Sony A7 Đánh Giá

The Sony A7 first hit the scene five years ago, & it"s STILL on sale. But is this first-generation Alpha still worth buying?

ByRod Lawton, Angela Nicholson31 October 2019

Our Verdict

Our original review of the Sony A7 was enthusiastic but cautious. There weren’t many lenses và there were some handling quibbles, but it was an exciting new camera. Five years on, there are lots of new lenses và the handling has evolved but only a little, so – paradoxically – the A7 looks even better now than it did bachồng then, and for one big reason. Price! This may not be the most modern or best-featured full frame camera any more, but at today’s prices, what you get for your money is just extraordinary. Let’s spell this out. The A7 is a well-made 24-megapx full frame mirrorless camera that COSTS LESS than practically any current mid-range APS-C camera on the market.

(Image credit: Digital Camera World)

Key features

Some of the biggest advances in Sony cameras have been in the autofocus system, but even its first full frame mirrorless A7 has a hybrid phase/contrast-detection autofocus system. It doesn’t have the in-body SteadyShot INSIDE system introduced in the Mark II versions, but many Sony FE mount lenses are stabilised, và there are such things as tripods – và with the money you save sầu on this camera, you can afford a decent one.

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The resolution of the 24-megapixel sensor is pretty run of the mill by today’s standards, but it’s enough for most users và the larger photosites allow a good balance in all-round image quality.

There’s no 4K Clip, but the A7 was launched at a time when đoạn Clip in cameras was in its infancy và 4K had yet to appear in the mass market.

This isn’t a camera you’d buy for sports photography, either. It’s maximum 5fps continuous shooting speed is pedestrian enough, but if you want continuous AF, it drops to 2.5fps.

There’s a single SD/SDHC/SDXC thẻ slot, & a modest-sized 3-inch tilting screen on the back. It’s not touch-sensitive and it can’t flip round for front-facing selfies or vlogging. The electronic viewfinder has a resolution of 2.4 million dots, which is not as high as some today, but not bad nonetheless.

Beyond that, there’s not much lớn say about the A7, which is a basic but effective sầu camera for enthusiasts và experts. You can buy it body-only, with a Sony 28-70milimet kit lens (effective sầu, but don’t expect too much) or, at some retailers, with a 50milimet f/1.8 prime lens. We’d recommover the Sony 28-70milimet f/3.5-5.6 kit lens if you’re a first time Sony full frame camera buyer – it doesn’t add much khổng lồ the price, it will get you started straight away and you can always buy better lenses later.

An adaptor for Sony’s A-mount lenses is available separately, so it’s easy enough khổng lồ vị a ‘sidegrade’ if you have sầu a Sony Alpha SLT camera system that you want khổng lồ swap out of.

(Image credit: Digital Camera World)

Build and handling

The A7 is obviously larger than Sony’s APS-C A6000 series cameras but for a full frame camera its small form size is striking.

Even so, there’s a reasonably chunky grip which makes the toàn thân comfortable to hold for long periods of time. The kiến thiết of the camera is a little boxy, which will be appreciated by some, but perhaps not by others. While it doesn’t have the retro gorgeousness of a Fujifilm Mã Sản Phẩm, there’s a certain simplistic appeal.

There’s a satisfying number of dials and buttons on the camera, which will be appreciated by the enthusiasts that the camera is aiming itself at. The majority of the buttons are grouped on the right, making them easy khổng lồ reach with the thumb.

The Sony A7 has two control dials: this one just below the main mode dial, and a second around the four-way controller on the rear (below). (Image credit: Digital Camera World)
(Image credit: Digital Camera World)

On top of the camera is a mode dial for switching between the various exposure modes on offer, including aperture priority và shutter priority. There’s also space here for up lớn two groups of customisable settings – useful if you often find yourself shooting in a particular type of condition, such as low light.

Just above sầu the handgrip is a scrolling dial, which can be used for making changes lớn settings such as aperture or shutter tốc độ, depending on the mode you’re shooting in. On the baông chồng of the camera where your thumb would naturally sit is a second scrolling dial, which can also be used lớn change these settings. If you’re shooting in fully manual mode, you use the front dial for aperture, and the rear one for shutter tốc độ.

One of the best things about Sony cameras is the amount of customisation on offer. The A7 is no different in this respect, with three buttons labelled as ‘C’ for customisable. It doesn’t stop there, though: you can also change the function of almost every other button on the camera if you lượt thích. A quichồng thực đơn, reached by tapping the function button và useful for accessing commonly used settings, is also fully customisable to lớn the way you like to lớn work.

If you don’t like customising your cameras, this could prove annoying. The Sony A7 does not offer the separate, dedicated settings buttons on its body toàn thân that you may be used to from other cameras. There’s a lot more menu navigation and function assignment here.

The Sony A7"s electronic viewfinder has a resolution of 2.4 million dots – not as high as the lachạy thử cameras, but actually not bad. (Image credit: Digital Camera World)

Lab tests

We have compared our lab thử nghiệm results for the Sony A7 with those of three key rivals you can buy today. One of these is the Canon EOS RP., Canon"s relatively new 26MP.. full frame mirrorless camera – it"s more expensive than the A7, but still pretty affordable. We also picked the Nikon D750, which is now Nikon"s entry-level full frame DSLR, and available at pretty competitive sầu prices. Like the Sony A7, it"s benefitted from a long production run và continually falling prices. Our final A7 rival comes from its own stable. The A7 Mark II was its replacement, bringing improved image processing, in-toàn thân stabilisation & more. The A7 Mark II is still available, và while it"s more expensive than the original A7, it"s benefitted from the same kind of deliberate discounting, and is well worth considering as a slightly more expensive sầu alternative sầu.

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(Image credit: Digital Camera World)

Resolution

The Nikon D750 và Sony A7 Mark II are slightly ahead here, with the 26MPhường EOS RP. trailing slightly (surprisingly) & the Sony A7 a little further behind. The results from the A7 are still very good, but it appears the improvements in the Sony A7 Mark II have sầu made a small but noticeable difference to lớn the image chất lượng here & elsewhere.

(Image credit: Digital Camera World)

Signal to lớn noise ratio

Noise control is one area where we vì see constant improvements over time, so it"s no surprise lớn see the Sony A7 và the Nikon D750 (itself now five sầu years old) trailing the newer Sony A7 Mark II và Canon EOS RP.. Having said that, the A7 Mark II goes all the way back khổng lồ năm trước, & still stacks up very well against the much newer Canon.

(Image credit: Digital Camera World)

Dynamic range

Both the original Sony A7 & the later A7 Mark II score very well for dynamic range, beating the far newer Canon EOS RPhường and also showing the Nikon D750 a clean pair of heels. Even now, the Sony A7"s results are good, and the A7 Mark II"s are even better.

Performance

The A7 represented a genuine step forward in mirrorless technology when it was launched. Its tech looks pretty dated compared to what’s come along since, of course, but its easy lớn get caught up in camera spec wars và assume that every new development is important or even necessary. The fact is, the A7’s image unique stands the thử nghiệm of time perfectly well.

Colours are bright & punchy without displaying too much saturation. You can of course use Sony’s Creative sầu Styles lớn alter colours in-camera, which is particularly useful for black-and-trắng shots or if you want khổng lồ up the vibrance for any reason. Using Creative Styles means you can shoot in raw format & keep a ‘clean’ version of the image for working on later. Conversely, shooting with Picture Effects, a range of digital filters, is available in JPEG only, which is a shame.

The Sony A7"s 24-megapx resolution is pretty run of the mill by today"s standards, but its all round image unique still looks good even now. (Image credit: Digital Camera World)

Generally speaking, the A7’s metering system does a good job when left on Multi (all-purpose). You may need to dial in some exposure compensation when shooting in areas of high contrast, or if shooting somewhere very dark. Similarly, the automatic white balance option copes reasonably well in most situations, albeit erring towards incorrect colour casts when shooting under artificial lights. In these cases, it makes sense to lớn switch lớn a more appropriate White balance setting.

The A7 can be bought as a package with the 28-70milimet f/3.5-5.6 FE lens. While it’s a decent enough optic to lớn start with, it’s not the lens that either of the full-frame sensors deserves.

The amount of detail resolved by the A7 is impressive sầu, though our lab tests reveal that newer cameras can improve sầu a little on its sharpness. We tried the 35mm f/2.8 Zeiss FE lens, which really showcases what this camera is capable of.

Here, the Sony A7 has captured svào but natural colors & good dynamic range in extremely challenging conditions. (Image credit: Digital Camera World)

Sony claimed at the time that the A7 boasts faster autofocusing speeds than other full-frame cameras of that era, such as the Nikon D610 và the Canon 6D. While that is possibly true (there doesn’t seem khổng lồ be much in it) in good light, as light levels drop the autofocus hunts a lot more, and on occasion brings up a false positive sầu.

Image noise doesn’t really start to show until around ISO 1,600, while it doesn’t become problematic until ISO 6,400 – và even then only when you’re examining images at 100% to lớn look for issues. Images are more than acceptable when shared or printed at A4 or smaller sizes.

The biggest problem is battery life. It’s pretty much a given that you will need khổng lồ purchase at least one additional battery if you intover to lớn use the camera for more than, say, half a day’s shooting at a time.

The Sony A7 is typically offered for sale body-only or with the low-cost Sony 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens. (Image credit: Sony)

Verdict

The Sony A7 kicked off Sony’s challenge in the full frame camera market, previously dominated by DSLRs. You only have khổng lồ look at today’s very different camera market khổng lồ see the impact it has had. All this has happened in a comparatively short time, so although the A7 is the first và oldest camera in this series, it’s tech is still only five years old – & Sony was pretty good at making cameras và sensors then, as it is now.

The A7’s image unique is top-class within the limits of its 24-megapx resolution. Colours are beautifully vibrant, while the scope to lớn customise colour output in camera is very much appreciated. It’s also clear that Sony has thought about how photographers lượt thích khổng lồ work: the breadth of customisation options is fantastic.

The A7 isn’t without its flaws, some of them major. Battery life is poor, to say the least: if you’re looking to spover a day with the camera, it simply won’t last that long. That makes additional batteries pretty much an essential purchase. It’s also a shame that Sony has chosen lớn omit a touchscreen. When setting the AF point is as tricky as it is here, it would make things a lot simpler and quicker.

There are other things about this camera we could find fault with, but not at this price! That’s the key thing about the A7 – it might not have sầu been perfect, even, when it was launched, but the way it still stacks up today, and the prices you can get it for, mean that none of these honestly matter. What it can"t vị is pretty obvious. What it can do, at this price, is extraordinary.

Read more:

• These are the best mirrorless cameras right now• We list the cheapest full frame cameras you can buy• The Sony A7 is STILL one of the best Sony cameras• The best Sony lenses

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