New Sony Alpha a7RII Mirrorless Brings 42 MP Stills and Internal 4K Video

Holy smokes! Sony just dropped a bomb today with the announcement of the new 42 mega pixel 4K internal recording mirrorless beast. The a7R II. The camera is available for preorder selling for $3198.

a7RII PRODUCT HIGHLIGHTS

• 42 MP Full-Frame Exmor R BSI CMOS Sensor
• BIONZ X Image Processor
• Internal UHD 4K Video & S-Log2 Gamma
• 5-Axis SteadyShot INSIDE Stabilization
• 399 Phase-Detect AF Points & 5 fps Burst
• 0.5″ 2.36M-Dot XGA OLED Tru-Finder EVF
• 3.0″ 1,228.8k-Dot Tilting LCD Monitor
• ISO 102,400 and Silent Shutter Mode
• Durable Reduced-Vibration Shutter Design
• Built-In Wi-Fi Connectivity with NFC

The a7RII will shot video with the XAVC S7 format at 100 Mbps and 50 Mbps in full HD. With the high pixel count it will be interesting to see how it will perform in lowlight video. I cant imaging it will be at par to the A7s but Sony has some sensor mojo with the new Exmor R back-illuminated structure CMOS sensor. We shall see.

The A7s has really bad rolling shutter. I mean really bad. Hopefully that will get addressed with this new camera. Faster read out could help. Like the A7s the full frame a7RII has a crop mode. It’s actually S35 and when recording in UHD 4K 3840 x 2160p it does so without pixel binning. That should keep moire and aliasing to a minimum. The a7RII has a Five-axis SteadyShot INSIDE image stabilization compensating for vertical, horizontal, pitch, yaw, and roll movements. That sounds awesome right? Every lens you use will now be image stabilized. I sure hope it works with video too.

The a7RII shoots Full HD 1920 x 1080p at up to 60 fps and 1,280 x 720 50 Mbps is possible at 120 fps. S-Log2 Gamma and S-Gamut settings as well as fully customizable picture profiles.

Image size (pixels)

[NTSC]
XAVC S 4K: 3,840 x 2,160 (30p/100 Mbps, 30p/60 Mbps, 24p/100 Mbps, 24p/60 Mbps)
XAVC S HD: 1,920 x 1,080 (60p/50 Mbps, 30p/50 Mbps, 24p/50 Mbps), 1,280 x 720 (120p/50 Mbps)
AVCHD: 1920 x 1080 (60p/28Mbps/PS, 60i/24Mbps/FX, 60i/17Mbps/FH, 24p/24Mbps/FX, 24p/17Mbps/FH)
MP4: 1,920 x 1,080 (60p/28 Mbps, 30p/16 Mbps), 1,280 x 720 (30p/6 Mbps)

[PAL]
XAVC S 4K: 3,840 x 2,160 (25p/100 Mbps, 25p/60 Mbps)
XAVC S HD: 1,920 x 1,080 (50p/50 Mbps, 25p/50 Mbps), 1,280 x 720 (100p/50 Mbps)
AVCHD: 1920 x 1080 (50p/28Mbps/PS, 50i/24Mbps/FX, 50i/17Mbps/FH, 25p/24Mbps/FX, 25p/17Mbps/FH)
MP4: 1,920 x 1,080 (50p/28 Mbps, 25p/16 Mbps), 1,280 x 720 (25p/6 Mbps)

HDMI Clean Output

NTSC: 3,840 x 2,160 (30p/24p) / 1,920 x 1,080 (60p/24p) / 1,920 x 1,080 (60i), YCbCr 4:2:2 8 bit / RGB 8 bit

PAL: 3,840 x 2,160 (25p) / 1,920 x 1,080 (50p) / 1,920 x 1,080 (50i), YCbCr 4:2:2 8 bit/ RGB 8 bit

Still images: ISO

100-25600 (expandable to ISO 50-102400 for shooting still images), AUTO (ISO 100-6400, selectable lower limit and upper limit)

Movies: ISO

100-25600 equivalent, AUTO (ISO 100-6400 equivalent, selectable lower limit and upper limit)

42 MP Full-Frame Exmor R BSI CMOS Sensor

The AF system received its own massive upgrade with the use of 399 phase-detect points and 25 contrast-detect points for a speedy Fast Hybrid AF system which will offer extremely accurate tracking. The phase-detection points even extend to A-mount lenses when used with the LA-EA1 and LA-EA3 adapter.

I just read on DPreview that the new AF system works really well with Canon lenses too. Thats brilliant! Even with the EF to E- Mount Metabones adapter. I get pretty poor AF with the A7s and this adapter . Below is a quote from the reviewer.

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…

The body is a little bigger too and one feature that looks like it’s the same is the video record button on the side. It appears to be the same. Please Sony allow video record with the shutter button!

The video is overly sharp. I don’t know why camera manufacturers like to crank up the sharpening however the detail is crazy good and ISO 3200 looks good too even on Youtube.

The inputs have moved from the A7s to the top of camera. I’m not sure I like this. It could make holding the camera with at least three cables attached difficult.

Other Camera Features

• Picture Effect modes: Posterization (Color, B&W), Pop Color, Retro Photo, Partial Color (R/G/B/Y), High Contrast Monochrome, Toy Camera, Soft High-Key, Soft Focus, HDR Painting, Rich-Tone Monochrome, Miniature, Watercolor, and Illustration.
• Creative Style settings: Standard, Vivid, Neutral, Clear, Deep, Light, Portrait, Landscape, Sunset, Night Scene, Autumn Leaves, Black & White, and Sepia (all with +/- 3 step contrast, saturation, and sharpness adjustment).
• Color space: sRGB standard (with sYCC gamut) and Adobe RGB standard compatible with TRILUMINOS Color.
• Picture Profile parameters: Black Level, Gamma (Movie, Still, Cine 1-4, ITU709, ITU709 [800%], S-Log2), Black Gamma, Knee, Color Mode, Color Level, Color Phase, Color Depth, Detail, Copy, and Reset.
• Scene Selection modes: Portrait, Landscape, Macro, Sports Action, Sunset, Night Portrait, Night Scene, Hand-held Twilight, and Anti Motion Blur.
• Face Detection is available to base exposure and focus on up to eight recognized faces. Furthermore, Eye AF can be used for even greater precision by maintaining critical focus on a subject’s eye.
• 2x Clear Image Zoom can be used to effectively double the magnification afforded by any lens in use with minimal image degradation. For even greater magnification, 1.5x and 2x Smart zoom is available, as well as 4x digital zoom.
• Pre-flash TTL control with flash bracketing available and a variety of flash modes, including: Flash off, auto, fill-flash, rear sync, slow sync, red-eye reduction, hi-speed sync, and wireless control.

The a7RII looks like a incredible camera and I cant wait to get my hands on one. If video is as good as the A7s with better rolling shutter performance watch your wallet because bills are coming out. I also noticed that the a7RII uses the same NP-FW50 battery as the A7s. Bummer because they are awful. I have six and thats almost enough for a day. Hopefully the a7RII has better power performance.

Last is a new 5″ LCD monitor. The CLM-FHD5. It has a viewing assist function for Slog. No pricing info yet.

CLM-FHD5 Highlights

More info available on B&H and Sony

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Filed in: 4K • a7RII • A7s • Featured Post • Mirrorless • New Release • Sony
Tagged with: a7RII • Sony