A7s as a stills camera?

G

George Loch

Well-known member
I am looking to perhaps buy a new camera. I was using a 5D MKIII and I use both photo and video. I am looking at the A7s for the improved video capabilities, but how is it as a still camera?
 
The A7S isn't bad as a low-light stills camera (with a native lens to provide somewhat working autofocus (not possible with adapters)). However the 5D3 is much better stills camera- far superior autofocus (works most of the time), very fast, wide range of full frame still lenses with excellent autofocus, etc. 5D3 provides better skintones, though the A7S with a bit of work can be pretty good.
 
a7s is such a great stills camera that I had to keep my Nikon around. you just can't beat DSLR autofocus.
 
I am probably wanting the impossible, but photography is really important for me so, a good hybrid of video and photo is critical. It's for personal storytelling. I may just get another 5D and deal with the soft video.

-gl
 
That would be my advise too (adapter). I own two 5d MK II and since I bought a Sony 7r I never used them for stills. But I cant judge the 5D MK III. I own a Sony A7s as well, but I use it only for Video with a shogun. Thats very nice, for stills its not bad but for sure nor comparable with the 7r or the 5D MKIII. If you dont need 4K the Sony A6000 is a good compromise - very good HD video (better than 5D MK II) and nice stills. I use an Adapter as bumkicho mentioned, works very good.
The problems is, if you start stills with this lightwight cameras, you will not go back to that heavy DSLR :-)
Benn
 
it is a very very good still camera when using with FE lens (if you need super fast AF). You can always pair it up with any other lens via adapter. None of the dslr can beat the A7s in low light shooting. I shot this total darkness.

dk2.jpg


When pair up with the sony 70-200 FE, i was able to shot fast sport as well.
 
I use a Sony A7s primarily as a video camera with the kit lens, but occasionally also use it to photograph models with the 55mm 1.8 lens, and I take pictures for fun with it with the newly released Sony 24-240mm full frame e-mount lens. If you are curious I took the camera with me today during my walk in Santa Monica which I do every week, I posted some pictures from that walk here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/132260244@N08/sets/72157651558220096/

All of the above pictures were taken with the Sony A7s and the Sony 24-240mm lens. This wasn't a business shoot, it was purely for fun hence none of the pictures were planned, I simply took out the camera, snapped a shot and put it back in my bag anytime I saw something semi interesting. I didn't go off the raw pictures because the photo software I use doesn't have correction settings for this lens, so I just used the jpg's since the A7s automatically corrects for the SEL24240 lens on the jpg files. I used aperture priority mode, and to focus I aimed at my target, hit the focus button and then re-framed and shot.

Pictures taken in a professional setting of course look better since they involve planning, etc, but I find for pictures it's still a fairly nice camera. Personally for video I find the A7s to be unchallenged for it's price, I think it's incredible really. For pictures it's very good for me, but I lean mostly to video use with occasional picture use so the A7s works great or me. Your mileage may vary.
 
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Guys the A7s takes fine pics/prints when you are showing them small scale, as you go up to larger screen or print is where you see the difference- there is no getting around that. Don't kid yourselves, there are many DSLRs that can beat the a7s in low light depending on the final screen/print size/quality that you want. The moon is not the sun no matter what Youtube s*%t videographers claim.
 
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The op didn't mention if he needed to make very large prints of his pictures. If you need to do that then of course megapixels will definitely matter and the A7s isn't for you. For others though that only need to view pics on computers and tv's then the A7s can work just fine as a dual purpose video and stills camera.
 
I think I am going to hold off and see what the future brings. I don't think the A7s is for me in the end so, I will wait and see.

Thanks for the feedback

-gl
 
A friend asked me to get stills of him proposing last week. I grabbed my 6D, which is my main stills camera, but decided as I was walking out the door to bring the a7s too just to not have to spend time swapping lenses. Well it turns out that where he was had almost no light. I'm not talking low light; I'm saying I could barely see them myself. I ended up having to shoot the whole thing on the a7s at 50,000+ ISO, f/5.6 and 1/100 shutter speed using the evf and he was thrilled with the results. I wouldn't go much past 6400 on my 6D, would have had to open the iris so much that it would have been hard to focus in the dark on a long lens, and would have had to slow the shutter down so much that it would have been a blurry mess, so yeah I would say the a7s is quite a bit better in low light.

It depends on what you are shooting. I bought the a7s for video, but it saved my ass in a real world stills situation. Like others have mentioned, 12MP is fine for small-medium prints. I wouldn't shoot a billboard with it , but then we're talking medium format anyways.
 
Is anyone here using the A7s to shoot time-lapses?

I'm looking at picking up an A7s as a b-camera to my FS700 for a project which will involve lots of time-lapses, in particular some starscapes.

From what I've researched it appears the A7s can do time-lapse via a firm-ware installed app - but I can't find a whole lot of details about this or how it differs to using a DSLR with an intervalometer. Anyone used the A7s for interval shooting and can share their experiences?
 
Depends on your shooting style. I bought it primarily as a stills camera and love it, but i tend to use 99% manual focus rangefinder lenses and a very small kit, it is ideal for that.
So if you have that leica mentality then it is perfect, *better* than a leica, i'd take one over a M240 any day.

But if you're used to big AF lenses and sports then it's perhaps not right.

But it is designed *primarily* as a stills camera afterall!

cheers
Paul
 
deltoidjohn said:
Is anyone here using the A7s to shoot time-lapses?

I'm looking at picking up an A7s as a b-camera to my FS700 for a project which will involve lots of time-lapses, in particular some starscapes.

From what I've researched it appears the A7s can do time-lapse via a firm-ware installed app - but I can't find a whole lot of details about this or how it differs to using a DSLR with an intervalometer. Anyone used the A7s for interval shooting and can share their experiences?
Click to expand...

I have and it works well for me. Here's a short example:

https://vimeo.com/115732397

Its pretty straightforward; you just put in your interval and exposure parameters and let it do its thing. The a7s doesn't have the best battery life, so that's something you have to plan around. Another route you can go is to get one of the battery grips off of amazon that have a built in intervalometer. That would help the battery issue in theory, but I haven't tried that yet myself.
 
The a7s is the perfect travel camera for me; it's replaced my 5D3 completely.

But when going on a proper, paid shoot, then I stick with the 5D.

It completely depends on how you will be using it.
 
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