Sony A7s II Extreme High ISO Tests 20,000 – 409,600

• • 10 Comments

We recently shot for a few days with the new Sony A7s II camera in SLOG3, and although we already knew it was a top performer in low light situations, we didn't need to go past ISO 3200. But just in case, I wanted to run my own personal tests to see how far this new camera can be pushed.

WARNING: This next video is boring, nothing scientific. I also looped the video 4 times (basically same video) but seen in 4 different ways. It was something I was doing for myself, but thought I would just share it anyways.

The video was shot in 1080/24p and recorded via HDMI to the BlackMagic Video Assist Recorder in ProRes HQ. Now even though this is a 10bit recorder, the Sony A7sII I believe still only outputs 8bit via HDMI. The difference for the A7s is that 4:2:0 is recorded internally while HDMI out is 4:2:2. A small advantage. (I could be wrong, let me know).

I ran the footage through Davinci Resolve using the built in Sony SLOG3 to 709 LUT, applied noise reduction, sharpened it back, and then purposely overly saturated the image. Normally I wouldn't push the saturation this much, but I wanted to see how much color info could be recovered. The footage was shot in near darkness so it was surprising to see any color come back at all.

So anyways, nothing scientific or fancy. This was just a personal test to see how comfortable I would be in using these extreme ISO settings on projects if I really had to, and just how well they may hold up with some post processing. I really don't see myself going past ISO 6400, but it's pretty amazing to see even ISO 128,000 still hanging in there.

I'm seeing more and more people scooping this camera up right now, with all the confirmations about just how good it is. While out of stock in most big retailers, there's still about a dozen left via Amazon. (click here).

Sony A7s II A7sII Mark II
VIEW-ITEM Sony A7s II 4K Video Full-Frame Mirrorless Camera

I've already sold my original Sony A7s. Besides 4K internal recording, better Slow Motion, and a more manageable SLOG3 profile, it was worth the upgrade. If you're an existing A7s owner, check out this article on a few reasons why you may want to upgrade (read article).

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10 thoughts on “Sony A7s II Extreme High ISO Tests 20,000 – 409,600”

  1. @emm thanks.
    yea maybe the issues were fixed with firmware but on the FS7 each of the adapters had different bugs, one caused aperture to flash open when adjusting (everytime), I forget the other problem. but if you don't notice anything on a7s then it might not be an issue at all.

  2. Emm

     Post author

    @aaron - Hmm, not sure what you mean about weird glitches on FS7. I had problems on my original A7s, but not on my A7RII and even when we use on FS7. Especially after firmware updates. If you shoot with both cameras, the only problem is which adapter to get - Speedbooster or regular adapter. The Speedbooster gives you an advantage when used on FS7, but doesn't work on A7 cameras without Crop Mode. This is the Metabones Speedbooster Adapter we use and confirmed to work with Sony FS7: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1158848-REG/metabones_mb_spef_e_bt2_canon_ef_e_mount_t.html

  3.

    @emm any idea which Metabones adapter works best with the a7sII? I know the FS7 has weird glitches on each version of the adapter, wondering if those still exist on this smaller DSLR.

    Or a different lens adapter all together?

    Thanks!

  4.

    Thanks for all of the feedback. This camera is very tempting. As of now I am a strictly M43 video shooter, but this camera is tempting me to expand my horizons....

  5. Ricky

    Good to hear! Might be time for me to finally switch from the 5D. Any recommendations on a great all-around type lens for this?

  6. Emm

     Post author

    @Ricky - So far I have not run into this issue. It seems to not be a problem with this camera anymore.

  8. Goodwill

    Have you had a chance to see if the a7Sii has the overheating issue from the a7rii? As well, is there a recording time limit on the camera?

  9. Emm

     Post author

    @Gabriel - It's good, gets rid of a lot of handheld movement, but you have to select the exact focal length for best results. When using manual lenses every time you swap lenses, you need to select the focal range for best results. Luckily you can program that in one of the custom buttons to get fast access to that menu item.

  10.

    Thank you for the test. How is the 5 axis image stabilization? Better than the Omd line?

    Would the stabilization help considerably in the use of a Ronin M? Or is it mainly for micro jitter?

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