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Sony Alpha a7R II Review (2020)

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The Sony Alpha a7R II is the fifth in the company’s a7 range of full-frame cameras and the second high-resolution ‘R’ model. However, although its name and appearance are very similar to the first round of a7s. It is the Sony a7R II a 42MP full-frame mirrorless camera cooked with 5-axis image stabilization. Furthermore, featuring the world’s first (and currently only) 35mm BSI CMOS sensor, and including a hybrid autofocus system and 4K video capabilities. Thus, the R II arguably represents just as significant a step forwards as those first full-frame mirrorless models did.

Sony Alpha a7R II Specifications

Body Design

It is designed for solid reliability and steady handling. Moreover, the a7R II’s compact body is built to withstand the rigors of shooting in the field, thanks to an internal structure and top, front and rear covers all made of strong, rigid magnesium alloy.

  • Body type – SLR-style mirrorless
  • Camera Format – Full-Frame
  • Body material – Magnesium alloy
  • Weight of the body only – Approx. 582 g
  • Weight (With Battery and Memory card Included) – Approx. 625 g
  • Dimensions – Width 126.9 mm x Height 95.7 mm x Diagonal 60.3 mm
  • Operating Environment – 32 – 104 degrees F / 0 – 40 degrees C
  • Lens Mount – E Mount
  • Shutter Type – Electronically-controlled, vertical-traverse, focal-plane type
  • Slower shutter speed – 30 sec
  • Fastest shutter speed – 1/8000 sec
  • Shutter life – 5,00,000 Shots
  • Mirror Lock-Up – No
  • Memory Card Slots – SD/SDHC/SDXC, Memory Stick Duo/Pro Duo/Pro-HG Duo
  • Battery description – NP-FW50, Rechargeable.
  • Battery Life – Approx. 290 shots (Viewfinder)/approx. 340 shots (LCD monitor) (CIPA standard) for stills, Approx. 50 min (Viewfinder)/Approx. 55 min (LCD monitor) (CIPA standard) for Video, Continuous*10*12: Approx. 95 min. with a viewfinder, Approx. 95 min. with LCD screen (CIPA standard)
  • Charging AC adapter – AC-PW20 AC Adaptor (optional)
  • Tripod Socket – 1/4 in

Sensor and Processor

The a7R II has the world’s first 35 mm full-frame CMOS image sensor with a back-illuminated structure, which achieves approx. 42.4 effective megapixel. Also, the sensor is combined with the high-speed BIONZ X™ image processing engine with detail reproduction technology to capture the essence of realism, diffraction-reducing technology to maintain clarity even at smaller apertures.

  • Sensor type – CMOS
  • Total Pixels – 43.6 megapixels
  • Effective Pixels – 42.4 megapixels
  • Sensor size – Full frame (35.9 x 24 mm)
  • Max resolution – 7952 x 4472
  • Other resolutions – 3:2 – 35 mm full-frame L: 7952 x 4472 (36M), M: 5168 x 2912 (15M), S: 3984 x 2240 (8.9M), APS-C L: 5168 x 2912 (15M), M: 3984 x 2240 (8.9M), S: 2592 x 1456 (3.8M)
  • IMAGE SIZE (PIXELS), SWEEP PANORAMA – Wide: horizontal 12416 x 1856 (23M), vertical 5536 x 2160 (12M), Standard: horizontal 8192 x 1856 (15M), vertical 3872 x 2160 (8.4M)
  • Processor – BIONZ X
  • Bit Depth – 14bit RAW
  • Camera Stabilization – 5-axis image sensor shift
  • Aspect Ratio – 3:2
  • Colour space – sRGB, Adobe RGB compatible with TRILUMINOS Colour
  • Colour filter array – Primary colour filter
  • Continuous shooting speed – Continuous shooting Hi: Max. 5 fps, Continuous shooting Lo: Max. 2.5 fps

Image

The advanced technology of the sensor with a perfect TRILUMINOUS color profile. And the processor allows the user to boost the ISO. Furthermore, it reduces the noise to some great extent. This camera is equipped with lots of effects that can be used to make creative pictures. Thereupon, the sensors back-illuminated design makes the sensor to produce clear and detailed images with more sharpness.

  • Image ratio – 3:2
  • ISO Auto – 100-25600
  • Minimum ISO – 50
  • Maximum ISO – 102400
  • White Balance presets – 9
  • White Balance Bracketing – Provided
  • Image stabilization – Sensor-shift 5-Axis
  • File format – RAW, RAW + JPEG, JPEG with (Extra fine, Fine, Standard)
  • 14bit RAW – Yes
  • Picture Styles – Standard, Vivid, Neutral, Clear, Deep, Light, Portrait, Landscape, Sunset, Night Scene, Autumn Leaves, Black & White, Sepia (Contrast -3 to +3 steps, Saturation -3 to +3 steps, Sharpness -3 to +3 steps) (Style Box 1-6 also provided)
  • Picture Effect – 13 modes: Posterization (Color, B/W), Pop Color, Retro Photo, Partial Color (R, G, B, Y), High Contrast Monochrome, Toy Camera, Soft High-key, Soft Focus, HDR Painting, Rich-tone Monochrome, Miniature, Watercolor, Illustration
  • Scene Selection – Portrait, Landscape, Macro, Sports Action, Sunset, Night Portrait, Night Scene, Hand-held Twilight, Anti Motion Blur

Optics and Focus

 An advanced image sensor and AF algorithm, the a7R II’s Fast Hybrid AF system delivers far superior AF coverage, speed, and tracking performance. The 399 AF points cover 45% of the total image area more than any other digital camera can match. Therefore, the back-illuminated sensor helps to accelerate data readout and raise the AF speed for predictive subject tracking. The Eye AF provides effective autofocusing performance with eye detection and also keeps steadfast tracking on the eye of a moving subject.

  • Focus Mode – Automatic AF (AF-A), Single-shot AF (AF-S), Continuous AF (AF-C), Direct Manual Focus (DMF), Manual Focus
  • Number of focus points – 35mm full frame: 399 points (phase-detection AF), APS-C: 357 points (phase-detection AF) / 25 points (contrast-detection AF)
  • Lens mount – E Mount
  • Focal length multiplier – 1×

Auto Focus

  • Autofocus system – Fast Hybrid AF (phase-detection AF/contrast-detection AF)
  • Autofocus Sensitivity – -2 to +20 EV
  • Focus Area – Wide (399 points for phase-detection AF / 25 points for contrast-detection AF)

Screen and Viewfinder

The a7R II electronic viewfinder is the world’s highest magnification at 0.78x among digital still camera viewfinders. As the XGA OLED Tru-Finder provides views of cutting-edge definition, contrast, and depth throughout the entire display. Also, the 7.5cm TFT display provides a crisp and clear image even at more sunlight. It provides control over the graphic display, displays all info., no display. info., histogram, digital level gauge, shooting information for viewfinder mode.

  • Screen Type – TFT LCD Drive
  • The Screen size – 7.5 cm (3.0 Type)
  • Screen dots – 12,28,800 dots
  • Touch screen – No
  • Live view – Provided
  • Viewfinder type – 1.3 cm (0.5-type) electronic viewfinder (colour), XGA OLED
  • The Viewfinder coverage – 100%
  • Viewfinder Eye Point – 23 mm
  • Viewfinder Magnification – Approx. 0.78x
  • Diopter Adjustment – -4 to +3 m-1

Photography Features

The Sony a7R IV is built with the sensor-shift of 5-axis image stabilization equal to 5.5 steps. This stabilization system is fine-tuned for high-resolution image sensors to compensate accurately for five types of camera shake that can compromise handheld shooting of the camera’s 42.4-megapixel images. Additionally, the new shutter’s braking mechanism cuts mechanical front/rear curtain vibration by about 50% also the electronic front curtain even reduces more vibration for shooting high-resolution images without camera shake. It is also equipped with the silent shooting which comes in handy. It also has no optical low-pass filter that can compromise sharpness, so fine clarity and detail extend from edge to edge of every frame is obtained.

  • Exposure modes – AUTO (iAUTO, Superior Auto), Programmed AE (P), Aperture priority (A), Shutter-speed priority (S), Manual (M), Movie, Sweep Panorama, Scene Selection
  • Silent Shooting – Yes (ON/OFF)
  • Electronic Front Curtain Shutter – Yes (ON/OFF)
  • Metering modes – Multi-segment, Centre-weighted, Spot, Spot Standard/Large, Entire Screen Avg., Highlight
  • Exposure compensation – ±5 (at 1/3 EV, 1/2 EV steps)
  • Metering Range – –3 to +20 EV
  • Built-in flash – Not provided
  • External flash connection– Hot Shoe
  • Flash Maximum sync speed – 1/250 s
  • Flash Compensation – ±3 EV (1/3 or 1/2 EV Steps)
  • External Flash Connection – Sony α System Flash compatible with Multi Interface Shoe, attach the shoe adaptor for flash compatibility with the Auto-lock accessory shoe
  • Flash Control – Pre-flash TTL
  • Flash Modes – Flash off, Auto-flash, Fill-flash, Slow Sync., Rear Sync., Red-eye reduction (on/off selectable), Wireless, Hi-speed sync.

Video or Movie Features

The Sony a7R II is now capable of making an internal recording of 4K movie recording featuring full pixel readout without pixel binning in the Super 35 mm format exhibits higher resolution and superior clarity than typical 4K movies. Also, the XAVC S format allows 4K recording at 100 Mbps maximum bit rate to capture fine details of movement in movies.

  • Recording Format – XAVC S, AVCHD format Ver. 2.0 / MP4
  • Video Compression – XAVC S: MPEG-4 AVC/H.264, AVCHD: MPEG-4 AVC/H.264, MP4: MPEG-4 AVC/H.264
  • Video Encoding – NTSC/PAL
  • Videography Format – XAVC S, AVCHD format Ver. 2.0
  • Frame Rate – NTSC – XAVC S 4K: 3840 x 2160 (30p/100 Mbps, 30p/60 Mbps, 24p/100 Mbps, 24p/60 Mbps), XAVC S HD: 1920 x 1080 (60p/50 Mbps, 30p/50 Mbps, 24p/50 Mbps), 1280 x 720 (120p/50 Mbps), AVCHD: 1920 x 1080 (60p/28 Mbps/PS, 60i/24 Mbps/FX, 60i/17 Mbps/FH, 24p/24 Mbps/FX, 24p/17 Mbps/FH), MP4: 1920 x 1080 (60p/28 Mbps, 30p/16 Mbps), 1280 x 720 (30p/6 Mbps); PAL – XAVC S 4K: 3840 x 2160 (25p/100Mbps, 25p/60Mbps), XAVC S HD: 1920 x 1080 (50p/50Mbps, 25p/50Mbps), 1280 x 720 (100p/50Mbps), AVCHD: 1920 x 1080 (50p/28Mbps/PS, 50i/24Mbps/FX, 50i/17Mbps/FH, 25p/24Mbps/FX, 25p/17Mbps/FH), MP4: 1920 x 1080 (50p/28Mbps, 25p/16Mbps), 1280 x 720 (25p/6Mbps)
  • Picture Profile – Yes (Off / PP1-PP7) Parameters: Black level, Gamma (Movie, Still, Cine1-4, ITU709, ITU709 [800%], S-Log2), Black Gamma, Knee, Color Mode, Saturation, Color Phase, Color Depth, Detail, Copy, Reset
  • HDMI Output – NTSC: 3840 x 2160 (30p/24p) / 1920 x 1080 (60p/24p) / 1920 x 1080 (60i), YCbCr 4:2:2 8 bit/ RGB 8 bit, PAL: 3840 x 2160 (25p) / 1920 x 1080 (50p) / 1920 x 1080 (50i), YCbCr 4:2:2 8 bit/ RGB 8 bit
  • Audio Recording – Built-In Microphone (Stereo)
  • Audio File Format – XAVC S: LPCM, 2ch, AVCHD: Dolby® Digital (AC-3), 2ch, Dolby® Digital Stereo Creator, MP4: MPEG-4 AAC-LC, 2ch
  • Moreover, Audio Output – Stereo mini-pin jack (3.5 mm diameter)

Other Special Features of Sony a7R II

In difficult lighting, DRO corrects your images to achieve smoother, more natural gradations with more detail in the highlights and shadows it can be used during continuous shooting, and when photographing moving subjects.  Now, it is easy to magnify the image to simplify manual fine-tuning of the focus whether shooting still images or movies. The Focus peaking also helps more to confirm the focused area. There are many creative styles both available for stills and videos shooting for making a creative visual story.

  • Eye Tracking – Human/Animal Eye Tracking AF
  • Face Detection – On / On (Regist. Faces) / Off, Face registration, Face selection (Max. number of detectable faces: 8)
  • Smile Shutter – Smile shutter (selectable from 3 steps)
  • Digital Zoom – Still – 35mm full frame: L: approx 4x, M: approx 6.2x, S: approx 8x, APS-C: L: approx 4x, M: approx 5.2x, S: approx 8x, Movie – 35mm full-frame: Approx. 4x, APS-C: Approx. 4x
  • Smart Zoom – 35mm full-frame: M: approx 1.5x, S: approx 2x, APS-C: M: approx 1.3x, S: approx 2x
  • Anti-Dust System – Charge protection coating on optical filter and image sensor shift mechanism
  • Time-lapse recording – Provided
  • PC Interface – Mass-storage, MTP, PC remote
  • Wireless – Built-in
  • Wi-Fi – 2.4GHz / 5GHz band
  • Storage types – Memory Stick PRO Duo™, Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo™, Memory Stick™ Micro (M2), SD memory card, SDHC memory card (UHS-I compliant), SDXC memory card (UHS-I compliant), microSD memory card, microSDHC memory card, microSDXC memory card,
  • USB Connectivity – Micro USB
  • NFC – Yes (One-touch Remote, One-touch Sharing)
  • HD Output – HDMI micro connector (Type-D), BRAVIA® Sync (Control for HDMI), PhotoTV HD, 4K movie output/4K still image PB
  • Port Provided – Microphone, Headphone
  • Remote control – Yes (Wired, smartphone)
  • Self-timer – 10 sec. delay/5 sec. delay/2 sec. delay/Continuous self-timer (3 frames after 10 sec. delay/5 frames after 10 sec. delay/3 frames after 5 sec. delay/5 frames after 5 sec. delay/3 frames after 2 sec. delay/5 frames after 2 sec. delay)/Bracketing self-timer (Off/2 sec. delay/5 sec. delay/10 sec. delay)
  • Sync Terminal – Yes

Best Lenses for Sony Alpha a7R II

The growing group of FE lenses (35 mm full-frame compatible E-mount lenses) — all carefully developed to match full-frame image sensors employing increasing numbers of pixels — makes the most of the 42.4-megapixel high-resolution performance of the α7R II. The 5-axis image stabilization lets you enjoy unparalleled handheld shooting freedom with more of your favorite mountable lenses. The short flange-back distance in the E-mount α7R II extends compatibility with a range of lenses.

List of Best Common Lenses for Sony a7R II

Best All-in-one Lens

  • FE 24–240 mm F3.5-6.3 OSS

Most Common Standard Zoom Lenses

  • FE 24-70 mm F2.8 GM
  • FE 24-105 mm F4 G OSS

Best Standard Prime Lenses

  • FE 35 mm F1.8
  • FE 50 mm F2.8 Macro
  • Lens FE 85mm F1.8
  • FE 100mm F2.8 STF GM OSS

Best Macro Lenses

  • FE 50 mm F2.8 Macro
  • FE 90 mm F2.8 Macro G OSS

Top Standard Zoom Lenses

  • FE 24-70 mm F2.8 GM
  • FE 24–105 mm F4 G OSS
  • Lens FE PZ 28–135 mm F4 G OSS

Best Wide-angle Zoom Lenses

  • FE 12-24mm F4 G
  • FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM
  • Lens FE 24-70 mm F2.8 GM

Best Wide-angle Prime Lenses

  • FE 20 mm F1.8 G
  • FE 24mm F1.4 GM
  • Lens FE 35 mm F1.8

List of Best Specialized Lenses for Sony a7R II

Best Indoor Sports Lenses

  • FE 70–200 mm F4 G OSS
  • FE 70-200 mm F2.8 GM OSS
  • Super telephoto Zoom 100-400mm G Master Lens

Top Outdoor Sports and Wildlife Lenses

  • Sony FE 200–600 mm F5.6–6.3 G OSS
  • FE 400 mm F2.8 GM OSS
  • Sony FE 600-mm F4 GM OSS
  • 1.4x and 2x Teleconverter Lens

Best Portrait Lenses

  • FE 50mm F1.8
  • FE 85 mm F1.4 GM
  • Lens FE 135mm F1.8 GM

Best Travel and Street Lenses

  • FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM
  • FE 24-70 mm F2.8 GM
  • Lens FE 24–105 mm F4 G OSS
  • FE 50mm F1.8
  • Lens FE 85 mm F1.4 GM

Sony Alpha a7R II Rating

As per the specifications and features of Sony a7R II, this camera is rated 4.4/5. The a7R II is the developed camera from its 7R series which is capable of providing impressive image quality and performance. It can be used for any kind of genre of photography. It is so useful for using the picture for any kind of print size or using it in any medium. This is an ultimate package with high image quality with high performance. Further, this rating is given to Sony a7R II as per the survey of creative huts.

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Henceforth, on an average Sony Alpha a7R II rating is 4.4 out of 5Sony Alpha a7R II Review (2020)
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