A7rii released

[WestOkid]

I have no information that would contradict that rumor, Jeff. But it does raise the question: on what planet would 59 MP be of any use to anyone? What sort of images might require that sort of resolution (Hubble telescope aside), what lens could resolve them, and who (other than a Hasselblad fan) would be willing to pay US$ 5,000 to take them? I'm not in the camera manufacturing business, but I can't imagine a strategy meeting at Sony where that kind of proposal would gain much traction. But hey, what do I know?

I agree with you David. Except Canon has the 5Ds at 50.9mp and $3700 for the body. Sony has always owned Canon in the megapixel race so I would imagine they want to keep it that way even if it's only for bragging rights. As for to 5K price tag. I think 4K may be more likely, but who knows. It would still be the cheapest 59mp camera available.

 

[jeffmurray]

Turned out it was the rumour was the new Hasselblad (and I missed seeing it last night). A Sony A7R all dressed up.

I have found the additional resolution of the A7R very handy for cropping.

Just found these (bargains): http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=Schneider+Sony&Top+Nav-Search=&N=0&sts=ma&InitialSearch=yes

These guys make glass for the Phase One medium format system up to 80 megapixels - so they should handle 59 pretty well ;-)

Sorry I was talking Aussie $ in the pricing too. I guess I am still intrigued about that 59 mega pixel leaked Tuit image http://www.diyphotography.net/the-sony-a7r-ii-seems-to-boast-a-59-megapixel-sensor/

Still wondering whether it was legitimate or someone upscaled (which seems absurd).

 

[lenshoarder]

I have no information that would contradict that rumor, Jeff. But it does raise the question: on what planet would 59 MP be of any use to anyone? What sort of images might require that sort of resolution (Hubble telescope aside), what lens could resolve them, and who (other than a Hasselblad fan) would be willing to pay US$ 5,000 to take them? I'm not in the camera manufacturing business, but I can't imagine a strategy meeting at Sony where that kind of proposal would gain much traction. But hey, what do I know?

On this planet. The "too much" resolution discussion seems to happen everytime there's a bump in resolution. From 3 to 5. From 5 to 8. From 8 to 10. From 10 to 12. From 12 to 16. From 16 to 18. You get the drift. There are always those that say X is enough, there doesn't need to be anymore. Yet after every bump, the new resolution gets quickly accepted and people rarely go back. It's jut not in this specific case, but in most things. How many people are still using 2400 baud modems? Yet some people still question why we need gigabit broadband.

What can you do with it? We crop like crazy for one thing. You no longer need a zoom. Resample that 59MP down to a lower resolution for better quality. The spatial anti-aliasing will lead to better lower resolution images. What else? Like with faster broadband, things that people can't think of right now since it hasn't been possible before.

Why are people insisting that lenses can't resolve that resolution? Do they already have a 59MP they've tried and have had their lenses fail? This same discussion happened with the 645D. Some claimed there was only one lens that could resolve it's full resolution. Others chimed in that wasn't true, there might only be one lens that resolves it wide open but all their lenses resolve it stopped down. Which is true for many lenses even at 12MP.

As for the 5K price. Cameras have sold for much more than that in the past. If there wasn't a market for cameras priced that high, then they wouldn't have kept making them all these decades. If they can make it, at 5K people will buy it.

 

[WoodWorks]

All good points, lenshoarder (and Gary). Perhaps I should have asked: on what planet would 59 MP be of any use to me.

 

[serhan]

I would like to have one, eg 2x crop will be 15MP, 3x crop 6.5MP, so it will be like a zoom with primes on it or a converter on the zooms, crop, crop, ... Using A7R I have a less tendency to crop as I frame tightly but when I used RX1 with fixed 35mm, it worked with some of the portraits when I was not close enough...

I have no information that would contradict that rumor, Jeff. But it does raise the question: on what planet would 59 MP be of any use to anyone? What sort of images might require that sort of resolution (Hubble telescope aside), what lens could resolve them, and who (other than a Hasselblad fan) would be willing to pay US$ 5,000 to take them? I'm not in the camera manufacturing business, but I can't imagine a strategy meeting at Sony where that kind of proposal would gain much traction. But hey, what do I know?

 

[jeffmurray]

Agree with all of this, however the rumor was about the new Hasselblad an A7R all dressed up in wood and aluminium :-( was so hoping for a high megapixel eMount.

 

[bartjeej]

About the lens resolving power thing, I think DSLR lens makers have had it E A S Y for the past 15 years, in terms of pure resolving power. The pixel density (and therefore the demands that are made of the lens in terms of resolution) of even the a7RII is the same as a 10mp m43 camera, or a 2mp 1.7" type sensor (yes, two megapixels). Yet we've had 1.7" type sensors with 12mp giving excellent results (in the right conditions and with a good lens, they can get very close to pixel-level sharpness). That's the same pixel density as a 261 megapixel full frame camera! I'm not sure if maintaining edge sharpness is more difficult on a full frame-serving lens (due to the larger area) or on a smaller sensor-serving lens (due to the shorter focal length and accompanying stronger class curvature), but at least in terms of center resolution, >100mp full frame should pose no problems at all. I don't know to what extent chromatic aberrations and other lens faults are more sensitive to pixel density, but those too can be handled by smaller sensor cameras (with or without software intervention), so I don't see why larger sensor/lens combinations should be limited by that.

As to what kind of resolution we need... well... I'd like to be able to slap a Voigtlander 12mm on a camera and use digital zoom to achieve a 35mm FOV without dipping below 10mp, which would require about 85mp. As it is, the a7RII would allow digital zoom up to a 10mp 24mm equivalent, which is still quite decent I'd say!

 

[nathanh]

The proceedure itself should be the same as with any SLT camera. There is a YouTube tutorial on it. It includes LA-EA4 in it's title.

The replacement mirror itself is easy to find. Any Sony service center should be able to sell you one. You can get it from Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Ersatzteil-Sony-P-O-I-SERVICE-A1976037A/dp/B00M25UUJW

But it's cheaper on German Amazon.

http://www.amazon.de/Ersatzteil-Sony-P-O-I-SERVICE-A1976037A/dp/B00M25UUJW

It's also available on ebay.

Thanks. Sony US says they are back ordered. I may go for the marked up one from Germany. It's about twice retail but still way cheaper than replacing the LA-EA4.

Luckily my current one works fine with my 500mm Sony lens, but the scratch on the mirror is likely a deal breaker for wider lenses. But I can limp along until they are back in stock in the US.

 

[lenshoarder]

Luckily my current one works fine with my 500mm Sony lens, but the scratch on the mirror is likely a deal breaker for wider lenses. But I can limp along until they are back in stock in the US.

I would just leave it alone until you actually see any reduction in IQ. Is your scratch off in the corner? There are threads about the mysterious corner scratch that shows up on the LA-EA4 mirror. Many people get it, all swear they never touched it and it always looks the same. While you can see it on the mirror, I don't recall anyone saying it effects their IQ.

 

[tomO2013]

Canadian price is looking quite high.... $3999
http://www.henrys.com/90970-SONY-ALPHA-A7R-II-BODY.aspx

I put my name down for pre-order but this will be a really tough one for me to justify to my better half.... that's a huge chunk of change. It better come with a battery charger (similar to the A7s) this time!

 

[storyteller]

It better come with a battery charger (similar to the A7s) this time!

LOL!

 

[serhan]

First impressions:
http://www.mirrorlessons.com/2015/06/16/sony-a7r-mark-2-first-impressions/

 

[chrid]

Brian Smith Did a quick hands on (remember he is paid by Sony so . . .).

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

Quick looks reveals we can finally set as a custom button silent shooting and deactivate monitor.

 

[MAubrey]

About the lens resolving power thing, I think DSLR lens makers have had it E A S Y for the past 15 years, in terms of pure resolving power. The pixel density (and therefore the demands that are made of the lens in terms of resolution) of even the a7RII is the same as a 10mp m43 camera, or a 2mp 1.7" type sensor (yes, two megapixels).

That's completely true,

The good news is, though, that even with lenses that aren't super great, a denser sensor always will produce more resolution than a less dense one for any lens. There's a really great Zeiss article in pdf somewhere that talk about that in detail. Or there's simply LensRental's practical demonstration of it with the new Canon 5Ds(R) bodies. It's something like a 20-30% gain in resolution, depending on the lens--even cheap and old 50mm f1.4 gives a 20% gain in the center.

http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2015/06/canon-5ds-and-5ds-r-initial-resolution-tests

We also already know that 42MP is a really small increase over the 36MP of the A7r. We're not going stress a lens much more than the original version.

 

[Ad Dieleman]

That's completely true,

The good news is, though, that even with lenses that aren't super great, a denser sensor always will produce more resolution than a less dense one for any lens. There's a really great Zeiss article in pdf somewhere that talk about that in detail. Or there's simply LensRental's practical demonstration of it with the new Canon 5Ds(R) bodies. It's something like a 20-30% gain in resolution, depending on the lens--even cheap and old 50mm f1.4 gives a 20% gain in the center.

http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2015/06/canon-5ds-and-5ds-r-initial-resolution-tests

We also already know that 42MP is a really small increase over the 36MP of the A7r. We're not going stress a lens much more than the original version.

Indeed, it's only an 8 % increase in linear resolution which borders on the insignificant. Things like better noise performance may be more important, apart from all the other new and really interesting features.

 

[robbie36]

Indeed, it's only an 8 % increase in linear resolution which borders on the insignificant. Things like better noise performance may be more important, apart from all the other new and really interesting features.

People shouldnt expect too much from the BSI sensor. The RX100 moved from CMOS to BSI CMOS between versions 1 and 2. According to DXOmark, this made no difference to the DR and added about 1/4 of a stop to iso performance. Maybe there will be a little less read noise with the new design as well but there is very little with the existing sensor. The main advantage to more pixels is cropping for me (especially when you are talking above 36MP.

For me the big plus for the sensor is that data transmission is 3.5 times faster with the new design allowing 5 FPS with continuous tracking.

 

[jeffmurray]

Agreed and hopefully faster processing of Long Exposures.

Sent from my GT-I9305T using TalkEmount mobile app

 

[robbie36]

Agreed and hopefully faster processing of Long Exposures.

Sent from my GT-I9305T using TalkEmount mobile app

I very much suspect that 'slow' processing time for long exposures is caused by you having 'Long Exposure Noise Reduction' set to 'on' in the camera. If that is the case when you take a 25 second long exposure, the camera will make another 25 second 'dark' exposure at the same time and subtract the dark image from the second image to reduce noise. So in effect the camera takes 26 seconds to process the long exposure.

I very much doubt the A7rii will be able to do anything about reducing this time frame if it uses the same methodology. You can of course switch Long Exposure Noise Reduction to 'off'. Alternatively you can simply take one dark frame and use Photoshop to 'subtract' that from your long exposures.

 

[MAubrey]

Indeed, it's only an 8 % increase in linear resolution which borders on the insignificant. Things like better noise performance may be more important, apart from all the other new and really interesting features.

There's potential for more if Sony has successfully improved pixel efficiency, too, which (at least in theory) BSI could potentially provide.

But yes. 8% is really only sounds amazing in the marketing materials as 42MP.

 

[cvt01]

I have to admit that this thing gives me the urge to go bankrupt. No camera body was able to accomplish this since the announcement of the Canon 5D classic (I resisted back then).
I can't find the flash sync speed of the r II anywhere listed. The a7r I had 1/160, which was off-putting for anybody who liked to use flash. I'm hoping they were able to improve that too.