Hi, I'm doing mostly macro stuff. Until now only stills. Now I want to change my camera (A7Rv) more in direction to video. I'm also not happy with the autofocus of my A7RV on land and underwater. But I would need a good underwater macro still function too. As I had recently bought the Sony 100 mm macro (and have other lenses for land, as special wildlife) I want to stay with Sony.

Do you think A7v would be better for video as the A1 II? I would immediately decide for A7v because of price, battery, new sensor ..., but for cropping A1 II would be better and I use cropping also on land a lot for macro. Would be happy for some thoughts about it.

Thanks!

LG Susanne

1 hour ago, Susa said:

Hi, I'm doing mostly macro stuff. Until now only stills. Now I want to change my camera (A7Rv) more in direction to video. I'm also not happy with the autofocus of my A7RV on land and underwater. But I would need a good underwater macro still function too. As I had recently bought the Sony 100 mm macro (and have other lenses for land, as special wildlife) I want to stay with Sony.

Do you think A7v would be better for video as the A1 II? I would immediately decide for A7v because of price, battery, new sensor ..., but for cropping A1 II would be better and I use cropping also on land a lot for macro. Would be happy for some thoughts about it.

Thanks!

LG Susanne

Long story short:
The A1 II is the superior video tool, but unless you need 8K or uncropped wide-angle slow motion, the A7 V is arguably the best "hybrid" value Sony has ever released.

The Sony A1 II is strictly "better" for video performance. It is a flagship beast that does everything the A7 V does, but without the compromises (crops). However, the Sony A7 V is the "smarter" buy for 90% of users, offering 80% of the A1 II performance for less than half the price.

1. 4K 120p (Slow Motion)
   This is the biggest differentiator.
   Sony A1 II: Shoots 4K 120p with a negligible 1.1x crop. You can use your wide-angle lenses and they stay wide.
   Sony A7 V: Shoots 4K 120p with a 1.5x (Super 35) Crop.
   So for macro work you woul have some advantage with the A7V (but read later)
   

2. Sensor Readout (Rolling Shutter)
   Sony A1 II (Fully Stacked): Uses a pro-grade "Stacked" sensor. The readout is insanely fast ( about 4ms) so it wins hands down. But underwater rolling shutter is really not a problem.
   

3. Resolution & 8K
   Sony A1 II: Shoots 8K 30p. This gives you massive reframing ability in post-production (you can crop in 200% and still have 4K).
   Sony A7 V: Maxes out at 4K 60p (Full Width). It oversamples from 7K, so the image is incredibly sharp, but you don't have the 8K archive option.
   

4. Low Light
   Sony A7 V "should" wins: Because it has fewer pixels (33MP) than the A1 II (50MP), the individual pixels are larger. In video mode (especially S-Log3), the A7 V is slightly cleaner at high ISOs (6400+). But here we are splitting hairs.

Now we would need to understand what limits you find with your current A7RV which is still a beast of a camera. It has an 8k crop and the rolling shutter is high compared to others (but we said that underwater it is irrelevant). Furthermore, your camera has Sony's most advanced AF. In short, unless there are specific requests, I would stick with the current camera and spend a lot of money on diving 😁

Ciao

P:S.

I am sorry to have killed your GAS.

12 hours ago, Davide DB said:

In short, unless there are specific requests, I would stick with the current camera and spend a lot of money on diving 😁

@Davide DB That is true wisdom and some of the best advice for is all.

Nothing beats the experience gained and the memories made from using the gear in which we invested so much! Truth is, there are really no “bad” cameras these days, especially the ones being discussed.