ProfHankD
Veteran Member
Why get an A7CR?
Well, I nearly always carry two bodies for any serious shooting. Most recently, it's been an A7RV and an A7RII. However, one of my A7RII workhorses died. OK, it was not a lightly used camera, and even had lost a chunk of plastic from around the viewfinder in an unfortunate meeting with concrete a couple of years ago. However, it died by the mechanical shutter locking up with no prior warning, so now I don't quite trust my surviving A7RII... The A7CR seemed the obvious replacement to pair with an A7RV.
I had thought about getting an A7CR for a while, but the lack of a full mechanical shutter (just EFCS) combined with slow electronic shutter readout really made me hesitate. Well, now I can definitively say that is the #1 downside of using this camera. Here's my list of negatives:
The A7CR + a Tamron 28-200mm f/2.8-5.6 Di III RXD also makes a killer one-lens travel kit. Add an ultrawide zoom for a two-lens kit.
As a very discrete walk-around kit, I'd throw something like a cheap and tiny Pergear 35mm f/1.4 on it.
In case any Sony employees are listening: the biggest thing I miss on both the A7RV and A7CR is some of the PlayMemories functionality that the A7RII benefits from. With PlayMemories discontinued, I really think functionality of things like the Lens Compensation app should have been simply a built-in feature of the newer cameras. That app in particular really helps with using manual (unchipped) lenses.
Well, I nearly always carry two bodies for any serious shooting. Most recently, it's been an A7RV and an A7RII. However, one of my A7RII workhorses died. OK, it was not a lightly used camera, and even had lost a chunk of plastic from around the viewfinder in an unfortunate meeting with concrete a couple of years ago. However, it died by the mechanical shutter locking up with no prior warning, so now I don't quite trust my surviving A7RII... The A7CR seemed the obvious replacement to pair with an A7RV.
I had thought about getting an A7CR for a while, but the lack of a full mechanical shutter (just EFCS) combined with slow electronic shutter readout really made me hesitate. Well, now I can definitively say that is the #1 downside of using this camera. Here's my list of negatives:
- The lack of a full mechanical shutter or fast electronic shuttering means you are sometimes left with a choice between deformed bokeh and distortion in the vertical axis. Boo. On the other hand, I'm not feeling like shooting all electronic is the huge handicap I expected. So far, I've been more concerned about the lack of any sound when capturing a photo than with the artifacts I expected -- I find myself checking that each image really has been captured.
- The A7RV keeps the sensor covered when not in use, and that has been a huge benefit in reducing dirt getting to the sensor during lens changes in the field, which has been a big problem on my other Sonys. Unfortunately, the A7CR doesn't cover the sensor when the camera is turned off from silent electronic shutter mode -- it can in EFCS mode.
- The A7CR wants to couple with your cell phone to get configured. It was nice being able to install a firmware upgrade via my cell phone, but it did take a little while to get the camera initialized, and it wouldn't happen without a smartphone running the Sony app.
- Compared to the A7RV, the EVF is smaller and less impressive and the LCD doesn't do the up/down pivoting on the rear (it does flip out and pivot for selfies, etc.). Honestly, this is not a big handicap...
- This camera does seem to run a little warm. Battery life also seems slightly shorter than on the A7RV. This is generally not a problem, but it is noticeable and perhaps could be an issue for video users? Then again, this is a dumb camera choice for a video-centric user, although it does have some vlogging-friendly features.
- The included grip extender is very pretty and well-made, but pointless. They could have at least given it a storage compartment for an SD card or somesuch. I'd rather they had made it optional and dropped the camera cost correspondingly.
- It produces images just like the A7RV, which is as good as FF gets thus far.
- It is cheaper than an A7RV. In fact, it's cheaper than an A7RIVA. It is true that a Sigma fp L is cheaper still, but that's missing lots of important A7CR features (e.g., no IBIS) and doesn't take Sony E lenses.
- This camera is smaller than an A7RV, but honestly feels more like the A7RV than an A6500 -- which is weird, because those two cameras fit in virtually the same bounding box. Comparing to an A6500, the A7CR body is thicker, but the EVF doesn't stick out as much, so we get the same bounding box. I got the A7CR with the chrome top, and that chromed part isn't wider than the top of the A6500, so it looks like an A6500 rather than giving off the "expensive camera here" vibe. Incidentally, this still manages to fit one of the bigger NP-FZ100 batteries.
The A7CR + a Tamron 28-200mm f/2.8-5.6 Di III RXD also makes a killer one-lens travel kit. Add an ultrawide zoom for a two-lens kit.
As a very discrete walk-around kit, I'd throw something like a cheap and tiny Pergear 35mm f/1.4 on it.
In case any Sony employees are listening: the biggest thing I miss on both the A7RV and A7CR is some of the PlayMemories functionality that the A7RII benefits from. With PlayMemories discontinued, I really think functionality of things like the Lens Compensation app should have been simply a built-in feature of the newer cameras. That app in particular really helps with using manual (unchipped) lenses.
