Review: Sony Alpha 7S II

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

A few weeks ago, Sony sent us the famous Sony Alpha 7S II with a full-frame CMOS sensor and a Sony FE Vario-Tessar T* 16-35 millimetre f/4.0 ZA OSS wide-angle lens.

A full-frame mirrorless camera known for its ultra-high light sensitivity, allowing you to capture beautiful images in low light. An impressive piece of technology that calls for a review. Let's start with the specifications.

The specifications

The Sony Alpha 7S II

Thanks to its strengths in terms of ISO range, recording video in low-light conditions is now more of a relief than a challenge.

The Sony Alpha 7S II is therefore aimed mainly at professional videographers, and this is clear from its features: the ability to record 4K internally, an exceptionally high ISO range, five-axis optical image stabilisation, an improved Zebra function, Full High Definition filming at 120 frames per second, an increased number of focus points and better autofocus.

Also watch the video from Sony below. The footage speaks for itself.

Light sensitivity

Its ultra-high light sensitivity is superb. I was also curious to see how the Sony performed in low-light situations. I tested this by filming a flower using a table lamp.

As you can see, the flower only appears at around IS0 5000. Even at ISO 51,200, the footage is noise-free and perfectly usable.

Its ISO range allows you to capture beautiful images in the dark. Think of photographing the night sky filled with countless stars. More information?

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Electronic viewfinder

LCD screen

Menu structure

Battery life

Size

The Sony Alpha 7S II feels solid and robust thanks to its magnesium body. The finish looks good and, in my eyes, the design looks very neat. It is almost unbelievable that such a small body contains such a large amount of technology.

Image quality

No Asia for me, so here are some shots from the Netherlands.

Within each file format, you can choose from several recording settings, such as 25p with 100M and 25p with 60M in XAVC S 4K, and 1920×1080 50p and 1280×720 25p in MP4.

The Sony Alpha 7S II also has a slow-motion function. Depending on the type of memory card, you can film at up to 120 frames per second in Full High Definition, which slows the footage down five times.

The great thing is that you can watch the slow-motion footage straight away. This means you do not first have to transfer the files to your computer, create a new project in Adobe Première Pro or another video-editing programme, and then slow the footage down manually.

With the Sony Alpha 7S II, you see the final result immediately. Good reason to create some beautiful slow-motion footage. Below is Sony's footage, followed by footage I made myself. In my opinion, the slow-motion footage looks perfectly good.

Although I spent a while looking for the record button, it is half hidden on the side, the quality of the footage is beautiful. You can also choose to shoot using different Picture Profiles. This allows you to go all out with colour correction in post-processing.

Image stabilisation

But whether the image stabilisation also performs well in practice is another question. I took the Sony Alpha 7S II out for a day and decided to test the image stabilisation while walking from A to B.

You can clearly see the difference, but whether you prefer handheld footage or everything smooth is a matter of taste. Handheld footage creates a different atmosphere and looks busier, while stable footage feels calmer. The way you film something depends on the story and how you want to convey that story.

Conclusion

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