First time using Sony full-frame mirrorless camera A7SII

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Appearance

In terms of appearance, the Sony A7SII has not changed much in size compared to the A7S. The A7SII continues to use a magnesium alloy main structure, and the body is heavier (about 584g). We know that there are often unexpected events at weddings, and we may not have time to prepare auxiliary tools, or we prefer the breathing feeling of the picture brought by handheld shooting. In the past, when shooting handheld with Sony A7S, we felt that it was shaking badly. The weight of the Sony A7SII body and lens is just right for handheld shooting. Coupled with the anti-shake function of the machine itself, we can relatively easily achieve the breathing feeling we are pursuing in the picture.

On the left is the Sony mirrorless camera A7S, on the right is the Sony mirrorless camera A7SII

The handle and shutter button have also been optimized and designed to make it more comfortable to hold.

From this perspective, Sony A7SII is thicker than A7S. The position of the power button has been moved from above the camera to the handle position, making it easier to adjust. However, this brings a hidden danger, because there is a wheel for adjusting the aperture on the handle and the distance between the two is relatively close. In wedding photography, due to the complex and changeable shooting environment, the frequency of adjusting the aperture will increase accordingly. Sometimes Because you are too involved in shooting and accidentally press the power button, shooting will be interrupted and cause some irreparable losses.

The top is the Sony mirrorless camera A7SII, the bottom is the Sony mirrorless camera A7S

The position of the buttons on the back has basically not changed

Menu comparison on the back

File format

First of all, the biggest improvement of Sony’s mirrorless camera A7SII is that it can record 4K video in-camera. It can record video in XAVC S 4K format with a resolution of 3840x2160 (30p/100Mbps, 30p/60Mbps, 24p/100Mbps, 24p/60Mbps). This improvement well meets the needs of the current market.

The so-called XAVCS refers to a format that compresses high-resolution images such as 4K with MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 and records them in a file format. It can control data capacity within a certain level while achieving high image quality.

Mbps is the bit rate, which is the amount of recorded data within a certain period of time. It can be seen that the higher the bit rate, the better the image quality.

XAVC S 4K format settings in the menu

In addition, there is also XAVCS HD format with a resolution of 1920x1080 (60p/50Mbps, 30p/50Mbps, 24p/50Mbps, 120p/100Mbps, 120p/60Mbps) size video. For wedding movies, the frame rate of 120 frames is very practical. Upgraded lenses can be used in aspects such as bridal posing, rings, and bouquets, which will bring about changes in the picture and rhythm of the film.

XAVC S HD format settings in the menu

The following is the test of 1920x1080120p/100Mbps

Creative style

In Sony full frame Before the mirrorless camera A7S series, I believe most people used Canon machines. In the Canon series of machines, we will set the picture style of our shooting under the creative style. So in the Sony mirrorless camera A7SII, there are also creative styles with as many as 13 items. Under each style, there are three options for adjustment: contrast, saturation, and sharpness.

We will not list them one by one here, but select five common styles: standard, vivid, neutral, portrait, and landscape for evaluation.

Different creative styles and setting parameters (video screenshots)

Through comparison, we can see that the saturation, contrast, and sharpness are the lowest under the neutral style. In other words, The tolerance is high, which is most suitable for images we want to adjust later. For example, there will be a party at a wedding. At this time, there may be dyed lights that exaggerate the atmosphere. Due to insufficient lighting or budget issues, the light is not as ideal as imagined. The appearance of these lights will bring difficulties to our post-production work. Come a lot of trouble.

At this time, the low saturation and contrast of the image in a neutral style will reduce the difficulty of our later stages. On the contrary, the saturation, contrast, and sharpness of the picture in the landscape style are relatively high, and the picture is bright. When we shoot the aerial scene of an outdoor wedding, appropriately adjusting the parameters will add a lot of color to our picture. Of course, here we are just analyzing the picture intuitively. When it comes to shooting, it still depends on our environment and shooting needs.

Picture profile

Picture profile is a function configured on the Sony mirrorless camera A7S, which provides users with more professional shooting options.

Sony A7SII also continues this function and provides 9 PP value options (PP1-PP9) in the machine. The so-called PP value of the camera refers to the image quality data of the camera, which is the adjustment of various parameters that affect the image quality. The more professional cameras have more detailed adjustments and more parameters. It is a preset provided by Sony series machines when they leave the factory. The parameters under these PP values ??are for us to adjust when shooting. Different from the creative style, it can be understood that we can make customized settings when shooting.

In addition, not only S-Log2 gamma is provided, but also S-Log3 gamma, which provides better tonal performance from shadows to mid-tones (18% gray). Next, let’s compare the different effects of the screen under different PP values.

Other parameters: XAVC S 4K 30p/100Mbps Sony Vario-SonnarT* 16-35mm F2.8 ZA SSM II (28mm end) White Balance: Auto

Note: S-Log2 , the ISO in S-Log3 style all starts at 1600, and the ISO of the A7RII series machines in S-Log2 style starts at 800

We can see that the picture style changes of PP1-PP6 are not obvious, and PP7-PP9 are more The previous picture style has changed significantly. Intuitively, the contrast of the picture is very weak and the saturation is also very low. When using S-Log2 or S-Log3 gamma, noise tends to become more obvious compared to other gammas. Shooting in scenes with good lighting conditions or scenes with artificial lighting may reduce noise.

In terms of color space, S-Gamut3 and S-Gamut3.Cine have been added. The former was developed by improving the color reproduction capabilities of S-Gamut, and the latter's color gradient space is designed to achieve the same color as scanning film negatives. Similar effect. S-Log3 can provide an amazing color rendering range (14 levels of latitude).

Let’s take PP7 as an example to compare and analyze the picture characteristics in different color modes.

Pictures in different color modes (video screenshots)

You can see , there is no obvious change in the picture style in Movie and Still modes, the saturation and contrast of the picture in Cine1-Cine4 are significantly reduced in comparison, there is no obvious change in the picture in ITU709 mode and Cine series mode, S-Log2, S- In Log3 mode, the picture saturation and contrast are the lowest, which means the tolerance is the highest compared to other modes.

It should be pointed out that the picture configuration file provides us with a more professional choice for early-stage shooting. At the same time, it also puts forward higher requirements for the experience and technology of our early-stage photographers and post-production color correction. In S-Log3 mode, the ISO starts at 1600. Maybe the picture we see on the machine's display is normal, but the picture we see during color correction later may be overexposed. So the safe solution is to underexpose the picture when shooting, so that you can get the ideally exposed picture during color correction later. For post-production, the grayscale in S-Log3 mode requires a lot of color correction, which puts forward more stringent requirements for post-production work.

Sensitivity

Sony’s full-frame mirrorless camera A7SII has the imaging characteristics of high sensitivity, dynamic image ISO of 100-102400 (expandable to 100-409600), and low noise.

We chose to test this performance at night and took the screenshot in the red box below as a reference.

1/50 F2.8 ISO:250 Neutral: Contrast -3 Saturation 0 Sharpness 0

The picture below is a summary of video screenshots under different ISOs. Generally speaking, the Sony A7SII has no obvious noise in the picture when the ISO is lower than 10,000, and the noise gradually becomes obvious when the ISO is higher than 10,000.

Body: Sony A7SII

Lens: Sony Vario-SonnarT* 16-35mm F2.8 ZA SSM II

White balance: Auto

Creative Style: Neutral

Contrast: -3

Saturation: 0

Sharpness: 0

We know Some weddings take place very early, and work may start at 4 a.m. There is no daylight at this time, which greatly reduces our creative space not only for pictures but also for videos. Sony's full-frame mirrorless camera A7SII's high sensitivity and low noise are exactly what we need for wedding photography.

Memory card

Sony's full-frame mirrorless camera A7SII requires a Class10 or faster SDXC memory card to shoot motion images in the XAVC S 4K format. When recording at 100Mbps or faster, a UHS-I U3 rated or faster SDXC memory card is required.

We did a test and shot at 30p/100Mbps in XAVCS 4K format. One minute of material is about 760MB, which means a 64GB card can shoot for about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Friends who have used Canon machines before know that one minute of Canon 5D MarkIII material is about 210MB. From this point of view, PPII has put forward new requirements for our storage devices and space size.

Sound

Sony full-frame mirrorless camera? The A7SII body provides a 3.5mm jack, so we have a wide choice of microphones. You can choose Sony microphones or Other matching brands on the market.

The above is a preliminary test of PPII performance. It can be seen that PPII has significantly improved in performance, providing us with more professional shooting options. Then we will share more performance tests and usage experiences about PPII with you.