The new Sony A7sII is now shipping in USA at Amazon, BHphoto, FocusCamera, Adorama. And in Europe/Asia at ParkCameras, WexUK, Jessops and Digitalrev.
Slow burn: Sony a7S II shoots 120 fps in low light with Zeiss Loxia 21 and Milvus lenses from Dan Chung on Vimeo.
New A7sII tests:
Updated hands-on reivew with presentation slides at ePhotozine.
Video: Testing the Sony a7S II at 120 fps in low light with Zeiss Loxia 21 and Milvus lenses (Newsshooter).
Slow Motion Video Sample at TheVideoMode.
Sony A7sII sample videos on Dpreview.
Sony A7S II vs Sony A7R II (World of DSLR).
Sony a7s ii vs original a7s: colour comparison tests by Newsshooter.
32 Responses
That they are shipping so soon is probably welcome to some, but I never regard it as much of an issue. Indeed, for the brief moment you may be the first to get one, for the remaining time you own the oldest!
That said, what is this fascination regarding recent models to concentrate almost completely on video? I appreciate that the A7S/A7Sii were built with video strongly in mind, but they are still cameras, first and foremost.
I would have expected many more comparisons for still shots, but I suspect in many respects the lack of such is down to sheer laziness. After all, for the internet it is much more straighforward to provide videos.
It’s still very odd, though, and I’m amazed there isn’t more in the way of objections from the large swathe of photographers who continually moaned about having video capability at all!
I’d be curious to know what percentage of A7s bodies are purchased PRIMARILY for video. And I don’t understand why Sony’s not put that sensor in a more video-friendly body.
I bet they sell hundreds of A7s’ to every FS5/FS7 – that’s probably why they haven’t done it. The VG900 was a dud – though improvements in processing and the XAVC codec would make a newer version dramatically better. I’d like to see something VG10/20/30 sized with the A7s sensor myself.
Probably tax reasons… Apparently in Europe, dedicated video recording devices are subject to a hefty tax. Which is why video recording capability of still cameras is often limited to about 30 minutes.
A body that is designed as video-first but subject to the limitations of being taxed as a still camera would probably be a bit too strange. Also potentially the tax authorities have other criteria for determining whether a camera is a “video camera” and hence subject to the tax.
So they produce a still camera, taxed as a still camera, that has *amazing* video features.
They would be an event photographers wet dream if they had fast OSPDAF and faster frame rate. Without those, current A7sII offers almost nothing over A7rII for a mostly stills shooter.
As for them being used purely for video – I know plenty of videographers who already have some or are planning to get mark 2 to be rigged and used just for video.
You’re right about the first point. I was agonising over this very issue, but having seen realistic examples and know that downsizing the A7Rii makes it almost indistinguishable up to 51200 ISO I placed my order for that, rather than the A7S route. I have the original A7S, as I felt it was a better camera than the A7R, but not now.
A kind user told me that the AF of the A7Rii is as good in low light and out of this world in good, so I can’t see any advantage to owning the A7Sii.
Certainly, I can see the great appeal for video users, but it still doesn’t get away from the fact that this is a stills camera body and is designed that way, yet the reviewers seem to concentrate on the video side.
The oddest thing is that almost all complain about the position of the shutter release for the video. That’s because it’s a STILLS CAMERA!!!!!
I think the a7sii is half baked. They really should have gave it all the features of the A7rii. They really should all be the same camera with the exception of mega pixel count. Now I don’t know which one to get because I get a discount but only on one camera and I can’t afford both.
Well that was fast. The wait for the RX1Retcetc… is going to feel like forevvvverrrrrrrrrr.
i can’t explain in the test from world of dslr the low contrast/ microcontrast from the a7sII?
Probably S-Log3 vs S-Log2
Possibly, but the magazine writes both the same values. The a7sII can’t be so different in the contrast….
maybe the A7s II has a lower contrast value as a default.
What magazine? Slog3 has further lifted shadows, the contrast cant be the same.
As a owner of the A7s, the price difference USA / EU is just too big. Probably the prices are going to drop in 3 months time since paying for Sony A7sII in UK is almost 4000eur and in US is 2700 in eur. Waiting for more result on how A7sII behaves in different lighting conditions. One thing is for sure that prices will drop for the old Sony A7s used models ( or the ones who will like to sell them ).
Where do you get this 4k Euro figure? http://www.top-foto.de/item.php?id=SONA7S2BB&katalog=guenstiger
http://www.digitalrev.com/product/sony-alpha-a7s-ii-body/MTEwNDMzOQ_A_A
The a7sII is more expensive than a7rII in Singapore/Thailand
That got really fast compared to the A7rII.
I’m guessing this will see much lower demand than the RII.
Nice RX1rII hands-on from a French site:
It says the eyepiece of the EVF is included, which is nice and it also mentions the EVF to be more solid than the RX100m3/m4
https://translate.google.co.uk/translate?sl=fr&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.01net.com%2Factualites%2Fexclusif-prise-en-main-du-rx1r-mark-ii-le-compact-a-capteur-plein-format-de-sony-922651.html&edit-text=
Meanwhile, on the Sony UK page:
This is legit, but also very odd. Sony UK people (or any local branch/distributor for that matter) are briefed about new products on the need to know basis by the HQ.
What they might have tried to say here is that they are currently not aware of any such product, instead of stating that such product is not planned by Sony. It’s probably unfortunate wording mistake because if A-mount was being officially being phased out, there would be some news from the HQ about the decision.
They were supposed to say “We cannot reveal any information about future products at this time bla bla bla”, but someone made a boo boo.
Anyway, not too encouraging, is it? 🙂
I agree, it’s very odd. First that they would make a statement like this at all, when in every other way Sony has evaded the question with “we are not at liberty to comment on future releases”-type statements. And secondly, that they took so long to respond. The original comment was very much buried by the point where they responded. Did they take the time to ask around with HQ before coming back with an answer? It seems strange to take so long if they were just going for an off-the-cuff response.
Why would ever Sony announce anything is being phased out? They just discontinue items. That’s the announcement.
They will not announce anything until there are any sales on A-mount lens…
The person that replied to you is obviously not in a position to have the information you seek.
He/she sounds more like a seller (what Sony UK actually are) offering you something else to buy straight away. I would also question their competence and professionalism as there is no signature of any kind at the end, like two names and position at Sony UK.
The people at Sony that actually have this information, even if 100% sure that A-mount is discontinued will never tell you “We have no full-frame A-mount cameras planned”.
This just sounds ridiculous. The most they will say is something like “There is no information that we can currently disclose”.
I wonder what Sony UK has to say about the successor to a6000?
All good points. Also, FYI, I’m just passing along what I saw on the FB page. I wasn’t the poster in the screenshot.
http://www.rule.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/slog31.jpg
The magazine World of DSLR writes no Slog 2 or 3 is on…
I hope in the next comparisons videos gives more clarity about this phenomenon .
Thanks for the diagram !
If you are talking about their video posted in this link, i am pretty sure that A7RII footage wasnt shot in s-log at all. They say no post processing or grading is done, and that contrast is too high for out of camera s-log.