Last December a Japanese rocket brought cargo 249 miles above the Earth to the International Space Station. On that rocket was none other than a Sony Alpha a7S II, which was soon mounted on the outside of Japan’s KIBO module to take photos and videos of the mothership, so to speak.
Mounting a camera to a space station isn’t like putting a GoPro on your handlebars – the a7S II is enclosed in a specially designed aluminum housing with a radiator to keep it at a comfortable temperature in the vacuum of space. It’s mounted on a two-axis gimbal so, unlike prior cameras on the ISS, it’s not constantly looking straight down. The camera itself is basically the same as what you could buy off the shelf, and has an FE 28-135 F4 G OSS power zoom lens attached.
Head on over to Sony’s website to learn more about why the company’s high-sensitivity full-frame camera was chosen and how it all works. You can also find additional 4K videos to enjoy.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)