Which Sony A7 camera? How to choose the right model

In the early days of the Sony Alpha A7-series there was the A7, the A7R and the A7S. Issues had been fairly easy. The A7S was the one for video, the A7R was the high-resolution model and the A7 was the extra reasonably priced choice. It was pretty straightforward to choose the right camera.

The scenario has bought a bit extra difficult since then. We’ve had the introduction of the Mark II and Mark III variations of every camera and Mark IV model of the A7R and A7, and now the Sony A7R V has arrived.

And let’s not neglect the Sony A7C.

So how have you learnt which is the greatest Sony A7 camera to choose when there are such a lot of out there new and secondhand? Nicely, in some methods the unique distinguishing options nonetheless assist.

For a deeper dive into the many various camera varieties and options out there, take a look at our vary of camera shopping for guides.

Sony A7R collection = Excessive Decision

With 61 million efficient pixels on their full-frame sensors, the Sony A7R IV and Sony A7R V are the highest decision cameras in the A7 vary. Their excessive pixel counts allow the two camera to seize an enormous quantity of element and, thanks to Sony’s unbelievable sensor-building knowhow and the BSI design, noise is managed nicely. That stated, we’d suggest making ISO 12,800 the prime worth you utilize if doable.

In the meantime, the 42.4Mp A7R III has the identical sensor as the A7R II. Each of them resolve extra element than the unique A7R which has a 36.4Mp sensor, however they’ll’t match the A7R IV or A7R V.

The place the A7R III scores over the A7R II for picture high quality is with the improved dynamic vary at the decrease sensitivity settings. Nonetheless, we’re solely speaking about round 0.5EV. And whereas that might be vital for panorama images, should you use ND grads or composite photographs, then it’s not THAT massive a deal.

The A7R III additionally feels extra rounded than the fashions that go earlier than it. Its autofocusing system is spectacular so it’s even appropriate for capturing sport. The perfect focusing system, nevertheless, is in the A7R V which has 693 section detection factors and the very newest topic detection choices which embrace Human (Right/Left Eye Choose) / Animal (Right/Left Eye Choose) / Hen / Insect / Automotive / Prepare / Airplane, all of which work in stills and video mode.

Sony has improved the dealing with of every successive model. Consequently, the A7R V’s dealing with is considerably higher than the A7R’s and fairly a bit higher than the A7R IV’s. Sony’s most up-to-date camera function a touch-screen, however Sony solely made full use of it with the A7R V. With the A7R IV and A7R III, it’s solely actually helpful for zooming out and in of photographs or setting the AF level.

There’s additionally a joystick that simplifies setting the AF level on the A7R III, A7R IV and A7R V. In fact, should you shoot nonetheless life, macro or panorama images that is probably not a significant difficulty for you. This can be a bit fatter and simpler to discover on the A7R IV and A7R V than the Mark III camera.

One other vital change that Sony has made with the A7R V compared with earlier fashions is that in addition to being barely bigger (3.2-inches vs 3-inches) and higher-resolution (2,095,104-dots vs 1,440,000-dots), the A7R V’s display is mounted on a 4-way tilting mechanism. It’s like a tilting and vari-angle display mixed whereas the A7R IV has a regular tilting display.

Get the greatest offers on the full vary of Sony A7R cameras at Amazon UK and Amazon US.

Which is the greatest Sony A7R-series camera?

Should you discover the Sony A7R out there at a discount value, it’s price contemplating, however it wouldn’t be our first alternative of the A7R-series cameras. Its AF system isn’t a patch on the newest model and the dealing with can get annoying. The Eye AF (human and animal) that’s out there with the A7R III and A7R IV, is excellent, however if you need it to work for people in video you’ll have to go for the A7R IV or A7R V. The brand new Sony A7R V makes some very good upgrades on the A7R IV, together with the capability to set the topic monitoring to Human (Right/Left Eye Choose) / Animal (Right/Left Eye Choose) / Hen / Insect / Automotive / Prepare / Airplane.

Should you don’t want fast AF level choice and the quickest focusing, nor the improved dynamic vary, then the A7R II seems like a great stable proposition. It additionally makes a major saving on the A7R III. Nonetheless, should you can afford it, the A7R IV captures much more element and is extra reasonably priced than the newer A7R V.

We haven’t finalised our full Sony A7R V overview but, however we’re already assured that it’s one among the perfect cameras on the market.

Sony A7S-series = Video

Whereas the A7S, A7S II and A7S III are supposed as the video cameras, Sony hasn’t stinted on the video options of the A7R II, A7R III, A7R IV, A7R V and A7 III. Nonetheless, the place the A7S fashions win is with their low-light functionality. All of them have a local sensitivity that tops out at ISO 102,400.

Their low (12Mp) pixel counts imply that they deal with noise extraordinarily nicely.

What the A7S and A7S II don’t do nicely in low gentle, nevertheless, is focus. That’s not a difficulty for a lot of videographers who routinely focus manually, however it’s somewhat behind the occasions. Fortunately, the Sony A7S III addresses this. It has a Hybrid AF system with 759 phase-detection factors and 425 contrast-detection factors, Actual Time Eye AF (Human and Animal) for stills and video. Its AF system can be claimed to function at down to -6EV.

Naturally, should you’re contemplating an A7S collection camera, video is your major concern. The A7S and A7S II are each confirmed on this space and ship nice high quality outcomes. However the A7S III is a extra succesful 4K camera.

It has full-sensor readout and may shoot 4K video at up to 120p or full HD footage at up to 240p, with full-sensor readout no pixel-binning and with the hybrid autofocus system in motion.

There’s additionally 10-bit color depth and 4:2:2 color sampling out there in all recording codecs.

As well as, Sony has launched new/improved codecs together with XAVC S-I 4K (All-Intra), XAVC HS 4K (Lengthy GOP) and XAVC S 4K (Lengthy GOP), plus there’s S-Log2 and S-Log3 and improved S-Gamut3 and S-Gamut3.Cine color science.

The A7S III additionally helps 16-bit uncooked video output to an exterior recorder through HDMI – that’s a primary for the A7S-series. The output is full-frame 4264 x 2408 16-bit with a alternative of 59.94p/50p/29.97p/25p/23.98p body charges and color areas.

Sony has additionally upgraded the A7S III’s twin card slots in order that in addition to SD/SDHC/SDXC UHS-II media, they’ll settle for the new CFexpress Sort A playing cards. These playing cards are required to get the top-quality leads to the enhanced S&Q (Sluggish and Fast) modes.

Sony has additionally responded to one among the greatest requests made for the A7S III and given it a vari-angle touchscreen. Meaning it’s simpler to see the scene then you definitely’re capturing above or beneath head-height, and for a lot of, makes an exterior monitor pointless.

Should you like the concept of a vari-angle display for vlogging however you’re undecided eager on the A7S III’s price ticket, check out the Sony A7C. Introduced in September final year, it has a first-rate 24Mp full-frame sensor, the Bionz X processing engine and glorious autofocusing functionality together with an inexpensive video specification. There’s no uncooked video functionality however you shoot high-quality 4K footage in S-Log2 or S-Log3.

Nonetheless, Sony hasn’t given the A7C the A7S III’s revised menu construction or its glorious touch-control. Additionally as a 0.39-inch kind, A7C’s viewfinder can be fairly small for a full-frame camera.

Get the greatest offers on the full vary of Sony A7S collection cameras at Amazon UK and Amazon US.

 

Which is the greatest Sony A7S-series camera?

With the Sony A7S III now on the market, there are probably to be some bargains out there on the A7S II. That camera has been doing an important job for a lot of videographers and the A7S III doesn’t make an improve in decision. The place it wins, nevertheless, is with the improved dealing with and have set that ought to make creating nice 4K video that bit simpler.

You may order the Sony A7S III from Adorama in the US and Wex Photo Video in the UK.

 

Sony A7 collection = The Inexpensive Possibility

Whereas the A7 II was fairly first rate, the Sony A7 III is a lot better. What’s extra, at launch Sony priced it fairly aggressively for a full-frame camera at £2000/$1,998 (physique solely) or £2,500/$2,198 with the 28-70mm lens. Nonetheless, its value has fallen since launch.

 

These are nonetheless not figures to be sniffed at, however that cash brings you a really succesful AF system, that’s streets forward of the A7’s and A7 II’s. It additionally brings improved dealing with with the mini-joystick management, a touch-screen and twin card ports.

The A7 III’s full-frame sensor additionally has a pixel depend of 24.2 million, which in addition to being a preferred determine, permits a great stability between element decision, file measurement and noise management. Add in 4K (3840 x 2160) video recording with S-Log plus a battery that has a for much longer life than the A7 II’s and the Mark III seems like an straightforward choice.

On twenty first October 2021, the Sony A7 IV was unveiled to the world and it makes some vital steps up compared with the A7III. Most notably, the A7 IV has a 33Mp Exmor R BSI (bottom illuminated) CMOS sensor which suggests its pixel depend is 36% increased than the A7 III’s.

Sony has additionally paired the A7 IV’s sensor with its newest Bionz XR processor, beforehand seen in the Sony A7S III and Sony A1. This further processing energy permits the A7 IV to have the identical native sensitivity vary (ISO 100-51,200) regardless of its hike in decision.

The utmost steady capturing charge can be the identical at 10fps.

 

One other space the place the Sony A7 IV distinguishes itself from the A7 III is with the autofocus system. That’s as a result of the A7 IV has Actual-time Monitoring AF and Eye AF from people, animals and birds for each stills and flicks.

The A7 III gained real-time AF for animals however not birds with a firmware replace and just for stills, not video.

To this point we’ve solely been ready to shoot a number of photographs for our early Sony A7 IV overview, however the Eye AF appears extra responsive with people and animals than the A7III.

On the video entrance the headline figures for the A7IV are 4K recording in XAVC S-I format at up to 60fps with 10-bit 4:2:2 color to both an on-board reminiscence card or through HDMI to a recorder.

The 4K 30p video is oversampled from 7K utilizing the full-frame, however 4K 60p is oversampled from 4.8K in Tremendous 35 (APS-C) mode so there’s a 1.5x crop.

That’s a pleasant enchancment on the A7 III which doesn’t have 10-bit color nor 4K 60p functionality and applies a 1.2x crop to 4K 30p footage.

Whereas the specification enhancements may not appear dramatic to some, the dealing with of the A7IV is dramatically enhanced. For a begin, the digital viewfinder has a pleasant increase in decision because it’s a 3.69-million-dot unit quite than a 2.36-million-dot gadget, and it has a refresh charge of up to 120fps.

As well as, the A7 IV has a 3-inch 1,036,800-dot vari-angle display quite than a tilting display. This makes it rather more versatile and it may be angled to assist with portrait orientation capturing in addition to panorama. It will probably even be flipped spherical for vlogging and capturing selfies.

Sony has additionally given the A7IV the revised menu association that first appeared on the A7S III and later the A1. It’s significantly extra user-friendly than the previous menu system.

Sony additionally has one other ‘reasonably priced’ full-frame camera, the A7C, which is a little more compact. Nonetheless, its present road value is round the identical as the A7 III’s and though it brings a vari-angle display, in different respects it’s not fairly so nicely specified. Except you actually desire a vari-angle display, we’d suggest going for the A7 III, however should you can afford it, the Sony A7 IV has the better of each worlds.

Get the greatest offers on the full vary of Sony A7 collection cameras at Amazon UK and Amazon US.

Which is the greatest Sony A7-series camera?

The Sony A7 III will be purchased for round £1,699/$1,998, which is temptingly beneath the £2,499/$2,498 launch value of the A7 IV. However in addition to the decision increase and enchancment to the AF system, the new camera makes some very good upgrades to the dealing with so we’d be sorely tempted to save somewhat longer.

Which Sony A7 camera do you have to choose?

Should you’re nonetheless undecided about which Sony A7 camera is greatest for you at this stage and also you’re desparate to make buy, plump for the A7 IV. It’s an important all-rounder and it’s designed with fanatic photographers in thoughts. It’s a camera with all of the specification you want right now, plus loads of room to develop with.

With the A7 IV, you’ll have the opportunity to shoot a variety of topics together with fast-moving sport and motion. Noise can be managed nicely and the degree of element in photographs gained’t disappoint.

Should you’re eager to get extra decision then the A7R V is the best option and its AF system is unbelievable. If video is your major concern then go for the Sony A7S III.

In fact, should you’re actually torn and you are feeling you may want to have the opportunity to mix high-resolution stills capturing with high-speed, blistering AF and 16-bit uncooked video recording, the 50Mp Sony A1 is the camera for you. It’s at the moment out there for £6,500 / $6,500 however it seems like the camera that can see {many professional} photographers, together with sports activities, wedding ceremony and journalist photographers swap to mirrorless images.