Sony A7, A7R Eye-AF Test
It’s time for a new roundup of A7-A7r tests. There is plenty of things to see today! First of all the great Korean site SLRclub (Click here) posted a full A7 review. As you know koreans like to post articles as jpg images so translation is not available. But you can see plenty of image samples, crops and ISO tests. They also posted a dozen of test videos on their youtube channel.
Image samples:
A7R + LA-EA4 + Sigma 150mm F2.8 Macro at SLRclub.
A7r with 55mm Zeiss at Pixinfo.
A7 with some M-mount glass at cityusam01.
Articles:
Is the new Zeiss 35/2.8 Z better than the RX1 ? (Dearsusans).
Dean: Huge fan of you and your site from Canada here! I went into Henry’s (local camera store) and played with an A7. I took some pics with the SEL35F18 and SEL50F18 to show the image circle, and multiple pictures with the SEl1018 at different focal lengths. I also compared crops between the 5R and A7r with the 10-18mm (edge and center) both in crop mode and FF mode. Perhaps the SAR readers might be interested in having a look?
http://www.adventuristo.com/sharpness-comparison-of-nex-5r-and-a7r-with-the-10-18mm-sel1018-lens/
http://www.adventuristo.com/how-the-10-18mm-sel1018-e-mount-lens-looks-on-the-full-frame-a7r-and-a7/
http://www.adventuristo.com/how-existing-e-mount-lenses-look-on-the-a7r-and-a7-including-the-50mm-sel50f18-and-35mm-sel35f18/
http://www.adventuristo.com/sony-a7r-image-samples-with-the-fe-zeiss-55mm-f1-8-lens-and-the-fe-zeiss-35mm-f2-8-lens/
Videos:
A7 Shutter sound with and without front curtain on youtube.
German hands-on video by ClubSonus on youtube.
Images for download:
A7r with 55m Zeiss images at Wetransfer.
A7 with 28-70mm image samples on Dropbox (one) and Dropbox (two).
A7r RAW files at pan.baidu (for download)
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Support SonyAlphaRumors: After months of FF mirrorless rumor work I would be glad if you can support my work by making your A7-A7r purchase by using these links below. I will earn a small commission and you don’t pay one single penny more! Thanks!
Specs and Preorders in US and Canada (Click on store name to see direct preorder page):
Dedicated Sony announcement page at Amazon US (Click here).
Sony A7r body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS. TheCameraStore Canada.
Sony A7 body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS. TheCameraStore Canada.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS. TheCameraStore Canada.
Sony RX10 at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Zeiss 24-70mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Zeiss 35mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Zeiss 55mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
70-200mm A-mount at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony A-Mount to E-Mount Lens Adapter at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
Sony A to E adapter with mirror at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
A7/A7r leather case at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
A7/A7r vertical grip at Amazon, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony W Series Battery Charger at Amazon, BHphoto.
Sony FA-CS1M Off-Camera Shoe at BHphoto.
Semi-Hard LCD Screen Protector for A7-A7r at Amazon, BHphoto.
Specs and Preorders in Europe:
Sony A7r body at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE.
Sony A7 body at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon FR.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon FR.
Sony RX10 at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE.
Zeiss 35mm at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT,
Zeiss 55mm at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT
Asia:
A7r at Digitalrev
A7 at Digitalrev.
A7 with 28-70mm lens at Digitalrev.
96 Responses
SAR for exclusive a7 a7r coverage.
Everything related to a7 and. a7r and nothing else.
Good. Because right now everything else pales in comparison.
Yes, because that’s pretty much all that Sony has these days 😉
For moew info about NEX-3 scroll down to page 1-10 😀
This may not be the fastest, but that AF speed and accuracy is sufficient enough
to justify my choice for A7R.
I’ve been shooting Canon DSLRs for the last 7 years, but I couldn’t care less about AF speed. As long as the A7R has ACCURATE auto focus, I’ll probably dump my 5D3 and replace it with the A7R.
I wonder how the AF’s compare in low-light though (as opposed to good light)…
It usually goes downhill from there. I remember always getting the “big green box” on my NEX-5 when I tried to shoot a night scene using the wide area focus(christmas lights, street lamps, etc). It was slightly better when I used spot focus , but still hit and miss. I was better off using MF.
Why shouldn’t AF speed be the fastest?
This is state of the art and brand new. They had a chance to put all the latest advances on it. Why wouldn’t it perform as such? Why are we forced into the position of defending it as being just about good enough?
This is serious $$. We really want to like this. Impress us, please.
I guess the simple reply to you is “Nothing Is Perfect”
There is nothing wrong to defend and justify the imperfection with its other strong
and best features.
This may be state of the art and the latest. But this is a only $2300 camera. Many
other cameras are latest and expensive and yet come with their weaknesses.
when you get rid of the mirror you win some and you lose some. the fastest focusing cameras have mirrorboxes.
My Nex-7 is minimum 2 times faster than in this vidseo test!
Innovation………! 🙂
He’s focusing on a computer screen that is inches away from him with great contrast
What is this video really testing? Not face-detect, but face-on-monitor-at-fixed-distance-detect focusing!
I agree. Testing AF features on a bright computer screen is quite ridiculous.
Why not test it on a real subject? Perhaps the dude has anthropophobia.
This guy is not a photographer. He’s just another gear/pixel peeper. He probably doesn’t even go outside to take pictures.
Exactly what I was going to say. The most challenging AF test in history!
What happened to real people?
I agree. I’m waiting for someone to focus on real people, who are actually 3-dimensional.
Hi Andrea,
are there any a-mount rumors to expect soon?
rumors yet. But real cameras no.
Andrea
Now NEX is no more we need to know if future APS-C Emount cameras will still be recognisable as being the sort of cameras which we were familiar with in the NEX range, or if they are going to be more like the A3000 or A7 in concept and body shape
There isn’t any need to get info about particular products releases, but can you find out from your sources what Sony is planning generally in this respect and what that oblique ‘no further products will be called NEX’ comment during the A7 release means in practice
Thanks!
Slrclub did a great job, these samples are a pleasure to look at.
The shutter is LOUD. At least we know of something they can improve for generation 2.
The A7 sounds fine with it’s electronic first curtain shutter. It’s a bit louder than the current NEX cameras, but at least it’s only one click instead of two.
+1
Yeah, I think it sounds alright too. It’s loud. A FF shutter is gonna be loud in a little metal box with no room for soundproofing. But it is what it is. If its too loud for some people, than they know that a FF mirrorless camera isn’t for them and they have to find something else that gets the job done.
Louder than NEX? I didn’t realize how loud my NEX 7 was until I heard the shutter sound of half-frame Canons and Nikons. Those even with mirrors had a much more muffled shutter sound than NEX 7, NEX’s sound is too loud and crisp.
Well that’s great, cause I never really pay attention to my NEX-7’s shutter sound.
Should be nice cameras, though I don’t like the design or the shutter sound. Hopefully the camera bodies are not awkwardly small, as a lot of mirrorless cameras, including the NEX series and M4/3 cameras, are too small and fidgety for me. It will be interesting to read some real reviews, as Sony deserves credit for pushing ahead with full frame mirrorless cameras. Hopefully others follow suit and develop some with rangefinder-like designs with relatively small fast primes (21mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, and 135mm would be great). The next few years should be exiting in the photography world, as this marks a watershed, especially if they succeed and the cameras perform well.
You are interested in mirrorless cameras, but you don’t want them to be small? Does not compute.
Why not just buy a small full frame DSLR like the EOS 6D?
I want mirrorless cameras to be as small as possible, as long as it doesn’t sacrifice image quality. I’ll happily dump my big bulky EOS 5D3 if the A7R pleases me.
Don’t be foolish, the video on a7R is not worth comparing to 5D3.
That is ok, because me and most other photographers never use the video function anyway. To us, video is just a worthless gimmick that can be “fun to have” once a year.
Jus7ian: Who the heck cares about video?
What is this word; video? Is it like moving photos or something? Who in the world would want that? What would you even use it for?
Video is but another tool for artistic success. A typical professional photographer shooting weddings whines about how heavy the camera is when an artist suffers for the shot forgetting the camera was even a separate part of their body.
My NEX-7 1.5 yr, take video 3 time.
Whether you want a small or large camera is a question of ergonomics and handling, whereas mirrorless vs. DSLR is a question of what technology you prefer.
According to your limited view, all people who dislike OVFs and therefore prefer mirrorless cameras, must also want their camera to be small, no matter the size of their hands. THAT does not compute!
I think,new E-mount full frame in 2014 is mirrorless with dslr-body.
The stuttering of the LCD is deeply worrying…
The Sony A7R is a tempting camera. And I am eagerly awaiting the Zeiss FE mount MANUAL FOCUS lenses.
Could I get some confirmation, that the color rendition from Sony is neutral. When I look at Brian Smith’ pictures, I am not so sure. Coming from a Canon 6D with Zeiss and Voigtlander glass, I am used to outstanding color rendition. I could not accept color rendition with e.g. artificial greens and reds. Thanks, if someone can give me a feedback!
With Sony you shoot RAW and pick the colors however you want them in post.
Sony JPEG engines are famously awful.
Its not a bug, its a feature. The processor shouldnt be called Bionz, it should be called Monet.
Haha!
The Slrclub photos (linked above) will give you a much better idea about the color rendition.
Thanks Vlad and Zachery
I learn, that color rendition depends on RAW-brand and RAW-converter (what was no issue with Canon so far). I am a little helpless checking Flickr with Apple Aperture and Sony-RAW. Please allow me to ask another off-topic question: Will I find color profiles for the SonyRAW-Aperture-combination? I am not so successful with fiddling around with colors, the results are quite unbalanced… My question is obsolete, if RAW is a neutral standard, means, if SonyRAW is equal to e.g. CanonRAW.
Raw is not a neutral standard. It simply stands for the “raw” data captured by the sensor. Canon, Nikon, Sony, etc. raw files are actually proprietary (this is also reflected in their file extensions .cr2, .nef, .arw) and they are tweaked constantly, even from camera to camera, which is why you need to wait for a newly released camera to be supported by raw converters such as Lightroom and Aperture.
Even though this “raw” data is considered to be untouched, every camera does actually tweak it to an extent, after all it does have to capture it from the sensor. This is where each brand goes their own way. And every raw converter will interpret data differently.
I am not sure what you mean by Sony-Aperture color profiles, but here’s some relevant (I hope) information on Aperture:
http://documentation.apple.com/en/aperture/usermanual/index.html#chapter=A%26section=2%26tasks=true
Brian’s photos are heavily post processed to his style.
Coming from Canon myself – 10 years shooting – in my opinion, Sony color is far more accurate with less of a warm bias that you tend to get on the Canons.
Looking at the DXOMark scores alone, The Canon sensors tend to be rated lower for Color Depth than the Sony ones (See Sony and Nikon bodies). And let’s not even talk about Canon’s dismal DR performance…
Thanks Vlad and Chad.
every camera is different. I started off with the a350. white balance was not very good, but once corrected, colors were great in my opinion (despite lousy dxo-ratings). later I learned there was an ccd sensor, don’t know if that had anything to do with it. it felt natural and smooth. I then got the a580. did not like. felt unnatural, “plasticky”. now I use the a850. it’s nice, especially in good light. reds and magentas tend to pop too much, that’s all really. there are many advantages to the ff sensor, but considering only Lightrooms color rendition, the entry level sensor was number one imho.
all the above relates to raw+ Lightroom. stay away from the jpegs.
The wait seems unbearable … one of the new hands-on videos mentions how the rear element in the kit zoom is not anywhere near the mount, i.e. the is a big empty space at the rear end of the lens. So the lens might be possible to make smaller. But I think it’s OK if it makes it easier/cheaper or better quality to produce it.
That test was a complete waste of time.
I agree. This test was a complete waste of time.
Looks like the A7r is by far the worst with old wide angle primes…
I agree, it’s not very promising.
Admin
Since real rumers abuot other new caneras seem scarce how about a new wish liist/survey
Include new rumored features such as 5axis ibis, sensor shift focus, new technology sensor, a mount, e mount , compact, slr shape, hybred and whatever other goodies you think people would want on thier wishlist.
Then share the results with sony.
It should be fun and something interesting for those of us who are not going to buy the a7a or a7
Heay berrayr how abut u learrn heow to spel end type gooderer.
It is so annoying to try to read someone’s Smartphone jibberish. Or perhaps you have no fine motor skills and you just let your hand flop on the keyboard and hope it hits the right keys.
Put in an editing feature.
My fingers are fatter than the keys on my touchscreen so typos will continue to happen.
Its not that annoying….I enjoyed reading your first sentence.
admin..why did this comment go to moderation?
I didnt say anuthing bad.
Sometimes it’s a mystery for me too why some comments go into moderation 🙁
I may have been a little harsh on you Barry, sorry. But quite honestly, I bet it went to moderation because the filters can’t decipher what you’re trying to say, it’s not being seen as a known language, and its being flagged as spam.
It probably has to see with how fast you add another comment.
Vlad
Wanna race?
Vlad
You took too long to comment…..I WIN!
Haha! But, seriously, I don’t see another reason for the mod to kick in.
Even you make typos. In your first sentence you spelled 3 words correctly.
Im sure those were typos.
This one too
Admin
P. S.
Dont forget to put super high res on the wish list / survey
I don’t feel my wallet opening with the A7, Sony are selling a sensor and that’s about it.
Agreed…the camera sounds good but not the rite format for me.
To move from c to ff i would still like 2.25 x the pixels( about 56mp or better) so i dont have to sacrifice depth of field an longer lenses to get my larger format
Yeah, I’m getting that feeling too, after an initial stoke. I’d be surprised if you could tell the difference from Nikon’s d800e.
Size matters 🙂
Just came back from PDN, which I saw both the A7 and A7R. All I’m going to say is, I’ve been blown away by it!!! It’s actually a lot smaller than how the pictures are depicting it and with the grip on, it’s not big either! This makes me wait for my pre-order A7 even harder……(-_-)
Just made my way to the Photo Expo today and saw the A7/R in person and even though the material differences are very noticeable to me between the NEX6 and 7, though some may not, I was pleasantly surprised to find the A7 felt every bit as durable and solid as its sibling. I was also blown away with the autofocus speed of the A7 using any of the lenses really. I did find a noticeable difference in speed between the two models but would stop myself short of calling the A7R slow by any means. Oddly though, I found the overall grip and comfort of the NEX7 to be better than the A7, with the A7 feeling slightly cramped for me. Not sure why that is as it looks as though the two have the exact grip size.
Overall though, I was very impressed with the models and may just consider a FF e mount purchase in the near future. I want to wait first to see what those two extra models are that are rumored to come next year. If one of them is NEX styled I would be all over that!
Admin, (or anyone really) do we know yet what those two rumored E mount FF models may be? Are they going to maintain the A7 body shape and just offer more features to call it an A9 or whatever, or are we looking at different body styles completely?
Here is a better example of the RX1’s mtf, with 10, 20 and 40 lpm: http://www.sony.jp/products/picture/y_RX1_ZEISS_MTF_02.jpg
And if the A7 had a touchscreen like the NEX-5N/R/T he could have just touched the relevant area on the screen and then taken the picture…
But then touchscreens aren’t ‘professional’ and therefore need to be relegated to ‘consumer’ cameras 🙁
Apparently another feature that isn’t considered “pro” is a tiltable LCD screen on back. Thankfully Sony bucks this trend offering it on most their models 🙂
It really should be on every camera these days IMO since it’s not only convenient at times, but encourages you to explore interesting angles and perspectives that you otherwise wouldn’t have attempted by always needing to look through the viewfinder.
I couldn’t agree more. If people don’t like touch screens they can just deactivate it, it doesn’t increase the retail price of the device anyway.
Some nice images at SLRclub. Again, showing great dynamic range from the A7.
Damn… still not sure which to get… A7… A7r… Dynamic Range… Sharpness… Dynamic Range… Sharpness…
Not a single test available, what else can you say?
Personally, I plan to enjoy first frustration reports.
Then announcements of new cameras will come.
The A7 is actually really great with resolution. I’m shocked at A) The terrible noise reduction and in-camera processing by Sony but B) How reallllly good the files are when you shut all that nonsense off!
You may really only see a 10-15% resolution boost with the A7r when it’s all said and done.
Wait one year more , and you don’t regret to have waited this time to have far more than A7-7R, with the A99 successor!
Jules, you are kidding right? The A99 is a big fat DSLR style body.
I have nex-7 and A99.
If bigger is better i will go for bigger! 🙂
I think I got caught up in the (anti-)hype! Just remember that I’ve been shooting exclusively with legacy lenses. PDAF? More like PFFT! Though would still be nice to have the option.
Only thing keeping me on the fence is the (lack of) EFCS. Hmm.
That thing is LOUD!!!
I want it so bad I can’t think straight. I never had this kind of urge for material things before. at least not since I was a kid and there was a new super cool action figure, like Luke Skywalker with new clothes on, or whatever. I don’t even know what to shoot with it, when to use it, what’s wrong with my current great. I just know I want it, I want to feel the weight of it in my hands, I want to carry it around with me and try all kind of lenses on it and charge the batteries and whatnot, my precious, my darling, we love it, don’t we?
What kind of stuff do you smoke? 🙂
Is it me or are those surprisingly good results with the voigtlander 15/4.5 LTM? …this with the A7–would love to see some raws with the A7R!!!
More samples: http://www.flickr.com/photos/leo_roos/sets/72157636975598525/with/10497293743/
Yes but just on the A7, the A7r looks awful… Look at the images with the Russian 20mm with A7 and A7r!
I really like the A7+A7R concept but looking to every still published up today my move will be get the RX1R for daily shooting and hold my A77 until new APSC A mount or FF hybrid mount see the light for my lenses collection.-
Why do people with such twitchy terets finger syndrome have to make videos?
Interesting, it looks like the camera that can use wide angle M mount lenses is the A7 after all.
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/40862374
Very interesting test on the color cast issue on the nex 7 in comparison with the nex 5. Seems the A7r is the new nex 7 🙁
Any idea when EF to FE adapters will be available? Metabones EF-E adapters are incompatible with the a7/r.
Walk with SONY A7 in Moscow. http://youtu.be/R-h_GqHGNWw