Sony India has launched today its flagship full-frame mirrorless camera, the a7R II. This is claimed to be the world’s first back-illuminated full-frame Exmor R CMOS sensor, which realises high-resolution (approximately 42.4 effective megapixels), high-sensitivity (expandable up to ISO 102400) and high-speed AF response up to 40 per cent faster than the original a7R camera of Sony. This camera is priced Rs. 2,39,990, and available from today across India.
The newly-developed 42.4-megapixel back-illuminated CMOS sensor is the most advanced, versatile and highest-resolution full-frame image sensor that Sony has ever created, allowing the a7R II to reach new levels of quality, sensitivity and response speed. The sensor’s back-illuminated structure, with an expanded circuit scale and copper wiring design, enables faster transmission speed and ensures content can be captured in high-resolution without sacrificing sensitivity. Data can also be output from the sensor at approximately 3.5x faster compared to the original a7R.
The new a7R II features a high-speed BIONZ X image processing engine that allows images and videos from the camera to be captured with supreme details and low noise. There is also no optical low pass filter on the camera, ensuring that scenery and landscapes are captured in the highest possible resolution and clarity.The a7R II has a new highly-durable reduced-vibration shutter that realises 50 per cent less vibration from shutter movements compared to its predecessor.
The new image sensor features 399 focal-plane phase-detection AF points – the world’s widest AF coverage on a full-frame sensor – that work together with 25 contrast AF points to achieve a focus response speed that is approximately 40 per cent faster than the original model.
The new flagship a7R II model is equipped with an innovative 5-axis image stabilisation system that has been fine-tuned to support its high-resolution shooting capacity. Similar to the system launched on the acclaimed ?7 II model, this advanced form of image stabilisation corrects camera shake along five axes during shooting, including angular shake (pitch and yaw) that tends to occur with a telephoto lens, shift shake (X and Y axes) which becomes noticeable as magnification increases, and rotational shake (roll) that often affects video recording.
Sony’s new a7R II camera include the ability to record movies in 4K quality (QFHD 3840×2160) in either Super 35mm crop mode or full-frame mode.
In Super 35mm mode, the camera collects a wealth of information from approximately 1.8x as many pixels as 4K by using full pixel readout without pixel binning and oversamples the information to produce 4K movies with minimal moire and ‘jaggies’.
In full-frame mode, the a7R II uses the full width of the 35mm sensor for 4K recording, allowing users to maxmise the expanded expressive power of the sensor. It is the world’s first digital camera to offer this in-camera full-frame format 4K recording capacity.
The new full-frame a7R II has an upgraded XGA OLED Tru-Finder with a double-sided aspherical lens that delivers the world’s highest viewfinder magnification3 of 0.78x for crystal clear image preview and playback across the entire display area.
The camera has an extremely solid, professional feel in-hand thanks to its light, rigid magnesium alloy design, and has an improved and re-designed grip and shutter button compared to its predecessor.
The new a7R II camera is Wi-Fi and NFC-compatible, and is fully functional with Sony’s PlayMemories Mobile application available for Android and iOS platforms, as well as Sony’s growing range of PlayMemories Camera Apps. The a7R II is compatible with Sony’s growing line-up of mount lenses, which now totals 63 different models including 12 native FE full frame lenses.
