Shining a light - Sony A7S II first impressions & 4K S-LOG 3 clips for download / grading

[Andrew Reid]

The Sony A7S II has arrived at EOSHD. Does it impress? Yes.

Before my full review, I can give you an initial brain-dump of what I have noticed so far.

Read the full article

Download the 4K S-LOG 3 clips direct from my camera

Post yours in the A7S II Vimeo Group

 

[AaronChicago]

Thanks man. I've been looking forward to testing SLog3 on that camera. Cineon to Film Contrast is my new go-to LUT with V Log. Here it is with SLog 3:

EDIT: Colors look great. Better than what I remember with the FS7.

[JeremyDulac]

Still using my mark iii for color...I went back to it after having the a7s for a while. Still not convinced I could be as confident every time I shoot as I am with the 5d raw. I've never had one instance of bad color with it.

[neosushi]

Thanks Andrew ! 

How does the compress handles banding and macroblocking with such heavily compressed information ? For me (NX1 user) these are my biggest obstacles when grading NX1 footage. 

I'd be interested to have your feeling about that : )

Thanks again !

[User]

Thank you Andrew, great to have your insight and perspective here.

So far, no one has mentioned anything to due with overheating in 4k on the A7sII.

[liork]

Thank you for the clips Andrew.

While editing, I see that the sky (clouds) show some visible gradients, do you have a different experience?

[Andrew Reid]

Just did a long 4K recording run to test for overheating. Inconclusive as the battery died at 28mins

Will try again tonight.

[Gregormannschaft]

Thanks for these clips and good to see Berlin being it's beautiful grey self. Did you pick this up and start filming straight away? I'm thinking of buying one over in the States early next month as it's a good 600 euros cheaper, but worried about getting busted at customs on the way back.

[Kamil Biegański]

Andrew thanks for the text. I think about slow mo. Can You upload on vimeo a few videos to download ? I saw in a few movies about a7s that slow mo has a big bump of noise. How is Your fell about it ? Can You record video with high iso in slow mo ? Are You sure that is 2.2 crop ? Is so big  wide angle is hard in this mode. Thanks !

[Jonathan Bergqvist]

Great first impressions! Have you experienced the A7R II auto-focus with Canon lenses + metabones adapter? If so, have you also tried the A7S II auto focus with Canon lenses + metabones adapter? I'm looking for a camera that can take my canon lenses and take great stills, although being able to record 4k video in high quality for the odd job. Waiting for the canon 5dm4 but it seems i will have to wait forever and even then maybe the 4K won't be any good quality wize. Have been reading your blog for years, always nice insights and thoughts. Thank you! Missed you when you were gone a while recently and eager to read why the Canon 1DC had to go, you seemed to like it so much. All the best!

[theSUBVERSIVE]

I watched an interview in which a Sony said that overall S-log 3 is easier to handle than S-log 2 but the main difference is that S-log 3 is better for dealing with shadow areas while S-log 2 is still better for highlights. It should be interesting to test this out.

[utkanhede]

Is there any full frame 720p 120 fps option?

[whoismatt]

In total there are 9 video picture profiles now. The 2 extra ones are of course S-LOG 3. There are two presets for it with different Color Modes set. PP8 is “S-Gamut3 Cine” and PP9 is “S-Gamut3”. Perhaps a helpful FS7 user will tell us the difference.

I found this PDF on Sony's website about the differences between S-Gamut3 Cine and S-Gamut3. Hopefully it will help explain things a bit. https://community.sony.com/sony/attachments/sony/large-sensor-camera-F5-F55/12359/2/TechnicalSummary_for_S-Gamut3Cine_S-Gamut3_S-Log3_V1_00.pdf

[Thomas Ooi]

is there 1080p\720p 120fps in full frame\1.5x option? or only 2.2x crop in 1080p? really hope it can shoot FF 120fps so i can use my FE lenses & dump my speedbooster

[Kamil Biegański]

What lens use You in those 4k slog3 video on vimeo ? handheld but pretty good stabilisation.

[Ramos]

Hi Andrew,

Since the A7sII still suffers from the same rolling shutter and moire as the original, I think it might be a fair to compare what a $3000 body + lens gets you compared to the $1200 little brother RX-10II. I would love to see you throw that into your upcoming comparison test. Comparing the A7sII with the RX-10II at first might seem a little crazy, but from a video centric perspective, the price, slow-motion and minimal rolling shutter/moire...it's a conversation for sure.

With new cameras coming out every day its seems, is it a worth investing $3000 in a A7sII body?

Great Job as Always.

 

[Gregormannschaft]

Threw a grade on these, looks really nice colour wise, even with Berlin's limited colour palette. Couple of mixed Impulz Luts and then a few with FilmConvert.

[André Baille Barrelle]

Thanks Andrew for the ongoing review / infos.

Regarding SLog3 Gamut (PP9) vs SLog3 Gamut.cine (PP8), here is an interesting link with extensive comparisons made between the two, although with an F55 : 

http://www.dvinfo.net/article/acquisition/sonyxdcam/sony_sgamut_vs_sgamut3.html

 

 

[Lucky Luke]

Sorry folks, but by all these incredible features, specs, I still cannot get nice some filmic look, skin tones and saturated colors out of Sony. ..

At end of the day, that´s what I need for my creative work. I wanna control, use and paint with the light...but that is only my approach...some others don´t need this.

I catch sometime myself depending my work on specs and blaming Canon not to have all these things..just an excuse.

I can still do more with the image, colors coming out of my 5d3 more than with Sony`s which I tested also by myself. 

But it is only my PoW

P.S.

Showreel include shoots with Canon 550d 

[Nate]

Sorry folks, but by all these incredible features, specs, I still cannot get nice some filmic look, skin tones and saturated colors out of Sony. ..

At end of the day, that´s what I need for my creative work. I wanna control, use and paint with the light...but that is only my approach...some others don´t need this.

I catch sometime myself depending my work on specs and blaming Canon not to have all these things..just an excuse.

I can still do more with the image, colors coming out of my 5d3 more than with Sony`s which I tested also by myself. 

But it is only my PoW

P.S.

Showreel include shoots with Canon 550d 

I'm confused, was this supposed to be your example of good footage or bad footage?