Any Sony folks used an A77ii and an A7Rii?

[SniktySnikty]

I currently have an A7 with a 16-35mm f4 mounted to it and an A77ii with a 70-400G2 attached to it. I sold my 55mm as I wasn't using it.

Originally I used the 70-400 on the A7 with the LA-EA4 adapter. The picture quality was immense but the AF was lacking. eventually I bought an A77ii, the Autofocus does exactly what I want it to but I do find I cant boss the exposure around in post like I can on the A7. I really struggle on grey days in ways I never have with the A7.

I can't afford any of the mk3 models but A7Rii have started popping up for sensible money second hand with warranty. Does anyone know if the A7Rii can match the A77ii for auto focus tracking? Birds in flight is what I am interested in mostly.

[Lynchie999]

I have the A7 (mk1) and have had an A77 mk1 also... I swapped out the A77 for A6300 last year... much better dynamic range and AF...

... have you looked at the A6300/6500 ? as an alternative to the A77mk2 ? the A7 has lots more Dynamic range than the A77...

you could bolt on the tele lens via an adapter...

[SniktySnikty]

That wouldn't work for me unfortunately. The 6500 is cropped, rendering the 16-35 a bit redundant. Sorry if I wasn't clear in my first post, I'm tight on cash so would be looking to sell both bodies to get the A7Rii. Dont really need to have two bodies anyway so consolidating would be good.

Edited by SniktySnikty on Wednesday 18th July 14:25

[springfan62]

I have an A7r2 and its very good. Tracking of moving objects is good but you are limited to 5 fps and the buffer can be slow to empty when you shooting in multi shot. I took some very good action shots at Goodwood last weekend and the tracking was not an issue, I suspect its less good in lower light.

The A7r2 has very high resolution and you do need good lenses as the cheaper ones do not do the camera justice.

The a7r3 has even better tracking and a much faster buffer. I am very happy with my R2 but would buy the R3 if I was buying now but the price difference is considerable.

[ukaskew]

I had an a77II and now use an a7RII. The tracking etc was very good on the a77II but the a7RII blows it away in terms of consistency and accuracy in my opinion. As mentioned above the buffer is quite limited, but the pay off is ridiculously good files that you can push and pull and pretty much do what you like with. I've hit ISO12800 at weddings and the files are remarkably clean considering that's basically darkness!

The main issue is the cost of FE glass, but with the likes of Sigma and Tamron joining the party officially now things are improving all the time.

A few a7RII samples:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/harry_s/albums/72157...

[Lynchie999]

... why not the A7ii ? unless you really need the MP count ? doesn't the non R version have better AF and more FPS ? its more designed for action and moving targets than the R ...

[ukaskew]

Lynchie999 said:

... why not the A7ii ? unless you really need the MP count ? doesn't the non R version have better AF and more FPS ? its more designed for action and moving targets than the R ...

The a7II is some way behind the a7RII in terms of AF, it also does without fairly basic things like configurable Auto ISO.

The a7RII was basically the first of the 'next generation' a7 line with clever face tracking features and so on, its also the first one that performs incredibly well with Canon and Sigma (Canon fit) glass with an adaptor, in fact it's better than most Canons. The leap between the a7RII and a7II is much, much bigger than the difference between the a7RII and latest bodies (a7III and a7RIII)

[SniktySnikty]

As far as I recall, the A7ii was an A7 with nicer materials, better button placement and the 5 axis IS. It wasnt a significant jump.

Thanks for sharing your experiences with the A7Rii, I'm a bit more confident about the camera now, the AF really needs to be great. Those are some great shots as well

This is the sort of thing I've been doing with my A77ii

[ukaskew]

With the right glass I'm fairly confident you'd be fine with an a7RII. I can count on one hand the number of out of focus shots I've had out of it, but I've got a lot of experience with mirrorless and it does require a bit of getting used to due to the blackout (which I no longer notice at all)