Erik Naso
Veteran
Nope.
Trying to decide between the A7SII or A7RII
- Thread starter EverythingBagel
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Nope.
M. Gilden
Canon DSLR Moderator
I'm in the same boat, looking for a new camera to compliment my current setup (A7s-based) and being overloaded with options. LOL- what a time to be into cameras!
This is an older thread already (started months ago!), but since it is still active, I'd rather jump in than start a new one.
Is the A7Rii sharper in 1080p mode than the A6500? I wasn't aware of that. For some reason, I was under the impression that the A7Rii is competitive in 4k crop mode but not in others, which has actually been a concern of mine. I don't usually shoot 4K and don't like the idea of the extra space and resources required to edit. To that end, the resolution of the A7Rii for stills is also much more than I need (the regular A7 res is sufficient for me), so I started wondering if for the price, perhaps the A7Rii is too much for me.
Honestly, if the A7ii didn't have such ugly moire in video mode, that would be the ideal B-cam for me. Competitive picture quality for stills, Full frame B-cam for video next to my A7S. I was wondering if perhaps the A6500 would be what I'm looking for, just in crop. I don't particularly want to go back to crop, but I recall using a 7D for photography not too long ago.
Is the rolling shutter on the A7Rii really better than the A6500? I thought the crop cameras were better at that as well. Admittedly, I sort of fell off the bandwagon after the A6500 announcement and only started reading up on it now.
This is an older thread already (started months ago!), but since it is still active, I'd rather jump in than start a new one.
Is the A7Rii sharper in 1080p mode than the A6500? I wasn't aware of that. For some reason, I was under the impression that the A7Rii is competitive in 4k crop mode but not in others, which has actually been a concern of mine. I don't usually shoot 4K and don't like the idea of the extra space and resources required to edit. To that end, the resolution of the A7Rii for stills is also much more than I need (the regular A7 res is sufficient for me), so I started wondering if for the price, perhaps the A7Rii is too much for me.
Honestly, if the A7ii didn't have such ugly moire in video mode, that would be the ideal B-cam for me. Competitive picture quality for stills, Full frame B-cam for video next to my A7S. I was wondering if perhaps the A6500 would be what I'm looking for, just in crop. I don't particularly want to go back to crop, but I recall using a 7D for photography not too long ago.
Is the rolling shutter on the A7Rii really better than the A6500? I thought the crop cameras were better at that as well. Admittedly, I sort of fell off the bandwagon after the A6500 announcement and only started reading up on it now.
Well, apparently the crop mode of the A7Rii is better for 4K than full frame mode.
Better in 1080 than the A6500? I don't know. But supposedly the A6000 is better in 1080 than the A7Rii.
So if the A7Rii is better left in crop mode then it sort of makes you want to buy a crop camera to start with and save the money, doesn't it?
Anyway, here's a bump so others may chime in that know for sure.
It seems to be like this...
Better for 4K full frame - A7Sii
Better for low light video - A7Sii
Better for autofocus - A7Rii or A6500
Better for photos - A7Rii
Better for Crop 4K - A7Rii or A6500 (but possible overheating)
Better for HD - A6500 or A7Rii ?
So if you combine all of them together you get one mighty fine camera!
Samuel H
Major Contributor
* I'm not 100% sure because I'm talking out of memory but IIRC the a7R II had at least one 1080p24 mode that was as good as the a7S in terms of sharpness and clean image (no aliasing/moire). Not sure if that was FF or APS-C mode, though. Maybe some a7R II user will pitch in.
For the a6300 I'm completely positive the 1080p24 mode was soft. Maybe not 5D3+H.264 kind of soft, but definitely something I'd notice just taking the clips out the camera.
Regarding rolling shutter: yes, it's very bad. The worst I've ever measured. Link.
For the a6300 I'm completely positive the 1080p24 mode was soft. Maybe not 5D3+H.264 kind of soft, but definitely something I'd notice just taking the clips out the camera.
Regarding rolling shutter: yes, it's very bad. The worst I've ever measured. Link.
ReelFilmGeek
Well-known member
Also doesn't the A6500 have a stronger high frame rate mode than the A7R II?
Going out of the country for a personal project and just sold the A6300, need to figure out what to replace it with in a month. Needless to say all these cameras can produce some killer images if you know how to use them.
Going out of the country for a personal project and just sold the A6300, need to figure out what to replace it with in a month. Needless to say all these cameras can produce some killer images if you know how to use them.
Samuel H
Major Contributor
Yes, the a6300 and a6500 both do 1080p at 120fps, whereas the a7R II only does 1080p60, it goes to 720p at 120 fps. But since the a6300 and a6500 shoot soft 1080p, I don't know how useful that is. On my RX100 IV, 1080p is perfectly sharp at 120 fps, there's nearly no difference from 1080p24. Even at 240 fps it's almost the same, you'll notice it on an A/B test but probably not on a final product that cuts between modes. I wouldn't be happy if I had to go for soft video whenever I wanted slow motion (and that's one of the reasons I just bought an a6000 for photography instead of getting an a6300/a6500 for both video and stills).
ReelFilmGeek
Well-known member
Yeah it still seems like the FS700 is still champ of slow motion (throw in the 7q recorder of course) or a red, oh well 
Why can't they make the perfect camera haha. Though if I remember correctly the slow motion was actually sharper than 24p. Let me see if I cand find some footage I shot with it.
Why can't they make the perfect camera haha. Though if I remember correctly the slow motion was actually sharper than 24p. Let me see if I cand find some footage I shot with it.
M. Gilden
Canon DSLR Moderator
Was about to pull the trigger on an a7r2 when it occurred to me: what about the a7ii + a6500? It's about the same price together as the a7rii alone, and I'd have one for stills and one for video. Can't tell if that's stupid or brilliant. My head is all foggy with this decision.
M. Gilden
Canon DSLR Moderator
Yes, but the resolution is clearly not the distinction between the two. I'm currently shooting FF photography and wouldn't want to go back to crop sensor FOV in that regard. But for video jobs, I'd like to have a B-cam that shoots 4k for interviews, and I can work with crop for that just fine. That's why the A7Rii would work, as it can do both. But I'm wondering if getting two different cameras for about the same price would be better than one expensive one?
...also, what makes you assume that I don't already have an external recorder (or two, in fact)?
Samuel H
Major Contributor
If you're not going to be using both the a6500 and a7 II at the same time, I'd rather have the a7R II instead. In fact for me it's an advantage if I only have to carry one body and one lens set for everything!
(also, eye-AF is sweet and I'd hate to have it on my APS-C camera but not on the FF camera I actually use for taking stills)
(also, eye-AF is sweet and I'd hate to have it on my APS-C camera but not on the FF camera I actually use for taking stills)
M. Gilden
Canon DSLR Moderator
I didn't know the A7ii didn't offer that. But yeah- I've been thinking, it would annoy me for video use that the 6500 had IBIS and my FF camera did not (7S mark i). Another reason for the Rii. As for having separate bodies- they would be for different uses. On video jobs, I wouldn't really bring the A7ii, and for photo jobs it would be all I would bring. But another pro might have having a spare body for multi-cam use (concerts, etc). But at the end of the day, I think I'll probably go with the A7Rii because it is genuinely an awesome camera.
I assume you don't have three! (clever, huh?)
Anyhow, for the budget, I'd go for either 6500 + wide auto-focus Batis primes or, as Samuel said, for 7RII. Just scanning the various rumor sites, it seems like A9 or 7RIII may be in the offing but that will be more photo geared with a gazilion pixel sensor.
Erik Naso
Veteran
I also didn't mention that I have a promotional discount from Sony that ends tomorrow, hence the rush decision.
If you need full frame for photography then you know what to do. :-D
Well....after hashing this over for quite a while I am now thinking:
I'll get the A7Sii.
Use it in my small, lightweight kit for 4K video and good 1080P.
Will serve as my super low light video camera.
Also serve as my main photo camera.
Use my existing A6000 when I need higher res photos.
With current promotions it's about $700 less than A7Rii.
I'll have a few FF lenses that will mostly handle my video needs and expand slowly in the future.
It's probably about time for the A7Siii since Sony releases them about 1-2 years.
I'll get the A7Sii.
Use it in my small, lightweight kit for 4K video and good 1080P.
Will serve as my super low light video camera.
Also serve as my main photo camera.
Use my existing A6000 when I need higher res photos.
With current promotions it's about $700 less than A7Rii.
I'll have a few FF lenses that will mostly handle my video needs and expand slowly in the future.
It's probably about time for the A7Siii since Sony releases them about 1-2 years.
What's the end price for a7sii with promotion?
All technical points aside, I visited vimeo.com and just searched for a7sII and a7rii. Maybe it's because most videographers pick a7sii but the best footage is shot with a7sii...
Current price for A7Sii is $2998 with $500 gift card
Current price for A7rii is $3198 with $200 gift card
Or there are various accessory bundles/gift card combos