A7s!

[Thorkil]

...and then comes the
Sony A7S Review - Conclusion | PhotographyBLOG

thorkil

 

[Guy Mancuso]

The one part reading that which immediately puts the brakes on for me as I would have got this instead of the A77II was the focus speed. I just don't know how much faster it would be than the A7 as last show I used the A7 with the 70-200 2.8 with Lae-4 adapter to squeeze out 300mm for me as I shot it in crop mode. Now if I had the A7s I would rent the 300mm 2.8 instead of the 70-200 but with the adapter you lose those AF points too .My burning question and no review answered it yet except eluding to the fact a Pro DSLR is faster at AF tracking continuous. Now the above A7 rig worked but was not ideal either. This would actually be better as the 12mpx is perfect for me on this stuff and a fast 300mm 2.8 would be perfect maybe more rental fee but who cares. Seriously if I knew the answer i would have bought this over the A77II which is a crop camera and the 70-200 gives me a 300mm but the focus tracking on it is better than ANYTHING I have seen to date. Yes folks its that freaking delicious. Im afraid to hit the wall on the A7s and reason i did not jump on it. It still leaves the AF tracking ability a hanging question mark. I can't take that risk although I want too, I'm just smarter than that. End of day for this type of shooting I think I made the right call on the A77II.

If Sony can pull off better AF tracking like it did on the A6000 and A77II in the 7 series and has the glass to support it than I can completely commit to the 7 series until than I will use the A glass and whatever body fits the job. For normal shooting for folks this is not even a issue, Im just very high at risk with a LOT of money on the line so I have to be sure of it. Since it is spec work I have to have brilliant images or no one will buy prints. Im my own client here. LOL


Regardless of my special needs you got love the effort Sony is throwing at our feet. Since when do you get the same body type and three distinct different sensor options. Its like picking your film. If you can't admire them for this type of push in the industry than I feel really sorry for ya because you have no clue on this industry. This stuff is unheard of until now

 

[Rawfa]

Guy, just wait for the the A99II . I´m sure it will be a high iso monster, with crazy fast AF, dual sd slots, in-camera 4k video and IS!

The A7s is very very tempting for me as it would kill when the bride and groom hit the very very dark dance floor. AF does worry me though.

 

[mjr]

Is the 24-70 the widest option in native mount for the A7? If so, does anyone have comments on performance at 24? I have just the application for this A7s but it needs a wide lens.

Mat

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Guy, just wait for the the A99II . I´m sure it will be a high iso monster, with crazy fast AF, dual sd slots, in-camera 4k video and IS!

The A7s is very very tempting for me as it would kill when the bride and groom hit the very very dark dance floor. AF does worry me though.

Im EXPECTING a A99II to be killer good. The AF here does worry me some if that is something you are really going to need to be fast and in low light. Here it has the low light but I do question AF speed and accuracy. Right now for those type of shooters IMHO get the A77II for now and/or wait for the A99II. I would like it to be 36 mpx with a crop factor of 1.5 option as well. And the rest you mentioned

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Is the 24-70 the widest option in native mount for the A7? If so, does anyone have comments on performance at 24? I have just the application for this A7s but it needs a wide lens.

Mat

For now native it is the 24mm as the widest. 16-35 we are just waiting for release , my money says Photokinia. You do have the option of using a A mount 16-35 which is said to be very good with the Sony LAE-4 adapter. I use this adapter for my A7r and my A glass today. One issue is you only get AF points ala the A99. So center 9 points and it is still pretty darn fast AF. Obviously you have 3rd party lenses options as well.

 

[hcubell]

I just received the A7S last week and have not really had a chance to work with it yet. However, two things are clear so far. First, the files at 12,800 ISO look really clean. This opens up possibilities for me in using this camera that simply were not there before. I am headed to India for three weeks in October and will spend lots of time roaming around and photographing at twilight and beyond. I am very excited about being able to shoot in very low available light. I don't need the high ISO feature for action, just (very) low light travel photography. Second, the electronic shutter is amazing. Sony just completely eliminated ANY shutter vibration. What a difference this makes in hand held shooting. What a difference this makes in tripod shooting with longer lenses. I wonder what technical limitations prevented Sony from introducing this feature on the A7R. Will we see it on the A8?

 

[Guy Mancuso]

You sir need to go out and shoot and report back. Thats a direct order from the GAS aquisiton team. LOL

 

[mjr]

For now native it is the 24mm as the widest. 16-35 we are just waiting for release , my money says Photokinia. You do have the option of using a A mount 16-35 which is said to be very good with the Sony LAE-4 adapter. I use this adapter for my A7r and my A glass today. One issue is you only get AF points ala the A99. So center 9 points and it is still pretty darn fast AF. Obviously you have 3rd party lenses options as well.

Thanks Guy, 16 would work, I have an aversion to adapters, irrational I know but there it is. I'm instructing aurora courses this winter and this could be the camera for stars and aurora shots, only need manual focus and a remote trigger.

Mat

 

[horshack]

I just received the A7S last week and have not really had a chance to work with it yet. However, two things are clear so far. First, the files at 12,800 ISO look really clean. This opens up possibilities for me in using this camera that simply were not there before. I am headed to India for three weeks in October and will spend lots of time roaming around and photographing at twilight and beyond. I am very excited about being able to shoot in very low available light. I don't need the high ISO feature for action, just (very) low light travel photography. Second, the electronic shutter is amazing. Sony just completely eliminated ANY shutter vibration. What a difference this makes in hand held shooting. What a difference this makes in tripod shooting with longer lenses. I wonder what technical limitations prevented Sony from introducing this feature on the A7R. Will we see it on the A8?

An electronic first curtain shutter should be sufficient to eliminate vibration in almost all shooting scenarios - any vibration from the closing of the second curtain would propagate long after the exposure is over. The reason a fully electronic curtain is not implemented more often is due to limitations in how fast the sensor can be read for a complete exposure - this creates motion and rolling shutter artifacts, even on the A7s which has a very fast read-out.

Btw, I had a friend shoot some A7s raws to compare the dynamic range between the fully electronic shutter and the EFCS - it seems the fully electronic shutter robs a few stops of dynamic range:

A7s EFCS vs Fully Electronic Shutter

 

[ashwinrao1]

Well, it wasn't long, and I am back in the Sony Fray with the A7s. My decision hinged on it's capacity to be a body for M lenses. I had come to the conclusion, that in general, the camera best suited for M lenses is an M, but going back over the past few months of shooting, I did enjoy using the A7 both with native and M glass. Now the news that the A7s plays well with wides, and I decided to jump in, especially given the low light capabilities. At very first glance, the silent shutter function should be fantastic for most of what I shoot....that is, composed street shots...And at first blush, the sensor seems to do better with wide M's, the 21 super-elmar in particular....At the moment, I have no FE lenses, so it's going to be M lenses all the way, for a bit at least....fun fun fun!

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Maybe get the 55 for now. Be nice to have one that can AF and take advantage of all the AF points. Besides its killer good too

 

[lambert]

Well, it wasn't long, and I am back in the Sony Fray with the A7s. My decision hinged on it's capacity to be a body for M lenses. I had come to the conclusion, that in general, the camera best suited for M lenses is an M, but going back over the past few months of shooting, I did enjoy using the A7 both with native and M glass. Now the news that the A7s plays well with wides, and I decided to jump in, especially given the low light capabilities. At very first glance, the silent shutter function should be fantastic for most of what I shoot....that is, composed street shots...And at first blush, the sensor seems to do better with wide M's, the 21 super-elmar in particular....At the moment, I have no FE lenses, so it's going to be M lenses all the way, for a bit at least....fun fun fun!

This is great news. With respect to M-mount wides, is the improvement limited to just colour cast/vignetting or is there also less smearing?

 

[ashwinrao1]

Great great question. It's the question that I specifically wonder about. From what I can tell, color cast/vignette doesn't appear to be much of an issue. I just started using my 28 summicron, which is notorious for smearing on the A7/7R, and I continue to see some of this when shot wide open. It's much harder to see smearing once you stop down to about f/5.6...

I need to do much more testing, but that's my first blush....

 

[erudolph]

Looking forward to seeing some shots and hearing your opinion, Ashwin. I'm seriously considering this body for use with M-lenses only.

 

[ashwinrao1]

28 cron, wide open, ISO 1000, A7s....

This is a very very rough test. Camera was handheld, shutter speed 1/2000 of a second, ISO 1000, natural evening light in my porch. No processing in LR other than "auto" exposure....I find the results interesting, but will let you draw your own conclusions. In my opinion, having used both the A7 and A7r, the A7s offers much better control of vignetting and color casts for wide lenses such as the 28 cron. I continue to see some corner smearing, but I would need to do a far more controlled test to determine how much.

Full size:

Center crop:

Bottom left crop

Bottom right crop:

Top left crop

Top right crop

 

[lambert]

28 cron, wide open, ISO 1000, A7s....

This is a very very rough test. Camera was handheld, shutter speed 1/2000 of a second, ISO 1000. No processing in LR other than "auto" exposure....

Thanks Ashwin. This is very helpful. I no longer have this lens but if I recall correctly it had to be stopped down to about f4 before it was sharp across the frame on my M9.

 

[ZoranC]

Better question is does A7S show less smearing than A7/A7R shot would when downsized to 12 MP.

 

[ashwinrao1]

Hard to say, but in my opinion, from experiences with the 28 cron and 21 SE in particular, the A7s is better. More importantly, I don't have to do a ton of color corrections to get the images to look right with the M lenses.

It is by no means a replacement to the M240 on M9 (12 mp vs 18-24 mp; AA filter vs no AA filter, RF vs no RF) but seems that it will have a defined place in one's kit if they want it, particularly for low light...

The unique offering of the A7 is likely its low light capacity, and for my type of photography with this camera (street), it will sit happy as a low light imager. Further, having looked through ISO, it does appear to have very good noise control through about ISO 10,000, possibly higher, and this suddenly allows lenses such as the Super Elmar to function well in very low light conditions...Could make for a great concert photog camera, for instance, were having affordable low light wides suddenly is an option now...

 

[iiiNelson]

Well, it wasn't long, and I am back in the Sony Fray with the A7s. My decision hinged on it's capacity to be a body for M lenses. I had come to the conclusion, that in general, the camera best suited for M lenses is an M, but going back over the past few months of shooting, I did enjoy using the A7 both with native and M glass. Now the news that the A7s plays well with wides, and I decided to jump in, especially given the low light capabilities. At very first glance, the silent shutter function should be fantastic for most of what I shoot....that is, composed street shots...And at first blush, the sensor seems to do better with wide M's, the 21 super-elmar in particular....At the moment, I have no FE lenses, so it's going to be M lenses all the way, for a bit at least....fun fun fun!

Welcome back. You've been missed.