Convince me not to buy an a7s ii

What do you need it for? What's your budget? What experience do you have? What gear do you have? What are your priorities? Information my friend.

ForcilloWhat do you need it for? What's your budget? What experience do you have? What gear do you have? What are your priorities? Information my friend.

The majority of the paid work I've done the past two years is wedding video, with the occasional commercial project. I'm moving from Maryland to South Lake Tahoe for the winter, so the possibility of internal 4k and 1080 120 is very enticing. I've shot with a 6d for the past two years, and would likely get an adapter to use canon glass (17-40 f4l, 50 1.4, 100mm macro L) w/ the sony.

I'm wondering about learning curve for using sony, editing/grading workflows, and possible pitfalls to camera (rolling shutter, issues w/ using non native glass, issues w/ 4k, etc.)

I've been loving mine so far. Fixed pretty much all the issues/downfalls I see with my og A7S. Internal 4K 100mbps is super sharp and the in-body stabilization is useful is certain situations. You can't just wave it around freehand and expect a magically steady shot, but holding the camera against your eye like your taking a photo, and framing using the EVF gets a pretty usable shot up to ~50mm IMO. Its pretty awesome to get a shot in a pinch where no matter how steady I tried to be, holding my breath till my face was blue, it was always a shaky mess trying to do that with the A7S. Best comparison I can think of is the shots look like your filming with a much heavier camera on a shoulder rig. Not rock solid, but the slightly rocking footage thats way way better to watch the the quick unwatchable shakiness of a handheld DSLR sized cam.
I noticed you said you're stoked on the 1080 120p. Its great, and looks wayyyy better than the 1080 96p footage from a GH4, but just FYI incase you didn't know, it crops 2.2x. I got around this issue for wide shots by using the APS-C Tokina 11-16mm @11mm which normally vignettes on full frame starting around 14mm but if you use it at 11 @2.2x crop its roughly a 24mm lens. Its just annoying when you want to quickly switch to 120 while you're using a prime lens and have to completely change up your shot.
Low light obviously is insane, but I don't notice any improvement over the A7S like Sony claims, but thats ok since the og was already amazing. It is awesome no longer being afraid of the dark, and its what originally made me choose the first A7S over the GH4. Sure it didn't have 4K and 96p built in, but when the whole point of a camera is capturing light, you want to be as sensitive as possible in the purest way, and the A7S nailed that. Throwing in higher resolution or framerates doesn't fix the fact that the data coming in from the GH4 sensor is filled with noise at a measly ISO 800+. Now that the A7Sii does 4k theres really no comparison. Cant wait to see what they come out with for the A7Siii

ski.the.eastI've been loving mine so far. Fixed pretty much all the issues/downfalls I see with my og A7S. Internal 4K 100mbps is super sharp and the in-body stabilization is useful is certain situations. You can't just wave it around freehand and expect a magically steady shot, but holding the camera against your eye like your taking a photo, and framing using the EVF gets a pretty usable shot up to ~50mm IMO. Its pretty awesome to get a shot in a pinch where no matter how steady I tried to be, holding my breath till my face was blue, it was always a shaky mess trying to do that with the A7S. Best comparison I can think of is the shots look like your filming with a much heavier camera on a shoulder rig. Not rock solid, but the slightly rocking footage thats way way better to watch the the quick unwatchable shakiness of a handheld DSLR sized cam.
I noticed you said you're stoked on the 1080 120p. Its great, and looks wayyyy better than the 1080 96p footage from a GH4, but just FYI incase you didn't know, it crops 2.2x. I got around this issue for wide shots by using the APS-C Tokina 11-16mm @11mm which normally vignettes on full frame starting around 14mm but if you use it at 11 @2.2x crop its roughly a 24mm lens. Its just annoying when you want to quickly switch to 120 while you're using a prime lens and have to completely change up your shot.
Low light obviously is insane, but I don't notice any improvement over the A7S like Sony claims, but thats ok since the og was already amazing. It is awesome no longer being afraid of the dark, and its what originally made me choose the first A7S over the GH4. Sure it didn't have 4K and 96p built in, but when the whole point of a camera is capturing light, you want to be as sensitive as possible in the purest way, and the A7S nailed that. Throwing in higher resolution or framerates doesn't fix the fact that the data coming in from the GH4 sensor is filled with noise at a measly ISO 800+. Now that the A7Sii does 4k theres really no comparison. Cant wait to see what they come out with for the A7Siii

Thanks for the reply man. I knew about the crop for 1080 120, do you get the same crop factor when shooting 4k? Also, you have any memory card recommendations?

mike_eThanks for the reply man. I knew about the crop for 1080 120, do you get the same crop factor when shooting 4k? Also, you have any memory card recommendations?

nope, there's no crop for 4K because when shooting 2160p you use 8.3mp, so a 12mp 3:2 sensor is ~8.3mp when you're shooting 16:9 so there's nothing really left to crop. Full 1:1 readout of the sensor
and for cards I've been using Lexar 633x 64gbs in both A7S and A7Sii. I read a while ago that once you go >64gb reliability starts to fall off. Maybe that's been fixed by now idk, someone who knows more about storage should definitely chime in, but I've never had a problem with those Lexars and 64gb is a decent size, I don't see a need to jump to single 128s quite yet
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=1251880&gclid=Cj0KEQjwnKzABRDy2pb7nPSazdsBEiQAI4lZQF9dYkyXsNT-i5-xH_p1vzTX9MSAPA7r6vLM8ySP_JUaAjnr8P8HAQ&is=REG&ap=y&m=Y&c3api=1876%2C92051677562%2C&Q=&A=details

ski.the.eastnope, there's no crop for 4K because when shooting 2160p you use 8.3mp, so a 12mp 3:2 sensor is ~8.3mp when you're shooting 16:9 so there's nothing really left to crop. Full 1:1 readout of the sensor
and for cards I've been using Lexar 633x 64gbs in both A7S and A7Sii. I read a while ago that once you go >64gb reliability starts to fall off. Maybe that's been fixed by now idk, someone who knows more about storage should definitely chime in, but I've never had a problem with those Lexars and 64gb is a decent size, I don't see a need to jump to single 128s quite yet
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=1251880&gclid=Cj0KEQjwnKzABRDy2pb7nPSazdsBEiQAI4lZQF9dYkyXsNT-i5-xH_p1vzTX9MSAPA7r6vLM8ySP_JUaAjnr8P8HAQ&is=REG&ap=y&m=Y&c3api=1876%2C92051677562%2C&Q=&A=details

Cool. Also, when shooting 1080 120, would using a crop sensor lens like the tokina 11-16 have major vignetting throughout the whole range of the lens? Trying to figure out if that lens would work for wide shots at 120.

mike_eCool. Also, when shooting 1080 120, would using a crop sensor lens like the tokina 11-16 have major vignetting throughout the whole range of the lens? Trying to figure out if that lens would work for wide shots at 120.

I said in my last comment that I use a tokina 11-16mm for 120p shots. When shooting uncropped it vignettes at ~14mm, I usually just keep it at 16mm. But when you shoot 120p with 2.2x crop @ 11mm which normally has an unusablely large vignette, it tunes into a 24mm view. The 11-16 is a very useful wide angle zoom for the A7Sii

ski.the.eastI said in my last comment that I use a tokina 11-16mm for 120p shots. When shooting uncropped it vignettes at ~14mm, I usually just keep it at 16mm. But when you shoot 120p with 2.2x crop @ 11mm which normally has an unusablely large vignette, it tunes into a 24mm view. The 11-16 is a very useful wide angle zoom for the A7Sii

my bad my dude must've forgotten you said that. thanks for all the help. also is it worth shelling out for the metabones adapter or is the fotodiox one good enough?

Don't know if you sent it yet or not. But I've been considering staying apsc and getting the a6500. Unless you're taking 50/50 photo video save some money.

I'd say buy it. For a wedding videographer thats the best camera in my opinion. Low light will be huge for receptions! The crop could help for when you need the extra range during the ceremony. 4k will future proof you for the next couple years when all clients will want 4K

HoodlivingDon't know if you sent it yet or not. But I've been considering staying apsc and getting the a6500. Unless you're taking 50/50 photo video save some money.

this doesn't make much sense, if anything if you're 50/50 photo and video the A6500 would arguably be a better buy, the A7Sii isn't really a great photo camera. For OP who mostly shoots video, especially wedding stuff, the A7Sii would be the better buy. In dimly lit wedding environments the low light capabilities will give you clean shots where the A6500 will struggle, and the A6300 had overheating issues shooting long takes, not 100% sure thats been fixed in the A6500

ski.the.eastthis doesn't make much sense, if anything if you're 50/50 photo and video the A6500 would arguably be a better buy, the A7Sii isn't really a great photo camera. For OP who mostly shoots video, especially wedding stuff, the A7Sii would be the better buy. In dimly lit wedding environments the low light capabilities will give you clean shots where the A6500 will struggle, and the A6300 had overheating issues shooting long takes, not 100% sure thats been fixed in the A6500

I worded that poorly, I meant if you shoot 50/50 video save money and get an a650p but I agree on the low light isn't the best.

mike_eis it worth shelling out for the metabones adapter or is the fotodiox one good enough?

sorry I forgot to reply to this, I would say save the $ and get the fotodiox, this article https://www.slrlounge.com/the-best-adapters-for-sony-mirrorless-cameras/ helped me decide the extra $300 is not worth it. I don't give a shit about autofocus, I just want aperture control and a solidly built adapter with as little light leaks as possible, and the fotodiox performs just as well as the metabones for that.

what camera did you end up going with?