Sony A7 and A7r Hands On at PhotoPlus Expo

Sony A7r with a Voigtlander 12mm Lens and Viewfinder

It was a very crowded Sony booth at PhotoPlus. The great thing was the Sony representatives were very accommodating to anyone who wanted to play with the new Sony A7 and A7r. We had our bag of lenses and was able to mount them all on the A7 and A7r - check out the 12mm viewfinder on the A7r above. The lenses include the following:

• Voigtlander 12mm f/5.6 Leica Thread Mount on a helicoid adapter.
• Voigtlander 35mm f/1.7 Ultron LTM.
• Minolta 24mm f/2.8 Rokkor MD.
• Contax G 28mm f/2.8 Biogon.
• Contax Zeiss 85mm f/1.4 Planar with the Metabones Speedbooster and the standard C/Y adapter.
• Zeiss 12mm f/2.8 Touit Distagon.

The cameras were pre-production and the use of memory cards to record the images was prohibited. We wanted to see if I could see immediate problems on the rear tilting lcd but none were glaring.  The only noticeable issue was color shift with the Contax G 28mm Biogon.  We're hoping that this can be remedied with the production models.

Sony A7r and a Contax G Lens

Below is the Contax 85mm Planar on a Metabones Speedbooster. As you can see it cannot cover the whole sensor but with APS-C mode on the A7 cameras the Speedbooster is still useable.

Sony A7r and a Contax 85mm Planar Lens via Speedbooster

The Voigtlander 35mm Ultron LTM was a nice surprise.  This lens gives the NEX-7 some problems with color shift but on the A7 this was not the case.  The few snaps that we took looked great on the rear lcd.

Sony A7r and a Voigtlander 35mm Ultron

The Minolta 24mm f/2.8 MD provide a nice wide angle image on the Sony A7.  It felt nice and balance on the slightly larger frame of the Sony A7.

Sony A7r and a Contax 85mm Planar Lens via Speedbooster

We were very excited to mount the Zeiss 12mm f/2.8 Touit on the new Sony A7.  We had the A7's APS-C lens detection off to see how much the Touit can cover the full frame sensor.  The lens has a plastic shroud to protect the rear element and this showed up in the shot below.  The Touit works perfectly fine in APS-C mode.

Sony A7r and a Zeiss 12mm Distagon Touit

The images above were from a smartphone.

Sony A7r Jpeg Samples from Gustav

Jpeg from Sony A7r, 100% Crop

Gustav had a chance to play with the Sony A7r, 35mm Sonnar, and the LA-EA4 lens adapter. He posted some samples which are straight out of the camera's jpeg engine with +1 contrast and +1 sharpness via the camera menu.

From Gustav:

i have dicided to keep the camera , and not give it back to sony i`m not theoretical technical , but this camera feels superb ,build is very good , i like the sound of the shutter (its not softly)the menu is also easy , and almost the same as alpha-menu

Samples by Gustav on Dyxum using the Sony A7r and the Zeiss 35mm Sonnar lens, LA-EA4 lens adapter, and the new Sony 70-200mm SSM G lens.

Dowload Sony Alpha A7 A7r Product Guide

Sony Alpha 7 and 7r Product Guide

Here's a nice brochure from Sony about the new A7 and A7r. It provides a lot of information on the technology used for the camera, the new lenses, and the compatible accessories. Download the Sony Alpha A7 and A7r via DropBox.

Sony A7r and A7 Focus Speeds

Sony A7r with Zeiss 35mm f/2.8 Sonnar

One of the major differences between the Sony Alpha 7r (A7r) and the Alpha 7 (A7) is their focusing systems. Both cameras have contrast-detection autofocus but the Sony A7 incorporates phase-detection autofocus for a hybrid system which adds speed and accuracy to locking focus. The videos show a slight difference in locking focus for both cameras. More information below.

Sony A7 Focus Speed with Zeiss 35mm f/2.8 Sonnar

Sony A7r Focus Speed with Zeiss 55mm f/1.8 Sonnar

	Sony Alpha 7r	Sony Alpha 7
Focus system Type	Contrast-detection AF	Fast Hybrid AF (phase-detection AF/contrast-detection AF)
Focus point	25 points	35mm full-frame:      117 points (phase-detection AF) APS-C:      99 points (phase-detection AF)      25 points (contrast-detection AF)

Sony A7r vs A7 Focusing System Comparison

Contrast Detect Autofocus of the Sony A7 and A7r

The Sony A7r's autofocus system as explained by Sony:

Fast Intelligent AF

Fast Intelligent AF provides extremely fast AF performance despite the employment of a full-frame sensor. In fact, it achieves top-level AF speed in the full-frame category through the support of various advances including new lightning-fast BIONZ X, high-speed full-frame image sensor output, and a newly developed Spatial Object Detection AF algorithm that conducts focusing analysis in real-time using spatial frequency information to optimally control the lens drive.

Phases Detect Autofocus of the Sony A7

The Sony A7's autofocus system as explained by Sony:

Enhanced Fast Hybrid AF

Enhanced Fast Hybrid AF combines speedy phase-detection AF with highly accurate contrast-detection AF, which has been accelerated through a new Spatial Object Detection algorithm, to achieve among the fastest autofocusing performance of any full-frame camera. First, phase-detection AF with 117 densely placed phase-detection AF points* swiftly and efficiently moves the lens to bring the subject nearly into focus. Then contrast-detection AF (Fast Intelligent AF) with wide AF coverage fine-tunes the focusing in the blink of an eye. Performance is dramatically improved beyond that of previous Fast Hybrid AF systems through a number of major advances in high-speed contrast-detection AF, including faster communication with the lens made possible by the advanced Spatial Object Detection algorithm. Other advances include optimized image-sensor data read-out, swifter processing of AF-related data by the new BIONZ X image processing engine, and a more efficient lens drive that reduces back-and-forth lens movement.

* 99 points when an APS-C lens compatible with Fast Hybrid AF is mounted.

Sony A7r with Zeiss 55mm f/1.8 Sonnar

Sony A7 vs Leica Zeiss Voigtlander Rangefinder Lenses

TechTalk on the Sony A7

TechTalk with Ron Scheffler is currently posting its Sony A7 torture test. The A7 was a pre-production unit so the results may differ from the final product. The number of lenses tested in 1.5 hrs is staggering. The big question for those looking to get the new full frame Sony A7 is, "Does it play well with rangefinder lenses?" Ron tested the heavyweight of the RF lens world from Leica, Carl Zeiss, Voigtlander. Here is the list of lenses tested.

1. Voigtlander Ultra Wide-Heliar 12mm f5.6 Aspherical (LTM version which is identical to the current M mount version) (referred to as CV12)
2. Voigtlander Super Wide-Heliar 15mm f4.5 Aspherical M (referred to as CV15)
3. Leica Summilux-M 21mm f1.4 ASPH. (referred to as 21 Lux)
4. Zeiss Biogon T* 21mm f2.8 ZM (referred to as ZM21)
5. Leica Super-Elmar-M 21mm f3.4 ASPH. (referred to as 21 SEM)
6. Leica Summicron-M 28mm f2 ASPH. (referred to as 28 Cron)
7. Voigtlander Nokton 35mm f1.2 Aspherical VM II (referred to as CV35)
8. Canon 35mm f2.0 LTM (a lens from the late 50s-early 60s)
9. Zeiss C Biogon T* 35mm f2.8 ZM (referred to as ZM35C)
10. Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 35mm f2.8 (newly announced with the a7/a7R)
11. Voigtlander Nokton classic 40mm f1.4 (referred to as CV40)
12. Leica Summilux-M 50mm f1.4 ASPH. (referred to as 50 Lux ASPH)
13. Canon 50mm f1.4 LTM (a lens from the late 50s-early 60s)
14. Voigtlander Nokton 50mm f1.5 Aspherical LTM (optically identical to the current M mount model, though apparently there may be some coating differences) (referred to as CV50)
15. Zeiss C Sonnar T* 50mm f1.5 ZM (referred to as ZM50C)
16. Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f2 ZM (referred to as ZM50P)
17. Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 55mm f1.8 (newly announced with the a7/a7R)
18. Sony 28-70mm f3.5–5.6 OSS (newly announced with the a7/a7R)
19. Leica Summarit-M 90mm f2.5 (referred to as 90 Summarit)

Head over to TechTalk to see Ron's verdict and download sample files to play with.

Thanks Ron!

Sony A7r with Contax G 28mm Biogon

Some glamour shots of the new Sony A7r with a Contax G 28mm f/2.8 Biogon lens from xitek.com forum contributors dabpes, robsiqi, and 四核八线程. The Carl Zeiss Contax G lenses are mounted using an E-mount lens adapter.

Pre-order your Sony Alpha A7r here.

How Big is the Sony A7r?

Sony A7 vs NEX-6 Size Comparison

Or should we say, how small are the new full frame mirrorless cameras from Sony?

Sony A99 vs A7 Size Comparison

Sony A7 Kit with 28-70mm lens

Sony A7R with Carl Zeiss 35mm f/2.8 Sonnar