Another Full-Frame Mirrorless Beast
We were in the Lion City for yet another addition to Sony’s fast growing line of full-frame mirror less cameras, the Sony A7R II. We’ve been having a blast with one of its brothers, the A7 II, so it omes to no surprise that the team is quite interested to see what this 42.4 MP Full Frame Mirror-less shooter can do and what improvements have been made in lieu of the its predecessor. Before we hit the ground running, let’s take a quick look at some of the more notable features of the Sony A7R II.
Sony Alpha 7R II Features
- 42.4MP Full Frame Exmor R CMOS Sensor
- BIONZ X Image Processor
- 5-Axis SteadyShot Image Stabilization
- Fast Hybrid AF – 399 Phase Detect AF Points
- Up to ISO 102,400
- Built-In Wi-Fi and NFC
- Internal UHD 4K Video Recording
The 42.4 MP Elephant in the Room
One number that certainly jumped out at us was the megapixel count on the A7R II and while we know that higher resolutions doesn’t always equate to better photos, the miracle-working engineers at Sony have found yet another way to give us unbelievable image quality. The A7R II is armed with the world’s first back-illuminated 35mm full-frame sensor that produces high-resolution, high-sensitivity, and high-transfer rate to ensure you capture those precious moments or the billboard worth photo.
5-Axis is Back
We’re happy to see that the 5-Axis Image Stabilization, which we first experienced in the A7 II, has found a home in the A7R II as well. For the uninitiated, the 5-axis Image Stabilization allows you to take handheld shots in low light without seeing ISO numbers going up to the thousands by compensating for the X-Axis, Y-Axis, Roll, Pitch, and Yaw movements one might experience while shooting. While some of Sony’s lenses have IS included, having it onboard in such a tiny frame allows budding or more experienced photographers to have more confidence when using a fast prime lens or when using third party lenses via an adapter.
Focused on a better AF System
Read any review for the A7R II predecessor and you will find talk that its AF system needed some work. To say that Sony worked on their Auto Focus system and improved on it, would be sorely lacking. It is completely superb. The new image sensor features 399 focal pane phase detection working hand-in-hand with 25 contrast AF points that makes it 40% faster than the previous model. The Fast Hybrid AF also allows for 5fps continuous shooting with AF tracking making it perfect for sports photographers or those of you who know the perils of trying to the perfect snap of little tykes running around the house only to capture a blur
Internal 4K Video Recording
We’ve been seeing a lot of Alphas being used by wedding videographers lately and we are pretty sure that the A7R II will soon make its way into the arsenal of budding filmmakers and videographers out there. Making use of its sensor, the A7R II is able to record movies in two modes: Super 35mm Crop Mode, which allows the camera to collect approximately 1.8x as many pixels as 4K without pixel binning and oversamples the information to produce 4K movies, or Full-Frame Mode to utilize the entire width of the sensor allowing it to flex its guns and give you brilliant detail.
Coming to our Shores Soon
We’ve barely scratched the surface with the little time we had with the AR7II. We’ll be trying to get more hands-on time with this high resolution full-frame beaut as soon as we can to give you guys a more in-depth look and tinker around with all of its features a bit more.
The Sony A7RII will hit our shores in September of this year with a price tag of Php 154,999(Body Only).
