Any experience with the Sony A72 or A7r2?

Ken, Be aware that many of the products I review are not ones that I own which was the case at the time with the A7 II review. I also never owned or tested A7 so it wouldn't be my place to make comparisons however several non diving reviewers who I have some faith in have said that the A7 II is faster. Faster is a term which is hard to pin down and relates to lens choice and a number of other issues but I agree that some DSLR's are faster and some are not.

The last point is that Canon 6D full frame is the only camera at the same retail price point as A7 II and while you can find other discounted FF cameras which are now a year or two old, A7 II gives you a lot of image quality for the buck. I now own one with a battery grip which holds two batteries for my out of water travel and walk around camera.

My wife just purchased the Nauticam housing for the Sony A7r2 and she is wondering if there is a specific synch cord she will need to hook up her Ikelite DS-161's. The housing has the typical Nikons bulkhead. FYI she is making this big step up from her film Nikon F-100 in a Seacam housing, and I I wonder if she can use her old synch cords. We imagine she will have to shoot the strobes manual as we don't believe there is such a thing as a iTTL adaptor for a Sony camera.

I am shooting with fiber optic cords using the Nauticam flash trigger which is manual with my Inon Z-240 strobes. My housing also has the Nikonos style bulkhead and it can be used in manual with cords for Ikelite like the attached link I believe, you should consult your retailer for specs.

http://reefphoto.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=135_68_49&products_id=294

This has been a really useful debate, thank you all. I currently have a NEX6 which I have been wanting to upgrade for some time; and given the series of delays in announcing the A6000 replacement, I am now seriously looking at the full frame option. So if I were to agree (which I don't) with DKO's view of Sony's inability to get things right, it would be over that delay issue.

The cost of the A7Rii frankly scares me, as does the thought of trying to justify it to my long suffering (non diving) wife, and so I am encouraged by the views expressed in this debate about the A7ii. My list of "wants" includes size/weight, fast autofocus, and fast flash sync speed, and the A7ii looks like it does all of those.

As to stabilisation (and associated battery issues), I have never been persuaded of its merits for underwater photography, and I expect I would turn it off all the time. I see the comments about the 16-35 benefiting from stabilisation, but the equivalent 10-18 (which also has OSS) is actually my least used lens on the NEX6, and so I don't think stabilisation would be a huge issue for me. My most used is the 16mm with fisheye converter, which has always served me well, with no significant corner-sharpness issues - so I feel safe to assume that the 28mm plus converter would do just as well. It would be nice to try the Canon fisheye zoom, but the added port size/weight would be a deal breaker for me.

After the fisheye, my next-most used lens is the 50mm Zeiss macro, which I have not found to be ideal for underwater use: it tends to hunt on occasion, and won't take the SMC (so Alex T tells me). So the 90mm macro is a real selling point for the A7, and from reviews (including Phil's), it seems to be a cracker.

Thanks again for all the helpful comments, even though I'm a late joiner to this thread.

The NEX6 is quite a strong baseline, if you want to see a significant leap in image and video quality, it will mean a larger investment.

DXMark says: The A7II gives ~+2/3F-stop advantage over the NEX, the A7rII around 2 in the critical ISO>1600 range.

Viable alternative could be the A7s, however it is more expensive than the A7r and you have to get a new housing in case you upgrade.

To the battery life story: the housing manufacturers should allow some place for a grip, I never change batteries on a zodiac...

This has been a really useful debate, thank you all. I currently have a NEX6 which I have been wanting to upgrade for some time; and given the series of delays in announcing the A6000 replacement, I am now seriously looking at the full frame option. So if I were to agree (which I don't) with DKO's view of Sony's inability to get things right, it would be over that delay issue.

The cost of the A7Rii frankly scares me, as does the thought of trying to justify it to my long suffering (non diving) wife, and so I am encouraged by the views expressed in this debate about the A7ii. My list of "wants" includes size/weight, fast autofocus, and fast flash sync speed, and the A7ii looks like it does all of those.

As to stabilisation (and associated battery issues), I have never been persuaded of its merits for underwater photography, and I expect I would turn it off all the time. I see the comments about the 16-35 benefiting from stabilisation, but the equivalent 10-18 (which also has OSS) is actually my least used lens on the NEX6, and so I don't think stabilisation would be a huge issue for me. My most used is the 16mm with fisheye converter, which has always served me well, with no significant corner-sharpness issues - so I feel safe to assume that the 28mm plus converter would do just as well. It would be nice to try the Canon fisheye zoom, but the added port size/weight would be a deal breaker for me.

After the fisheye, my next-most used lens is the 50mm Zeiss macro, which I have not found to be ideal for underwater use: it tends to hunt on occasion, and won't take the SMC (so Alex T tells me). So the 90mm macro is a real selling point for the A7, and from reviews (including Phil's), it seems to be a cracker.

Thanks again for all the helpful comments, even though I'm a late joiner to this thread.

I have unfortunately been struggling for a much longer time. I have Nex6, A6000, A7, A7r and A7rII. A7rII is the closest thing to a dSLR. Provided the weight saving and money saving is significant, I stand strongly at the DSLR side for a better investment. This is because of the short battery life and (still) slower AF acquisition comparing my A7r to my own D800 and 5D3. The cost of owning a housing along with ports is almost the same...or even worse as discount for housings for D800/5D3 is huge.

True, and you have Ike housings for ff DSLR-s <2k$, perfectly fine for recreational diving. My problem is that I also want nice 4k video, where DSLR-s lag behind. (From CaNikon there is no 4k capable device <4k$ to my knowledge)

As for the battery, even if the grip doesn't fit, there should be an option to add these kind of external batteries - in the Na-a7II case externally. I hope for a manufacturer, that releases a housing, where an external battery can be squeezed in the housing.