Sony A7r - a review on facts, not opinions

[kds315*]

http://petapixel.com/2013/12/23/bit-a7r-sanity-rising-trash-talk-fanboy-ism-actual-facts/
and
http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2013/12/a-bit-of-a7r-sanity

(both have interesting comments added...)

I like that trying of Roger Cicala / Lensrentals to rely on facts... oh well, at least he tried.

And I already know I will regret that, as I know my fellow chaps here by now

[iangreenhalgh1]

Good review. The comments are typical of the fighting and bitching that these cameras have caused, very sad.

I suppose the release of this camera revealed who are the gear geeks and who are the photographers - the gear geeks got all over-excited and fell over each other to spout ever more gushing praise, the photographers didn't get the fuss, it's just a new tool.

[sichko]

Thank you.

[cyrano]

Some gear geeks opinions that I've read are falling over themselves to find nit picking faults with this camera. Overall, it would appear,according to said geeks that RF lenses of < 50mm don't perform so well.
OK, here's a concept, why not use such lenses on you RF camera(s) and use slr lenses or the Sony /Zeiss offerings on this camera, difficult? Problem? Pixel peeping over fussiness anyone?
My opinion , in all it's limited knowledge is that this camera is a game changer, Sony has shown what can be done for the price and if, as it would appear this thing is selling well, then the next models will show quite the improvement insofar as the whingers are concerned, or, maybe not, what do I know.
I reckon the A7(R) will pave the way for more of a similar ilk from Sony,if not the other players and my desire will be something along the lines of the classic manual camera where all faffing is done,as it should already be, on the home computer and the FF camera is back in it's best guise as a sensor holding device with aperture and shutter control. The way it should have stayed.
Good for Sony, my pennies are being put aside now, to hell with perceived obsolescence .

[kds315*]

Well, I might even considering getting one, but haven't finally decided yet.

[memetph]

This article confirms that the A7 is the camera for me . I shall buy it mostly to use my old lenses . There are no serious arguments against that camera in this article. I even prefer the EVF to the OVF.
My only concern is the issue with the shutter on the A7r which causes unsharpness due to vibrations.
Have the forum members who already own a A7r , experienced such problems?

[RSalles]

Memethph,

It's all of you, but your first question contradicts your first argument,



Cheers,

Renato

[uhoh7]

[memetph]

[uhoh7]

[woodrim]

[woodrim]

[uhoh7]

After thousands of frames with both cameras, I have no hesitation to recommend the A7 far above the A7r for shooting MF lenses.

I did not expect this to be the case ,which is why I bought the R at first, though others did predict it.

This is not to say we won't see very nice shots on legacy glass from the A7r and very hi rez from the R and native glass. However you will not be able to tell on any computer screen, that's for sure, without big magnification.

What will be apparent on computer screens is the extremely quirky behavior of the R sensor at infinity and wide apertures on many lenses. Certainly there will be some exceptions, but in general you have to stop down quite a bit to bring in the edges, and with quite a few lenses they never fully come in. This is both RF and SLR glass. Most acute at 35 and wider.

You will be very hard pressed to find anything in that range sharp across the frame on the R @ 2.8 and even f/4 is rare. Heck, 5.6 is rare.

The R sensor has a bunch of pixels and a thick covering. They are designing the natives to talk with the very powerful processor and deal with this, but it's no help on non E mounts.

Some folks are in denial about this issue, and may post samples to prove their edges are OK. BUt most often their "test" shots are not at infinity with distant detail, so you can't see the smearing as well.

A number of lenses I had written off altogether, work pretty well on the A7. The difference is huge. The extra depth I thought the R showed at least in the centers, is simply not there in the real world. Like when you see the the whole image.

Besides this crucial R sensor issue, the A7 not R is:
alot cheaper
has EFCS (can be quieter)
Makes more reasonable file sizes.

But basically we have a thick sensor topping which is not allowing the full potential of the R to be realized with a huge number of legacy lenses. The topping on the plain 7 is also too thick, but the pixels are way bigger so it's not such an issue.

This is my honest conclusion after extensive testing on many lenses. I have no axe to grind. I never returned a camera before, but I'm very glad I returned the R while I could.

I like the plain 7 very much--though it's not perfect. Anyone who loves MF glass will love it, but I hope we will see something even better within a few years. However I don't advise waiting. Life is short.

The sole advantage of the R is the build, which supports heavy lenses better, but you can't feel that. In fact to the touch the A7 is better because the knobs are a bit softer.

[patrickh]

Thank you uhoh



patrickh

[memetph]

Very interesting feedback, I was interested by the additinal sharpness of the A7r for landscape photograpy.
I'll go for the A.
Thanks a lot.

[woodrim]

Thanks, Uhoh. I need to sort through the factors carefully to see which will affect me. One concern I have about the A7 is the lower pixel density when compared to my NEX-5N. Since I do crop images now, even with the 1.5 crop factor sensor, I expect I'll need to crop even more with a FF. I've gotten used to the 1.5 crop factor, so my 200mm will seem short to me when going back to FF. The pixel density of the A7r isn't as much as the NEX-5N either, but much closer. This might suggest I'll still be using the center of the lenses. Maybe it also tells me to stay with APS-C.

Since you have tested so extensively, I'd appreciate if you would demonstrate your findings with images.

[uhoh7]

[Arctures]

Uhoh, I am really appreciated for your feedback it was really informative and put some nuts and bolts together for me. However I am stuck with moire issue A7(r) has. Could you please share your experience and bring some details of how dramatic (or not) video moire issue is? I am especially interested to compare A7(r) video moire with Sony Nex cameras or Canon 5D MarkII (yes, I know MarkIII has almost no moire at all). May be anyone else has similar experience? Would be much appreciated for that info. I am sorry for this forum off-topic question, but video feature is very important for me as well as still capturing.

[memetph]

It might be also that FF lenses work better with FF sensor than with smaller ones. Some people mount a baffle to reduce the useless light going into camera when they mount it on micro 4/3.