Which Sony A7 is best for me?
As someone who has been shooting with the Sony a7s, a7-ii and a7r2 for quite some time now both with native Sony FE lenses and adapted Sony and Canon, Sigma EF lenses people keep asking me which a7 camera is best for them, what is the best adapter, what other lens options are they? Can they use their existing canon or nikon lenses?
Also you can read about my first year using sony commercially in the studio and at weddings.
So I made a little video to help explain and also this blog post to go along with it to help explain some things in more detail with links where appropriate.
Firstly heres the video:
Which is the Best Sony for me?
TL; DR just tell me what to buy
In Summary here’s the pro’s and cons of each Sony a7 body, so pick your body depending on your needs, all great options, with slightly different strengths and weaknesses.
Sony A7s
Buy this if Low light and video mainly are your usage and you don’t care about in body image stabilisation (steadyshot).
Pros
Silent Shutter (burst)
Best High ISO
Video
4K (external)
Cons
No Steadyshot/IS/VR
Relatively low resolution in comparison
Lowest DR of the A7 series
No internal 4K
No uuncompressed RAW
Sony A7s-II
Buy this if Low light and video mainly are your usage and you want in body image stabilisation (steadyshot).
Pros
Silent Shutter (burst)
Best High ISO
Steadyshot/IS/VR
Video
4K internal video
uncompressed raw option
Cons
Relatively low resolution in comparison
Lowest DR of the A7 series
Sony A7-II
Buy if you want a good all rounder a7 camera and don’t care about super high ISO, 4K video
Pros
Steadyshot/IS/VR
Good DR
Good IQ and normal ISO ranges
Phase detect AF with third party/adapted lenses
uncompressed raw option
Cons
No Silent shutter
Weakest high ISO IQ of the a7 series
Medium DR of the A7 series
Weakest Video of a7 – no 4K
Sony A7R-II
Buy if you want the best all rounder a7 camera and with good high ISO, great DR and 4K video
Pros
Steadyshot/IS/VR
Best DR
Best IQ at normal-mid-high ISO ranges
Best AF coverage
Phase detect AF with third party/adapted lenses
Silent shutter (single shot)
Good video options including 4K
uncompressed raw option
Cons
No Silent shutter burst mode – single shot only
File sizes in uncompressed are huge 80+MB can cause slow buffering
Potential to overheat in Video modes
Hope that helps you in your decision buying process feel free to ask more questions below.