Sony Alpha A7S II

WHAT IS THE SONY ALPHA A7S II?

The Sony Alpha A7S II is a full-frame camera with a difference. Where its brother theA7R II uses a 42-megapixel sensor for massive amounts of detail, this camera pares the resolution all the way down to 12 megapixels to radically improve low-light performance.

This move makes the Sony Alpha A7S II a bit of a niche camera, but it certainly works. Great video quality and immense shooting versatility mean it’s a great success. Even if it isn’t for everyone.

SONY ALPHA A7S II – DESIGN AND HANDLING

The Sony Alpha A7S II is a full-frame compact system camera. Design and overall style are very similar to all the other models in the top-end Alpha range. It’s not a small camera, but it’s certainly smaller than DSLR alternatives like the Nikon D810.

What’s new for this second-generation model? The Sony Alpha A7S II takes on all the key design improvements we saw in the A7R II.

While the first-wave A7 models were standard-setting but felt a little awkward to operate in parts, the Sony Alpha A7S II uses redesigned controls that simply work better.

 First, the grip has been changed. It’s deeper, for a better in-hand feel. The shutter button area is also different. The button itself has been shifted forward, now sitting much closer to where your finger naturally lands. It’s simply more comfortable.

The Sony Alpha A7S II shape is similar to the last generation, but the finish has been altered. Smooth body panels have been traded-in for a textured, almost speckled finish that is much closer to that seen in the top-end DSLRs. It comes across as a bit more rugged, more hard-wearing.

As before, much of the camera is made of magnesium alloy. And while there’s no full weather-sealing, the frame is designed not to let in moisture. I used the Sony Alpha A7S II for a few hours out in bad weather with no ill effects.

Also new in this model is a locking mode dial, which helps avoid you flicking over to another shooting mode accidentally.

 Much like the A7R II, this is a comprehensive design upgrade over the last-generation model. However, the winning feature remains getting a full-frame sensor in a somewhat-compact body. Sony's lenses are rarely small, but pair this camera with the 35mm f/2.8 and you have a very manageable full-frame setup.

One sacrifice of this is that battery life isn’t remotely close to one of the similarly-priced DSLRs like the Nikon D810. A charge will last for around 300 shots, but conscious that this isn’t going to cut it for serious shooting trips, Sony actually packs two batteries in the box. The Sony Alpha A7S II can also be charged-up over USB using an external battery. Keeping one in your camera bag is a good idea.

SONY ALPHA A7S II – EVF AND SCREEN

The Sony Alpha A7S II at first seems to have the same EVF as the A7S. It uses a 2.36-million dot viewfinder. Higher resolution models exist, but are very rare at the time of writing.

There has actually been an improvement, though, from 0.71x to 0.78x magnification. This means the image will appear larger, which no-one’s going to complain about.

It’s a good EVF. I find its colours are a little undersaturated compared with what my eyes see, but only slightly.

 The quality of the rear screen is good too, and resolution has been improved. The Sony Alpha A7S II has a 3-inch 1.23-million dot screen over a 921k-dot one. It’s a movable screen too, tilting up and down to make shooting above and below head height easier.

Like the A7R II, the Sony Alpha A7S II has Wi-Fi and NFC to let you wirelessly hook the camera up to a phone or tablet to transfer photos.

SONY ALPHA A7S II – AUTOFOCUS AND PERFORMANCE

The Sony Alpha A7S II seems like a lower-res A7R II in a lot of respects. However, this camera actually has a different autofocus setup.

Instead of using Sony’s latest hybrid focus system, the Sony Alpha A7S II has contrast detection AF with 169 focus points. It’s still fairly advanced.

Each of the nine central points is divided into 16 segments to provide a higher concentration of AF points in the centre. With an f/2 lens attached, Sony claims it’s possible to focus when light levels drop to -4EV.

 Out shooting with the Sony Alpha A7S II I find it’s not quite as fast as the hybrid AF you get in the A7R II, but it’s still very good. Especially considering it’s a contrast-based system.

Even in very dark conditions, it’s still reliable and pretty fast. I was actually a little surprised by how well it holds up given there are no phase detection points involved.

Changing focus is also much faster for video than with the A7S. Sony says switching from a far focus to a close one takes only half the time.

This is not a camera for action photographers, though. The Sony Alpha A7S II shoots at a solid-but-unremarkable 5fps thanks to the Bionz X camera processor. This drops down to 2.5fps when using continuous focusing. Speed isn’t really what it’s about, although the perhaps more important focusing performance is good. Sony has done great work with contrast detection AF in the last few years, although it's naturally not going to compete with the fastest-focusing DSLRs.

 Sony also uses an optional electronic shutter in the A7S II. Lots of cameras use this to enable incredibly fast shutter speeds, but here it’s all about silent shooting.

Turn the silent mode on and the Sony Alpha A7S II will switch over to the electronic shutter, otherwise using the standard mechanical one. It has been tested for 500,000 exposures and tweaked to reduce the amount of vibration movement caused.

One of the most important changes in the Sony Alpha A7S II, though, is the new 5-axis stabilisation. This compensates for movements your might make while the shutter is open, really upping how far you can push a camera without getting a tripod involved.

As I’ve experienced with other recent Sony cameras, the OIS system works wonders. Shooting at 70mm I find I can use 1/10 exposures with no real worries about ending up with anything but pin-sharp images.

Use the EVF rather than the rear screen to compose and keep the Sony Alpha A7S II pushed against your face as an extra stabiliser and you can even drop down to 1/5 of a second and still get sharp shots.

 I tried slowing down the exposure to 1/4 and 1/3, but that’s really straining against what even the Sony Alpha A7S II can handle. Use burst shooting and you can get some good results still, but it’s much more of a gamble with such slow shutter speeds. No great surprise there.

Match up great stabilisation with a full-frame sensor designed to be able to handle higher ISO settings and you have simply excellent handheld versatility. At the start of this review I said the Sony Alpha A7S II isn’t for everyone, but I imagine most of you will really appreciate these handheld chops.

SONY ALPHA A7S II – IMAGE QUALITY

The Sony Alpha A7S II goes against the grain. Where full-frame rivals like the A7R II, the Nikon D810 and Canon 5DS R make the most of tech improvements to allow ultra-high resolution sensors without killing higher-ISO performance, this camera drops resolution hugely.

This camera uses the same 12-megapixel sensor as the A7S. By using a relatively low resolution, each sensor pixel is really very large, enabling very good base ISO dynamic range and excellent image quality as you work up the sensitivity spectrum.

Just look at the native ISO range. The Sony Alpha A7S II starts at ISO 100 and goes up to 102,400, expandable to an incredibly high ISO 409,600. For a little context, the Canon 5DS R’s native ISO only hits 6400 and can be expanded up to 12,800. It’s almost comically limited compared with the Sony Alpha A7S II.

Dynamic range is excellent. At ISO 100 it clocks in at 13.3EV, just a little more than the 13.1EV of the Sony Alpha A7R II. It also holds onto that quality extremely well as sensitivity increases.

At ISO 6400 it still scores 10.3EV, where at the same setting the Canon 5DS R manages 8.1EV. Even at ISO 102400 it earns 6.3EV: not ideal, but this isn’t all that much lower than what the Canon manages at ISO 12800.

Consider again the Sony Alpha A7S II’s great stabilisation and you can understand why this camera is pretty exciting for many photographers.

Noise handling is similarly great. You’d be hard pressed to notice much luminance noise at ISO 6400 outside of shadowy areas, and you can get good results up to 25600.