Hello, my name is Joohyung Lee and I have been taking photos as a hobby for 15 years. There is a saying, “The best camera is the one you have now.” No matter how good the image quality or shooting speed of the camera is, if I don’t have it right now, I’m in vain. In that sense, I prefer a camera that is highly portable even if it sacrifices a bit of the performance of the body itself. When I go on a trip, I always have a lot of luggage, and there is nothing more inconvenient than having to carry a separate camera bag with multiple lenses.
This is why my main camera is Sony’s RX1RII. This is a camera I always take with me when I travel somewhere. Unlike the a7 series, the RX1RII does not allow interchangeable lenses and uses batteries for compact cameras, so you have to take two with you at all costs. Instead, it is equipped with a 35mm F2 Zeitz lens and the 42-megapixel full-frame sensor included in the a7RII, making it a compact camera. It is characterized by excellent image quality despite its size. Now that I have counted it, it has already been over 5 years since I bought it used as a used car in the summer of 2018.
Sony RX1RII. Matera, Italy, where I went on my honeymoon in April 2023. Taken with Sony RX1RII.
The reason I couldn’t step into the a7 series again was largely because I got used to the RX1RII. They were all too big. In particular, starting from the 3rd generation series, the body has become heavier with a larger battery and thicker grip for better handling. For someone like me who enjoys taking pictures while traveling, the size was difficult to understand.
Fortunately, Sony doesn’t ignore people with such strange tastes. In 2020, the a7C, a significantly reduced size based on the a7M3, was released, and the a7CR was finally released in 2023. Here, the suffix ‘R’ means ‘Resolution’, and Sony has been attaching this suffix to bodies equipped with high-resolution sensors. This means that both the a7R and my main camera, the RX1RII, are cameras equipped with high-resolution sensors. It was a camera that was small and had a high-resolution full-frame sensor. It was truly like a camera that came out of my dreams.
a7CR (left) and RX1RII. RX1RII (left) and a7CR.
I haven’t used the a7C since it’s not a high resolution device, so the a7CR is my first experience with this form factor. I’m amazed at how they managed to fit such a large sensor into such a small body. If you attach a particularly small single lens here, it becomes almost as small as my RX1RII. It’s just a little thicker. Of course, because the camera is so small, it may be difficult to grip depending on the size of your hand, so a small extended grip is provided for this purpose. When I hold just the camera body, my palm lifts a little and feels empty, but after attaching the extended grip, I was able to hold the entire palm of my hand stably. But even if it wasn’t there, it wasn’t much of a problem.
You can get some idea of the size from my photos taken with the a7CR. There is an extension grip attached below.
The a7CR’s advantages are especially maximized when using a small lens. When the a7 series was initially released, there were many complaints that the FE mount lenses released together were so large that they were forgetting the advantages of the small and light body. Even now, high-end lenses, including the GM series, tend to be large in order to guarantee image quality, so when attached to the a7CR, they look like an improper fraction. However, 10 years after the introduction of the FE mount used by the a7 series, many small lenses are being released that match the a7CR. You can find a lot of lenses here. I mainly used the 35mm single lens that I have become accustomed to after using the RX1RII for a long time, and it is the perfect setup for taking pictures while traveling or out in the neighborhood. The biggest appeal is that you can easily carry it around in a small sling bag that doesn’t even fit a laptop.
There are also disadvantages to the small size. As the control panel became narrower than the a7R5, the thing that had to be omitted was the jog dial, which was recently installed on a7 bodies and received a lot of praise. I’ve never used an a7 body with a jog dial, so it wasn’t a big problem, but I think it would be disappointing if I were to switch to the a7CR while using an existing body. And the electronic viewfinder (EVF) magnification is 0.7x, which is slightly smaller than the a7R5, which has 0.9x. However, my main camera, the RX1RII, also has a similar magnification, so there was no major problem for me. The fact that there is only one SD card slot may be a concern for professional photographers.
Now let’s talk about the sensor. Just as the a7C adopted the sensor from the a7M3, the a7CR adopted the 63-megapixel full-frame sensor from the current a7RV. When the a7RII first introduced a 42-megapixel sensor, I remember saying, “Wouldn’t the computer’s speed not support RAW correction?” But now, photos are taken at a 50% larger size than before. Fortunately, there are fewer concerns about that now that PC processors, especially Apple Silicon, have advanced faster. I am a bit worried about capacity. (Based on highly efficient compressed RAW, one sheet takes up 60 to 80 MB of capacity.)
As Editor H mentioned in the a7R3 review a long time ago, having a high-pixel sensor gives you a significant advantage in post-processing. Even if the desired composition is not achieved during the shooting stage, it can be overcome to some extent by cropping. These days, of course, various image editing apps, including Adobe Lightroom, provide upscaling functions based on artificial intelligence, but good results can only be produced if the original source itself is basically secured, right?
Photo obtained by cropping. It shows how much was cropped from the original to obtain the side photo.
Here are some photos that take full advantage of this. I cropped a photo taken with my preferred 35mm lens in Lightroom. Even with this amount of cropping, you will get a photo of about 24 million pixels. Considering that the a7M3’s sensor was 24 million pixels, the practicality of the high-pixel sensor stands out.
1/60s, F2, 35mm, ISO 4000 (Zeiss Loxia 2/35)
This photo has an interesting back story. This photo was originally taken with a 35mm lens, but later, when I corrected it, the angle of view was narrower than I thought, so I checked the file again and found out later that I had accidentally shot it in 1.5x crop mode. Nevertheless, it is rumored that the original photo size was 26 million pixels…
Of course, it would be very irresponsible to say that a high-pixel sensor is absolutely necessary. If you think about the reason we take pictures these days, the main purpose is to post them on the Internet, mostly on Instagram. Some people may also post it on their blogs. For that purpose, not only the 33 million pixels of the current a7CII, but also the 12 million pixel photos from the iPhone are sufficient. (The iPhone 15 series takes photos at 24 million pixels in some situations.) Even if you want to print, 14 million pixels are enough to produce high-quality printing at 300 dpi (dots per inch) the size of A3 paper. However, for me, there were many moments when the merits of high-pixel resolution were still valid. Because I usually carry a single lens for portability, cropping is very important in the photo editing process. The freedom of 42 million pixels, which allows you to freely adjust to your heart’s content, was a very satisfying experience.
The result of exporting the original RAW photo as JPEG. The same photo retouched in Lightroom.
As it is Sony’s latest sensor, the dynamic range is quite good. Dynamic range in photography refers to how much information can be captured in one photo. A good dynamic range also means that even if you select the wrong exposure value and take a picture that is too dark or bright, it is possible to recover through compensation. The sample above is a photo corrected in Lightroom from the original RAW file taken with quite extreme contrast at a time when the sun was setting. You can see tree branches and leaves that were not visible in the original before correction. Being able to save a photo to this extent during the correction stage reduces the worry of not being able to capture the moment properly due to a mistake made by me or the camera at the time of taking the photo by setting the exposure value incorrectly. You can save it in corrections.
100% crop of a photo taken at ISO 6400. The result of using Lightroom’s artificial intelligence-based noise reduction on the same photo.
However, the unfortunate thing about these high-pixel sensors is that high-sensitivity noise can become a bit worse, and the a7CR is not free from this problem. Even at a lower sensitivity than expected, you can see noise starting to rise from the dark areas. However, this problem can be taken into account to some extent thanks to the high-pixel sensor. If you reduce the photo to a small size that can be uploaded to the web anyway, this noise will hardly be visible. And these days, technology that reduces noise at the correction stage, such as Lightroom’s artificial intelligence-based noise reduction function, has increased, so this is becoming less of a problem.
The body performance of the a7CR itself is also outstanding. It is equipped with the same artificial intelligence autofocus tracking function found in the latest models. Since I’ve only used the body for a long time, I was only used to tracking people, but now it can automatically recognize and track not only animals but also objects such as cars and airplanes. I was able to take quick shots by setting the focus mode to the center and tracking the subject using the shortcut button. Its performance can be said to be impressive, especially considering that it was able to track my three-year-old nephew, who ran around the house at high speed, without any problems. The ever-advancing in-body camera shake prevention also reduces concerns about shaking. (It doesn’t exist in RX1RII.)
1/160s, F4.5, 50mm, ISO 1250 (FE 50mm F1.2 GM)
The silent shutter function using the electronic shutter was also useful. This is especially useful when taking pictures of animals, as you can take multiple pictures in bursts without alarming the animals. Electronic shutters also have the advantage of having a faster top shutter speed. (Electronic 1/8000 sec., Mechanical 1/4000 sec.) However, in situations where the electronic shutter is shooting a fast-moving object or a moving object, a jelly phenomenon appears as if it is flowing sideways even when taking a picture of a straight object, so it is necessary to use the mechanical shutter or the electronic shutter depending on the situation. I used it interchangeably.
I was worried that as the body got smaller, the battery size would also get smaller, but since it is equipped with the same NP-FZ100 (aka Z battery) used in the existing a7 models, the battery life tends to last a long time. Since I didn’t have any spare batteries, I had to get through most of my day’s outing with just one battery, and it was no problem at all. Additionally, the body itself supports USB-C charging, so you can quickly charge it before heading out.
Thanks to these solid fundamentals, the a7CR is fully equipped as a travel camera. When you travel, you take a variety of photos. Sometimes I take pictures of nature or cityscapes, and other times I take pictures of subjects such as people or animals. The a7CR was able to flexibly respond to these various situations. In addition, the fact that the lens can be replaced is a new advantage for those who use cameras with non-replaceable lenses. Of course, I have a preferred angle of view, but it is reassuring to know that I can borrow and use a different lens depending on the situation.
a7CR is an all-rounder. No matter what moment you use it, it does its job properly. I took pictures of my family during holidays, and I also used this camera to take pictures when I happened to have the opportunity to test drive a car. I also took it with me when I went on dates with my wife. (I really wanted to include it in this review, but due to my stubbornness, I only agreed to the side view.) Thanks to the high-resolution sensor, I believe it will be useful for shooting models or shooting in the studio. I’m not used to taking studio photos, so I wasn’t able to actually take them.
However, I don’t think I can recommend the a7CR to anyone interested in photography. There’s just one problem. The price is 3.79 million won. Unless you’re really into this camera, it’s a price that’s hard to stomach. If you can afford to reduce the number of pixels by half, the a7CII, which has 33 million pixels and the body performance of the a7CR, but is 1.1 million won cheaper, would be a better choice.
But what can you do? I’m obsessed with this camera. It seems like a camera I’ve wanted for a long time has finally appeared. Still, if I save money now, wouldn’t I be able to buy it someday?
Note: The camera body and lens were loaned to us by Sony Korea for this review.
Photos taken with Sony a7CR
1/125s, F5, 105mm, ISO 400 (FE 24-105mm F4G)
This is a picture of a stray cat crossing a rough road next to an embankment. After shooting at 105mm, I took advantage of the high-pixel sensor and cropped it further.
1/100s, F2.5, 50mm, ISO 100 (FE 50mm F1.2 GM)
This is my friend’s 9-year-old dog. Although he is big, he is very calm, so his name is Yamgom. It means a calm bear.
1/400s, F2.5, 50mm, ISO 100 (FE 50mm F1.2 GM)
This is my friend who is the owner of Yumgom.
1/250s, F2, 50mm, ISO 100 (FE 50mm F1.2 GM)
The advantage of a full-frame sensor is its shallow depth of field. If the focus is not properly achieved, it is often difficult to correct with correction, but the a7CR’s eye AF function accurately achieves focus.
1/400s, F2.8, 35mm (FE 35mm F2.8 ZA)
1/2000s, F2.5, 50mm, ISO 100 (FE 50mm F1.2 GM)
1/200s, F8, 35mm, ISO 100 (FE 35mm F2.8 ZA)
1/50s, F2.8, 50mm, ISO 500 (FE 50mm F1.2 GM)
By the time I received the camera for review, the leaves had already begun to fall. Still, it is a sign of trying to capture as much of the remaining autumn as possible.
1/50s, F8, 50mm, ISO 3200 (FE 50mm F1.2 GM)
1/40s, F11, 35mm, ISO 1000 (Zeiss Loxia 2/35)
1/40s, F2.8, 35mm, ISO 640 (Zeiss Loxia 2/35)
1/320s, F11, 35mm, ISO 100 (Zeiss Loxia 2/35)
1/800s, F2.8, 35mm, ISO 100 (Zeiss Loxia 2/35)
The Zeiss Loxia 2/35 lens used in some of the photos above is a 35mm manual focus lens with a maximum aperture of F2. Even though I already had a 35mm lens, I purchased this lens after being sold(?) by an acquaintance. It is a lens that has been modified from the design of the Leica M film camera era to suit the digital age, but in addition to requiring manual focusing, the resulting results are also a lens with a retro feel.
1/100s, F2.8, 35mm, ISO 100 (Zeiss Loxia 2/35)
1/40s, F8, 35mm, ISO 160 (FE 35mm F2.8 ZA)
1/40s, F2.8, 35mm, ISO 500 (FE 35mm F2.8 ZA)
Food photos can’t be missing from sample photos, right? The FE 35mm F2.8 ZA lens, which appears in the a7CR body photo above, is a lens that has been around since the early days of the FE mount, and is also the lens I used the most when using the a7. Although I don’t use the a7 now, I still have it and used it often when reviewing the a7CR this time. However, this lens has a fatal flaw… The problem is that it has almost no close-up ability. So you have to take pictures of food from quite far away. But here again the advantages of high pixels are revealed. Just crop it.
1/25s, F2.8, 35mm, ISO 12800 (FE 35mm F2.8 ZA)
1/100s, F6.3, 90mm ISO 1000 (FE 90mm F2.8 G Macro)
The advantage of a high-pixel sensor and an interchangeable lens camera that allows you to choose the right lens depending on the situation means that the a7CR can demonstrate its higher potential in a variety of applications. The second photo of the Oris watch was taken without cropping using a macro lens.
1/125s, F9, 35mm, ISO 100 (FE 35mm F2.8 ZA)
1/100s, F7.1, 35mm, ISO 100 (FE 35mm F2.8 ZA)
1/40s, F9, ISO 160, 35mm (FE 35mm F2.8 ZA)
1/125s, F2.8, 35mm, ISO 100 (FE 35mm F2.8 ZA)
1/60s, F2.8, 35mm, ISO 100 (FE 35mm F2.8 ZA)
