Review Date December 10, 2013

Sony Alpha 7R

  • Pros


  • Bottom Line


By Jim Fisher

The Alpha 7R ($2,299.99 direct, body only) is one of a pair of twin cameras that Sony is using to launch its full-frame mirrorless camera system. It emphasizes pure image resolution and quality over absolute speed, utilizing a 36-megapixel image sensor with no low pass filter to capture images that are well beyond what you would expect from a camera of this size. The Alpha 7 is a little faster to focus and shoots an extra frame per second, but we're awarding the 7R our Editors' Choice for full-frame mirrorless cameras. It displaces the Leica M (Typ 240), a much more expensive camera that will still please rangefinder aficionados, but doesn't offer autofocus capability.

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Quite compact when you consider its full-frame image sensor, the Alpha 7R measures just 3.75 by 5 by 1.9 inches (HWD) and weighs about a pound without a lens. The Leica M isn't quite as tall, but it's wider; it measures 3.1 by 5.5 by 1.7 inches, and its brass construction is responsible for a 1.5-pound weight. The 7R's OLED EVF, which is placed in the same position as an SLR's optical viewfinder, adds some height to its body. The body itself is sealed against dust and moisture; I had no issues shooting in lighter rain. Lenses don't have an o-ring gasket around the mount, so I'd be a little wary of using the camera in very heavy rain.

Sonya Alpha 7R : Sample Image

The Alpha 7R uses the same E-mount to attach lenses as previous Sony NEX cameras, including the NEX-6, which uses an APS-C image sensor. An APS-C sensor is physically smaller than the 35mm full-frame image sensor housed in the Alpha's svelte body. It's possible to use older lenses for NEX cameras that only cover an APS-C image circle; the 7R will automatically crop images to match the APS-C sensor size when these lenses are attached. Lenses designed for the full-frame Alpha 7 and 7R bear an FE designation.

The image sensor is a full-frame design, which means that it's the same size as a frame of 35mm film. It packs a 36-megapixel resolution, which we've only seen in the Nikon D800 and D800E to this point, and like the D800E it omits the optical low pass filter (OLPF) from its design. The OLPF is designed to reduce the possibility of color moiré effects in images. These can show up as rainbow patterns when shooting certain textures, notably textiles and feathers. It does this by slightly blurring an image, at the cost of very fine detail. It's easier to reduce moiré via software when working with high resolution images, which is one of the reasons that they've long been omitted from medium format digital cameras. As image sensors have increased in resolution, and modern lens designs in sharpness, more full-frame 35mm and APS-C digital cameras have omitted the filter, the logic being that it's better to address moiré when it does pop up in an image rather than to sap detail from every photo. Whether or not you want a camera with this filter is a matter of personal preference and the subject matter which you deal with. Landscape photographers rarely see it, and don't need the fast burst shooting capability that the Alpha 7 delivers, which will likely push them to the 7R. If you regularly photograph fabrics, birds, or other moiré-inducing objects, you'll want a camera with an OLPF. The 7R is not the only full-frame mirrorless camera that drops the OLPF from its design, the filter is also absent from all of the models in Leica's digital rangefinder line.

Physical Controls, Display, Wi-Fi
The A7R puts shooting controls at your fingertips via a well-designed selection of physical controls. There are front and rear control wheels, placed at the top of the camera and accessible when holding it using the handgrip. The top plate houses a standard mode dial, the power switch and shutter release, an EV compensation dial (3 stops in either direction at 1/3-stop increments), and the customizable C1 button—by default it adjusts autofocus pattern, but when the camera is in manual focus mode it enables quick frame magnification as a focus aid.

On the rear of the camera you'll find the Menu button to the left of the eyepiece, and the C2 button to its right; C2 is also customizable, and is used to adjust the focus mode by default. The other controls are bunched to the right of the tilting rear LCD; there's a toggle switch and button that give quick access to manual focus mode when placed in the up position, and engages exposure lock in the bottom.

Sonya Alpha 7R : Sample Image

A flat control dial can be spun to adjust the ISO, or pressed in a cardinal direction to adjust the drive mode, change the amount of information displayed over the Live View feed, or to adjust white balance. At its center is a button that is used to select items in menus; when shooting it enables Eye AF, which prioritizes the autofocus system to lock onto a human eye. The delete button doubles as C3 when shooting; there's no default behavior, but you can add one via the menu. All of the rear controls are customizable, giving you near total control over how the camera functions. If a certain control is seldom used, or just isn't the right place, you can adjust it to suit your needs.

The other control button on the rear is the Fn button. It brings up an on-screen menu that provides quick access to up to 12 camera functions. The default lineup includes the drive mode, flash mode and compensation, the focus mode and area, exposure compensation, ISO, the metering pattern, white balance and color output settings, dynamic range optimization settings.

There's a record button to start videos, its located on the right side of the camera; it's actually placed quite well, and is easily accessibly but unlikely to be accidentally pressed; it can't be disabled or reprogrammed, but it can be set only to work when the camera's mode dial is moved to the video setting.

The LCD is hinged so it can tilt up or down, but it's not a vari-angle display like the one found on the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH3, nor does it support touch input. It's 3 inches in size and packs 921k-dot resolution into that space, which is impressively sharp. There's no depth of field preview button on the camera, instead the Live View feed changes to show you the focus, depth of field, and exposure as you adjust the aperture of the lens.

Sonya Alpha 7R : Sample Image

The EVF is an OLED panel with a 2,359k-dot resolution, similar to the one found in the NEX-7 and other APS-C Sony mirrorless cameras. It's one of the best you'll find in a digital camera, although we give slight preference to the LCD EVF in the Olympus OM-D E-M1. The LCD tends to give a more natural impression of a scene, while the OLED tends to produce a punchier view of the world with a bit more contrast. The EVF can lag a bit in very low light; it's not quite as smooth as the E-M1 in those conditions, but it is smoother than the EVFs in Sony cameras from previous years.

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Jim Fisher
By Jim Fisher Senior Analyst, Digital Cameras


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