A7S2 for still photography?

[jmr]

Hi all, I have some questions about the A7S2. Currently I have the A72, and I have been thinking about upgrading to either the A7R2 or the A7S2. I don't care about video; my primary subjects are travel, family, and sometimes street.

 

I realize the A7S2 is oriented toward video, but it's appealing for still photography a few reasons:

 

--small RAW file size

--perhaps better performance with Leica M lenses? In particular, I'm wondering about the 35 summilux ASPH FLE and 50 summilux ASPH. I sometimes use these on my A72 as an alternative to native FE lenses.

--alleged "film-like" image quality and clarity?

 

On that last point, I have seen a few reviews observe that the A7S sensor provides a look that is "less digital" or otherwise different and better than the sensors in the other A7 bodies.

 

 

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and help!

 

[Moebius]

For stills only, it's a no-brainer IMHO: the A7Rii all the way.

[yali]

For stills get the A7RII, no question. I have it and it's a beast in lowlight as well. If you downsize to 12MP you won't see much difference. Because of BSI it works far better with legacy glass than the Mark I. For file size: Seriously, storage is quite cheap. And once you've seen what you can do with 42 MP you will never ever want to go back!

(That's my experience)

[Guest Colin Scott Johnson]

I owned an A7s II for a month and shot it along side my A7r II.

When the reviews came in on the A7s II saying the A7r II was as good, I decided to test it myself.

 

Pros of the A7s II

1. EVF is noticeably brighter in extreme low light

2. As a result, manual focussing is much easier in low light

3. Legacy glass is happier with the lower resolution sensor

4. Two stops more light gathering (but they are pretty unusable)

 

Pros of the A7r II

1. RAW image can be down sampled to the 12MP to give as good an image as A7s II

2. 42MP so way more detail

3. And this is the biggest - ability to crop FE lenses to APS-C size in-camera and still get 18 MP

 

I now have 2x A7r II bodies

 

As far as Leica lenses working on Sony bodies, I owned a large Leica setup with M240 and Monochrom with lenses from 21mm to 90mm, including new and legacy glass.

While the longer lenses "work" I was never that happy with the results.

Leica lenses seem to work best on Leica cameras...

[Mr_A7s]

Can't speak for a7s II.

 

Based on my a7s, high ISO from 7s still has advantage over my a7r II dual to larger pixel size - cleaner images. It has special medium format look due to larger pixel size, especially when shooting at night.

[MickDK]

In theory higher mpix images downscaled to lower scale (here 42 mpix to 12 mpix) should be around the same. What is important is NOT pixel size but the total light gathering area.

 

In real life there is a difference, most often due to difference sensor tech. But the difference is small.

 

Here A7S, A7R, A7S II and A7R II compared (A7R and A7R II downscaled) using ISO 12800.

 

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/image-comparison?attr18=lowlight&attr13_0=sony_a7s&attr13_1=sony_a7sii&attr13_2=sony_a7r&attr13_3=sony_a7rii&attr15_0=raw&attr15_1=raw&attr15_2=raw&attr15_3=raw&attr16_0=12800&attr16_1=12800&attr16_2=12800&attr16_3=12800&attr171_0=off&attr171_3=off&normalization=compare&widget=1&x=0.2917755107147769&y=-0.6954110230258074

 

Not much of a difrence, right? But notice the pronounced aliasing for the native 12 mpix sensors - the downscaling of the higher mpix sensors removes a lot of AA artifacts.

 

And here using ISO 102400:

 

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/image-comparison?attr18=lowlight&attr13_0=sony_a7s&attr13_1=sony_a7sii&attr13_2=sony_a7r&attr13_3=sony_a7rii&attr15_0=raw&attr15_1=raw&attr15_2=raw&attr15_3=raw&attr16_0=102400&attr16_1=102400&attr16_2=25600&attr16_3=102400&attr171_0=off&attr171_3=off&normalization=compare&widget=1&x=0.2779559141651974&y=-0.6868569890811487

 

Above ISO 25600 the A7S II has the advantage, for some odd reason the A7R II seems to change amplification scheme above 25600 which lowers DR. Probably something to do with its BSI sensor.

 

The A7S/A7S II are much better for video - when using the full FF sensor that is. Why? Because the A7R II uses pixel binning when doing FF video, the A7S's don't. Again this might have to to with thg big 42 mpix BSI sensor (too much data to read out and to process).

[jmr]

Thanks all for the replies. A few thoughts:

 

I realize that, generally speaking, storage is cheap. However, that generalization is not especially relevant for my situation. I'm using a 13" macbook pro with a 1 TB internal SSD. I do not want to use an external drive. Also, I would assume that the larger files of the A7R2 would put more demands on processing times and lightroom.

 

The look of the A7S files is what I'm interested in learning more about (and the extent that the A7s sensor provides a look that is unique and not just about high ISO performance). Mr_A7s mentioned the medium format look and cleanness of the images.

 

I agree that Leica lenses are best on a native body ... but if they are better on the a7s than the a72, then I might consider it "good enough" for non-critical or fun situations.

[Mr_A7s]

Thanks all for the replies. A few thoughts:

 

I realize that, generally speaking, storage is cheap. However, that generalization is not especially relevant for my situation. I'm using a 13" macbook pro with a 1 TB internal SSD. I do not want to use an external drive. Also, I would assume that the larger files of the A7R2 would put more demands on processing times and lightroom.

 

The look of the A7S files is what I'm interested in learning more about (and the extent that the A7s sensor provides a look that is unique and not just about high ISO performance). Mr_A7s mentioned the medium format look and cleanness of the images.

 

I agree that Leica lenses are best on a native body ... but if they are better on the a7s than the a72, then I might consider it "good enough" for non-critical or fun situations.

 

A7s + Batis85, ISO1600, 5NR in LR6: https://dylannguyen.smugmug.com/Events/Share-with-Public/n-2pr3NV/i-t2pGNCQ/A

 

A7s + FE55, ISO5000, 10NR in LR6: https://dylannguyen.smugmug.com/Events/Share-with-Public/n-2pr3NV/i-CrSTw7C/A

 

Just don't attach low quality glasses to it.

[pilsburypie]

For me I chose the A7sii. This is because I am more video orientated. I do however love taking stills. It does a good job at this. But, if I was even 50:50 video to stills, I'd have got the A7rii. Not only does it have the extra detail in the MPs, it also has a better focusing system.

 

If the large files are too large, downsize them. Seems daft to me. Get a portable HDD if you don't have enough room on your laptop. For stills, A7rii all the way.

[devilsweb]

I have both the Arii and  Asii. I use the Asii for shooting all live events and  use the A7rii in the studio.

12 mp is more than enough  for most uses.