A7S with second cam- A7ii or A5100?

M. Gilden

M. Gilden

Canon DSLR Moderator
I'm shooting multiple angles at an event, primary cams are A7S (mark i and ii), and have access to an A5100 and A7ii as another angle. Which would be a closer looking match? I've shot with the A5100 and A7S before, and while the 5100 is clearly less sharp, it was pretty easy to make them look similar enough to use. I would assume the A7ii would be even closer to match, but I haven't actually shot video with it ever. I remember hearing about moire issues, but that might have just been the A7 original?

Which should I prefer to use?
 
The a7 II has more DR and should be easier to match (if you're shooting slog2 or cine4 on the a7S the a7 II has that), and has IBIS which you may need for some shots and is not on your a7S. And you can share all your lenses with the a7S (with the a5100 you might have to get a new wide-angle lens, for example).
It does have pretty bad aliasing issues, but so does the a5100, and in any case I believe it's the usual black-and-white Sony type from a few years ago, nothing like the old-time Canon rainbows.
Also, the a5100 is ultra-tiny, which may be good for some cases (get the -not so great- 16mm pancake and you have a very nice pocketable camera for travel).

I'm DR-obsessed so I might go with the a7 II, but whether it's worth the price difference, it's for you to decide.
Then again, I'd expect the a7 III to arrive relatively soon, hopefully with clean 4K... but at a higher price.
 
Samuel H said:
The a7 II has more DR and should be easier to match (if you're shooting slog2 or cine4 on the a7S the a7 II has that), and has IBIS which you may need for some shots and is not on your a7S. And you can share all your lenses with the a7S (with the a5100 you might have to get a new wide-angle lens, for example).
It does have pretty bad aliasing issues, but so does the a5100, and in any case I believe it's the usual black-and-white Sony type from a few years ago, nothing like the old-time Canon rainbows.
Also, the a5100 is ultra-tiny, which may be good for some cases (get the -not so great- 16mm pancake and you have a very nice pocketable camera for travel).

I'm DR-obsessed so I might go with the a7 II, but whether it's worth the price difference, it's for you to decide.
Then again, I'd expect the a7 III to arrive relatively soon, hopefully with clean 4K... but at a higher price.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the insight, Sam!
I wasn't asking which to BUY, however. I own the A5100 already as my pocket travel cam and occasional B-cam. I'm already used to how to set it up for matching looks with my A7S. But I have access to an A7ii for this gig (my second shooter is bringing his A7S to compliment mine, and he has an A7ii for stills). I was wondering if I'm better off using the A7ii instead of the A5100 for a third angle on this performance, but I just ended up grabbing another tripod and setting up all 4. Because why not? :)
 
I've matched the a5100 to the A7s and FS700 without too many problems.

I hate actually using it though - it's tiny, has confusing controls, and the screen is impossible to see outdoors. I tend to use it as an auto-everything camera a lot of the time (or in Av/Tv modes) because it is such an absolute pain when you actually try to adjust anything yourself or make judgements from the rear screen. I'll often have it in my back pocket or within arms reach at events so if there's something happening which I can't get my main cameras in position for, I'll just quickly grab the a5100 and and let the auto-settings do their thing.
 
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deltoidjohn said:
I've matched the a5100 to the A7s and FS700 without too many problems.

I hate actually using it though - it's tiny, has confusing controls, and the screen is impossible to see outdoors. I tend to use it as an auto-everything camera a lot of the time (or in Av/Tv modes) because it is such an absolute pain when you actually try to adjust anything yourself or make judgements from the rear screen. I'll often have it in my back pocket or within arms reach at events so if there's something happening which I can't get my main cameras in position for, I'll just quickly grab the a5100 and and let the auto-settings do their thing.
Click to expand...

Actually, its not so bad... dare I say bordering on a pleasure to use once you set up the button shortcuts. I have mine set so that the ? button brings up WB control, and in Manual mode, a the wheel either changes the aperture or the shutter, toggled by pressing downward (you can see either the aperture or shutter highlighted in yellow, press down to switch which is toggled and spin the wheel to adjust). A quick press to the right makes the wheel control ISO (as clearly labelled). Sure, its not as nice as having 3 dials like an A7, but set up properly I don't feel like I'm more than a click or two away from what I need.
Its true that outdoors the lack of a viewfinder is a pain in the rear... I have a loupe, but I don't bother shlepping it around so I also just rely on the LCD. Thankfully I'm usually indoors when I'm using so many cameras that I need it (stage performances and the like), and the touch screen is actually FANTASTIC for checking focus. Tap the part I want to zoom into, no awkward shuffling around with buttons to check focus on a particular spot. Also for the shoot I mentioned above, I had the screen flipped all the way up and facing forward (selfie-mode), something most other Sony cameras don't do unfortunately. So, I was able to leave it stationary as a wide angle cam and check over my shoulder to glance at the display and make sure I'm not in the shot while getting closeups. Worked out nicely, I'm really glad I have it in my tool kit.

Samuel H said:
Haha XDDDD

At a minimum, you'll get to know for sure which was the correct answer to your question.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I gotta say, the colors and overall look of the A7ii seem to match the A7S quite well right out of the camera... however, the moire and aliasing are VERY evident. Maybe I'm just spoiled because it has been so long since I shot Canon, but it seemed really noticeable to me and especially when compared to the other cameras. Believe it or not, the A5100 was cleaner looking, however not as sharp. Interesting stuff.
 
A few months ago I had to take a few short clips with my old NEX-5N and I just couldn't believe that camera once looked great to me. We've been spoiled, and that's a good thing :)
 
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