Sony a7 Full-Frame Mirrorless Digital Camera with 28-70mm Lens Reviews
Sony a7 Full-Frame Mirrorless Digital Camera with 28-70mm Lens
- 24.3 MP full frame CMOS sensor
- Up to 4 FPS in Speed Priority Continuous shooting
- ISO 100-25600(AUTO ISO 100-6400)
- 1080/60p/24p HD video (AVCHD/MP4)
- 3″ tiltable LCD with 921,600 dots
- 1/2-inch XGA OLED color electronic viewfinder with 2.4M dots
- Raw and Raw + JPEG shooting
- Multi-interface shoe (optional external flash sold separately)
- Wi-Fi and NFC connectivity
- SD/SDHC/SDXC/Memory Stick Pro Duo card slot
- Compatible lenses: Sony E-mount Full Frame, operation with Minolta/Konica Minolta Maxxum A-mount lenses confirmed via optional LA-EA3/LA-EA4 adapter
No other full frame, interchangeable-lens camera is this light or this portable. 24.3 MP of rich detail. A true-to-life 2.4 million dot OLED viewfinder. Wi-Fi sharing and an expandable shoe system. It’s all the full-frame performance you ever wanted in a compact size that will change your perspective entirely.
List Price: $ 1,998.00
Price:
Nikon 1 J5 Mirrorless Digital Camera w/ 10-100mm Lens (Silver)
- 20.8 effective megapixels
- 105 Phase-detection AutoFocus Points
- 20 frames per second continuous shooting with AF-C
- 1080/60p video capabilities and 180 degree tilting touch screen
- EXPEED 5A advanced processing engine
- Built in WiFi and Near Field Communication (NFC)
Meet the ultimate combination of image quality and portability, speed and versatility, creativity and connectivity Nikon 1 J5. Masterfully designed on the inside and out,Nikon 1 J5 Mirrorless Digital Camera with 10-100mm Lens (Silver) is faster than any DSLR on the market, achieves image quality and low-light performance few compact cameras can rival and yet is small enough to take on every outing. Shoot 20.8-megapixel photos, 1080/60p videos, time-lapse and slow-motion sequences, HDR (Hig
List Price: $ 1,049.95
Price:
Razor sharp images … With different glass than the kit lens,
There are many excellent reviews on here, so I thougt I would focus (no pun intended) on how to get good inexpensive lenses for the camera that will make it shine and give you a well rounded start at your kit without leaving you begging for food on the freeway exit ramp. I purchased the A7K (the one with the 28-70 kit lens). I do semi-pro work with photography and videography. I know good glass, but on the photography side have elected to stay away from the larger 5D MIII AND D800(E) cameras … Just wanted to be more portable and stealthy in my street photography. I own a Sony RX1 with a DXO RATING OF 93 on the that sensor coupled with the excellent Zeiss f2.0. The sensor on the A7K has a DXO rating of 90 so it’s a little less than the RX1. That’s not to say the A7 is not sharp … It is very, very sharp … Just not with the kit lens.
So … I took my excellent Sigma 30mm f2.8 from my Nex 6 and removed the baffle ( a common mod since then the Sigma can cover full frame). And there is a very, very tiny amount of vignetting at f2.8 and is actually very good up to around f4. All the vignetting is so light it can easily be removed in Lightroom. But that lense is absolutely tack sharp in the IQ department. Check all the reviews … This is a $199 lens that rivals the new Sony FE 35mm f2.8 at a fourth of the cost (with the baffle removed … 3 tiny screws and 3 minutes of work).
Then I researched and got the Samyang 14mm f2.8 super wide. This lense retails for around $348 on amazon, and has been tested by different mags and dozens of reviews to be practically equivalent to a $1400 super wide. You can get this lens under the Rokinon branding. The only thing is, of course, is that you have to use this lense with an adaptor to the e-mount. Since I use the inexpensive Sony LEA-1, it does not auto focus (the lens would not support it anyway) … So you have to manually focus. I find that with this lens, the A7 peaking function is a little off or uncertain, so I simply assign the C1 custom button to the focus magnifier function and eyeball it without peaking instead.
But … My star lens is the Sony A-mount SAL50M28 50mm f2.8. I put this beauty on the A7 via the LEA-1 adaptor, and beautiful things happen. That A7 is predictable and dead on accurate. And the peaking is full off until exactly (not almost) in focus. That makes manually focusing with mid level peaking fast, effortless and very accurate … An absolute pleasure to use. This is the only lense I have used thus far that makes me feel just as comfortable shooting as I do with auto focus shooting. Plus (the very best part) the lense is unbelievably sharp and flat across the frame. When I saw that 16 people on Amazon gave it five stars, I was skeptical … But now, I’m a believer. Amazing sharpness and even though, yes 50mm is handy for macro work, this lens is da bomb for street photography. Chances are I will rarely take this lens off my camera. Even for 50mm landscape shots, a 100% crop reveals individual pine needles on a pine tree at 120 yards away … With dead on color and absolutely no noise or optical distortion. The lens is completely flat and is about 1:1.1 or 1:1.2 … In other words, subjects in your images look the same size as what your eyes see.
This $598 sony 50mm just boosted the sharpness of my A7 to what seems to be slightly beyond 5D MIII territory. And finally that lens, with the small Sony adaptor attached is about the same size as the original A7 kit lens. Before, I just had a pro camera … Now I am getting pro images out of it. What a difference! All else with the camera is high quality, pro build and everything I could hope for in manual control functions that are all easily assignable to the many physical controls that are easily and intuitively placed around the camera. So now, with an Nex-6, a Canon T2i, a Sony RX1 and my new A7, I finally feel like things are reasonaby well covered. But the A7 takes me into another league altogether. It’s easy to carry with me, I get pro results, it’s rock solid, ultra configurable to the way I want to shoot, etc. We’re having fun now.
UPDATE: I was so impressed with the leap in IQ from the Alpha A-mount lenses that I purchased the LA-EA4 adaptor. This is the adaptor you want … fast AF and actually much smaller looking and feeling than what the pictures of it on the camera would seem to indicate. If fact, I am so impressed by the auto focusing response and lightness of the unit that I decided to simply make the A-mounts my lens collection. Of course I save a lot of money, but once I research the lenses for 5 star average reviews, I can buy them at around 50 to 60 percent what the FE lenses would cost. So far, in addition to the (not so sharp) 28-70 kit lens that came with the A7, I have the A-mount Sony 50mm F2.8 ($450), the Sony 50mm F1.4 ($550), and a SUPERB Sony 100mm F2.8 ($800). These are all full frame lenses and the pros who have…
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|A perfect balance between artistry, gadgetry and nostalgia,
Pro:
* One of the best full size sensor currently on market
* One incredible performer in low light
* A beautiful electronic viewfinder and under most conditions make you forget you are not using an optical viewfinder
* Very helpful focus aid for manual focus shooters (peaking and magnification)
* Professional quality bodies with well thought out designs
* Very small and light (with the right lenses)
* Short flange focal distance means almost all vantage manual focus lenses can be adopted
* Body very aggressively priced at $1700. With discount, it is an even better deal.
* Good WIFI implementation and connectivity to the web and smartphones. A well thought-out strategy for social media/sharing
Cons:
* Paucity of full frame E lenses and lenses are very expensive
* Battery drains fast
* JPG quality leaves something to be desired
* Doesn’t come with a dedicated charger
* Some control are less intuitive and not as conventional
* AF is still sluggish compared to high end DSLR
* Lack accessories to support studio shooting (ie. wireless flash controller)
While sports and bird photographers will be underwhelmed by the lack of lenses selection and slow AF performance, street and travel photographers would be equally delighted by this camera’s image quality, weight reduction and portability. Case and point, A7 with a 35mm Zeiss prime lens weights a mere 530 g or just only slightly over one pound! For discreet street photography, it doesn’t get any better than this. In this regard, A7 probably best approximate the Lecia M9 rangefinder experience for street photography. Of course, Lecia will sets you back $7000 for body only!
One reason for me to pickup this Camera is its ability to shoot many (or should I say almost all) of the legacy manual focused glasses. Any vantage glasses from the famous last year (Canon, Lecia, Nikon, Olympus, etc) can be adapted to be used on this camera. If you don’t mind working in manual focus mode, these lenses produces very respectable images with classical 60/70/80s flares. Working with these lenses bought me back to the days when I was learning how to take pictures on my father’s Canon AE1. In fact, I took very first few pictures on this Camera with his 50mm FD lenses. Although I bought my Camera with a nicely appointed 35mm Zeiss 2.8 lenses, it left neglected in my covered while I was busy exploring one vantage after another. A7’s ability to use these lenses its full frame glory, is nothing short of a revelation. SONY’s ability to focus peak and magnify view finder on the fly, make using manual focus vantage lenses a joy. In fact, I think this Camera is best enjoyed with small and fast light prime lenses from the 80s. For example, the Canon FD looks to be made for the SONYs both in style and performance. Lecia glasses are simply stunning both in quality and appearance when mated to the A7.
A7 is an extraordinary complex camera with a lot of options. It is a sad thing that SONY didn’t include a manual with the box and the online manual doesn’t help but scratch the bare surface of its capabilities. It will take time, dedication, and no how to master this camera. Even thought some of the control and menu still feels some what less thought out comparing to professional photography tools from Nikon and Canon. With this said, a little familiarization and work is all that stood between hours after hours of enjoyment.
I find working with A7 is a more deliberate picture making process. This is not good or bad, just different. This again reminds me how I used to take pictures shooting film. With this said, A7 has no shortage of modern gadget appeals. SONY has a well implemented WIFI application suite which is sure to please many. Right in the camera, you can establish direct link with smartphone/tablet, upload photos to computer and post pictures to facebook/flickr. The remote shooting application is intriguing and sure to delight my kids’ self addictive generation. SONY also have downloadable applications which you can get/buy to compliment this Camera’s appeal.
To summarize, A7 is a beautifully crafted piece of engineering marvel and a perfect balance between artistry, gadgetry and nostalgia. It may not be a perfect camera, but SONY gets my vote for its forward thinking and innovation.
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|Sony made a 5 star revolutionary camera,
I picked up my a7 directly from the Sony Store on November 15th in Hong Kong. The first one I received was okay except it had a mushy delete/c3 button (it didn’t click when pressed), so I refused it and had to wait until the next day to get another one. The second body had all buttons and dials working properly, so I took it home with a giant smile on my face. I purchased the camera, body only. I also purchased the Zeiss 35mm F 2.8.
Why I chose the a7 over the a7R.
1. It has less megapixels. Yes, you read correctly. 99.9% of the photos I take live in iPhoto. The only thing 36mp does compared to 24mp is take up more drive space. Also, I have a 20” x 30” blown up photo in my living room that I took on my old 12mp D300 and it looks amazing. So, 24mp is way more than enough for me.
2. It has Phase Detection Auto focus (PDAF), and the a7R does not. I wanted this faster focus because I will mainly use this for photographing my 6-month old growing up.
3. It has the low pass filter. I don’t want to have to remove moiré in photoshop or GIMP. I don’t even want to deal with photoshop or GIMP except for maybe that .1% of photos that don’t live in iPhoto. Also, this camera is also the home camcorder, and it is very difficult to remove moiré from video. (however, from test shots I have been seeing, the a7r doesn’t appear to have significant moiré problems, so this may not be all that important.)
Now that you understand where I am coming from, here is my review.
This is by far the best camera I have ever owned. Just in case you got here by accident, this is the smallest and lightest full frame changeable lens digital camera ever made. Full Frame just means that all the lenses out there for 35mm film cameras will look the same on this sensor. The pictures are amazing, the autofocus is lightning fast, and everything just feels like it should. It makes taking pictures very easy and fun. I moved to Sony NEX because I would often leave my Nikon D300 in the hotel, or at home because it was so darn bulky and heavy.
You can stop reading now. It is a 5 star camera. The rest of the review consists of my comments about the various features on the camera.
FIT and FINISH: The a7 feels extremely well put together, and exudes quality. The a7 has two differences from the a7R build. The a7 has a polymer front plate instead of magnesium, and it has polymer dials instead of aluminum. But, I cannot tell the difference between this camera and the a7R. They feel the exactly same to me (but this was only a showroom examination). If you owned both for a while, you could probably determine the difference, but it is really hard to. The a7’s weight is about 1/3oz more (9g).
CONNECTIONS: This camera has a standard mic in port, headphone out port, micro USB, and a micro HDMI out. It also has Sony’s new MI hot shoe. This is based on the standardized hot shoe size. There are extra contacts at the front for using all sorts of attachments, but it will also fire off a regular Nikon or Cannon flash (you will need to use manual mode, though). It also takes the regular SD cards (but will also accept the Sony memory stick type). It uses the same battery as the NEX-6, which is the Infolithium-W, so all those accessories or AC adapters and battery chargers will work here.
BATTERY: This camera does really burn through the battery. It depletes noticeably faster than the NEX-6. You should buy an extra battery and a wall charger. The camera is designed for “in camera” charging using the USB cable. However, this means your camera is out of commission while the battery is charging (which is 310 minutes in the camera according to the user manual). The wall charger is a must… and ONLY buy Sony batteries, and only from a big box store, a Sony store, or reputable camera shop. There are fakes even on amazon (many are only “fulfilled by amazon”). The last thing you want is a fake battery melting inside your $1,699+tax camera. Six months ago one of mine (marked Sony and bought through amazon) did melt, but it melted in my wall charger and not my NEX-6. Thank goodness.
HOT SHOE: This camera uses the new style Sony hot shoe. So, if you have a lot of “auto lock” accessories, you will need an adapter. But, the good thing is that the new hot shoe is the standard kind, so it will fire even off brand speed lights (although, you will need to use the manual metering mode on the flash… it only receives the “fire” command from the camera, not all the settings). It is the same hot shoe as the a99 and the NEX-6, and is the shoe Sony will be using on all new products that have a hot shoe.
SHUTTER SOUND: Some have complained about the “loud shutter.” It is louder than the NEX-6, but not by…
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|Very nice,
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|Great on my trip to Africa!,
What I liked-
Great images! Crisp and clear shots.
Easy to use video capture at a great quality.
Size is just right to fit in a small compartment in my backpack.
Wifi feature cool. I like downloading to my phone.
I had many comments from people asking about my camera. It took better photos than my D3200
What i did not like-
wifi button i kept accidentally hitting it on safari while trying to capture a animal shot quickly.
no viewfinder made it hard in bright sun to take a photo.
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|Fast, Compact, Improved Ergonomics and Much Better Sensor,
But what’s really improved is the sensor. Dynamic range and performance at high ISO is noticeably improved, exceeding even that of the Sony RX100 III.
Do yourself a favour and get the 18.5 f/1.8 lens for every-day shooting. I also have the 32mm f/1.2 and it never fails to impress.
I’m really not a fan of the zoom lens though most would call me a camera nerd. It gets the job done, but it’s slower than I prefer.
I like Street Photography, and It’s much more discreet than using a DSLR, it literally fits in the palm of your hand and the flip up screen is great in many situations.
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