Survey: Sony A7II - Will you buy?

[SAF Admin]

The Sony A7II is available for preorder!

 

Will you buy one? Take the survey!

 

And let us know why....

 

Andreas

[Thomas Hofinger]

Voted "not sure" - still waiting for specs of the rumored Pro version (A9...) :-)

[thomas81]

Hello folks,

 

Great camera but not for my way of doing photography, A7S is definitely more in focus.

 

Greater sensitivity, better compatibility with vintage lenses, lighter image wheight (12MP is absolutely nice, could have been 16MP but more is too heavy for my liking).

 

But the A7II is a great camera and 5 axis stab is a nice addition,

 

Best regards

 

[rnFoto]

Still waiting for a A99 replacement.

 

Cheers

Rafal

[dbaechli]

Going to watch the market for a while. Let's see what they have in store for the a7S upgrade, maybe with a 16MP sensor? Since I love to adapt old glass, I might also get a used a7S and maybe sell the a7..

[sonicbuffalo]

Nope.....very happy with my A7.  Not enough upgrades for me and I want t see what the A9 Professional will bring in the way of updates to a great system.  

[Michiel]

I will wait for the A9. Still quiet happy with my A7r and it's amount of pixels.

[BAM]

I'll wait for the A7s upgrade. The A7II doesn't meet my needs.

 

Brian

[Vivek]

Waiting for the A9 and a steep drop in price of the A7s.  The A7 II is atrociously priced in the EU.  One small way to disapprove of Sony's pricing is by not buying it.

[melovesushi]

I can buy return flight to Tokyo (£499-£530) 

The camera there is (amazon prices) £1000, zeiss 55mm lens £420 ,total £1420 

 

why would I buy from sony uk?

 

no thanks ,

i'll wait till Feb ,see what they do for the a7r /a9

[dbaechli]

Waiting for the A9 and a steep drop in price of the A7s.  The A7 II is atrociously priced in the EU.  One small way to disapprove of Sony's pricing is by not buying it.

 

Actually, the asking price for the a7 II is quite high in Switzerland, too.

 

Pre-order prices, body only:

 

In the US

USD 1698.00 = CHF 1643.90 = EUR 1364.00

 

In Switzerland, incl. 8 % VAT:

USD 2107.00 = CHF 2040.00 = EUR 1694.10

(ex VAT USD 1950.90)

 

I am sure that there are even higher prices eg in the UK. And I am also pretty sure that by the time the a7 II will start to ship, those Swiss prices will be lowered to somewhat more close to 1600-1700.. I think when I got the a7 last December, it was about 1400 and a real no brainer. I do understand that Sony wants to push a little, but that might got into the wrong direction. On the other hand, there seem to be still a lot of people buying 2k cameras. Every year. That said, I might check out the discounts on the actual a7s..

 

,-)

 

 

***

 

Latest price scenario I have seen in my country:

 

Panasonic LX100:

 

Started at 1049, when in stock 999, after a day 949, within a week 899, next day 799, another day later there was a 10 % discount and you could buy it for about 715. So, within less than two weeks there was a price drop of about one third, or CHF 330..

[joe1946]

I purchased the A7r for large 4ft prints and GH4 instead of A7s for internal 4K in the spring so the A7 II does not have the features I am looking for.

[klepper]

No GPS, no Dual Slot, no fast lenses, no deal. 

[billzilla]

My A7 has been a great step up from my prior APS-C, M43 and 1" cameras in terms of range and depth. AF improvements and IBIS alone were worth an upgrade. I've already preordered. Why not the others? Well, I don't think I'll be able to afford an A9, and also...
 

• Don't need or really want GPS. This is a mirrorless camera, not a big FF DSLR sized body. If I want a geotag, I can use my phone.
• Aside from the obvious 55/1.8 and incoming 35/1.4 (50/1.2 in 2015), there's plenty of fast lenses out now. FD, Contax and A-Mount AF+IS adapters = huge variety, to say nothing of 'dumb' adapted vintage which are so easy to use with mirrorless w/ focus zoom & peaking. Crop E-Mount lenses like the 10-18 can also be used to good effect. Then there's the Loxia MF line.
• Considered the A7r but since I'm not predominantly a tripod landscape photographer, 36MP is subject to handheld blur and shutter shock. AF is slow and the double shutter is even more alarming to people than the already loud A7.
• Considered the A7s and its huge pixel pitch but 12MP is too limiting for all but 4K video and full screen crops of night images. I need something more versatile.
• The cost-benefit of the A7 is optimal among its peers for now, most versatile and cheapest -- now with 4.5 stop IBIS, 30% improved AF, full metal lens mount, more robust build, more configurable buttons, better ergonomics, improved screen for outdoor viewing.

 

Of course, nothing is perfect. Still waiting for:

• Adjustable minimum shutter speed w/ Auto ISO.
• Option for uncompressed RAW.
• Improved battery capacity for higher shot count.
• Threaded convex shutter button.

[Vivek]

Sony upgrade fatigue is catching up.  These are not in the "model a month NEX" price range.

[Glowtape]

Very likely going to buy it. Tired of Canon and them going nowhere. Sensor improvements are the prime thing I'm looking for, especially considering the sort of manipulations I usually do for art style's sake. Less noise shadows and a generally bigger dynamic range are welcome. I'm doing a lot of urban exploration, and often enough I end up shooting things without a tripod, in the dark. IBIS is a godsend.

 

I'd prefer the performance of the A7S, but its resolution doesn't leave enough room for extended crops, plus I don't think it's high enough to naturally create sharper images or reduce color/Bayer noise well enough by downsampling. Altho focus peaking and magnification should take care of the former.

 

The A7II is the jack of all trade I'm looking for. If the IBIS works well enough, it'll give me the exposure advantage the A7S would have gotten me, and then some, while still leaving me some resolution to apply the weed whacker to.

 

Of course, one thing I pray for is that the A7II LCD finally turns off completely instead of showing black.

[pmrphoto]

Yes, I will likely buy two of these.  The addition of the larger grip and 5-axis IS will really help my long lens sports photography.  Also, the 5-axis feature will allow sports and nature shooters to use older Nikon long glass like the 500mm f/4P and be stabilized.  This is a big deal for both video and stills.

 

What I really want and need/want is an A7 with low light sensitivity, the new grip, the AF features, speed, accuracy of the A6K, and 8-10 FPS.  Based on Sony making their 4th version of the A7 in such a short period of time, I believe I'll be able to buy that camera in less than a year.  It means upgrading a whole lot more often than most of us are used to but it sure beats being a Canon or Nikon shooter these days.  #NikonCanonzzzzzzzzzzz......

[Kirkp]

Yes, when the everyone is drooling for its successor and I can buy it cheaply. :-)

[MaxImage]

I finally purchased an A7 about 4 weeks ago.  I had been wanting one after using the NEX 6 for the past year and was looking for an upgrade.  When the price dropped by $200 I purchased and A7.  Then about 3 week later the A7ii was announced in Japan.  I promptly returned the A7 and have the new A7ii on pre-order. Looking forward to it and hope the new IBIS makes a big difference.  Now I can use my A mount lenses with stabilization.  I just hope the size and weight is worth the change.

 

I am keeping the NEX 6 as my ultra light travel camera.  I may even sell my A700 and A850 some day.  But may not.

[Gemini-51]

Obviously, I will not order one, because I'm waiting the A9 or sth with higher resolution

[schmopinions]

Probably won't buy it.  The price is too high for a camera with so few lenses and accessories available.  I could use Nikon mount lenses and accessories but it would be with a loss of functionality and investing in Sony e mount lenses is expensive and kind of risky.  If this was a Nikon camera with a Nikon lens mount and flash shoe mount I would definitely buy it.  But, as it is, I am looking at other options and for now I am waiting to see what else is coming next year.

[dbaechli]

One of my concerns, or say, the one thing I am curious about (a7II): how noisy will the IS be? I have sold cameras only because of the disturbing hum that came from this feature.

[AlphaAlpha]

Just voting "Most probably yes", because the A7II is a great step up from my prior Nex 6.

 

Cheers

Rolf

[osobogly]

• Already pre-ordered.  I'm moving up from a nex7 and from casual hobbyist to more serious enthusiast.  The a7II feature list is outstanding!  It gains 4.5 stops due to the IBIS! Also, I can now better support all the vintage glass I started collecting because they'll all be stabilized to some degree.  I'm excited about the improved mount strength as my telephotos always felt precariously heavy on the NEX series.  The 30% faster AF looks pretty convincing after checking out all the videos and overall the build quality seems geared toward someone actually using the camera a lot. The shutter button placement is also a huge deal for me as stretching to reach the current a7's always creates more shake with my smaller hands (borrowed my friends).  It looks like there are even a few other features that I didn't feel the need to complain about before: brighter screen, better grip, and honestly I even like that the little door for the SD card is smaller.   Everyone is asking me why I don't wait for a7sII or a9 models to roll out.  The answer is simple -  the features in this amazingly small FF camera are insane for the price - many people paid this much for the a7!  I can't wait for my a7II. Sony is continually pushing the bar faster on technological advances for small format FF photography than anyone else. It's pointless to think in terms of 'keeping up with technology' or having the latest and greatest. It's about my current needs.  The a7II meets them all for right now!

[koala]

I am buying one because the faster focus sounds intriguing and I like the grip too.  Also faster start up.  But worried about the stabilization being a battery killer and we all know the battery life on the A7 is horrible.  Was going to hold off for A9 but hearing its going to be a much bigger form factor and the small size of the A7 is a big reason for me to stop using my 5Ds and 1Ds...