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Sony A7S M2 - what features and specs are likely

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DBounce Long-time member

DBounce

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I think it will be pretty identical to the A7rii, but with 12mp, better lowlight and maybe one more little thing to differ it.

Don't think Sony will change and all of a sudden make the s that much different than before. 

Not too sure about that. Who here would buy the S over the R just for better low light when the R probably is good enough in low light anyway? 

I'm thinking 4k 60fps is going to be the big thing. Don't think 10 bit will happen, that's getting into FS7 territory. Not sure about S-Log 3 either. Tho I would certainly welcome both in a package this small.

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Policar Frequent member

Policar

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I bet it has S-LOG 3 and 4K 60fps.

Minus some of the other drawbacks of the A7R II... less rolling shutter, better in low light, crisper full frame 4K. But the Super 35mm APS-C crop mode likely will be worse!

​http://www.dvinfo.net/article/production/camgear/what-alexa-and-watercolors-have-in-common.html

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

Worth reading. Color negative film (not slides, which is why serious landscape photographers use Velvia or digital to get "insane" colors) grows less saturated as exposure increases, very unlike video. This is why tricks with the lum vs sat curve (in Resolve or Color) can give you a killer "film look" unless highlights blow out under mixed light.

SLOG2 is awful. It can't handle mixed lighting, it doesn't clamp saturation, and the color rendering is... weird. But sony cameras don't HAVE to look bad. Let's look at the F55:

SLOG3:

SLOG3 with Alexa/Dragon style highlight roll-off (color desaturates as brightness increases):

Shocking that Sony hasn't made the latter the default. So caught up in tech but so hopelessly out of touch with aesthetics. Fwiw, the C300 Mk II will get this right. Canon has slowly been improving Canon Log and WideDR modes and their color is already dramatically better than SLOG2, not as good as Arri... yet. Word is Canon Log 2 will be on par with Arri. Red started awful but is getting really good, too.

But if you have an F5, do yourself a favor and download this:

http://community.sony.com/t5/F5-F55/Release-version-3DLUT-s-for-S-Gamut3-Cine-S-Log3/td-p/287847

A7S owners: 

Can something like this be done with the A7S? A "look" file that clamps saturation at 30IRE. If so I would be much less interested in an A7S2, which NEEDS to be able to do this or it will still have weird color. Internal 4k and 240fps at 1080p would be great, of course. I feel like I'm the only person here whose clients don't request 4k delivery but for me it's not that important, it's just that the internal 1080p in the A7S is really poor relative to the GH4/C300/etc. and 4k gives you room for scaling/stabilization for drone shots.

 

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aldolega Frequent member

aldolega

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Just posted about this on P-V:

 

What do you think are the minimum specs the A7sII will need?

What specs do you hope to see?

What do you predict it will actually release with, realistically?

My Minimums:

Basically, match the A7rII's new features:

-The new sensor design/features

-Internal 4K up to 30p

-1080/60

-5-axis IBIS

plus

-resolution bump- even a MP or two

-some improvement in ISO and rolling shutter (even if tiny)

Both just for marketing reasons- New! Improved!

-Price within $200 of A7rII.

My Hopes:

-Kill the rolling shutter! Get it to the RX10II level or lower, at least in APS-C mode. Preferably in FF too, but up to GH4 levels would be acceptable I guess.

-Improve the color science/skin tones/highlight response/etc. Don't go completely down the Canon road, but at least get it out of the Weird Sony Colors parking lot.

-A slight MP bump- enough for the APS-C 4K to be pixel-to-pixel, instead of upscaled from 2.7K like the mkI. Not sure what this would work out to for the total MP bump, but photo-wise I'd be very happy with anywhere from 15-22MP. Hopefully the numbers for binning/scaling/etc needed for the full frame video mode would work out well.

-A substantial improvement in the IBIS- get it to the Olympus level, at least. Maybe a few different more specialized modes- one for panning, one for gimbal use, one for trying to hold a locked-off shot, one for photo?

-10-bit 4:2:2 internal

-4K/60, at least in APS-C mode. Maybe do 4k/48 in FF?

-Clean 1080p120 and maaybe 240? 120 should look just as good as non-slomo.

-Another, even smaller crop mode- something roughly m4/3 or s16 size. Maybe do the super HFR stuff in this if necessary (in 1080p).

-Some sort of half-electronic shutter mode for photos- I want to be able to sync flashes at 1/1000th like my old Nikon D70! And without rolling shutter...

-The mkI's low-light/ISO performance is still ridiculous so I don't really see a need for improvement here, unless it can be done without changing these other improvements. A lower minimum ISO for S-Log would be cool.

-Bigger battery, or at least try to optimize the cam's power consumption. Probably won't ever get it close to the GH4 level but somewhere in that direction would be nice.

-Get the video AF up to par with Canon's Dual Pixel AF.

-Price lower than A7rII.

My predictions

-16MP

-4K/30

-1080/120 that isn't quite clean. Faster modes with binning/skipping compromises

-Same IBIS and AF performance as the A7rII. Same battery, body, etc

-Improved rolling shutter but still not at RX10II levels

-Same Sony color

-Same price as A7rII.

-Claimed one-stop improvement in ISO/low-light (so they can market OMGONEMILLIONISO!!!). More like a half stop when tested.

-Still ISO3200 for S-Log.

-Still 8-bit 4:2:0 recording, 8-bit 4:2:2 HDMI output.

What do you think?

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jax_rox Frequent member

jax_rox

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My prediction is that it will be announced somewhere towards the back end of Q1 2016, or early Q2. It will essentially have most of the features of the A7rII except with the super low-light performance of the current A7s. I imagine somewhere around 15-17MP, with clean full frame internal 8-bit 4:2:0 4k and greatly reduced rolling shutter.

I'm thinking along the lines of 4k60p, 1080p240. I think you'll probably see Slog2 able to go down to ISO1600. 

It will have a killer feature that makes everyone here want it over the A7rII and A7s. Maybe a combination of 4k60p, 1080p240, and a stop or two sensitivity bump to take it over 1million ISO. 

10-bit HDMI output and Slog3 would be nice, but I doubt it will happen. 10-bit 4:2:2 might be an HDMI thing, but I'm doubting it. The A7s won't be in competition with the FS7.

I imagine it will be priced around $3500-3999

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