There are several things I want out of a camera these days:

• high image quality
• compact and light camera AND lenses
• fast accurate AF
• fast flash sync
• great range of high quality affordable lenses
• effective sensor based image stabilisation so manual focus is easy and all lenses can benefit from sharper imagery
• a nice EVF with live view and all its benefits instead of clunky mirror systems
• excellent support for manual focus – eg. image stabilised magnified view, etc
• preferably weather-sealed

Until now, the ONLY cameras which fulfilled these requirements are the wonderful Olympus OM-D cameras such as the E-M1, E-M5 and E-M10.

This month Sony has announced the 1st full frame camera to have 5-axis sensor based image stabilisation similar to the OM-D cameras and said to offer around 4 stops of stabilisation, although currently it is let down by lack of dedicated  lens range, but this can be expected to change over the next few years, and this at least is a great start having the sensor based IS included in such a camera.

The Sony a7 II:

• 24mp full frame mirrorless camera with E-mount
• sensor has 117 phase detect and 25 contrast detect points and although presumably the same sensor, it is said to have substantially improved AF and AF tracking over its predecessor, the a7 which did have issues with slow AF ( see here)
  • note that the Olympus OM-D E-M1 has 37 phase detect and 800 contrast detect points and can shoot at 6.5/10 fps, flash sync 1/320th sec,  timelapse, Live BULB/Composite modes, touch screen, and much more.
• tilting 1,230,000 dot LCD although not touch sensitive
• 2,359,000 dot EVF with 0.71x magnification
• shutter speed 30sec – 1/8000th sec
• no built-in flash, but flash sync a very reasonable 1/250th sec
• 5fps burst rate is not going to set the world on fire but is OK
• exposure compensation is +/- 5EV
• built-in WiFi and NFC for smartphone tethering
• no timelapse recording
• has some very nice HD video specs:
  • 1080 in 60p/60i/24p and supports XAVC S codec at 50Mbps and S Log 2 flat picture profile
  • uncompressed HDMI output
  • stereo mic
• 599g
• 127 x 96 x 60 mm (5 x 3.78 x 2.36″)
• at $US1600 it will certainly put some pressure on Canon and Nikon who still have not come to terms with the future being mirrorless cameras for most people

As mentioned, the current poor range of AF lenses dedicated to this camera is a major issue – I would love a 24mm f/1.4, a 35mm f/1.4, 85mm f/1.4 and 135mm f/2, but instead, all we have is 35mm f/2.8, 55mm f/1.8 and 3 zoom lenses – none of which are f/2.8.

If indeed, Sony and Olympus are collaborating on the development of this system – Olympus is said to be providing input regarding the 5-axis IS (although Sony appear to be claiming it is their own technology and it appears that it is a very different mechanism – see here, and that it is not as effective in video mode), and help with lens design, it would be quite nice if Olympus were to produce an Olympus version which would be compatible with their Olympus flash system and OM-D user interface – even if they kept the Sony E-Mount, this would not be an issue from a photographer’s perspective, and having such a full frame camera would provide a nice compliment to their OM-D cameras.

See more about the Sony E-Mount system on my wiki