Sony’s thinnest and lightest full-frame mirrorless camera, the Sony A7C, is as bold as a Sony A7 III but with a body that bears a striking resemblance to its A6XXX series APS-C mirrorless camera. The Sony A7 III was already a very popular full-frame camera and I really liked it when I reviewed it.
The Sony A7C is designed to provide users with improved tracking and eye autofocus, as well as a fully clear touchscreen in smaller footprints. It’s time to test this camera and see if it’s good
Sony A7C design
The Sony A7C is impressively small because it has a full-frame sensor and 5-axis stabilization inside. It’s not as compact as Sony’s APS-C camera, but it’s close enough. The Sigma FP (review) is still the smallest full-frame camera I’ve tested, although it lacked sensor stability. The A7C has a beefy handgrip, giving it a nice in-hand feel. Compared to the Sony A7 III, the back of the Sony A7C’s electronic viewfinder (EVF) has been moved to the left, giving you a flat top. Mode and exposure compensation dials have the same position as the A7 III, but some customizable function buttons and handgrip dials are missing.
The Sony A7C has relatively small footprints for a full-frame mirrorless camera
The body is made from a single piece of magnesium, which gives it very good firmness and firmness. The Sony A7C offers good physical connectivity and you’ll find headphones, a microphone, a USB Type-C, and a micro-HDMI port, and a single SDXC card slot under the flap on the left. Unlike the Sony A7 III, the A7C has a flip-out touchscreen that can be tilted 180 degrees to face you, making it easy for vlogging.
While this touchscreen is a big improvement, sadly the A7C still uses Sony’s old-style menu system, as seen in the A7 III, and not the update we got with the Sony A7S III. Touch input is limited to selecting only one focus point, either by tapping directly or using it as a touchpad while EVF is active. In most on-screen menus you still need to use the back button and jug dial for interaction.
The battery life of Sony A7C is very good for high capacity battery pack
In India, only Sony A7C body is priced at Rs. 1,67,990, but you can get it with a 28-60mm kit lens for Rs. 1,96,990. Sony sent me the next one for this review. The lens has an aperture range of f / 4 to f / 5.6 and is collapsible, which keeps the overall footprint of the camera relatively compact for storage or travel.
Sony A7C Specification
Sony A7C 693 uses a 24-megapixel full-frame sensor with on-sensor PDAF point and 425 contrast detection AF point. The BionzX image processor is capable of capturing burst shots up to 10fps with AF / AE tracking, real-time tracking focus with dedicated AF-on buttons, and real-time IF for humans and animals. The camera has a native ISO range of 100 – 51,200, which is expandable.
The A7C has the same video capabilities as the A7 III. It can shoot up to 4K 30fps and has a dedicated S&Q mode for slow-motion videos up to 120fps (1080p). Advanced image profiles such as 8-bit S-Log2, S-Log3, and HLG are supported.
The Sony A7C has a fully articulated rear LCD
The 2.35-million dot resolution EVF creates a crisp image and can be bumped up to 120fps framerate for smooth tracking of your subject. I hope Sony provided an accurate i-cup around the EVF that could completely cover the user’s eyes. Also, due to the small size, the magnification of the EVF is less than before, at only 0.59x compared to 0.78x of the A7 III, which makes the size of the viewfinder smaller than usual. There’s built-in dual-band Wi-Fi that can be used to sync your phone with the Imaging Edge app.
The menu system of Sony A7C is very similar to what we have seen in other Sony Mirrorless cameras like A7 III. It takes a while to get used to, but once you get the hang of it, it’s feature-rich and functional.
Sony A7C performance and battery life
Sony A7C Performance I’ve spent time using it. Weighing less than 509g (body only) makes it easy to carry and shoot, especially with one hand. The kit lens is serviceable, but its zoom range is not great and I have noticed some focus loss in low light conditions due to the narrow aperture. You can easily avoid these problems with a better lens, but it will also increase the size and weight of the A7C, which loses its purpose.
The ISO performance of the camera was very impressive, you can see from the picture below. Compared to ISO 100, ISO 1,600 also has no visible damage in detail. Even at ISO 12,800 the images are going to be very usable, beyond that there is little loss of detail. At the highest native ISO of 51,200, the image is not so sharp but the sound is very well handled. It is not recommended to extend the ISO unless you absolutely need to, as it introduces visible chroma sound.
Sony A7C ISO test
Thanks to solid high ISO performance and 5-axis stability, you can capture good-looking low-light photos with minimal blur even if you don’t have a very stable hand. The colors are well captured, the noise is minimal and the details are very good. Kit lenses create a very pleasing natural depth with close-up subjects.
With adequate daylight, the Sony A7C captures some nice-looking landscapes and close-up shots. Rich in color and natural, and JPEG packs a lot of detail. The autofocus system works perfectly every single time. Faces are automatically identified and prioritized and I have found that eye AF works very well.
Sample Sony A7C Camera (ISO 100, f / 5.6, 1 / 320s, 60mm)
Sample Sony A7C Camera (ISO 640, f / 4.5, 1 / 40s, 34mm)
Sample Sony A7C Camera (ISO 2,000, f / 4.5, 1 / 40s, 35mm)
Sample Sony A7C Camera (ISO 12,800, f / 5.6, 1 / 5s, 60mm)
Video performance was equally satisfactory. 4K videos pack in nice details and you can easily tap on the display to draw focus between topics. Sony A7C is very good with tracking objects, and will not let your subject go even if it goes out of frame briefly. I tested the A7C because I would use any camera for product shooting and fragmentation and the experience was nothing but great. One thing I’ve noticed is that if you use external power through the Type-C port when shooting, the plug makes it impossible to rotate the display. This problem could have been avoided by better placement of the charging port.
Battery life was also impressive. Sony A7C uses the same NP-FZ100 battery as the A7 III, but promises a slightly better battery life of 740 shots (CIPA rating) per charge. In my experience, depending on the energy saving options you have set and whether your Wi-Fi is on or off, it is actually possible to hit that number and go a little further.
Provides very good still and video performance for the size of Sony A7C
Judgment
The body price of Sony A7C is exactly the same as that of A7 III (at the time of this review), Rs. 1,67,990 on Sony India’s website, which makes this camera a no-brainer to choose from its older siblings. The A7C offers almost the same features as the A7 III, but with an improved autofocus and a rolling display, all in a more compact body. If you choose the Kit Lens Bundle, the A7C is relatively more expensive on Sony’s website, but these two cameras usually sell less on other websites and offline, so it’s just a matter of finding a good deal.
As good as the performance is, there are some things to keep in mind. The touchscreen still has limited functionality, the magnification of the EVF is at the bottom (although the quality is good), and I think Sony could opt for a brighter kit lens due to the premium charge for the bundle.
Overall, the Sony A7C is still a great camera for stills and video that offers all the benefits of a full-frame sensor in a compact and lightweight body.