Sony A7S II

Sony A7S II is Sony's Pro Mirrorless digital camera initially announced on October of 2015. The camera features a 12MP, CMOS Full frame sized sensor and has a maximum resolution of 4240 x 2832.

Sony introduced this model to improve the previous Sony A7S (Read Full Comparison) and afterwards launched the fresher Sony A7S III (Read Full Comparison) to improve this camera.

The A7S II is ranked #57 out of 70 in Pro Mirrorless cameras and all round #199 out of 1465 for cameras in our collection. Remember to use our Advanced camera finder to get camera ratings based on your custom criteria.

The following is a chart of different criteria used in the scoring system.

The Sony A7S II comes with a history of related cameras. Here, you can take a look at all older and latest models as well as main specs.

You can see the A7S II from several angles in the gallery here.

Below is a selection of upsides and downsides of the Sony A7S II based on aspects that are generally viewed as essential in a digital camera.

The Sony A7S II is run by the Bionz X processor chip. The spec of the sensor on the Sony A7S II is 35.6mm x 23.8mm (Full frame). The 847 mm² sensor has the capability to resolve 4240 x 2832 pixels at aspect ratios of 3:2 and 16:9. The camera boasts Image Stabilization (Sensor based 5-axis). Sensor stabilization is better than digital stabilization since the latter may cause cropping.

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The CMOS sensor boasts 12MP and includes a standard ISO range of 100 to 102400. This ISO can also be increased electronically to 50 to 409600. RAW format is saved which means that the user has wider margin for error.

The image below shows the A7S II's sensor dimensions compared to other popular sizes. The A7S II sensor comes with a crop factor of 1 and is highlighted in green.

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To get an idea of specific aspect ratios, you should refer to the graphic below.

Sony A7S II has a weight of 1.38 pounds (627 grams / 22.12 ounces) and features outer dimensions of 127mm x 96mm x 60mm (5.0" x 3.8" x 2.4"). The weight of normal Pro Mirrorless camera is 722 grams and the Sony A7S II is lighter compared with its competitors.

Photography Glossary

The following is a photo of the Sony A7S II besides a soda so you're able to have a sense of its scale.

The top view here will show the button design on the A7S II.

The A7S II uses the Sony E mount and has 170 lenses available in the market. Below is a small number of the lenses we have in our collection which will fit the A7S II.

ModelVisualizeFocal LengthApertureStabilizedWeight

Tamron 35-150mm F2-2.8 Di III VXD35-150mmf/2-2.8 1165g

Sony Distagon T FE 35mm F1.4 ZA35mmf/1.4 630g

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Tamron 35mm F2.8 Di III OSD M1:235mmf/2.8210g

Sony FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS90mmf/2.8 602g

Sony E 55-210mm F4.5-6.3 OSS55-210mmf/4.5-6.3 345g

Sigma 24mm F3.5 DG24mmf/3.5 225g

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Sigma 24mm F2 DG DN C24mmf/2 365g

The A7S II has the following connectivity:

• USB Yes
• Wireless Yes
• NFC Yes
• HDMI Yes

Cameras that have NFC and Bluetooth connectivity are able to be controlled wirelessly through smartphones. You are able to copy images and in some cases change settings without connecting directly to the camera.

Several applications even allow a Liveview and click the shutter if you aren't near the camera. If the camera comes with a HDMI out, it can easily be connected to an external monitor. Nearly all cameras will allow you to recharge the battery using the USB port.

The maximum video quality on the Sony A7S II is 3840 x 2160 and it can capture in MPEG-4, AVCHD and XAVC S file format. 2160p will provide a fantastic quality for video. You will be able to crop to Full HD to get improved video. Beware of the large file sizes and ensure you get high quality SD cards that have fast write speeds. The body does have both headphone and mic support making it incredibly valuable whilst capturing sound.

Sony A7S II has environment sealing which makes it a excellent pick to use for challenging climates. This can be especially valuable whenever you are not sure about the conditions you may face for outdoor photography.

The Sony A7S II features a 3 inch tilting display screen boasting a resolution of 1,229 thousand dots.

Please be aware that the display offers no touch support.

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The ViewFinder specs regarding Sony A7S II are below:

• ViewFinder Electronic
• Resolution 2,359 thousand dots
• Coverage 100%
• Magnification 0.78x

Viewfinders can be very beneficial for bright outdoor conditions which can easily make the camera screen washed out and difficult to view.

Sony A7S II continuous shooting speed is 5.0 frames/s. The maximum shutter speed is 1/8000 sec.

Sony A7S II boasts external flash ability but is without integrated flash.

Sony A7S II boasts just Contrast Based Auto Focus and lacks Phase Detect Auto Focus. Phase Detection focusing is more snappier & accurate compared with Contrast Based focusing. The camera features Face detection making it valuable for portraits.

The Sensor features 169 focus points to pick from. It also has Tracking Auto Focus for objects on the move. Sony A7S II has the ability to use manual focusing when needed for low light scenarios or you want to have more accurate control on focusing.

The battery (NP-FW50) in the Sony A7S II is built to last for 370 shots according to the CIPA benchmarks which is less as compared with its rivals. The general Pro Mirrorless camera battery life is 460. Olympus E-M1X has the highest possible (870) battery life for this range of cameras.

Underneath is a number of Pro Mirrorless cameras having the strongest battery life:

ModelVisualizeBattery LifeRAWNFCBluetooth

Olympus E-M1X
A7S II vs E-M1X870 yesnoyes

Fujifilm GFX 100
A7S II vs Fujifilm GFX 100800 yesnoyes

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Canon R3
A7S II vs R3760 yesnoyes

Nikon Z9
A7S II vs Z9740 yesnoyes

Leica M11
A7S II vs M11700 yesnono

The following chart shows a overview of the Sony A7S II for different categories of photography. To read more, check out the specific section below.

The Sony A7S II has a points tally of 68 which is very good, and means the camera is a fine option for portraits. Taking portraits leans greatly towards sensor dimensions, support for RAW photos plus the potential to use off-camera lighting.

Getting a great score of 78, the Sony A7S II is a outstanding option to buy for street photography. A decent street photography camera gives a perfect balance of image quality plus portability.

A average sports photography points tally of 58 suggests the Sony A7S II is reasonably appropriate for shooting sports. A camera should have good focusing and shutter speeds for sports photography.

Weight is super critical in selecting a travel camera. In general, the Sony A7S II gets a average 49 for a travel camera which makes it somewhat adequate for your vacations.

If you're planning to choose a digital camera for landscape photos, the most significant factor is going to be image quality. The Sony A7S II and it's above average rating of 71 for a landscape camera is a fine pick among it's competition.

A camera for vlogging should really posses a articulating display screen, mic input and preferably image stabilization. Considering every thing, the Sony A7S II is not acceptable as a vlog camera as it delivers a horrible score of 35.

If you want replacements to the A7S II, below is a range of the top rated cameras which fall within the class of Pro Mirrorless.

The graph just below shows you a summary of the A7S II vs it's highest scoring competitors listed earlier.

Following are additional cameras you might consider as alternate options. To read through a complete comparison, simply click the "compare" link.