Purchase the Sony A7S

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Sony A7s Review
The Sony a7s brings the awesome capabilities of the original a7 and combines them with a new 12mp sensor, a ton of video features such as zebras and peaking, and records it all internally at up to 60fps @ 1080p internally or 4k and 30fps using an external recorder through the HDMI port. If you are interested in photography features of the a7s, first watch my original video on the a7, and then watch this video to see the low light results of the new 20mp sensor. I will also be comparing the Sony A7s to the Canon 5d Mark III and Panasonic Gh4 for those who might be still be on the fence on which camera to get.

Hardware – The Sony A7s has great build quality, very small size, a bit tougher to hold on to and keep steady handheld, but overall the grip is adequate and fits nicely in the hand.
It also has tons of custom control - almost every button is customizable as is a 12 option function menu that can be activated at any time, even during shooting. As a result I was able to get quick access to the every option I could ever hope for right in the camera.
This is even more helpful since the menu is a bit confusing at times with options awkwardly out of place to me.
Mic, headphone, and hdmi ports give me all the inputs and outputs I need and you do have full control of the audio even while shooting! The electronic viewfinder was also a nice addition allowing me to check my exposure in direct sunlight when the screen was too washed out to see. I like to travel light when I video weddings and now I can leave the hoodman at home. WiFi is also a great addition and NFC made pairing easy. The only complaint is that while photographers get full manual control of the camera, videographers only get a start stop button. This is actually better though than Canon’s 70d which gives no remote functionality for video over WiFi.
My only areas of criticism are the noisy strap hooks which you will likely want to chop off the first time you try to record handheld. Also I do wish the screen could articulate to the side instead of the limited up/down range which was disappointing. Also, I still feel that the front dial is difficult to scroll without feeling for it and the scroll wheel around the D-pad would often scroll while I was trying to navigate the left or right. I also have to mention the new FE mount full frame lenses that must be used with this camera. At this time, only a handful of fairly expensive lenses exist with no f2.8 zooms and an extremely limited set of prime lenses. Adapters can be used to access Sony's full line of full frame lenses though your focus options and abilities could change.

Getting used to this camera coming from a DSLR will take some time but it will be very rewarding once you do.

Operation
This camera as you know has tons of options including dual record, AVCHD (although only at 24 and 60 fps), and also has XAVC which is Sony’s higher quality compression format. Using XAVC will give you access to 24, 30, 60 at full 1080p, with an additional 120fps at 720p which makes this a great camera for slow motion recording. The Sony is limited to 8bit recording though you do get full 4.2.2 output over HDMI if needed.

Sony has also built in S-log2 which is a custom profile meant to increase dynamic range and grading ability in post. If you need more information on enabling, shooting, and editing in S-log2, check out this video as there is quite a bit to know. Overall, Slog 2 does deliver on its promise and gave the A7s almost RAW like abilities without the longer workflow and larger file sizes. However there are some huge limitations for Slog2 that may make it unusable and just remember that you will need to grade these files. AVCHD and XAVC file both looked great and I could hardly tell them apart although XAVC will more than double your file sizes. XAVC also requires 64GB or higher cards so make sure to pick some up because 32GB and under cards are only usable for AVCHD formats. Recording is unfortunately limited to 29min in this camera, despite it being marketed for videographers which is very unfortunate. The workaround is recording the uncompressed video through the HDMI out using a separate recorder. Speaking of recorders, the elephant in the room is 4k recording. While the Sony A7s is capable of 4K recording, it cannot do it in camera. The only 4K external recorder is due out this fall with a $2,000 price tag and enough bulk to make handheld 4k recording just about impossible. With 4k on the horizon, you may need to consider whether you need 4k recording to future proof your equipment as this limitation may leave you shopping again in 1-2 years.

Using it
Once you get things customized the way you like, the Sony A7s is quite a joy to use. I frequently felt that I had more than enough tools at my disposal and it was up to me to choose the best one for the job.

One area important to me was focusing. This has been difficult on my 5d3 and at the same time I have been spoiled by the excellent abilities of my canon 70d. Thankfully the A7s was a pleasant surprise and focusing on a single point was very quick, even in low light. It also gave me a ton of options from area detection, face detection, and resizable points. Face detection worked perfectly as long as your subject is looking at the camera and individual points can be moved around the frame as needed. Tracking was a bit of a mixed bag. While the A7s had no issues locking focus quickly, it does take its sweet time while tracking making it difficult to maintain focus on a moving target. It is smoother in operation than the fast but clunky Canon 70d, but don't expect to track someone walking at the camera at a wide aperture. For those interested in good old fashioned manual focus, the A7s offers focus peaking in 3 colors at 3 levels of intensity. I found I needed the intensity up on high most of the time to see the colors better.

When it comes to low light, this is where the A7s shines. Flying in the face of the megapixel war, Sony chose to keep the A7s down at 12mp which allows for much larger light absorbing pixels. The results were clearly amazing and I found myself shooting great quality footage at up to 25,000 ISO which I would have never dared to do previously. Results actually looked OK up to 50,000 ISO but took a clear turn for the worse above that.

The full frame sensor does have some issues as the jello effect and rolling shutter were pronounced enough to be noticed in handheld or glidecam footage

And guess what, the Sony A7s is actually a great still camera as well with those monster pixels soaking up a tremendous amount of dynamic range. Low light results for photographers were equally stunning and autofocus was quick with plenty of options. I did find the lack of FE lenses a bigger deal when trying to shoot photography. Without a f2.8 zoom lens, a lens wider than 24mm on the focal length and only 1 wide aperture prime at f1.8, I found it difficult to continue the normal shooting I enjoyed with my Canon 5D Mark III. Sony has made the adapter almost a must have accessory for a wider variety of shooting.

Overall, the Sony A7s is a great camera, especially for video. Sony has challenged the industry in many ways and the A7s feels like a no compromise camera. Almost all of the limitations seemed to be technology related and I never felt that Sony was holding back on this camera. Unfortunately, there were still many glaring issues that kept coming up at every turn. The lack of lenses for the new FE mount was a big deal for me as using adapters and larger lenses adds to the price and takes away from this devices portability. The lack of 4k is actually a big deal, not necessarily now as I don’t see myself mastering to 4k, but in the future as 4k becomes a new standard. I do enjoy being able to crop and stabilize my 4k footage though. Sure it might be technically possible to output 4k with a $2000 external recorder at some point in the future, but for many, that won’t be enough. The fact remains that in 1-2 years, 4k recording will be the new high end standard and A7s owners will have some serious gear envy.
The Sony A7s is one of the most amazing cameras I have used, a low light king, with all the features I could want. Would I use one? Absolutely. Would I buy one? If you want a great camera for today, and don’t mind using a lens adapter, the Sony A7s is one of the best available at a price below the large sensor competition.

Download some files from this test