14 DAY TRIAL // Trembling hands have been the enemy of photography for a long time, but image stabilization technologies have been getting better every year. Sony has just released a camera with one of the best out there.
Called Sony a7II, the product has been introduced as the world's first full-frame camera with 5-axis image stabilization technology. So you can see just how important the technology is considered by the eggheads of the photo industry itself.
The camera has 4.5 stops of stabilizing power, meaning that it will eliminate the blur no matter which plan your hands are trembling in.
You can even apply stabilization to each axis independently, allowing you to correct Pitch/Yaw without affecting the X/Y motion. You can even offset rolling or any combination of these three.
The technology will also make sure the pictures come out clear if you set the camera on a tripod while the wind is blowing hard enough to make it shudder.
Even if you attach an E-mount lens with OSS, the camera will detect it and will use a combination of in-lens and in-body stabilization to get the best result.
The other traits of the Sony a7II camera
The SLR-style mirrorless product hides many things inside its magnesium alloy body, like a 24-megapixel CMOS sensor capable of capturing images in 6000 x 4000 resolution, with image ratio of 3:2 and 16:9.
A Bionz X processor runs everything, like the adjustable light sensitivity (100-25,600 ISO), the white balance preset system (10 presets including custom ones), autofocus, the XAVC S codec for 1080/60p recording, S-Log2 support, and the synchronization between all camera parts, like the tilting Xtra Fine LCD (1,230,000 dots, 3-inch diagonal) and 100% coverage electronic viewfinder.
The Sony a7II camera can capture JPEG (DCF 2.0, EXIF 2.3) and RAW (ARW 2.3) image files with or without one or more of the following parameters: Standard, Vivid, Neutral, Clear, Deep, Light, Portrait, Landscape, Sunset, Night Scene, Autumn Leaves, Black & White, Sepia.
Availability and pricing
Sales haven't begun anywhere yet, but Sony will start shipping the product to Japanese consumers on December 5, with Europe to follow in January. No word on US availability just yet. The price is the equivalent of $1,600 / €1,275 - €1,600.
Of course, if you're a professional and want the extra range and the detail provided by a lens unit, you'll have to browse for and buy that separately, bringing the price up considerably.
