SONY
Springtime with the Sony A7V
How a camera fits in one's hand is very important, so when Sony unveiled a beefier camera, I was sold. It was the perfect blend of form and functionality that many (me, myself, and I) had long desired. It pushed the boundaries of what many once considered to be an all-arounder camera, bringing speeds and video specs once exclusive to higher end models to the masses. How could Sony possibly improve on such a stellar performer? Easy, it's called the Sony A7 V.
I was lucky enough to take the new A7 V into the field for a few weeks this spring where I put it to the test in various shooting situations. Of course, I considered putting this camera through the ringer, I figured it was more practical to simply use it as part of my everyday shooting kit. For those who don't know by now, I'm a wildlife photographer. I spend most of my free time chasing and photographing birds, and that's especially true come spring.
As a Sony shooter, I was especially excited to test this new camera. My main weapon is currently the A1 II, but its trusty sidekick, and the reason I switched systems, is the A7 IV. I haven't traditionally been one to upgrade to the latest model every time a new feature comes out. I prefer to buy a camera, learn its ins and outs, and shoot with it until something truly noteworthy comes to the table. Just ask me about my six-year-old smartphone. Still, when certain updates are made or features are added, I feel motivated to make a move.
Does the A7 V motivate me to abandon my IV? Before we can answer that question, we need to see how it performs in the field, and the subject at hand were tiny migrating warblers. These are challenging to shoot for even the most advanced cameras as they're tiny, fast moving, and the environment they live in is dense. It's not a situation I see covered in many reviews, so I decided to take a crack at it.
Size was a big selling point in the early days of mirrorless cameras, though if you look at the legacy of the A7 series, you'll see each and every model get progressively bigger. This was done, not only to fit more features into these cameras, but to give them the larger footprint photographer have come to expect from a working camera. For the time in the A7 line, the A7V looks quite familiar, and that's a good thing.
Sony really hit things out of the park with the prior A7 IV. The control layout, physical size and shape of the A7IV was the perfect blend of size and portability, so it's no wonder Sony decided to keep things as they are. From the perspective of a photographer who is familiar with prior cameras button layout, AND as someone with big hands, this is a welcome decision.
I've always preferred the tilt-screen, as you can shoot at low or high angles without obstruction. A flip-out screen can be held at low angles comfortably as my left arm prevents the screen from fully opening. As you can imagine, the multi-angle screen is a welcome addition to the camera for nature and wildlife use cases. Even those photographing concerts and other live stage events will benefit from this update.
Performance...At the forefront of the fifth incarnation of the A7 series is a newly designed partially stacked 33.1-megapixel Exmore RS CMOS Imaging Sensor. While the resolution has remained the same as the previous model, the readout speed that can be achieved via the partially stacked design reduces the occurrence of rolling shutter significantly and allows the camera to achieve blisteringly fast frame rates.
Speaking of frame rates, one of the biggest improvements for fast action shooters has to be the flagship level continuous shooting speeds the A7 V is capable of achieving. Frame rates have been increased dramatically from the 11 fps found in the V's predecessor to a staggering, blackout free 30 fps when shooting in electronic shutter mode. While this doesn't up your keeper rate, it certainly helps you get that perfect pose.
Autofocus has seen an improvement as well with a dedicated AI processing unit to enhance subject recognition and tracking capabilities. This was immediately noticeable when photographing white ibis flying in and out of a nesting colony. Unfortunately, I was met with gray, rainy conditions, but this worked to my advantage. Dark, overcast light is challenging for any camera to find focus, so the A7 V was in for a real test.
To no surprise, the camera can focus quite well in difficult lighting scenarios. Flight sequence after flight sequence, the camera found and tracked each individual bird as well as I could expect. Nearly every shot was sharp, and the viewing experience through the 3.96m-Dot EVF was as smooth as I could ask. Of course, blackout free 30 fps shooting makes a big difference. In fact, there were time when I almost forgot that I wasn't using my trusty A1 II.
Another holdover from the A7 IV is the very EVF mentioned above. Now, it is a little low in the resolution department when compared to some competitors, but we're nitpicking here. In use, the EVF is perfectly fine in nearly every shooting situation I tested it in. It offers 120 fps playback for smoother motion rendering, plus the brightness and color can be adjusted as needed. I found it a bit dark out of the box, but nothing a little tweaking in the menu couldn't correct.
Image quality...The newly designed sensor brings more to the table than just speed. It provides improved image quality and gains an additional stop of dynamic range, boosting the A7 V to 16 stops. In practice, this gives users a bit more leniency in shadow and highlight recovery. While it's nice to get things right in camera, nature in unforgiving. A lot of the work of a wildlife photographer is done in post, as simple as it may be. For that reason, I always recommend shooting in a raw file format.
Luckily, the A7 V features the familiar compressed HQ raw and lossless compressed raw file formats, which offer greater image quality and editing flexibility respectively. New to the system is a lightweight raw file format, which optimizes file size, saving space on your memory cards. This is especially important for those shooting fast action. If you're shooting 30 fps, you'll even full a 240 GB CF Express card quickly.
Being that I'm a wildlife shooter, I shot in 30 fps for most of the outing. Surprise surprise! To maximize space on my memory cards, I decided to shoot in this new lightweight mode. This would also let me see what the big fuss was all about. Would there be a noticeable difference in file formats? Not really. I couldn't easily detect any differences in color or acuity myself. In fact, at higher ISOs the lightweight raw files looked a bit better than the standard raw file out of my A7 IV.
Autofocus...When it comes to animal and bird eye detection modes, the A7 V suffers from the same case of background-itis. This is where the camera's autofocus system blows past the subject and locks onto a busy background and struggles to let go without manual override or other hands-on techniques like focusing on a closer object and trying again.
It's important to shooting in tight environments with small subjects makes this issue more pronounced, though it can occur in any shooting scenario. One method I found worked best was to use a smaller focusing area. I was primarily using Flexible Spot Small but experimented with Zone and Wide areas. The latter two worked well when ample contrast was detected, but for tricky scenarios, the smaller point always found the subject more accurately.
Low light...One area where Sony has really pulled ahead is in high ISO performance. There was a time just under a decade ago where shooting at ISO values higher than 6400 was a luxury only attainable by flagship cameras. Now, photographers of all caliber can experience the joys of shooting in challenging light. The image below was taken at ISO 12,800 and was run through some simple noise reduction software.
The A7V shapes up to be quite the worthy successor to an already stellar camera. While there are times when upgrading from one model to the next doesn't always make sense. This is one of those occasions where I'd bet an upgrade is well worth it, no matter the genre of photography you pursue. There's truly a feature to benefit nearly all use-cases.
What's different is a more versatile rear LCD screen. This 3.2" 2.1m-dot four-axis multi-Angle Touchscreen LCD, combines the best features of previous designs by offering tilting and side-opening/flip-out functions. This suits nearly every shooting situation, from stills to video and everything within those categories.
For those looking to enter the Sony ecosystem with a solid, versatile full-frame option, the A7 V may seem overkill. Yes, it's the latest and greatest, but the A7 IV is still available and at a decent price now that it has been "replaced."
by mundophone
No comments:
Post a Comment