Sony Alpha A7R VI Review

The primary metric used to rate any digital camera is Image Quality. Specifically, it measures the accuracy of photographs produced for a wide variety of scenes. Image Quality is determined by combining measurements for sharpness, dynamic-range, exposure, color-depth, projection and uniformity, plus color, white-balance and tone-curve when rendering images. For an ILC, final image quality depends on both body and lens. Certain aspects are determined by one or the other, while sharpness is limited by the one that resolves the least amount of detail.

Given that the new 68 megapixels Stacked BSI-CMOS sensor in the A7R VI is the highest-resolution Full-Frame sensor available, this digital camera requires equally class-leading optics. Sony brands their premium mirrorless lenses as GM, while their other professional lenses have the G label.

Image Noise & Details

Images from the Sony Alpha A7R IV capture an impressive amount of detail for a Full-Frame camera. The new sensor boosts resolution by 10% compared to the previous two generations of the A7R-series. That alone is a minor change but improvements in design, manufacturing and processing allow the A7R VI to improve other aspects of its image-quality. Like its predecessor, the A7R VI does not use an Anti-Alias Filter to soften detail that reaches the sensor.

Starting at low sensitivities, including the minimum expanded ISO 50, up to ISO 800, the A7R VI sensor produces images that completely noise-free. Given their 68 megapixels resolution, these images can be printed even larger than the standard 36" x 24" poster size, even up to 42" x 28". Only Medium Format cameras are capable of larger prints. Within this sensitivity range, the extra 7 MP of resolution is realized as a pure gain.

Makes incredibly sharp and clear 42" x 28" prints up to ISO 800!

Sony incorporated a powerful BIONZ XR2 processor with a built AI processing unit. This is most advantageous for autofocus but it also delivers image processing improvements. At ISO 1600, there is some minuscule shadow noise in the RAW sensor output. However, the processor removes it very cleanly, even with Noise Reduction set to Low. This processing has very little impact on sharpness and fine details.

Moving up to ISO 3200 on the sensitivity scale introduces some very fine luminance noise in the darkest region of images. Even though it has some impact at a very small scale, it barely affects sharpness and so it is still possible to make poster-sized prints from images captured using the Sony Alpha A7R VI at this sensitivity.

The tendency continues gradually through ISO 6400 which shows primarily luminance noise that just starts to intrude on small-scale details. Sharpness remains impressively good at this level. This is where the black level starts lifting, but every little. At this point though, the resolution advantage of new 68 MP sensor is literally lost in the details. More noise becomes apparent faster at ISO 12800 that sees a reduction in maximum print size and contrast. Getting pure black at ISO 12800 is unlikely.

Noise makes a notable jump at ISO 25600. For most digital cameras, it happens earlier, so this is good news. Somehow the added noise still mostly affects luminance, which is an achievement! Edges and fine details get damaged by noise at this sensitivity, further reducing the maximum possible print size. Still, with such a high resolution camera, large prints remain possible. This is also the cross-over point where the previous 61 MP sensor is produce output with slightly more detail yet less contrast.

Beyond this level, sensitivity is expandable for two stops. ISO 51200 is visibly noisy with noise causing colors to shift towards yellow and overall picture contrast to tumble. Fine and medium details are severely damaged by this level of noise. The output from ISO 51200 of the A7R VI can still be used for what are considered moderately large prints but they will appear to be on the dull side. The top ISO 102400 expanded sensitivity is a very noisy with shifted colors, poor contrast and a loss of details. It is probably a step too far without scaling images down too much and heave image processing.

Sharpness

Sony made two completely disjoint ways of specifying image parameters. One is called Creative Controls and works similarly to image parameters available on all digital cameras. Users select one of ten color or two monochrome modes and make adjustments to Mid-Tone Contrast, Highlight Contrast, Shadow Contrast, Saturation, Sharpness, Clarity and Fade parameters.

The Sony Alpha A7R VI introduces a new sharpness control for the first time in a Sony digital camera. There are now two settings that configure the sharpness of images. One is the ubiquitous Sharpness level which is a linear scale of how much sharpness to render. It is controlled in ten steps from 0 to 9. The other selects the range of details to compute sharpness, with five levels to choose from.

The widget above allows you to see the effect of these settings on a 100% crop from a full-resolution image captured using the A7R VI. While middle values are acceptable, shifting Sharpness Level to 7 makes details crisp without oversharpening. The effect of Sharpness Range is truly subtle but it is noticeable. Level 3 is perfectly acceptable. As always, these settings are for uses to adjust according to their preferences.

Picture Profile is the other way of controlling image rendition. Selecting any Profile other than Off causes the camera to ignore all Creative Controls adjustments. Given that Picture Profiles offer quadrillions of possible combinations, they are excessively complicated and virtually impossible to configure to match a desired output. To be fully taken advantage of, one would need software that automatically optimizes all these parameters simultaneously based on a calibration target.

Color & White Balance

Color rendition is controlled by Creative Controls or Picture Profiles. Among the ten Styles available in the former, both the Natural and Standard settings render true-to-life hue. The Standard style does a better job with tones though. In fact, without adjusting Saturation, it already shows good color accuracy. The new sensor has much less red-shift than previous generation.

Much better color-accuracy can be achieved using Picture Profiles by tuning individual channels. This approach is more challenging though because all other parameters must be configured for optimum output as well. It is very difficult to render details with comparable sharpness as Creative Controls compared to Picture Profiles.

Sony already had one of the most sophisticated White-Balance systems on the market. With the new A7R VI, White-Balance accuracy has been substantially improved. This is partly due to a more powerful AI trained processor and also because it gets more data to work with by using a dedicated infrared light sensor. Automatic White Balance in White Priority mode renders neutral colors under more challenging conditions that most other AWB systems.

Exposure

The Multi-Segment Metering pattern of the Sony Alpha A7R VI is balanced to produce mid-level exposures. Most scenes get captured conservatively to minimizes large areas of overexposure. When faced with a high contrast scene, this mirrorless clips both ends of the exposure, rather than just shadows or just highlights. It is quite rare for the camera to under-exposure but it will regularly clip small highlights within the frame.

Dynamic-Range is extremely wide with the Sony Alpha A7R VI. From ISO 100 to 6400, this camera captures over 15 stops. Even ISO 12800 and 25600, distinguish 14 stops of dynamic-range. The Expanded ISO 50 sensitivity, lands around 14½ stops. Starting with the Sony A7R VI, Neocamera has new technology to measure dynamic-range. The previous method was limited to 14-stops. From now on, it is possible to measure up to 20 stops of dynamic-range.

Image Stabilization

The IBIS mechanism of the Sony Alpha A7R VI delivers a class-leading performance. The official CIPA rating of 8½ stop is always measured under ideal circumstances, so the real-world performance will be lower, depending on many factors including the focal-length used, subject distance, wind, external vibrations and even the state of the photographer.

While reviewing this mirrorless digital camera, the A7R VI stabilization proved to be among the most reliable, easily producing sharp exposures of one second or longer. This lets photographers use lower ISO sensitivities than normally recommended which improves image quality.

Control the widget above to see how IBIS improves image quality by lowering the minimum shutter-speed required to capture a sharp image. The generally quoted rule of thumb is that a shutter-speed inverse to the focal-length is required. Note that this does not take resolution into account and so on a camera like the A7R VI, it would be closer to the inverse of 4X the shutter-speed. In the series above, the ISO 12800 @ 60s is expected to be sharp and, it is, yet noise obliterates details. Note how much clearer the ISO 200 image is using shutter-speed 6-stops slower.

Autofocus

A new sensor and processor together give the Sony Alpha A7R VI with a completely changed hybrid autofocus system. This one combines 759 Phase-Detect points with Contrast-Detection across 94% of the sensor area. It is extremely sensitive too, being able to focus at -6 EV any time. When Bright Monitoring is enabled, it reaches an unprecedented -11 EV sensitivity.

The camera almost always manages to lock focus quickly in its normal mode of operation. Even down to low-light with the aperture closed down several stops, the A7R VI finds focus in a fraction of a second. Wide open, autofocus is incredibly quick. After enabling Bright Monitoring, the view obviously becomes much brighter and the camera switches into a different autofocus mode. At that point, the camera shows a notice whenever it is performing autofocus. Most of the time, it takes a fraction of a second but it can reach over one second in near complete darkness. Bright Monitoring even has a built-in Range Limiter that can be enabled let the camera know not to try focusing less than five meters away.

Autofocus accuracy is excellent across the frame. The special Expanded Spot focus area instantly switches to the area sounding the AF-point when contrast is very low at the selected location. Change in focus are reflected without lag in the viewfinder which is plenty sharp to confirm focus visually. Focus misses are very rare unless a light sources appears directly within the focus area.

Eye Tracking Autofocus - 100% Crop - ISO 3200 F/4 1/125/s

Tracking is astonishingly fast, particularly when combined with Subject Recognition. The A7R VI estimates human pose to improve tracking. It is trained to accurately maintain focus on a desired subject, even within a group or when it covers a small area of the frame. Its internal model can also recognize animals, birds, insects, cars, train and airplanes. With animal or bird modes, it specifically identifies the head or eyes, allowing for very precise continuous tracking. Excluding specialized professional action cameras, the autofocus speed of the A7R VI is class-leading.

Speed

The Sony Alpha A7R VI delivers improves capabilities and performance across the board but its true stand-out feature is an unprecedented combination of resolution and speed. The throughput of this Full-Frame Mirrorless Digital Camera is an blazing 2 gigapixels per second. Only four camera, and just a single Full-Frame model exceed it: The Sony Alpha A9 III
Sony Alpha A9 III which reaches 2.8 gigapixels per second.

This camera also comes with a relatively deep buffer, considering the full-resolution of its images. At maximum speed, it can grab 215 JPEG images, lossy 150 compressed RAW or 70 lossless compressed files in a single burst. This translates to 7 seconds of JPEG images and 2 seconds of lossless RAW. To ensure a decisive moment is captured, the A7R VI can maintain a continuous second of pre-captured images. At a respectable 10 FPS, the processor is capable of processing more than 1000 JPEG images or 535 RAW files.

Even at 30 FPS, the A7R VI maintains its full autofocus, auto exposure and auto white-balance capabilities. This allows the photographer to use any combination of features, regardless of shooting speed. When conditions are such that focus could take longer than the gap between frames, this camera provides controls to decide whether autofocus or frame-rate has priority.

Keep in mind that the buffer cannot clear faster than the memory card is capable of sustained writing. Top-grade cards advertise both their maximum reading and writing speeds separately. This is where CF Express Type A cards have an enormous advantage. For this review, the A7R VI was loaded with a pair of Lexar 256 GB CF Express Type A cards that can read at 1.75 GB/s and write at 1.65 GB/s. Compare this with the highest speed SDXC UHS-II cards on hand, the Lexar 128 BG Professional 1800X GOLD series that offer a maximum 280 MB/s read and 210 MB/s write speeds. While CF Express Type A cards cost twice as much as SDXC UHS-II, they can be 7X faster!

When shopping for memory cards, it is the WRITE speed that counts!

Every control on this camera is absolutely responsive. Each button press and turn of a dial registers immediately. No matter which control is used, this camera never holds the photographer back. Most notably improved from previous generations is the return from playback mode and menu navigation.

The following measurements characterize the performance of the A7R VI:

• Power-On: ½ second. Very good.
• Power-On to First-Shot: ¾ second. Superb.
• Autofocus:
  • Good to Moderate Light: 1/8s. Excellent.
  • Dim to low Light: ¼-½s. Class-leading.
  • Bright Monitoring: ½-1s near darkness. Great!
• Shutter-lag: Instant and blackout-free. Superb.
• Shot-to-shot: Under ½s with mechanical-shutter or 1/3s with electronic one. Faster than average.
• Playback: ¼s to enter, instant to exit. Fantastic.
• Power-Off: Instant without sensor cleaning cycle. Very good.
• Video: Instant to start or stop. Excellent.

These performance measurements are outstanding. Only the shot-to-shot speed is merely better than average. The remaining numbers are all fantastic. Autofocus performance is exemplary and, given that many cameras cannot focus down to similar light levels, the Sony A7R VI truly delivers a class-leading performance. Note that a slow card will affect the shot-to-shot speed not just the burst length.

The Sony Alpha A7R VI is powered by a new proprietary Lithium-Ion battery which is rated at 600 shots-per-charge. This roughly 15% more than the previous battery used in other Alpha cameras. In practice, it is very hard to reach that number. Expect about half when regularly reviewing images and adjusting settings via the menu system. The ultra-high resolution EVF and high resolution LCD are require a good amount of power. Turning off Bluetooth increases battery-life a little.

The most effective way to stretch battery-life is to configure the A7R VI to use the EVF and enable the Eye-Start Sensor. This way, both the EVF and LCD will be off until it is time to frame a shot. Expect to buy a second Sony NP-SA100 battery to last a full day. The good news is that Sony includes a double-charger with every A7R VI, so it is easy to charge both overnight. Busy photographers should even get a third battery to charge in-camera.

This Full-Frame Mirrorless Digital Camera is highly capable when it comes to recording videos. With far more resolution than what is required to capture 8K video, it must down-scale its sensor output to produce 8K, 4K or 1080p video. Downscaling can sharpen the output when implemented properly and destroy moire artifacts.

The top 8K video resolution requires a considerable amount of processing power and so even the A7R VI cannot produce such high resolution video by reading the entire sensor area. Instead, it uses about a 1.2X crop while recording 8K, reducing the field-of-view of the attached lens. In 4K video mode, the entire field-of-view is preserved.

Similarly to resolution, 8K also restricts available frame-rates to 30, 25 or 24 FPS. These frame-rates produce a cinematic feel because each frame gets viewed for longer than at faster frame-rates, often seen in television. For 4K video, the Sony Alpha A7R VI also supports 24, 25 and 30 FPS but adds 50, 60, 100 and 120 FPS. Both 25 and 50 FPS are commonly used in Europe, while the majority of other countries use 30 and 60 FPS. Faster frame-rates are generally used to produce slow-motion video with 100 FPS typically used in European countries and 120 FPS elsewhere.

All videos captured by the Sony Alpha A7R VI are saved using their proprietary XAVC format. This is a high-compression video codec that comes in three variants: XAVC HS, XAVC S and XAVC S-I. There are based on MPEG-H and MPEG-4, so they can luckily be played back by general video players. These formats use 10-bit color normally. XAVC S also includes support for 8-bit color. Both 4:2:2 and 4:2:0 subsampling are available for every video resolution and frame-rate.

Ultra HD video from the Sony Alpha A7R VI are very sharp and detailed. The downsampling required to output 4K makes these videos highly resistant to aliasing and moire artifacts. There is a rich depth of tones captured when saving using a 10-bit codec. The difference between 4:2:2 and 4:2:0 is harder to notice except for highly colorful scenes. Additionally, the class-leading dynamic-range of the A7R VI really shines. It renders video exposure much safer too.

Motion reproduction in videos depends on many factors. At 60 to 120 FPS, moving within a static frame is rendered extremely smoothly. From 24 to 30 FPS, the human eye can perceive that motion is less fluid, which is true of all cameras at those frame-rates. When the framing shifts during a shot, the overall motion remains quite smooth. However, we can notice some so-called jello artifacts that are a side effect from the electronic shutter of the new sensor. This is noticeable when there are long straight edges and the camera is panned quickly.

The main control that affects the reproduction of all motion is bit-rate. This Sony camera offers an extensive range of bit-rates. Ultra HD video can be captured at between 50 and 600 MB/s. Notice this is a huge 12X range! Lower bit rates are achieved using more aggressive compression that increases motion artifacts. With a selected bit-rate of 150 MB/s or more, motion is quite smooth and compression artifacts are hard to notice. There are All-Intra compression modes too that offer from 250 to 600 MB/s. While that requires a lot more storage, it makes videos significantly easier to edit.

8K video theoretically contain 4X the amount of detail as 4K, but that would only be true if the bit-rate allowed it. The Sony A7R VI offers 8K bit-rates from 200 to 520 MB/s. Higher rates provide excellent detail with smooth motion. When compared with 4K video though, there is a cross-over point where 4K recordings will contain more detail than 8K ones. This phenomenon, where higher resolution video contains fewer details, is known at bit-depth starvation. With options available in this mirrorless camera, this negates the resolution advantage of 8K in videos, except for scenes that are mostly static for long periods of time.

The autofocus system of the Sony Alpha A7R VI works extremely well during video capture. While videographers prefer using Manual Focus while filming to maintain control, the A7R VI also offers Continuous AF in Video Mode. Its AF system manages to track most subjects with smooth transitions that are barely noticeable. All Focus Areas for photography are also available while capturing video. Focus Modes though are restricted to AF-C and MF. It is unfortunate that there is no AF-S mode to set initial focus quickly before capturing video.

Sony has been constantly improving the A7-series for six generations now, with each new model staying true to form and bringing new evolutionary technology. Their newest model, the Sony Alpha A7R VI, raises the series to a level nearing perfection! It took 18 years for Mirrorless Digital Cameras to reach this milestone, faster than the 26 years taken by DSLRs, from the Kodak DCS to the launch of the Nikon D850
Nikon D850.

The Sony Alpha A7R VI consistently delivers best-in-class performance, ergonomics and capabilities. Without exceeding every other camera on all metrics, it undoubtedly demonstrates the greatest all-around performance of any mirrorless digital camera to date. As reviewers, there are always areas of potential improvements to find but every one found on the A7R VI is truly minor. Let us recap the basics:

Image quality from this mirrorless is top-notch. Its 67 Megapixels Full-Frame Stacked BSI-CMOS sensor reaches the highest resolution and highest dynamic-range of any Full-Frame sensor. Even up to ISO 6400, images from the A7R VI capture over 15 stops of dynamic-range. Noise gradually progresses from ISO 3200, where it may look noisy per pixel. However, when those pixels are turned into printer dots, image noise becomes invisible in anything smaller than a fairly large print.

The 5-axis built-in image-stabilization mechanism inside the Sony Alpha A7R VI is effective to counter up to 8½-stops of camera shake, matching the best performance among Full-Frame and Crop-Sensor cameras. This IBIS system is more powerful than any optical image-stabilization and applies to every single lens.

The 759-Point Phase-Detect AF system in this camera is ultra-fast, highly accurate and incredibly sensitive. A unique boost mode lets it focus down to -11 EV. This is near darkness which Sony emphasizes as a key A7R VI capability by including backlit controls for the first time. A powerful processor and AI training give this camera advanced subject recognition and best-in-class tracking autofocus. The throughput of the Sony Alpha A7R VI is stellar. Even with its 67 megapixels sensor, it is able to continuous shoot at 30 FPS and maintain a one second pre-capture buffer!

It brings a wealth of video capabilities too. This mirrorless captures full-width 4K Ultra HD video at up to 120 FPS plus 8K video at 30 FPS with a slight crop. There is definitely some doubt on the usefulness of 8K video, which is not an issue unique to this camera, but its 4K video quality is excellent. It supports 4-channel audio too using an external digital microphone.

Sony made a huge leap in ergonomics with the A7R VI. This time, its quadruple control-dials are incredibly well utilized. Plus, there is a traditional Mode-Dial separate from Photo and Video mode switching, an 8-way joystick, 4-way controller and numerous highly customizable buttons. This camera is by far the most configurable yet. As mentioned in the usability page of this review, despite so many options, a few genuinely helpful ones are missing. Still, the feature-set of the A7R VI is truly extensive.

The 9.4 Megapixels 0.64" EVF of the Sony Alpha A7R VI is unrivaled. Its incredibly sharp OLED panel users 10-bit HDR color that covers the entire DCI-P3 color-space. The view through this EVF shows 100% coverage at a huge 0.9X magnification with a 120 Hz refresh, black-out free shooting and an essential Eye-Start Sensor. There is also a sharp 2.1 megapixels 3.2" LCD mounted on a double-hinge for flexible framing.

Sony built this mirroless camera for professional photographers. Its durable body is heavily weather-sealed and packs dual hybrid memory card slots. This is the only camera to date that supports exact replication across a pair of cards. When powered off, the A7R VI can keeps its mechanical-shutter closed to minimize dust intrusion. There are tons of pixel shift modes, which do require a computer to assemble, plenty of connectivity options and a new higher-capacity battery. Another high-end detail is the inclusion of a dual-battery charger.

Sony produced a nearly perfect mirrorless digital camera. It manages to deliver on exceptional specifications with top-notch image-quality, speed, ergonomics and features. There probably will never be a perfect camera for everyone. For professional photographers that enjoy both high resolution and high speed, the Sony Alpha A7R VI takes the crown. For this reason, Neocamera unlocked a new level of Digital Camera Rating: Excellent++. This score will be awarded to digital cameras that surpass all those with lower ratings on multiple fronts.