28.3.2015

The reviews of this camera on Amazon are quite brief, so I thought I would put together a more detailed one. Overall I think it is a really good camera, but there are some very inflated claims for its abilities, and it doesn’t quite live up to all the hype. To be honest, I would forgive some of its shortcomings if it were priced a little bit lower, but considering what other cameras are available in this price-range, I would recommend thinking very carefully before buying one of these.I seem to be a bit unusual in that I bought this camera for still photography and not for video. It is very good for video, but I am not a skilled videographer so probably not the best person to review it on that dimension.I purchased it specifically for low-light situations as a large proportion of my photography falls into this category. I shoot low-light landscapes and cityscapes using a tripod, low-key portraits using flash, and concerts/performances: it is the latter category that I wanted this camera for as you need a relatively high shutter speed and flash is strictly forbidden in live performances. My current set-up is a Nikon D610 combined with a Sigma 70-200mm f2.8, which is a large, conspicuous and heavy combination. The D610 is fairly good when you raise the ISO, certainly better than any other camera I have owned until this point, but for dimly-lit venues you have to go a little higher than I am comfortable with (i.e. over 3200). If I wanted a low-light performer from the Nikon range, the options would be the D4S at over £4k (no chance) or the DF which usually retails for around £2k, but has a peculiar retro styling which does not appeal to me. Interestingly some reviews compare the A7s to both of these cameras for low-light/high ISO performance, and either rate it as very close or possibly better in some dimensions. So after some deliberation, I decided to take a chance on the A7s. I also purchased the Sony 70-200mm f4 lens, which was the closest equivalent lens to the 70-200mm f2.8 that I use with my Nikon.Starting with the good stuff, I really like the feel of this camera in my hands. It is quite a bit smaller and lighter than a DSLR, and is only conspicuous because the Sony lens is white which makes it look like a Canon lens from a distance. I found it really easy to set up, and the controls were intuitive without the need to consult the manual (which I did not find to be a very helpful document). The controls are in very intuitive places, with front dial to adjust aperture, rear for shutter speed and ISO adjusted by the rear control dial you use for scrolling. This is quite easy to move by accident, but that has only happened a couple of times. There is also a dedicated dial for exposure compensation. I find this an easy and intuitive combination so that you can adjust the settings without taking the camera from your eye.The ISO does indeed go way higher than anything I have used before, but really the high settings are just a gimmick: you get poor quality, grainy images that you could never use (at least I would never use them). The only purpose I can see for them is that if you wanted to take a low-light image using a long exposure you could first bang up the ISO and get a rough image pretty quickly which would enable you to decide if the composition of the shot works before going further. Now this is the positive section, so with that in mind I will state that this camera delivers useable images at a higher ISO setting than any other camera I have used. I’m quite happy to go to 6400, or maybe even 8000, but both of these settings need some noise reduction in post-production. If you use auto-ISO, the camera goes to 12800, which implies to me that Sony would consider this the highest useable setting. Personally, I find that I’m not happy with the images I get at this setting because the level of noise reduction needed results in softer images than I like (there is always a price).There is a pop-out rear screen, which come in handy for shots which you want to take from a high or low angle. I do a fair few of these, which would otherwise involve me crawling on the ground or shooting blind, so I like this feature. There is a silent shooting mode, which really is silent. This is fortunate as the normal shutter action is quite loud, so for things like quieter concerts and other live performances this is great for not annoying the audience (another gold rule alongside no flash). Some reviews say this reduces image quality, but I have not used it enough yet to really comment on how much of a problem that is. The sensor is only 12MP, which you could see as positive or negative. Personally, I don’t have a problem with this, and I quite like the fact that the files are fairly small and easily processed on my fairly humble computer. Also, when in continuous shooting mode, it can keep going as the small files do not clog the buffer: not tested it to the limit yet, but it certainly keeps going for longer than my Nikon. However, if you like to print larger than A3 or if you like to crop a lot, this would be a problem.I find the metering to be very reliable. I have found Nikons to over-expose in a number of situations (especially the D7000 which I owned for three years). The A7s has an electronic view-finder, which means the image you see is more or less what you get. I tried adjusting exposure in a concert with the camera to my eye just basing it on how the image looked through the viewfinder, but I found that the stills I took this way tended to be under-exposed – not a deal-breaker, but something I need to take into account next time When shooting in good light, I am quite happy to put the camera in manual mode with auto-ISO: in poor light it is not so good, so back to full manual and an array of test shots.Now the bad points. The biggest flaw with this camera is the auto-focus system. Yes it focusses in low-light, but the focus speed is really slow and not that accurate. Even with single point auto-focus, the focal point covers quite a large area (compared to my Nikon), so pinpointing a single eye can be difficult. The continuous auto-focus works, but not that well because it is too slow to use with a rapidly-moving object so this camera will never do for anyone who wants to shoot sport. If you take your time with focussing, and the subject is not moving (at least not too quickly), you can still get really precise shots. But if you need rapid auto-focus, this is not the camera to buy. Also when you take a photo, the image freezes in the viewfinder for a little bit too long for my liking (although it may be possible to turn this function off – need to check this out).Second is the hugely-vaunted high ISO performance. Yes it goes higher than anything other than the very top-end DSLRs, but the high settings deliver poor quality, grainy images. Digital cameras are better than any film camera in this respect, and the latest generation are enormously superior to early digital cameras, but the reality is that the technology still cannot deliver really clean images at very high ISO. When I have showed other photographers the shots I get at ISO 12800, they have all tended to comment that they expected them to be less grainy. Rather than delivering sensors that can go to silly ISO values that nobody would really want to use, the challenge for manufacturers should be to deliver really noise-free images at setting up to 12800, which I do not think anyone has done yet.They are the only criticism I want to make. However, some of the claims made in the more positive reviews which claim that this is the camera that will make the DSLR obsolete need to be put to rest. One of the more ridiculous suggestions was that this camera will herald the death of flash photography. This is just silly as correctly exposing in poor light by raising ISO will never give you as clean an image as keeping the ISO down and putting in more light. Another review claimed that the image quality of the A7s rivals that of a medium-format camera, and leaves most DSLRs behind. I really cannot see any justification for this claim, and when I compare the images from this camera to those from my Nikon D610 (which is around £400 cheaper to buy), I think the Nikon edges it every time. Not that the A7s is poor, because it is genuinely very good, but putting the two side by side makes me realise just how good the image quality from the D610 really is (even with third party lenses).So overall I am giving it four stars. I like it very much, but for this price I would have liked a better autofocus system, particularly as I understand that Sony have a one in use on the cheaper A7. IMHO the camera is very good, but over-priced: however, if I were more seriously into video, I might consider the price justified.

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