Sony Alpha a7II Mirrorless Digital Camera - Body Only, Black

The media could not be loaded. Sony is first and foremost a technology company, and they are doing things with the A7 series that are currently unequaled. This camera is unique in the marketplace. As of this writing, there's literally nothing else like it from Sony's direct competitors Nikon, Canon, Panasonic, Olympus, Fuji, & Pentax. If you want a full frame mirrorless cam (and don't want to trade your car for a Leica), you're getting an A7. The only question is which A7.(NOTE: For more detailed photos and video, check out the A7ii review on my website [...]-- also do a search for "Loloho Photo YouTube" to find my VIDEO channel with lots of photo great reviews!)The original A7 was named "camera of the year" for cramming a 24MP full frame sensor into a compact mirrorless body. How does Sony top it with the A7ii? By improving ergonomics, focus speed, video capabilities, and delivering a groundbreaking IN BODY image stabilization system - the world's first 5-Axis stabilized full frame sensor. This illustrates a couple of admirable characteristics about Sony's imaging division - they listen to customers, and they relentlessly innovate. When Sony updates a camera (which they do often), they deliver significant design changes that translate to real world improvement - not just megapixel boosts.A note about lenses: the lens situation is improving. At the time of this writing, the best native prime lenses for the A7ii are the brilliant Zeiss 55 f1.8 and the Zeiss 35. I've heard the Zeiss 16-35 is outstanding but have not tried it yet. At Photokina Sony announced a number of new E-mount lenses that are expected to hit the market in 2015. I feel the sub-100mm range will soon be pretty well covered, especially once these new lenses hit the market. Of course with an inexpensive adapter, you can use just about any lens you please with an A7, and that's what makes these cameras so wonderful.I bought my A7ii here on Amazon and got it the first day of release. In this review, I'm going to assume you know the basics about the A7 series, and go straight to the pros and cons of the new camera. For more files and video about the camera, check out my site. [...]PROS*In Body Steadyshot - This is the marquee feature and for good reason. Now ALL of your lenses have image stabilization - including those 40-year old Nikkors and Leicas. It's amazing and it works. Of course the stabilization is more helpful with lenses towards the telephoto end of the spectrum. I've tried it with my 105mm and 300mm Nikkor primes with impressive results. With native E-mount lenses that deliver focus distance information, you get full 5-Axis stabilization. If there's no electronic communication with the camera to transmit focus distance (as with older legacy lenses) you get 3-Axis stabilization. Note that for legacy lenses, you'll want to manually specify the focal length to ensure the best results. And yes, Steadyshot works a treat for handheld video too. Shortly after the A7ii hit the market, Sony released a firmware update (version 1.1) that improved the in camera Steadyshot and squashed an annoying bug - if you get an A7ii, MAKE CERTAIN that you are running the latest firmware!*Shutter release - The shutter release has been moved forward on the camera body to a more natural location. It's now right where your finger expects it to be. Alas, it's flat across the top like most DSLRs, so there's no possibility of a cable or soft shutter release.*Better Grip - The new hand grip is thicker and easier for my hand to grasp. The new grip extends about 10mm further from the body. The new grip contributes to the apparent size increase in the A7ii.*Improved Autofocus - Sony is claiming 30% better autofocus performance. While many were hoping for AF as fast as the a6000, unfortunately it's not there yet. But Sony has improved the focusing algorithms to elicit noticeably better performance. I've had good success with facial recognition, eye focus, and object tracking. A7ii autofocus is good; I have no major complaints, but it's not as fast as a DSLR or the a6000 (a camera I also own and enjoy).*Build quality - More magnesium is now used in the camera body, and it's obvious. The camera feels solid and reassuring in the hands, like it's been carved out of metal. Even the buttons and control dials add to the premium feel of the camera.*Video - The A7ii has several notable video improvements. High quality 50 Mbps XAVC S codec is now included. Built in stabilization is a HUGE help with nonstabilized lenses. Now ALL your fast primes are stabilized for video! And the camera includes a S-LOG picture profile with enhanced dynamic range that's useful for color grading.*Wifi - This is not a new feature, but Sony has done a nice job integrating wifi into the camera. The wifi integration really showcase Sony's prowess as a tech company (Nikon and Canon have badly lagged behind in this department, IMHO). We are already taking this stuff for granted, but it's really kind of incredible to remotely control your camera from your tablet or phone -- with a live image view, no less. If you want to quickly share photos from your full frame camera to social media, it's been made easy for you, no clunky adapters required. Sony needs to do a better job highlighting these features, because they are great.*Alpha menus - Sony has now standardized the Alpha menu system across several different camera bodies. It's a clean, logical user interface that works well. With a little practice, it's remarkably easy to access the features you need quickly. The upshot? You spend less time "menu diving" and more time taking photos.*EVF - The A7ii electronic viewfinder is essentially the same as the A7, but it should be noted that it's great. The EVF is what allows Sony to squeeze down the body size of the A7 series. Once you get used to having focus assist and peaking (and the results of your shot) available inside the EVF, you will love it. What once seemed like a drawback of mirrorless cameras is now a huge advantage.*Metal lens mount - The A7ii lens mount is more robust than that of the first gen cameras. No wiggle! Lenses mount nice and tight to the body.*More customizable buttons - There are now four customizable "C" buttons to which you can assign your favorite functions, like eye autofocus, focus assist, white balance.*Articulating LCD screen - The articulating LCD screen merits a mention because so many DSLRs still do not include the feature. Once you've shot with an articulating screen, you don;t want to go without one. The LCD screen provides a decent range of motion for high and low angle shots.*Startup time - Startup time of the camera has been improved, which means fewer missed shots.*Matte finish - This is a matter of taste, but I like the matte finish of the A7ii.CONS*Weight - Weight has increased over the original A7 by 146 grams or 5.15 ounces to 599 grams. This is no small increase (a 26% gain over the A7, to be precise). When packing camera gear, every ounce matters. If it gets much heavier, we're losing a key advantage of mirrorless. Yet to be fair, at 599 grams the A7ii is still lighter than the Nikon Df (760g), Canon 6D (760g), Canon 5D Mark III (950g) and Nikon D800 (980g). Of course none of those competing cameras offer in body image stabilization, or many of the other features of the A7ii. So the A7ii remains lighter than the competition while offering a uniquely powerful functionality. If the added weight is a deal killer for you, there's always the original A7. Personally, I decided that the extra features are worth the cost in weight.*Girth- The A7ii body is not quite as svelte as the original A7. Thickness of the body itself has increased by a couple of mm. It seems more pronounced because the new grip extends a good 10mm further than the old. The A7ii is (dare I say it?) a bit chunky. The body has become more like a blend of mirrorless and DSLR. I suspect that the average non-photographer would glance at this camera and assume it is a small DSLR. Note that for some people this minus will actually be a plus. Why? Because the camera handles larger/heavier lenses with better ergonomics.*Small control wheels - This is a nitpick, but the fore and aft control wheels are small and almost flush with the body. A larger size would provide better tactile feel.*No 4k video - Not a major omission to me, but the lack of 4k is a disappointment. I think it would have been easy for Sony to include 4k, but the marketing department must have other plans. If you must have 4k, you want the A7S.*No silent shutter - The shutter noise is improved over the original A7, but it's not the dead silent shutter of the A7S.*Antialiasing filter - The A7ii has a low pass filter. I'd prefer they omit it.*Poor Apps Implementation - The original idea of offering apps is a good one, but unfortunately the PlayMemories apps have been poorly implemented by Sony. The PlayMemories store has a few worthwhile offerings, but as of this writing one of the best (time lapse) isn't compatible with the A7ii. Sony needs to open up the app store to allow outside development to make the most of this functionality. (Imagine how lame iTunes or Android would be if Apple/Google provided all the apps! That's what we're getting now from Sony.) Please, Sony - either do a better job with the PlayMemories app store, or just go ahead and include the app features in our cameras from day one.*Battery charger not included - Battery life is not a strength of these cameras (rated at 350 shots per charge) so you will want extra batteries. If you want an external battery charger, you've got to buy your own. I have several batteries and prefer to charge the extras while still having my camera free to use.*Questionable flash options - There's no onboard flash, and Sony's flash offerings are disappointing. No sync speed higher than 1/250. I don't often do flash photography, but there are times when it is necessary. Personally I would appreciate an onboard bounceable flash like that of the a6000 (the a6000 flash works great in this respect) or even a small fill flash like the X100 series.CONCLUSIONWhether you want an A7ii really boils down to two words : STEADYSHOT INSIDE. With the A7ii, it's all about image stabilization. The in body stabilization is actually a big deal. That's why you pay the premium for this camera over a first generation body. If you shoot with lenses that lack OSS (and that includes all legacy lenses) then it makes sense to get the A7ii. It's like getting a nice across-the-board upgrade to your lens collection. It's extremely cool to attach a 40-year old Nikkor 105mm and enjoy the benefits of stabilization. I have a host of Nikkors and some unstabilized E-mount (including the superb Zeiss FE55) that benefit.Of course the ergonomic improvements of the A7ii are welcome. I'm sure that many professionals will upgrade to the A7ii simply for the relocated shutter release button and improved grip.The 24MP sensor of the A7ii is basically the same as that used in the A7. If you want a high resolution mirrorless monster, you want the A7R.If you are heavily interested in VIDEO, your decision may come down to the A7ii versus the A7S. You might think of it this way: the A7S is a video camera that takes stills, while the A7ii is a stills camera that takes great video. While "steadyshot inside" certainly helps with handheld shooting of video on the A7ii, lowlight performance trails the A7S. If you must have the King of Lowlight Video, you still want the A7S.Because I shoot both video and stills I debated between the A7ii and the A7S. It was a difficult choice, but I ultimately decided that the superlative all around performance of the A7ii was best for me.I have owned (and in some cases still own) cameras from Nikon, Canon, Panasonic, Fuji, and Olympus. At the moment there's literally not an apples-for-apples competitor to this Sony camera. I buy the camera that is the best for my needs and am not loyal to one brand. Lately it seems that SONY is the company that's delivering innovation and excitement in this space. While Nikon and Canon have gingerly tested the waters of mirrorless camera design (no doubt to protect their existing DSLR product lines), Sony has been fearlessly pushing ahead with groundbreaking technology. Sony makes the sensors, and is hungry for market share; we photographers are reaping the benefits.Today, I find the A7ii the best general purpose full frame camera on the market. It's compact, solidly built but not too heavy, plays nice with a huge number of lenses, and is packed full of AMAZING technology. It just does everything (stills and video) very well. And by the way, the price is quite reasonable considering all it delivers. It's one of the most affordable full frame cameras you can buy. If you purchase one, I think you will enjoy it.

I was first attracted to the Sony A7 II because of the small form factor. I already have the Nikon D800 but I wanted something much smaller. I also have a very small Olympus OMD EM10 but I wanted something with much shallower depth of field. In some ways, the sony A7 II meets my needs but I will not get rid of the Nikon or the Olympus anytime soon.The Sony A7 II meets my needs for a small camera with a 35mm sensor. I am a bokeh obsessed and when I shoot with my Nikon D800, I attach f/1.4 lenses and shoot wide open! The problem with this is, with the lens and the body combo, they weight too much to carry around everywhere. So I got the Olympus OMD to fix the weight issue. The Olympus OMD is very small and light, with even smaller and lighter lenses. I love the form factor of the OMD. I got some pretty good bokehs out of it too with the 75mm 1.8 lens but that focal length is not very useful everyday. So here I am with the Sony A7 II, with the small form factor and the full sized sensor. I’ve been using the camera for a week and here are the things I like and do not like about the camera:Likes:The sensor: The A7 II, has the same sensor as the Nikon D750/D610 so the photos coming out of the camera are great with very wide dynamic range and good color. And with the Sony 55mm 1.8, the bokeh is delicious.The built-in SteadyShot: I can consistently get sharp photos of static objects at 1/10 sec. (this is useful for shooting fireworks handheld, and shooting with lower shutter speed in a dim light condition), using the Sony 55mm 1.8, wide open. This is great but not as good as the Olympus OMD EM1 which I can get sharp photos at 1 sec consistently. With that said, I do realize that the Olympus sensor is one fourth of the size of the Sony sensor so I am not complaining about it at all. In fact I am very happy with the system.Customizable buttons: which I set them to mimic the functionalities on the Nikon and the Olympus.The size/weight: my initial attraction to the camera. it meets my needs.Dislikes (why I took off stars):The UI/menu system/general user friendliness: I love the Nikon UI and Olympus. I find them very user friendly and some what intuitive. My bigger issue with the Sony is how the focus selector is designed. I am very use to selecting my focus point using the 4-way pad on the back of the camera body. I do not rely on the camera to select my subjects for me because many times this is not reliable at all. On the Nikon, I use the 4-way pad to select my focus point and click the shutter button to shoot. On the Olympus, I either use the 4-way pad, or the touch screen on the back to select my focus point and click the shutter button. On the sony, I have to first configure the 4-way pad’s left, right, and down (You cannot configure the up button) to focus settings. What the focus settings does is it let you change the focus method and lets you move the focus point. So you have to press at least one button to initiate the focus point change. I say at least one because sometimes, I push the up button first, which is not assignable, and fixed to display functionality. Even worse, when you are in the focus settings, if you accidentally touch the scroll dial, it will change the focus mode to something else. This could lead to 3 or more button pushes to just set the focus point. I’ve missed many shots of my fast moving daughter because of this issue. I am taking off one star for this madness. I feel like I want to take off 2 stars for this because this is extremely critical to me.Auto focus: I didn’t have a high expectation for the auto focus but I am somewhat let down by it. The auto focus is slow and inaccurate at times. I only have one lens at the moment, the Sony 55mm 1.8. When taking photos of my very active daughter, the auto focus would focus in and out several times and when it does lock-in, I found many of the photos soft. I confirmed it’s not the lens by taking sharp photos, manually focusing. Coming from Olympus, this is very disappointing. The EM10’s auto focus is as snappy as the D800, very rarely slows down. I think this may be a learning process and hopefully I will get better at it. I am taking 1/2 star off for this though.One other issue with the UI: the ISO functionality. I set the ISO to the C1 button and the scroll wheel. the way the C1 button ISO works differently from the scroll wheel ISO. When you use the C1 button to change the ISO, the exposure meter disappears so you have to guess what ISO to use. When you use the scroll wheel, the meter is there so you can set the ISO manually. I am not taking any star off for this because I actually like using the scroll wheel but the button should be consistant.Sluggishness: After taking photos, I like to verify that I took in-focus photos by zooming into where I focused. A7 does have this functionality but it’s slow. When you click on the zoom button, you have to wait about a second for the camera to zoom in, then the camera zooms to the middle of the photo, not the focus area I used. With Nikon and Olympus, you click one button while viewing photos to zoom into the focused area and it’s instantaneous. I am taking off 1/2 star off.The battery life: I am used to mirrorless cameras and not so good battery life. But it seems like the Sony A7 II has the worst battery life yet. When I got the camera, I charged the battery fully. After that, I opened up the menu to learn the camera and change different settings. I changed around some setting, took some photos to with different settings, took some short videos. 2 hours later, the battery was dead. This seems really low. 1/2 star taken off. Need to get some extra batteries.I will be keeping the A7 II. I like it enough and I will have to get used to some quirkiness and hope that Sony will address these issue via firmware.******************************************************************************************************************************Update #1: There is a functionality called "Standard" that you can only set to the center/OK button. When the standard assigned center button is pushed, it will bring up the focus selector. This is different from the focus setting functionality. If Sony would let me set the standard functionality to the directional buttons (including the up button, which currently is not changeable), it would solve the most serious problem that I have with the camera. When this does happen, i will up the review by one more star!

This is a fantastic camera on many levels and really excellent overall. But I deducted stars for several reasons and ultimately am returning it. I am not a "Nikon guy" but I do currently use a D750 which is really a phenomenal camera. Unfortunately, it is also heavy. With a 24-70 lens attached, it is quite a whopper to sling around your shoulder. The whole point of getting the Sony A7II was to get the photo quality of the Nikon in a nice small and light package. I also have a Sony a99 with Zeiss 24-70 and I am absolutely in love with it. But, it too is a giant unwieldy beast. So I figured the A7II would be the best of all worlds.....wrong:What I love about the A7III could rehash all the details and statistics about this camera which can be found online, but I think these reviews are more useful when you put it into perspective of a real person. So to put it in perspective, I take a lot of indoor shots and lots of pictures of fast-moving kids and pets. I am VERY picky about good focus, fast camera operation and ease of use. So here is what the A7II did right for me:+ Beautiful - I think it is a gorgeous camera, and with a 55mm f1.8, it could be in a museum of modern art.+ Phenomenal focus accuracy - as with all mirrorless cameras that focus primarily with contrast-detection, *WHEN* the Sony gets focus, it get's it dead-on, tack sharp and perfect.+ Nice video - Unlike DSRs that focus during video by clanking in and out trying to keep focus, the Sony works just like a camcorder: smooth and quiet.+ Nice electronic viewfinder. Some love EVFs, some hate them. I love them. The picture is bright and it shows you a lot of information you could not see in a DSLR viewfinder like a real-time histogram, the actual white balance the camera is about to capture and an immediate review of the picture you just took right in the viewfinder. Many times, you can see things in the EVF you could not see in an optical viewfinder, especially when the room is dark.+ The camera and lens is lighter and more compact than any DSLR that I am aware of (in this category of cameras).+ Built in steady shot is niceWhat I didn't like:- It is still heavy!! It is not exactly a pocket camera, and when you put a 24-70mm lens on it, this things is not exactly lightweight either. With the latter lens, it is about 2 lb 5oz while my D750 with 24-70mm lens is 3lb 15oz. Big difference, yes. But the Sony is far from being a feather around your neck.- The auto-focus system is accurate when it actually focuses. But it is primarily contrast detection (CD) in bright light (with some phase detection) and totally CD after about f8 and in low light. So, like all CD focusing methods, it is slower than phase detection. This is maddening when you are trying to capture spontaneous moments or fast moving action. In low light, you might as well be taking pictures of statues in a museum, because if your subject moves at all, you will either get soft focus or be out of focus completely. This is 90% of the reason I gave up on the A7II. Sony also has an "Eye AF" which will focus on a subjects eye. Again, when it finds the spot to focus on and does it, the results are perfect. But if your subject is moving or it's a bit darker, forget about it. You will miss half your shots and start yelling at the camera (at least that's what I did).- The battery life is horrendous. This has been griped about extensively online, but it's true. It makes me feel insecure taking it on any meaningful trips without several extra batteries. No big deal right? But there's the weight again! You just added more weight to this seemingly lightweight package.- You cannot get a native zoom lens from Sony faster than f4 for this camera. Yes, you can mount a giant lens on there from Nikon with an adapter, but there's the weight again! Why would I buy this camera that is supposed to be light and easy to carry and then strap on this giant contraption to make it do what I want? Forget it. And sorry, but f4 is not fast enough for indoor shots of people with ISO less than 6400. You also lose out on some bokeh there as well. This was the other major reason I decided to forget about this camera.- Low light performance leaves much to be desired. I am comparing to a D750 which uses the same sensor and the D750 blows the Sony away. Look at the dpreview site and compare them. Once you get to ISO6400, the Nikon puts the A7II to shame. Also, Sony RAW files are compressed to 11-bit while the Nikon is lossless14-bit. So even if the low light performance on both was identical, you can pull a lot more information out of the Nikon for noise reduction and other improvements in post processing.In summary: I bought this camera because I wanted a light and compact full frame sensor camera. What I got was a slow focusing, battery devouring and sluggish device which doesn't live up to it's potential...and with crippled RAW output and noisy low-light performance (compared to a comparable sensor in the D750) to boot! And all this doesn't come cheap! It is a beautiful camera though, and it's certainly smaller and lighter than the D750 or any Canon, for that matter. But for my purposes, taking higher ISO images indoors and of fast moving objects, the Sony just could not keep up and it doesn't hold a candle to the D750. I am sure mirrorless cameras are the future. There is little doubt about it in my mind, but that time is not here yet. At least not for me.

A nice step up but there is still room for improvement.First the good stuff. This is a step to the big leagues of full frame cameras at an entry point that could not be imagined a few years back. The sensor is getting a little long in the tooth but you are getting the steady shot upgrade and a redesign of the exterior. All told a solid improvement over the A7 especially when you take into account you're getting that all magnesium body this time around.Now the not so good stuff. What is it with Sony? They have been making consumer electronics for a very long time and cameras even before they bought out Minolta. So why is it they still can not do a camera menu that is not a ball of hurt? Going from the A77 to the A7 was a much more frustrating experience than I could of imagined. Why couldn't Sony have transferred the A mount D pad over to its full frame E mount cameras? Why did it have to stick with this God-awful mess of button mashing and wheel spinning that is the E mount experience? And why are important (to me) functions scattered from Hell to breakfast? Why is all that crap on the view back of the camera and why can't I easily get rid of it like I can in the A77? And why for the love of God is the shutter so noisy? It's a mirror-less camera, that means mirror slap has been eliminated, which means the camera should not sound like I'm cocking a hunting rifle purpose built for Cape Buffalo.These are tiny little gnats in the ointment to be sure but they are there none the less. One would think that Sony could have at least come up with a more user friendly camera menu between the two models. If there is one complaint I read over and over again from Nikon and Cannon shooters is the Byzantine menu structure of Sony's camera menus. I used to think this just sour grape-ing or old dog refusing to learn new tricks. I saw a little bit of this in the A77, which had its own oddities but the A77 is a paragon of clarity compared to the Menu structure of the A7ii. Sony really needs to pare down the bloat and bring critical functions like manual focus assist to the fore. I'll fiddle with the shooting styles in post thank you very much, keep that stuff off the camera proper so I can do HDR and Multiple exposure. This is a full frame camera give me some credit for knowing what I'm doing.End results are everything I hoped, the camera does shoot wonderful images and when shoved into the primary exposure modes of Manual, Aperture or Shutter it works beautifully. Put it in Auto though and weirdness ensues. All of a sudden you're back in the menu resetting things you did not want meddled with.One last thing: Batteries. Get at least two if you are going to do anything more than casual shooting. Between getting acquainted with the menu and shooting pictures plus leaning how the camera works with bounced flash I easily ate up one battery and went through about a quarter of another without even trying. Your mileage may vary but I would not depend on it. If you are going on a trip bring three to four batteries and a charger to be on the safe side.Every camera has a learning curve. This one does as well. I just wish that Sony would take a page from either Apple or Google and make their IO cleaner. The hardware is excellent for the most part, there was a trade off of small batteries for small foot print, which I understand. There was also the trade off of getting steady shot and NFS but keeping the older sensor, fair enough. There is better build quality all around, which is a good thing offset by a rather noisy shutter, which is not so good because this is mirror-less camera. But the real block to getting five stars has to be the menu / set up. It just should not be this hard. This is something an Engineer came up with, not a photographer nor a real live human being. A lot of this stuff just does not belong on a prosumer Full Frame camera, it's just spaghetti tossed against the wall, GE-gaws that will be tried once or twice and never used again. Much of it could go away and would never be missed.Maybe in the A7III? The set up menu Sony--fix it.

This is a fantastic camera and I've been through plenty of cameras. This is the one I'll be keeping. A little history... My first DSLR (9ish years ago) was a Nikon D40. I quickly outgrew that and bought a D90. After I while I wanted more. I got myself a D700 and that was a fantastic camera. At some point I got sick of the weight of heavy cameras and lenses. I sold all of my Nikon gear and bought a Sony Nex7. I loved the light weight...but I was never happy with the image quality. Sooo...back to Nikon. Bought a D7100 and a bunch of lenses. I took a trip to Italy and midway through the trip decided that I needed to look at other options. Once again I was sick of carrying around all that weight. I planned to sell my Nikon stuff (again) and look back at the mirrorless options. I never got the chance because my camera bag was stolen on the way to Milan. Once I got home I started investigating my options. I tried an Olympus E-M1 but that didn't suit me. It's a nice camera but just wasn't up to the standard in image quality that I was used to. Next, I tried the Fuji X-T1. That is a beautiful machine. I would've been happy with it...If I hadn't also tried out the Sony a7. I was happier with the image quality from the Sony, but happier with the feel of the Fuji camera. In the end, image quality won and I kept the Sony. For my type of photography (landscapes, portraits) the Sony fit me very well. The autofocus was acceptable, but not great. But with my kind of work this isn't that big a deal. But I was never happy with the quality of the actual camera body. Just felt a little cheap. Then the a7ii was announced and I decided to trade up. While the camera is a bit heavier, the trade off of AMAZING handling makes it well worth it. The camera oozes quality and feels much nicer to hold than any other mirrorless camera I have tried. The in-body image stabilization is also great. I can handhold with the 55 1.8 at 1/4 second pretty consistently. I can get good images slower that that too, but they are more hit-or-miss. Still, the fact that I CAN get clear images at 1 second is insane. Autofocus is also noticeably better than on the a7. It's not in the same league as a Nikon DSLR like my old D7100, but for me that's not a big deal. If I were shooting sports then the Sony would be out...simple as that.For me, this is pretty much the perfect camera. I'm using it with the FE 55mm f1.8 and FE 16-35mm f4. I also have a Rokinon 85mm f1.4 (replaced my Nikon 85 1.4G that was stolen) and I just ordered a Canon FD 135mm f2.0 for portraits. That pretty much covers all my needs. Very very happy with this camera.Oh, I also got a Nissin i40 flash for Christmas and it is a great match with this camera when you need it. It's remarkably powerful for its size and doesn't look ridiculous on the a7ii.