It’s incredibly rare that Sony ranks not so well on DXO’s ratings, but today the company announced their findings for the Sony a7s II. Overall, the ratings don’t seem so great in comparison to many other cameras out there; though in reality (i.e. not some lab test) the camera performs very well. If you’re looking at lab tests then it seems that even the original Sony A7s delivers better high ISO results.
When you look at the results of the Sony a7s II and compare it to many of the rest, you’ll see that it doesn’t really score so well. In fact, Sony’s original A7 pulls out a higher score overall. But in many ways, that makes sense. It’s a camera designed to do one or two things really incredibly well. The Sony a7s II has a 12MP 35mm film sized sensor, and is designed to have incredible autofocus that works well in near darkness and deliver stellar high ISO results.
This is a list of the best performing cameras as far as high ISO performance goes. The Sony a7s II still scores well on the top 10 list, but oddly enough even the Sony a7r II is better. Perhaps part of this could be due to the new BIONZ X processor. To that end, it still perplexes me as to why Sony didn’t put this processor in the new Sony a7s II.
Now what does this all mean in real life? What I found is that the Sony a7s II has incredible RAW file versatility, great high ISO results, and excellent autofocusing abilities. For the most part, this is what lots of photographers need.