Should i return my A7R and exchange it with a A7S or even A7?

[jameto]

Hello All,

My wife on a trip bought the Sony A7R without asking me advice... ;(

She mainly do landscape / street / beach photography and will shoot in JPEG. I could use the camera for some action photo.

 

I did some research on the 7R and it seems to me that sony build it mostly for studio photography.

 

I can see lot of issue on the 7R vs the 1000 usd cheaper V7.

7R : poor autofocus (contrast based) vs , no bypass filter, slow starting time, loud shutter, low JPEG quality, slow starting time.

It seems to me that the A7 or the A7S is a much better camera for someone who wants to use it in normal condition.

She will use the Sony 24/70 F4 lense on it.

What do you think of this shall i try to exchange it cause in my opinion the 7R will not be polyvalent at all and will require probably an upgrade soon.

On top of it i'd like to shoot a bit of action sports photo and my understanding is that with 7R this will not be possible.

 

My comments come from around 15 review that i read online with few standing out : 

 

Like : http://www.sansmirror.com/cameras/a-note-about-camera-reviews/sony-nex-camera-reviews/sony-a7-and-a7r-review.html

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sony-alpha-a7r

http://photographyconcentrate.com/sony-a7-review-is-the-autofocus-too-slow/

 

The most worrisome about it is :

The problem is the autofocus. We purchased the A7 with the 28-70 kit lens and it seemed like that lense was particularly slow at focusing. It was especially bad in low light conditions. And by low light conditions I’m not talking about shooting in moonlight, I’m talking about shooting inside your house with the lights on at night. The camera would constantly hunt for focus and half the time it will either lock focus at the wrong distance, be slightly off focus, or just be unable to focus at all. It was frustrating but I figured the kit lens only ended up costing $300, and we what we really wanted to do was pair the camera with the new Zeiss lenses that were released at the same time.

 

In my opinion a slow camera slower to autofocus than an iphone is a deal breaker, i like fast camera.

By reading the review it seems than the Sony Alpha 7S Review for a little bit more is so much faster and friendly in most condition due better autofocus.

Also that comment on : http://photographicwanderings.com/2014/01/08/sony-a7r-review-working-out-a-love-hate-relationship/

 

Love-hate relationship: I cannot agree more. After a week with the 7R I came to the conclusion that it is good for landscapes using a manual focus lens, but not much more. It simply misses focus 50% of the time.
 

Forget all the fancy settings and stuff. The 7r is just a convenient data back, not a camera.

Thanks a lot for your advice and opinion about what shall i do.

 

Cheers

[Guest Peter Kelly]

When it came to a choice between the A7, A7R, and A7S, I picked the A7S. I regarded the disadvantages of the A7 and A7R as far too significant and never regretted the decision. The lack of resolution isn't really that important for most print sizes and I actually liked the rendering of the A7S. There is something about it which is hard to pin down; it just looks really nice.

 

However, when the A7Rii came out I upgraded. Basically it matches and is superior to the A7S on almost every level. Even in low light the A7Rii is as good up to 51200ISO when you resize to match output.

It isn't quite as good at focusing in those very poor light conditions, but it's hard to notice sometimes. The A7Sii has not really improved much at all, so the situation has been reversed for this generation, unless you specialise in video.

 

So to go back to your question, if you have the money for an A7Rii, that is without a doubt the best camera. If, however, you are limited to a choice between the A7, A7R, and A7S, the A7S is certainly the best.

It's really only a little behind the A7Rii and ahead of the A7Sii, in my mind, so I would have no hesitation going for that.

 

My purely personal order of preference (I happen to like the previous body):

 

A7Rii

A7S

A7Sii

A7

A7ii

A7R

 

You will see that the A7R is bottom of my list!

[Guest Jaf-Photo]

First, you should congratulate your wife on making a good choice of camera. I wish my other half was that knowledgeable about camera gear

 

I have the A7R and love it. It is however quite a specialist camera, and I wouldn't want it to be my only camera. That said, I don't have any real issues with it.

 

From what you write, I suggest that you would be better off with a a6000. I can't see that full frame format would make much of a difference to you. But I think that the higher speed and greater versatility of a6000 would help you a lot.

 

With the lower price of the a6000 you will be able to afford more lenses. (Also, the FE 24-70/4 is an odd lens. It costs quite a bit of money and still has optical issues.)

[Fonk]

The lack of resolution isn't really that important for most print sizes and I actually liked the rendering of the A7S. There is something about it which is hard to pin down; it just looks really nice.

 

I'm with you on the rendering of the A7S.  I just picked mine up a little over a month ago, and I just love the way it renders images; almost like a medium-format "feel" to it or something?  I don't know, but it's markedly different rendering from my 24MP A-mount bodies (not that I have any complaints about those), and I like it.

[Al Pha]

My purely personal order of preference (I happen to like the previous body):

 

A7Rii

A7S

A7Sii

A7

A7ii

A7R

 

You will see that the A7R is bottom of my list!

 

I follow your reasoning for the most part but please explain why you rank the A7 above the A7ii

[Austerror]

The A7R is excellent for landscapes.

 

Missing focus 50% of the time seems a bit much.  Perhaps the camera is broken?

 

If the camera is missing focus when doing landscapes, which should be easy on the AF system, then I would begin to suspect something is broken.

 

However, none of the original A7 series cameras are good for sports photography.  The A6000 might be a better option.  My A99 is excellent for sports photography, but it does depend heavily on the lens too.

[Guest Peter Kelly]

I follow your reasoning for the most part but please explain why you rank the A7 above the A7ii

 

Where the A7Rii addressed a lot of issues and added tremendously compared to the first model, I just don't think the extras offered in the A7ii offset the body I prefer. I can see why some like the MkII style and why it has to be that size to allow IBIS, but I would rather have the Mk1 controls and body format. Given that the 'main' zoom lenses have OSS, the IBIS is not a particularly substantial upgrade.

 

Add to that some tests even show the Mk1 might have a tiny edge in image quality and you could pick it up for less and I have to put it higher in my list.

 

It's the same for the A7S and A7Sii; I'd always take the Mk1 when everything is taken into account.

Of course, we are talking about fractions and personal taste here, so if someone was to give me a MkII of either I certainly wouldn't be insulted!

[Golem]

For general use, and for your action shots in

particular, I'd swap the A7R for whichever of

the MkII series suits your use. With the MkII

you get IBIS, useful for action when it involves

longer lenses, and handy for low light levels

at slow shutter speeds. The A7MkII, the basic

model of the series, is about $1000 less than

the A7R and suitable for just about everything.

[Todders]

i love my original a7r and now combined with the Distagon T* FE 35mm F1.4 ZA  it is just superb.It however does suit the more methodical approach to photography overall.