Sony a7R II Full-Frame Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera, Body Only (Black) (ILCE7RM2/B), Base, Base with Sony VGC2EM Vertical Grip (Black)

Walking around with this camera is very comfortable - yet not as stealthy as my RX1R II. The body is solid though a little small and I find my pinky dangles in the air - so I use it to support the bottom of the body. Middle and ring fingers hold on to the small front grip (which is comfortable) and my index finger lives between the shutter release and shutter speed dial (explained a little more below). There is a slight bump-out on the rear where my thumb comfortably sits and provides quick access to the f-stop dial. It's a slightly different grip on the RX1R II which, though smaller, doesn't make it seem as small - maybe the lack of the bump-out grip in the front of the RX1R II.I enjoy the placement of the buttons and dials on this camera. They are solid and smooth to operate - and the ones that need to click into position do so. At this time, with the camera always in manual (M) mode I have the front dial set to adjust shutter speed, the rear to adjust f-stop and a button on the rear to adjust ISO on the fly. A single click on the button brings up the ISO menu, then the thumb wheel allows me to quickly scroll to the rating I want.The only other button programmed so far is C1 for eye detection. Obviously, only used in portraits but seems to nail it every time. I use this same setup on the RX1R II. I have been using the Exposure Comp wheel more and more to give me the exposure exactly how I want it rather than relying on post to correct that. Also been getting into relying almost solely on the histogram in the viewfinder to expose my work now.The shutter release is smooth and pleasing (and I like the sound of it) and has the option of silent shutter, though I haven't tried that to date.SONY A7R II - SENSORThe A7R II has a 42.4-megapixel back-illuminated 35mm full-frame Exmor R CMOS sensor powered by the BIONZ X image processing engine to support 14-bit uncompressed RAW images. Technically, getting an ISO range of 50-102,400 but realistically using ISO 100-25,600. Even more realistically for my style is ISO 100-6400.Unlike my RX1R II, there is no optical low-pass filter on this camera.5-AXIS IMAGE STABILIZATIONThe Sony A7R II has 5-Axis Image Stabilization which has been maximized for the 42 MP sensor. This system corrects camera shake while shooting along the 5 axes of angular shake (pitch & yaw), shift shake (along the x/y axis), and rotational shake (roll). Pair this with a IS lens (like the Zeiss Batis 85 I have been using) and you can freehand some ultra-lowlight photography.BATTERYBattery is notoriously bad on these cameras, but there are a ton of tips and tricks out there to increase life. Best thing I suggest is tossing the camera into Airplane mode - this turns off all the Wi-Fi and searching for networks. With this off, I can shoot all day with 3 batteries at the ready. To be honest, I shoot so little on a typical day (200-300 max photos) that I seldom need to jump to a backup.Some other things you can try are reducing the brightness in the monitor and viewfinder, having a short power-save time, turn off the "Sunny Weather" option, turn off audio signals and turn off Pre-AF.If I am walking around between shots, I tend to switch the camera off too. Not sure how much that helps, but a habit I picked up with the RX1R II.I also suggest having a couple battery backups and a couple chargers in the house. Right now, I have 2 Sony stock batteries and 2 off-brand ones. I haven't noticed much of a difference between the two. For the house, I have a pair of chargers, as these batteries seem to take forever to get to a full charge. At least with a pair, I am able to cut the charge time in half.FINDER / SCREENThere are a couple ways to compose images with the A7R II. Either the screen on the back of the camera with LiveView or via the Electronic View Finder (EVF) that's really a godsend. The camera has the intelligence to automatically only power the view you are using. If LiveView, the EVF is powered off. If you put your eye to the EVF, it fires up in an instant and the back screen powers down. Very good for a camera that's a battery whore, as mentioned above.With either of these views, you can increase or decrease the resolution, though they both look really good at standard. Very bright and quite responsive. Nearly identical to what I said about the RX1R II and not like the LiveView of the past (where my last experience was with a laggy Sony NEX-3). I keep the rear screen fairly dim, so I like to use the finder as my review of images when needed.The eye cup for the A7R II finder is much better than the RX1R II, by the way. The former is a proper viewfinder with a rubberized eye cup (see rear image of A7R II below in the My Defaults section) while the later is a pop-up EVF and does not offer eye relief at all.Both screens offer a slew of data from shutter speed, ISO, f-stop to digital levels, histograms and so on. I won't bore you with all the goodies, but there is a plethora of stuff that can be added to or removed from either screen.The rear screen tilts up and down which is nice to hold over your head or at your feet to frame a decent shot. I don't use the screen often, but really enjoy the ability when I need it to compost a shot this way. I find this can be a stealthy way of composing a shot without those around aware of what you're doing - if stealth is your motive.AUTOFOCUSThe Sony A7II offers up 25 contrast detection points and 399 phase detection points covering about half the sensor. The modes available here are Single, Continuous and Manual focus as well as AF-A and DMF modes that can be used with the native FE glass. As I don't tend to shoot moving targets, I stick to Single mode for almost all my shooting and have found it to be quite fast and really accurate.As always, you can also switch the focus areas between Wide Area, Zone Area, Center Area (my preference), Flexible Spot, Expand Flexible Spot, Lock-on AF Expand Flexible Spot, Lock-on AF, Eye AF (which I mapped to C1), and Face Detection.Like with the Sony RX1R II, the files spoil me. There is a great deal of latitude in them and so much shadow detail. The IQ is really nice to work with and I am getting the hang of how they behave with my one-click edits.ConclusionsIt is very early on with this camera to have any firm conclusions, but I have to tell you, I was secretly hoping to not love this one. I have my film cameras that I am more than happy with, and my Sony RX1R II that I figured was all I wanted. I wanted to shoot this, get it out of my system, then return it. Well, it's not going back. As soon as I strapped on the Zeiss Batis 85 and walked around with the Sony A7R II I was smitten. This camera is really offering everything I currently want in a digital setup. Gorgeous files with the colors I enjoy, great speed and a joy to walk around with. I read complaints about the menu system, but really, once you set it up once, you don't need to dig in there much and it truly isn't that bad.This is a fine compliment to my film work and will also be a great compliment to the Sony RX1R II - so yes, they are both staying. I plan to get a ton of use out of this throughout the year and re-touch this review with future thoughts, uses, issues or what have you.

Let me begin by saying that I feared the steep price point of this camera would not be justified by the performance and benefits. I started shooting a little over a year ago with a Nikon APS-C, and was satisfied but I really wanted to move up to a full-frame camera. I'd considered sticking with Nikon, however there were so many folks raving about this particular camera I decided to give it a go. After using this camera for a couple of months I can tell you that I do not regret it at all. The Sony A7RII is a marvelous piece of kit that has exceeded my expectations in so many ways. As with anything, though, it certainly isn't without its drawbacks.What I like about it:Many of the features that I find beneficial are the auto white balance which is spectacular (at least when used outdoors), 42mp high resolution, custom function buttons, full range of dials – I'd become so used to using the dials on my Nikon to adjust aperture, shutter speed so it's nice to have that option on the A7Rii –, and the extended dynamic range. Also, since I'm partial to landscape photography there is a lot of walking about. The size and weight of the A7Rii are ideal for just that purpose. Continuous auto focus is superb for the situations in which I've needed to use it so far. I've heard from folks that it doesn't perform so well for sports photography, but for my purposes it works perfectly. Manual focus assist and focus peaking have also been immensely useful. Perhaps one of the most useful features for me is the electronic viewfinder because it allows me to compose shots in low light, or with filters attached.Things I would improve:As I said, the camera is great but by no means perfect and I think it would benefit Sony to make some improvements.- EVF / Live View Sensor: Way too sensitive. If I want to shoot from the hip the camera has to be far away enough from my body in order to engage Live View. Additionally, if I'm composing my shots using live view and my fingers or wrist strap come too close to the eyepiece, the image jumps from LV to EVF. Not at all ideal. It would be great if Sony would also add the option to switch off LV except when reviewing photos. As it stands, if you turn off live view, photo review must be done through the EVF or by clicking the review (play) button.- Read / Write speeds / Buffer Time: Yes, I know that the A7Rii writes HUGE files and those files take time to read from and write to the card. Unfortunately read/write speeds remain consistent irrespective of image format and size. I've tested just shooting Fine jpg format, and it still takes way too long to write to the card. With all the new high-speed cards becoming available, it would be great if Sony had software that would take advantage of the faster cards. It also makes image review painfully slow. Again, I get that some time is required for the images to write to the card, but the A7Rii does this much slower than other cameras. It also makes for checking sharpness during review very painful since there is a two second lag between the time I hit the button that allows me to zoom in, and actually being able to zoom in.- Custom function buttons: As much as I love the custom function buttons, I would really like to see Sony expand this feature to allow users to assign functions to buttons from menus other than just the shoot menu.- Battery life: I've heard a lot of different justifications for why the battery life on this camera is so poor, but at the end of the day I think Sony should spend a little more time on improving battery life. Users are currently able to shoot an average of 300 photos whereas other cameras are getting over 1,000.I hope this review has helped someone who might be on the fence as I was when I contemplated making my purchase. Below are a couple of photos I've shot with the A7Rii. The first – L.A. city skyline – was shot with the Batis 18mm f/2.8, and the second – the Huntington Beach Pier – was shot with the Sonnar 24-70 f/4.Update 02/08/17:The paucity of lenses offered by Sony has prompted me to amend my review, but I will leave the rating as is because this is my opinion and has no bearing on the quality of the product.When I purchased this camera, I did so knowing full well that FE lens selection was limited. I figured that because FF mirrorless cameras were relatively new, that it would take Sony some time to catch up in the lens department. After months of new releases by Sony and third party lens manufacturers for A and E (APS-C) mount lenses, I'm beginning to doubt that. The first Sony FF E mount camera, the Sony A7, was released over three years ago, and rumors of the Sony A7RIII are swirling about the internet. Fed up with the waiting game, I purchased the Sigma MC-11 adapter, which works wonderfully. I'm of the opinion that, if Sony is really serious in its endeavor to maintain its competitive edge, it needs to do something about its line of lenses. Yes, they have a nearly-full range in the GM line, but these lenses are – in some cases – double that of Canon and Nikon glass, but are of equal or lesser quality leaving them little justification for the price point. They have their budget-conscious line like the 50mm f/1.8 and now the 85mm f/2.8, but if the atrocious reviews of the 50mm are any indication, I think I know what to expect from the 85mm."Why are you complaining if you knew that Sony's FE lenses were limited," you're probably asking. And it's a good question. I was seduced by higher resolutions, size / weight, and – I will sheepishly admit – the hype. Buyer's remorse? Maybe just a little."But you can adapt non-Sony lenses to the A7RII," you might say. Yes, I can and I have. I recently purchased the Sigma MC-11 adapter and a Canon 70-200mm and it works splendidly with my A7RII. But then why shouldn't I have taken my $3400 and spent it on a Canon 5D MK 4 or a Nikon D810, skipped the adapter, and have a wide variety of quality, affordable lenses to choose from? Perhaps I should have. I spent less than half for the MC-11 adapter and a certified refurbished 70-200, than I would have on the Sony 70-200 GM.Why am I writing this? I'm writing this because I am frustrated with Sony's apparent lack of interest in creating a robust, diversified, and AFFORDABLE kit for its consumers. The A7RII was sold out for months, a clear indication that folks are very interested in moving towards mirrorless. It's a bit like manufacturing a revolutionary car with roll-down windows and a solitary AM/FM radio, then releasing a double-din nav system and power windows of a quality equal to that of its competitors, but at twice the price. I'm writing this as a point of contention, something to consider before purchasing this camera.So, don't buy this camera? No, that isn't what I'm saying. I'm saying if you're intent on buying it, to be aware that your options are LIMITED with respect to Sony native lenses, in terms of quantity, quality, and affordability. I've added this in the hopes that it might save someone else the frustration of waiting and hoping that Sony will wake up and work to meet the demands of its customers.

I recently bought the Sony A7R II from Amazon.caThe image quality is great, and almost identical to the more expensive A7R III compared both a friend's A7R III with my A7R II, and a side from the physical differences (joystick/dual SD card slots etc), the burst FPS, and all you care about is IMAGE QUALITY, then save your money and buy the A7R II. Both these cameras has the EXACT SAME Full Frame Image Sensor.I shoot pictures as a hobby, and mostly of nature or astrophotography (my cameras are mounted on a stationary tripod 90% of the time), this camera is perfect, and for the price to image quality performance, it cannot be beaten.If you shoot sports and fast moving subject, you may consider the fast A7R III if resolution is important. If resolution is not important, you are better off with an A9 or a Fuji X-T3.I am a primary Fujifilm user (Fuji X-T1 and X-T20), and this is my first Sony camera. I do have to say that the menu is definitely not as user frriendly, and the Fn menu/Q menu is not as intuitive than the Fuji. However, Sony's UI is not the worst I have used. The WORST UI I have ever used goes to.... OLYMPUS....I like the fast this camera still has 3 control wheels (one on front, one on back, and one on the d-pad).The lack of joystick on this camera is not something I really care about, as I manual focus all my shots 90% of the time anyways for landscapes, and star photography. The autofocus is more than adequate for casual portraiture shooting (I only shoot portraits only occasionally).One thing to note is that I had to do an exchange on this camera. The first camera I received had a somewhat loose LCD hinge, where the tilt hinge did not allow the LCD to site flush again the body.Since I had both A7R IIs during the exchange process, I also realized the LCD panel themselves between the 3 A7R IIs were DIFFERENT.The one I sent back to Amazon had a brighter LCD display, but the color temperature was very cool (so maybe the perception of a brighter screen?)My current replacement A7R II LCD screen is slightly dimmer, but the color temperature calibration on this display is much warmer (yellowish tint).I honest does not know if the differences in LCD panel quality is a manufacturing tolerance, or just poor Quality Assurance... Either way, exchanging my current camera is too much of a hassle for just a slightly brighter screen. I only wrote this as a WARNING, and things to watch for when you order one.The OLED Electronic Viewfinder between the two A7R IIs were IDENTICAL, so no QA issues here.Overall, gr8 camera for the price. If you don't care for high speed shooting, then BUY IT NOW..

This is the best camera I've ever owned. I've gone through tons of cameras looking for professional quality videos (I rarely use my a7R for pictures) and this camera has bested them all in terms of quality and performance!With my particular situation, I record videos in low lighting.. very low lighting. I was using a Canon Rebel T5i before swapping to the Sony and while that camera can manage great video quality, it doesn't handle low-light very well.The Sony a7R not only handles my particular situation well, the way it deals with color is superb! I have a blue screen behind me that's almost pitch black, yet the picture quality is so clear that I can chroma key it out without problems.If you're buying the a7R for pictures, it's VERY easy to get a stunning photo in crystal clear quality. I should also point out I'm using the T * FE 55mm F1.8 ZA lens which has no zoom function.One issue I have is that the touch screen on the back of the camera doesn't pull out, making it difficult for me to adjust settings while having the camera on myself, but anybody buying a camera like this isn't buying it for selfies, so it's just a personal issue.

This camera is great. I use it professionally as a photographer for a fitness company. Everything is great but I should have listened to the reviews. 42MP is a storage eater. I do not have the money to constantly upgrade storage. I have a 6Tb of raid storage and 1tb Mac Pro that is always full. If you have the money for storage this camera tanks fantastic images however 80mb per RAW photo really does add up.

Whether you're a pro or you're a beginner, the Sony A7R II is one of the best camera to buy. It has a ton of customization, the image quality is amazing, it takes great photos and videos, and has a very intuitive interface for people who are just starting out.

Simply outstanding performance. I use this with a SEL2470Z lens which makes a great combo, small palm size, light weight and extreme picture quality. Even has 4K video. Documents are lacking, online PDFs are kind of cut and dry. Nothing in the box. Had to find a user group to explain the what and why of some settings. Moving from Canon was easy because moving to full frame meant I had to start over anyways.