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Sony A7R II official user thread


Andrew Reid
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Hello!

Tonight I made a test of the ISO performance of the camera in still mode and I shot with both the mechanical and the electronic shutter to finally asses whether there's a reduction in quality like in other cameras or not.. I have to check the files more extensively and take a little bit more time to analyse them but I feel pretty confident to say that the electronic shutter on the α7R II looks pretty much indistinguishable from its mechanical counterpart and this is just insanely amazing! (especially for a time-lapse photographer, eheh!)

Awesome, that's really good news for time lapse enthusiasts. Kudos for the thorough testing!

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Quite an interesting test that one.

Good to see the full frame mode is looking so good. The only time I will be using S35 mode is when I want to use ISO 6400+ and Speed Booster in very low light.

It was never going to be a minimal rolling shutter 4K camera from a 42MP sensor.

But even the fact it has less rolling shutter in 4K than the A7S does in 1080p shows an impressive step up in sensor readout speed. And that it is able to match the GH4 despite the enormous difference in sensor size and resolution is mind-blowing.

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The overheat issue has got me extremely concerned... considering this was the run and gun canon dslr 4K killer, if it overheats on a doc or live shoot it is essentially a flop of a camera, but thats just me. Reliability honestly is the top feature for me.

This.  I had a strong hunch it'd overheat.  My RX100 overheated, my NEX 5n, NEX-7, etc.  I remember 4 years ago going to Florida with the 5n - in 93 degree temps it would only shoot about a minute of video.  Lost some precious footage / shooting opportunities of my kids.  Yes I'm still bitter, and yes, reliability trumps all.

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Quite an interesting test that one.

Good to see the full frame mode is looking so good. The only time I will be using S35 mode is when I want to use ISO 6400+ and Speed Booster in very low light.

It was never going to be a minimal rolling shutter 4K camera from a 42MP sensor.

But even the fact it has less rolling shutter in 4K than the A7S does in 1080p shows an impressive step up in sensor readout speed. And that it is able to match the GH4 despite the enormous difference in sensor size and resolution is mind-blowing.

Yep I agree. S35 for these low light shots. 

Here there is a quantification of the RS: https://***URL not allowed***/sony-a7rii-rolling-shutter/

29ms. Same as NX1. 

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Hello everybody!

 

As requested by some of you I’ve shot two other image quality tests:

 

1) The first one is a test of the ClearImage Zoom function (on both FF and S35 crop)

2) The second one is a test of the different detail settings (-7,0,+7) again both in FF and S35 crop

 

All the test have been shot in 4K with S-Log2/S-Gamut PP at base ISO800

 

Once again i think there is a lot to be impressed with the performance of the camera: the image is remarkably clean and almost entirely free of artefacts even with the ClearImage Zoom turned on so it could definitely be an very useful tool to add extra flexibility to a prime lens, for instance.

Like all previous test already shown, the S35 is the better quality mode of the two but FF is absolutely not bad and entirely usable (with the sole exception of low light situations as we’ve seen).

I’m also happy to see that the detail setting pushed at the maximum level of +7 don’t produce nasty artefacts or hard edges so it could be used if a quick turn around with minimal postproduction is required (although is always better to sharpen in post whenever possible)

 

As always i uploaded a better quality of the video if you prefer here: http://we.tl/oCrvpYSM06

 

Thanks for watching!!

 

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picked up my a7r II today and the very first thing I did was see how it handles long takes. 

20 minutes of record time in 4k 100 Mbit before the camera overheats and shuts off. 

You get a warning message something along these lines before it goes blank though: 

"Camera too hot. Let it cool down." How coy Sony. 

 

 

 

This has to be addressed or I will have to return the camera. The s35 Jello is disappointing, but something I can deal with by sticking to FF mode for most of my shots. The camera overheating makes it a very bad choice for any kind of documentary or live recording. Its one of those things you can't explain your client. Imagine missing the moment because the camera overheated in room-temp.

 

I am sure it can handle longer takes in 1080p, but lets not try to find reasons to make something broken acceptable. I hope there is a way Sony can correct this, but it seems like more of a heat sink issue rather than something that can be fixed with a firmware update.

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picked up my a7r II today and the very first thing I did was see how it handles long takes. 

20 minutes of record time in 4k 100 Mbit before the camera overheats and shuts off. 

You get a warning message something along these lines before it goes blank though: 

"Camera too hot. Let it cool down." How coy Sony. 

This has to be addressed or I will have to return the camera. The s35 Jello is disappointing, but something I can deal with by sticking to FF mode for most of my shots. The camera overheating makes it a very bad choice for any kind of documentary or live recording. Its one of those things you can't explain your client. Imagine missing the moment because the camera overheated in room-temp.

I am sure it can handle longer takes in 1080p, but lets not try to find reasons to make something broken acceptable. I hope there is a way Sony can correct this, but it seems like more of a heat sink issue rather than something that can be fixed with a firmware update.

Yeah that doesn't sound good. 

Did you try the FF 4k and see if it helps? 

I wonder what is the max recording time is when I am shooting at even higher temperatures that are very common where I live. 

I guess that is a very easy way of separating it from the future A7sII... 

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Good one, I haven't tried FF for overheat yet as I am still waiting for a non speedbooster adaptor, but I will test this now and force it to use FF with the Speedbooster.

 

Edit: Some amount of heat will be coming from the internal battery as well. I will test powering it externally as well, but you guys will have to wait till tomorrow for a followup on that.

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Super disappointing to hear about this overheat issue... I mean just not even close to acceptable. I have shot on the 1DC for a long time and never had a heat issue at 5x the mbs so I would almost feel like its more the IBIS working hard along with the 4K....who knows but if 4K is limited to heat issues than why not just go back to a A7S.

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No, that's another good one to test. I promise to do a full report, any other suggestions? 

After the first overheating, see how much time it takes before you can start recording again and how much the second recording lasts before it overheats again. If within a minute you can record another 20min clip it might be alright but I doubt you can do that. 

One problem with heat is that it is cumulative not a hard limit so you could even do a series of 5min clips close to each other and run into the same problem (but you don't have to test that).

Another problem with heat is that it will slowly damage the sensor. Pixel by pixel they will start going out. Now how easy is to map them out with Sony I don't know, but at least with the EM1 it is straight forward. 

From what I see, Sony created a great camera but it is not targeted for any serious professional work. For that you will have to wait for the A7sII. 

 

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quick update before the full test:

Overheating seems to be less in FF mode. I've reached the 30 minute mark without a heat warning in FF mode, whereas in S35 mode heat warning was reached at about 15 minutes and the camera shut down at 20 minutes. IBIS was on for FF test, but camera was resting on the table.

 So it would appear s35 mode it's a special use mode. Nice to hear heat is at least not an issue in FF.

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quick update before the full test:

Overheating seems to be less in FF mode. I've reached the 30 minute mark without a heat warning in FF mode, whereas in S35 mode heat warning was reached at about 15 minutes and the camera shut down at 20 minutes. IBIS was on for FF test, but camera was resting on the table.

As others have asked, I'd be curious how quickly you can start shooting again after it shuts down.  Are you in a super hot climate?  The NEX-5n I had would overheat much quicker at higher outdoor temps for me.

I'd also be curious if the image quality is degraded as the heat builds up.

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