NFC : Yes (NFC Forum Type 3 Tag compatible, One-touch remote, One-touch sharing)
DC IN : Yes, via AC-UB10 AC charger and USB cable
Memory Card Slot : Dual compatibility slot: Memory Stick PRO Duo™/Pro-HG Duo™/PRO-HG HX Duo™ media – SD, SDHC and SDXC memory card
HD Output : HDMI® (Type D micro)
Wi-Fi : Yes
Accessory Shoe : Multi Interface Shoe
Tripod Mount : Yes (1/4″ diameter, 20 threads per inch)
Remote Commander : Yes, via RM-VPR1
PhotoTV HD : Yes, with BRAVIA Sync enabled HDTV and HDMI® cable
USB Port(s) : USB 2.0 Hi-speed (mass-storage, MTP)
BRAVIA® Sync™ : Yes, via HDMI® with compatible BRAVIA HDTV (link menu)
Microphone Input : Via MI Shoe + Optional ECM-XYST1M
LCD Display

Our friend David from Photoclubalpha got a confirmation from Sony that the Sony A7s has a complete silent shutter mode! Early beta testers of the A7s got a firmware upgrade that adds the feature. The firmware fixes and upgrades are:

- α7S now offers a ‘Silent Shooting’ mode
- ISO range for Movie Shooting extended to ISO100 – 102400, expandable to ISO100 – 409600
- Dynamic Range extended to 15.3 stops as sensor RAW output

David writes:

This is not the same as the Electronic First Curtain shutter found on the A7, A99, A77, A6000 and so on but conspicuously absent on the A7R. Nor is it the same as the near-silent leaf shutter terminated exposure mode of the RX100 models, RX10, or RX1 models. It’s completely free of all mechanical action and totally silent.

First image of the Full Frame Curved sensor!…made for the RX2?

What you see here is the first image of the Sony CMOS curved sensor! Sony says they create a unique bending machine to curve it and after that they use ceramic to stabilize the sensor. Interesting: The sensor has the same level of curvature found in the human eye!
On a curved sensor light rays will hit the corner pixels straight on instead of obliquely. The lens doesn’t have to use extra lenses to correct for distortions, vignetting, aberrations in corners and other issues. Therefore you can pair the sensor with flatter and larger aperture lenses. Curved sensors are 1,4 times more sensitive in the center and 2 times more sensitive in the corners.

Sony showed a 43mm (Full Frame) and 11mm (for mobile devices) curved sensor at the 2014 Symposia on VLSI Technology and Circuits. And as we reported earlier on SAR the Full Frame curved sensor is likely to come on the new RX2 paired with a 35mm f/1.8 Zeiss lens! Exciting tech!

This is the official press text from Metabones:

Sharper corners, less distortion, reduced vignetting

Like the revolutionary original Metabones Speed Booster announced in January 2013, the Speed Booster ULTRA has a magnification of 0.71x, and so it effectively reduces the crop factor of mirrorless cameras with DX-sized sensors, such as Sony E-mount and Fuji X-mount cameras, from 1.5x to 1.07x. However, the new ULTRA design makes very effective use of exotic materials at the furthest limit of glassmaking technology, and as a result is well corrected for use with virtually all fullframe SLR lenses regardless of exit pupil distance. Thus, the Speed Booster ULTRA performs extremely well with professional-grade f/2.8 zoom lenses such as the 24-70mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/2.8 zooms by Canon and Nikon to produce 17-50mm f/2.0 and 50-142mm f/2.0 high-speed zooms, respectively. Similarly, high-speed fixed focal length lenses such as a 50mm f/1.2 will be transformed into a 35.5mm f/0.9 lens with excellent contrast and resolution from the center all the way to the edges of the image. (More information can be found in the press release here)

Key Features
Increase maximum aperture by 1 stop.
Increase MTF.
Makes lens 0.71x wider.
Advanced 5-element/4-group optical design incorporating ultra-high index tanatalum-based optical glass by Caldwell Photographic in the USA (patent pending).
Electronic integration of aperture diaphragm, controlled by or from the camera body.
Partial autofocus support for late-model (post-2006) Canon-brand lenses.
Powered by camera body. No external power source required.
High performance 32-bit processor and efficient switched-mode power supply.
The tripod foot is detachable and compatible with Arca Swiss, Markins, Photo Clam ball heads.

A7II specs (translated via google):
- 24.3 million pixels FF sensor
- 5-axis in body stabilization (same as the Olympus E-M1)
- LCD monitor 3.0-inch 1.23 million dot. 107 degrees up, and tilt 41 degrees below
- EVF 0.5-inch 2.36 million dot
- ISO100-25600 (extended with ISO50). Video ISO200-25600
- The shutter speed is 30 seconds -1/8000 seconds
- 270 sheets at the number of possible shots EVF use. LCD monitor when using 350 sheets
- Continuous shooting 2.5 frames / sec. When speed priority continuous shooting 5 frames / sec.
- Video XAVC S, AVCHD, MP4
- The battery is NP-FW50
- The size of 126.9mm x 95.7mm x 59.7mm
- Weight 599g (including battery and memory)
- Vertical position grip VG-C2EM (sold separately)
- Media Memory Stick PRO Duo / PRO-HG Duo / XC-HG Duo, SD / SDHC / SDXC (UHS-I compatible)

The weird thing is that SAR sources tell there is a second(!) new PRO model coming in January/February with:
– Advanced version of the A6000 hybrid AF system
– Weather sealed and mroe high quality body
– Sony will also NOT re-use the 36MP (A7r) or 24MP (A7 and A99) sensor.