The New Sony A7 : The World's Smallest Full Frame

Just two days into this blog and sharing about my debut experience with Micro Four Thirds and how much I love the compactness of MFT cameras and the joy of bringing it anywhere I go, comes the world's smallest Full Frame Interchangable Lens camera. ( 126.9 x 94.4 x 48.2 mm at 416grams )  The next smallest Full Frame goes to the Leica M with dimensions of 139 x 80 x 42 (mm) at 680grams. 

Sometimes things like this is enough to drive you crazy; Its just like buying an iPhone 5 two days ago and a week later, they told you that they are coming up with an improved iPhone 5S. 

Anyway, Sony just announced the World's Smallest Full Frame Interchangable Lens Camera; With a combination of the size of an NEX camera together with Full Frame sensors -The All New Sony Alpha 7 and Alpha 7R. 

The Sony A7 is packed with a solid punch. This world's smallest Full Frame A7 is equipped with a 24 megapixel CMOS, while the A7R has a 36 megapixel CMOS sensor with no optical low-pass filter. With an ISO up to 25,600 ,outputs 14-bit RAW images, 4K ( 4096 x 2160 )  images, shoots at 5 FPS, and the ability to record 1080P video at 60 or 24 FPS and uncompressed HDMI ( which means uncompressed video ). It also comes with a tilt-able rear display, a first for Full Frames.

Besides these highly impressive stats and figures on the specification chart, Sony has also boost an arsenal of 5 new lens for this Full Frame model known as the FE Lens. So right now, the FE Mount adds to the existing  2 other Sony mounts; the A mount for Sony's DSLR SLT camera and the E-Mount, for their NEX series of  consumer camcorders series such as the NEX-VG30 as well as for the broadcast camcorders NEX-FS100 and NEX-FS700. The A7 is  also backward compatible with existing E mount lens so its going to be good news for NEX upgraders. Hopefully Sony would also come up with some adaptors to mount FE lens onto A or E mount cameras. I think they will call it the LA-EA3 after the A to E adaptor LA-EA2. ( And LAEA1 as well )

Nonetheless, this is truly a game changer and I think a rival to the compact segment. For the Full Frame A7 will address the limitations of smaller formats such as better performance at high ISO . 

The A7 will be a very serious contender especially to Micro Four Thirds. Performance aside, lets talk about size first. As we all know, the biggest selling point for MFT would be a smaller camera body  but compromised with a  smaller sensor size. With the A7, a perfect blend of Full Frame in a small body, its amazing now that Sony managed to squeeze everything in to make everyone happy. Now we get everything we always wanted; Full Frame everywhere we go. So one less excuse to the girlfriend or wife about missing some great shots at the beach because the bulky D4 was left in the hotel. 

Lets now take a look at the Olympus OMD-EM1, since its new and burning with excitement from MFT lovers. First look wise, the OMD-EM1 and the Sony A7 does indeed share several similarities; Besides a compact body with a handgrip, they also have an electronic viewfinder as well as two dials on the top right side of the camera body. Similarly, the A7 is also weather sealed. However I am not so sure if it is as freeze proof as the OMD-EM1 to operate at 10° C. Similar to the OMD-EM1, the  A7 also has a hybrid autofocusing system which is both phase detection and contrast detection. How wonderful!

Well, a few weeks back, I also have read about Sony ( Olympus's biggest shareholder ) having engineers working together with Olympus on the 5 axis stabilization system for Sony's upcoming cameras and therefore I am quite surprised that the 5 axis stabilization system is not being incorporated onto the A7. A quick check on DP Review on the A7 shows no mentioning of such feature. 

While the A7 is not exactly cheap, its also not obscenely expensive where I need to sell off my 50 litre dry cabinet to raise funds for a purchase. With a price tag of US$1699 ( body ) and US$1999 with the kit 28-70mm F3.5-5.6 lens, its just a bit more expensive than the OMD-EM1 body at US$949. However at this point of time, its not just the World's Smallest Full Frame, but cheapest Full Frame too.

For a start, the A7 looks to be the camera that everyone may be waiting for. Specifically, I would think that the A7 looks to be targeting to existing NEX  or other mirrorless users who are thinking of switching from APS-C to Full Frame. 

I am certainly looking forward to response from  rival brands. Maybe a Full Frame EOS M? How about a Full Frame Nikon 1?  

It might really be very exciting if Olympus and Panasonic do come up with their own Full Frame Micro Four Thirds camera. It will be nice to see a Full Frame OMD or Lumix. By the way, they should name this new format the Macro Four Thirds.