A9 vs A7S II for Video

[Rodrigo Violante]

So I know this is a RED user forum but still I'm sure a lot of you have other cameras besides red!

So I'm thinking in buying a mirrorless camera been the A7s II or the A9 to use it for my drone and my underwater housing. I just don't feel so sure about flying 60k investment in the air. And the underwater housing is 15k.

So between this 2 cameras I'm inclining into going to the A7S II because it does S-Log while the A9 has no s-log option, also from my understanding the low light performance is better than the A9.

Anyone share to comment their opinion?

 

[Karim D. Ghantous]

I have neither camera, but for video only, I'd probably go for the A7sII. It's cheaper and will (maybe) give cleaner video in low light. If you're underwater, then high sensitivity would be a priority.

OTOH, the rolling shutter of the A9 will be superior. Is that a big deal underwater? It might be for aerial photography, though.

 

[Hrvoje Simic]

Currently, what can be said for A9 is that rolling shutter is likely the best on any stills camera. Low light performance should not be drastically different and there should be a visible resolution/acuity difference.
Everything else brings a question mark since it has only been announced and no real reviews are done so advice at this point is not really useful.

 

[Patrick Tresch]

Currently, what can be said for A9 is that rolling shutter is likely the best on any stills camera.

Yes but don't put it on a tripod while on a vibrating surface (boat motor, truck, bus, some cars,...)
The colors are biased in the blue/green saturation but otherwise it's an impressive camera. (Did they follow the trend in color correction wich has often a blue/orange look today?)

(A7s1 recorded in HD is a better postprodution survivor than A7s2 recorde in 4k)

Pat

 

[paulcurtis]

I use an a7sII. I'd go for the A9 based purely on having better rolling shutter performance than the sII, which is IMHO it's biggest drawback. Also the image on the a9 is derived from a full 6K image down to UHD. So i'd imagine it produces a better UHD result however i suspect you'd need to factor in an external recorder to get the best out of it because the internal recording appears to be the same. There's no detail on whether that is 8bit or 10bit. Because there's no fanfare i suspect 8bit.

If you can afford the difference go for it.

cheers
Paul

 

[Patrick Tresch]

Though the A7s2 isn't 6k i've never seen aliasing on this camera. But the codec is thinner than A7s1 (probably due to HD -> QHD data rate increase/compression).

Pat

 

[Marcus Friedlander]

Does anyone know if Sony is planning to release a proper cinema camera with that full frame sensor?

 

[Rodrigo Violante]

You guys think having S-log will make a huge difference??

 

[Matt Uhry]

A9 is probably a slight improvement for video over the A7S2 - but I think waiting for a more video specific model - A9S or A7S3 or something like that would be a good move. Probably Sony will announce that by end of summer. Would like to see higher bit rate recording, 10bit 4k, full sized HDMI, whatever they feel they need to do to match the awesome on paper GH5 - but with a proper sized sensor.

I'm digging my A7R2 and shooting a lot of projects with it, mostly when I don't want to tote the Weapon around. So much camera in such a small footprint.

Matt Uhry
www.mattuhry.com
vimeo.com/mattuhry

 

[Hrvoje Simic]

You guys think having S-log will make a huge difference??

If Sony includes 10 bit out, yes. Because it unlocks the DR usability for video. In 8 bits it is tricky so "cinegammas" are more appropriate for wider usage. Similar to gamma in "cinema" mode on Canon C100 and C300 cameras.

 

[Jett He]

The only downside more dreadful than the 8bit 420 codec, would be the rolling shutter on the A7SII.

 

[Tom Funk]

From looking at the A9 at NAB, it apparently does not have Log and it's still 8-bit out over HDMI. Other features look great, but.... no real way to capture the dynamic range. The guy showing it to me was baffled at their design team, lol.

It should compete against the A7S for low light due to its "back illuminated" sensor.

 

[Hrvoje Simic]

From looking at the A9 at NAB, it apparently does not have Log and it's still 8-bit out over HDMI. Other features look great, but.... no real way to capture the dynamic range. The guy showing it to me was baffled at their design team, lol.

It should compete against the A7S for low light due to its "back illuminated" sensor.

It can capture full DR but gamma correction to video with 8 bits makes higher luminosity gradients a gamble.

Now that the shutter is on a serious level of motion performance 10 bit out would make this a very powerful compact camera for many professional applications.