Kai from Digitalrev tried to answer one simple question. Can the first mirrorless FF (aka Sony A7) match the quality and performance of the Canon 5D Mark III? The question is tricky also because these are inherently different cameras. An A7-A7r for example can use a huge amount of third party lenses you cannot use on a Canon. On the other side the Canon has a more reliable faster autofocus for example.
I think the next generation Sony FF E-mount cameras will close some of the gaps they still have compared to Canon/Nikon DSLR. The Sony A6000 for example proves us that a terrific AF can be done on mirrorless camera. It’s only a matter of a (short) time now until FF E-mount will match or even outperform a classic DSLR camera performance.
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FE camera and lens Store Links in US and Canada:
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.
Store Links 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
Zeiss 24-70mm at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, SE, PT
Sony G 28-70mm lens at Sony DE, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO.
Asia:
A7r at Digitalrev.
A7 at Digitalrev, Amazon Cina.
A7 with 28-70mm lens at Digitalrev.
0 Responses
Digital Rev is hugely anti Sony – its kinda not even worth taking the reviews seriously – hes funny – but thats about it – hes very not objective
In this video though Lok comes across as pro Sony. He treats the Sony like its his personal camera. I found it to be an honest attempt at comparing mirrorless v DSLR.
Thats good then – all previous ones – particularly of the a7 he was very biased perhaps he reads the comments on his blog …
I think you’re misinterpretting it. He was playing the protagonist to the A7 to give it redeeming factors. Its kind of a mockery because you can tell even Loc in this video isn’t taking the A7 seriously. I’m not good at explaining things, but for sure Loc is not a fan of the A7 by the way he comes across in the video. He’s just acting for one side.
Loki is a big Olympus fan. So he does like Mirrorless, though not this particular one I suspect.
And not very informative either.
There’s a lot of monkey-ing around, kind of funny to watch, but that’s it.
That’s the point. It’s comedy. Satire at best.
Funnily enough, every fan claims review sites are biased against their particular favourite .Let’s face it while I love the image quality from my A7r it has more
than its fair share of gotchas. Its two outstanding features are image quality
and the small body size. Against it are the currently limited lens choice, poor
C-AF, poor AF in low light, EVF though good is still weak in low light compared
to FF OVF ,quite slow to start-up , noticeable viewfinder blackout time,
mediocre battery life. I would have liked a built-in flash though they are not
perfect by any stretch, they are very useful for simple fills or casual social
shooting. I find being forced to carry even a small flash along all the time a
tad annoying especially on a camera where size and weight are a star
attraction.
Sony has had many wonderful ideas but they do not always carry a product range through the refinement generations necessary to get to a really optimal level. Imagine
the R1 with the latest 24mp APS , and modern LCD /EVF etc
barely informative… Yeah i’ll definetely buy a DSLR cause that mirror makes it resistant to hot tea and a blowtorch
if somebody writes about a LAMBORGHINI and does never consume
the NÜRBURGRING it could be the same. ( if the first and only is the
way you like and love something-if you only look for the backside-quality
of the carpet …something was going wrong in your world…)(maybee)
TWO GREAT CAMERAS….so make PICTURES and FILMS in normal
real live not troll digital to the last day of all..and yet…
Why even publish this kind of crap ?!
from the cheapest to the most expensive model of noise is awful
The first mirrorless FF? More like the second: Leica has been doing this for a while…
Surely a Leica uses a mirror. Otherwise how would the split image of the coincident rangefinder appear in your viewfinder?
Seriously?
Yes, seriously.
The rangefinder mechanism typically involves a pentaprism with two mirrored surfaces. The mirror is required for viewfinding and focusing by the user, exactly the purposes it’s primarily used for in an SLR.
Assuming that “mirrorless camera” isn’t an entirely stupid and pointless term (it is) then one must admit that Leica M rangefinder cameras are not mirrorless.
I stand corrected. I always thought the rangefinder mechanism was based on small prisms, not mirrors.
And indeed the term “mirrorless camera” is incredibly pointless. It’s like calling an SDD drive a “diskless drive”, or calling an LCD a “tubeless display”.
Absolutely! Thanks to international idiotless management.
hmm, I thougt focus setting, using the old lenses, was mechanically transferred through a mechanism inside the bayonet in the camera – I believe the cut out in the M-bayonet is neded to give room for this, and in the modern lenses focus is transfered electronically. No mirror, but then I could be wrong. Anyone got a link that explains about the focus mechanism?
There is no mirror in the imaging path. Also, the vf is not wysiwyg.
And there is no mirror in the imaging path of an SLR either. The mirror moves away for imaging. Also, SLR are not “WYSIWIG” either. For various reasons, not the least of which is the forced contraction of the aperture by the viewfinder mechanism. But, probably more importantly, you only ever see what your eyes will perceive and never what the film or sensor will. You hope they will be similar, but, you don’t know from what you see if your exposure is wrong or the camera metered weirdly.
But, hey, let’s keep forcing uninformed arguments just so we can defend an incredibly stupid and useless term: mirrorless.
Yes, we’ve been declaring the death of DSLRs for six years now and announcing how mirrorless is just this close to surpassing them, and will soon rule the world.
Reality is painful.
Well you can’t deny that the the technical progress in mirrorless is a lot bigger than in the DSLR world. Look what Canon and Nikon have come up with, in the last couple of years, especially Canon came with just slight revamps of old models. Mirrorless is going to surpass the DSLR’s. Take the AF performance of a A6000 and combine this, in a years time or so with a A7R and there you go. Unless someone wants to carry 2kg of camera, just for the sake of having a better grip. For them the DSLR will always be better and mirroless just “toys”…
How heavy is the sal 70-200? What’s the proper grip to last a day’s shooting? We should compare weight with the whole system mounted, lenses and flash included and see which one fits the photog. What system do you think is better in that scenario then? Not to mention mounting the 300 and 400 primes.
“What’s the proper grip to last a day’s shooting?”
The lens itself. Heavier lenses come equipped with a tripod foot, and thick, tactile focus and zoom rings for a reason. No photographer out there supports the weight of a fully loaded camera system with the camera grip.
The primary support should be on the lens for a variety of reasons – beyond ergonomic, if you support the camera body rather than the lens, the weight of the lens applies torque to the lens mount which can warp it over time, leading to all sorts of decentering and/or alignment problems.
These “reviews” from Kai always make me laugh, he is a funny guy. This is good entertainment – and got nothing to do with camera review, not meny of the so called camera reviews got much to do with camera review anyway, to much bias, bullshit, lack of knowledge and lack of skills among the reviewers out there. Works quite fine as entertainment though …
So I guess you enjoy shooting brick walls and test charts? Well… good… for… you…
I’m don’t enjoy doing testshots, but anyone serious about photography should sometimes do some kind of testshots, not necessarily to compare products, but to get to know your own camera and optics better, it is necessary to get the most out of your gear.
To answer youre question: No I have never shot a brick wall or a test chart in my 35 years of photography.
So, you dont care about getting the most out of your gear? Well… good… for… you…
Let’s not forget that Kai did give the A7(R) a good review.
This comparison is for entertainment purposes only. Anybody taking it seriously needs to relax.
He’s such a spoiled, irritating brat… why do people take him seriously?!
If he had favored the A7 maybe you would take him seriously?
he is irritating but in all of his videos he points out real pet hates. he hates sony that’s no surprise
……….
Sigh with Kai’s test on EVF. It is totally wrong to TEST it.
It needs to be test for much darker place and he will find that he can’t even see anything through OVF but through EVF he can even see a lot of lighter and clear details by scenes magnification( lower the fps of EVF, lower the noise).
good point
Now *that* would be a fun video to watch! (filmed using night vision of course)
Why are you getting so serious about a video that is pretty much not that serious?
Can’t wait for February to end. One slow SAR news day after another since the a6000 announcment. ;^)
Of all the rumour/news sites I visit (I love camera rumours!) SAR is by far the most active.
Nikon rumours are far and few between, and Fuji rumors features more stories than news.
We’ve got it pretty good at SARs. I think Andrea has spoiled us. 😀
43rumors is quite awesome too 🙂 Is my favourite rumor site, but SAR is awesome too and is my 2nd choice 😛
well i have them both and i must admit that they are usable almost the same. for example the A7R sits on the shelf while i’m playing with the 5D3 shooting kid’s birthdays and so on for fun.
I think they skipped on the tough question here, by not comparing the A7 to something more comparable, like the Canon 6D
Or the 5dIII to the 7R (I know lots of Canon shooters would love 36mp)
Exactly. I tested the A7 vs. 6D vs. D600 myself and then made my decision in favor of the A7.
I have the 6D and A7. The 6D can focus in low light even better than the 5DIII.
Why did Kai put the Bible on his dirty table, when it wasn’t there originally? Not good for such a public person.
Maybe he doesn’t care about offending uptight religious folk
One doesn’t need to be an uptight religious folk to not like things like that.
Typical passive aggressive religious folk.
Honestly, I’m not going to continue this conversation on this website. But because I expressed my opinion, it doesn’t mean that I’m an aggressive religious folk. In contrast, you are the one who is aggressive and abusive here. Regarding the Bible, it’s simply unethical to put the Bible/Quran etc. on the dirty table, especially if it were not there initially. Try to be a little more respectful to opinion of other people, even if it’s not the same as yours.
It’s unethical in some religions to eat pork, it’s not to the rest of the world.
I wouldn’t buy the A7 if it wasn’t about the size, I like the ease of carrying it around, but for serious work I will go for the 5DIII without thinking.
If you want to make it bigger, just add the hand-grip (with also gives you more battery juice)
Why would I want to make it bigger??? I said if it wasn’t about the small size I would go for the 5DIII
Low light test was a bad joke. EVF is far better for composing in low light, yes it can get a bit laggy but then again a little lag is better than not being able too see a damn thing through a dim canon OVF.
They should have tried a manual focus test in low light, but that test would not have been rigged enough.
I think the whole video was a joke – and that was the intention. Besides, when do Kai’s videos ever involve in-depth scientific testing?
We all know the pro and cons of each camera. I’ve used my father’s 5D MkIII with the 50/f1.2 L attached. It’s a good camera and would be ideal for use in professional situations. But you know what? As an enthusiast it left me completely cold. I’d take my A7 and Zeiss 55/f1.8 over the Canon combo any day. It is simply much more fun to use.
SONY IF YOURE LISTENING – WE WANT THE NEXT A7 SUCCESSOR TO HAVE :
1) FAST AUTO-FOCUS (Like A6000)
2) FASTER BURST RATE
3) SILENT MODE
4) IBIS in body image stabilization
Start with this. Please listen to your customers like Fuji does to theirs. Thank you.
IBIS is not coming. Sad but true.
And by silent mode you mean electronic shutter? That doesn’t seem to be coming anytime soon on any camera either, currently the camera with the largest sensor including an electronic shutter is an m4/3 (excluding professional video cameras but those have a lower pixel count and a much higher price tag).
Brutal but honest review.
Yes, it is a piece of entertainment, but nothing he says is wrong, though of course it’s not the whole truth. Canon has mature products, Sony A7 is not a mature product – I think everyone would agree on that. I shoot (shot) with both, but now almost exclusively A7. It has lots of problems (I have commented before on lock-ups and button non-response under heavy shooting loads), and AF is not good enough under lower light – but I still choose it over my Canon all the time now (shooting Canon lenses with Metabones). Manual focus is not bad, and changes the look of my photos – I shoot differently with the A7, and really like the results. Anyway, the mirror is on the way out, no doubt – EVF is unequivocally better. Other issues with the camera are not fundamental – mirror less and EVF are fundamental. Canon and Nikon will go this route, because it is just so obvious that there is no other way forward.