Sony Alpha 7 Camera - Review

The Sony Alpha 7 has been touted as a great leap forward in camera design and a game changer by some and is the first full frame mirrorless camera to be released on the market. The camera shares the same E-mount system as the company's NEX range of cameras, however adaptors are available so various Canon, Fuji and Nikon lenses can be used with the camera as well.

First Impressions, functionality and design

Thanks to Maxi-Geek and Sony Australia I was able to spend some time testing out this camera. From an aesthetics point of view this is one good looking and very functional camera and much smaller than any full frame DSLR currently available on the market which makes it perfect for those occasions when you don't want to lug around a bulky and heavy camera and just want something small without sacrificing on image quality. The camera is certainly not going to fit into your pants pocket however if used with the Carl Zeiss 55mm f/1.8 Lens (which was the only lens Sony included in the review kit) the camera comfortably fit into the pocket on my hoodie and would most likely fit into most jacket pockets. I found the camera very comfortable to grip and hold.

The back of the camera features a 3 inch LCD screen on the rear and I found the screen to be bright and easily readable, in fact it is probably the best LCD screen I have seen on the back of a camera, the screen does have some tilt functionality but i found this to be limited and awkward and nowhere as functional as the screen on my Canon 60D which is my everyday camera. Sharing the back of the camera are your standard menu button as well as dials to scroll through the menu options and change white balance, drive mode and display modes. The thing I found most impressive and useful on the rear of the camera were the 2 function buttons (an third function button is places on the top) these buttons are fully customisable and can have any one of the cameras 46 functions assigned to them, the rear control wheel on the camera can also be programmed with another 39 functions able to be assigned to the up, down, left and right points of the wheel. This is an impressive array of customisation and by spending some time setting up the camera with your preferences the controls will become second nature even if you are migrating to Sony from another camera system.

The top of the camera features the on/off switch wrapped around the shutter button, the aforementioned third customisable function button and a dial that controls exposure compensation, I found this dial to be a great touch it was very useful to be able to control exposure compensation with a dedicated dial and easy to take a quick glance and see where this was set.

Performance

I took the camera and the included Carl Zeiss 55mm f/1.8 Lens  through its paces with some action photography at an airshow, some low light photography and also some shots in bright afternoon sunlight.

Due to being mirrorless this camera features an EVF or Electronic Viewfinder, I normally shoot with a DSLR so at first I found the EVF very hard to get used to, after extended use I did get a bit more comfortable with it but I cannot say I enjoy this way of shooting, especially for action shots as the EVF lags a fair bit which means if you are shooting sports or any other type of action photography you really have to anticipate the action before it happens or you will miss the shot due to the lag from the viewfinder.

I took the camera and the included Carl Zeiss 55mm f/1.8 Lens  through its paces with some action photography at an airshow, some low light photography and also some shots in bright afternoon sunlight, these will be included at the end of the review. I also found it was hard to get focus when shooting in low light when I was close to my subject even when pushing the ISO level of the camera above 1600, in fact my trusty old Canon 60D and Sigma 18-35 f/1.8 absolutely trounced the Sony when it came to low light, this is something to think about especially if your main area of photography is concerts or action photography. 

Most of the time the Sony A7 does make it easy to take amazingly sharp and colurful shots (as you can see from the examples) below and is certainly a joy to use in most situations.

*

All below pics are JPEG straight out of the camera slightly cropped in Adobe Photoshop

 f/2 1/50 sec ISO 2500 f/8 1/125 sec ISO 100

 f/2 1/3200 sec ISO 100 f/10 1/400 sec ISO 200

Lenses

Currently there are only 3 lenses available for the camera; 

• 55mm f/1.8 

• 35mm f/2.8

• 24-70mm f4

The prices of these lenses aren't for the faint of heart being that they range from $800 - 1200 a piece but if the build quality and results from shooting with the included 55mm f/1.8 in the review kit is anything to go by then they will be worth every penny. Sony plans to have a total of fifteen FE lenses by 2015, including macro and ultra-wide models.

Conclusion

Being the first full frame mirrorless camera on the market is no small feat and Sony has done a great job with the design, power and functionality of this rather small and compact camera, I personally do not enjoy shooting with mirrorless cameras due to the EVF and the lag associated with it, the whole process just feels unnatural to me and because of this I don't think mirrorless cameras offer the same amount of control and overall experience as a DSLR camera. The Sony A7 from Sony is a giant leap up in the mirrorless world though and I look forward to excitement with how much more innovation Sony will bring in the next few generations of mirrorless full frame cameras.

The current range of lenses specifically available for the Sony A7 is another sore point with me as both Canon and Nikon have a vast range of lenses already available for their full frame DSLRs which gives consumers a great amount of choice, sure these can be used on the Sony A7 with the available adaptors, just beware of the price involved if you are a Canon user as it is quite steep at $400+ for the adaptor. If Sony hold true to their promise of having 15 lenses available by 2015 then surely the Sony A7 will be worth another look, I just can't help but think that by the time these lenses are released that there will be a new iteration of full frame mirrorless camera on the horizon from Sony.

Both the expensive price of this camera and the current lack of lenses hold me back from recommending this camera at the moment whether it be for someone wanting to get into serious photography or a professional shooter, if Sony deliver on their promise of a large range of lenses then my opinion may change, time will tell.