Photography News 04

Camera review

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Customisation options for the controls are fantastic – you can set it up exactly as you want it

to have more advanced focusing while retaining the advantage of the smaller body. If you’re focusing manually, the focus peaking is excellent – you can choose to have the highlighted edges coloured red, yellow or white, and you can set the peaking level to low, medium or high. The image can also be magnified on screen when you turn the focusing ring, or a defined area can be magnified. This combination of magnification and peaking makes it easy to get focusing spot on. There’s also the option of direct manual focusing, which uses autofocus until the shutter button is half pressed, after which you can fine-tune manually. The same but different Other than the resolution and focusing, there are a few more subtle differences between the A7 and A7R. One of the most noticeable in use is the shutter mechanism. When you press the shutter release on the A7R, there are two meaty clunks as the first and second shutter curtains open and close – it’s not ideal if you’re trying to be discrete. The A7 has the option of an electronic first shutter curtain, meaning there’s no physical shutter blind that opens to start the exposure. This reduces the noise, although the second shutter curtain, which moves to end the exposure, has to be physical and makes a hefty clunk of its own. The combination of this simpler shutter mechanism and smaller file sizes means the A7 can also shoot faster in continuous shooting mode. Its top speed is a reasonable 5 frames-per-second, but this is in Speed Priority Mode where the focus is fixed at the first frame. If you want autofocusing between shots, the speed drops to a more modest 2.5 frames-per-second. This is compared to the A7’s top speeds of 4fps and 1.5fps respectively. Neither are speed demons, but you’re unlikely to choose this kind of camera if you’re looking to rattle off action shots, so the difference might not be significant. There’s another compromise in speed on the A7R as well, with a slower flash sync speed of 1/160sec compared to the A7’s 1/250sec.

viewfinder screen displays them in the same way as the main LCD, and the buttons are all easy to find without looking. One other thing that applies to both cameras is battery life. A fully charged cell gave a little over 300 shots. If you’re planning a big shoot then a spare is probably necessary – the Sony NP-FW50 is £65. Also be aware that a mains battery charger isn’t included as standard, and you need to buy one separately – the Sony BC-QM1 costs about £46. Two focusing approaches Without a mirror, matching the focusing ability of other full-frame cameras was always going to be a challenge, and in these two cameras, Sony has gone for two different approaches. In the A7, there are 117 phase-detection AF points in the central area of the sensor to work alongside a contrast-detection AF system. The A7R doesn’t have this Fast Hybrid AF system, but a Fast Intelligent version that’s based purely on contrast-detection. Phase-detection AF in the A7 is definitely an advantage and minimises hunting. It’s not as speedy as a DSLR, but as good as most CSCs. The difference in the A7R is noticeable, with a lot more lens movement before locking on – this kind of hunting is necessary in a system using only contrast-detection. As a consequence, the A7R is a fraction slower than the A7 at focusing, but AF is helped by the pre-AF function, which is effectively an automatic continuous AF that gets the lens in pretty much in the right place before you touch the shutter button. Both focusing systems have a minimum sensitivity of 0EV, while most full-frame DSLRs go down to -1 or -2EV, and this difference shows. In low light, the focusing of both cameras slows down considerably, and whether or not they’ll lock on becomes less certain. In these conditions, the slight advantage of the A7’s hybrid system becomes insignificant too. It’s worth pointing out that you can use an A-mount adaptor that includes a translucent mirror to effectively convert the cameras into DSLTs with full phase-detection AF, offering a way

PRICE £1699 body only CONTACT www.sony.co.uk SENSOR 36.4 megapixels with BIONZ X processor IMAGEDIMENSIONS 7360x4912 pixels ISORANGE ISO 100-25,600 AUTOFOCUSMODES Single-shot, continuous, direct manual, manual EXPOSURE COMPENSATION +/-5EV in 1/3, 1/2EV steps, AEB 5 frames at +/-1EV or 3 frames at +/-3EV in 1/3, 1/2, 2/3, 1, 2 or 3EV steps SHUTTER 30secs-1/8000sec METERINGPATTERNS Multi segment, centre- weighted, spot SHOOTINGSPEEDS Single, continuous 1.5fps, speed-priority continuous, self-timer 10 or 2secs, self-timer continuous LCDSCREEN 3in tilting with 921k dots STORAGEMEDIA SD, SDHC, SDXC, Memory Stick Pro Duo, Memory Stick Pro-HG Duo, Memory Stick XC- HG Duo DIMENSIONS (WXHXD) 126.9x94.4x48.2mm WEIGHT 465g (including battery and memory card) A7R SPECS

ABOVE Increasing the ISO to 1600 is no problem at all and quality stays high. BELOW I took advantage of the shallow depth-of-field possible with the E-mount 55mm f/1.8 Zeiss lens.

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Issue 4 | Photography News

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