Sony was busy cranking out new cameras last year, updating all their a7 series mirrorless cameras. I currently own the a7II as my main camera, and I’ve had the privilege of reviewing the a7RII when it was released. Both are excellent cameras. The only one I haven’t had a chance to review was the a7SII. Well, thanks to my friends at the local camera shop, Horn Photo and Sony, I was able to try out the a7SII for a few days. I filmed a wedding with it and it performed flawlessly. The camera is touted as one of the best, and a highly favored camera by filmmakers because of its high-ISO performance and dynamic range. But, it’s usually overlooked by portrait photographers because of its not-so-dense 12 megapixel sensor. I wanted to put it to the test and see if it’s up to the challenge by bringing it to a family portrait session on a cold winter afternoon in Yosemite Valley. The camera came with a review copy of the FE 35mm f/1.4 ZA. It’s one of my favorite focal lengths, so I couldn’t wait to give this combo a try. I also brought along my Sony 90mm f/2.8 Macro and Sony 28mm f/2.0 lenses.
I was pleasantly surprised with how this camera performed. With the camera being almost identical with the a7RII except for the sensor, I knew it would perform similarly. The autofocus was great, the super-nifty Eye-AF is still an awesome tool for portrait photographers as it was with the a7RII, and the dynamic range was even more phenomenal than the a7RII. ISO performance is unparalleled, in fact, you’ll notice that I actually had to add grain on my black and white conversions, just to give it more grit.
To me, the surprise came when processing the images in Adobe Lightroom. Since it has a smaller sensor than my a7II, I upscaled the images to 24 megapixels (double the native resolution), so it would match all my other images files. I thought I would notice some pixelization doing this, but the images looked just as good as my a7II files, as far as sharpness. So, in theory, if I wanted to add the a7SII to my lineup, it would work really well with all my other files from my other two cameras (a7II and a6000). Check out some of my favorite images below.
The Sony a7SII with the 35mm f/1.4 ZE. Not a tiny lens by any means.
28mm, ISO 100, f/11, 1/160 sec.
90mm, ISO 100, f/2.8, 1/320 sec.
35mm, ISO 100, f/1.4, 1/800 sec.
35mm, ISO 100, f/1.4, 1/500 sec.
35mm, ISO 100, f/1.4, 1/400 sec.
35mm, ISO 100, f/1.4, 1/1250 sec.
35mm, ISO 100, f/1.4, 1/800 sec.
35mm, ISO 100, f/2, 1/400 sec.
Special Thanks
I can’t say this enough — thanks again to Horn Photo for sponsoring this post and Glenn Weinfeld at Sony for lending me an a7SII for the weekend so I can photograph this beautiful family in Yosemite.
Please support this website by purchasing items through the affiliate links in my articles. I only recommend photography gear that I use and love. If you are anywhere near Central California, I definitely recommend getting your gear at Horn Photo, they’re the best — and make sure to tell them your buddy, Mariano from Move to Mirrorless sent you 🙂 Thank you and happy shooting!
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