Sony Alpha 7 Review

Sony a7 specifications

Body & Design

The a7 and a7R are the world’s smallest and lightest full-frame interchangeable lens cameras, by a considerable margin. The design is a mix of the Olympus OM-D E-M5, Sony RX1 and NEX-7, and it feels extremely solid. Unlike the a7R, the a7’s front plate is made of composite – it still feels decidedly solid, though. The body and lenses are sealed against dust and moisture.

Ergonomics are generally good, though some may not care for the relatively ‘shallow’ grip. The front, rear, and exposure compensation dials are all within easy reach of your fingers, though the menu button (on the top-left of the back plate) seems oddly placed. Sony’s had issues on their RX-series cameras with the placement of the movie record button, which was easy to bump. On the a7, the button is essentially on the right side of the camera, so it’ll take some work to accidentally press it.

Top of camera

The a7 has a good selection of dials, though Sony is a bit limited for space here. On the far left you’ll see one half of the stereo microphone. At the center is the hot shoe, which Sony calls the Multi-Interface Shoe. What this means is that the shoe can handle external mics, video lights, and an XLR adapter. Modern Sony external flashes can take advantage of the interface, and Sony offers an adapter to use with the company’s older flashes and third party flashes made to take advantage of the old proprietary mount (Model number ADP-MAA). No accessory flash is included with the a7.

Continuing to the right, we have a mode dial that has the usual P/A/S/M modes, as well as two custom spots. There are also positions for movies (which can be taken in any mode), Sweep Panorama, scene mode, and Intelligent Auto.

At the far right you’ll find the shutter release (with power switch underneath), exposure compensation dial, a customizable button, and the front dial.

Size compared to Canon EOS 6D

The Canon 6D – one of the smallest full-frame cameras – still towers over the a7.

Until the a7, the smallest full-frame interchangeable lens cameras were the Canon EOS 6D and Nikon D600/D610 (which are about the same size). As you can see from the above photo, the a7 is much smaller and lighter, due to the fact that it has no mirror to deal with. The camera isn’t pocketable by any means, but it’s much easier to carry around.

In your hand

The a7 has a sizable grip that makes it easy to hold (at least with standard-sized lenses). There’s enough room on the back for your thumb to rest comfortably without pressing any buttons.

LCD and Viewfinder

Sony certainly hasn’t skimped on the LCD or electronic viewfinder on the a7 twins. The tilting 3-inch LCD has 1.23 million dots and a 4:3 aspect ratio. As you’d expect, the screen is sharp, and outdoor visibility is decent at default settings. The LCD can tilt upward by 84 degrees, or downward by 45 degrees. One negative is that when the LCD is tilted down, the camera does not sit flat.

The a7’s OLED XGA electronic viewfinder (which Sony calls the TruFinder) will be very familiar to anyone who has used the NEX-6/7 or a99 cameras. The viewfinder is large with a magnification of 0.71x, and extremely sharp, with nearly 2.4 million dots. The OLED technology means that there’s no ‘rainbow effect’ that can plague EVFs that use a field sequential system. The viewfinder eyepiece is large and is far away enough from the camera for glasses-wearers. It also does a good job of keeping incident light from leaking in.

Body Elements

	At the heart of both a7 models are their full-frame CMOS sensors. The Alpha 7 has a 24 megapixel sensor with an anti-aliasing filter, while the more expensive a7R bumps the resolution to 36MP and loses the AA filter. Sony’s dust removal system includes a combination of ultrasonic vibrations as well as a ‘charge protection coating’.
	One of the highlights on the a7 is the electronic viewfinder, which was built-in to the NEX-6/7 and a99, and optional on the RX-series cameras. The EVF has 2.4 million dots, and its 0.71x magnification makes photo composition a breeze. We did find the eye sensor that automatically turns on the EVF to be way too sensitive.
	The directional controller is much the same as those on NEX cameras. It has a wheel for adjusting settings, and can also set the drive mode, white balance mode, and what’s displayed on the screen. The Fn button opens the shortcut menu, and sends images to a smartphone in playback mode. The trash button’s function in record mode can be customized.
	Above the directional controller is a switch that swaps the function of the button inside it between AF/MF and AE-Lock. The first option activates autofocus when you’re manually focusing, and vice versa. Above that you can see the rear dial and another customizable button.
	On the top plate we have the mode and exposure compensation dials, the final of the three customizable buttons, and the shutter release / power switch combo.
	On the right side of the body is the dedicated movie recording button, which seems to move further away from the back of the camera with each new camera. To the lower-right you can see the NFC symbol, which is where you’ll ‘tap’ your compatible smartphone.
	The a7 has a single memory card slot, which can take both SD/SDHC/SDXC and Memory Stick Pro Duo cards.
	On the left side of the camera, under a pair of plastic doors, are four I/O ports. They include microphone, headphone, ‘multi’ (for USB, internal battery charging, and wired remote), and micro-HDMI.
	The a7 uses the NP-FW50 InfoLithium battery, which contains 7.7Wh of energy. This translates into 340 shots per charge. As mentioned in the introduction, the default charging method is over USB, with an AC-to-USB adapter included in the box. If you want faster charging, or just want a spare on-hand, you’ll want to pick up the external charger.

Controls

It’s safe to say that nearly everyone will be pleased to read about this next item. As of the Alpha 7 and 7R, the NEX menu system is apparently dead – on all Sony interchangeable lens cameras. We say ‘apparently dead’ because while Sony has lost the six-icon main menu and endless list of options, they’ve essentially just put them all into a tabbed interface, which remains clunky.

The shooting interface itself is just fine. The camera has the standard selection of live view settings, such as a live histogram, grid lines, and a dual-axis level. If you’re using the EVF, you can have the main LCD shown current settings. A shortcut menu makes changing import settings easy.

By pressing the Disp. button you can switch between various views in record mode.	Focus peaking is available when manually focusing, with three levels and three colors to choose from.
By pressing the Fn button, you can bring up this shortcut menu, which can be customized.	This information screen can be shown by pressing the Disp. button a few times. It comes in handy when using the EVF.

The main menu system looks very much like that of Sony’s SLT cameras, and is a nice improvement for the most part. The two frustrating things about the menus are that they are difficult to navigate with the control dials, and that the menus don’t ‘wrap’ when you get to the end of the list.

The main menu system is split into six tabs, most of which have quite a few pages of settings beneath them.	If you’re missing the NEX interface, you can turn on the ’tile menu’, which serves as a gateway to the regular menu system.

Dials

The a7 has four dials: front and rear, exposure compensation, and an additional rear dial which surrounds the four-way controller.

	In this top-down view you can see the front and rear dials, as well as the exposure compensation wheel which sits between them.

The front and rear dials adjust shutter speed and aperture, and you can swap functions between dials. The exposure compensation dial does exactly what you’d expect, though it’s a bit too easy to turn accidentally. While you can assign exposure comp to the front or rear dials, there’s no way to disable the setting on the EV dial.

	On the back plate is a scroll wheel, which doubles as the four-way controller. The directional controls adjust the drive mode, white balance, and what’s displayed on the LCD/EVF. By default, the wheel itself changes the ISO. The wheel can be used for navigating through menus and photos you’ve taken, and can also adjust other shooting settings.

The scroll dial on the back of the a7 can be used for a number of things, including menu navigation and reviewing images. It can also adjust shooting settings, which can be dangerous, as it’s a very ‘loose’ dial and spins way too easily. This may lead to unintentional setting changes.

Customization options

The following options can be added to the function menu, which appears on the display when the Fm button is pressed. If you choose to populate only the first six positions in the menu, then you get a neater, single deck menu when you hit the Fm button.

• Drive mode • Flash mode • Flash comp. • Focus mode • Focus area • Exposure comp. • ISO • Metering mode • White balance • DRO / Auto HDR • Creative Style • Shoot mode • Picture effect • Lock-on AF	• Smile/face detect. • Soft skin effect • Auto object framing • Image size • Aspect ratio • Quality • SteadyShot • Audio rec. level • Zebra • Grid line • Audio level display • Peaking level • Peaking color • Not set

Users can also customize the function of the rear control wheel, AE and AF/MF, three ‘C’ (custom) buttons scattered around the a7’s body and three directions of the four-way controller. Here are the available choices for each button:

Key	Available functions
Control wheel	• ISO • White balance • Creative Style • Picture Effect • Not set
AEL button AF/MF button C1, C2, C3 Left, Right and Down buttons	• Standard (center button) • Drive mode • Flash mode • Flash comp. • Focus mode • Focus area • Focus settings • Exposure comp. • ISO • Metering mode • White balance • DRO / Auto HDR • Creative Style • Picture Effect • Smile / face detection • [Stills] Soft skin effect • [Stills] Auto object framing • SteadyShot • Audio Rec Level • [Stills] Image size • [Stills] Aspect ratio • [Stills] Quality • In-camera guide • Memory	• AEL hold • AEL toggle • [Spot] AEL hold • [Spot] AEL toggle • AF/MF control hold • AF/MF control toggle • Lock-on AF • Eye AF • AF On • Aperture preview • Shot result preview • Zoom • Focus magnifier • Deactivate monitor • Zebra • Grid line • Audio level display • Peaking level • Peaking color • Send to Smartphone • Download application • Application list • Monitor brightness • Not set

As you’ll find out on the following page, you’ll probably want to disable the rear control wheel – or use the lock feature – in order to prevent unintended setting adjustment.

Camera Menus

While the Alpha 7 and 7R are E-mount cameras, Sony has mercifully installed the tab-based menu from the company’s DSLRs instead. While a drastic improvement over the NEX menus, this system still has 131 options spread over 24 pages, which can be overwhelming at first.

In general, the most commonly accessed settings are near the front of the menu, though a few things could be moved around. Overall organization could be a lot better, as finding the setting you’re looking for can be like finding a needle in a haystack.

The rear dial can be used to scroll through pages, while the front dial scrolls up and down through the options, though it doesn’t loop onto the next page if you reach the bottom or top of the page you’re on. Naturally, you can also use the four-way controller on the rear of the camera to navigate through the menus. We don’t like how much button pressing it takes to switch tabs. Unlike Canon and Nikon, you must scroll all the way up to the top of the menu to reach the tabs, and which point you can switch between them.

The optional NEX-like Tile Menu allows you to jump directly to the section of the menu that you desire.

For those who miss the NEX-style menus, Sony offers the Tile Menu shown above, though it’s merely a gateway to the normal menus.

You’ll often bump into ‘grayed-out’ menu options, which display vague error messages if you select them.

One of the most frustrating aspects of both the a7 and the NEX models that precede it are the frequent, unhelpful errors that pop-up when a menu item cannot be selected. Often these errors simply tell you what mode you’re in (see above), rather that would mode you should be in to adjust a certain setting.

Shooting menu

The seven shooting menu pages contains the most commonly used settings, which include image size, focus mode, ISO sensitivity, and white balance – plus several options related to movie recording.

Option	Values / Actions	Notes
Page one
[Stills] Image size	• L: 24M (20M in 16:9) • M: 12M (8.7M in 16:9) • S: 6M (5.1M in 16:9)	– 6000 x 4000 (6000 x 3376 in 16:9) – 3936 x 2624 (3936 x 2216 in 16:9) – 3008 x 2000 (3008 x 1688 in 16:9)
[Stills] Aspect Ratio	• 3:2 • 16:9
[Stills] Quality	• RAW • RAW & JPEG • Extra Fine • Fine • Standard	Raw & JPEG creates a Fine JPEG
Panorama: Size	• Standard • Wide	Only available in Panorama mode
Panorama: Detection	• Right • Left • Up • Down	Only available in Panorama mode
[Movie] File format	• AVCHD • MP4
Page two
[Movie] record setting	• 60i 24M (FX) • 60i 17M (FH) • 60p 28M (PS) • 24p 24M (FX) • 24p 17M (FH)
Drive mode	• Single shooting • Continuous shooting • Speed priority cont. • Self-timer • Self-timer (continuous) • Continuous bracket (AE) • Single bracket (AE) • WB bracket • DRO bracket
Flash mode	• Flash off • Auto flash • Slow sync • Rear sync • Wireless
Flash comp.	• -3EV to +3EV	In 1/3EV increments
Redeye reduction	• On • Off	Off is the default
Focus mode	• Single-shot (AF-S) • Continuous AF (AF-C) • DMF • MF	DMF (direct manual focus) lets you use both auto and manual focus at the same time.
Page three
Focus area	• Wide • Zone • Center • Flexible spot	Flexible spot offers three focus point sizes: small, medium. and large.
Focus settings	• Adjust focus point	Lets you move around the focus point.
[Stills] AF illuminator	• Auto (on) • Off
Exposure comp.	• -5EV to +5EV
Exposure step	• 0.5EV • 0.3EV
ISO	• Multi Frame NR • Auto • 50 – 25600 (1/3EV steps)	Multi Frame NR combines several exposures into a single image in order to reduce noise., and is only available for JPEGs. You can select the minimum and maximum sensitivity for the Auto ISO setting. ISO 50 – 80 are ‘extensions’.
Page four
Metering mode	• Multi • Center • Spot
White balance	• Auto • Daylight • Shade • Cloudy • Incandescent • Warm white fluorescent • Cool white fluorescent • Day white fluorescent • Daylight florescent • Flash • Underwater auto • Color temp/filter • Custom 1/2/3 • Custom setup	The color temperature range is 2500K – 9900K. All white balance settings can be fine-tuned in the amber-blue and/or green-magenta direction.
DRO / Auto HDR	• D-R Off • DRO (Auto, Lv1 – Lv5) • HDR (Auto, ±1EV – ±6EV)	HDR is only available for JPEGs.
Creative Style	• Standard • Vivid • Neutral • Clear • Deep • Light • Portrait • Landscape • Sunset • Night scene • Autumn leaves • Black & White • Sepia	For each of these you can adjust contrast, saturation, and sharpness. Up to six custom Styles can be saved in memory.
Picture Effect	• Off • Toy camera • Pop color • Posterization • Retro photo • Soft high-key • Partial color • High contrast mono • Soft focus • HDR painting • Rich-tone mono • Miniature • Watercolor	Several of these effects can be adjusted to your liking. None are available when shooting Raw.
Zoom	• Optical zoom (w/power zoom) • Digital zoom	If a power zoom lens is attached, this option will operate it. You can also add in ‘clear image zoom’ or traditional (lossy) digital zoom.
Page five
Focus magnifier	• Activate	Enlarges the frame when manually focusing so you can confirm proper focus.
[Stills] Long exposure NR	• On • Off
[Stills] High ISO NR	• Normal • Low • Off
Lock-on AF	• Off • On • On (start w/shutter)	Attempts to track a subject which you’ve selected. The start w/shutter option is only available in C-AF mode.
Smile/face Detection	• Off • Face detection on (reg. faces) • Face detection on • Smile Shutter	Choose from slight, normal, and big smile for the last option.
[Stills] Soft skin effect	• Off • On	Choose from low, middle, and high settings.
Page six
[Stills] Auto obj. framing	• Off • On	Will automatically crop photos using the rule-of-thirds. The original (uncropped) image is saved.
Auto mode	• Intelligent Auto • Superior Auto	Choose which point-and-shoot mode you wish to use. Both offer automatic scene selection, with the latter adding multi-shot modes like HDR.
Scene selection	• Portrait • Sports action • Macro • Landscape • Sunset • Night scene • Hand-held twilight • Night portrait • Anti Motion Blur	The hand-held twilight and Anti Motion Blur modes shoot a series of images and combine them in order to reduce noise and blur.
Movie	• Program Auto • Aperture Priority • Shutter Priority • Manual	Select the exposure mode when the mode dial is set to the ‘movie’ position.
SteadyShot	• On • Off	Turns on image stabilization when a compatible lens is attached.
[Stills] Color space	• sRGB • AdobeRGB
Page seven
[Movie] Auto slow shutter	• Off • On	Whether the camera uses a slower shutter speed when recording movies in low light.
Audio recording	• On • Off
Audio rec level	• Up (+) • Down (-) • Reset	Adjusts the mic level when the mode dial is set to ‘movie’
Audio out timing	• Live • Lip sync	Whether audio and video are synced
Wind noise reduction	• On • Off
Memory	• Adjust	Save your favorite camera settings to the MR 1/2 spots on the mode dial.

Custom settings menu

You’ll find many of the less-commonly accessed settings in the custom settings menu. Some notable items include focus peaking and button customizations, as well as an item for disabling the movie recording button.

Option	Values / Actions	Notes
Page one
Zebra	• Off • 70 – 100+	Shows a zebra pattern over parts of an image that exceed the brightness level you’ve chosen.
[Stills] MF assist	• On • Off	Enlarges the frame for ease in manual focusing.
Focus magnification time	• 2 sec • 5 sec • No limit	Amount of time that MF assist is displayed.
Grid line	• Off • Diag + Square grid • Square grid • Rule of 3rds grid
Audio level display	• On • Off
Auto review	• Off • 2 sec • 5 sec • 10 sec
Page two
DISP button	• Monitor • Graphic display • Display all info • No display info • Histogram • Level • For viewfinder • Finder • Graphic display • Display all info • No display info • Histogram • Level
Peaking level	• Off • Low • Mid • High
Peaking color	• White • Yellow • Red
Exposure set. guide	• On • Off	Displays a shutter speed/aperture guide at the bottom of the display.
Live view display	• Setting effect on • Setting effect off	Whether or not images on the LCD/EVF reflect exposure, white balance, Picture Effects, and Creative Styles.
Phase detect area	• On • Off	Displays the areas of the frame covered by the phase detect AF system.
Page three
[Stills] Pre-AF	• On • Off	Camera continuously focuses, even without shutter release halfway-pressed.
Zoom setting	• Optical zoom • Clear Image Zoom • Digital zoom	What occurs when you select the ‘zoom’ option mentioned above. Clear Image Zoom is lossless (but requires lowering the resolution), while standard digital zoom reduces image quality.
[Stills] Eye-start AF	• On • Off	Starts focusing when you put your eye to the EVF. Only works with A-mount lenses using the LA-EA2/EA4 adapter.
Finder/Monitor	• Auto • Viewfinder • Monitor	Use the eye sensor or select the display manually.
Release w/o lens	• Enable • Disable
[Stills] AF w/shutter	• On • Off
Page four
[Stills] AEL w/shutter	• Auto • On • Off
e-Front curtain shutter	• On • Off	Shortens the lag time between shutter releases.
Superior auto image extract	• Auto • Off	Whether all images taken continuously in Superior Auto mode are saved.
Exp. comp set	• Ambient & flash • Ambient only
Reset EV comp.	• Maintain • Reset	Whether exposure compensation value set in the shooting menu is maintained when camera is powered off. Only functions when EV dial is set to 0.
Bracket order	• 0/-/+ • -/0/+
Page five
Face registration	• New registration • Order exchange • Delete • Delete all	Registered faces get priority when multiple faces are detected.
APS-C size capture	• On • Auto • Off	Whether camera automatically reduces the resolution to 10M when an APS-C lens is attached. The ‘on’ setting crops the image regardless of the lens. You can also turn off the crop feature, if you don’t mind a lot of vignetting.
AF micro adj.	• AF adjustment set • On • Off • Amount • Clear	Only available with A-mount lenses
Lens comp.	• Shading comp. • Auto • Off • Chromatic aberration corr. • Auto • Off • Distortion comp. • Auto • Off	Functions are only available with E-mount lenses. Distortion correct may be fixed at ‘Auto’ with certain lenses.
Page six
Function menu set.	• Function upper 1-6 • Function lower 1-6	See table on Controls page
Custom key set.	• Control wheel • AEL button • AF/MF button • Custom button 1-3 • Center button • Left button • Right button • Down button	See table on Controls page
Dial setup	• Rear: shutter, Front: aperture • Rear: aperture, Front: shutter
Dial EV comp.	• Off • Front dial • Rear dial	Allows you to adjust the exposure comp. when one of the dials. Main EV dial must be set to zero.
Movie button	• Always • Movie mode only	Prevents the user from accidentally recording video in still shooting modes.
Dial/wheel lock	• Lock • Unlock	Lock option deactivates all dials, unless the Fn button is held down.

Menus cont.

Wireless menu

Here you’ll find options for sharing photos and setting up the a7 as a wireless ‘host’.

Option	Values / Actions	Notes
Page one
Send to smartphone	• Select on this device • Select on smartphone
Send to computer	• Activate	Requires PlayMemories Home on Mac or PC
View on TV	• Activate	With compatible HDTVs
One-touch (NFC)	• PlayMemories Camera Apps • Application management • Smart Remote embedded • Add’l apps	Choose the app that is run when you ‘tap’ your NFC-compatible device to the camera.
Airplane mode	• On • Off
WPS Push	• Activate	For connecting to WPS-compatible access points
Page two
Access point set	• Select • Manual setting
Edit device name	• Edit
Disp. MAC address	• Display
SSID/PW reset	• Reset	Removes automatic connections with all Wi-Fi devices
Reset network settings	• Reset

Application menu

There’s nearly nothing to see in this menu, as the ‘meat’ of the applications are found underneath the first option. See the Features page for more on the a7’s Wi-Fi features.

Option	Values / Actions	Notes
Page one
Application list	• List	Here is where you’ll find all of the installed apps, plus tools for downloading and managing them
Introduction	• Service introduction • Service availability

Playback settings

Date and time settings get their own section (although they could just as logically be part of the Setup section).

Option	Values / Actions	Notes
Page one
Delete	• Multiple images • All with this date	When choosing the first option, you’ll want to change to thumbnail view, for easier browsing.
View mode	• Date view • Folder view (still) • Folder view (MP4) • AVCHD view
Image index	• 9 images • 25 images
Display rotation	• Auto • Manual • Off
Slide show	• Repeat • On • Off • Interval • 1 sec • 3 secs • 5 secs • 10 secs • 30 secs
Rotate	• Rotate
page two
Enlarge image	• Enlarge
4K still image playback	• Playback	Requires a 4K television and HDMI cable
Protect	• Multiple img. • All with this date • Cancel all with this date
Specify printing	• Multiple img. • Cancel all • Print setting

Setup menu

The last part of the menu system covers things like viewfinder and monitor settings, USB and HDMI connections, and folder management.

Option	Values / Actions	Notes
Page one
Monitor brightness	• Manual • -2 to +2 • Sunny weather
Viewfinder bright.	• Manual • -2 to +2 • Sunny weather
Finder color temp.	• -2 to +2
Volume settings	• 0 – 15
Audio signals	• On • Off
Page two
Tile menu	• On • Off	Shows the ‘landing page’ for the menus
Mode dial guide	• On • Off	Displays information about the function of the selected item on the mode dial.
Delete confirm	• Cancel first • Delete first
Display quality	• Standard • High
Power Saving Start Time	• 30 Min • 5 Min • 1 Min • 20 Sec • 10 Sec
Page three
Cleaning mode	• Enter • Cancel	Performs auto sensor cleaning procedure
Demo mode	• On • Off
Remote control	• On • Off
HDMI Resolution	• Auto • 1080p • 1080i
CTRL for HDMI	• On • Off	Allows camera control with TV remote when connected to a compatible TV
HDMI Info. Display	• On • Off
Page four
USB Connection	• Auto • Mass storage • MTP • PC Remote
USB LUN Setting	• Multi • Single
Language	• English • French • Italian • Spanish • Japanese • Chinese	Varies by region
Date/time setup	• Daylight savings • On • Off • Date/time • Set • Date format • Y-M-D • M (English)-D-Y • M-D-Y • D-M-Y
Area select	• Select	Choose time zone on a map
Page five
Format	• Enter • Cancel
File number	• Series • Reset
Select REC folder	• Select
New folder	• Create
Folder name	• Standard • Date form
Recover image DB	• Recover	May be needed if images are edited on your computer.
Page six
Display media info	• Still images • Movie	Displays the number of stills and minutes of video remaining on the memory card.
Version	• Display	Shows the firmware version for the body and lens.
Setting reset	• Camera settings reset • Initialize

Sony a7 Experience

by Jeff Keller

After a good deal of use, we’ve come to a mixed opinion of the Sony a7. As much as we like the idea of a small mirrorless camera with a full frame sensor, we ran into more issues than we think are reasonable for the camera’s price. Many of the default controls behave oddly, adjusting settings we wouldn’t expect, and there are a few image quality issues we find disappointing on an advanced full-frame camera.

Thankfully the Sony a7 can be customized to suit most of our needs, making for a better experience. There’s no question that creating a mirrorless full-frame interchangeable lens camera finally allows a body that’s as slim as a forty-year-old camera like the Olympus OM-1, which was a breakthrough in its day, much like the Sony a7 is today.

Fit and feel

The Sony a7’s hard edges and semi-gloss paint are oddly off-putting at first, but they grow on you. The angled EVF hump is indeed an attempt to recall a bygone era, just as Olympus did with the OM-D E-M5. At first it looks a little artificial and slightly odd, thanks primarily to the camera’s thinner profile and short flange-back distance, which limits how far forward the front of the ‘pentaprism housing’ can protrude. But it wasn’t long before we got over any thought about it and focused on the camera’s working surfaces and the images it made.

As for the grip, we would have almost have preferred no grip at all, as this one doesn’t fill the hand enough to offer a sure hold. We like most of the controls, including the rear control dial; however, the front dial is easy to forget, and hard to actuate when you remember, and the EV compensation dial turns accidentally in a bag, and even when just hand-holding the camera; we have to check it every time we remove it from the bag. It seems like it should be stiff enough, but perhaps too much of it is exposed to the right side to prevent accidental activation.

Presence

Like the NEX-7, the a7 can use an electronic first curtain shutter. This significantly reduces operational noise by eliminating the need for the shutter to first close, then open to start each exposure. Instead, the exposure starts with the physical shutter already open for live view, gating electronically down the sensor to start the exposure. The physical second curtain shuts to end the exposure, resulting in only a single curtain sound in this mode. Nevertheless, the Sony a7’s shutter is loud, whether in electronic shutter mode or not. It’s a little quieter than the a7R, perhaps because of the composite front plate, but both are louder, and make noise longer, than most competing cameras, regardless of shutter speed.

Focus is quiet, however; and the only other effect the a7 has on the photographer’s environment is via the very intense amber AF-assist beam, which is quite bright from the subject’s perspective, and sometimes it overwhelms the scene, reducing the chance of successful autofocus. Turning it off usually resulted in faster autofocus acquisition.

While shooting portraits with the Sony a7 and a set of studio lights, we found the camera performed very well, focusing quickly under the modeling lights and delivering excellent image quality. However, when shooting in Manual exposure mode with strobes, especially indoors, you’re presented with a dark viewfinder and LCD; even with your modeling lights turned way up. This is because, by default, the Sony a7 previews the expected exposure given the ambient light levels; in our case that delivered a black image to the display because we set the exposure for the strobes. Changing the Live View Display menu item to ‘Setting Effect OFF’ allowed the live view image to gain up, making image framing possible despite the manual exposure settings. SLR users will be unfamiliar with this aspect of mirrorless cameras because they’re used to shooting with an optical viewfinder.

Handling

To us, handling is a combination of feel, accessibility, and responsiveness. Most of the controls on the a7 are accessible, and feel good: buttons press cleanly, dials turn crisply, and most of them are about where we’d expect. In the responsiveness department, the only noticeable lag is when powering on the camera, which can take between one and three seconds, and switching automatically from the rear LCD to the EVF. This takes about a second, which isn’t really fast enough. It’s enough time to miss a shot; over time, you learn to plan for it and move more quickly to the EVF if that’s what you think you’ll need.

	The menus let you select which view modes are available, and you can engage different options for the electronic viewfinder and rear screen.

For its part, the EVF is a means to an end – much as we prefer an optical viewfinder, knowing that the a7 is going to capture an impressive image in a smaller package than the average full frame digital SLR makes the EVF worth tolerating. We struggle with its dimness in bright light, but appreciate the large magnification and reasonably good color. Its benefits are significant too, though, allowing the same on-screen controls as are available on the LCD, and even letting you customize which items appear on one and not the other.

One issue that came up is that the eye sensor that automatically switches between the LCD and EVF is too sensitive. For example, if you’re doing waist-level shooting with the LCD tilted up, the a7 will switch over to the EVF, even though your body is still 6 inches away.

At first, it looks like Sony has simply taken the RX1 body (right) and added an extra dial – leaving an odd combination of twin control dials and an exposure compensation dial. In use, it turns out there’s a shooting situation in which it suddenly makes sense.

The obvious question is whether the a7 has ended up with more dials than it strictly needs – it’s certainly easy to draw the conclusion that Sony has looked at its RX1 design and added a dial, but not thought-through whether it then renders any existing controls redundant. In the case of the four-way controller dial, which Sony calls the ‘control wheel,’ it introduces a problem: by default the wheel, when spun, adjusts ISO. That’s not bad by itself – indeed, it can be convenient – the problem is the dial turns too easily by accident. Several of our gallery shots were captured at ISO 50, which was quite a surprise, as we would generally have it set to either Auto or some other specific setting; 50 was never chosen. It wasn’t until we had more time with the camera that we discovered the control wheel was changing ISO without our knowledge, so ever since we have disabled the control wheel altogether, as we didn’t want to be unconsciously adjusting anything with a live dial; it turns way too easily.

In use, the two main control dials don’t ever end up in conflict with the exposure comp dial – because as soon as you use the exposure comp dial it overrides any adjustment you’ve made with the other dials. And there’s one situation in which having two control dials and a dedicated exposure compensation dial is useful – offering an effective ‘Shutter and Aperture Priority’ mode. The cameras continue to offer Auto ISO in Manual exposure mode, with one dial controlling shutter speed and the other setting aperture. At this point, the ability to change intended image brightness using the exposure comp dial becomes really useful.

Menus and interface

Though it has what is technically an E-mount, thankfully the a7 has a modified version of the Alpha menu, rather than the confounding menu from the NEX cameras. You can either move through each individual page with the left and right arrows, or use the up arrow to jump to the tab of grouped pages that you want – making it much easier to get to the setting you want to change. What’s not easy, though, is getting to the tabs if you’re on a lower menu item. Unlike most other systems, there is no control to simply switch back to the tab without scrolling up through the entire list.

	Sony abandoned the NEX menu system for the a7 series, but added a row of menu tabs across the top. Alternately, you can just scroll through the entire selection of 24 screens by staying on the lower deck, which is the way Sony’s other Alpha cameras work.

Many of the default settings on the camera were not to our liking, but a little adjustment of settings makes the a7 much more enjoyable to use. For instance, the simple act of picking an autofocus point is a multi-button chore until you learn the workaround. By default, you have to press the Function button, and then navigate to the Focus Area menu item. Press the OK button, then, with Flexible Spot highlighted, press the OK button again. Finally you can use the arrow keys to move the AF point around the screen. (Turning the rear control wheel selects from among three sizes for the AF point, another nice feature.) Depending on whether you already had Flexible Spot selected and enabled, that’s between three and six steps just to move the AF point.

After sitting down to solve the problem, we discovered you can set the Custom 1 button to ‘Focus Settings’ (not ‘Focus Area’ as intuition might suggest), which gives you one-button access to the AF point. This brings it into line with most of its rivals, where the number of button presses required is usually one or zero.

One more thought about menus. As we often review cameras in teams, it’s not uncommon to find a camera’s settings have changed when you get it back from testing or use by another. The Sony a7’s menu and navigation is confounding enough it was often easier to leave the settings alone and get the shot, rather than take the time to dig in and make the needed change.

Levels

	The Sony a7 has an easy-to-read level system that displays both roll and pitch.

For our money, the most valuable feature spreading across more cameras is the levels display. Showing both roll and pitch, the levels on the Sony a7 are always on when we’re using the camera. Particularly when employing the tilting LCD, we like the quick verification that we’re holding the camera level with the rest of the world: it means fewer shots rejected for a crooked horizon.

Autofocus trouble limited to preproduction units

In our early shooting with the a7 and all three lenses in Tennessee, we had more out-of-focus shots when shooting with the 28-70mm OSS lens, a fact we mentioned in the preview. When we got back to Seattle with a full set of shipping-quality cameras and lenses, however, we weren’t able to reproduce the trouble with focus, which eliminated one concern.

Still, because the of the difference in resolution, Sony’s overaggressive anti-noise strategies affect the perceived sharpness of the a7’s images when compared to the a7R. What should be soft bokeh is too often re-rendered as something that looks more like paintbrush strokes than a simple out-of-focus area. See our Image Quality pages for more on this subject, one that affects our opinion of the a7 in no small way.

Auto ISO

One of the more insidious issues we encountered with the a7 was its overwhelming love for a single shutter speed – 1/60 sec – when using Auto ISO. While you’ll see this most often indoors and in low light, it also happened in daylight conditions. If you’re taking still lifes, this isn’t an issue, as most of us can carefully handhold a camera at 1/60 second. However, if anything in the scene is moving even a little bit, the photo will likely be blurry.

You can see that the vast majority of the photos taken with the a7 had a shutter speed of 1/60 sec.

The root of this issue is the camera’s Auto ISO feature. The a7 doesn’t let you set a minimum shutter speed, but its ‘floor’ is 1/60 sec. When light levels are low enough that 1/60 sec won’t cut it, the camera will boost the ISO by a stop or so, but leaves the shutter speed where it was. Eventually, the Auto ISO will reach its limit (which is 6400 by default, and can go up to 25,600), at which point the shutter speed will drop below 1/50 sec.

What was interesting was that while the a7 did not observe the traditional 1/focal range guide for selecting shutter speeds with FE lenses, it did with A-mount lenses attached with the LA-E3 adapter. We were unable to experiment with the FE-mount 70-200mm F4 lens, as it’s not yet available.

Once we discovered the a7’s nearly constant use of the 1/60 sec shutter speed in low light, we resorted to shooting either in shutter priority mode or using Program Shift, strictly to avoid the shutter speed falling that low.

Lenses

The three FE lenses we had to shoot with were the Carl Zeiss 35mm F2.8, the Carl Zeiss 55mm F1.8 and the 28-70mm F3.5-5.6 OSS lens (a Zeiss 24-70mm F4 lens is planned, but we’ve not seen one yet). All three are well built, but only the 35mm keeps the a7 small; the other two are quite a bit longer, particularly with their lens hoods mounted. The 35mm’s lens hood is tiny by comparison. There’s some wobble as it focuses, but it’s quick, and focus is usually pretty accurate. Oddly, there’s more wobble with this lens on the a7 than on the a7R.

ISO 250, F1.8, 1/100, 55mm F1.8 lens.

The 55mm F1.8 is quite sharp and also enjoyable to use. It also has a very thin depth of field wide open, and produces nice background blur.

Wi-Fi

One of our favorite aspects of the Sony a7 is its built-in Wi-Fi feature, which works better than others we’ve tried recently. It’s not super fast, but it’s fast enough we haven’t stopped using it. In situations where we’d normally make do with our smartphones to capture a quick shot, the a7 has allowed us to create better shots, ones we’d be more proud to share, as well as more likely to keep. The 1.7MP file size that’s transferred from the camera to the phone offers plenty of resolution for posting to Facebook and Instagram, and my friends got to enjoy images I captured on a real camera, rather than my smartphone.

Transferring photos is as easy as calling them up in Playback mode, pressing the function button, selecting the “This Image” button, and touching an NFC-capable smartphone to the right side of the a7. In a matter of seconds, the image is on your smartphone and ready to share.

ISO 100, F4, 1/160, 35mm F2.8 lens.

Overall

As we said, we’re ambivalent about the Sony a7. There are a lot more interface difficulties than we’d like, and its image quality isn’t quite as good as we expected, thanks primarily to overaggressive noise suppression. We’ll get into that in the image quality pages and conclusion. However, it’s tough not to admire the Sony a7’s small package, and its ability to work with all kinds of full-frame lenses, even if it’s a bit more difficult than we’d like (See Barney Britton’s write-up on that unique aspect of the Sony a7).

ISO 1250, F2.2, 1/100, 55mm F1.8 lens.

One of us would choose the Sony a7 as a good low-price full-frame camera, even given its limited selection of native lenses. Shooting raw seems to mitigate most of the problems with the JPEG files, including the noise suppression, but we think it’s fair to warn those who would shoot in JPEG that the quality is noticeably reduced. But we didn’t find enough advantage to the a7’s phase-detect autofocus to choose it over the a7R, whose higher resolution and very accurate contrast-detect autofocus make its images more satisfying.

Performance

Seeing how the a7 is a high-end full-frame camera, you’d expect top-notch performance and, for the most part, that’s what you’ll get. While the a7’s autofocus system is responsive, the camera takes a while to start up. Continuous shooting is respectable, and battery life is typical of mirrorless cameras (which means that you might want to bring a spare).

Operational Speed

While most mirrorless cameras start up in under a second, the a7 isn’t ready to shoot for nearly two. We’ve also noticed that if the power is quickly cycled, this delay can be double that. Interestingly enough, the camera is ready to shoot in nearly half a second with no lens attached, so the delay may have something to do with initializing the lens.

As one would expect, there’s no noticeable shutter lag on the a7. In terms of shot-to-shot speeds, you’ll wait around 0.6 seconds between Raw+JPEG shots, and slightly less if you’re sticking to JPEG.

AF System & Performance

The a7 uses a hybrid AF system, which puts 117 phase-detect points onto the camera’s CMOS sensor, alongside 25 contrast-detect AF points. This hybrid AF system allows the camera to ascertain not only the direction to move the lens to achieve focus, but also how far. This has a number of advantages over the contrast detection focus method traditionally used by compact and mirrorless cameras, which requires the lens to scan through its focus positions while the camera checks whether it is becoming more in or out of focus.

The ability to collect this depth information not only means that focus can be performed faster (because the camera can push the lens straight to the right place, rather than having to scan through its whole range), but also brings advantages for continuous focus and for focusing during movies. In movies, for instance, because the camera has a good understanding of depth, it should reduce the risk of the camera suddenly losing a moving subject and scanning off to infinity and back looking for it (and ruining your movie by doing so).

Sony’s Hybrid AF system on the a7 uses an array of 117 phase-detection points spread out across the center of the sensor, which are represented by the red crosses. The 25 contrast-detect points are in green.

Overall, we found the AF system to be responsive and accurate in most situations. In good light the camera focused quickly, with very little ‘hunting’ by the AF system. Low light focusing was a bit different. The a7 sometimes hunted, which resulted in slower (but not horrible) focus times. Strangely, the camera focuses faster and more accurately in wide AF mode with the AF-assist lamp turned off.

Continuous Shooting

The a7 offers two different continuous shooting modes: standard (2.5 fps) and speed priority (5 fps). As its name suggests, speed priority mode shoots faster than regular continuous, but for a much shorter duration.

Thanks to the its hybrid AF system, the a7 will attempt to keep your subject in focus, even when shooting in speed priority mode. However, should your subject wander out of the Phase Detect area, you’ll lose that benefit, and the camera reverts to contrast-detection.

Here’s what kind of performance you can expect from the two burst modes on the a7. We used a SanDisk Extreme Pro (95Mb/sec) SDHC card to measure the speed.

Continuous mode

Timing	Large/Xtra Fine JPEG	Raw	Raw+JPEG Fine
Frame rate	2.5 fps	2.6 fps	2.6 fps
Number of frames	To card capacity	43 shots	33 shots
Buffer full rate	N/A	1.5 fps	1.2 fps
Write complete	See below	10 secs	19 secs

The a7 hits its advertised speeds in its standard continuous mode, and its large buffer size allows you to shoot at full speed for quite a while. Clearing the buffer can take some time, during which time you cannot enter the menus or playback mode. For JPEG shooting, this delay depends on the number of photos you’ve taken. For example, the a7 is locked up for 11 seconds when ~25 JPEGs are taken.

The view on the LCD/EVF is in real-time when shooting in standard continuous mode.

Speed Priority mode

The speed priority continuous mode lets you shoot at rates of 5 fps according to Sony. By default, the camera locks focus on the first shot, but on the a7 you can turn on continuous AF, if you wish. Here’s how the Alpha 7 performed at its faster speeds:

Timing	Large/Xtra Fine JPEG	Raw	Raw+JPEG Fine
Frame rate	4.8 fps	4.8 fps	4.7 fps
Number of frames	To card capacity	28 shots	25 shots
Buffer full rate	N/A	1.4 fps	1.1 fps
Write complete	See below	11 secs	19 secs

While the a7 met or exceeded its advertised rates in regular continuous mode, the opposite is true in speed priority mode. Still, the performance is respectable, and there’s just a slight dip in the burst rate when using continuous AF. For example, the JPEG drops from 4.8 to 4.6 fps, which most people won’t notice. The lock-up delay when shooting JPEGs is the same as it is for regular continuous mode.

The a7 does not provide live view in Speed Priority mode.

Battery Life

The a7 uses the same NP-FW50 InfoLithium battery found on many other Sony cameras. The NP-FW50 has 7.7Wh of energy, which Sony claims will provide 340 shots per charge. That’s very low, considering that the a7 has no built-in flash, which is normally included in the CIPA battery life numbers. Do note that using Wi-Fi frequently will put extra strain on the battery.

Despite the cost of the a7, Sony does not provide an external charger. Rather, you use an AC-to-USB cable (or just your PC) to fill up the FW50 battery. Charging via the USB adapter takes a whopping 310 minutes, so it makes a lot of sense to pick up one of the BC-TRW or BC-VW1 external chargers, which are both considerably faster (especially the latter).

Features

For the most part, the a7’s feature-set resembles that of cameras like the NEX-6 and NEX-7. While the majority of a7 users won’t be using Auto modes, the camera has a fair of well-implemented point-and-shoot modes, named Intelligent and Superior Auto. There are also customizable ‘Creative Styles’ as well as ‘Picture Effects’, which is where you’ll find things like toy camera and selective color.

Below we’ve selected some features that will be of most interest to the enthusiasts who are considering the a7.

Non-native lens support

Thanks to Sony’s release of the E-mount specifications, a plethora of third-party lens adapters is now available. The Alpha 7 is, by far, the least expensive way of using 35mm film lenses such that they offer their originally intended field-of-view – the ‘acme’ of the trend of using old lenses on mirrorless camera. Sony offers a number of tools to support manual focus of these lenses, including magnified view, focus peaking, or the combination of the two.

When shooting older – especially fast primes – ‘wide open’, accurate focus can be a challenge, even with the availability of magnified focus view and peaking. To have any chance at all you really do need to be in magnified focus mode, but a typical ‘classic’ prime made for film is likely to be pretty hazy wide open, much more so than a modern native FE lens. As a consequence, depending on the specific lens that you’re trying to use on the a7, you might find that it doesn’t always deliver enough contrast for focus peaking to bite onto until the aperture is stopped down a little.

View our gallery of Sony Alpha 7 / 7R photos taken with third-party lenses

You’ll certainly need to set peaking to ‘high’ for the best chance of getting it to work. With focus magnification activated and peaking set to ‘low’ or ‘medium’, you’re unlikely to see any highlighted edges at all. Set to ‘high’ we’ve found that the system has a decent chance of highlighting some edges, typically non-organic edges like text, but softer subjects, like the features of someone’s face, frequently just don’t deliver enough contrast for peaking to work reliably at any of its three settings.

Regardless, the fact remains that turning peaking up to high is your best chance for accurate manual focus with this kind of lens in magnified live view mode, and as such it’s the setting we’d recommend. Sadly, ‘high’ peaking isn’t very useful in normal (unmagnified) live view mode, and generally plasters peaking highlights all over the scene across a very wide range of focus. It is entirely possible for focus peaking to outline pretty much everything in the viewfinder at its ‘high’ setting but for your image to be magnificently out of focus when you look closely.

Ideally, when working with older lenses ‘wide open’ we’d love the option to separately define a peaking level of ‘low’ for normal unmagnified live view, and ‘high’ for the magnified view. Hopefully this can be added via a firmware update.

For more on this topic, read our ‘Using third-party lenses on Sony a7 / a7R ‘ article.

Electronic first curtain

The electronic first curtain – which is not found on the a7R – shortens the lag between shutter releases by eliminating the step of lowering the shutter before the photo is taken. The difference between having the e-Front curtain on and off isn’t huge, but if you keep mashing the shutter release (with autofocus turned off), you’ll probably sense it. This feature also makes the a7 a bit quieter when shooting. The maximum shutter speed of 1/8000 sec isn’t affected by the e-Front curtain setting.

There are two cases in which Sony recommends turning this feature off. The first is when using high shutter speeds when using a large diameter lens, with which ghosting might occur. The other time you’ll want to disable it is when using third-party lenses, as you may otherwise get uneven or inaccurate exposure.

Classic Sony Features

Despite being a higher-end camera, the a7 still has many features from the NEX line. These include HDR, Sweep Panorama, and multi-shot layering

The HDR feature takes three shots in a row, each with a different exposure. The interval between each shot can be ±1EV to ±6EV. As one might expect, you cannot use HDR in Raw or Raw+JPEG mode. Here’s an example of the a7’s HDR feature:

As you can see, the HDR feature, at the ‘auto’ setting, nicely balanced out the contrast. The HDR version of the photo does look slightly ‘fake’, though, so you might want to adjust this one manually if that’s a problem. In our NEX-6 review you can see how each HDR step affects the final image.

Sweep Panorama was the first feature of its kind, and Sony’s implementation is one of the best. You can pan the camera in any direction, with your choice of standard or wide angles-of-view. When shooting left or right, the resolution of standard and wide images are 8192 x 1856 and 12416 x 1856, respectively.

Sweep Panorama, standard size, ISO 100, 1/500 sec, f/4.5

In the example above, the a7 produced a panorama with no major artifacts. There’s also a moving subject near the far right of the frame, which didn’t get sliced into multiple pieces.

One thing we noticed about Sweep Panorama on the a7 is that it’s fairly noisy (as is the shutter in general), and that you have to pan a bit slower than on, say, a ‘regular’ NEX camera.

There are several multi-shot modes on the Alpha 7, in addition to HDR. Two similar features are Hand-held Twilight and Anti Motion Blur, which aim to reduce blur by combining a series of four exposures into one. The difference between these two features is that Anti Motion Blur takes subject motion into account, which may result in a higher sensitivity being used, in order to ensure a sharper photo.

Multi Frame NR, which is for JPEG shooting only, combines multiple images into a single photo with reduced noise.

Wi-Fi and Remote Capture

If you’ve used the NEX-5R/5T or NEX-6, then you’ll be quite familiar with the a7’s Wi-Fi implementation. The camera can be controlled via your smartphone, which can also be used to share your photos. Sony also offers downloadable ‘apps’ (some free, some not) which add additional features to the camera. Thanks to NFC (near-field communication), you can interact with the a7 simply by ‘tapping’ your smartphone against it.

An additional feature that enthusiasts will appreciate is remote control from your Mac or PC.

	Connecting to open access points is easy. Protected networks will require entering passwords via the tiny on-screen keyboard.

Before you can use any of those things, you must connect to a Wi-Fi network. That’s easy enough, as the a7 will display a list of access points for you to choose from. If you have to enter a password, you’ll do so using the on-screen keyboard (which is pretty clunky). If you’re lucky enough to have a wireless router with a WPS button, you can just press that and select the appropriate option on the camera, and you’re online.

You can also use your smartphone as the ‘bridge’ to the Internet. You can do this by ‘tapping’ the phone against the NFC symbol on the camera, or by joining the a7’s network by selecting its SSID.

Once you’re connected to a network, you’ll be presented with a screen that should resemble what’s shown above. When this review was written, there were just a few apps available. Smart Remote Control is built into the camera, while Direct Upload (along with the services it connects to) requires a download. Also visible above are links to the PlayMemories Camera App Store and an organizing tool.

In the wireless settings (NFC option) you can choose which application is loaded when you ‘tap’ your phone against the camera.

	The PlayMemories App Store can be browsed directly on the camera over Wi-Fi (shown at left) or from your desktop computer. Many will find a Mac or PC to be easier to use, as navigating the store on the small display is difficult (and let’s not even start on the keyboard).

At the time of writing, there are fourteen PlayMemories Camera Apps available for download , eight of which are compatible with the a7. While some apps are free (such as Smart Remote Control and Direct Upload), others (such as Time Lapse) may set you back up to $10. On a camera in this price range, we feel that these functions should not be optional extras.

PlayMemories Mobile

As its name implies, this app allows you to operate the Alpha 7 via your smartphone or tablet. Naturally, you’ll first need to install PlayMemories Mobile onto your iOS or Android device. Once installed you’ll have limited control over the a7, though it gets the job done. We also updated the Smart Remote Control app on the camera itself, which added additional functionality over what was built into our camera.

While PlayMemories Mobile can be used with your smartphone held vertically, you’ll get a much better view of the scene in the horizontal orientation (at least if you’re shooting with the camera in landscape format). Touching the shutter speed, aperture, exposure compensation, or ISO info at the bottom of the screen will allow for quick adjustment

If you were hoping to adjust every camera setting via the PlayMemories Mobile app, you’re out of luck. You can adjust exposure, ISO, white balance, and things like the self-timer and size of the image transferred, but that’s about it. You can adjust additional settings by using the camera itself. In the version of the app that we tested, movies could not be recorded, though Sony hinted that this feature may be added later.

	The Direct Upload app (for the camera) lets you upload photos to Facebook, Flickr, or Sony’s own sharing service.

Something else you can do with PlayMemories Mobile is send photos on to Flickr, Facebook, or PlayMemories Online (Sony’s own service). To use this, you first must download the Direct Upload app onto your camera. If you want to upload to Flickr, that’s an additional app to put onto the camera. Confused yet?

Strangely enough, one thing you cannot do via the camera is e-mail your photos. You can get around this by sending photos from the a7 to your mobile device (again, using the PMM app), at which point they can be forwarded on to friends and family. If you have an NFC-enabled smartphone, selected photos can be transferred by tapping the two devices together – pretty cool.

PC control

The most robust remote control system for the a7 is via Sony’s RemoteCameraControl application for Mac OS and Windows . This doesn’t work over Wi-Fi – rather, you’ll use an old-fashioned USB cable.

RemoteCameraControl lets you adjust a lot of camera settings, but is missing one very helpful feature.

RemoteCameraControl allows you to set the drive mode, white balance (with fine-tuning), and even HDR. Behind that stopwatch-looking button is a robust time-lapse feature.

The main issue with this application is that there’s no live preview – unlike with Canon and Nikon’s software – so you need to have the camera close by if you want to see what you’re about to photograph.

Movie Mode

If you’ve used the movie modes on Sony’s recent NEX cameras, then you’ll feel right at home using the Alpha 7. The camera retains the same 1080/24p and 60p resolutions, but with the added benefits of a significantly larger sensor. The a7 also has the ability to output uncompressed video over HDMI, something not available on NEX models.

Something that has been changing from model-to-model in Sony’s mirrorless lineup is the position of the dedicated ‘red’ recording button. On earlier models, the button was too close to the thumb rest, which caused some users to accidentally press it (Sony later added the ability to disable it). On later models, the button ventured further away from the thumb rest to the point where, on the a7, it’s essentially now on the side of the camera. Paradoxically, the placement of this button on the a7 makes it harder to record a movie.

	Sony has moved the ‘red button’ so far from the back of the camera that it’s now a bit challenging to record a movie. You can have this button active in all shooting modes, or just when the mode dial is set to the video position.

The a7 offers plenty of manual controls to please video enthusiasts. When the movie button is activated in all modes, one can simply enter the shooting mode of their choice and adjust the desired exposure setting). Aperture, shutter speed, exposure compensation, and ISO are all up for grabs. If you’ve locked out the movie button, you can do all the same stuff by setting the mode dial to the video position. This will also give a 16:9 preview that matches what you’ll record.

When manually focusing, you can use focus peaking to pull focus from one subject to another – even while recording. We found that focus peaking worked as advertised in those situations.

Another feature is ‘zebra’, which shows a pattern in overexposed areas of the scene (similar to how some cameras have clipped areas ‘blink’ in playback mode). You can choose the exposure level at which the pattern shows, with a range of 70 – 100 and above. When dialing down the exposure on the a7, the zebra pattern kept up with the changes.

The camera offers both mic and headphone ports, and has an on-screen audio level. The mic level can be adjusted, and users can select whether audio output is synced or unsynched. There’s also a wind filter for improved audio quality when recording outdoors.

In addition to manual controls, you can also throw the camera into either of the Auto modes and take advantage of the same Creative Styles or Picture Effects that are available for still shooting. Speaking of stills, you cannot take a photo while simultaneously recording a video, as you can with some of the a7’s competitors.

Below are the various video size and quality settings available on the a7. Do note that the default setting is 1080/60i, rather than 60p or 24p.

Sizes	• AVCHD 1920 x 1080 60i/50i Avg. 24 Mbps (high quality) 1920 x 1080 60i/50i Avg. 17 Mbps (standard quality) 1920 x 1080 60p Avg. 28 Mbps (highest quality) 1920 x 1080 24p/25p Avg. 24Mbps (high quality) 1920 x 1080 24p/25p Avg. 17Mbps (standard quality) • MP4: 1440 x 1080, 1080p (30/25fps), Avg. 12Mbps 640 x 480 (30/25fps), Av. 3Mbps
Audio	• Dolby Digital (AC-3) / MPEG-4 AAC-LC • Stereo audio capture via built-in or optional external mic.
Format	AVCHD / MPEG4
Recordable time	Approx 29 minutes for AVCHD, 20 minutes for MPEG4 (1440 x 1080)

Overall, video quality is very good, as is the quality of the audio recorded. The only issues we ran into in our testing was some moiré (see sample 2 below) and focus hunting in low light (see sample 3). As you’d expect with a CMOS-based camera, rolling shutter is something you will run into if you’re quickly panning the camera.

Below are a few sample videos to give you a taste of what the a7 can do. Feel free to download the original MTS files to avoid whatever compression YouTube is applying.

Sample 1

Below are two samples of the same subject (Snoqualmie Falls, east of Seattle), taken at both 60p and 24p. There aren’t any surprises here, with the 60p setting being the smoother of the two.

1920×1080 60p 28Mbps, MTS, 12 sec, 35.8 MB Click here to download original file

1920×1080 24p 24Mbps, MTS, 12 sec, 28.5 MB Click here to download original file

Sample 2

If you ignore the large piece of dust, this video shows you how the camera performs when on a tripod (well, a wall in this case). The quality is good, and the wind filter performs fairly well given the location. You will see the focus hunt on one occasion, for no apparent reason.

1920×1080 60p 28Mbps, MTS, 17 sec, 51.6 MB Click here to download original file

Sample 3

This video, taken on something close to a tripod, illustrates both low light AF and video quality. While the quality is very good, you’ll notice the AF system ‘hunting’ at times, especially when there isn’t a car in the scene.

1920×1080 60p 28Mbps, MTS, 22 sec, 67.2 MB Click here to download original file

Image Quality

Overall the a7’s image quality is pretty much what you’d expect from a full-frame camera – making it easier to get shallow depth-of-field and offering excellent low light capability, simply as a result of it having such a huge sensor to gather light. However, despite this potential, we weren’t always delighted with the images we got – particularly when we were shooting in JPEG mode.

Posterization

An odd artifact that we noticed several times in the JPEGs is the tendency toward posterization in subtle gradations, again, often in out-of-focus areas. It’s certainly not a problem that appears in every image but it’s something we noticed often enough to be concerned about it.

Note: We’re mindful that the length of this dedicated section risks making this appear a more significant problem, but it’s a nuanced enough issue that it requires several examples to show. The fact is, it won’t be an issue for those users who shoot Raw. For those who will shoot only JPEG (and there are still plenty of folks out there) we think it’s important to demonstrate.

Further investigation revealed two issues – limited bit-depth in Raw files and clumsy/excessive JPEG processing. The bigger of the two problems is the JPEG processing. We suspect this stems from the compressed Raw files and the difficulty they have in describing smooth transitions, but the real problem is possibly being caused by the overly aggressive noise reduction in the JPEGs.

Turning the cameras’ ‘High ISO NR’ to ‘Off’ improves matters (at all ISOs), because the standard processing appears to be supressing noise to such a degree that you lose the ‘dithering’ effect that noise usually brings to tonal transitions. The downside is that you have to put up pretty noisy high ISO images (noise reduction, in both JPEG and Raw is still being applied in the ‘Off’ setting).

JPEG posterization

Here we’ve set up a test scene that shows the stepped (posterized) effect that can occur in what are supposed to be smooth transitions. We’ve compared it to the Nikon D610 (which has a very similar sensor), to ensure we haven’t created a scene that all cameras would stuggle with.

Although this is a simplistic simulation, designed to illustrate the point, any smooth transition in the camera’s images, whether it be a blue sky or a diffuse background, risks exhibiting posterization and inconsistent tonality across those transitions.

As you can see, the problem isn’t image-destroyingly bad – indeed, whether you can even see what we’re talking about will depend to a large degree on the device you’re viewing the site with. But, once you’ve looked at the image’s red channel, it should be much more obvious what we’re talking about. Look closely again at what should be a smooth background of the portrait on the Experience page , and you’ll see it in a real-world setting.

Any users hoping to post-process their JPEGs will be particularly disappointed, since these hard steps between tones become exaggerated as soon as you start adjusting the image brightness. Obviously we’d recommend shooting Raw if you plan to do any significant post-processing (with any camera), but potential a7 owners need to be aware that its JPEGs offer even less processing latitude than usual.

A comparison between an X-Fine JPEG from the Sony (7.8MB) and a Nikon shot at the same exposure settings (6.9MB). Examine the dark regions closely and you’ll find very dark green stripes across the lower sky on the Sony image, where the posterized steps between the red and blue channels are occuring out of sync with one another.

Push the two files (which we’ve done using the same tone curve on both images), and those color errors become very obvious, very quickly. The Nikon, one which noise dithers any stepping in its different channels, doesn’t show the same errors.

Raw posterization

From the file sizes alone, (they’re fairly uniform in size, around 24MB per image, rather than the 36MB per file required by uncompressed 14-bit data) it’s obvious that Sony is compressing its Raw files. Iliah Borg and Alex Tutubalin, who run the LibRaw Raw decoder project, have been analyzing Sony Raw files in considerable detail, and have shown that the 14-bit files contain essentially 11 bits of data.

They conclude that, so long as you’re exposing files as the camera wants to (rather than ignoring the camera’s metering in an attempt to ‘expose to the right’ or significantly underexposing to protect highlights), there’s no significant photographic difference, though there is a reduction in processing latitude. Certainly it wasn’t significant enough to prevent them choosing to buy Sony cameras.

When we looked into the issue, we found the camera would have certain steps missing even in the shadow regions of the file (where it’s most important to be capturing as much information as possible). So, to see what impact this had, here we’ve underexposed the scene used above by 3EV, then push-processed both the a7’s and D610’s file back up to the correct brightness.

There’s slightly more coarse noise in the Sony’s file (the verical ), though it’s only really visible if you start investigating individual channels, but there’s little visual sign of the posterization that can occur in the JPEGs. If you wish to experiment for yourself, click here to download the Raw files, below.

Underexposed Raw files:

• Sony A7 – ARW
• Nikon D610 – NEF (14-bit Uncompressed)
• Nikon D610 – NEF (12-bit Uncompressed)
• Nikon D610 – NEF (12-bit Compressed)

Image Quality

Distortion correction

The a7 has a distortion correction feature for use with E-mount lenses. Whether correction is applied depends on the lens. For the 28-70mm and 55mm FE lenses it’s active, while it’s off for the 35mm.

Below are examples of the distortion correction feature in action, first for the 28-70mm kit zoom. The corrected versions are straight-out-of-the-camera JPEGs, while the Raws were processed with ACR 8.3 with lens distortion correct turned off.

The 28-70mm kit lens has plenty of both barrel and pincushion distortion, which the correction feature dramatically reduces, without a significant hit in image quality. Up next, the 55mm prime:

The 55mm F1.8 prime needs a lot less correction than the 28-70, and again, the distortion correction feature does its job, with no ill effects.

Neither of these is necessarily problematic (it’s not unusual for mirrorless lenses to be designed with correction as part of the concept), but the high price of the Sony lenses, combined with the differing results achieved by shooting in JPEG (where the correction cannot be turned-off), and Raw, where the correction parameters don’t appear to be available to third-party converters, isn’t ideal.

Rough edges

The Sony a7 (and a7R) use a content-sensitive noise reduction system that attempts to protect areas of fine detail while applying higher levels of noise reduction to smooth, featureless areas. The results are mixed.

ISO 16,000, F1.8, 1/400, 55mm F1.8 lens	100% crop
Raw image, processed with 61% luminance noise reduction in ACR 8.3 beta	100% crop

On the plus side, the JPEG has done a good job of preserving detail in the face, while smoothing the beige wall to the left. Our processed Raw file uses the same noise reduction over the entire image, meaning a balance has to be struck between smoothing the background and retaining detail. As such, our chosen settings, while appearing to retain more detail, have neither the well-defined edges or smooth background of the camera’s JPEG.

Where the context-sensitive approach falls down is at transitions between areas it concludes to be smooth and those it considers detailed – leaving a pronounced ‘halo’ of noise at the edge of smooth regions. This, combined with the camera’s tendency to sharpen edges, can leave a rather unpleasant result if you zoom in. Our test scene suggests the problem becomes visible around ISO 12,800.

We printed the central 19 x 13″ of a similar image to the one shown above (such that the whole image would have been 30 x 20″) and, although the effect was clearly visible, and the radical difference in noise levels across the image is slightly unusual, the results were pretty usable.

Heavy-handed noise suppression

Overall, the noise suppression is too aggressive in the JPEGs, making particularly the a7 images seem artificial at times. Naturally this can be turned down, but the default settings look way too much like a brush stroke filter has been applied. This gets worse as ISO rises.

	100% crop – Camera JPEG
ISO 640, F7.1, 1/250, 53mm w/28-70mm	100% crop – ACR conversion

The birds in the above ISO 640 image look plastic, and the grass looks like a poor paint job, with very little definition. It’s the opposite of what we’d expect from a 24.3MP camera, while the Raw looks noticeably better.

Overall image quality

Despite this two-page Image Quality section being full of little complaints, we were actually generally pretty impressed with the a7’s image quality – particularly if you shoot Raw. The JPEGs are rather over-processed and prone to exhibit some or all of the above flaws and limitations, depending on the subject matter. Overall, they’re not terrible, but we’re disappointed to see such potentially limited and limiting files from a camera at this price.

In addition, despite having an anti-aliasing filter, the a7 can occasionally exhibit moiré, but it’s something we only saw once or twice in the hundreds of images we shot.

One of the advantages of a full frame sensor is that its large surface area means it has the chance to receive more light, at any given set of exposure settings, than a smaller sensor. As expected, the Sony a7 performed well in low light (with the caveats we’ve already mentioned). Image quality from the a7 was very good in low light when detail was high, making shooting as high as ISO 6400 an easy choice.

Sony a7 ISO 2500, F5.6, 1/80, -1EV 28-70mm lens @69mm

Whether the degree of Raw compression concerns you is a decision for you to make for yourself. From a philosophical perspective, we’re not at all happy to see this approach being taken in a camera at this level (and that becomes an even bigger concern in the a7R). As it is, the real-world impact is likely to be small, and will only have any effect from time-to-time. We’re not sure buyers should have to tolerate that extra uncertainty from what is likely to be the camera they turn to for optimal results.

Raw files for download

Below are a few Raw images that you can download and tweak to your heart’s content:

• ISO 100 (Zipped ARW, 23.9MB)
• ISO 100 (Zipped ARW, 24.4MB)
• ISO 800 (Zipped ARW, 23.9MB)
• ISO 2000 (Zipped ARW, 23.9MB)
• ISO 12800 (Zipped ARW, 23.9MB)
• ISO 12800 (Zipped ARW, 23.7MB)

JPEG Tone Curves / dynamic range

Our Dynamic Range measurement system involves shooting a calibrated Stouffer Step Wedge (13 stops total range) which is backlit using a daylight balanced lamp (98 CRI). A single shot of this produces a gray scale wedge from the camera’s clipped white point down to black (example below). Each step of the scale is equivalent to 1/3 EV (a third of a stop), we select one step as ‘middle gray’ (defined as 50% luminance) and measure outwards to define the dynamic range. Hence there are ‘two sides’ to our results, the amount of shadow range (below middle gray) and the amount of highlight range (above middle gray).

To most people highlight range is the first thing they think about when talking about dynamic range, that is the amount of highlight detail above middle gray the camera can capture before it clips to white. Shadow range is more complicated; in our test the line on the graph stops as soon as the luminance value drops below our defined ‘black point’ (about 2% luminance) or the signal-to-noise ratio drops below a predefined value (where shadow detail would be swamped by noise), whichever comes first.

Note: this page features our new interactive dynamic range comparison widget. The wedges below the graph are created by our measurement system from the values read from the step wedge, the red lines indicate approximate shadow and highlight range (the dotted line indicating middle gray).

Cameras Compared

Comparison scene no longer available.

The a7 has a tone curve that’s nearly identical to the other cameras in this group. Its measured dynamic range is identical to the Sony a99 full-frame SLT, which captures more highlights than the D600 and 6D, but drops to black fractionally earlier in the shadows.

DR Modes

Comparison scene no longer available.

DRO (Dynamic Range Optimization) is an adaptive algorithm that brightens the dark regions of images to give a more balanced result while retaining local contrast. Our test chart doesn’t tell the whole story, as in the real world the camera breaks an image down into smaller areas, adjusting the tone curve for each. With that out of the way, you can see above that DRO pulls up the shadows, without sacrificing highlights.

DRO Real World Example

While not the most exciting example, above you can see what each DRO setting does in a high contrast situation. The ‘Auto’ setting pretty much nails it, using a value similar to Level 5 in this case.

In our own experiences with the a7, we almost never changed the DRO setting from Auto, as it usually does the job. If you run into a situation with more contrast than DRO allows you to cope with, then consider using the well-designed HDR feature.

ISO Expansion

Comparison scene no longer available.

The a7 allows you to lower the base ISO to 50, for those who want to utilize wider apertures or slower shutters speeds in bright light. As is usually the case, the trade-off for this is an abrupt transition in the highlights to clipped white about a stop sooner than ISO 100.

ISO Accuracy

The actual sensitivity of each indicated ISO is measured using the same shots as are used to measure ISO noise levels, we simply compare the exposure for each shot to the metered light level (using a calibrated Sekonic L-358), middle gray matched. We estimate the accuracy of these results to be +/- 1/6 EV (the margin of error given in the ISO specifications). In our tests we found that measured ISOs from the a7 match the marked ISOs within 1/6 stop accuracy, meaning ISO 100 indicated = ISO 100 measured.

Noise and Noise Reduction (JPEG)

This is our standard studio scene comparison shot taken from exactly the same tripod position. Lighting: daylight simulation, >98% CRI. Crops are 100%. Ambient temperature was approximately 22°C (~72°F).

Note: this page features our new interactive noise comparison widget. By default, we show you the default noise reduction settings of the camera tested, and three other models of the same class. You can select from all available NR options, and from other cameras. The ‘tricolor’ patches beneath the familiar gray/black/portrait images are taken from the same test chart, and show how noise impacts upon blue, green and red areas of a scene.

Noise testing results are no longer available.

Noise for JPEGs follows relatively the same path as the other full-frame cameras until you reach ISO 6400, at which point Sony’s noise reduction really kicks in. If you view the samples, you’ll see that the a7’s patches are paved over with noise reduction, while the other three cameras leave a lot of noise behind in comparison.

Adobe Camera Raw noise (ACR 8.3, noise reduction set to zero)

Here we look at the RAW files processed through Adobe Camera Raw (in this case version 8.3). Images are brightness matched and processed with all noise reduction options set to zero. Adobe does a degree of noise reduction even when the user-controlled NR is turned off.

The amount of NR applied ‘under the hood’ is not high, but it does vary by camera (Adobe is attempting to normalize output across different sensors), so inevitably we are still looking at a balance of noise and noise reduction, rather than pure noise levels. However, the use of the most popular third-party RAW converter is intended to give a photographically relevant result, rather than simply comparing sensor performance in an abstract manner.

Noise testing results are no longer available.

The a7 performs very much like the competition in Raw mode. One interesting thing to note is that the a7 is slightly noisier than the D600 at high sensitivities, despite the fact that they likely use the same sensor.

Studio Comparison (daylight)

Our latest test scene is designed to simulate both daylight and low-light shooting. Pressing the ‘lighting’ buttons at the top of the widget allows you to switch between the two. The daylight scene is shot with manually set white balance, but the camera is left in its Auto setting for the low-light tests.

Note: this page features our new interactive studio scene. Click here for instructions on the widget.

As one would expect, the a7 performs admirably at lower sensitivities – namely ISO 100 – 1600 – with nearly no visible noise or artifacts. We did spot some strange patterns in the hair in this area of the frame, but this only occurs in the JPEG, and not the Raw .

Noise reduction starts to show itself at ISO 3200, with low contrast areas appearing blotchy . One stop higher you’ll notice that the a7 retains a bit more high contrast detail (but less low contrast detail ) than the Nikon D610 or Canon 6D.

At ISO 12800 you can really see the effects of the context-sensitive noise reduction discussed earlier in the review, whether it’s a vertical line or on the color patches . Detail remains competitive with the Nikon D610 and Canon 6D at ISO 12800 and 25600, and photos taken at this sensitivity look quite good when downsized .

Switching over to Raw now, one thing we noticed is that there’s less moiré on the resolution target in the Raw than in the JPEG , likely due to the latter’s inability to process the high contrast detail. Noise levels are low (and competitive) through ISO 3200. A bit of chroma noise appears at ISO 6400 , and at ISO 12800 it’s increased to the point where details start to disappear . At the top sensitivity – ISO 25600 – there’s not much left to work with, but the Raw images are slightly better than the JPEGs .

Studio Comparison (low light)

The low light scene is shot with Auto White Balance, to show how the camera’s JPEGs look under artificial light. Any ‘keep warm tone’ options are left at their default setting.

The low light scene Raws are processed to demonstrate the capability of cameras in low-light shooting situations. Noise reduction is minimized and the white balance is neutralized to reveal blue channel noise. The black level is lifted to prevent noise being hidden by clipping. A standardized amount of sharpening is applied in Photoshop.

Note: this page features our new interactive studio scene. Click here for instructions on the widget.

In terms of luminance noise and detail, there’s not a whole lot of difference between the a7’s performance in low light and good light throughout the range of available ISOs. Sony has done an excellent job of reducing color noise in JPEGs, even at the highest sensitivities.

Switching to Raw, you won’t start to notice chroma noise until ISO 3200 , and even then, there’s very little. It doesn’t become prominent until you reach ISO 6400 , though detail loss doesn’t become an issue until ISO 12800 . At in good light, there’s very little left to work with at ISO 25600 .

Conclusion – Pros

• Small and well-priced full-frame body
• Very good image quality when shooting Raw
• Solid build quality
• Compatible with a huge range of legacy 35mm camera lenses with no field-of-view crop
• Large, high resolution electronic viewfinder
• Tilting LCD offers good detail and outdoor visibility
• Useful tools, such as focus peaking and zebra pattern (work well with native lenses)
• Very good video quality
• Strong video features: manual controls, audio level adjustment, and uncompressed HDMI output
• Well-implemented dual-axis electronic level
• Solid Wi-Fi system allows for remote shooting, easy photo sharing; NFC a plus
• Charging via USB can be convenient
• Classic Sony features (HDR, Sweep Panorama) work well
• Exposure compensation dial makes Auto ISO usable in manual mode
• Microphone and headphone ports
• Optional battery grip
  

Conclusion – Cons

• JPEG quality disappointing compared to peers – crude sharpening, over-aggressive processing and occasional posterization
• Autofocus can be hesitant, especially in low light; AF improves when assist lamp is turned off
• Auto ISO tends to keep shutter speed at 1/60 sec, often resulting in blurry photos
• Limited selection of FE lenses, which are expensive compared to competition
• Tools for shooting with third party lenses need improvement
• Longer-than-average startup times
• Camera ‘locks up’ while buffer is clearing after continuous shooting
  
• Overly sensitive eye sensor (also stays active when screen is tilted)
• Lacks a built-in flash
• Limited battery life
• Exposure compensation and rear scroll wheel too easy to accidentally bumped
• Menu arrangement poor and navigation a bit clunky (requires a lot of button-pressing)
• No in-camera Raw conversion
• No external charger included for rapid charging or keeping a spare battery topped-up
• Included remote capture software lacks live preview

Overall conclusion

The digital photography world was set ablaze when Sony announced its Alpha 7 and 7R full-frame mirrorless cameras. It’s the smallest and least expensive full-frame digital camera with interchangeable lenses, and one that supports nearly every 35mm lens ever made, thanks to the plethora of available adapters. The cameras support all of Sony’s existing E-mount lenses (though they’ll be cropped by default), and the company has created a new line of FE lenses, which support the full-frame sensors of the cameras. There are just five lenses at this point in time – and they’re expensive – but Sony says it will have fifteen lenses available by 2015. The a7 also supports Sony’s wide selection of existing A-mount lenses via a pair of adapters.

The Alpha 7 is the cheaper of the two models, and pairs a 24 megapixel CMOS sensor with Sony’s latest Bionz X processor. We see three major audiences: those stepping up from existing NEX models, photographers ‘buying into’ full-frame, and fans of third-party lenses who want to use them on a full-frame body. As you might expect, the a7 suits these different audiences to differing degrees.

Image Quality

For those who will be shooting Raw, they’ll get very good results out of the a7. Noise is comparable to full-frame SLRs such as the Canon EOS 6D and Nikon D610, with plenty of detail retained until the very highest sensitivities. In terms of Raw, Sony has made the decision to compress its files in a lossy and non-optional manner, which raises some concerns about a camera so likely to be bought by demanding Raw shooters. That said, we didn’t encounter the theoretical limitations imposed to the extent that we ever found it to be a problem.

Probably the biggest disappointment on the a7 is its lackluster JPEG quality . Despite being a high-end, full-frame camera (and one which uses the same sensor as the Nikon D600/D610, which produce excellent JPEGs), the a7’s photos suffer from many of the same issues as Sony’s compact cameras. These issues include posterization and clumsy sharpening and noise reduction algorithms. While this may not be a problem for some photographers, the aforementioned issues will become more noticeable if you ‘push’ and re-save JPEGs. For best results, you really want to shoot Raw on this camera.

As for the new FE-series lenses, we were impressed with the sharpness of the two primes (35mm F2.8, 55mm F1.8). The 28-70mm F3.5-5.6 is not as good, but produced respectable results for a kit lens.

Handling

The a7 shooting experience is a mixed bag. We like the small, light, and generally solid body, though the exposure compensation dial is too easy to bump, and the scroll wheel on the back of the camera spins too easily, and has a default setting you’ll want to change right away. The grip feels a little too unsubstantial – we’d prefer something a bit more substantial, or nothing at all. Ostensibly, Sony has done away with the NEX-style menus found on their previous E-mount cameras – replacing them with a tab-based system (though the ‘Tile’ view suggests its not been re-thought as much as we’d hoped). It would’ve been nice if there was less button-pressing required when navigating them, though.

The Alpha 7 has the kind of manual controls you’d expect from a high-end Sony camera. There are several customizable buttons, as well as a shortcut ‘Fn’ menu that you can set to your liking. The Wi-Fi feature is top-notch, with remote control, direct uploads to Facebook and Flickr, and downloadable apps that add features to the camera (though not all are free). If your mobile device supports NFC, transferring photos is just a ‘tap’ away. Popular Sony features such as HDR, Dynamic Range Optimizer, and Sweep Panorama all work as you’d expect.

While the Alpha 7 is generally very responsive , there is some room for improvement. Perhaps the most frustrating thing is the two second (and sometimes longer) startup time, which makes it all too easy to ‘miss a moment’. The Hybrid AF system is quick to focus, though it hesitates more than one would expect – particularly in low light. As we’ve seen before with Sonys, the camera actually focuses better in low light with the AF assist lamp turned off . The a7 is able to shoot continuously at just under 5 fps, though the camera will be locked up for 10-20 seconds while the buffer is cleared. Battery life on the a7 isn’t great, so you’ll want to pick up a spare battery, and an external charger (since none is included in the box).

With so many adapters available, the a7 is a very attractive option for owners of third-party lenses (which is discussed in more depth in this article ). While Sony has provided tools for focusing these old lenses – such as magnified view and focus peaking – they don’t work as well as we’d hoped.

Something that frustrated us immensely is the camera’s basic Auto ISO implementation . The camera is so attached to the 1/60 sec shutter speed (ostensibly to keep the ISO as low as possibly) that we found ourselves shooting in shutter priority mode (or using Program Shift) very frequently. The problem is that 1/60th second isn’t fast enough either to freeze subject motion, or be sure of eliminating camera shake, especially with the unstabilized 55mm F1.8 prime. We hope that Sony can address this issue in a firmware upgrade.

One thing the a7 does quite well is video recording . There are numerous choices in resolution and frame rate, with 1080/60p (28Mbps) and 1080/24p (24Mbps) being the highlights. You have access to the same manual controls, focus aids, and continuous autofocus that you do when shooting stills. The a7 has a mic input (with audio level controls) and a headphone port, and also supports uncompressed HDMI output.

The Final Word

The Alpha 7 twins are arguably the most ambitious cameras Sony has ever made. By putting a full-frame sensor into a body nearly the same size as the Olympus OM-D E-M1, Sony has created a huge buzz around the a7 and its more expensive sibling, the a7R (which we’ll cover in a future review). But, while it has done a remarkable job creating these two cameras, we feel that some refinements are necessary in order to make them more competitive with the likes of the Canon EOS 6D and Nikon D610.

The areas that need the most improvement are related to JPEG image quality. While we recognize that some a7 shooters will be using Raw exclusively, those who are shooting JPEGs will see smudged details and strange artifacts, which are amplified if you edit and re-save them. Regardless of the file format you’re using, the Auto ISO feature needs to be more intelligent, to avoid blurry photos due to the camera’s love for the 1/60 sec shutter speed. Startup time, buffer clearing, and battery life were also a bit disappointing. We’re hoping that a firmware upgrade can address at least some of these issues.

Ultimately, the Alpha 7 is a nice step-up for current NEX owners, and will certainly tempt those who want something smaller than conventional full-frame cameras. However, while Sony has done many things right with the a7, the issues raised in this review are significant enough to keep it from getting our top award.

Scoring is relative only to the other cameras in the same category.
Click here to learn about the changes to our scoring system and what these numbers mean.

Recommended links

• Shooting with third-party lenses on the Sony a7 / a7R
• Canon EOS 6D review
• Nikon D600 review

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Samples Gallery

There are 41 images in the Sony Alpha 7 review samples gallery. Please do not reproduce any of these images on a website or any newsletter / magazine without prior permission (see our copyright page ). We make the originals available for private users to download to their own machines for personal examination or printing (in conjunction with this review), we do so in good faith, please don’t abuse it.

Unless otherwise noted images taken with no particular settings at full resolution. Because our review images are now hosted on the ‘galleries’ section of dpreview.com, you can enjoy all of the new galleries functionality when browsing these samples.