Sony a7CR initial review: high resolution in a small package

Product photos by Richard Butler

The Sony a7CR is a new, relatively compact high resolution full-frame mirrorless camera. It brings a large chunk of the a7R V’s capabilities to a smaller form factor and an appreciably lower price bracket.

Key features

• 61MP BSI CMOS sensor
• Bionz XR processor and dedicated ‘AI’ processing unit
• Lossless Raw options in multiple sizes
• 8fps continuous shooting (7fps in e-shutter mode)
• Choice of JPEG or HEIF output (inc HLG HEIFs)
• 4K video up to 60p or oversampled 4K from APS-C crop
• ‘Auto framing’ video cropping modes
• Pixel-shift high-resolution modes with motion correction
• Single UHS-II SD card slot

The Sony a7CR will be available from late September at a recommended price of $2999.95. The camera comes with a screw-in grip extender that gives your hand a little more room to hold the camera.

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Index:

• What is it, what’s new?
• How it compares
• Body and controls
• Initial impressions
• Sample gallery
• Specifications
• Sony press release

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What is it, what’s new?

The a7CR is a camera made from familiar components, but the way in which they’ve been combined is the camera’s greatest novelty. So we have the image sensor and many of the features of the $3900 a7R V but in the conveniently small body of the a7C.

Actually, that’s not quite true: while the a7CR’s body is very similar to that of the original a7C, it has two significant improvements: it adds a front command dial on its slightly deeper handgrip and it gains the improved, higher magnification viewfinder optics from the recent a6700, addressing two of our biggest dislikes about the a7C.

Sensor/processor

The a7CR is built around the same full-frame 61MP BSI CMOS sensor as the a7R V, which is capable of capturing excellent levels of detail and performs well in terms of both dynamic range in good light and noise in poor light.

It’s accompanied by Sony’s latest image processor and a dedicated chip designed to run the complex algorithms generated by machine learning. This ‘AI’ processor helps the camera deliver more sophisticated subject recognition, the company says, with a wider range of subjects able to be recognized and more subtle detail within those subjects in some instances.

• Humans (Body/Face/Eye)
• Animal and Birds (Body/Eye)
• Insects
• Vehicles
• Aircraft

These capabilities are available in both stills and video shooting, which we’ve found to give recent Sony cameras some of the most decisive and dependable video AF, in addition to some of the best stills autofocus. As well as quoting various percentage improvements in tracking performance, compared to the previous cameras without the dedicated ‘AI’ processor, Sony also says exposure metering and auto white balance should also be improved, based on subject recognition.

Stabilization

The a7CR is rated as delivering 7EV of correction: one stop shy of the number given for the a7R V but still a big improvement over the 5EV quoted for the original a7C. Sony has said the use of a higher-precision gyroscope, improved communication between the camera body and lenses, and optimized algorithms all contribute to the improvement.

Features

The a7CR includes all the features introduced in Sony’s most recent cameras; on the stills side, this includes a multi-shot high resolution mode, in-camera timelapse creation, focus bracketing, focus breathing correction in video and the ability to stream 4K/30 footage as a UVC/UAC webcam.

Multi-shot high resolution mode

The Sony a7CR offers the same multi-shot high resolution modes as the a7R V. This means you have a choice of 4-shot or 16-shot Raw bursts, which can then be combined using external software. The four-shot version results in a 61MP image where at least one red, green and blue sample has been captured for each pixel location, removing the need for demosaicing and gaining an image quality benefit from sampling the scene multiple times. The 16-shot mode does the same thing but from four slightly offset positions, boosting the output resolution to 240MP. Both modes have a motion correction option that uses a single source image in parts of the frame where something has moved. You’ll still need to use a tripod for both modes, though.

Video

The a7CR includes the Auto Framing modes that we first saw in the ZV-E1 high-end vlogging camera, but video is the main area where the a7CR’s performance specs differ from those of the a7R V.

The a7CR can shoot up to 4K/60p by sub-sampling a region of the sensor Sony says is an approximately 1.2x crop (probably the same 1.24x we measured with the a7R V). This makes it relatively easily maintain a wide-angle field of view, but the footage won’t be as detailed as oversampled footage and won’t have the full noise performance of a full-frame sensor. There’s also the option of full-width, 4K at up to 30p that again sub-samples the sensor.

Alternatively, you can capture 4K at up to 30p using an APS-C/Super 35 cropped region of the sensor. This is oversampled, having been initially captured as 6.2K. This should bring much more detail but makes it more difficult to maintain a wide-angle field of view and comes with the noise performance of an APS-C/Super 35 camera.

The a7CR is built around a single UHS-II SD card slot, so the maximum bitrate is the 600Mbps required for 10-bit All-I capture of 4K/60p.

Beyond the headline specs, the a7CR has the focus map feature that blockily highlights which regions are in front and behind the plane of focus, and other useful features such as the ability to upload your own color-correcting LUTs. These can be used to provide a corrected preview, or they can be embedded alongside the video file so they’re available when it comes to editing, or they can be applied directly to the footage. This final option reduces flexibility in post’ but can side-step the need to color-grade if you’re workflow is a little more quick-and-dirty. The a7CR also includes the gentle S-Cinetone color profile, which is another good starting point for a minimal-grading workflow.

As with other modern Sony cameras, a series of connectors in the flash hotshoe allow digital audio input and the addition of accessories to record 4-channel audio.

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How it compares

The a7CR’s $900 discount, relative to its big brother, the a7R V makes it sound like a bargain, but Nikon’s high-res Z7 II was launched for the same price. And, while not marketed as a compact body, it’s not so much bigger as to be entirely conceptually distinct. We’ll also compare the a7CR to the ‘full-sized’ a7 models that sit on either side of it in the lineup: the lower-res but less-expensive a7 IV and the a7R V.

All three cameras are bigger and heavier than the a7CR to varying degrees, but all three also offer nicer viewfinders that are both larger and higher resolution. The Nikon Z7 II can’t match the newer Sonys in terms of video features, and doesn’t offer any 10-bit modes, but it’s worth noting that none of these models are particularly great hybrid options: the high resolution sensors that make them so good for stills means all manner of sub-sampling or cropping to squeeze video out of them or, in the case of the a7 IV, quite high levels of rolling shutter.

There’s no question that the a7CR is competitive and competitively priced, but its size is the most notable thing about it.

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Body and handling

The a7CR’s body is made from magnesium alloy, and Sony says it’s designed to be dust and moisture resistant. Unlike the original a7C, the a7CR features a front command dial.

The front dial is well placed, meaning you have a dial to control exposure parameters under both your thumb and forefinger. A third dial (which we found most useful as exposure comp) sits just to the right of the main rear dial. There’s still no AF joystick on the a7CR, meaning you’ll have to tap on the touchscreen, re-dedicate the four-way controller to set AF or swipe the screen in ‘touchpad’ mode, with the camera to your eye. That said, if you’re specifying a tracking AF area, the a7CR can pretty reliably be pointed at a subject and set to track it as you recompose your shot, so precision AF placement may not be necessary.

The viewfinder resolution remains the same at 2.36M dots (1024 x 768px) but with brightness that comes much closer to that of the a7R V’s finder and improved viewfinder optics that deliver 0.7x magnification. This isn’t huge, but it’s a vast improvement on the ‘postage stamp at the end of a corridor’ effect that the a7C’s 0.59x magnification gave.

The rear screen is fully articulated, using a reasonably high-res 3.0″ 1.03M dot (720 x 480px) panel.

The camera’s USB port is also of the older 3.2 Gen 1 type: the standard that used to be called USB 3.0, a standard that maxes out at 5Gb/s.

The a7CR comes with a screw-in GP-X2 grip extender. This does exactly what it promises: extending the front grip to give a little more height for your hand to extend onto. It’s a simple enough design that screws into the camera’s tripod mount while offering a threaded mount directly below it. There’s a rather ungainly section that flips open to allow battery access.

The a7CR uses the same NP-FZ100 battery as the a7R V, powering it to a rating of 520 shots per charge if you use the rear LCD and 470 shots per charge via the viewfinder.

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Initial impressions

By Richard Butler

The Sony a7CR comes bundled with a screw-in GP-X2 grip extender that makes it more comfortable for use with larger lenses, but can be removed for occasions when size is a priority.

The a7CR is a camera entirely constructed from familiar components but does so to create one of the smallest high-res full-frame cameras ever released. Sigma’s fp L is smaller but can’t match the Sony for battery life, autofocus capability, or image stabilization, which collectively will make it a significantly more usable camera for a lot of people.

As a landscape camera (particularly for trips that aren’t solely photo-focused), the a7CR is particularly interesting: we know the sensor to be excellent, and the factors already mentioned should make it a really capable companion. With the latest autofocus system, the a7RC should lend itself to a great many types of photography where its relatively compact, lightweight body is a bonus. This only works in situations where there’s an appropriately small and light lens to go with it, of course, but we found the 20-70mm F4 made a pretty impressive combination. Not the smallest, perhaps, but to have such a flexible lens range in a combination weighing almost precisely 1kg (2.2 lbs) is hard to match.

It’s hard to argue with the detail levels the a7CR produces from a comparatively travel-friendly body. Sony FE 20-70mm F4 @ 70mm | F5.6 | 1/400 sec | ISO 250 Photo: Dale Baskin

You no longer give up very much to achieve that compact size. The lack of mechanical first curtain means there’ll be an impact on bokeh quality if shot with wide-aperture lenses at fast shutter speeds; likewise, with its sync speed of 1/160 sec, it’s slightly less studio-friendly than the a7 IV or a7R V. If you don’t need the smaller size, rivals such as Nikon’s Z7 II start to come into play. There’s no longer quite such a penalty in terms of viewfinder size or ergonomics as there was with the original a7C body, but if size isn’t a major priority for you, there are other options.

This all makes Sony’s lineup look very odd. The lower-resolution a7C II offers a generation of newer tech than the a7 IV, for less money, while the a7CR offers a major step up in resolution, squeezing the mid-range model from both sides.

The a7CR offers plenty for the photographer who wants to shoot a little video alongside their stills, but the challenges of reading frames quickly off a high-res sensor means it’s not the obvious choice for anyone with a heavier moving picture slant. It’s worth noting that Sony has made no claims to us about video longevity and, given the designers seem to have made size a very high priority, so, like the a6700, we’re expecting to see some pretty low numbers for duration before hitting the overheat limits, once the manual is published.

On the photo side, at least, the a7CR looks to have the potential to re-write expectations of what a travel camera is capable of.

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Sample gallery

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