A7rii to A7sii and back again

[pilsburypie]

Nope, I haven't bought and sold these cameras, just mulling over the purchase. I shoot stills and video - quite a bit more video than stills but was amazed when the A7rii was announced and had no idea when the A7sii was coming.... but then it did. I was simply blown away by the iso performance, love the idea of shooting FF as opposed to cropped super 35 and felt I could just get away with 12mp for stills.

 

But today after seeing the black spot sun issues and rethinking my stills shooting, I've swung back to the A7rii. My thinking is this - use FF video recording mode up to 3200iso in decent light, then switch to Super 35 in low light and just live with the apparent increase in focal length of the lenses....

 

Love the idea of the A7sii super clean high iso and 1080 120fps but feel the A7rii is the better all rounder

[Guest Peter Kelly]

I used the A7S since it came out and have been delighted with it, but went for it over the A7R because of what I saw as issues in that camera.

However, the A7Rii had addressed all the things that I saw as limitations, so upgraded to that, rather than wait for the A7Sii.

 

In all my tests (but not definitive as there aren't enough A7Sii samples) the A7Rii is just about as clean when you resize to match. In fact I'd say there was a little more detail in the A7Rii images.

That only applies to stills, though, as I do almost no video so cannot comment on that at all, I'm afraid.

 

In my view, the A7Rii offers a better image in almost all cases except for very low light, and even then the A7Sii will not be ideal in terms of ultimate picture quality, rather it still allows you to use it when nothing else will work.

Also, in reasonable light the AF is a lot better, but the A7Sii does focus at lower light levels (apparently down to -4 ev, although I have no idea what that means in a practical sense!).

With the extra resolution you get far greater flexibility for cropping (although that diminishes in low light). That said, the one feature the A7Sii gives you is slow motion video.

 

In other words, the A7Rii is better and allows greater flexibility in almost all areas. The only time the A7Sii will be beneficial is in very low light scenarios and moreso regarding video, where occasional 'slow mo' might be appealing.

You simply need to ask yourself what proportion of work do you do is video and how much of that is very low light. If the percentages are small I think it is a 'no-brainer'.

On the other hand, if you do more than 50% video then I wouldn't hesitate with the A7Sii (I think the 'black blob' issue will be resolved pretty quickly with a firmware update).

[Emptymind]

I have both the A7Rii and the A7Sii and I am shooting 20% stills and 80% video. Here is why I have both.

 

You should be shooting super35mm mode in the A7Rii - not full frame. This gives best results. Full frame video in the A7Rii is terrible. So therefore you can also use APS crop lenses (much cheaper and a wide choice). Switch to FF for stills of course.

 

With the A7Sii you will always shoot full frame video - it was made for this. You would not buy the A7Sii for stills and many cameras do a better job due to the smaller sensor etc. The sun spot is not an issue. Its nonsense.

 

If you use only the A7Rii it is a real pain going back and forth with the Super35 mode (there is no quick-button option) and making all the adjustments. It is also a pain with lens choices from stills to video. You will really get tired of this slowing you down and checking the settings.

 

If you shoot mostly video then A7Sii is the best option by a long way as you only shoot in FF and only use FF lenses - so much easier to deal with. This is your best bet.

 

I am lucky to afford both and have the A7Sii set up just for video and the A7Rii set up just for stills... with the exception that in the A7Rii I can have super35mm mode with an APS crop zoom lens attached (as a second camera).

[pilsburypie]

Thanks - you both make very valid points that have crossed my mind. I should say I'm 70% video but love both that and stills

 

Emptymind - just like to ask a few questions/clarify/run some things by you seeing as you have both cameras:

 

• The A7rii Full frame/super35 thing - If you were shooting stills in FF then moved to video, do you have to go through the menu to change to S35 from FF or does it remember what you were last shooting video in? Also vice versa
• You say, as have many others, that S35 in video is much better than FF. Is this all the time or just in low light above iso 3200. The youtube tests clearly show low light S35 benefits. What about decent light outside?
• You are lucky enough to have both - best of both worlds. You are only allowed to keep one.... which one and why?!

 

Moving from FF to crop (stills to video) worries me. I shoot mainly 24-70mm and am so used to this focal length for both stills and video. Having the crop factor for video is a pain. 24mm won't be wide enough. I'd need a 16-35 too - but that won't be long enough for stills! Already have to double up on lenses for the FF/crop.

 

My only concern with the A7sii is stills - the focusing and MP. I'm used to Canon 1 series cameras so have been spoiled in this department.

[Emptymind]

Yes you have to go through the menu to switch to Super35 - terrible menu. There is no short-cut. You can set this to auto and it should switch if you use a crop lens.

 

There is no reason to shoot video in FF on the A7Rii - results are not good as ther sensor is too large and there is pixel binning. Super35 is closer to the A7Sii video.

 

As I shoot 80% video I would choose the A7Sii. Much better video choice. This is where I earn my money - stills is a sideline.

[pilsburypie]

Thank you emptymind..... it seems as though the lack of pixel binning is one reason why the A7sii is so good in low light. This leads me on to another question I can't get an answer to. When the A7sii records 1080 full frame, does it pixel bin or does it downconvert the 4k readout?

 

You may well be swinging me back to the A7sii.... for me the super low light performance is not what I need - well kind of..... I want to be able to shoot inside in OK light but at fairly small apertures so I can get decent DOF. Sure I could blast a lens wide open, but then focusing can be tough, lots OOF. This is where the high iso performance interests me - being able to shoot 1/100, F8-11 inside.

[Emptymind]

In 1080p it crops the sensor and does not down-size 4K - thats as far as I know. But you should always be shooting in 4k full frame - no reason not to. SDHC cards are super cheap - actually the cheapest video media there is that can handle 4K. Also drive space is super cheap.

[pilsburypie]

In 1080p it crops the sensor and does not down-size 4K - thats as far as I know. But you should always be shooting in 4k full frame - no reason not to. SDHC cards are super cheap - actually the cheapest video media there is that can handle 4K. Also drive space is super cheap.

1080 crops the sensor? I was sure 1080 still recorded in FF...... it is the 120fps super slow mo that crops to 2.2x unless I have the wrong end of the stick -

 

I fully understand that this camera produces excellent 4k and it is a bit of a sin not to use it, but my PC although churns through 1080 like butter, has a bit of a hard time with 4k especially at edit stage. Since I have no 4k TV or other means of outputting 4 K at the moment I was intending to shoot 1080, hence my wondering about the pixel binning at this resolution from a noise perspective.

[Snowfun]

Notwithstanding that PC speed is critical, an advantage of shooting in 4K is the ability to crop when delivering to 1080. In some situations (interviews for example) the ability to instantaneously zoom in and reframe simulates a two camera set-up.