[jogiba]

Conclusion - Pros
◾Smallest and least expensive full-frame body
◾Very good image quality when shooting Raw
◾Solid build quality
◾Compatible with a huge range of legacy 35mm camera lenses with no field-of-view crop
◾Large, high resolution electronic viewfinder
◾Tilting LCD offers good detail and outdoor visibility
◾Focus peaking and zebra pattern work well with native lenses
◾Very good video quality
◾Strong video features: manual controls, audio level adjustment, and uncompressed HDMI output
◾Well-implemented dual-axis electronic level
◾Solid Wi-Fi system allows for remote shooting, easy photo sharing; NFC a plus
◾Charging via USB can be convenient
◾Classic Sony features (HDR, Sweep Panorama) work well
◾Exposure compensation dial makes Auto ISO usable in manual mode
◾Microphone and headphone ports
◾Optional battery grip


Conclusion - Cons
◾JPEG quality disappointing compared to peers – crude sharpening, over-aggressive processing and occasional posterization
◾Autofocus can be hesitant, especially in low light; AF improves when assist lamp is turned off
◾Auto ISO tends to keep shutter speed at 1/60 sec, often resulting in blurry photos
◾Limited selection of FE lenses, which are expensive compared to competition
◾Tools for shooting with third party lenses need improvement
◾Longer-than-average startup times
◾Camera 'locks up' while buffer is clearing after continuous shooting

◾Overly sensitive eye sensor (also stays active when screen is tilted)
◾Lacks a built-in flash
◾Limited battery life
◾Exposure compensation and rear scroll wheel too easy to accidentally bumped
◾Menu arrangement poor and navigation a bit clunky (requires a lot of button-pressing)
◾No in-camera Raw conversion
◾No external charger for rapid charging or keeping a spare battery topped-up
◾Included remote capture software lacks live preview

Sony Alpha 7 Review: Digital Photography Review

[jsherman999]

* Autofocus can be hesitant, especially in low light; AF improves when assist lamp is turned off
* Auto ISO tends to keep shutter speed at 1/60 sec, often resulting in blurry photos
* Limited selection of FE lenses, which are expensive compared to competition

These three would disqualify it for me, especially the first.

[nickthetasmaniac]

Not bad, for a first generation product.

[JinDesu]

AF improves when assist lamp is turned off? That's... mildly confusing.

[dansamy]

So...about that k-3 review...

[pinholecam]

Pretty fair score and assessment to me.

JPG quality is as they described (very overcooked; probably the worst I've ever seen short of my handphone)

Lens selection, is as they said.
I am interested to see if native UWA/WA will face similar issues as RF UWAs/WA if they want to make them small (and fast); Else it will be SLR sized UWA/WA


Lossy RAW, so far ok, except that I just saw banding in the highlights in a few of my shots so may warrant investigation.
It may be that the OOF highlight was a light source that was shaped this way or my filter was dirty from smoke due to the event, so nothing conclusive.
I have not seen the same issue on my landscapes shot towards the light, so I won't worry about it for now.


Interface quirks are as they described in the article on using MF lenses, though I strongly disagree with the poor quality they got and lousy hit rates.
I get very good hit rates and I've been shooting kids, night events, landscapes, streets which is a wide enough spread of genres to gauge if this camera can 'cut it' for most situations (with manual focus)


Overall, like all cameras its not perfect.
There are issues that can be addressed in firmware and hopefully Sony will do it.
So long as the user is willing to learn and work around the small issues, its a nice FF camera at a good size and price to me.
The closest thing to a digital ME Super or digital OM
Those expecting the a issue free camera that is auto everything and native lens selection from UWA to tele will have to weigh the pros and cons of the camera themselves.



Edit :
Oh yeah...
The speed of this review basically shows the bias of DPR.
The K3 (2013 Poll DSLR of the year winner) was out earlier and still no review.

[LFLee]

Pretty fair score and assessment to me.

Edit :
Oh yeah...
The speed of this review basically shows the bias of DPR.
The K3 (2013 Poll DSLR of the year winner) was out earlier and still no review.

I guess it is very difficult to for them find someone who use Pentax and qualify to write a review.

DPR .... did not visit as frequent as I first start out in DSLR.... when I visit nowadays, it is always newbies and the same few old guys repeating the same topics. I guess it is a good place for all beginners, then move on.

I like The Camera Store youtube review nowadays, they are knowledgeable.

[pinholecam]

* Autofocus can be hesitant, especially in low light; AF improves when assist lamp is turned off
* Auto ISO tends to keep shutter speed at 1/60 sec, often resulting in blurry photos
* Limited selection of FE lenses, which are expensive compared to competition

These three would disqualify it for me, especially the first.

I think those buying the A7/r for native lenses will have to wait a while and even then I expect many will be shocked at :
1. Price of good lenses (CZ are never cheap
2. Potentially too short flange distance problems if UWA/WA are to be made small (so I expect DSLR sized UWA/WA which defeats the purpose of the camera size)
3. AF will not be as fast as a OMD or G5, m4/3 MILC.
4. Unknown UWA, Short tele prime in the works

The widest and longest native lens will be a 24mm+70mm from the 24-70, for a while.......
Its placing quite a bit on faith imo. (even more so if one buys in with A7r+FE35+FE55)


That said, I get very good yields even in poor light with manual focus.














I don't care for the AF and native lenses.
The MF lens guys benefit the most with either a full MF setup or a mixture.
The guys who need AF may well end up disappointed after the initial hype.

[RyanW]

Not bad, for a first generation product.

No, and let's hope they find some direction and conceptualize a system and build on this.

Sadly, here two cons team up to make things worse.

◾Limited battery life
◾No external charger for rapid charging or keeping a spare battery topped-up

This first is slightly forgiveable in that mirrorless tends to eat batteries like candy. Nikon V1 did it right. Used the same battery as the D7000, not some battery the size of a bloated SD card.

The second is Sony being Sony. No thought to how the product is used, how battery and charging method decisions impact the photographer and let me guess, it's a proprietary cable or did they actually give us a standard connector? If it's a standard cable, someone probably lost their job over that.

Sure you can hit ebay and pick up third party batteries and charging cables on the cheap, but why should you have to? Especially when other vendors don't make you do that.

[jogiba]

Limited battery life
◾No external charger for rapid charging or keeping a spare battery topped-up

battery grip :


$15 battery charger
NP-FW50 Battery Charger Kit, BC-TRW, for Sony Digital Cameras - BestBatt.com

[RyanW]

battery grip :


$15 battery charger
NP-FW50 Battery Charger Kit, BC-TRW, for Sony Digital Cameras - BestBatt.com

Sure,but compare the shot count of that vs a dslr with a battery grip. It's ridiculously low by comparison.

Best get that charger too because if you don't you're pulling the grip off, putting the battery back in the camera to charge. Sony thinks of everything

So for only about $315 USD you can have good battery life and charging.

[jogiba]

Or you have the option of using it without grip and just carry a few extra batteries if you plan on shooting a zillion shots . I bet there are many people using it without getting all bent out of shape because of a $15 battery charger.

[RyanW]

I guess I'm just saying technically, it's a really good camera, practically, it's not; at least not for me. Sony is 90% of the way there for me, but that last 10% is hard for them it seems. If the rumored Fuji X200 is true, I'll have my compact FF camera.

[Christine Tham]

Some facts ...

Battery life - have taken over 1000 shots on one battery. Have yet to have to change batteries in a day's shooting.

BC-QM1 is an external charger (made by Sony) has a quick charging function and is able to charge two batteries simultaneously - one on the charger and one in the camera. As a bonus, it will charge other kinds of Sony batteries as well.

[Iksobarg]

If I had that kind of money... (and I haven't even looked to see how much any of the native lenses for - but I can imagine!!)
and therefore Happily a Pentaxian \o/