Sony Alpha 7S Review - The Sony Alpha 7S is the latest addition to Sony's growing range of full frame CSCs, featuring an impressive ISO range of 50-409,600. Does it manage to surpass image quality heights seen in its stablemate? Find out in our full Alpha 7S review...
Sony Alpha 7S Review
With the introduction of the A7s, Sony now has three cameras in its A7 range, and externally little has changed. However, when it comes to features there are now three very distinct cameras, each with a full-frame sensor of a different resolution and, as a result, aimed at very different photographers.
Obviously the 36.3 million-pixel sensor of the A7R, with no anti-aliasing filter, is aimed at those landscape, studio, still-life and macro photographers who demand the ultimate image quality. The A7 has a lower 24-million-pixel resolution, but uses faster phase detection autofocus, so is more capable of photographing moving subjects – it is much more of an ‘all-rounder’.
And now the new Sony Alpha 7S has a 12.2-million-pixel sensor, but with a maximum sensitivity of ISO 409,600, which can only be matched by the 16.2-million-pixel sensor in the Nikon D4S.
With Sony promising excellent noise control, an impressive dynamic range, all combined with the extremely high sensitivity, the A7S would seem ideally suited those who need to get the shot, regardless of how challenging the lighting may be.
Sony A7S Review – Features
Obviously the defining feature of the A7S is without doubt the 12.2-million-pixel full-frame CMOS sensor. The new sensor is gapless, meaning that there is no space between the light-gathering photodiodes, which maximises their size and the light photons captured.
For photographers this equates to less noise and a better dynamic range, compared to a comparable sensor with a gap between the photo sites. It’s partly this design and the benefits that it offers, which enable the impressive ISO 100-409,600 sensitivity range.
We have seen many of the features of the A7S before in the A7 and
A7R, including the excellent Wi-Fi connectivity, which can be started
via touching and NFC device to the NFC target on the camera.
LCD screen
On the rear of the camera sits the same LCD screen as seen on the other models. The unit is of the tiltable variety, is 3in in size and features a resolution of 921k-dots, which is a little below the highest resolution on the market.
The good news is that this LCD screen is once again paired with an impressive EVF. The viewfinder itself measures in at 1/2in and sports an impressive 2.4m-dot resolution, covering a 100% field of view and delivering shooting info display and histogram referral should it be required, as well as manual brightness adjustment.