Again, the Sony's performance belies its age, producing marginally better dynamic range than all its rivals up to ISO 800, though at higher ISO settings than this, the Nikon Z 6 and Panasonic Lumix S1 are noticeably better. Verdict

Sony Alpha a7 II Review - Digital Photography Review Sony Alpha a7 II Review - Digital Photography Review

On the still images side, the Sony Alpha A7 II supports uncompressed 14-Bit raw image capture. This feature came later into the camera's life by way of the firmware 2.0 update that released on November 18. Before it, the Sony Alpha A7S II and A7R II both supported uncompressed raw shooting. DSLrs are easier to stabilize than mirorrless ones. Neveretheless, for shutter speeds longer than 1/15 you'll need a tripod anyway. Sony cameras have moved on a long way since the A7 Mark II was launched, with far superior autofocus systems, 10fps continuous shooting and 4K video. And yet for regular stills photography, the A7 Mark II still performs extremely well. It might struggle to compete with modern full frame mirrorless rivals in other respects, but at current prices it offers amazing value for money – and still has the performance to satisfy the majority of enthusiasts and hobbyists looking for an affordable route into full frame photography. No, the company going bust is Olympus. Their medical endoscope business keeps them alive. Several of their board members are under investigation for fraud.

The Sony A7 II is a 'golden oldie', a camera that's been superseded but is still on sale, and at ever lower prices

Also, it never mentions any of the app driven aspects, where you can do some neat post processing, upload to social media automatically and best yet, use your phone as a viewfinder when trying to take shots of groups or even when putting the camera on crazy ledges in nature. Are there any lenses you can't use with either of them? I think Sony has a fairly small offering of lenses, so you can't really miss out on any of them. It seems like a lot of their lenses aren't even full frame, but may work.

Sony a7S II Overview - Digital Photography Review

A f/1.4 series of 24, 35, 50, 85 and of course the 135 f/1.8. Sony can price-gouge those wanting these lenses. Having said that, I have to believe that within 12 months the a7s-II (which IMHO would be the greatest body ever for low light) will come out and make me regret the A7s which would then be worth about half. fps (Frames Per Second) Burst Rate– This was a huge step up for me after using the Canon 5D Mark II for many years. Creating HDR images is completely possible without a tripod.The ergonomics look interesting (although it looks a bit bulkier as a result) the shutter button isn't in the most natural place on the A7. At the end of 2014, Sony released the Sony A7II, and the game changed a little… and for some of us, it changed a lot. Before we get to that though, let’s rewind for a minute. A2 at 12MP is fine for stuff viewed at a distance. For wedding albums viewed up close, it does not meet my needs or the customers' expectations. Eye-level composition is achieved via a crystal-clear 2.36million-dot, 0.5-inch EVF, one that's so good that it’s easy to forget you aren’t using an optical finder. In addition to this, there’s a helpful sensor just above the EVF window, which detects when the camera is held to the eye and switches power from the main screen to the finder accordingly.

Sony a7S II ILCE7SM2/B 12.2 MP E-mount Camera with Full-Frame

The great thing about sensor-based IS in a camera like the a7 II is the realm of possibilities it opens up for third-party, and adapted lens users.My number one hesitationabout switching from a Canon DSLR to a Sony mirrorless was the limited lens selection offered by Sony. I started out with the Sony 28-70mm kit lens on the a7II and ended up selling the lens within a week. My images were coming out soft with the kit lens, so I wanted to give this camera a fair shot by experimenting with some of the best lenses available.

Sony α7S II E-mount Camera with Full-Frame Sensor

We also found the a7 II to have 1-2 stops worse ISO performance than an a7S or D750, shown in our studio scene& confirmed by DXO. This poor ISO performance was more forgivable in the original a7 lineup, perhaps, but not 4 cameras in. Especially given all the competition- the 6D, D750, a7R, and a7S all outperform it by a good margin. Autofocus The guts of the Sony Alpha 7 II are quite similar to the original Sony Alpha 7. They use the same sensor and processor. They both have bright, high-res viewfinders and nearly identical button layouts. Comparing pros and cons for both cameras, you will see a lot of crossover. This is because many of the features that made the original a7 a great camera, also made their way into the a7 II. Unfortunately so did a few of a7's downfalls, like an over-sensitive eye-sensor, a loud shutter and noisy high ISO images. Of course, it’s a bit overpriced and aggressively promoted by the professional photographers (Trey Ratcliff, for example). Their medical business is highly valued. (Cameras are something like 10% of their business.) Actually Sony was one of the companies queued up to buy Oly. But Oly refused, accepting only the loan from the Sony. The a7 II is heavy, yet comfortable to hold. The shutter button has been moved to a more accessible spot, but the command dials have been made significantly less accessible. Custom buttons are plentiful, though not always that easy to reach on the fly, the 'C1' and 'C2' buttons specifically are quite inaccessible.He is a Fellow of The Royal Society of Arts, holds a Foundation Degree in Equitation Science and is a Master of Arts in Publishing. He is member of Nikon NPS and has been a Nikon user since the film days using a Nikon F5 and saw the digital transition with Nikon's D series cameras and is still to this day the youngest member to be elected in to BEWA, The British Equestrian Writers' Association. i have the Alpha a7II and find the manual not helpful at all. At the camera store, they had a large book, describing all the functions well. I can't buy it there. Does anyone know where I can get the full instruction manual? I do wish you'd been specific in mentioning that that photo was taken with the FE35 f/1.4, either by stating that in the write up or by including the EXIF data. I suppose it only stands to reason, since that's the only f 1.4 native lens available, but still...