Sony A7s with 4K Video?
Related: 4K and 5K display, computer display, digital sensor, Sony, Sony A7, Sony A7 II, Sony A7S, Sony mirrorless
The rumor of a new Sony Alpha A7s full frame camera with 4K video tells me that Sony is moving in the right general direction, meaning cameras targeted at specific goal, even if Sony will almost certainly fail to remove enough cruft in the user interface to really succeed in that regard, in operational excellence terms.
The main concern I have for practical usage is the omission of the Olympus-style 5-axis on-sensor stabilization. Without that, the camera is useless to me for the area that interests me most: cycling videos (I don’t want a GoPro for many reasons). “Swimmy” video that makes me want to vomit is of no interest, whether 2K or 4K (think Sony RX100).
The other feature of huge interest to me would be a 4K timelapse feature that doesn’t wear use the shutter (thus wearing it out quickly and causing vibration).
General comments on purpose-specific trends:
- Cameras increasingly succeed or fail based on design focus. A camera designed to do one thing well has a better chance at being a winner for the intended primary tasks.
- A 12-megapixel sensor for non-resampled 4K video is good (the video quality from the Nikon D800E and D4 and Canon 5D Mark III is disappointing at best IMO). Though a double-res and downsampled sensor would be better (avoiding aliasing), that is a few years out.
- The trend to high resolution sensors is Good. The trend to lower resolution sensors is also Good. However, I am dubious that Sony will execute menus and functionality to make it useful (e.g. little or not thought given to potential uses). For example, the simple ability to dial in a 120 second or 280 second exposure, which the Ricoh GR can do directly, but few other cameras can do without a special remote, or even at all.
