Well I’ve had my fun with the Sony A7r. I was tempted like so many and for a brief moment I was a Sony shooter. I loved the little camera…but that love was short lived. I’ve learnt my lesson, the grass certainly isn’t greener and the Sony is gone. Sold to the next photographer that believes the hype. So back to being a one camera man after also selling my Canon 5DMkII. Feels weird but happy with ‘just’ my 5DMkIII for now.
Disclaimer – This is my experience with the Sony A7r Mark I, not the mark II, using Canon glass and a metabones adapter, not native lenses.
So why sell the Sony?
Colours
I never for the life of me thought the colours captured by the camera should be a consideration. I’ve been shooting with Canon for years and other than setting the white balance I was always happy with the colour. Everything just looked right, with no obvious colour shifts. However it seems with the Sony, setting the right white balance was not enough in some circumstances (possibly long exposures). It seems with the Sony, the colours are captured disproportionately. I would fix the white balance in Photoshop like I always have, but some colours wouldn’t fall into line with the rest. I would have to selectively make hue adjustments, weird!
Software Bugs
Yes occasionally I’ve been known to take the battery out of the Canon to reset it. With the Sony it seemed to be a daily, or hourly occurrence. I would set the exposure for one frame, take a photo, then the Live View would suddenly become very dark. So much so I couldn’t see what I’m taking a photo of. I won’t harp on about this, as it could be the result of using Canon glass and the metabones, still…made me angry.
Usability
There is no denying this one, the Sony absolutely sucks for usability. Those menus look like they are straight out of the 80’s, and are hard to navigate. I did love the focus peaking, but when the image was in focus I couldn’t see the image behind. Everything was yellow! You couldn’t compose with Focus peaking on. Add to that the highlight warning and the screen is awash with lines and colour. Crazy! That’s if you could even see the screen shooting outside…as we do, in the real world. The Canon outshines the Sony screen by a mile. You get the picture, or not.
Dust Bunnies
This is not specific to Sony, but mirrorless cameras just suck the dust in. Of course I could minimise the dust intake by only changing lenses indoors, but that’s just not practical. Surely a shutter can come down when the lens is removed?
Battery Life
Another popular complaint, with small compact cameras comes small batteries and short battery life. It’s all good and well having a lightweight camera, but if you have to carry several batteries, is it really worth it? I’ll still with Canon thanks, those things last an absolute age!
So there you have it, my top five complaints. There are probably others, but I feel validated 🙂
