Sony Alpha 7S review – Performance
Images: even at ISO 25,600, the Sony Alpha 7S is extremely impressive when shooting both raw and JPEGs, making handheld night shots a possibility
In terms of the A7S’s focusing system, the model unfortunately misses out on the impressive hybrid on-sensor phase/contrast detect system found on the A7R, instead featuring the contrast detect set-up used on the A7.
That being said, Sony claims that thanks to the extremely sensitive sensor the A7S will still focus promptly in difficult lighting conditions.
Although it’s certainly not particularly slow or sluggish, it must be said that the A7S is lacking in the same kind of promptness that you’d find in a model that utilises a hybrid set-up; most notably those from Panasonic.
One of the highlights of the A7S’s sensor is that it’s capable of the new ultra HD 4K video format. There is a slight exception when it comes to the camera’s 4K video capture however, as you have to record the video captured to an external drive.
Although this won’t present that much of an issue for professional shooters, hobbyists might be put off by such a complicated capture method.
That being said, the A7S performs well with regards to ‘standard’ 1920 x 1080p video capture. It records at 60p and 28Mbps, as well as featuring an external microphone socket. The video capture also benefits from the impressive ISO performance, as the A7S is more than capable of capturing video up to ISO 12,800.
Other elements of the specification perform well, with the A7S delivering a reasonable continuous shooting speed of 5fps (although this drops to 2.5fps when utilising continuous AF).
