an F to FE adapter?

[Olivier]

In such situation (strong envy but no well defined plan obviously), it pays to take your time.
In my case, it allows me to cool down and realise that new gear is not what I need (not speaking of you here).
Good luck with your search!

[Rick Popham]

Hi Frank,

Is there a way for you to rent this camera and a lens or two?  I've been using LensRentals (US) this summer to try out the gear I'm interested in.  So far this summer I've tried the Fuji X-T1 and an IR modified D800.  My next rental will be the A7rII, but the Batis lenses won't be availble via LR until September so I'm going to wait awhile.  In the meantime I've been reading about it and checking out some of the user reviews that have been popping up.

Akira is right -- no adapter for Nikon AF (we can always hope). 

[Jan Anne]

Actually a Nikon F to Sony E autofocus adapter has been in development for a while now:
http://nikongear.net/revival/index.php?topic=233.msg1577#msg1577

Gems for the Sony a7 series are the Sony Zeiss 35/1.4 and 55/1.8, for manual focus have look at the Zeiss Loxia 35/2 and 50/2 which are the modern equivalent of existing Zeiss designs for the Leica M cameras.

Before jumping into the Zeiss Batis 85/1.8 please realise a Sony 85/1.4G is rumoured to be on the horizon.

Btw you mentioned an other camera in your post (a7 MKII) vs the title (a7R MKII), please note a MKII version of the a7S is also eminent which will probably have all the extra features of the R model combined with a low res and insane ISO sensor.

[Frank Fremerey]

Jan-Anne: just corrected it.

[Frank Fremerey]

current reviews (I will add to list as long as modification is open):

http://briansmith.com/field-test-sony-a7rii/ and http://briansmith.com/sony-a7rii-field-test-2/

http://resourcemagonline.com/2015/08/review-the-a7r-ii-is-the-best-camera-sony-has-ever-made/

as a comment to that review: http://store.waitbutwhy.com/collections/front-page-new/products/happiness-reality-expectations (and from the coolest blog in the world anyway)

http://briansmith.com/sony-a-mount-lens-sony-a7rii-guide/

possibly second hand smoke, but hope is not suppressed so easily: http://briansmith.com/is-there-finally-nikon-sony-e-mount-af-adapter/

[simsurace]

What do you need this new camera for? I'm curious.

Does the A7RII have 14bit RAW?
Also, have a look at this, it may or may not be relevant for you
http://diglloyd.com/blog/2015/20150819_1136-SonyA7R_II-posterization-BlueLake.html

Personally, I would wait a little bit, I don't trust Sony enough to jump at this . But I don't need any new camera currently, so the situation is different.

YMMV

[Jan Anne]

Sony is working on 14bits RAWs and yes they should have had it on day one 

[Akira]

Jan, I missed your previous thread on the development of F to E adapter.  Interesting.

I didn't like the fact that Sony had been reluctant to offer 14bit RAW files, either.  RX1(R) I used yielded 14bit RAW, but, for some unknown reason, the bit depth was reduced to 12 when long exposure noise subtraction was applied.

I don't like Nikon's concept of reducing the RAW file quality to lossy compressed only (though still 14bit) on D5X00 models and lossy 12bit only on D3X00 models.  Canon enables 14bit RAWs for all the way down to the entry model DSLRs and M series models.

[Rick Popham]

It's good to hear that Sony is working on this.  There must be some sort of hardware difficulty, because people have been criticizing the "lossy compressed" RAW format since the first cameras were introduced and now the 5th camera in the series still has no other options, while Nikons in the same price range offer Uncompressed, lossless compressed and lossy compressed in both 12 and 14 bit.

I wouldn't shoot a 14 bit uncompressed 42MP RAW file all the time, but I find the 14 bit lossless compressed option in my D800 to be an excellent compromise between file size and image quality.  Maybe people are just used to having options.  10 years ago my D70 only offered a compressed RAW format and I didn't feel limited by that.  I'm sure the Sony RAW is also perfectly fine most of the time.  But these days most of the cameras (especially cameras in this price range) allow us to select the level of compromise we're willing to accept. 

[tommiejeep]

Rick, it seems to me that Sony replaces a model rather than using firmware to correct issues or add functions.  I've actually paid little to no attention to Sony cameras so maybe Jan Anne can chime in.  Of course I am not talking about hardware such as IBIS/ new sensors?4K vids  .  It appears that the a7rII may have a few issues that could be sorted with Firmware but that could just be Net Noise or, as in the case of the D800, many newbies and user error 
Tom

[Frank Fremerey]

Try before I buy is my point one on the questions list.
The new Sony comes at a price and if it is only good on paper I will not fall for it in the end.

Example. If the AF performance is  stellar compared to previous Sony offerings it does not mean it is stellar in absolute
terms. And stellar with wich lenses?

Other example 24MP seemed tooo much for me when the D3X came out
but I was tempted to try the D600 vs the D800 when these came.

Result was that I can gain a clearly visible  advantage with the new generation if I do practice good shooting technique.
After acquiring the D600 in 2013 I needed one year to actually realize this advantage in.praczical shootinh.

so 42MP?

I guess part of the equation to profit from HighRes in real life is to
have stabilisation. But tripods are impractical or not permitted
in many a situation.

Last point for me is the smaller size and silent operation.

My X100T is a good example for great results in both respects.

Sony a7ii I had in my hands with the 2/90mm and I did not like it
to be so front heavy. But it was great with the batis and the Sony 55mm

[tommiejeep]

Frank, I think if God had told me to buy the a7rII I would have quietly asked God Why?

I'm actually tempted to pick up a cheap a6000 with the 35 2.8 and 55 1.8 just to see how I like it.   The price of the a7rII will come down and at the moment I am not going to be an 'early adopter' at the price.

I'm not interested in the 90mm but interesting what Jan Anne said about an 85 1.4 coming down the pike.  Size, weight , price?

I am interested in the silent operation.  Size and weight of the a7II/a7rII doesn't give ma much in relation to the Df and some of the primes.    The Olympus EM1 is pretty darned quiet and it has features that I really like just small sensor.  My wife's new printer will be with us next week and she plans to print  a lot of images, most at A3 size so the EM1 is more than adequate .

You said the Batis 85, Sony 55 were a good fit on the a7II, is that what you meant or a7rII ? One of the other reasons for trying the Sony is to get away from fine tuning but the Df has not needed fine tuning but the D7100/D750 do 

I've just put out a 'feeler' for someone wanting to sell/trade a7II.

All the best in finding a place to try an a7rII 
Tom
ps  India is not the place to try and pick up great , old Leica lenses 

[stenrasmussen]

Frank, when I (not as my personal preferred choice) attend mass my mind starts drifting too  and cameras are a nice topic to dwell on.
I am sure the A7RII will mature (via firmware updates) to a fine camera but the recent shortcommings are preventing me from lusting (which by church-standards is something one ought to refrain from). On the other hand, the more early adopters the more is to be revealed - keeping the manufacturers on their toes - to the benefit of photographers.