A7RII // 1080p Image Quality

E

ectobuilder

Veteran
So I took the A7RII for a spin today to test 1080p image quality.

I knew going in the 1080p signal was binned but not sure how that affected the quality. I also knew that I was dealing with a 42MP sensor, again not too sure how that affected image quality.

And my initial impressions is that the 1080p signal is very soft (compared to the A7S) in both FF and S35 mode.

The noise on the sensor I felt was quite high as well. Looking over my footage I really wouldn't go over ISO 2000. And that is a step in the wrong direction for me. I felt like I was using a Canon 5D Mark III or some kind of old school DSLR.

It really made me miss using the A7S. The A7S is nearly ISO-less compared to the A7RII, you never have to worry about ISO noise whereas I really had to be mindful with the A7RII.

Looks like I will be exchanging my A7RII for the A7SII pre-order.

This is a shame in a way because the Phase Detection AF on the A7RII is the best I've seen on any camera, including the 70D and 7D Mark II. It is too bad they didn't implement it into the A7SII camera. Now I don't ever get to use such a feature!


EDIT: I've decided to exchange it for the original A7S to match my current A7S setup. I thought the new revised Mark II hand grip would be miles better for hand holding stability but I would say it is 10% better. So it doesn't make sense to spend $1300 CAD more for the A7SII (yes the price difference is bigger in Canada from the A7S to A7SII). I also thought IBIS would be bullet proof but if the lens does not have OSS then the image sensor shows a bit of shake if your hands are too still.
 
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I wonder why they didn't put the Phase Detection AF on the a7SII. Waiting to see like everyone else if the a7SII will overheat in 4K. Maybe the 3rd version will knock out these kinks.
 
goodgoings said:
I wonder why they didn't put the Phase Detection AF on the a7SII. Waiting to see like everyone else if the a7SII will overheat in 4K. Maybe the 3rd version will knock out these kinks.
Click to expand...

I spoke to the sales guy at the camera store and he said the A7SII is the highest margin camera he has seen in a long time. Small improvements like SLOG3, 120fps @ 1080p and 4K internal (I am sure the original A7S could easily have done 4K internal) did not drive the cost up significantly but yet they are asking for a higher retail.

Even IBIS shouldn't be hard to implement anymore, especially on a 12MP camera. Of the three Mark II cameras (A7II, A7RII and A7SII) the A7SII should be the easiest to implement IBIS since it has the lowest MP of all the cameras. Even Sony themselves said the A7RII has the most advanced IBIS due to the 42MP.

These are all easy add-ons. My guess is that the A7SII won't sell as well as the original A7S and the price will start dropping.

I won't sacrifice the light weight profile of the original A7S for the new A7SII unless the image quality completely blows the original A7S out of the water.
 
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I have seen the FS7 with slog3 against a7S slog2 and it had a little over 1 stop more in the shadows. Again curious to see if 8 bit can handle it.
 
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Stay tuned, I filmed a three-camera test today, A7s 1080 FF/APS-C 24fps/60fps, A7rii 1080 24/60fps FF/APS-C and 4K FF/APS-c, and the FS700, all with the Zeiss Batis 85mm F1.8, putting it together now....
 
scoutsbrother said:
Stay tuned, I filmed a three-camera test today, A7s 1080 FF/APS-C 24fps/60fps, A7rii 1080 24/60fps FF/APS-C and 4K FF/APS-c, and the FS700, all with the Zeiss Batis 85mm F1.8, putting it together now....
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Can you check the DOF scale readout on the Batis on both camera bodies? On my Batis 25 for instance, I am getting different readings when set to infinite at F22.
 
Here it is, three cameras head to head, A7s, A7rii, FS700.....and I have to say that the A7rii 1080 footage really doesn't look that soft to me...I'll start a thread with this too, I think..
If anyone wants the ProRes uncompressed version, PM me and I'll send you a link to download it.. 3.3Gb

https://youtu.be/kKO-YbwteKg
 
scoutsbrother said:
... the A7rii 1080 footage really doesn't look that soft to me...

https://youtu.be/kKO-YbwteKg
Click to expand...

Thank you for doing this test. I really appreciate the time and effort you put into it.

However I did notice the tests were all done at ISO 200. This is not where the A7RII falls apart in HD, it is at ISO 2000 and above. In some cases it starts to fall away at ISO 1600 even.

This is why I felt the A7RII was very limiting creatively (for HD shooting).
 
I think everyone would agree that at higher ISO's, and low light in general, the A7s has to be better, the photo sites on the sensor are larger, it's just a physical fact. I had heard a lot of talk about how in 1080p, head to head, the A7rii was just softer, and so I wanted to see if it was true. In my opinion, after seeing the results, I would have to say it's not really true, in reasonable ISO ranges, and I would say up to 2000 is reasonable, the A7rii in 1080p mode is just as nice as the A7s, and if you film in 4k and downres, it's even sharper, so I'll be happy to use it in all but very low light situations.
 
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