You're also giving up a huge compromise in lenses when going with this approach. When it comes to photography lenses mean more than the camera 95% of the time(unless you're doing sports/action photography, where you need good AF).
With this it's all manual + adapters which always has compromises compared to use in their native format.
It's super-cool technically but I don't see it taking over anytime soon.
I think you might have missed the part where this is a digital cinema camera. Cinema cameras rarely have AF, and are almost always manual lenses with a dedicated person assigned to pull focus.
Also, being able to adapt lenses is a huge bonus. Look at the Micro Four Thirds market. There are so many adapters available and in wide use to be able use a wider selection of lenses. Pretty much the only way Sony cameras are used. The selection of Sony native mount lenses limited, but adapt that to a PL mount or EF mount, and the world opens up significantly
Ah, good call. It was missing from the title so I was assuming they were going after the traditional camera market. For cinema they might have a better shot.
I've got a non-trivial amount of Canon gear(300F4, 35F1.4, 135F2, etc) and looked into the Sony route since their A7 line looks killer. In the end all the adapters had compromises so I decided to stick with Canon. From all reports the AF drive on the adapters still have a bunch of edge cases.
The pixels on the A7Sii are larger than other similarly sized sensors. That's why the megapixel count is lower. Larger pixel size means more photons absorbed in same amount of time. I've also had one connected directly to a telescope. It was an extremely fun night as I could use the Live Mode to see what the telescope was slewing to without taking a 15+ second exposure. It was pretty amazing. I want one for this specific purpose alone.
However, as someone that has shot a lot of video footage with no light other than a full moon using the A7Sii, I highly suggest getting the cable connected remotes for this camera. Trying to fly this body without a remote on a shoulder mount with lenses, follow focus, monitors, etc is brutal. The start/stop button is so tiny and hard to press, it makes you want to throw the entire rig as far as you can. The button is more along the lines of a reset button that you need a small pin to press.
It's pain points like this that make a stills camera that can shoot video much different than a true digital cinema camera
I do wonder about the lack of any autofocus system. Maybe that feature doesn't matter as much for a cinema camera. There are certainly some lens mounts with autofocus control interfaces that are old enough to no longer be patented, so it seems like they could at least do contrast detection AF.
You're also giving up a huge compromise in lenses when going with this approach. When it comes to photography lenses mean more than the camera 95% of the time(unless you're doing sports/action photography, where you need good AF).
With this it's all manual + adapters which always has compromises compared to use in their native format.
It's super-cool technically but I don't see it taking over anytime soon.