Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
I've been hanging around the Century City Apple Store to get my hands on the new Sony A7 super-compact A7 24MP camera. The model I have played with is a pre-production unit with the SD slot altered to eject any cards. Must have been designed by some knight, as it reminds me of a chastity belt, no one can really get fulfillment here, just look around on the outside. The camera feels solid and even for it's small size, has a block like heft, as if manufactured in an advanced machine shop, not a production facility with plastic parts. I've copied some key highlights from Sony's website.
The camera snaps to focus and the capture is immediate and sharp. Unlike using a NEX APS-C camera, there is no significant wait time while the image appears on the LCD display between shots. I used the kit zoom lens which seems fair and gives apparently sharp images, but not intended to be anywhere in the class of the Zeiss full frame newly designed FE lenses for this full frame mount. I'm interested especially in the 35mm and 55mm primes which are said to be stellar in every respect.
I was really immersed with having separate logical controls for ISO, shutter speed and f stop, so one does not have to hunt through menus. The interface is improved considerably over the NEX menus we've come to know. The camera with its built in grip, fits well into the hand and does not feel like the tiny camera it actually is. I believe it's now the smallest full frame interchangeable lens camera on the market.
Still, would I give up my Canon system for this? Well, I just bought a Canon 6D which simply blows one's mind at the immediate grab of sharp focus and the ability to shoot multiple bracketed frames, (so far I've tried 5 brackets), and it's impressive. So for my current use, with a good complement of fine Canon lenses, Canon cannot be replaced. The great lenses from Zeiss for the Sony FE mount will be just the two primes, 35 and 55 and long afterwards, there will be much more. Of course, one can use a Sony Alpha DSLR to FE dedicated adapter, but that seems awkward coma red to using the 6D with existing Canon lenses.
So for me, the temptation is to get the new tiny sony A7R, 35MP, with the 55 mm Zeiss lens as my street camera alongside my even inner Ricoh GR at 28mm and 21mm. The beauty is that these cameras do not call attention to themselves. My Canon system will likely be left for the studio and assignments needing the 24mm TSE, the 50 1.2 L or else the 70-200 2.8 L IS II. The 6D will be great for the next several years. Well before then, there should be very high quality and more compact lens offerings native to the Sony A7 and A7R FE full frame mount.
With this remarkable opening of a new phase in photography, I do can easily imagine a major shift coming. Enthusiasts, prosumers and some pros looking for more compact forms, could turn their backs on their once venerable DSLR's. This new pair of cameras, the 24MP A7 and the 36MP A7R are well made instruments. The A7 is just 487 gm! or 14.67 oz! That's under 1lb! The Canon 5DII weighs in at 600gm. Also for the Nikon 800 admirers, they can get their Sony sensor "fix" in a much more compact body, (487gm v. 900 gm) and at a still reasonable price.
What's your take on this new form of camera?
Asher
Smallest and Lightest
"Meet the world's smallest lightest and interchangeable lens full-frame camera*. Sony's Exmor® image sensor takes full advantage of the Full-frame format, but in a camera body less than half the size and weight of a full-frame DSLR."
Full Frame Brilliance
"Enter a whole new world of high-quality images thanks to the 24.3MP effective 35mm full-frame sensor, a normal sensor range of ISO 100 – 25600, and a sophisticated balance of high resolving power, gradation and low noise. Never miss a shot as the BIONZ® X image processor enables up to 5 fps high-speed continuous shooting and 14-bit RAW image data recording."
New BIONZ X Image Processing Engine
"Sony proudly introduces the new BIONZ® X image processing engine, which faithfully reproduces textures and details in real time, as seen by the naked eye, via extra high-speed processing capabilities. Together with front-end LSI (large scale integration) that accelerates processing in the earliest stages, it enables more natural details, more realistic images, richer tonal gradations and lower noise whether you shoot still images or movies."
DSLR-like Focusing Speed
"Enhanced Fast Hybrid auto focus combines speedy phase-detection AF with highly accurate contrast-detection AF, which has been accelerated through a new Spatial Object Detection algorithm, to achieve among the fastest autofocusing performance of any full-frame camera. First, phase-detection AF with 117 densely placed phase-detection AF points swiftly and efficiently moves the lens to bring the subject nearly into focus. Then contrast-detection AF with wide AF coverage fine-tunes the focusing in the blink of an eye."
Lightning Quick Autofocus
"Get ultra high-speed AF despite the use of a full-frame sensor via an advanced image processing engine and improved algorithms that combine and optimize image sensor read-out speed."
Eye Catching
"Capture subjects partially turned away from the camera in a shallow depth of field with no problem thanks to Eye AF. Simply focus on a face, and a green frame appears over the prioritized eye to confirm the proper subject is locked. Its extremely accurate eye detection can even prioritize a single pupil. Eye AF can be used when the function is assigned to a customizable button, allowing users to instantly activate it depending on the scene."
"Meet the world's smallest lightest and interchangeable lens full-frame camera*. Sony's Exmor® image sensor takes full advantage of the Full-frame format, but in a camera body less than half the size and weight of a full-frame DSLR."
Full Frame Brilliance
"Enter a whole new world of high-quality images thanks to the 24.3MP effective 35mm full-frame sensor, a normal sensor range of ISO 100 – 25600, and a sophisticated balance of high resolving power, gradation and low noise. Never miss a shot as the BIONZ® X image processor enables up to 5 fps high-speed continuous shooting and 14-bit RAW image data recording."
New BIONZ X Image Processing Engine
"Sony proudly introduces the new BIONZ® X image processing engine, which faithfully reproduces textures and details in real time, as seen by the naked eye, via extra high-speed processing capabilities. Together with front-end LSI (large scale integration) that accelerates processing in the earliest stages, it enables more natural details, more realistic images, richer tonal gradations and lower noise whether you shoot still images or movies."
DSLR-like Focusing Speed
"Enhanced Fast Hybrid auto focus combines speedy phase-detection AF with highly accurate contrast-detection AF, which has been accelerated through a new Spatial Object Detection algorithm, to achieve among the fastest autofocusing performance of any full-frame camera. First, phase-detection AF with 117 densely placed phase-detection AF points swiftly and efficiently moves the lens to bring the subject nearly into focus. Then contrast-detection AF with wide AF coverage fine-tunes the focusing in the blink of an eye."
Lightning Quick Autofocus
"Get ultra high-speed AF despite the use of a full-frame sensor via an advanced image processing engine and improved algorithms that combine and optimize image sensor read-out speed."
Eye Catching
"Capture subjects partially turned away from the camera in a shallow depth of field with no problem thanks to Eye AF. Simply focus on a face, and a green frame appears over the prioritized eye to confirm the proper subject is locked. Its extremely accurate eye detection can even prioritize a single pupil. Eye AF can be used when the function is assigned to a customizable button, allowing users to instantly activate it depending on the scene."
The camera snaps to focus and the capture is immediate and sharp. Unlike using a NEX APS-C camera, there is no significant wait time while the image appears on the LCD display between shots. I used the kit zoom lens which seems fair and gives apparently sharp images, but not intended to be anywhere in the class of the Zeiss full frame newly designed FE lenses for this full frame mount. I'm interested especially in the 35mm and 55mm primes which are said to be stellar in every respect.
I was really immersed with having separate logical controls for ISO, shutter speed and f stop, so one does not have to hunt through menus. The interface is improved considerably over the NEX menus we've come to know. The camera with its built in grip, fits well into the hand and does not feel like the tiny camera it actually is. I believe it's now the smallest full frame interchangeable lens camera on the market.
Still, would I give up my Canon system for this? Well, I just bought a Canon 6D which simply blows one's mind at the immediate grab of sharp focus and the ability to shoot multiple bracketed frames, (so far I've tried 5 brackets), and it's impressive. So for my current use, with a good complement of fine Canon lenses, Canon cannot be replaced. The great lenses from Zeiss for the Sony FE mount will be just the two primes, 35 and 55 and long afterwards, there will be much more. Of course, one can use a Sony Alpha DSLR to FE dedicated adapter, but that seems awkward coma red to using the 6D with existing Canon lenses.
So for me, the temptation is to get the new tiny sony A7R, 35MP, with the 55 mm Zeiss lens as my street camera alongside my even inner Ricoh GR at 28mm and 21mm. The beauty is that these cameras do not call attention to themselves. My Canon system will likely be left for the studio and assignments needing the 24mm TSE, the 50 1.2 L or else the 70-200 2.8 L IS II. The 6D will be great for the next several years. Well before then, there should be very high quality and more compact lens offerings native to the Sony A7 and A7R FE full frame mount.
With this remarkable opening of a new phase in photography, I do can easily imagine a major shift coming. Enthusiasts, prosumers and some pros looking for more compact forms, could turn their backs on their once venerable DSLR's. This new pair of cameras, the 24MP A7 and the 36MP A7R are well made instruments. The A7 is just 487 gm! or 14.67 oz! That's under 1lb! The Canon 5DII weighs in at 600gm. Also for the Nikon 800 admirers, they can get their Sony sensor "fix" in a much more compact body, (487gm v. 900 gm) and at a still reasonable price.
What's your take on this new form of camera?
Asher