First thing, thanks to this camera’s lower price tag, secondly to its full-frame interchangeable lens tango that is an eye candy. Though less expensive, the Sony Alpha ILCE-7 or A7 heralds faster performance and autofocus at 24 megapixels. Compare that to its 36 megapixel relative A7R with much slower AA-Filter-free components. But it seems that common sentiment is leaning towards A7R for its prime image quality and additional features. Sony Alpha A7 though is not a bad deal, in fact it is a deal compared to its other contemporaries just don’t shoot fast action.
In order for Sony to incorporate its Hybrid Autofocus System to A7’s shooting system, they use a lower resolution sensor. So fast auto-focus speed and resolving power is A7’s handmade, while A7R is out of luck for now since Sony cannot fit the phase-detection pixels in A7R’s 36-megapixels sensor.
Sony Alpha ILCE-7 might not be able to come up with A7R’s higher resolution and resolvability, A7 still dodges few clicks ahead of 6D and D610 at midrange ISO sensitivities. You can notice digital artifacts in some out-of-focus edge shoots.
At ISO 800, A7 might produce inconsistencies but further digital processing will ward off and refine those artifacts. Furthermore, even at ISO 6400 you can still get it to be printable at considerable size. And up to some immense ISOing at 12800, shots are still usable at reasonable scaling.
The quick auto-focus speed of A7 will give you further mileage on photo quantity while not deeming out of quality.
Video capture will give you a really fair and uncompromising quality. It produces doused colors that are safe from ambient noise. Full rich sound is produced by its native built-in microphone.
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Sony Alpha A7 might not be cosmic in its performance, but it could be better than the A7R and could be worse in some performance. It takes a while to boot up, like 3 seconds to be fully operational. Battery life is not the longest that you can find, maybe even shorter if you’re shooting videos.
A7 takes stage at shooting in dimmer conditions than the brighter. Shot after shot is good at .2 seconds on JPEG and RAW. 27 counts of burst shot is good enough, after that, it tends to slow down, perhaps in lieu of its read-and-right to the storage.
The contrast-system of A7R feels slow as compared to a more responsive A7, though both have the same image processor, A7 has smaller file size making it more responsive. Manual and auto focus is a breeze, no problem with both.
Another thing that picky photographers may notice is its loud shutter sound (never knew that it was such a deal with seasoned photographers), but yes, the shutter is a bit louder – according to some camera reviewers. This concerns them because the shutter leaves a shudder or shake to the camera when shooting. But common sentiments, it was not an issue at all.
Battery life as said, is good but not at par. The electronic viewfinder or LCD doesn’t seem to compliment this feat. The LCD is good as it is huge and very contrasting, that it contributes to the battery’s short life.
One caveat, our eyes on design differs greatly from person to person. It is highly subjective. So whatever is written, is not written on stones. You are a beholder of your own aesthetic preferences – at this point – a camera.
Sony Alpha A7 might not be a head-turner camera, but it has definitely some splendid features in it. A7 has a really good grip for comfort shooting. It has a magnesium alloy body block that is fitted with moisture and dust resistant features. A-mount lenses fit snuggly well to counterbalance the bulk and weight.
Switches and dial are perched for maximum accessibility. Exposure dial, Programmable Button, Power switch and Shutter buttons, Dials for manual and semi manual and more are at your fingertips.
Top right of the LCD is highly intuitive thumb dial that toggles between focus mode and exposure lock. Add to that the frequently used settings – flash, autofocus, drive mode, exposure, ISO, metering and more…
Tethering is not an issue, except for the only software (for now) that drives it in, the Sony Remote Camera Control software. Other third-party tethering apps apply.
Sony’s proprietary software PlayMemories App is an added feature. But you have to key-in things on the camera itself with really cumbersome keyboard operation. They could have done better by letting your mobile phone or computer do it on its behalf. The camera nevertheless, works with Android OS connectivity-wise life NFC.
So, just a few drops of notes. Don’t confuse yourself with Sony Alpha A7 and Alpha A7R. They are both point-and-shoot that could both be alternative to other much more expensive other brand camera lines. As with A7 it has really quick response time as it is fitted with a great image processor coupled with quick auto focus and shot-to-shot or burst photo taking. It has a 24 megapixel image sensor and resolution.
Learn More about Sony Alpha ILCE-7 »
As with A7R, it has 34 megapixels image sensor and resolution, much superior image quality but with slower response time.
