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Sony A7 and A7R reviews: First impressions of the world’s first full-frame mirrorless cameras

alpha camera camera preview full frame mirrorless sony a7 sony a7r

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posted Wednesday, October 16, 2013 at 2:01 AM EDT

 
 

Life is all about compromises, but fans of full-frame and mirrorless cameras will be thrilled to hear that Sony has just removed a compromise we've long taken as an unfortunate fact of life. If you wanted a fully-featured mirrorless camera, you had to live with -- at best -- an APS-C sensor. If you wanted a full-frame sensor, it had to come along with a bulky mirror box. There was no middle ground -- at least, not until now. With the simultaneously-launched, full-frame Sony A7 and Sony A7R mirrorless cameras, the company has demolished the status quo.

The two cameras are very closely-related, with the Sony A7R being the higher-resolution of the two models -- and we do mean high-res. While its sibling isn't exactly a slouch in terms of resolution, the 36.4-megapixel Sony A7R matches Nikon's impressive D800 and D800E for pure sensor resolution, yet with a much smaller, mirrorless body. It does have some disadvantages compared to the lower-res (still 24.3-megapixel!) A7 in other areas, though. If shooting performance is more important to you than resolution, you'll want to take a look at the Sony A7 instead.

We were able to spend some significant hands-on time with pre-production samples of both full-frame mirrorless cameras, and IR publisher Dave Etchells weighs in on their impressive technologies, as well as his first impressions handling and shooting with them.

Read our first impressions Sony A7 review here, our first impressions Sony A7R review here and our head-to-head matchup here.

 
 
 
 

In addition, you can place your pre-order with trusted Imaging Resource affiliate Adorama now:

Or with B&H Photo Video

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