Review: Sony A7 II specs

The Sony A7 II full-frame mirrorless camera marked a beefed-up design with a magnesium-alloy body and an autofocus system improved by around 30% over the original Sony A7. The Sony A7 II features a 24.3-megapixel sensor, a hybrid autofocus system and continuous shooting speeds of up to five frames per second. Plus, on its release in 2015, it was the world’s first-ever full-frame mirrorless camera to include five-axis optical in-body stabilization.

The full-frame 24.3-megapixel CMOS sensor works in tandem with a BIONZ X image-processing engine to help to deliver a corner-to-corner resolution of images with low noise, subtle gradations and a wide dynamic range. The top shooting speed of 5 fps is capable of capturing fast-moving action, such as sport or nature, and the camera can shoot at shutter speeds of up to 1/8000sec to further help you to freeze rapidly-moving subjects.

The hybrid autofocus system within the Sony A7 II features 117 on-sensor phase-detection autofocus points—99 points in APS-C mode—plus 25 contrast-detection points. The availability of both phase-detection and contrast-detection systems means you get a potent combination of accurate focus tracking of fast-moving subjects, via phase detection, and accurate reading of still subjects, via contrast detection. The focusing system offers four modes: Single-shot AF, Continuous AF, Direct Manual Focus and Manual Focus.

The A7 II’s built-in five-axis stabilization system helps to achieve a 4.5-stop shutter speed advantage and it operates to compensate for pitch, yaw, roll, up/down and side-to-side movements. This means you can shoot with slower shutter speeds without the fear of camera shakes sneaking into your still pictures. The system operates with a wide range of lenses, thus further expanding your hand-held shooting possibilities.

The camera has a three-inch [7.62cm], tiltable TFT LCD screen with a 1,228,800-dot resolution. This large screen is great for reviewing both still images (up to 25 images at a time) and movie footage. It can tilt upwards by 107 degrees and downwards by 41 degrees to give you the creative flexibility to compose and then shoot at different angles.

The A7 III’s standard ISO range is 100-25,600, but this can be brought down to ISO 50 if you’re seeking fine detail when shooting pictures in well-lit conditions. The ISO range means you can shoot in almost any light condition without significant noise. Sony’s Area-specific Noise Reduction technology divides the scene into areas and applies the most appropriate noise reduction for each area to reduce noise and help to ensure clarity in images. There’s also a Multi Frame Noise Reduction feature, which composites four images to raise sensitivity and suppress noise—this is useful when shooting hand-held in low light.

The core specifications have since been improved in subsequent Sony models, but the Sony A7 II still offers a robust body, full-frame sensor, in-camera image stabilization, hybrid autofocus and a more-than-acceptable ISO range. Plus, its lower price means it is an attractive option for any photographer looking to build a mirrorless setup.