Sony A7 & A7R Hands-On Field Test

We've been hoping for someone besides Leica to make a full frame, interchangeable lens mirrorless camera, and Sony has finally produced the cameras we've been waiting for! In this episode The Camera Store TV's Chris Niccolls checks out the new Sony A7 and A7R, full frame mirrorless cameras with killer specs for the price. See if they live up to the huge promise they offer.
Also, Jordan Drake takes a look at the video functionality.
Shop online at: www.thecameras...
Shot and Edited by Jordan Drake
Filmed on the Sony A7 & A7R

[@kohala1815]

Here I am in 2022, and this video is making me feel sooooooo good about my A7, purchased in 2019. Even better, all of my many Canon FD and Nikkor AIS lenses are beautiful on the A7, for which I am very grateful, both creatively and financially.

[@TheCameraStoreTV]

Thank you for your comment. I do certainly know how to pronounce Nikon properly due to my Japanese heritage. That being said, we are a Canadian show and I choose to pronounce it the way I always have here in Canada. I would never expect Japanese people to pronounce English words as I do, and would never feel disrespected by their accents. Nor do I feel that our Japanese viewers are offended by my choice either. Still... thank you so much for your insightful comment. Chris @ The Camera Store TV

[@tomd4748]

Im not Japanese, yet I'm vaguely offended because the internet demands I be

[@AgnostosGnostos]

It wasn't obvious then but this Sony full frame e-mount cameras started in 2013 the beginning of the end for the dSLR technology. The Sony a7 lasted for six years. The Sony a7 was introduced in late 2013 and discontinued by Sony in late 2019. Very impressive and quite unique for a Sony digital Camera. The initial price of Sony a7 camera body was 1700€ in 2013. After two years in 2015 it dropped around 1000€ and became the first full frame digital camera that broke the limit of 1000€. That has boosted the popularity of the Sony a7. During 2018-2019 it could be found during the Black Fridays at around 750€. Very impressive for a full frame digital camera at a price of a digital APS-C camera. The Sony a7R discontinued some years before the Sony a7. Keep in mind that both the a7 and a7R were introduced in 2013 with the Sony Zeiss FE 35mm f/2.8 T* ZA lens which is still in 2020 the smallest and lightest Sony full frame e-mount lens ever produced. Sony with this lens wanted to emphasize the small and light full frame camera body. The Sony FE 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS kit lens was introduced a little later. Also the Sony Zeiss FE 35mm f/2.8 T* ZA lens is one of the few and maybe the only Sony e-mount lens that is made in Japan instead of Thailand or China.

[@dubanhernandocastanedamora7196]

I bought for 350 dollars

[@phdayz]

This guy does the best reviews.

[@markeugen]

The video itself was shot using A7? Darn beautiful!

[@TheCameraStoreTV]

Thank you very much for your kind words. We're glad you enjoyed the video. This particular beautiful location was west Bragg Creek. A small hamlet just west of Calgary. Chris @ The Camera Store TV

[@Madmohawkfilms]

I'm loving my A7 and A5100 and think that making a trip up to Alberta is in my future. My partner and love shooting scenery and I think she'll find it as beautiful as I do

[@TheCameraStoreTV]

This was shot with the flattest profile possible, with sharpness, contrast and saturation as low as possible. Unfortunately, the image was still very saturated, I hope this is addressed in the production cameras. Jordan @ The Camera Store TV

[@TheCameraStoreTV]

I wasn't able to test the A7R for video too much, we only had the cameras for a few hours. There was some moire on the A7R footage, but I was unable to do a side by side comparison to see if it was worse than the A7. I'll have some more time with these cameras next week, I'll keep you posted Philip! -Jordan @ The Camera Store TV

[@TheCameraStoreTV]

Some small adjustments were made to exposure and colour, but no serious grading. All video was AVCHD, recorded internally. Jordan @ The Camera Store TV

[@TheCameraStoreTV]

Actually we did use external microphones in the form of our favorite Sony lavalier UWP 130s. They give a warm rich tone and have excellent range. The other significant point to note is that we ran them through the A7s built in mic port and used the built in pre-amp to control levels. Its excellent sound capability surprised us. Chris @ The Camera Store TV

[@TheCameraStoreTV]

The first curtain shutter improves responsiveness, but does nothing to dampen the noise. The native ISO of these cameras is 200, you have the option of going lower but you sacrifice dynamic range in the shadows. Jordan @ The Camera Store TV

[@TheCameraStoreTV]

'Peaking' adds a coloured outline to the sharp subjects in a frame, making focus much easier without having to magnify the image. 'Zebra' puts wavy lines over any overexposed area while you are capturing stills and video, so you can see that highlights are clipping before you record stills or video. Jordan @ The Camera Store TV

[@BoilDog]

Without a doubt, he does the best reviews on KZbin. Completely unbiased, honest, and not boring!

[@TheCameraStoreTV]

It is fully compatible, that's the adaptor we used in this video. Jordan @ The Camera Store TV

[@TheCameraStoreTV]

I'm not crazy about the footage, even shooting a flat profile, I found the skin tones oversaturated. The image isn't terribly sharp, and I did have some moire issues. The good news is that these are all processing issues, so they may be resolved when production cameras arrive. Jordan @ The Camera Store TV

[@thethirdman225]

The shutter sounds like my old Bronica.

[@johnfurious8419]

You guys do a very in depth and informative comparative review.... Thanks and keep up the good work.

[@TheCameraStoreTV]

That refers to the still capture. While this camera will send out a clean signal, there is no RAW video recording. Jordan @ The Camera Store TV

[@artofwishing]

Omg he aged so well, still cutie then and until now

[@iSOBigD]

I hope so. I really don't find the bulkiness necessary in this day and age where cell phones can pack in so many features. I'm not used to this shape and size for cameras, but I'll gladly put up with it to save some room and have a small, light, full-frame camera.

[@TheCameraStoreTV]

We did not use a Speedbooster, just the Active Canon to NEX VIII Adaptor. Speedboosters will indeed vignette. Jordan @ The Camera Store TV

[@samueltrimble2455]

That is the metabones speed booster. They were using the other metabones adapter which translates the lenses chip to the camera and back.

[@TheCameraStoreTV]

Correct, no crop at all using the Metabones Adaptor Version 3. Jordan @ The Camera Store TV

[@TheCameraStoreTV]

This was all shot with the Tamron 24-70 F2.8 VC on a Metabones Ef to NEX adaptor. Jordan @ The Camera Store TV

[@TheCameraStoreTV]

As shown in the video, AF works with the Metabones Active adaptor, but it is very slow. Not as a slow as an EOS M with the original firmware, but still pretty slow. Jordan @ The Camera Store TV

[@cstavaru]

The video quality is amazing. Even before the authors stated that they are shooting the videos with the A7/R, I thought to myself: "wow, what a great video quality, they must have been shooting with an expensive video camera".

[@TheCameraStoreTV]

I used a Tamron 24-70 F2.8 VC. It's one of my favourite video lenses, most of our recent stuff has been shot on it. Jordan @ The Camera Store TV

[@TheCameraStoreTV]

I could certainly see us using the Sony A7 and 7R in future head to heads vs other cameras on the market. Chris @ The Camera Store TV

[@TheCameraStoreTV]

I'm not sure about the first curtain shutter, but it feel every bit as responsive as the NEX-7. Since I shot most stills with adapted lenses and manual focus, the camera felt completely responsive. Jordan @ The Camera Store TV

[@Chrismzeller]

You are the best camera reviewer on the web. Excellent blend of the practical and the technical.

[@AmpleWarning]

This is the best review yet by the best camera review team on the net

[@ocguild]

Great review lads! Really easy to watch and full of info thanks heaps for taking the time to put this together :)

[@TheCameraStoreTV]

The video quality is OK, but it's pretty soft. Dynamic range is in line with most DSLRs. I did see some moire though, I'm hoping this is due to the pre-production nature of the camera. I didn't have time to try the uncompressed video, that'll be my November project. Jordan @ The Camera Store TV

[@regidwight]

Thank you for the useful hands-on review. As always, Chris does an excellent job explaining the features without getting too technical and boring. The end-user experience, with comparisons to the competition, are things that are exceedingly useful to me when I watch these video reviews.

[@photographerjonathan]

I am sure that I am not the only one, who would like to see a future focusing test of Canon lenses on the A7/A7r thanks

[@MahmudovProTips]

in 2017, this will be my next camera

[@FranciscoGuevarra]

Тургут Махмудов which one lol

[@MahmudovProTips]

а7 I guess, but I also wonder about Fuji xt-20

[@peterboi]

same

[@MrJoaoAfonso]

I want a7r or x-t20 don't know wich one I will chose

[@lukashomolka99]

I want Sony A7 or Canon 77D. Which one?

[@VAndal-pq9ww]

I just asked the same question... This time around I will wait and see if there are any complaints, no way I'm rushing and buy straight away!

[@hennessylieu]

I JUST FINNISH WATCHING LIVE A7/A7R And Camera Store did a Preview, THAT DAMN ESCALATED QUICK

[@jgarzo]

I’ve always liked this guy.

[@TheCameraStoreTV]

Hi Claire. Firstly you made Jordan's day! When it comes to the autofocus on the A7 and A7R i don't think you'll find it to be a huge improvement. Certainly the accuracy was excellent especially on the A7 but i did feel the speed of focus to be reminiscent of the NEX 6 camera. I liked it but it didn't blow me away. Chris @ The Camera Store TV

[@TheCameraStoreTV]

The video was shot at 30P at 1/60th of a second. This is the usual setting for TCSTV shoots. Jordan @ The Camera Store TV

[@TheCameraStoreTV]

Tough to say, since we still can't process RAW files. Based on JPEGs, the A7R files are the best I've seen from any sub-medium format camera. Jordan @ The Camera Store TV

[@TheCameraStoreTV]

It is impressive, because we did. Jordan @ The Camera Store TV

[@BluntyTV]

Man I can barely wait to get my hands on these buggers (to actually go shoot with... I did get a hands on at a press briefing a couple weeks back)... We all wondered who'd be the first to make a camera like this, and bam, Sony! so now everyone else now has to play catch-up, it's going to make things very exciting in the camera world :)

[@natedavis]

Hi Bill, I'm not a photography expert, but I'm on the team building the new Sony web site and worked on the pages for the cameras in question so I'll pass along what I know. First, if you want to compare details specs, Google "Sony digital imaging global site"--that's the best place until the new site launches. You're right though about the A7 being more full-featured; the RX1 is a specialist model with no tiltable LCD or headphone jack, so the A7 is more versatile.

[@philipbloom]

very nice review chaps. Jordan, when you saw the image from both did you notice the video from the A7r having any more issues than the A7 as it doesnt have an OLPF?

[@xt3nt]

two things: 1) you have a great presence sir, it felt very easy to understand everything you were saying, and i wasn't getting annoyed listening to what you had to say, unlike the DigitalRev videos *shudders* i'm not sure why i end up watching those so frequently.. 2) the black and white zoom in on the fs700 was priceless xD

[@AgnostosGnostos]

At 5:45 it is said that the native ISO of Sony a7R is 200. That is wrong I checked on the official Sony site, the B&H website and dpreview website and the native ISO is 100 like that of Sony a7. The extended ISO is 50.

[@MrNYCman530]

Both cameras seem great, but since there's no Image Stabilization built into either camera, it would be wise to use a lens with a stabilization feature. Otherwise, with a fixed prime lens, a tripod would be useful.

[@BarnET0]

it will stay 135mm F2.0 The sensor is roughly the same size as a Canon fullframe sensor and the metabone just increases the distance from sensor to the lens to let the lens focus normally. It also translates the signal to let the electronics talk to each other.

[@Luger718A1]

Yea my first comment was wrong i thought he was talking about a speedbooster but he was talking about a normal adapter. A speedbooster can be used (on the a7r) and youd still get a decent MP count, an extra stop of light with the ISO performance so you can shoot at extremely low light.

[@TheCameraStoreTV]

You can have focus peaking in regular view, just like the NEX line. Jordan @ The Camera Store TV

[@natedavis]

Hey sir, since the A99 has an older and lower-res sensor than the A7R (same 24.3 mp as the A7), the only reason would be a) you have really big hands and the A7R form/controls aren't comfortable to you, or b) you still have a lot of A-mount lenses and you don't want to use an adaptor. Because the interface on the A7/R actually take a lot of cues from the A99, the UI should feel pretty familiar to you with the new models.

[@TheCameraStoreTV]

It's tough to say, as the A7 was using early firmware. I certainly prefer the controls, size and interface of the A7, but I'd still give the edge in image quality to the Canon. Again, I'll wait until I get a production A7 before making final judgements. Jordan @ The Camera Store TV

[@hakobart2]

things are getting hotter and hotter...

[@stampscapes]

I sure appreciate your videos. You always cover everything that I want to know about the products.

[@MikeSpille]

Great reviews, guys! Thanks so much. This has been very helpful as I am deciding which full-frame camera to buy.

[@joeljrichards]

thanks for the reply Barney. I am aware that the lens is manual focus only. I clearly do not mean that I want to use AF *with that lens* but with any of the FE lenses that will released.

[@BarnET0]

good choice, If you want more freedom in post you can take a look at the Blackmagic pocket. It does take M4/3 glass and can in the right hands produce stunning results.

[@NeekoAquinoPhoto]

Awesome review guys! Chris you give the BEST reviews hands down on youtube. I love the no gimmicks just exactly what we want to know way you guys go about it. Appreciate ya!

[@zodiacfml]

thanks for this early hands-on video.

[@napilopez]

Probably because they were time limited with the pre-production bodies and can always go ahead and do that later when the cameras are actually released. Also, we can judge the video quality ourselves by, well, watching the video. I'd argue given the expectations from previous Sony performance and a full frame sensor, handling is more important to cover than actual video quality. Granted, they could have done both, but then my first point still stands. Thanks for the preview guys!

[@PrinceMeowmers]

Man I remember how crazy this shit was back then

[@pinturicchio85]

What started it all for Sony mirrorless. Here after 7 years..

[@Bohemian0522]

this looks like a real game changer, it has everything the Olympus OM-D offers but in full frame.

[@Maximilan20]

The camera used to record this video is absolutely BREATH TAKING...

[@brianchung1364]

At the end of the video, they said they didn't use one at all. All sound came straight from the built-in mic.

[@iglyduckling]

As usual, very fast review coming out just after the announcement, I like all of your reviews, keep up good work!

[@PostColorGear]

I don't know about the video quality on these. I mean, yes, it's not bad. But as soon as this video started I immediately noticed a difference, and then around the 2:00 minute mark is when you mentioned what he was filming with. I'm not sure if I like how the skin tones, for an example, are handled. However, as you said, it's nice to see a full frame interchangeable lens camera like this. Hopefully more to come. (Oh, and personally, I wasn't liking the bokeh on that lens, but I digress lol)

[@mcrazza]

Two words: Highly impressed.

[@ronaldov09]

Great job fella's...straight onto it just after the camera's announcement! You are the leaders in You tube camera reviews, keep up the good work!

[@stampscapes]

Fantastic review as always.

[@antant06]

It only took them 3 years, but just about everything listed as a concern has been addressed. Silent shutter, ibis for instance.

[@ChengHooSew]

Finally a small FF. I'me going on board the FF ship now

[@TheCameraStoreTV]

Although the Sigma DP Merrill series are excellent picture takers in their own way, because of their lack of versatility, and high iso performance, I would give the edge to the Sony A7 and A7r. The full frame sensors will give you better image quality in almost all areas and the cameras are far more user friendly in most situations. Chris @ The Camera Store TV

[@BarnET0]

If you have the art version of that lens you can send it back to Sigma and they can change the mount to the Alpha mount. Then you can have full phase detect autofocus with the Sony adapter.

[@TheCameraStoreTV]

That file was straight of camera, shot at F5.6. Jordan @ The Camera Store TV

[@kevinchiu6721]

Really... I think the review came up within the first 2 mins of launch. Great job!

[@Luger718A1]

youd have to use the camera in cropped mode. So say you use a 35mm + speedbooster youd get 35 x 1.5(crop mode) x 0.71(speed booster) = 37.25mm but with the cropped part of the sensor so less megapixels.

[@TheCameraStoreTV]

If this was our full time job, we would be! Jordan @ The Camera Store TV

[@natedavis]

Hi Bai-Cheng, I work for the Sony team in San Francisco that's building the new web site, but until that launches, the best place to go for authoritative product info is the Sony Digital Imaging global site (Google it; sorry, can't paste the link here.) If you look under "Features" in the A7 page, you can see a bit more about focus peaking (which it has), and on the A7R specs page, the file sizes for various formats. Hope that helps!

[@Sitti2300]

I'm highly interested in A7R!!!

[@kerhst]

First guys out of the gate with a video. And a great one at that.

[@Lofote]

Interesting that two complaints have already been fixed in newer cameras: silent shutter is available in the A7s, inbodystabilisation is available in A7-II.

[@BarnET0]

isn't the 28mm biogon manual focus only. That means it will not autofocus on any camera. focus peaking does help out when manual focussing though

[@WDWPRINCE]

Great job on this review. Thanks so much for spending the time to thoroughly inspect it, including video. I have it on pre order.

[@capturefourtv]

video image quality is amazing

[@apkinsphoto]

you guys make the best reviews on youtube. thank you.

[@I5H78]

the imagecircle will shrink by 30%. lenses for 35mm film will most likely vignette on the A7/7R, unless you shoot in APS-C mode. Medium Format lenses + speedbooster would make more sense on these cameras

[@bohemianphotographer6843]

Compliments guys as usual y video are very informative and professional.. I growed up as photographer with y .. now im a photography student looking foward to became pro : its all about my huge passion and also for y videos wich helped me with my first steps .. i just want to thank y .. keep going .. Simone from Florence Italy

[@Paul-Genge]

Great review guys. Kudos for getting it up the second its launched. Excellent!

[@BarnET0]

You always want your shutter speed to be double the framerate, i assume they used 1/60th of a second and 30 fps according to 14:23 in the video. They also use a variable ND filter in order to get those slow shutterspeeds in daylight.

[@BjornvanSinttruije]

Leicas do not have mirrors in front of their sensors though, and that is what "mirrorless" generally refers to. I'm sure whether any Leica rangefinder mechanisms actually have mirrors in them though, as pentaprisms deliver the same result but with higher quality.

[@I5H78]

because of the flange to sensor distance(no mirror box remember). Even if it was A-mount you would still need a adapter to match the flange distance of a sony A99 e.g.. So you would end up 3 different mounts a A-mount for dslr's, A-mount for mirrorless and E-mount also mirrorless. Making another mirrorless mount doesn't make sense to me

[@theSUBVERSIVE]

I wonder if some of the better button placement but mainly the video fets will also come to the NEX-7 successor.

[@_JeffMart]

You guys always have amazingly well rounded and unbiased reviews, thank you!

[@KayanEnsan]

The quality of the videos. amazing

[@ObelixCMM]

No. You have 2 options.Shoot in the crop mode, or shoot in full frame (and pray that it covers most of the sensor) mode and crop in post procesing.

[@cromrke]

This is the direction to go with full frame cameras! We just need blazing fast autofocus with face detection and perfect action tracking. I feal this will be the way future "SLR style cameras" will be built in general. All those mirros and mehanics are just getting in the way. I also must comment on the excellent addition of tilt-able lcd screen!! On my nikon I have to use a DR5 attachment which is a damn pain to screw and unscrew.