Review: Sony A7R V mirrorless camera

Friday 30 December 2022, 20:10 by Nando Harmsen | 6,603 views | 2 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Sony Netherlands provided a Sony A7R V for an extensive review. I took this camera to Luxembourg to list the advantages and disadvantages of this excellent mirrorless camera. Is it worth upgrading, or not?

The Sony A7R V is the long-awaited successor to the now three-year-old A7R IV. The camera has received a substantial upgrade, not only in software, but also in terms of its construction. The A7R V looks largely the same as the A7 IV, which I previously wrote a review about.

The most important specifications

In broad terms, the new camera has been improved in every respect compared with its predecessor. Both in handling and operation, thanks to the body design and new menu, and in the options offered by the camera. Here is a selection of specifications

• 61-megapixel Back Side Illuminated CMOS sensor
  
• Various Raw image sizes (61, 26 and 15 megapixels)
  
• Improved AF with subject recognition using AI
  
• Object recognition expanded with various animals, insects, trains, aeroplanes and cars
  
• Up to 8 stops of in-body stabilisation
  
• Fully articulating screen with tilt system
  
• Automatic focus bracketing with up to 299 images
  
• Pixel Shift multi-shot high-resolution modes
  
• Continuous shooting at up to 10 frames per second (in JPEG or lossy compressed raw and with the mechanical shutter)
  
• 8K 25p and 4K 50p video with a 1.24x crop
  
• 4K 25p video without a crop
  
• 10-bit 4:2:2, with S-log3, S-Cinetone and HLG video
  
• Electronic viewfinder with 9.44 million OLED dots and up to a 100 fps refresh rate
  

More than 9 million pixels is an enormous resolution for an electronic viewfinder. Sorry about the dust, that is inevitable with this type of rubber after intensive use.

The sensor in the A7R V has remained the same as in its predecessor. With 61 million pixels, it offers the highest resolution Sony has. Although the sensor data is naturally processed in a better way, the most important thing the new camera offers is the so-called AI AF capabilities. Yes, 'Artificial Intelligence'.

The appearance

I want to start with the camera's appearance. The A7R V is no longer the compact body it once was. Thankfully. The camera is larger and therefore offers a better grip. The grip is good, and the buttons are of better quality. You will find everything where you would expect it on a Sony camera.

An overview of the layout of the buttons and dials found on the Sony A7R V.

The biggest difference compared with all the other Sony Alpha models is the LCD screen. It is no longer just a tilting screen, it can also be folded out. This gives Sony the most functional screen you can find. Something other manufacturers might be jealous of.

The LCD screen is fantastic. It tilts as before, but can also be fully articulated.

The menu

Naturally, the Sony A7R V has received the new menu. That was inevitable, of course. It has become much easier to find and change the camera settings. That is also necessary, because the number of setting options has increased considerably with the new AI AF system.

Even so, Sony's menu is not always logical, an issue that is well known and no longer surprising. It is a shame that this has not been improved. Sometimes you simply need a manual, or help, to find a function or understand what it does.

The menu is, well, a Sony menu. Although it is better than the old menu, there is still plenty of room for improvement.

You can activate a help function for every menu option, giving you a description of that particular function. Unfortunately, this description is very brief, so it does not tell you much. There is plenty of room to provide more explanation, but Sony does not make use of it.

The autofocus capabilities

The autofocus system of the Sony A7R V has been greatly improved compared with its predecessor. Sony says that subjects are recognised up to 60% better, made possible by the processing power of the new processor.

Birds are recognised too. But which bird does the camera choose? (JPEG straight from the camera, 105mm, ISO 2500, f/4, 1/2000s)

The system has also been expanded so that it recognises not only people and birds, but many more types of animals and insects, as well as cars, trains and aeroplanes. Strangely enough, you can choose animals and birds separately, but you can also select a combination of the two.

The AF menu is very complex. You can set so much and change the behaviour in so many ways that you now risk losing sight of the wood for the trees. Perhaps Sony has taken customisation too far.

Each AF recognition mode has received a number of setting options, including the distance a subject may be from a focus point before it is selected, how quickly it switches to another subject, and how sensitive the system is. You can also choose which options you want to use, eye, head and body, all of them, only eye and head, or eyes only.

It is good that you can choose between eye AF and body AF, or both. In this case, eye AF alone would not have been the right choice. (JPEG straight from the camera, 105mm, ISO 6400, f/4, 1/2000s, mechanical shutter)

There are so many options that finding the best possible settings can be very complex and time-consuming. You could devote an entire study to it.

Autofocus in practice

The autofocus works incredibly quickly and accurately. It finds the eye of a dog or person without much trouble. With birds too, the camera quickly picks out the correct focus point. It does not work flawlessly, despite the improved AI AF capabilities.

The AF works quickly and accurately. How well it works depends on the conditions. Nothing has changed in that respect. It is good that Sony can now recognise more subjects too. (JPEG straight from the camera, 105mm, ISO 5000, f/4, 1/2000s)

With fast action, the autofocus can still miss occasionally. Despite animal AF being selected, the camera sometimes preferred people. The camera can struggle to correct itself when the person moves out of the frame and only the animal remains visible.

A Mallard among the branches also proved difficult for the AI AF. The autofocus continued to recognise the branches as the subject. Naturally, this is a very difficult situation for any camera. Changing the AF settings might improve things.

With AF specifically set to birds, there were still quite a few problems focusing on this Mallard. I expected the AI-powered AF to recognise it easily. In the end, I did get the bird sharp using single-point AF. Perhaps another AF setting would have worked better?

The longer you work with the camera, the better you can judge how the AF should be set. Do bear in mind that you are then setting everything for a very specific situation, which may work less well in the next situation.

Although the electronic viewfinder has an enormous resolution and a very realistic display, its resolution becomes considerably lower while focusing. This is not a problem when focusing once, but with continuous focusing the benefit of the high resolution is limited.

The electronic viewfinder shows a lot of detail until you use AF. This makes no difference to the photograph. (raw, edited, 135mm, ISO 3200, f/1.8, 1/160s)

Frame rate

It is worth remembering that the Sony A7R V is not a speed demon. The maximum frame rate is 10 frames per second, provided you use the right settings. You need to use the mechanical shutter and JPEG or lossy compressed raw. If you switch to better image quality, the speed drops to a maximum of 7 frames per second.

The Sony A7R V is not designed for action. You can shoot a maximum of 10 frames per second. This was at 7 frames per second because of my selected file format. (JPEG straight from the camera, mechanical shutter)

With many mirrorless cameras, the frame rate is higher when using an electronic shutter. This is not the case with the Sony A7R V. With JPEG or lossy compressed raw, the camera manages 8 frames per second, or 5 with the higher-quality raw images.

It is not advisable to shoot action with an electronic shutter at the highest speed. Not only do you get a lower frame rate, the rolling shutter effect is also considerable. You do not have this problem with the mechanical shutter, and you also get a higher frame rate.

The electronic shutter produces quite a lot of rolling shutter. Do not use it for action. It also has speed limitations on the Sony A7R V. (JPEG straight from the camera, 105mm, ISO 6400, f/4, 1/2000s, electronic shutter)

ISO performance and dynamic range

Sony specifies a dynamic range of 15 stops. This means that in most situations you should not have any problems with blown highlights or blocked-up shadows.

Expose for the brightest areas (Exposure to the Right) and lift the dark areas. Although you can do this largely without penalty, an exposure bracket still gives the best quality.

The dynamic range is good. You can recover underexposed areas by up to 4 stops without a problem. Five stops might be possible, provided you accept the increase in noise and loss of detail (unedited raw, exposure corrected only.)

Other capabilities

The camera has a number of built-in functions that can make it easier to use. Like other models, it has super-resolution modes. Using pixel shift, you can choose to take four or sixteen photographs. Combining them produces a higher resolution.

Would you like a greater depth of field than in this photograph? Use the focus stacking option. The camera does not combine the images.

Focus bracketing is now also possible, or focus stacking. The camera can automatically shift the focus point using up to 299 photographs. These photographs can then be combined into a photograph with an extremely large depth of field.

It is important to mention that although both focus bracketing and pixel shift multi shooting are possible in the camera, the images must be combined on the computer.

Not enough resolution? Then use pixel shift multi-shooting. Combining the images must be done in Sony's software. (Ramstein bridge, raw, edited, 105mm, ISO 400, f/7.1, 1/50s)

It is finally possible to use a bulb timer. This allows you to programme the shutter speed so that you are not limited to 30 seconds. You no longer need to use a cable release or remote control.

The Sony A7R V has a few other capabilities, such as high-speed USB-C power delivery, extra-fast Wi-Fi transfer speeds and full touchscreen functionality.

In practice

After several weeks, I can say that the camera is very pleasant to use. The body fits reasonably well in the hand and the buttons have a good response: you can clearly feel when they are pressed. I am still not very impressed with the menu layout. Although it is a major improvement over the old menu, there is still plenty of room for improvement.

Autumn colours, Mullerthal, raw edited, 105mm, ISO 1600, f/7.1, 1/25s)

Setting up the autofocus is particularly complex, and the number of ways to customise it is overwhelming. This is not something you can do quickly, and it can take quite a lot of time and energy.

Although the AF is fast and accurate, I do not really feel that the AI addition makes the autofocus noticeably faster or more accurate. I would have to use the A7R V and A7R IV side by side to see it.

With AF, focusing is usually no problem (Mullerthal, Luxembourg, JPEG straight from the camera, 24mm, ISO 6400, f/4, 1/25s)

It is mainly the small things that make the camera more pleasant to use. The body size, the bulb timer and focus stacking are all useful features that make it nicer to use. But the LCD screen is especially fantastic. Well done, Sony.

Conclusion

The Sony A7R V is a fantastic camera. It is certainly not perfect, but it comes fairly close. That is not such good news for the Sony A1. I have the impression that the Sony A7R V outperforms this camera in many areas. With the Sony A7R V, you therefore get more camera for more than 1000 euros less.

Autumn reflection, raw edited, 25mm, ISO 1600, f/5.6, 1/2s)

What works well

• AF has been expanded to recognise more objects
  
• Many options for customising AF
  
• The tilting screen is fantastic
  
• Choice between SD or CFexpress Type A cards
  
• Neat covers for the connections
  
• Full-size HDMI port
  
• The camera is no longer 'too small'
  
• Automatic focus stacking
  
• Pixel shift multi-shooting
  
• Built-in bulb timer
  
• Good dynamic range
  
• Good ISO performance
  
• High-resolution electronic viewfinder
  

I think the screen is a fantastic feature.

What works less well

• The menu is still not always very logical or clear
  
• Setting up AF is particularly complex because there are too many options
  
• No in-camera super-resolution image combining
  
• Frame rate is very limited, especially with the electronic shutter
  
• Strong rolling shutter effect with the electronic shutter
  
• Charging via USB gives no indication when the camera is fully charged.
  
• Camera customisation is becoming too extensive
  
• The viewfinder switches to a much lower resolution while focusing
  

Upgrade or not?

The Sony A7R V has not changed in terms of resolution compared with its predecessor. If you are looking for more pixels, there is no need to upgrade. The images from this fifth version of the A7R series will not be better.

Autumn in Luxembourg, raw edited, 105mm, ISO 1600, f/6.3, 1/125s)

The camera is faster and improved in many areas, however. The AF is faster, more extensive and better suited to a wide range of different subjects. The camera body has a better design and fits the hand better.

There is the new menu, which is certainly an improvement. The LCD screen is fantastic in terms of its flexibility and movement. Are these the things you are looking for? Then an upgrade is definitely worthwhile. If they are merely nice to have, the Sony A7R IV will still be sufficient.

In short, you have to decide for yourself whether the hardware and software updates offer enough value for you. Based on that, you can make a well-considered choice.

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