One year ago, I sold two Fuji cameras and all my lenses to buy a single Sony a7Rv and one lens. There was a method in my madness, indeed I wrote about here, explaining the rationale. Long story short, I became disillusioned with certain aspects of the Fujifilm ecosystem. Also, as a hybrid photographer, I was looking for a single camera that could take high resolution images and still output decent video quality.
In the last year, I have shot a lot with the Sony a7Rv, added one extra lens, spent five weeks photographing and video shooting in Asia and found lots of things to like and a few that I don’t like.
Today I am going to look back over the year and give you my thoughts on how this camera has worked out. This is not a technical review, just a personal opinion.
The Ergonomics
Coming from Fujifilm, the ergonomics are definitely not as good. Whilst all the buttons and dials fall in the right place, the actual shape of the camera is not as conducive to my hands as my previous Fujis.
That said, however, it’s not terrible, there has been no point where I have felt that the camera was uncomfortable in my hands. However, with a heavier lens on, the camera does feel a little unbalanced.
The shutter button, however, I like. One of my dislikes about the Fuji system was their shutter buttons. The old X-T2 had a great one, but as models progressed, they got softer and easier to trigger accidentally. My last Fuji, the X-H2 had a shutter button fail inside one year, the straw that broke the camels back.
Of course ergonomics is not just about the physical aspects of the camera but also the menu systems. Here, the Sony a7Rv is, frankly, infuriating. I knew it would be when I researched the camera, however, some of the menu design is just bizarre. To give just one video based example, if I want to change my frame rate from 25fps to 30fps, I have to go to the system menu and change from Pal to NTSC. It’s a multi step operation involving two different sections of the menu system. Whilst I am slowly getting used to the idiosyncrasies of the Sony menu, I doubt I will ever fully understand it.
Image Quality
This is the reason I traded a Fujifilm GFX 50s for the Sony a7Rv. Is the image quality as good as the Fuji? No, but it’s pretty damn close. The RAW files are bigger in size as you would expect going from 50mp to 61mp. Combined with a smaller sensor, medium format vs full frame, the pixel density is somewhat higher. This certainly shows in low light, but is nowhere near as drastic as you might think. I get perfectly usable files from the Sony camera at 12800 ISO. When run through Lightroom’s AI denoise, the results are incredible.
The RAWs are full of detail, bags of dynamic range and despite what some naysayers claim, the colour science is on a par with Fuji’s. Despite the file size, my Mac Mini M2 Pro handles them with ease in Lightroom, although they are somewhat gobbling up hard drive space.
The other side of the Sony is video. There is no doubt the Fuji X-H2 had a slightly better video quality – including the ability to move from 25fps to 30fps easily. However, for what I do, the video quality is way more than I need. I can shoot up to 8k in 10 bit 4:2:2, however I nearly always shoot 4k. There is a rolling shutter issue if you move the camera quickly, but that’s not my video shooting style, so the issue doesn’t really crop up.
One of the reasons for leaving Fuji was that I was never fully satisfied by the image quality of the X-H2. It felt to me that 40mp was pushing the APS-C sensor too far. The GFX image quality spoiled me but it could not shoot video. In the Sony a7Rv, I have the best of both worlds in a single camera.
Autofocus
If you were to contrast two camera autofocus systems, there would be a good chance that it would be Fuji vs Sony. The issues with Fuji’s autofocus system are well documented, and Fuji seem to be struggling to overcome them. The main bugbear for me was the constant pulsing – where the autofocus would not quite lock on, and hunt in and out very slightly. It forced me to reshoot multiple Youtube videos and discard quite a lot of video stock footage.
Sony’s autofocus, on the other hand, is world renown. That has also been my experience. Is it perfect, no but in terms of the numbers of keepers, both stills and video, it’s streets ahead of Fuji.
When I am shooting YouTube videos, the autofocus locks on to me and rarely, if ever hunts. Shooting stills, it is equally as good. I do find that in single point mode, of the focus point is too small it can hunt a little, this is especially true in low light. However overall, the autofocus is an outstanding feature of the Sony a7Rv
The Day To Day Experience
I have really enjoyed using the Sony a7Rv on various shoots. I have been pleasantly surprised by its low light capabilities, especially given the pixel density. One shoot in Bangkok’s Chinatown sticks out, where I shot the market handheld with an 85mm f/1.8 and got some really pleasing images. I never felt that I could push the Fuji X-H2 very far in low light.
Battery life is ok if not stellar. New batteries are being ordered for an upcoming stock shoot to London. The power management is also not the greatest. More than once I have failed to shut the camera down and the eye detect has triggered whilst in the bag, leading to a dead camera.
The a7Rv has dual card slots. Both will take SD and CF Express Type A – the latter being more expensive, although I had a 128gb card thrown in when I bought the camera. Being a faster card than SD, I have this set to record video. Both slots will take both card types, I have plenty of SDs as spares.
The camera body and lenses are well made, and have stood up well to the shoots I have done, without any scuff marks. Physically the Sony cameras – at this level – seem to be very well made, again a step up from recent Fujis.
Overall, I have no regrets moving from Fuji to Sony. Despite the quirks, the image quality is excellent, video more than good enough and the sheer range of lenses, both OEM and third party, mean I have lots of choice in my future lens selections.
It was an expensive move, for sure, but the fact that I can now combine sublime image quality with great video all in one, relatively small package, will hopefully see the camera paying for itself.
