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The Sony a7S II - hands on and comparison to a7R II

16 September 2015

The Sony a7S II - hands on and comparison to a7R II

So I was fortunate enough on Friday to spend some time with Sony, the camera and (importantly for me as he's a good friend who now lives on the other side of the world) Den Lennie who's conveniently shot with a prototype camera! It was good to get a far better idea of the improvements on it beyond just the headlines. So I'll try and outline them now for you.

Sensitivity - the a7S was already remarkable in its performance and the a7S II takes that a step forward. Well in fact two stops forward as that is what Sony reckon is the extra sensitivity. Noise was visibly cleaner in the high ISO shot comparisons I saw. They claim an even greater dynamic range - something I couldn't really comment on. What I can comment on was the detail the sensor was pulling at high ISO's in 4K - it was very good indeed. Den had some footage showing on the huge Bravia they had there and the clarity with my eyes a few inches from the screen was hugely impressive and this was at higher ISO's handheld!!

Image Stablisation - well we know just how good it is on the a7R II and a7 II but I was surprised to hear Sony reckon it's actually worth over 4 stops difference. Is it going to matter what is when primarily this camera will be used for video anyway? Probably not. The footage Den shot was handheld and it just didn't look it. As mentioned above, the thing that got me was just how detailed it was - we're used to usually trading off that detail in return for image stablisation but this was mighty in all ways.

Shutter quietness - if you are going to shoot stills, the new shutter design will appeal. We all love the silent shutter mode but there are times when you want to use the shutter and it's definitely quieter - Sony claim offers 50% less vibration.

4K Video - so you've got 24/25/30p internal recording with full pixel readout without pixel binning but only in full frame format (4K equivalent sampling). If you want to shoot in crop sensor mode, interestingly enough you are probably better shooting on the a7R II which has no pixel binning in crop sensor mode (rather than full frame on the a7S II) and has a higher resolution due to oversampling and according to Sony is probably the best image.

Clean HDMI output in both 4K and Full HD. Now one issue we have with the a7S is that it won't output 4K and allow you to record internally at the same time. It was good to hear from Den that they were able to record 4K internally at the same time as putting out a 4K signal to a Shogun. Remember that this is an uncrompressed 4:2:2 output. Yes I am sure some will be moaning about it only being 8 bit but seriously, back to the real world....

120fps slow motion - Full pixel readout with no pixel binning in Full HD. Obviously 100fps in PAL mode.

Gamma Display Assist - bit like a LUT overlay for the LCD making it easier for monitoring and focussing.

S-Log 2 and S-Log 3 now supported - S-Log 2 for when more detail needed in highlights and S-Log 3 for when priority is in shadow detail

S-Gamut3 colour space - Same colour space as S-Gamut but colour reproduction is more accurate than S-Gamut

S-Gamut3.Cine - This new colour space is wider than the DCI-P3 colour space used for cinema, giving you lots of room for grading and is similar to negative film scan.

AF - The new AF is still contrast detection and contains NO phase detection. But each of the central nine AF points is now further split into 4x4 segments. The mean higher density metering for more precise focus (also quicker and more accurate focussing in low contrast situations).

Body - already seen on the other Mk II a7's so far. Mag alloy body, dust and moisture resistance, massively improved grip and shutter button relocation and mode dial locking. The USB connection can be used to provide a power supply to the camera - useful as a back up.

So finally where does that leave us with the new family, assuming we're just looking at the Mk II versions?

Shooting stills? a7R II really is the logical choice unless you really have to ramp up the ISO. It's 42.4M pixels against 12.2M and its AF is way quicker using Hybrid system (and that system supports AF on some EF lenses through a Metabones adaptor).

Shooting video? Well the a7S II has better sensitivity and lower noise at usable high ISO's (great for closing the lens down). It also has S-Log3 and the new S-Gamut's. Its high frame shooting is also at full 1080 HD whereas the a7R II is at 720. a7S II also has the Gamma Display Assist where the a7R II doesn't. BUT in crop sensor mode, the a7R II is oversampling with no pixel binning and apparently offers the best image quality of both overall.

Hope you're still with me!! I think that covers things a bit better. We'll have them in stock at launch and Sony are kindly going to let me one to play with before then.