This method is much more efficient. Recommended. The area around the Arenal Volcano is a national park and there are numerous commercial outfits in the park that offer tours of the rainforest. The a7ii adds IBIS which is noticeable improvement in some settings but overall not that noticeable (a7 got finicky in very low light or a lot of motion where the a7ii seems less prone to blur as would be expected). The camera also features a “Lock-on AF” mode but I’ve found that this mode usually and eventually loses focus or can often start tracking the wrong object. If the lighting is good, the higher ISO's is not so much of an issue for portraits. Released five years after the original A7, the Sony A7III marks the third generation of Sony’s ‘entry’ level full-frame mirrorless camera series. The stabilization system in the a7II is not a replacement for a real video stabilizer rig like a gimbal, but it does provide a tangible improvement in the smoothness of motion in most handheld shots. We bind back button focus to the AF/MF/AEL switch lever. When you manually focus, look for a "shimmer" around the edges of what ever it is you want in focus, and it'll nail it every time. If you’re coming from another brand like Nikon or Canon, there might be a bit of a learning curve but major conventions are still adhered to. How long does the battery of Sony a7II last? Also, if you're using F9, you're better off manual focusing due to the large DOF of the aperture. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. You can unsubscribe any time, and your email will remain safe with us. Print or … This way, you can punch in, and pull focus in about a second. At the time of this writing, I’m currently traveling with the a7II and a couple wide angle prime lenses: the Sony Zeiss 35mm f/2.8 Sonnar T*, Rokinon 24mm f/1.4 and the Voigtlander 15mm f/4.5. In terms of specs, the a7II is almost identical to the original a7 with the only notable addition being the addition of the in-body image stabilization system, increased video recording capability (the ability to record in a flat picture profile with an S-Log2 gamma curve and a higher bit rate XAVC-S codec) and an improved grip and shutter button. For low-light, it’s certainly not the a7S, but it’s quite good, even when paired with slow lenses. When we arrived in La Fortuna, we rented a small 4×4 to reach the quiet town of El Castillo where we enjoyed some amazing views of Volcan Arenal, an active volcano adjacent to a massive man made lake, Laguna de Arenal. The battery life of the a7II is rated to a maximum shot number of 350 but in my experience this number will vary dramatically. Sony's a7S, a $2,500 sister camera to the a7 II, also records in 4K. This, of course, corresponds well to the fact that the a7S is also significantly more expensive than the a7II. That said, the total differences in noise performance are small when compared to other full-frame cameras and ultimately the use of a reasonably fast aperture lens will make much more of a difference in low-light performance. On my Sony cameras, I assign a button located on the top right on the back of the camera to control auto-focus, thus taking it off its default shutter-button setting. The Sony a7II is the most technologically advanced camera I have personally used. Hopefully we’ll see improvements over time. The Sony a7III uses a sensor that is “Backside Illuminated,” a feature that promises to improve low-light performance and reduce noise. Basically, the a7II is not a sports shooter. If you’d like to see some more photos of this locale, check out some of the sample shots in my Voigtländer 15mm/4.5 Heliar III review. Upon returning to America, Diana and I set off on a road trip to shoot photos while touring our home country. At this point in our travels, I was able to carry a bit more gear so I added the Rokinon 24mm f/1.4 and Voigtlander 15mm/4.5 Heliar III to my bag so some of the photos below feature some different fields of view when compared to the Sony Zeiss FE 35mm f/2.8 that I had with me in Costa Rica and Mexico. Get out of auto and get control of your camera using tried-and-true recipes. And here are a few more of my favorite shots from our time in México: All of the photographs made with the a7II in this post so far were made with the Sony Zeiss FE 35mm f/2.8 Sonnar T* lens. The camera has been with me to Costa Rica, Mexico, and on a road trip all over the United States. I had auto-ISO enabled and so the a7II pushed the photo up to ISO 25,600 to keep a neutral exposure. While it’s not the best camera on the market in low light situations, I’ve found I can shoot up to ISO 6400 without any issues for web photos. Many of Sony’s camera have the ability to download apps via Wi-Fi for increasing functionality. In order to capture it, I recorded several timelapse sequences with the a7II’s Time Lapse app,  just hoping that I could get at least one frame with the summit visible. Let’s take a look. By comparison, it’s no where near as good as the SteadyShot system built into the Sony RX100 III, but the RX100 III relies on both optical stabilization and digital cropping to achieve its silky smooth stabilization. We have set up our a7II and a7RII cameras with similar custom buttons and functions, so that we can easily switch between them. Despite Costa Rica’s role as one of the most affluent Central American countries, it still has a substantial amount of poverty and crime. Sony Singapore provided us two set-ups to test out the new camera. Shout out to /u/phillipreeve for this one. The stabilization works well for video, but it’s not a replacement for real stabilization equipment like a gimbal, glidecam or tripod. The a7II is not without its quirks. Shadow details tend to be extremely clean and pull out of the image nicely. In practice, I have found that the RAW files from the a7II tend to be very forgiving in post processing exposure changes. This mirrorless system comes with a 24 … Living in the suburbs of San José, Costa Rica proved to be more of a photographic challenge than I thought. Furthermore, I limited myself to shooting solely with a 35mm lens for capturing the country. I have a Fuji X-T1 which I'm totally happy with, but I been hanging on to my 6D with the 40mm 2.8 and 200mm 2.8 for that full frame look at 200mm @ 2.8. F9 is an extremely small aperture for low light or even indoor shots. The small urban center of Heredia where we stayed had a wild mix of contrasts from nicely maintained apartments to corrugated steel shacks. I chose to pack the a7II on my trip to Costa Rica and Mexico specifically for this stabilization system. I’ve been using mirrorless cameras for a couple years now and so I’ve experienced first hand a lot of the progression that these cameras have made, especially in comparison to their DSLR cousins. These buttons are programmable to a huge list of functions, nearly anything you’d like access to (except viewfinder/monitor control, more on this later). Also, if you're shooting in manual and RAW format, there's a trick you can use to nailing focus that I find works better than focus peaking (especially at such a small aperture). While the app features look really cool on paper, they still feel clunky and slow in practice. Came here to say the same thing. The increased weight when compared to the original a7 is primarily due to two things: the addition of the in-camera image stabilization system and an increased use of magnesium alloy construction. For example, I can manually set the focal length to 24mm for my Rokinon 24mm f/1.4 Lens when shooting with it to ensure the most accurate stabilization. IBIS - The in-body stabilization is very good, and much needed update from the a6300. Posted By Ian Norman on Jun 18, 2015 | 37 comments. So I love my camera by one my biggest problem is when shooting in low light I can't ever grab focus well. The ability to record 4K video is still a pretty low priority for me so I felt that sacrificing some of the benefits of the a7S might be worth the changes found in the new a7II. I personally still think it’s lame that a feature as simple as an intervalometer is not included by default but at least it’s an option. The Time Lapse app offers a number of presets for various timelapse shooting situations as well as custom settings. For many, the capability to mount nearly any lens ever made and still have the benefit of sensor stabilization is enough of a reason alone to jump on buying the a7II. Are you trying to autofocus or manual focus? Anyone familiar with Sony alpha cameras will feel right at home. Now although the viewfinder is a culprit in reducing the camera’s battery life, I must say that it’s a joy to use. Sony is a leader in mirrorless cameras with its full-frame Alpha series, but as the series has expanded to four models, choosing the right one can be confusing. I would place this at the top of the list of features. From a standpoint of capability, quality, and price, the a7II is hard to match. Other than those three things, the camera is very, very similar to the original a7. Programming these buttons, however, does require a lot of menu searching to map any given button to the function that you desire. The a7II automatically selects the best stabilization settings for native Sony lenses and it’s possible to set a custom focal length for manual lenses. This drove me crazy for a couple years but I found an acceptable workaround. In the case of timelapse shooting, the a7II requires either a third party intervalometer or the purchase and installation of the Sony Playmemories Time-Lapse app which costs an extra $9.99. It’s submenus have submenus and for any given function, there is often more than one way to access it (custom buttons, menu, Fn menu, etc.). It’s a little slow to start up, it has a very long and deep menu system that is more complex than it needs to be and there are distinct bugs in its operation like the fact that it will not enter power saving mode if the viewfinder is obscured. It also functions when using on fully manual lenses like the Voigtlander 15mm/4.5 Heliar III that I have with me. I think it’s more reasonable to push exposures about 2 to 3 stops with the SteadyShot enabled. That said, the camera is also noticeably heavier. Overall, I very much like the body changes in terms of how the camera feels in the hand. The A7 III delivers its best image quality at its base sensitivity of I… With two months of minimalist traveling (I carried all of my clothes, camera gear and travel items in nothing but a 35 liter backpack) and several months roadtripping in a small hatchback, I wanted a camera that could serve as my do-everything travel camera: a landscape shooter, street photography shooter, and video recorder. At several hundred dollars more than the original a7, buyers will want to weigh their personal need for what the camera offers over the original a7: better video functionality, in-camera stabilization and some updated ergonomics. It requires too many button presses to adjust the position of the focus point: click the assigned button to open the Focus Settings menu, click the center button to enable moving the point and then use the 4 way directional rear pad to change the point’s position. Manual focus with focus peaking turned high. I’ve already voiced my concerns about the a7II’s AF system, and like I said, I think it could be improved but in practice it seems to work just fine most of the time. Autofocus still worked through the infrared filter which is something I did not expect. Thanks! Overall, in spite of its quirks, the a7II is still does what it’s supposed to do extremely well. The little viewfinder is a bigger power hog than the rear LCD monitor and the viewfinder automatically turns on when anything is brought in range of it. Let’s talk about one of the most obvious changes between the a7II and the original a7: the body design. Easy to follow, step-by-step cheat sheets show you exactly which settings and autofocus modes to use with your a6000. It’s the fourth member of the Sony A7-series line-up, as Sony continues their path of creating specialized cameras with unique virtues that other cameras cannot realize – even other Sony cameras. So overall image quality of the a7II’s video seems just slightly lower quality than the a7S and much more on par with the other full-frame DSLRs on the market. Go into your menu and scroll to creative style (1-5, I believe). For many, the capability to mount nearly any lens ever made and still have the benefit of sensor stabilization is enough of a reason alone to jump on buying the a7II. The Sony a7II with the Voigtlander 15mm f/4.5 Heliar III. One of the improvements that the a7II claims over the original a7 is an improved autofocus system. There are also other apps available on the Sony PlayMemories app store in addition to the Time Lapse app. This problem could easily be fixed with firmware, providing substantial improvements to Sony’s autofocus system but I low confidence that Sony would provide such a service. The Sony a7II is the company’s fourth full-frame interchangeable lens mirrorless camera and spec-for-spec it’s arguably the most technologically advanced camera I have ever used. When it is on, the aperture stops down to always preview your depth of field. The a7II is an advanced piece of photography gear. Photographers and cinema enthusiasts looking to shoot handheld video will appreciate the stabilization capability, especially when paired with otherwise non-stabilized lenses. The position of the shutter button and the shape and position of the control dials on the grip are much improved from the original a7. The a7II was fortunately very easy to use for shooting infrared as the live view was able to still allow me to precisely focus. So while the a7II has the added benefit of of stabilization, I still think the a7S still comes out as the winner for video production quality. When pushed to the extremes, the RAW files will show a salt and pepper grain that I usually find pleasant. Roger Cicala of LensRentals.com did an excellent teardown of the a7II that shows many of the significant internal changes that were made in the a7II and shows how much complexity the in-camera stabilization system adds to the design. I still liked the camera. Only on occasion would the clouds part to show the summit. My informal testing with my Canon 16-35 F/2.8 LII and 70-200 F/2.8 L looked promising. One of my favorite features of the stabilization system is that when using the manual focus magnification function, the camera automatically stabilizes the image, making it much easier to get precise manual focus when shooting handheld. The battery of the Sony a7II shoots up to 350 images when fully charged. In this post, I share my experiences with the Sony a7II. More important to me is it just feels a lot more comfortable in my grip. I am very satisfied with the Sony a7II image quality. Despite the lens’s dark f/4.5 aperture, the camera made nice images in nearly pitch black conditions. If stabilized video or the improved video codecs offered in the a7II sound like very low priority features for you, maybe consider the original Sony a7 instead. One of the accessories that I have kept with me on my travels is an infrared filter. The Sony A7II does great in Low Light. At ISO settings above 800, the camera showed the best shadow details and tended to maintain an acceptable level of detail all the way up to ISO 25600. Menu > Camera Settings 5 > ISO AUTO Min SS So I love my camera by one my biggest problem is when shooting in low light I can't ever grab focus well. The model above demonstrated the camera’s performance in regular lighting conditions, though the set was a little dark with only the key light active. Sony a7 III High ISO Sample Images. The a7II is certainly packed with a lot of features but it’s it also has numerous quirks and some downfalls that keep it from being perfect.

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