Sony has announced an S model in its latest a7 compact system camera line-up that is ultra-sensitive so is capable of shooting stills and video in very low levels of light.

The Sony a7S II boasts an ISO range of 50-409,600, achieved by a 35mm full-frame 12.2-megapixel image sensor and the BIONZ X image processing. The sensor optimises the dynamic range, while the updated processing is tweaked to concentrate on reducing noise in the mid-to-high end of the sensitivity.

Like the previous a7S, this will probably excite video makers the most and the a7S II can record movies in 4K, at 30 frames per second, using Sony's XAVC S codec. It can also record 1080p footage at up to 120 frames per second.

This latter fps can ensure that clips can be edited into 4x or 5x slow motion footage. It can also record in slow motion to be viewed on the camera's tiltable 3-inch TFT screen (1.229 million dots).

Other headline features include five-axis optical image stabilisation, 169 points of autofocus, an XGA OLED viewfinder, plus Wi-Fi and NFC compatibility to hook the camera up to an Android or iOS device.

The Sony a7S II full-frame interchangeable lens camera will be available in Europe from November. Pricing details are yet to be revealed.