Sony ILCE-7SM2 a7S II

      Photo Review 8.8
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      In summary

      Like the α7S, the α7S II is designed for both stills and video shooting, with an emphasis on the latter.

      Its price tag will position it beyond the reach of cash-strapped amateurs and its capabilities (particularly with respect to video) will be more attractive to professional videographers and independent filmmakers than stills shooters, although its high-ISO capabilities may be worthwhile for photojournalists.

      The relatively low resolution of this camera (compared with its α7 siblings) makes it less attractive to landscape and studio photographers who require the highest possible resolution. Other models in the growing α7 range would be far more suitable for these photographers.

       

      Full review

      We didn’t get to review the original Sony ILCE-7S (α7S) camera, which was released in April 2014 so it’s nice to receive its successor, the α7S Mark II, which was announced on 11 September 2015. The updated camera improves on its predecessor in several important ways. Both cameras were designed to deliver high image quality in challenging lighting for still images and movie clips, with an emphasis on the latter.  

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      Angled view of the Sony α7S Mark II with the Zeiss Vario-Tessar FE 24-70mm lens. (Source: Sony.)  

      The review camera was supplied with the Vario-Tessar T* FE 16-35mm f/4 ZA OSS lens, which we reviewed in April 2015 with the α7 Mark II camera. We used this lens for all shots taken. Although you can fit E-mount lenses on the α7 camera bodies, they are designed for the smaller image circle of APS-C sensors and will vignette (crop off edges) severely when used on the ‘full frame’ bodies.

      Who’s it For?
      Like the α7S the α7S II is designed for both stills and video shooting, with an emphasis on the latter. Its price tag will position it beyond the reach of cash-strapped amateurs and its capabilities (particularly with respect to video) will be more attractive to professional videographers and independent filmmakers than stills shooters, although its high-ISO capabilities may be worthwhile for photojournalists.

      The relatively low resolution of this camera (compared with its α7 siblings) makes it less attractive to landscape and studio photographers who require the highest possible resolution. Other models in the growing α7 range would be far more suitable for these photographers.

      Build and Ergonomics
      Physically, the α7S II is almost identical to the α7R II, which isn’t surprising since it is also manufactured in the Sony factory in Ayutthaya, Thailand. Its rigid magnesium alloy chassis is light and durable and the textured cladding and decent-sized grip will make it comfortable for most users.  

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      Front view of the α7S II with no lens fitted. (Source: Sony.)
       

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       Back view of the α7S II. (Source: Sony.)  

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      Angled back view of the α7S II showing the tilting monitor screen. (Source: Sony.)
       
       

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      Top view of the α7S II with no lens fitted. (Source: Sony.)

      According to Sony, there have been some minor adjustments to the grip and shutter buttons ‘so that the camera feels more natural in the hand’. But we retain the same concerns about the size and placement of the control buttons and dials on the α7S II as we did with the α7R II. Users with larger hands and/or limited dexterity might find them problematic. But most photographers with average sized hands should have few issues with the camera’s ergonomics.

      You can’t fault the degree to which the camera can be customised; Sony’s system both easy to use and very comprehensive. In addition, the EVF and monitor have high enough resolution to display all the detail you need ““ and the refresh rate of the EVF is fast enough for sports photography, if not absolutely instantaneous.

      Sony says the α7S II’s lens mount has been reinforced to ensure greater resilience, particularly when attaching third party lenses, a feature that should please sports and wildlife shooters. The battery can now be charged via a USB power supply while the camera is in operation, although the camera is still supplied with a dedicated battery charger.

      In line with other α7 cameras, the α7S II has limited battery capacity, with a CIPA rating of only 310 shots/charge (or 370 if you use the monitor to frame shots). This is about half the capacity of a typical entry-level DSLR.

      Like the α7R II, which has similar limitations, the review camera was supplied with two batteries plus the BC-VW1 charger unit. These items are listed in the camera’s instruction manual.

      Video
       Video recording was the main focus of the original α7S and it remains so with the α7S II. The α7S II is the first camera capable of 4K movie recording that utilises information from all pixels in the image array without line skipping or pixel binning.

      Full pixel readout without pixel binning is also employed for shooting Full HD  movies. This enables the camera to collect information from roughly five times as many pixels as are required to generate Full HD.  Condensing this information yields movies with extremely high quality and negligible moirø©.

      A further improvement in this area is internal support for 4K movie recording with Sony’s proprietary XAVC S format, which was introduced with the α7S. While the α7S also enabled users to record 4K video, it was only to an external recorder.

      Being able to record it on a memory card is a big plus ““ although you’ll need an SDXC memory card higher than Class 10 for recording any movies in XAVC S format and a UHS Class 3 memory card for recording 4K clips at 100Mbps. Available recording formats and times are outlined in the graph below.

      Format

      Record setting

      Memory card capacity

      8GB

      16GB

      32GB

      64GB

      XAVC S 4K

      3840 x 2160 (25p, 100M)

       

       

       

       

      3840 x 2160 (25p, 60M

       

       

       

       

      XAVC S HD

      1920 x 1080 (100p, 100M)

       

       

       

       

      1920 x 1080 (100p, 60M)

       

       

       

       

      1920 x 1080 (50p, 50M)

       

       

       

       

      1920 x 1080 (25p, 50M)

       

       

       

       

      AVCHD

      1920 x 1080 (50p, 28M, PS)

       

       

       

       

      1920 x 1080 (50i, 24M, FX)

       

       

       

       

      1920 x 1080 (50i, 17M, FH)

       

       

       

       

      1920 x 1080 (25p, 24M, FX)

       

       

       

       

      920 x 1080 (25p, 17M, FH)

       

       

       

       

      AVC MP4

      1920 x 1080 (50p, 28M)

       

       

       

       

      1920 x 1080 (25p, 16M)

       

       

       

       

      1280 x 720 (25p, 6M)

       

       

       

       

      The α7S II’s internal recording capability is restricted to 8-bit 4:2:0, which is good enough for most situations. Recording to an external device retains the 8-bit colour depth but with 4:2:2 sub-sampling. Movie clips will require a lot more storage space but they also provide more scope for colour correction, particularly with clips shot in challenging lighting.  

      Another ‘first’ is the High Frame Rate recording mode, which enables the α7S II to record 1080p slow-motion clips at 120 fps for NTSC format or 100 fps for PAL ) at a bit-rate of approximately 16Mbps. To do this the camera records a cropped HD image from the centre of the 12.2 megapixel full-frame sensor, which delivers better output quality than the clips recorded by the original α7S.

      NTSC users can choose from two high speed modes but PAL users have only the 25p, 16M setting. Both formats deliver the full 100Mbps bit rate in playback and the footage can be reviewed on the camera’s monitor screen and subsequently edited into 5x/4x slow motion footage at 1080p resolution.

      Sony has introduced new picture profile settings: S-Gamut3, Cine/S-Log3 and S-Gamut3/S-Log3, deliver a wider dynamic range plus an impressive 14-stop exposure latitude with the S-Log3 gamma setting.   They also make colour correction easier to perform.

      A new Gamma Display Assist function allows users to monitor images or check focus when recording S-Log movies.  It’s useful for boosting the colours in recording made with the flat S-Log 2 or 3 settings.   The Zebra function has also been improved to provide greater exposure control.

      The video algorithms have been tweaked to make autofocusing smoother and more responsive. It will also work in light levels as low as -4EV, enabling hand-held shooting at night. As with the α7S, the new camera comes with built-in microphone and headphone jacks.

      Interestingly, α7R II includes a Super 35mm Equivalent crop function that is designed for use when APS-C lenses  are fitted via an adapter. The α 7S II lacks this capability.  

      What Else is New?
      1. While the new camera uses the 12.2-megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor from the original a7S, its performance has been tweaked with an upgraded image processing algorithm in the BIONZ X processor.  The new camera offers the same sensitivity range from ISO 50 up to an eye-popping level of ISO 409600. But the upgraded image processing algorithm for processor improves imaging performance across the full sensitivity range, with particular emphasis on the mid-to-high range. Both stills and movie clips should record greater detail as a result of this improvement.

      2. The 5-axis in-body image stabilisation (IBIS) system introduced in the α7 II (INSERT LINK) and also provided in the α7R II  has been added to the α7S II. Sony claimed shake compensation of up to 4.5 EV steps for the other cameras, so it’s probably the same for the α7S II.

      3. The autofocusing system has been upgraded to provide 169 detection points but it sticks with contrast detection, which is likely to fall short in dim lighting and with low contrast subjects. It’s a pity Sony didn’t include at least some of the 399 focal-plane phase-detection AF (PDAF) points from the α7R II to allow depth-sensitive focus detection. Without PDAF, the α7S II can’t support continuous autofocusing in the Speed Priority Continuous shooting mode.

      Sony claims the low noise in images generated by the α7S II’s image sensor ‘enables the Fast Intelligent AF to detect contrast more easily and react speedily’. When shooting video, the AF performance is twice as fast as the predecessor model, it claims.

      4. The resolution of the XGA OLED Tru-Finder EVF is unchanged but its magnification has been increased from 0.71x in the previous model to 0.78x (covering roughly 38.5 degrees in the diagonal field of view) with a 50mm lens at infinity. Zeiss T* Coating has been applied to the optical to minimise reflections.

      5. In line with other raw-capable Sony cameras, the α7S II offers user-selectable compressed and uncompressed 14-Bit ARW.RAW image capture, instead of only the compressed format.

      A firmware update, released in June 2015, tweaked a number of camera functions to provide ‘picture improvement’ with several new lenses and support for the Fast Hybrid AF function and compatible lenses. It also improved image quality and reduced start-up time when the camera is switched on immediately after being switched off and added support for additional PlayMemories Camera Apps and additional features for previously supported app.

      The camera we received still had the original V.1.0. firmware so we upgraded it to V.2.0.

      Sensor and Image Processing
       The sensor in the α7S II is the same 35.6 x 23.8 mm  Exmor CMOS chip as used in the original α7S. Designed with video in mind, it has a total of 12,400,000 photodiodes and an effective resolution of 12.2 megapixels, giving it a pixel pitch of 8.4 microns, which is huge by modern standards. This enables the camera to offer an extremely wide sensitivity range from ISO 50 to ISO 409600.

      The BIONZ X image processor is the standard chip used in the majority of Sony’s high-end cameras. It delivers 16-bit processing and 14-bit ARW.RAW files and the α7S II allows users to choose between compressed and uncompressed raw files.

      Like other α7 models, the α7S II enables users to choose between ‘full frame’ and APS-C sizes for image capture and select between 3:2 and 16:9 aspect ratios  with three image sizes available for each. Three compression ratios are available for JPEG files and ARW.RAW files can be recorded with or without a JPEG.

      Sony’s Sweep Panorama function is supported with image sizes depending on the panorama direction setting. Interestingly they are the same as in the α7R. Typical file sizes are shown in the table below.

      Frame size / Aspect ratio

      Pixels

      File size

      Raw

      JPEG Extra-fine

      JPEG Fine

      JPEG Standard

      Uncompressed RAW

      4240 x 2832

      27.1MB

      n.a.

      Compressed RAW

      4240 x 2832

      14.3MB

      Full frame / 3:2

      4240 x 2832

      n.a.

      10.6MB

      6.0MB

      4.4MB

      2768 x 1848

      6.0MB

      3.6MB

      2.8MB

      2128 x 1416

      3.4MB

      1.8MB

      1.2MB

      Full frame / 16:9

      4240 x 2384

       

      9.2MB

      5.3MB

      4.0MB

      2768 x 1560

      n.a.

      5.4MB

      3.3MB

      2.8MB

      2128 x 1200

      2.8MB

      1.5MB

      1.0MB

      APS-C / 3:2

      2768 x 1848

       

      5.0MB

      3.1MB

      2.4MB

      2128 x 1416

       

      3.0MB

      1.6MB

      1.1MB

      1376 x 920

       

      1.5MB

      0.8MB

      0.6MB

      APS-C / 16:9

      2768 x 1560

       

      4.6MB

      2.9MB

      2.4MB

      2128 x 1200

       

      2.6MB

      1.4MB

      1.0MB

      1376 x 776

       

      1.3MB

      0.7MB

      0.5MB

      Sweep Panorama horizontal

      8192 x 1856

      n.a.

      8.4MB

      12416 x 1856

      12.3MB

      Sweep Panorama vertical

      3872 x 2160

      5.5MB

      5536 x 2160

      7.0MB

      HFR Recording
       Another feature we’ve come to expect in the updated α7 cameras is in HFR (high frame rate) recording, which is used for shooting slow-motion movie clips. It’s present the α7S II, although with some modifications. For example, while there’s no HFR setting on the mode dial (a feature common to all the second-generation α7 cameras), the camera does support HFR recording, although, interestingly, for PAL system users, only one setting is available: 25p/16M, which slows motion by 4x.

      To access HFR recording, you must select the Movie mode on the mode dial. After that, you press the Menu button to display the HFR shooting screen and start recordings by pressing the movie button. Pressing the movie button a second time ends the recording. Like other Sony cameras that support HDR recording, using this function requires an SDXC memory card with a Class 10 or higher speed rating.
       
      Wi-Fi and NFC
       Both functions are virtually identical to the functions provided on previous α7 cameras and both require the free PlayMemories Mobile app to be installed on the smart device to which the camera will be connected. As with the α7R, the camera can transfer both JPEG images and MP4 movie clips wirelessly but not AVCHD and XAVC S movie clips or ARW.RAW files.

      Performance
       Allowing for the lower resolution, we found the review camera produced images that looked a lot like those from theα7R II camera we reviewed in December 2015 ““ although the α7S II couldn’t match that camera’s ability to record fine detail. Colours were recorded with good accuracy, although we obtained the best colour accuracy with ARW.RAW files, rather than JPEGs.

      The sensor handled contrasty lighting with aplomb and raw files contained plenty of dynamic range to ‘play with’, even though the DRO (dynamic range optimisation) function is only applied to JPEGs. The HDR function (which is also JPEG-only) delivered good results without over-processing.

      Imatest showed the camera plus Vario-Tessar T* FE 16-35mm f/4 ZA OSS lens to be an excellent combination that was capable of meeting expectations for the sensor’s resolution with JPEGs and exceeding expectations with raw files, regardless of whether they were processed with the ‘bundled’ Capture One Express for Sony application (which you have to download and install) or Adobe Camera Raw. Capture One Express for Sony produced sharper, more contrasty results than the Adobe converter but both were effective.

      Resolution remained high for both file types across the camera’s sensitivity range, with only the highest settings (ISO 25600 and above), showing a gradual falling off. The graph below shows the results of our Imatest tests.

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      Low light performance was outstanding, and matched our expectations for the light-collecting area of the photosites in the sensor. Noise was barely visible in shots taken at ISO 25600 and only just discernible at ISO 51200.

      From that point on, the image metadata showed the ISO at 65535, although we were able to set the ISO to higher values via the camera’s menu and the four-way controller.  Images became progressively more granular as the sensitivity was increased  but colour and contrast remained at the same levels as in the low ISO settings right up to the highest sensitivity setting. At this point, however, images were very granular looking and rather soft..

      The camera’s AF system performed flawlessly after dark and we experienced no incidence of hunting, even when shooting in very low light levels with very little to lock onto. The new camera is noticeably better than its predecessor in this respect.

      White balance performance was similar to other Sony cameras and generally very good. The auto setting delivered almost neutral colour rendition under fluorescent lighting and removed most of the warm cast imparted by incandescent lights. Both presets over-corrected slightly, the various fluorescent lighting settings imparting slightly different colour casts. Manual measurement produced neutral colour rendition.

      Video image quality was superb, regardless of which codec or setting we used. However, soundtracks recorded in conjunction with the XAVC S 4K had periodic drop-outs where the audio was silent. This didn’t occur with the other settings and we’re not sure what caused the problem, which may have been an anomaly in the camera we received.

      We carried out our timing tests with a 64GB Lexar Professional SDXC UHS-II card, which has a Class 10 speed rating and read/write speeds of 300 MB/s.  This is the fastest card in our collection and provides the speed and capacity needed for XAVC S movie clips.

      The average start-up time when the card had been used previously in the camera was 2.6 seconds, which is relatively sluggish for an α7 camera. Capture lag was negligible with the FE 16-35mm f/4 lens, regardless of whether shots were pre-focused. Shot-to-shot times averaged 0.9 seconds, which was about as fast as we could keep pressing the shutter button.  The α7S II has no built-in flash so cycle times couldn’t be measured.

      It took 2.7 seconds on average for each Large/ExtraFine JPEG to be processed. Uncompressed ARW.RAW   files took 3.0 seconds and RAW+JPEG pairs took 3.2 seconds.  Compressed ARW.RAW files took 2.6 seconds, while RAW+JPEG pairs took 2.9 seconds.  

      With Speed Priority continuous shooting mode the review camera recorded 71 Large/ExtraFine JPEGs in 13.6 seconds in the burst mode before pausing. This equates to just over the five frames/second rate specified for the camera. It took approximately 50 seconds to process this burst.

      With uncompressed ARW.RAW files, the buffer memory filled at 30 frames, which were recorded in 5.4 seconds.  It took 14.1 seconds to process this burst. Shooting compressed raw files increased the buffer capacity to 40 frames and reduced the processing time to 9.2 seconds.

      The buffer memory also filled after 26 uncompressed RAW+JPEG pairs, which were captured in 4.8 seconds and processed in 17.6 seconds.  With compressed raw files, the buffer capacity increased to 29 frames, while the processing time was reduced to 14.5 seconds.

      In the normal continuous shooting mode, the camera appears able to keep up a continuous capture rate of around three frames/second with Large Extra Fine JPEGs for as long as there’s space to accommodate them. While this suggests shots are processed on-the-fly.

      Conclusion
       Sony has clearly differentiated its latest α7 cameras into three categories, with the α7 II being the general-purpose model with the most affordable price tag (RRP AU$2299), the α7R II (RRP AU$4499) offering the highest resolution and the α7S II (RRP AU$4799) targeting video specialists. The comparatively high price of the α7S II puts it in the same bracket as the slightly cheaper entry model for the BlackMagic 4K camera range but well below Canon’s 4K-capable Cinema EOS cameras.

      If you compare Sony’s RRPs in Australia with US resellers’ prices (taking account of exchange rates) the local pricing appears to include a higher margin than most other camera distributors.  But if you shop around, it’s possible to find the α7S II body selling for less than AU$4300, which is competitive with off-shore pricing. Note: the Mark I cameras for all three models are still listed on the Sony Australia website at AU$1499 (α7), AU$2899 (α7R) and AU$3299 (α7S)

      If you opt to import any of these cameras, you’ll be up for 10% GST on the cost of the camera once they have arrived in Australia because they’re all priced over the current tax-free threshold of $1,000 for imported goods. It’s also unlikely the money you save could compensate for the delay in getting the camera in your hands and the anxiety over whether it will arrive intact and on time.

       

      SPECS

       Image sensor: 35.6 x 23.8 mm  Exmor CMOS sensor with 12.4 million photosites (12.2 megapixels effective)
       Image processor:  BIONZ X
       A/D processing: 14-bit RAW
       Lens mount: Sony E-mount
       Focal length crop factor: 1x
       Clear Image (digital) zoom: 2x (stills and movies)
       Image formats: Stills: JPEG (DCF Ver. 2.0, Exif Ver.2.3, MPF Baseline compliant), RAW (Sony ARW 2.3 format); Movies: XAVC S, AVCHD (Ver. 2.0 compliant), MP4
       Image Sizes: Stills ““ 3:2 aspect: 4240 x 2832, 2768 x 1848, 2128 x 1416; 16:9 aspect: 4240 x 2384,   2768 x 1560, 2128 x 1200 (APS-C crops also available);  Sweep Panorama -horizontal: 12416 x 1856, 8192 x 1856; Vertical: 5536 x 2160, 3872 x 2160; Movies: [4K]   3840 x 2160 at 30/25/24p, 100/60 Mbps; [Full HD] 1920 x 1080: 50p/28 or 24 Mbps, 50i/24 or 17Mbps, 25p/24 or 17Mbps; [HD] 1280 x 720 30/25p at 6Mbps
       Image Stabilisation: Image Sensor-Shift mechanism with 5-axis compensation (4.5 steps)
       Dust removal: Charge protection coating on optical filter and image sensor shift mechanism
       Shutter (speed range): Electronically-controlled, vertical-traverse, focal-plane type shutter (1/8000 to 30 sec, Bulb); flash synch at 1/250 sec.
       Exposure Compensation: +/- 5 EV in 1/3EV or 1/2EV steps (+/-3EV for movies)
       Exposure bracketing: 1/3/5/9 frames selectable. With 3 or 5 frames, in 1/3, 1/2, 2/3, 1.0, 2.0 or 3.0 EV increments, with 9 frames, in 1/3, 1/2, 2/3 or 1.0 EV increments.
       Other bracketing options:
       Self-timer: 2 or 10 seconds delay
       Focus system: Contrast-detection AF with 169 points with the following area selections:  Wide (169 points) / Centre / Flexible Spot (S/M/L) / Zone / Expand Flexible Spot / Lock-on AF (Wide / Zone / Centre / Flexible Spot (S/M/L) / Expand Flexible Spot); Face Detection, Face registration, Face selection (Max. number of detectable faces: 8)
       Focus modes: Single-shot AF (AF-S), Continuous AF (AF-C), Direct Manual Focus (DMF), Manual Focus; Lock-on AF, Eye AF, Focus lock; Eye-Start AF and AF micro adjustment  available
       Exposure metering:  1200-zone evaluative metering with  Exmor CMOS sensor; Multi-segment, Centre-weighted and Spot metering patterns
       Shooting modes: AUTO (iAUTO, Superior Auto), Programmed AE (P), Aperture priority (A), Shutter-speed priority (S), Manual (M), Scene Selection, Sweep Panorama, Movie / High Frame Rate (Programmed AE (P) / Aperture priority (A) / Shutter-speed priority (S) / Manual (M) )
       Picture Effect modes: Posterisation (Colour), Posterisation (B/W), Pop Colour, Retro Photo, Partial Colour (R/G/B/Y), High Contrast Monochrome, Toy Camera (Normal, Cool, Warm, Green, Magenta) Soft High-key, Soft Focus, HDR Painting (High/Mid/Low), Rich-tone Monochrome, Miniature, Watercolour, Illustration
       Creative Style modes: Standard, Vivid, Neutral, Clear, Deep, Light, Portrait, Landscape, Sunset, Night Scene, Autumn leaves, Black & White, Sepia, Style Box(1-6), Contrast (-3 to +3 steps), Saturation (-3 to +3 steps), Sharpness (-3 to +3 steps)
       Picture Profile modes: Black level, Gamma (Movie, Still, Cine1-4, ITU709, ITU709 [800%], S-Log2), Black Gamma, Knee, Colour Mode, Saturation, Colour Phase, Colour Depth, Detail, Copy, Reset
       Colour space options: sRGB and Adobe RGB (compatible with TRILUMINOS Colour)
       ISO range: Auto, ISO 100-102400 (expandable to ISO 50-409600)
       White balance: Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Shade, Incandescent, Flash, White Set 1, 2 , Colour temperature setting; Blue/Amber, Magenta/Green bias adjustments
       Flash: External flashguns only
       Sequence shooting: Max.5   shots/sec.  in   Speed Priority Continuous shooting mode
       Buffer capacity: Max. 64 Large/Fine JPEGs, 31 RAW files or   26 RAW+JPEG pairs
       Storage Media: SD, SDHC, SDXC cards (Compatible with UHS-I standard SDHC / SDXC Memory Cards)
       Viewfinder: 1.3 cm XGA OLED with 2,359,296 dots, 100% frame coverage, approx. 0.78x magnification, -4.0 to +3.0 dioptre adjustment, 23 mm eyepoint, brightness control  (5 steps between -2 and +2)
       LCD monitor: Tilting 3-inch TFT screen with 1,228,800 dots, Manual brightness control (5 steps between -2 and +2), Sunny Weather mode
       Playback functions: Single (with or without shooting information, Y RGB histogram & highlight/shadow warning), 9/25-frame index view, Enlarged display mode (Maximum magnification L: 13.3x, M: 8.7x, S: 6.7x), Auto Review (10/5/2 sec, off), Image orientation (Auto/Manual/Off selectable), Slideshow, Panorama scrolling, Folder selection (Still / Date / MP4 / AVCHD / XAVC S HD / XAVC S 4K), Forward/Rewind (Movie), Delete, Protect
       Interface terminals: Multi/micro USB, HDMI micro connector (Type-D),  3.5 mm Stereo minijack microphone and headphone terminals, Auto-lock Accessory Shoe,  Vertical Grip Connector  
       Wi-Fi function: IEEE 802.11b/g/n  (2.4 GHz band), NFC Forum Type 3 Tag compatible
       Power supply: NP-FW50 Rechargeable Li-ion Battery Pack; CIPA rated for approx. 370 shots/charge
       Dimensions (wxhxd): Approx. 126.9 x 95.7 x 60.3 mm (excluding protrusions)
       Weight: Approx. 584 grams (body only); 627 grams with battery and card

       

      TESTS

       

       Based on JPEG files

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       Based on ARW.RAW files converted into 16-bit TIFF format with Capture One for Sony software

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      SAMPLES

       

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      Auto white balance with incandescent lighting.  

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      Auto white balance with fluorescent lighting.
       

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      ISO 50, 30-second exposure at f/4; 35mm focal length.
       
       

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      ISO 100, 25-second exposure at f/4.5; 35mm focal length.
       
       

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      ISO 800, 15-second exposure at f/5; 35mm focal length.
       
       

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      ISO 3200, 10-second exposure at f/6.3; 35mm focal length.

       

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      ISO 12800, 5-second exposure at f/9; 35mm focal length.
       

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      ISO 25600, 5-second exposure at f/10; 35mm focal length.
       

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      ISO 51200, 3.2-second exposure at f/13; 35mm focal length.
       

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      ISO 409600, 1/2-second exposure at f/18; 35mm focal length.
       
       

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      Auto DRO engaged; 16mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/800 second at f/8.
       

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      DRO switched off; 16mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/800 second at f/8.
       

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      Multi-exposure HDR shooting mode; 16mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/800 second at f/8.
       

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      16mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/25 second at f/18.
       

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      16mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/50 second at f/13.
       

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      35mm focal length, ISO 800, 1/60 second at f/4.
       
       

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      35mm focal length, ISO 1600, 1/60 second at f/5.
       

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      28mm focal length, ISO 51200, 1/80 second at f/14.
       

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      Close-up; 30mm focal length, ISO 1250, 1/60 second at f/4.
       

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      24mm focal length, ISO 100, 1/100 second at f/7.1.
       

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      16mm focal length, ISO 200, 1/80 second at f/6.3.
       

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      35mm focal length, ISO 1000, 1/60 second at f/8.
       
       

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      28mm focal length, ISO 400, 1/30 second at f/5.6.  

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      Still frame from 4K XAVC S video clip; 3840 x 2160 at 100M/25p.

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      Still frame from 4K XAVC S video clip; 3840 x 2160 at 60M/25p.

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      Still frame from XAVC S video clip;1920 x 1080 at 100M/100p.
       

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      Still frame from  XAVC S video clip; 1920 x 1080 at 60M/100p.
       

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      Still frame from  XAVC S video clip; 1920 x 1080 at 50M/50p.
       

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      Still frame from  XAVC S video clip; 1920 x 1080 at 50M/25p.
       

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      Still frame from  AVCHD video clip; 1920 x 1080 at 50i/24M.
       

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      Still frame from  AVCHD video clip; 1920 x 1080 at 50i/17M.
       

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      Still frame from  AVCHD video clip; 1920 x 1080 at 50p/28M.
       

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      Still frame from  AVCHD video clip; 1920 x 1080 at 25p/24M.  

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      Still frame from  AVCHD video clip; 1920 x 1080 at 25p/17M.
       

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      Still frame from  MP4 video clip; 1920 x 1080 at 50p/28M.  

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      Still frame from  MP4 video clip;  at 1920 x 1080 at 25p/16M.
       

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      Still frame from  MP4 video clip; 1280 x 720 at 25p/6M.  

       

      Rating

      RRP: AU$4799; US$3000

       

      • Build: 9.0
      • Ease of use: 8.5
      • Autofocusing: 8.6
      • Still image quality JPEG: 9.0
      • Still image quality RAW: 9.2
      • Video quality: 9.0

       

      Buy