[JohnBee]

Just to keep this thread going, Sony has announced that the A7SII will have compressed and uncompressed 14 bit RAW. I don't think anyone knows exactly whether these data files will have lossy compressed or non-lossy compressed or just uncompressed RAW. They also announced that this firmware change will be backfit starting with A7RII. They also announced that they are going to increase the existing 13 FE lenses with 7 more FE lenses to be released in 2016.

Very encouraging to hear.
I ordered an A7r II shortly after reading the official announcement by Sony on the uncompressed RAW changes.

[philbaum]

Hopefully they add this to the A7II.

I can't imagine them not putting it on A7II. Looking back on my A7RII purchase, the most important feature is that 5 axis IBIS, IMO. There is an awful lot of bang for the buck in the A7II. I didn't think it would be as important as it turned out to be. It not only improves the IQ, but it also improves the ability to see detail in the VF. And if one is going to take video - no comparison.

And why would they not put the update in every A7x model. Cheapest and best advertising is word of mouth and a lot of owners will be inspired that Sony is taking care of their investment. I'm guessing that currently Sony has less than about 8% of ILC. I'm thinking with the A7RII and now the A7SII that Sony's market share will triple to 24% - and over time, even more. I don't see anything standing in their way. There are now 3 of us in our photo club that bought A7rII. We've gotten together once to exchange and compare lenses.

[osv]

There are now 3 of us in our photo club that bought A7rII. We've gotten together once to exchange and compare lenses.

has any of that crew done any low-light stage shooting with the a7rii? i'm curious to hear how it stacks up against the k-3, or whatever, with fe-mount lenses and whatever other af glass that they have.

[philbaum]

has any of that crew done any low-light stage shooting with the a7rii? i'm curious to hear how it stacks up against the k-3, or whatever, with fe-mount lenses and whatever other af glass that they have.

An opportunity is coming up in about a week. I took the following shot with the kit lens 28-70, and have little concern about stage work, but we'll see :-)

56mm, F5(fastest aperture for that FL), 1/30s, and pushed it to 16,000 iso from 6400 (to get the upper part of the hotel to show up.

[IMG][/IMG]

A faster lens would have made this picture easier - i have the 55 1.8 on order. I applied a little noise reduction but it doesn't look that bad at 1:1. I processed it in LR 5.7 In any case, i was impressed with the camera's ability to take this shot handheld.

---

Last edited by philbaum; 09-19-2015 at 11:47 PM.

[neostyles]

There is also the a99ii which is due to be announced in a few weeks also looks to be quite good. Love the function of the compact full frame systems but like the form factor of a dslr. I have pretty big hands, which is most of the reason i guess. You also get the benefit of much better live view shooting which is a pretty meh on my nikon. Took it into a church and got amazing shots but the live view shooting was very hard because of the shutter lag. One of the great things about a dslt is that the mirror doesnt have to flip up during life view shooting, which is great because instead of just being sort of a gimmick it actually becomes a useful tool. The original a99 seems to have some faults of the d600. The low bitrate codec and lack of af are kind of a turnoff. As is the fact that its low light isnt even up to d600 standards. I dont know maybe the low light isnt so important to someone looking to do weddings and such? But the low bitrate is defenitely a problem having shot with the low bitrates on the d600 and seeing how i didnt get that much legroom in post.

I dont know, is low light a gimmick? I feel like up to iso 3200 and maybe 4000 is a useful and this is where cameras should be focusing on, trying to get better signal to noise ratios at these isos. Going up to the super high ranges of like 51,000 isnt really that useful is it? The highest ive done so far on paid gig is 1600 and i wasnt that impressed wit the low light on the d600. Was at least a few stops below the stills. I dont know, i just dont see someone having any use for iso 100,000. Havent continuous lighting and strobes kind of made that unnecessary? Im still a baby compared to many people here so i may be way off the mark I guess.

[philbaum]

I don't think low light is a gimmick. But low light is going to vary between photographers and their niche. Wedding photographers have one opinion, photojournalists another, etc.

i wouldn't hesitate to shoot at 6400 iso for drama pics and some fine art pics. What this camera offers is not only the standard FF 6400 ISO performance, but the 5 axis stabilization which impressed me. More useful than i thought it could be.

[JohnBee]

There is also the a99ii which is due to be announced in a few weeks also looks to be quite good.

I haven't heard about this.
That said, I'm under the impression that Sony is finished with SLT technology in favor of mirrorless. I could be wrong, though it appears as though all fingers are pointed in this direction.

[neostyles]

(SR3) A99II with 36MP and fastest AF of the world. | sonyalpharumors

My local camera store did actually tell me that they dont carry the sony slt systems because no one is interested, but i think its safe to say that we will be seeing us some more slt action

[JohnBee]

(SR3) A99II with 36MP and fastest AF of the world. | sonyalpharumors

That rumor which was claimed to be 50% sure, was posted over a year ago however.

[itshimitis]

(SR3) A99II with 36MP and fastest AF of the world. | sonyalpharumors

My local camera store did actually tell me that they dont carry the sony slt systems because no one is interested, but i think its safe to say that we will be seeing us some more slt action

Look at the date - that story is more than a year old.

[Rondec]

There is also the a99ii which is due to be announced in a few weeks also looks to be quite good. Love the function of the compact full frame systems but like the form factor of a dslr. I have pretty big hands, which is most of the reason i guess. You also get the benefit of much better live view shooting which is a pretty meh on my nikon. Took it into a church and got amazing shots but the live view shooting was very hard because of the shutter lag. One of the great things about a dslt is that the mirror doesnt have to flip up during life view shooting, which is great because instead of just being sort of a gimmick it actually becomes a useful tool. The original a99 seems to have some faults of the d600. The low bitrate codec and lack of af are kind of a turnoff. As is the fact that its low light isnt even up to d600 standards. I dont know maybe the low light isnt so important to someone looking to do weddings and such? But the low bitrate is defenitely a problem having shot with the low bitrates on the d600 and seeing how i didnt get that much legroom in post.

I dont know, is low light a gimmick? I feel like up to iso 3200 and maybe 4000 is a useful and this is where cameras should be focusing on, trying to get better signal to noise ratios at these isos. Going up to the super high ranges of like 51,000 isnt really that useful is it? The highest ive done so far on paid gig is 1600 and i wasnt that impressed wit the low light on the d600. Was at least a few stops below the stills. I dont know, i just dont see someone having any use for iso 100,000. Havent continuous lighting and strobes kind of made that unnecessary? Im still a baby compared to many people here so i may be way off the mark I guess.

I wouldn't say that low light photography is a "gimmick," it is something that is awfully handy to be able to do. If you are a wedding photographer and you have to shoot a candle lit reception or, as Phil does, shoot plays in a darkened theater or, shoot rock concerts, then you need the very best performance at the highest iso you can get.

There are many situations where folks would do better either to invest in a tripod or, to learn flash photography, but there are certainly a lot of places where those things aren't feasible and you want your camera to perform the best that it can.

[tuco]

I wouldn't say that low light photography is a "gimmick," it is something that is awfully handy to be able to do. If you are a wedding photographer and you have to shoot a candle lit reception or, as Phil does, shoot plays in a darkened theater or, shoot rock concerts, then you need the very best performance at the highest iso you can get.

And these super high ISO shots have DR that is terrible. Substandard even. But who cares what the tonal range of skin or the scene is when you have low noise, right?

I guess if you absolutely have to get the shot (you are on assignment for news parper, blog, etc or doing if for fun -not paid for, quality work) and you can't get the ISO down with supplementary light then, yeah, extremely high ISO is what you have to do.

[Rondec]

And these super high ISO shots have DR that is terrible. Substandard even. But who cares what the tonal range of skin or the scene is when you have low noise, right?

I guess if you absolutely have to get the shot (you are on assignment for news parper, blog, etc or doing if for fun -not paid for, quality work) and you can't get the ISO down with supplementary light then, yeah, extremely high ISO is what you have to do.

I wouldn't shoot super high iso for landscape photography for exactly the reason you say, but say for a rock concert, having a gritty feel to your photo probably isn't a big deal. That said, what you get at these isos, even on the best full frame sensors is sub optimal to say the least and if you can figure out how to drop your iso down, you will get better results.

[neostyles]

https://www.wimarys.com/sony-a-mount-dead/


Multiple sources confirm that the a mount isnt going anywhere

[philbaum]

Strong Sony mirrorless sales figures in USA! | sonyalpharumors

The charts report is dated from Sep 18 and data is from a commercial firm. Also these are apparent dollar value of sales , not in unit terms.

Not the best of charts, but easy to see why Sony is continuing to pour money into FE and E body and lens developments.