Out
of the box --- Sony WX220 versus Sony A7iiK: Close-up, width of field, zooming
in.
(Kodak
Easyshare M863 --- 3280x1846 pixels, f/2.8, 1/8 sec, ISO-200, no flash,
post-processed by Picassa3 pushing Fill light 50%, Highlights 50%, Shadows 25%.)
You
must be kidding, right? How could anyone
possibly compare the little Sony Cyber-shot WX220 with the hulking Sony alpha 7
model ii? Well, though much larger than the WX220, the A7iiK (the K means the
A7ii comes with the 28-70mm zoom Kit lens) is considered very small and light
for a full-sensor (24x36mm) camera.
The
two cameras have many technical things in common: 1080HD, 4K still images,
Triluminos color, AVCHD video, SDXC memory cards, HDMI output, Wi-Fi, one-touch
sharing, and the Bionz-X processor. Also,
the menus are very similar, even though the A7II has half-again as many menu
items.
So, how
close can we shoot? Using the the
close-up mode (the flower icon automatically appears with auto-everything when
you get close enough), the WX220 can easily focus at a distance of just over 1
inch.
(WX220
--- 4896x2752, f/3.3, 1/30 sec, ISO-100, no flash, 16x9 .JPG format.
At a
distance of 1.5 inches, the depth of focus is just over one inch.) 
But
the A7iiK can’t seem to focus any closer than eight or nine inches.
(A7iiK
--- 6000x3376, f/4, 1/60 sec, ISO-250, no flash, 16x9 .JPG format.
At a
distance of about 9 inches, the depth of focus looks like two inches.)
One
more close-up example is this --- I wanted to see the “EURO CENT” on the coin.
(WX220
--- 4896x2752 pixels, f/3.3, 1/25 sec, ISO-800, no flash, 16x9 .JPG format.)
This
is a close up of a computer screen displaying a close-up of the previous image.
(A7iiK
--- 6000x3376 pixels, f/4, 1/60 sec, ISO-1600, no flash.)
How
wide is the field of the picture? The
WX220 is this wide.
(WX220
--- 4896x2752, f/3.3, 1/30 sec, ISO-200, no flash, 16x9 .JPG format.)
But
the A7iiK shows not quite the same width. This makes sense because the WX220 starts
with a focal equivalence of 25mm (4.45mm actual) but the A7iiK lens starts with
28mm, a slightly narrower width. Notice below
that the right and left edges are shaved off just a bit. (Also, the top and
bottom are cut off because of the conversion to a 16x9 format.)
(A7iiK
--- 6024x4024, f/4, 1/60 sec, ISO-200, no flash, .converted to 1920x1080 .JPG
format via Sony’s Playmemories Home software.)
The
above conversion from .ARW to .JPG format was necessary because RAW format
images (with or without AdobeRGB color space instead of the standard sRGB)
often display and print with the colors washed out. It requires post-processing conversion to
recover the apparent color. (Note: the Playmemories Home software conversion to .JPG does not give
you the High resolution and maximum pixels you asked for. but it does
keep/restore the color to the picture.) Since I am
not that interested in a lot of unnecessary post-processing work, I’ll happily
stick to .JPG and sRGB from now on.
So,
what about zooming in? The WX220 goes
from an equivalent 25mm to 250mm (actually 4.45mm to 44.5mm) for an optical
zoom factor of 10x.
(WX220
--- 4896x3264, f/5.9, 1/30 sec, ISO-800, 44 mm
focal length.)
But
the A7iiK can only go from 28mm to 70mm, for a zoom factor of 2.5 (?).
(A7iiK
--- 6024x4024, f/5.6, 70mm, 1/160 sec, ISO-500, no flash, .converted to
1616x1080 .JPG format via Sony’s Playmemories Home software.)
Zooming
in is one place where we are really comparing apples to oranges (so to
speak). The much smaller sensor in the
WX220 requires a narrow field to fit the sensor, so a much smaller amount of
forward motion by the lens can easily cover the whole sensor with a much
narrower (closer) field of view. This is
one of the great advantages of a small sensor; the optics (lenses) are so much
smaller and lighter, they can be built into the camera itself, and never
require changing.
