The Photo Times: Sony Alpha 7 (A7) Review

Since a attainment of a initial complement camera behind in 2008 in a figure of a Panasonic G1, photographers have been speculating on how prolonged it would take to see a CSC utilize a full support chip. That’s given even yet APS-C and Micro Four Thirds sensors have come a prolonged approach in a past 5 years, full support still manners a roost as distant as picture peculiarity is concerned.

Full support sensors are generally deliberate to offer softened low light performance, shallower abyss of field, lenses broach their ‘true’ focal length, softened energetic operation and ultimately, some-more detail.

With a attainment of a Sony Alpha 7 and a stablemate a Alpha 7R, Sony is a initial manufacturer to shoehorn an full support sensor into a complement camera. The many affordable full support camera available, does a Alpha 7 vigilance a finish of normal DSLRs?

Sony Alpha 7 (A7) front view

Sony Alpha 7 (A7) Review – Features

Unlike a 36.4MP Alpha 7R (which we’ll exam exclusively to a Alpha 7), a Sony Alpha 7 (A7) facilities a 24.3MP sensor, yet distinct a A7R, a A7 sticks with a some-more required pattern that includes a visual low pass filter to revoke and control a effects of aliasing.

As we’ve seen with a series of cameras recently including a Canon EOS 70D and Olympus OM-D E-M1, a A7′s sensor facilities on-chip phase-detection with 117 phase-detect points that combines with a A7′s 25-point contrast-detect AF system. The outcome is a A7′s hybrid Fast Intelligent AF complement that is married to a new BIONZ X picture processor that’s 3x faster than a prior chip and promises to make AF tracking effortless.

The AF is usually supportive down to 0EV light levels, that is not utterly as good as a -1EV of a D610 or a -3EV charity by a Canon EOS 6D, so it’ll be engaging to see how it copes in feeble illuminated conditions.

The BIONZ X processor also helps a A7 grasp a detonate rate of 5fps – good, yet it’s maybe a small unsatisfactory to see this dump to a walking 2.5fps if we wish AF and bearing active between shots.

The new processor also offers diffraction-reducing record to assistance scold density that can be caused as we stop a lens down over a sweet-spot, while Sony’s also tinkered with a algorithm for a area-specific sound reduction, that varies a turn of sound rebate practical opposite an picture in an bid to keep some-more fact during aloft sensitivities. Speaking of which, a A7 offers a local ISO of 100-25,600 that can be stretched to an ISO homogeneous of 50-25,600.

With a vast sensor sitting do tighten to a lens mount, dirt is a worry, yet a A7 facilities both ultrasonic quivering systems and a assign insurance cloaking to fight this.

Sony Alpha 7 (A7) back view

Electronic viewfinder

The electronic viewfinder (EVF) has been borrowed from a flagship A99 and offers a XGA OLED Tru-Finder with a 2.4m-dot fortitude and 0.71x magnification, yet a optics have been re-worked to yield softened clarity corner-to-corner.

Also during a back is an articulated 3in LCD arrangement with a 921k-dot fortitude that can be pointed outwards for waist-level sharpened or pulled downwards should we wish to harmonise shots with a camera lifted aloft. Its value observant yet that given it isn’t hinged during a side, a usually unequivocally matched to landscape-format sharpened a infancy of a time.

There’s no built-in peep or an mini outmost speedlight bundled with a A7, so you’ll need an discretionary dedicated ‘gun. As we’ve seen with a raft of Sony models given a attainment of a A99 final year, a A7 uses what Sony terms a Multi-Interface Shoe, so those with comparison peep pack that facilities a Minolta/Sony hotshoe hit will need an adapter. The peep sync-speed is really good though, with a A7 able of syncing during shiver speeds adult to 1/250sec.

It’s no warn to see a A7 ancillary Wi-fi and NFC connectivity, permitting we to share images with your intelligent phone or tablet, creation them easy to share on a pierce if we desire, while a dedicated app for both Android and iOS will also concede we to control a camera remotely should we wish.

The A7 is also good specified for film shooting, charity full HD 1080p footage during possibly 60 or 25p in a AVCHD hilt format. Perhaps some-more importantly though, it offers full live primer control and 3.5mm jacks inputs for both a microphone and headphones, permitting we to guard audio during recording, while there’s a choice to record purify video outlay around a A7′s HDMI port.

Sony Alpha 7 (A7) front angled

New and Existing lenses

The A7 uses a same lens mountain as prior Sony NEX complement cameras, yet will these optics designed to duty with a smaller APS-C sensor, Sony is move out 5 new lenses as well, designated FE.

The A7 will be bundled with a 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS (Optical SteadyShot), while there’s a contingent of Zeiss lenses to name from: 35mm f/2.8, 55mm f/1.8 and 24-70mm f/4 OSS. This will be followed by a Sony G-series 70-200mm f/4 OSS and by a finish of 2014 Sony wish to have during slightest 10 dedicated lenses in a line-up.

If you’re upgrading from a NEX-series CSC and intend to use we stream lenses, we can, yet to equivocate complicated vignetting in a corners of a frame, you’ll wish to name a APS-C stand mode to On. Thanks to a 24.3MP fortitude on daub though, you’ll still finish adult with images a small over 10MP once cropped.

What if you’ve got a bucket of A-mount lenses? There are dual new A- to E-mount lens adapters in a figure of a LA-EA3 (contrast-detect AF with lenses that underline built-in concentration motors) and LA-EA4 (featuring Sony’s Translucent Mirror Technology to offer AF with all lenses).

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