Warning: camera rant, reader discretion advised.
A year or so ago, I penned a piece heralding the arrival of the Sony RX1. Having previously declared that the future is mirrorless, I reckoned that the RX1 rammed another nail into the flappy mirror encumbered DSLR coffin.
The RX1 was the first mirrorless camera (Leica excluded) to feature a full frame sensor. It also featured a spiffy built-in Zeiss lens and took lovely photos; as you should expect for a camera costing nearly $3,000.
The most noticeable feature of the RX1 was its size. Full frame, and yet much much smaller than the DSLR monsters from Canikon:
By all accounts, the RX1 sold well, in spite of the price. If only Sony would release the same sort of camera with interchangeable lenses, said some people who didn’t work for Canon or Nikon. Yesterday, they did.
Two models, the A7 and the A7R. The A7 has 24 megapixels and includes PDAF focusing on the sensor which should allow for some subject tracking of moving objects. The A7R has 36 megapixels and excludes the possibility to track moving objects because with that many pixels you will be sticking it on a tripod and producing landscape masterpieces to print wall size. Possibly.
The A7 will sell for $1700, or $2000 with a kit lens, the A7R will be $2,300, body only; competitively priced against similar offerings from Canon and Nikon.
It’s a little bigger than the RX1 because it has a built-in EVF (the RX1 EVF was a bolt-on option; what do you expect for $3000?); but still diminutive compared to the opposition.
So, here we are at last. A mirrorless full-frame interchangeable lens camera which is smaller, lighter and cheaper than a Canikon; why would you buy anything else? Well, assuming you do buy one, then what? Perhaps you need a lens on it to take some photos? And here we run into the same problem that befell the Sony NEX range when it was first launched, a dearth of lenses. There will be five lenses available at, or shortly after, launch; provided by Sony (variable quality) and Zeiss (tasty). Not enough to be called a system; but Sony promise more over the next couple of years. But hey, get the 7R and a Zeiss 55mm F1.8 for a total of $3,300 and go take some bokehlicious beauties. Alternatively, drag those legacy lenses out of the cupboard and stick them on with an adapter; Leica owners seem to be quite excited by this possibility.
So there are challenges for Sony to make this work as a viable system. Full frame is not a massive market (I assume) and those that have already signed onto the Canon or Nikon system are unlikely to dump everything to move to Sony. People buying into full frame for the first time should be attracted by the size (even though some people think bigger is better - not my wife thankfully); but will they be put off by the lack of lens choice. Legacy lens collectors will certainly go for this; but that’s a niche within a niche.
But well done Sony. Canon and Nikon mirrorless attempts are massive by comparison; and their DSLR bodies now look even more bloated than they did before. How long before they jump and join the party?
So Spike, that’s made M43 redundant, now that you can get the same sized camera with a full-frame sensor? No thanks.
First off, I don’t need full-frame. Of course it would be nice if could have it and still have the beautiful. small fast lenses I have for M43; but physics makes that impossible. The lenses for the Sony don’t look too huge; but they will still dwarf M43 offerings, and of course they don’t have the lens selection yet.
Olympus have been carrying out roadshows around the world for the E-M1 and have included a “DSLR challenge” where members of the public can come along with their DSLR gear and shoot a model. Another photographer takes the same shot with the E-M1 and both photos are printed A1 size (that’s bigger than I have ever printed anything) and the public are asked to decide which was taken by which camera. At the KL event, according to Robin Wong (who now works for Olympus, so take with grain of salt), half the people couldn’t decide. Whatever the split, Olympus must be fairly confident that the E-M1 is close to a full-frame DSLR in terms of image quality to have the confidence to stage something like this, and the gap is certainly not big enough to make me want to abandon the wonderful world of M43 which has been giving me images that delight me for many years (which is all that matters to me as far as IQ is concerned).
So, take away the need for full frame and you are left with a wide choice of cameras and an even wider choice of lenses with M43; delivered in a small, light package. The E-M5 is the best camera I have ever owned, and from an initial play the E-M1 raises the bar even higher. Apart from the sensor, the E-M1 is better built with better weather sealing than the Sony A7/A7r, has faster autofocus and a better viewfinder ( all this according to Steve Huff who has just finished an E-M1 review). It also offers more controls, more customisation and it looks and feels like a camera should, rather than appearing to be a brick with knobs on. I know which would make me want to go out and take photos.
Still, in 4-5 years when mirrorless full frame is mature, who knows? One thing is for sure, Sony have dropped a cat amongst the full frame DSLR pigeons and for that they should be congratulated.
Comments 🔗
2013-10-17| Ron saysThose of us who jumped on the NEX bandwagon can use the lenses we have. Don’t know if I’m quite ready to shell out twice the price of NEX7 or 6 for a bigger sensor just yet.
2013-10-17| Kevin Moore saysHere in the UK Spike you may not be aware but on the news these days, they have to warn viewers that this report may contain some flash photography so no poor soul starts jigging around their living room. Given that nearly all of imags of cameras on your site tend to be of a four thirds size perhaps the following warning should preceed any article containing large Canikons.
“Reader discression is advised as the following post contains images of large fat bodies”. This will avoid readers crying out " Oh you fat bastard" and suffering flashbacks of once being a Canikon donkey.
2013-10-17| Spike saysProvided you are prepared to live with vignetting or running in cropped sensor mode?
2013-10-17| Spike saysSuch images are only used to serve as warnings. Sometime you have to be cruel to be kind.
2013-10-17| Ray Walton saysHave to agree with you there Spike. As you know I am seriously thinking of jacking in all my Canon FF DSLR kit (5D2) for teh E-M1 and for all the reasons you mentioned and as I too had perceived from Steve Huff’s review I am now even more solidly behind going back to M43 with the Oly E-M1 in the New Year when any bugs are ironed out and prices drop post festive season.
2013-10-17| Andrew saysSamyang just announced 5 lenses for E-mount full frame : Samyang 14mm f/2.8 ED AS IF UMC Samyang 24mm f/1.4 ED AS IF UMC Samyang T-S 24mm f/3.5 ED AS UMC Samyang 35mm f/1.4 AS UMC Samyang 85mm f/1.4 AS IF UMC Seems there has been some “nudge,nudge,wink,wink” going on behind the scenes Still they will be large(r) than m/43 but probably nowhere near LeicaLand price…
2013-10-18| The Heavyweight saysI’ll wait for the first images from the α7. Everytime I read about Sony it all sounds really great, but then the pictures seem to never been up to scratch with the competition. Don’t know if it’s only the lenses, or also the way the process the pics internally. The α7 has a new processor from what I read - we’ll see.
2013-10-21| The Heavyweight saysAlso looks interesting: http://nikonrumors.com/2013/10/20/breaking-new-nikon-full-frame-hybrid-mirrorless-camera-coming-soon.aspx/
2013-10-21| Spike saysInteresting indeed. Thom Hogan wrote recently that he feels Nikon is moving towards mirrorless: http://www.dslrbodies.com/newsviews/nikon-drops-the-d5300-on.html And Canon? Still asleep apparently.
2013-10-21| Spike saysI know it shouldn’t matter, but it looks bloody ugly in these shots: http://robinwong.blogspot.com/2013/10/sony-a7-and-a7r-full-review-ok-kidding.html
2013-10-21| Andrew sayswell if Nikon ever makes a full frame that looks and handles ( and is the same size ) like the old FE-2 that I lugged and loved (well, not only the camera - I was young and fancy free- footloose too … ) around SE Asia for 7 years and I can still use the same lenses and get better than I did with Tri-X and Velvia I’ll be sold…however…I still have my doubts….
2013-10-22| The Heavyweight saysFrom what I’ve read it is maybe not mirrorless, just retro-looking, and a lot smaller than the current DSLRs. I think that the mirror is probably a bit overrated. I’d easily forget about the optical viewfinder, if I get a good EVF with 100% image coverage. The size aspect is what really appeals, and the ability to use the lenses I have. Interestingly they say it is the D4 sensor, which is inferior to the D600/D800 sensors in terms of DR and Color Depth. I have no prob with 16MP, although 24 or 36 is nice to have. But relinquishing DR and Color Depth would be a bit of a pity.