Operational differences between a7RII and a7SII?

[Disambiguous42]

My a7RII is in the repair shop (will post on that debacle later), and I needed a Sony body with the five-axis stabilization for a video shoot this weekend.  I was going to get the a7SII eventually as a second body for weddings and etc, so just moved up the timeframe and got one yesterday.

 

I'm pretty familiar with the workings of the a7RII, having had it since November.  The a7SII, aside from the different capabilities, seems operationally almost identical.

 

Are there any specific pitfalls that I need to watch out for?  In short, are there any operations or settings on the a7SII that LOOK identical to the settings on the a7RII, but which are actually quite different?

 

Many thanks for all help.

[Guest Peter Kelly]

I can't comment about the video side, I'm afraid, but I do have one observation regarding stills (that may also concern video).

 

That is, given the high resolution, you need to use a higher speed than you might normally be used to, for sharpness, even taking into account stabilising.

It was an effect noticed with the A7R and it is even more obvious with the A7Rii; you need a very good technique as these cameras will find you out!

 

My understanding is that whereas, for example, a point of light would just affect one pixel on the A7S sensor, even if it's moving around a little, on the A7Rii sensor it might affect two, or three, because of that movement, if you see what I mean.

That then takes the 'edge' of the image. If you downsize, of course, the effect will be reduced considerably.

 

However, to get the best out of these high resolution monsters it's best to exceed the old 1/focal length rule. In other words, if you use a 50mm, then you'll need to shoot at 1/100, or faster. It's not a hard and fast rule, just some advice to bear in mind.

[Guest Colin Scott Johnson]

@Peter Kelly

 

This is true for camera that don't have IBIS but is absolutely unnecessary with the A7r II.

 

@Disambiguos42

 

The only real difference is the size of the files and the horrendous locking up of the A7r II when clearing the buffer and writing to the card.

This doesn't happen with the A7s II.

[Touko]

A7SII's AF isn't as reliable or fast as the A7RII.

 

And for 4K video, watch your ambient temperature. If its a hot day, you might get trouble very quickly.

[Disambiguous42]

Thanks to everyone for the info.  Peter Kelly is correct about the IBIS.  I've used it on the a7RII, and it's amazingly good.

 

One thing I discovered was that the 120 fps/100mbs setting defaults to the Super35 sensor size.  I was shooting a horse farm and the horses were galloping right by my boom in the perfect morning sunlight, but for that scene I needed the wider FOV, as they were that close.  But the info I got from that situation helped me in another one.

 

It was a strange problem with the APS-C/Super35 setting.  I set the APS-C/Super35 setting to "ON", and yet the video stayed at full frame until I set it at 120 fps/100mbs.  In that particular instance the smaller format was what I needed, as the video will only be used small on a website and I was using an APS-C-coverage lens.  Stabilization was more critical than resolution.  But I wonder why it didn't use the smaller format that I set it in.

 

Back to the manual.

[Disambiguous42]

Correction--  Colin Johnson was correct about the IBIS.  Peter Kelly was who he was responding to.

[Guest Peter Kelly]

The IBIS is indeed excellent, but it doesn't help resolve the same issue with moving objects, which is why the shutter speed needs to be kept higher than most people expect from experience, or the rule of thumb.

Just something to bear in mind!

[Guest Colin Scott Johnson]

@Peter Kelly

 

Everyone who has an IBIS equiped camera knows that it is not useful for moving objects.

For moving subjects or street photography, you better be shooting at 1/500s or faster, so your 1/2x FL is not really correct here either...

[Guest Peter Kelly]

@Peter Kelly

 

Everyone who has an IBIS equiped camera knows that it is not useful for moving objects.

For moving subjects or street photography, you better be shooting at 1/500s or faster, so your 1/2x FL is not really correct here either...

 

I wasn't disputing what people know about IBIS (though from what some people say I would doubt your statement is accurate at all!), but merely pointing out the consequences of object movement as regards a high resolution sensor.

This was noticed with the A7R and is a consideration with the A7Rii, as the resolution is higher still.

 

So to go back to my original point, which is 100% valid, movement (of any kind) is a bigger issue with the A7Rii than with the A7Sii, for the reasons I gave.

To ensure a sharp image, with all other things being equal, you will require a higher shutter speed with the A7Rii than with the A7Sii.