Nikon Z30 vs Sony Alpha 7S II

In this comparison, we will evaluate the Nikon Z30 and the Sony Alpha 7S II, highlighting the advantages of each over the other, discussing their pros and cons, shared strengths and weaknesses, and providing a rating based on their available features and specifications to assist you in choosing the one that best suits your needs.

Nikon Z30 was introduced in June 2022 and Sony Alpha 7S II was introduced in October 2015. Let us first list highlights of the models.

Now that we've looked at the most essential specifications and gained a basic understanding of these cameras, we can delve into more details and see the differences between them.

This section shows those features and specifications which are the reason to choose Nikon Z30 over Sony Alpha 7S II.

This section shows those features and specifications which are the reason to choose Sony Alpha 7S II over Nikon Z30.

We already listed pros and cons of each model. However, you may also find useful to look at their common strengths and weaknesses shown side-by-side.

Screen

Nikon Z30 and Sony Alpha 7S II have 3.0" screens with 1,040k dot and 1,229k dot resolutions respectively. Nikon Z30 has a Fully Articulated screen which makes it selfie and vlogger friendly and generally very useful for video shooting. Sony Alpha 7S II has a Tilting screen which makes it very useful for photography purposes but not so useful for video shooting. Nikon Z30 also features touchscreen which has advantages such as easy menu navigation, intuitive controls, quick setting adjustment and most importantly a Touch-to-Focus functionality allowing users to select a specific point on the screen where they want the camera to focus. This feature can be helpful for achieving precise focus in both photo and video recording.

Electronic Viewfinder on Sony Alpha 7S II

Sony Alpha 7S II has a built-in 0.5" Electronic viewfinder with 2,359k dot resolution. It has a 100% coverage and 0.78x magnification. There is no built-in or optional viewfinder available on Nikon Z30.

Nikon Z30 features a 20.9 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor with dimensions of 23.5 x 15.7 mm and a total area of 369 mm². Its native ISO range is 100 - 51,200 and expands to 100 - 204,800 in boosted mode. Sony Alpha 7S II features a 12.2 megapixel Full Frame CMOS sensor with dimensions of 35.6 x 23.8 mm and a total area of 566.4 mm². Its native ISO range is 100 - 102,400 and expands to 50 - 409,600 in boosted mode.

Here is a sensor size comparison chart where you can see how different sensors compare with each other:

Sensor size chart

	Sensor	Dimensions	Area	Aspect Ratio	Crop Factor
	Medium Format	44 x 33 mm	1452 mm2	4:3	0.79x
	Full Frame	36 x 24 mm	864 mm2	3:2	1x
	APS-H	27 x 18 mm	486 mm2	3:2	1.3x
	APS-C	23.6 x 15.6 mm	368.2 mm2	3:2	1.5x
	APS-C (Canon)	22.3 x 14.9 mm	332.3 mm2	3:2	1.6x
	Micro Four Thirds	17.4 x 13 mm	226.2 mm2	4:3	2x
	1-inch	13.2 x 8.8 mm	116.2 mm2	3:2	2.7x
	1/1.7-inch	7.44 x 5.58 mm	41.5 mm2	4:3	4.7x
	1/2.3-inch	6.17 x 4.55 mm	28.1 mm2	4:3	5.6x

Nikon Z30 is equipped with EXPEED 6 processor and can take pictures up to 5568 x 3712 resolution. Sony Alpha 7S II is equipped with BIONZ X processor and can take pictures up to 4240 x 2832 resolution. It can also take pictures with lower resolution like 4240 x 2384, 2768 x 1848, 2768 x 1560, 2128 x 1416, 2128 x 1200, 1376 x 920, 1376 x 776 with 3:2, 16:9 aspect ratios.

Lens Mount

Nikon Z30 has Nikon Z lens mount and Sony Alpha 7S II has Sony E lens mount. Due to APS-C sensor in Nikon Z30 its crop factor is equal to 1.5x, this means that a 35mm equivalent focal length of the mounted lens will be equal to its actual focal length times 1.5. Due to Full Frame sensor in Sony Alpha 7S II its crop factor is equal to 1x, this means that a 35mm equivalent focal length of the mounted lens will be equal to its actual focal length.

No Low-Pass Filter on Nikon Z30

There is no optical low-pass filter (OLPF), also known as an anti-aliasing filter, in front of the sensor on Nikon Z30. This results in a slightly sharper image but may also introduce moiré patterns and aliasing artifacts when photographing subjects with fine, repetitive patterns or details.

In-Body Image Stabilization on Sony Alpha 7S II

Sony Alpha 7S II has a built-in 5-Axis Sensor Shift in-body image stabilization (IBIS). This means that you are still getting vibration reduction when camera is paired with non-image stabilizied lenses. It also works with lenses with optical image stabilization and in combination can achieve even better compensation.

Built-in Wi-Fi

Cameras have built-in Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi 5 802.11ac/b/g/n 2.4/5 GHz on Nikon Z30, 802.11b/g/n 2.4 GHz on Sony Alpha 7S II) which allows to easily transfer photos and videos from the camera to other Wi-Fi-enabled devices, such as smartphones, tablets, printers, or computers. This eliminates the need for cables and allows for quick and convenient media sharing and social media integration. It gives you the ability to control your camera remotely using a smartphone or tablet. This is particularly useful for taking self-portraits, group shots, or capturing images in challenging conditions without having to touch the camera. Firmware updates can also be downloaded and installed wirelessly.
  Check out the cameras in our database that have built-in WiFi.

Bluetooth on Nikon Z30

Nikon Z30 has a built-in Bluetooth (version 4.2) which lets you to connect the camera to a smartphone or a dedicated remote control device. This allows you to remotely trigger the camera, adjust settings and controls remotely through a paired mobile app. While Wi-Fi is generally faster for transferring larger files, Bluetooth can be used for small, selective transfers, it can provide real-time information about your camera's battery status, memory card capacity, and other key settings directly on your paired smartphone or smartwatch.
  Check out the cameras in our database that have built-in Bluetooth.

NFC on Sony Alpha 7S II

Sony Alpha 7S II has Near Field Communication (NFC) technology which simplifies the process of pairing it with other NFC-enabled devices like smartphones or tablets. It allows to quickly transfer photos and videos or remotely control the camera from compatible device. NFC can also be used for authentication and security purposes. It can verify your identity before accessing certain features or transferring sensitive data. It can be used with NFC-enabled accessories as well, such as lenses, flashes and GPS devices.

USB Inputs and HDMI Outputs

Both models have USB inputs for data transfer. Nikon Z30 has a Micro HDMI and Sony Alpha 7S II has a Micro HDMI connector for video signal output.

Battery

Nikon Z30 comes with EN-EL25 battery pack with battery life of 330 shots and Sony Alpha 7S II comes with NP-FW50 battery pack with battery life of 370 shots.

External Storage Slots

Nikon Z30 has a single SD/SDHC/SDXC (UHS-I) card slot. Sony Alpha 7S II has a single SD/SDHC/SDXC/Memory Stick Duo Hybrid (UHS-I) card slot.

Shutter

Nikon Z30 has Electronic shutter and Mechanical Focal Plane shutter. Shutter speed can go up to 1/4000 sec on Nikon Z30, and up to 1/8000 sec on Sony Alpha 7S II. Nikon Z30 can shoot continuously up to 11.0 fps. Sony Alpha 7S II can shoot continuously up to 5.0 fps.

Focusing

Nikon Z30 has Hybrid phase-detection/contrast AF system with 209 focusing points and Sony Alpha 7S II has 169 focusing points. Nikon Z30 has detection range from -4.5 to +19 EV and Sony Alpha 7S II has detection range from -4 to +20 EV.

Exposure

Exposure meterings of Nikon Z30 and Sony Alpha 7S II range from -4 to +17 EV and -3 to +20 EV respectively and you can set the exposure compensation within the ±5 EV range. You can also do exposure lock, exposure bracketing and manual exposure adjustment on Nikon Z30 and exposure bracketing and manual exposure adjustment on Sony Alpha 7S II.

Flash

Cameras have no built-in flash but an external flash may be connected to both of them via Hot Shoe. The fastest flash synchronization speed is 1/200 sec on Nikon Z30 and 1/250 sec on Sony Alpha 7S II.

Nikon Z30 body has dimensions of 128 x 74 x 60 mm (5.04 x 2.91 x 2.36") and Sony Alpha 7S II body has dimensions of 127 x 96 x 60 mm (5 x 3.78 x 2.36"). Nikon Z30 weighs 405 g (0.89 lb / 14.29 oz) and Sony Alpha 7S II weighs 627 g (1.38 lb / 22.12 oz).

Nikon Z30

Sony Alpha 7S II

128 mm

74 mm

127 mm

96 mm

74 mm

96 mm

60 mm

60 mm