A7R mk II Announced - 42.4MP, 5-axis Stabilization, Internal 4k, $3,200.
- Thread starter dcloud
- Start date
Canon said that they will make several models of 5D, each fitting into its unique niche. Thus, 5Ds/r has the high MPX count while, presumably, 5D MK IV/5D C will be more geared toward video. But ... A7r MK II is tops in both stills and video and yet priced lower than 5D s/r.
As to "1 D X2", it would make sense for it to be sort of like A7r MK II but with a bit more of everything and at a higher price, as to not to compete directly against it. At ~ $8,000, it'd still be half of the C300 MK II, but it'll need an intermediate bit rate recording, 10-bit HDMI 2.0 out, reasonably high frame rate, Dual Pixel AF, etc.
AndreeOnline
Veteran
This is a great release from Sony. But I'm not leaving my Canon lenses anytime soon, and I don't want to use adaptors.
The A7R II is due in August—so it's a while out. Hopefully Canon can at least do a soft launch close to that.
My hopes are a 1Dx mkII that splits the difference between 18MP and 40-50MP, uses Dual Pixel AF, lends the 15 stops from the C300 mkII (and there are solid rumours pointing in this direction), fast sensor readout, has 10bit and Canon Log 2.
While the 1Dx mkII will easily be twice the price, that would be secondary to me if the boxes are ticked.
Nonetheless, for the price and size, a great move by Sony raising the bar which in turn benefits everyone.
The A7R II is due in August—so it's a while out. Hopefully Canon can at least do a soft launch close to that.
My hopes are a 1Dx mkII that splits the difference between 18MP and 40-50MP, uses Dual Pixel AF, lends the 15 stops from the C300 mkII (and there are solid rumours pointing in this direction), fast sensor readout, has 10bit and Canon Log 2.
While the 1Dx mkII will easily be twice the price, that would be secondary to me if the boxes are ticked.
Nonetheless, for the price and size, a great move by Sony raising the bar which in turn benefits everyone.
Peer
Member
Yep, if the 1DC was 10-bit back when it was launched, it would've been a deal breaker for me -- now I also demand peaking and zebras. Hey Canon, how difficult can it be..?!
-- peer
Samuel H
Major Contributor
Sony seems to be throwing all it has into their new cameras in the last year or two. Same with Samsung. I get a completely different vibe with Canon...
I posted my thoughts on the camera on this other thread.
Any news about the base ISO for slog2 on the a7R II?
I posted my thoughts on the camera on this other thread.
Any news about the base ISO for slog2 on the a7R II?
Erik Naso
Veteran
DP review says the new a7rII has improved AF performance with Canon EF lenses and Metabones adapter. Smart move since they dont have near the linup and would be an easy camera to buy knowing your AF with EF lenses will actually work and work well.
From DPreview:
One of the most impressive features of the a7R II is its autofocus system. 399 phase-detection AF points cover 45% of the frame, which means over 60% coverage in either horizontal or vertical directions in the frame. That gives it more coverage than any full-frame camera out there. PDAF will work even with third-party lenses via existing adapters, including in continuous AF tracking mode.
This is potentially a huge deal – especially for Canon users. We’ve used an a7R II with a Canon 24-70mm lens and a Metabones adapter, and focus is indeed very fast indeed. We’ll be looking at this in more depth as soon as we have a production sample camera, but for now, we’re highly impressed. Canon should expect some cancelled EOS 5DS orders…
From Sony:
"S-Log2 Gamma setting:
This proprietarySony setting featured in professional camcorders creates a 1300%wider dynamic range for smooth gradation with reduced whiteout andblackout. Use color grading in post-production to make the most oflow-noise images and super-rich detail to express footage in variousways. ISO 800 or higher is available when S-Log2 Gamma is selected."
I take it 800 base ISO from the above.
Link: http://www.sony.net/Products/di/en-us/products/dkw5/feature.html?contentsTop=1
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Matt Gottshalk
Resident Preditor
Anyone know if the RAW files will actually be 14-bit this time?
Samuel H
Major Contributor
Thanks a lot. That's pretty good. I'd think ISO 800-1600-3200 should be clean and usable, even at FF 4K with line skipping (the a7R is one stop behind the a7S in downsampled RAW stills, so the a7R II should match it, thanks to the BSI sensor; 2x2 line skipping means a loss of light of two stops, so in 4K video 3200 on the a7R II should be similar to 12800 on the a7S).
joe 1008
Veteran
It will be really interesting how much alaiasing there is, given the pixel densiry on a backlit sensor. Even with skipped lines the distans between photodiodes should be quite narrow.
If thats the case then the s35 mode would be really good
legrevedotcom
Veteran
Now imagine what the A7s II is going to be like........... Seriously, owning Canon lenses wont automatically make me buy a canon body. Heck, I might not even consider the 5D4 if the next Sony is going to be amazing.
Again, Canon ****ING up their own brand with doing too many versions of something that should be relatively simple. Can't be bothered anymore...
Again, Canon ****ING up their own brand with doing too many versions of something that should be relatively simple. Can't be bothered anymore...
cpc
Well-known member
From the site:
Imo, that's the most exciting feature, IF they deliver.
The A7II already has continuous AF in video. It's not good enough for tracking though.
cpc
Well-known member
I think the whole A7 series have that without aperture restrictions.
It just isn't good enough yet.
Samuel H
Major Contributor
I think the s35 mode should be on par with the S35 mode of the a7S. After downsampling, the a7S is about a stop better in very low light than the original a7R (actually, a bit less, maybe 0.66 stops), which is the improvement I'd expect to see when switching to a BSI sensor.
To me, the s35 mode of the a7S is perfect up to ISO 6400, and starts getting noisy from 12800 onwards. Being able to change from ISO 800 to 6400 without introducing a meaningful amount of noise makes for a very fast run-and-gun shooting experience (you can set an intermediate ND and change ISO instead to compensate lighting conditions).
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I think moire will be very minor in the FF 4K mode of the a7R II. It's only skipping half of the rows (the 5D2 was skipping two thirds of its rows), and they are so close together that you'd need a really sharp lens and a very fine pattern to get moire to show up. Going technical: you'll need a lens that resolves at least 1280 line pairs per image height. A good prime can give you that only in the center of the image. A not-so-great prime, or a zoom, not even there. Link with lots of lp/ih numbers from a7R tests.
Plus, the Sony moire is usually monochrome, nowhere as bad as the flying rainbows from Canon.
Aliasing will probably appear more often, but it is much less of a problem than moire. I'd worry more about the bad rescaling algorithms of youtube and vimeo than about the line skipping on the a7R II.
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For the a7S II, I was expecting just "what we have, plus IBIS". Now I have to add internal 4K, of course. In-sensor phase-detect AF is not that simple, because it requires a new sensor, which is expensive to develop; so probably it will only happen if Sony considers the a7S to be a success in terms of sales. No idea about whether that is the case. But even with that, it wouldn't probably feel like a great upgrade from the a7R II, which (it seems) is also a monster for stills. They'd have to add something else, and what I'd ask for is slog3+sgamut3, providing one or two stops more DR and solving the color issues of sgamut.
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Samuel H
Major Contributor
I always thought pixel binning was like taking an analogue average of several photosites, while line skipping is reading some only of the lines. So, pixel binning is good, line skipping is not good. And then, some manufacturers (like Sony in this release) talk about pixel binning as if it was the same as line skipping, or at least as if it was something awful (they say the a7R II doesn't do that in S35 mode). So, who knows...
A7s is a huge success for Sony ... and Atomos and Convergent Design too.
I think - my speculation based on purely retail experience - they will continue to develop it. If they could add BSI and up the res to ~ 18 MPX, they should be able to maintain the ISO performance while also enabling the internal 4K with the improved stills capability, faster AF, etc. At $1,700-$2,000, it should sell well.