1 Year with sony’s A7RV
I’ve spent the last year and a half-ish with Sony’s A7RV. This camera, similar to any other camera released in the last decade, is incredible in every single way. There’s unreal image quality, more than enough power to take amazing photos no matter what genre of photography you shoot, and plenty of information for you to push images in post. In my case, I’m coming from the Canon M50 which was a much weaker camera in comparison. Like many others, I shelled out the small fortune to get this camera right around release 1.5ish years ago and I’m both thoroughly impressed and disappointed with this camera. On one hand, there’s comfort in knowing that no matter where I am or what I’m shooting, my A7RV will be able to tackle any situation and get an amazing shot. On the other hand, this camera makes taking good photos so easy a handicapped pigeon could do it with its eyes closed. So, would I recommend you buy it? Well….
SHOOTING BACKGROUND
For reference, the general genres of photography I shoot on a daily basis covers:
Media (Film, TV, Web series, Comedy, etc.)
Portraits (In studio and On-location)
Street
Sports/Dance
As all photographers do, I’ve also shot on the A7RV in these genres as well, but it’s not something I place a big emphasis on. Maybe one offs here and there, or spur of the moment shoots.
Landscapes
Astrophotography
Automotive
The most glaring thing absent from this review will be in the video department. In a world of hybrid shooters, I’ve stuck to my guns and really focus on the photo side of things. I’ve taken occasional videos here and there mostly to play around with in DaVinci, but not even remotely enough to give a substantive review. So if that’s something you really care about, 1, why are you looking at this camera there are FAR better options, and, 2, I’m not that guy.
Lastly, and most importantly, when it comes to giving my opinion, I’m all about the practical. I’m aware there’s all sorts of technical nuances I could get into, but most of that doesn’t really matter. I’m not thinking about how many stops of dynamic range my camera has when I’m photographing. All that matters to me is, Can the camera take a good picture? Does the shooting experience feel good? And how engaged the camera makes me. In essence, what’s the real hands-on experience like with the camera?
LOVE
LENS SELECTION: This isn’t unique to just this camera, but the lenses available on the E-mount are easily one of my favorite perks in the Sony ecosystem. My lens collection is ever evolving but here are some of my favorites (In no particular order).
Sony 35mm f/1.4 GM - Anything in the GMaster lens series could be here, but I specifically enjoy this and the 85mm the most. I feel like they compliment each other perfectly in my lens kit. The images created by this lens are nothing short of amazing. The detail within it is unmatched, and it has this beautiful, almost, surreal quality to it when shooting below f/2. My favorite photos feel almost dreamy, so any lens that helps me get there is a priority in my kit, and the 35mm fits right in there.
Bonus tip* For most shoots, I generally do not bring a 50mm lens with me at all. While this is for reasons outside of the 35mm, on the off chance that I do need to mimic the 50mm feel, 99% of the time I shoot my 35mm on APS-C mode and it’s roughly like I’m shooting a 50. My gripes with that focal length will be discussed in another blogpost soon.
Sony 85mm F/1.4 GM - Insert everything I said about the 35mm right here and much would be the exact same for the 85mm. What makes the 85mm particularly special to me is that this lens has not only quickly become my favorite focal length to use, but it’s arguably my favorite lens to use period. The images that come out of here are ALWAYS what I’m looking for. Backgrounds melt away like ice cream in the Texas Summer. When shooting below f/2.8 subjects literally look like you pulled them from a dream without using a pro-mist filter. The compression is the perfect amount that it feels real enough to touch, but magical enough that you can’t quite put your fingers on it. Above all else, this lens makes photography FUN. And sometimes that’s half the battle.
Sirui 35mm T/1.2 (APS-C) - Now this lens is clearly the odd one out in my lens list. Hell it’s not even a lens designed for photography. However, I think that’s exactly what separates it from other lenses on the market for me. Photo lenses, especially the latest and greatest, are really focused on creating the best image possible for you to play around with later. Cine-lenses are designed with a completely different principle. These are designed to have “a look.” And “the look” of the nightwalker series is exactly up my alley. As mentioned earlier, I love shooting dreamy looking photos. The Nightwalker series is one of the greatest I’ve seen at doing it. Not to mention, if you shoot this lens at night in an area with lots of neon-esque lights, I am in heaven. You might see the APS-C only shooting and think that it’s a downside. Sure it sucks to crop in, but motherfucker. The A7RV has a 61 MP sensor. No photographer NEEDS that much information all the time. I promise you NO ONE can tell you’re cropping in. And if someone can and they shit talk you for it, they aren’t a photographer. They’re a tech enthusiast.
Pentax 50mm f/1.4 “Super Takumar” (Adapted to E-Mount) - In my half a decade of shooting experience the Super Takumar is the ONLY 50mm lens I’ve ever enjoyed photographing with. All the other lenses in this focal length lack character to me and this is the only 50mm I’ve ever been impressed with. Obviously there are more technical and clean lenses out there. But fuck that. I want a lens that will get the job done and leave a creative touch to it. This does all that and more. Manual focus only? Who cares? Learn to critical focus, it’ll make you a better photographer for the 10% of situations where autofocus sucks.
Honorable mention
Sony 70-200 f/2.8 GM-II: Weirdly I treat this lens like an extreme version of my 85mm. If I want that compressed look but more extreme I bust this baby out. Although it’s not as appealing to me b/c I generally dislike zooms.
PROCESSING: Taking a great photo happens in camera, but giving images that final pop is essential in processing. These days, I’m more focused on getting the exact image I’m looking for straight in the camera, but the files that come out of this camera have infinite headroom in all directions to get what I’m looking for when editing. Using Lightroom Classic, Adobe Bridge, and (when I have to) Photoshop, I’ve got a great workflow and find I can do anything to the photos. All that information the sensor captures comes in handy. Shadow and Highlight recovery are phenomenal, there’s so much detail in every picture. (See the photo of the model below. Look in her eyes!). It’s borderline too much information. I often find myself TAKING AWAY the clean clinical look in favor of something more stylized. The only thing to be aware of is pushing shadows too far in post when shooting at VERY high ISO (Think 12800+). I have had a very small handful of photos (Under 5) that were unrecoverable due to ISO being sky high. But in all those cases, the images were ruined due to me making a mistake when photographing rather than the camera not working great.
FLIP OUT SCREEN: I don’t use it all the time as the viewfinder is far more accurate than the back screen, but when I do need to use it, I LOVE this thing. It can turn any direction I need it to, it doesn’t feel flimsy, and it can really help me when I’m at an awkward angle and can’t use the viewfinder. Additionally, while it’s not as accurate as the viewfinder, I find that the two are pretty damn close to the same picture. In terms of the touch screen, I don’t have a lot to say about it, I have that feature disabled 99.99% of the time. I’m slightly ashamed to say that this feature alone was the reason I chose this camera over the similar A7RIV, but it really is that good. I love it!
PHYSICAL FEEL: The A7RV feels amazing in the hands. From the texture on the grip, the placement of the buttons and dials, to the doors that cover up all the ports. It’s a premium camera body and it feels like it across every inch of the body. Additionally, if you’re like me and have bigger hands, I HIGHLY recommend getting the vertical grip. Yes it’s nice that you get extra battery life, but frankly for me it makes the camera light years more comfortable to hold. It feels much more natural and the extra weight is welcome. It’s just the right amount to not strain you. I’ve held this camera in my hand for a few dozen 12+ hour days and never had cramps or fatigue after the long days. Which I could not say when using APS-C cameras. My hands were just too big.
As far as accessories go, I keep it to a minimum. Some peak design straps (body and wrist) and a tripod plate. When necessary, I will attach a tether cable to my camera with a plate for an external monitor. All of which doesn’t get in the way, but adds to the shooting experience. Being light and functional is important for me. Most of the shooting I do is mobile so it’s important my camera works with that, and the A7RV nails it here.
SONY’S APP: As weird as it’s to say, the companion App Sony created, the Creator’s App, is the first one NOT to give me a headache. Coming from the Canon side of things. The app they used was inconsistent in my experience and that unreliability made me hesitant to try any camera apps in the future. One day I was in a pinch and needed to use Sony’s app and to my surprise the app worked well…WIRELESSLY. Shocking right? Generally speaking I wouldn’t trust these apps at all, let alone wirelessly, yet Sony has found a way to make it work. It’s simple, has all the core features you need, and I haven’t had any serious issues with it (knock on wood). While I will also prefer tethered shooting to the Cascable app (until Lightroom adds a tethered shooting feature to their iPads!) It is comforting to know that the Creator’s App is a good backup.
Cropped in 300% and exported at 10% image quality!
HATE
My list of complaints is very short, but it’s stuff that has consistently popped up on shoots and I’ve had to adjust for
VIEWFINDER: The Viewfinder sucks. There’s no other way to put it. It does great in 90% of situations. Unfortunately, I constantly shoot in the 10% of situations where I have to constantly second-guess what my eyes are seeing. If you are photographing in Extremely high-contrast lighting scenarios, (oh hello that’s me), that’s where you need extra awareness of your camera settings. I typically shoot in shutter priority or manual with my ISO set to auto. And in order to avoid overblowing my highlights, I constantly have to tell the A7RV to “underexpose” with the exposure compensation dial to nail it correctly. I’ve tried the different metering modes, as well and it’s still struggles. I think it’s largely due to the camera trying to preserve shadows, but when I’m in a dimly lit comedy club with a comedian under a spotlight, I couldn’t give less of a fuck about a random shadow being crushed. Additionally, when I do manually compensate the exposure, I am strictly looking at highlights in these scenarios to ensure they’re preserved. Oftentimes, it’s hard to tell that fine line between over and correctly exposed because the viewfinder just can’t display highlights great. At this point, I’ve got a 6th sense for when it’s right, but it’s mostly educated guesses based on several thousand photos.
COLORS: Now this is one I’ll admit that it could just be my personal taste. Now that I’ve become comfortable with the camera, I’ve noticed that it leans into the magenta’s a bit too much for my liking. I constantly find myself pulling Magenta’s out in camera, then I pull them out even more once I’m processing the images. Now if you don’t mind that, then this won’t be an issue for you, but I would prefer if my images were too green rather than too magenta. The color temperature slider on the hand works like a charm and I have no complaints. Not the biggest deal in the world, it’s super easy to adjust but it’s something I’m constantly fighting.
STORAGE: This one isn’t really a complaint as much as it is a warning to others. After about the first year, I felt the need to upgrade my 2TB SSD to a 4 TB SSD to store my images. Additionally, a second one for my backups. I keep my RAWs and exports of all my images so it can quickly eat up storage space. When shooting in the uncompressed RAW format, each picture is upwards of 120 MBs. For me I don’t really mind it, because I’m also a computer enthusiast so I have no issues upgrading my computer storage. For others, be aware that if you are constantly shooting you will definitely need more storage down the line. Some remedies are available, the first of which is not shooting in the completely uncompressed RAWs. Most photographers do not need that much information in each photo anyway so downsizing the quality slightly to give you more headroom is an easy fix.
SO GOOD, IT’S BORING: This may sound contradicting, but this camera is so damn good at taking pictures that it can get boring at times. Around the 1 year mark, I felt I hit a creative rut and was dissatisfied with the pictures I took. They were technically and compositionally good, amazing even. But the images were missing something that made them feel special. I think it’s akin to the film resurgence many photographers have undergone in search of “looks” directly out of camera. Now that I’ve played with my A7RV more, I’ve found ways to get out of this rut, but I think it’s something you’ll deal with in any modern camera. They’re just too damn good so you need to shoot with the intention of creating a specific look. In other words, this camera will not give you a style, you will have to find it on your own. Yes that can be said about any camera, but I strongly feel like this was an issue I dealt with because this camera made the shooting experience so easy that it was boring. Thankfully, this creative lull passed.
OVERALL: Would I recommend this camera? If you’re looking at this camera, I think there are two other camera bodies competing for your attention. The Sony A7RIV or the Sony a1. The A7RV basically sits right in between these two. The IV will be $500-1000 cheaper than the V and come with very similar output. Additionally, the V uses the same camera sensor. Which is a big punch in the gut when learning that. On the top end, the a1 is Sony’s flagship camera for a reason. It can do literally anything including video for a little extra cash.
In my opinion, it’s a very simple choice. If having good video capabilities in addition to stills is important for your work, then I think you save a little extra and go for the a1. You’ll be more satisfied with that camera in the long run. If you’re like me and your only concern is stills, then it's a bit closer. However, I’d generally lean towards recommending the A7RIV. I love the V, but in terms of being a better camera, there are heavy diminishing returns. Yes the V is better, but is it $500-1000 better? I can’t honestly say the answer is yes. That extra money would be better spent on an extra lens, or trip, or shoot. Those matter much more in the long run than any camera body.
There are no bad cameras in 2024, especially at this price range, so knit-picking pointless differences takes away from what’s really important. No one cares that this camera is 61 Megapixels besides camera enthusiasts. Notice I didn’t say photographers. The only thing photographers care about is if you took a great picture.