Sony A7sII Initial Impressions
- Thread starter paulcurtis
- Start date
Curious, what are you doing for video: Using a Slog2/3, another one of the PPs, Autumn Leaves -- or nothing at all?
Erik Naso
Veteran
I'm playing with CINE 3 and Still plus tweaking the Color Depth. Still has pretty good or accurate color balance on the vectroscope. The RGGCYM line up closer than the others plus the skin tone line is pretty spot on. Still need to shoot more. This image above was with CINE 3 and Still in RAW uncompressed.
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caseywilsondp
Well-known member
exactly.
Erik Naso
Veteran
Just got mine!
FIRST IMPRESSION
-Menu is still a confusing mess. I wish they rearrange this properly.
-LOVE THIS record button is now assignable to Custom buttons. Gamma assist for SLOG is also assignable!
-aps-c mode still not assignable
-Zebra has custom settings for 0-100% Holy s*%t, this is super helpful!
-focus magnify cycles from 50%-100%-Off. minor but really excelent change
Overall big step up improvement over the 1st gen.
lets see in the next few days of usage how this goes
FIRST IMPRESSION
-Menu is still a confusing mess. I wish they rearrange this properly.
-LOVE THIS record button is now assignable to Custom buttons. Gamma assist for SLOG is also assignable!
-aps-c mode still not assignable
-Zebra has custom settings for 0-100% Holy s*%t, this is super helpful!
-focus magnify cycles from 50%-100%-Off. minor but really excelent change
Overall big step up improvement over the 1st gen.
lets see in the next few days of usage how this goes
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ectobuilder
Veteran
I'm absolutely terrified of the 5-axis system, the thought that my sensor is being suspended by magnets just doesn't sit right with me.
How reliable do you think it will be?
How reliable do you think it will be?
adaptation
Active member
Its very reliable - i have not seen any reports of failure or problems.
The main issue with the a7sii is the occasional overheating which has been reported here and there on 20min+ single take 4k recordings.
sooooooo shot around a little in S-log last night while driving back to the bay, using 4k 24p. I experienced massive color shifts while shooting around 80k Iso. Wb was set to tungsten. not sure but it changes massively mid shot multiple times. never mind the banding, these are right out of the camera. Its happened on more than one clip, the grabs are what show I'm talking about. I didn't see this in any other PP or resolution. it subtle but there is defiantly less blue in one vs the other...
llirik
Well-known member
SO, it’s been a while since I’ve done one of these, but last weekend I was asked by Sony Middle East and Advanced Media to speak at their workshop for the Mark IIs.
I shoot a bunch of tests for myself with any new camera, but rarely edit them together.
There’s lots and lots of info out there already, but this particularly interested me so I can make a better judgement call on which camera to use when.
Some more info is located here: http://www.llirik.com/2015/10/sony-a7r-ii-vs-a7s-ii-low-light-and-rolling-shutter/
I shoot a bunch of tests for myself with any new camera, but rarely edit them together.
There’s lots and lots of info out there already, but this particularly interested me so I can make a better judgement call on which camera to use when.
Some more info is located here: http://www.llirik.com/2015/10/sony-a7r-ii-vs-a7s-ii-low-light-and-rolling-shutter/
independent
Active member
Can anybody with the A7S ii confirm that all 5-axis are engaged for stabilization, yaw, pitch, roll, x and y, on all lenses, native or 3rd party? Some conflicting information is out there. You can input the focal length of the lens in the menu, so that'll give you at least 3, correct? But how about 5?
Obviously a Sony lens w/ OSS will work for all 5-axis.
But how about:
-Sony w/o OSS - 3 or 5 axis?
-Zeiss Batis lenses for Sony mount
-Canon, Zeiss, or Nikon w/ adapter, active or passive
Any clarity / tests would be much appreciated. Thanks
Obviously a Sony lens w/ OSS will work for all 5-axis.
But how about:
-Sony w/o OSS - 3 or 5 axis?
-Zeiss Batis lenses for Sony mount
-Canon, Zeiss, or Nikon w/ adapter, active or passive
Any clarity / tests would be much appreciated. Thanks
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paulcurtis
Veteran
It's been a few days since i've had a chance to check DVX. We shot a lot last weekend, and whilst i've not been through the footage carefully yet i will say that my immediate gut reaction is that the colours just 'feel' correct now. I was messing around with the A7s jumping through hoops with skin and colorspaces and god knows what. This just looks correct out of camera now. Don't underestimate that. Secondly some hand held stuff - it's usable. Simple as that.
I shot in a forest with both ProRes to an O7Q and internal at the same time, i will be able to compare the qualities of the internal very carefully with a forest being a nightmare scenario for compression! I wasn't going to risk just internal recording at that point so everything was doubled up.
The only issue i saw was black/magenta sun! Never seen that before on a Sony, that's a real bug but you have to have very high contrast ratios, it's not that easy to generate.
A workflow issue for me was that if you record to an external HDMI recorder AND the internal 4K then the EVF and LCD turn off. That's really annoying because i can use the EVF in bright sun.
As for DR, it's good enough. I still see noise in certain tones but it can be managed quite easily. By this time i have some nice custom denoise stuff that really just messes with shadow chroma noise without touching the rest, so that works well for me. But the better noise handling means less over exposing to bring down, so in a way it's more DR because of that.
Why we don't have the same DR as Stills i don't know and you've made some very sensible suggestions why.
But as i mentioned before. It's not a magical upgrade, not like when the A7s first came out. But the colour, IBIS and internal 4K are 3 incredibly usable features. It's a shame that it is so expensive, that's true. But for me i am much more likely to pick the camera up and shoot properly with it. And to be able to have a full 4K production kit in my backpack is really quite something.
Too early to say for this camera. I've not seen any issues and sensor IBIS has been around for a while in other cameras without issue. I'm not expecting problems.
I don't know. How could we tell? There's no mention in the manual. I understood 3 axis for 3rd party.
cheers
Paul
Samuel H
Major Contributor
^ Yes, there's no question it is better than the a7S.
My question is: if slog3 is not that much of an advantage, and you don't need long takes, how much of an improvement is it over the a7R II? Because that one also has IBIS and 4K, so the only remaining question is color. I haven't seen anybody going at the a7R II with the level of detail that you're gifting us with for the a7S II. If color is similar in a7S II and a7R II, and DR is similar because of slog3 not being as good as expected, then the R makes more sense to me for anybody taking stills as well, even if just 20% of the time (mainly becuase of AF, though also resolution; I don't need 42 Mpix but 12 Mpix is too low sometimes).
IBIS: I also read the same: 3-axis for my vintage primes.
My question is: if slog3 is not that much of an advantage, and you don't need long takes, how much of an improvement is it over the a7R II? Because that one also has IBIS and 4K, so the only remaining question is color. I haven't seen anybody going at the a7R II with the level of detail that you're gifting us with for the a7S II. If color is similar in a7S II and a7R II, and DR is similar because of slog3 not being as good as expected, then the R makes more sense to me for anybody taking stills as well, even if just 20% of the time (mainly becuase of AF, though also resolution; I don't need 42 Mpix but 12 Mpix is too low sometimes).
IBIS: I also read the same: 3-axis for my vintage primes.
