GEAR TESTS: SONY A7, A7S

Chris Parsons Nauticam Team Member

Sony is cranking out the full frame mirrorless cameras, and it can be a bit confusing as there are several choices. Right now, for still shooters, I still like the A7R. They just announced an A7R II, and that camera looks like it will be the go-to still camera in this line. It also shoots 4K video, but the details of that are yet to be seen.

For video shooters, the A7S is still THE camera, in my opinion. The sensor is purpose built for video, and by doing that, they have been able to significantly reduce the noise and up the low light sensitivity. Internally, the camera can capture great HD footage, with truly unrivaled sensitivity. To capture 4K video with this camera, you need an external recorder like the Atomos Shogun. While I didn't bring a Shogun to the Shootout (I was already WAY over my baggage allowance), Nauticam has been shipping our Shogun housing for about a month now. Having seen the footage, I can tell you that you will be seeing A7S + Shogun footage in feature films and wildlife shows - it is that good.

I shot with the Sony 16-35mm rectilinear lens, and find this to be a great lens for u/w use, even behind a dome that is not too large (180mm).

It took me a while to get the white balance figured out on this camera. The custom white balance is pretty limited; it tops out at 9900K and +7 magenta, which is just not enough range for u/w. Even with a filter, I struggled to get the custom white balance to be usable past about 35 feet deep. I had better luck with the manual WB setting + bias, or the "Underwater Auto" mode + bias. To get good white balance with this camera will take some practice, and filters.

I shot the little shark clip below using a filter plus the Keldan Video 8M video lights using the Cyan light modules. I do like the natural look here and like that I get some detail on the sharks without it going crazy pink as they get close.

PAUL Orphanidis

The Sony A7 is one of the lightest and smallest full-frame cameras on the market. Its ergonomic and intuitive design makes it easy to shoot on land as well as underwater.
The SUBAL housing fits snug around the camera and the feel is lightweight and comfortable.  My hands just sort of wrapped around the housing and everything felt comfortable and easy.
The functions are all accessible, and the camera was used with Sony 28-70mm lens.  Light sensor amazing, as we shot video with ambient light and were totally surprised by the white balance and color rendition.