Design and Build Quality
The Sony Alpha 7S II features all the improvements Sony made to the original 7-series in the 7 II series. These include a redesigned grip, which is now deeper and better than the previous version. There are rubber linings on the grip, the thumb rest and the right side. The mode dial has a lock button, which has to be kept pressed to rotate it. The camera is built as sturdy as the best cameras in the 35mm segment. There are two command dials, one in the front and one at the back, along with a vertical dial with four-way controls. Both lens mount and tripod receptacle are metal.
Key Features
The 12.2 megapixel Sony Alpha 7S II is an E-mount mirrorless interchangeable lens camera and uses a 35mm full frame (35.6 x 23.8mm) Exmor CMOS sensor. The camera features an anti-dust system that uses a charge protection coating on the optical filter, along with image sensor shift mechanism. It also employs a 5-axis sensor-shift SteadyShot image stabilisation. This mechanism provides a compensation effect of 4.5 steps based on CIPA standards with a Sonnar T* FE 55 mm F1.8 ZA lens. At the heart of the camera is a BionzX processor, which is capable of better detail reproduction, diffraction reduction and area-specific noise-reduction. This processor is also capable of 16-bit image processing.
The camera accepts all Sony E-mount lenses directly. The Alpha 7S II uses contrast-detection AF through the imaging sensor. The AF system uses 169 focus points spread throughout the frame. Focus modes available are Single-shot AF (AF-S), Continuous AF (AF-C), Direct Manual Focus (DMF), and Manual Focus, while focus area modes include Wide (169 points for contrast-detection AF), Centre, Flexible Spot (S/M/L), Zone, Expand Flexible Spot, and Lock-on AF (Wide, Zone, Centre, Flexible Spot (S/M/L), and Expand Flexible Spot). The camera also supports Eye-Start AF and AF micro adjustment, AF illuminator (built-in, LED type, range: Approx. 0.30-3 m), AF ON, Lock-on AF, Eye AF, and Focus lock.
The Alpha 7S II uses 1200-zone evaluative metering with the Exmor CMOS sensor and the system is sensitive from EV -3 to EV 20 (at ISO 100 equivalent with f/2.0 lens attached). Metering modes include Multi-segment, Centre-weighted, and Spot. Exposure can be compensated up to +/-5.0 EV in 1/3 or 1/2 EV steps. Auto Exposure Bracketing can be set for 3/5/9 frames in 1/3,1/2, 2/3,1.0, 2.0 or 3.0 EV increments. Equivalent Sensitivity ranges from ISO 100 tol02400 (expandable to ISO 50-409600) along with an Auto setting. Exposure modes include Auto (iAuto, Superior Auto), Programmed AE (P), Aperture priority (A), Shutter-speed priority (S), Manual (M), Scene Selection, Sweep Panorama, Movie, and High Frame Rate. Scene selection modes available are Portrait, Landscape, Macro, Sports Action, Sunset, Night Portrait, Night Scene, Hand-held Twilight, and Anti Motion Blur. The camera offers Creative Styles such as Standard, Vivid, Neutral, Clear, Deep, Light, Portrait, Landscape, Sunset, Night Scene, Autumn Leaves, Black & White, and Sepia. Dynamic Range can be set to Off, Dynamic Range Optimiser, and Auto High Dynamic Range.
The Alpha 7S II uses an electronically controlled, vertical-traverse, focal-plane shutter providing shutter speeds from 30 to 1/8000 second along with Bulb option in still mode and 1/4 to 1/8000 seconds in movie mode. Still images can be captured in JPEG or Raw (Sony ARW, 14 bit) format with maximum dimensions of 4240 x 2832 pixels. You can set the camera to record both Raw and JPEG simultaneously. Videos can be recorded in XAVC S,AVCHD, or MP4 format along with Linear PCM or Dolby Digital audio. The Alpha 7S II can record videos of up to 4K (3840x2160; 25p/100 Mbps, 25p/60 Mbps) definition on a compatible memory card (SDXC Class 10). The camera offers High Frame Rate recording at 1920 x 1080 (25p/16 Mbps) definition. White Balance options are Auto, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Incandescent, Fluorescent (Warm White, Cool White, Day White, Daylight), Flash, Colour Temperature (2500 to 9900 K), Colour Filter, Custom and Underwater. Auto White Balance micro adjustment is available in addition to with White Balance Bracketing. Drive modes include Single, Continuous, Speed Priority Continuous, Self-timer, Self-timer (Cont.) and Bracketing (Cont., Single, White Balance, DRO). Self-timer can be set to 10, 5 or 2 seconds. The camera can shoot continuously at 5 frames per second in Speed Priority mode at full resolution, irrespective on the file format. The camera can shoot 64 JPEG Large and Extra Fine images at this maximum resolution.
The Alpha 7S II accepts a Memory Stick PRO Duo/PRO-HG Duo orSD/ SDHC/SDXC (UHS-I compliant) for storage. The camera does not have a built-in flash, but is compatible with Sony a system flashguns. Flash synchronises with the shutter at up to 1/250 seconds. Flash exposure can be compensated up to +/-3.0 EV (switchable between 1/3 and 1/2 EV steps) and you can select 3, 5 or 9 frames for compensation. The camera provides Silent Shooting and Wireless flash functionality.
The A7S II features a 0.5-inch, 2,359,296-dot XGAOLED electronic viewfinder, which provides a maximum magnification of 0.78 x with a 50 mm lens at infinity. The EVF displays information such as Histogram and Digital Level Gauge in additional to regular information. The camera uses a 3-inch, 1,228,800-dot vari-angle TFT LCD. This can be tilted up by approximately 107 degrees and down by approximately 41 degrees. The LCD can be set to display Zebraand Peaking MF in addition to the features on the EVF. The camera is capable of detecting up to eight faces. The Alpha 7S II can correct lens defects such as Peripheral Shading, Chromatic Aberration and Distortion and features Wi-Fi and NFC.
The Sony Alpha 7S II is powered by an NP-FW50 W rechargeable battery pack (2 supplied). The camera measures 126.9 x 95.7 x 60.3mm (W x H x D) and weighs 627g with battery and Memory Stick PRO Duo.
Ergonomics
The Sony Alpha 7S II has an excellent grip, and the deeper hand grip provides better stability. The buttons and dials are well-spaced and easily accessible. Sony's menu seems to have the best layout since all the menus and sub-menus are divided into pages with uniform depth instead of having a long scroll bar. The camera balanced well with the 55mm f/1.8 lens that was provided with the camera. Image appeared punchy on the EVF and Live View.
Performance
The Alpha 7S II is a terrific performer, and it focussed fast with the FE 55mm f/1.8 lens. This camera is a low-light specialist and did not have any problem focussing in extremely low-light. In silent shooting mode, the camera does not make even a feeble sound, which is excellent. Out-of-the-box JPEGs showed excellent sharpness with the 55mm lens. Though sharpness largely depends on the lens used, the sensor and processing also affects the final output. All metering modes performed exactly as expected.
Auto White Balance performed very well in most lighting conditions, and any slight cast produced could be easily removed in post-processing. Native print size was 14.13 x 9.44 inches at 300 ppi. At 25 percent of the screen size, the images were noise-free up to ISO 12,800. Images were perfectly usable up to ISO 51,200. At 50 percent enlargement, we observed slight noise from ISO 800 onwards. The images were usable up to ISO 25,600, though noisy. At 100 percent view slight noise crept up from ISO 800 onwards, and the images were noisy, but usable up to ISO 12,800. You might ask, then why does the camera feature these extremely high sensitivities. The answer lies in the video section. A 4K video requires only about 8.3 megapixels. This means that a noisy 12 megapixel input at extremely high sensitivity (near-dark situation) can still be processed into an 8 megapixel 4K video with acceptable noise levels. This is an absolutely brilliant idea from Sony, and it has to be lauded.
The videos were smooth and top notch. Battery was found to drain veiy fast, but Sony provides two batteries in the kit to compensate for this.
KEY SPECIFICATIONS
Lens Mount: E-mount
Lens compatibility: Sony E-mount lenses
Sensor type: 35 mm
Sensor: 35 mm full frame (35.6x 23.8 mm), Exmor™ CMOS sensor
Number Of Pixels (Effective): Approx. 12.2 megapixels
Number of Pixels (total): Approx. 12.4 megapixels
Image Sensor Aspect Ratio: 3:2
Anti-Dust System: Charge protection coating on optical filter and image sensor shift mechanism
Recording Format: Still images: ]PEG, Raw (ARW format)
Max. Image Dimensions: 4240 x 2832
Image Quality modes: Raw, Raw & JPEG
Raw Output: 14 bit
Uncompressed Raw: Yes
Video Recording Format: XAVC S, AVCHD, MP4
Max. Image Size (Pixels): 4K: 3840 x 2160 (25p/100Mbps, 25p/60Mbps)
Higli Frame Rate recording: 1920 x 1080 (25 p/16Mbps)
Compatible Recording Media: Memory Stick / SD memory card
Focus Type: Contrast-detection AF
Focus Sensor: ExmorCMOS sensor
Focus Point; 169
Metering type: 1200-zone evaluative metering
Metering sensor: Exmor CMOS sensor
Power source: NP-FW50 W Rechargeable Battery Pack (Supplied)
Dimensions (W x H x D): Approx. 126.9 x 95.7x60.3 mm
Weight: 627 g with battery
PLUS
• Superior low-light performance
• Excellent noise control
• Sturdy build quality
• Excellent handling
MINUS
• Battery drains fast
VERDICT
Sony has designed the Alpha 7S II as a high-sensitivity camera for low-light shooting while compromising on the pixel count. This is especially useful in video capture, and the 4K internal recording capability surely goes a long way into establishing this. We would consider this one of the best options if video is your priority, but stills are also important. This is surely a wedding photographer's delight. Best Buy!