Generally I'm more than happy with the A7RII and would like to mention a couple of points that are really important for me and which haven't been mentioned so far (or perhaps I missed them
):
- Manual focusing is totally brilliant. Being able to zoom in to 12x makes it possible to focus with great precision, through the viewfinder, and very quickly. As I manual-focus most of my shots this is a big, big plus for me.
- Size. I do a LOT of walking as I'm a landscape photographer, and it is SUCH a relief not be to carting my 1Ds3 while scrambling over rocks any more.
- Zebra. I know this has been mentioned, but rather negatively. I find it fantastic. I set the Zebra to 100+ and with the camera in Manual mode I adjust the exposure so that I just get stripes. I then dial down by 1 stop before taking the shot. This gives a perfect exposure. I don't find the stripes a nuisance while composing the shot as I dial up so that there aren't any.
- WiFi. I can sit in my car and shoot remotely using my phone. I'm not interested in silent shooting, but if I was a wildlife photographer, having wifi + silent shooting would be fantastic!
At first I found the buttons and dials awkward, coming from 1Ds-land. But after a while I've gotten so used to them that the controls are totally fine, even with gloves on (not big thick ones though
). Having said that, I do have smallish hands ... I'm not sure I would be so happy if I had shovels for hands like some of my friends.
The automatic EVF/LCD switching. This is been well covered by me and others. When you bend over to have a good look at the LCD screen on the back of the camera, especially if you’re wearing a hat, the screen goes dark. This “feature” also keeps the camera from being as useful at waist level as it otherwise might be. There is a great workaround which came from a reader, which gets you the equivalent of the a directly accessed manual two-way (EVF/LCD) toggle on the Leica M240. Set C3, the custom button next to the finder, to “Finder/Monitor Sel.” Then go to “Gear>4>Finder/Monitor” and set it to manual. I didn’t know about this on the trip, but, since the EVF on the a7RII is better than the ones on its forbearers, by the end of the trip, I was holding the camera up to my eye whenever I needed to access the menu system outdoors.
This is a great trick ... thanks! Also, if you use the center button to turn the LCD on/off you can have everything off and then turn the LCD on at the touch of a button, if you need it. Good for battery life.