Sony – Alpha a7 II Full-Frame Mirrorless Video Camera with 28-70mm Lens – Black

I am so excited about this new purchase! I am able to shoot in much lower light and it fits into my dive housing. My test shots alone have been of great quality so I can’t wait to take it on some new adventures!

I bought this camera roughly a year ago, so I’ve had the chance to use it extensively before writing this review.
Like most cameras, it’s not perfect, but I have found it to be an overall outstanding camera.
Rather than write a long, long story, I’ll get into the pros and cons.
First, I purchased this as an “Open Box” deal from Best Buy and probably saved about $500 at the time of purchase.
PROS
– Great full-frame sensor with excellent resolving power. Colors are accurate, and noise is reasonably well controlled. I don’t have any issues with this sensor.
– FAST! When set to Continuous Shooting – High, you’ll be impressed with how quickly it rattles off shot after shot. I’ve been shooting some fashion runway shows, and you need a fast camera. This fits the bill.
– Electronic viewfinder. Compared with an optical viewfinder, I would go with an electronic viewfinder any day. This allows you to see real-time changes when setting white balance, and there is no comparison when it comes to magnified views for manual focus.
– Quality of construction. This camera is built rock solid. It has a good amount of heft to it. You can tell that this is built to stand up to hard use.
– The various markings are engraved and filled, which means that they won’t wear off in a couple of years. Unlike other cameras that I’ve owned.
– You can easily dial in exposure compensation or magnify the image for manual focus. I have found this to be a very friendly camera. I don’t have to “fight” the camera to use it.
CONS
– The body is too short. I have average-sized man hands, and the camera needs to be a bit taller for a firm grip. I bought an aftermarket battery grip, which makes it a bit too tall (win some, lose some).
– Getting to some menu items requires too many button presses. In general, the camera takes the Asian design approach of filling most space on the body with buttons and dials and leaving it up to you to memorize the location and function of each. I actually don’t have a solution to this.
– Major battery hog. In addition to the limited number of frames per battery charge, this camera seems to suck power even when it’s turned off. After a week, the battery usually has dipped to about 60%. I went to an external battery solution, because the worst thing to happen is to lose power in the middle of a shoot.
OTHER COMMENTS
I sold the kit lens, as I found that I rarely used it. It’s a bit larger than I wanted for a kit lens, and instead I bought the Sony G 70-200mm zoom, which was used to take the attached image.
When I want to use a kit zoom, I borrow the one from my Sony NEX-7. This lens is average at best.
I have only shot a few minutes of video, as I have dedicated video cameras, so I can’t speak to video performance.
This camera has heft to it, and when I get really lazy, I opt for the NEX-7.
When shooting with manual focus lenses, I found that my hit rate decreased. Using a manual focus lens with a full-frame sensor requires more attention when focusing. I tend to use the magnify function, which makes a difference.
Overall, I think this is an awesome camera. It is well worth the money that I paid.
The black and white shot was taken with my manual-focus Rollei QBM f/1.8 50mm Planar – my favorite SLR lens.