Sony A7C review
The
Sony A7C has a radically different look compared to other A7 models, but
there’s a lot that’s very familiar inside.

(Image:
© Rod Lawton/Digital Camera World)
OUR VERDICT
The Sony A7C's specifications are unambitious to say the
least, particularly in terms of its video capabilities, but its practical
performance, from its handy vari-angle screen to its excellent AF system, make
it effective enough as a camera. We will leave it to you to decide if its
two-tone design is appealing, but for us it does not have the quality ‘feel’ of
the other A7 models. Does the Sony range and the full frame mirrorless camera
market need this camera, though? It's not cheap, it's not pretty and its not
even technically very advanced.
FOR
• Small(ish)
body
• Excellent
retracting lens
• Side-hinged
vari-angle screen
• Autofocus
performance
AGAINST
• Unambitious
video specs
• Unappealing
silver and black finish
• Not
especially cheap
Sony
is aiming the A7C at a new, younger market, but placing its faith in a steady
evolution of its digital capture technologies rather than any headline-grabbing
technical breakthroughs.
The
biggest news around the Sony A7C is its design, which is like a fusion of
the Sony A7 III and
the Sony A6600.
Lots of people have made lots of fuss over how small this camera is. It's true
that the rectangular body is smaller than that of the A7 III but bigger and
thicker than Sony's APS-C cameras.
The
flip-out screen is a major ergonomic leap forward, though, and the A7C also has
a brand new retracting 28-60mm kit lens to go with the camera’s downsized
dimensions.
SONY A7C SPECIFICATIONS
Model
number: ILCE-7C
Sensor: 24.2MP full frame Exmor R CMOS BSI
Image
processor: BIONZ
X
AF
points: 623-point
phase AF, 425-point contrast AF
ISO
range: 100-51,200
(exp. 50-204,800)
Metering
modes: Multi-segment,
Center-weighted, Spot, Avg., Highlight
Video: 4K UHD up to 30p
Viewfinder: EVF, 2,359k dots
Memory
card: 1x
SD/SDHC/SDXC, UHS-II
LCD: 3-inch vari-angle touchscreen, 921k
dots
Max
burst: 10fps,
115 raw, 223 JPEG
Connectivity: Wi-Fi
Size: 124.0 x 71.1 x 59.7mm
Weight: 503g (body only)
SONY A7C KEY
FEATURES

From the outside, the Sony A7C is
radically different to the regular Sony A7-series cameras. The viewfinder
housing on the top is gone, replaced by a viewfinder eyepiece in the top left
corner of the body on the rear. The rear LCD screen now flips sideways via a
vari-angle pivot that gives a much wider range of movement, and the camera’s
two-tone black and silver finish is very different to the all-black livery of
the other A7 models – though Sony says a limited-edition all-black version is
coming.
Inside, though, the A7C is rather
conventional. The 24MP sensor is the same as (or a close relative of) the
sensor in the A7 III, and the video is capped at 8-bit 4K at 30p. By today’s
standards this is very ordinary indeed, though Sony says the bit depth has been
kept to 8-bit to produce manageable file sizes for capture and editing. The
relatively low processing demands mean the A7C does at least have no recording
limits – and its 4K video is ‘oversampled’ full width 6K, so the quality should
be good.
You do at least get Sony’s S-Log2, S-Log3
and HLG modes, together with both mic and headphone sockets, not to mention
120p full HD.
What you also get is Sony’s latest and
best autofocus technologies, with 693 phase AF points and 425 contrast AF
points, between them covering 93% of the frame. Sony’s AF system is arguably
the most advanced and effective on the market, and this one has the Real Time
Eye AF, human/animal, left/right eye and Real Time Tracking seen on the
flagship Sony A7R IV,
and the AF speed and sensitivity adjustments of the new Sony A7S III.
The A7C is just as effective at stills
photography, especially if you shoot sports and action. Its 10fps continuous
shooting speed is pretty impressive, but its buffer capacity – the number of
shots it can take before slowing down – is better still. Sony says it can
capture 115 raw files or 223 JPEG images in a burst; 115 raw files is 3-4 times
more than most general-purpose cameras can manage.
source:
https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/uk/reviews/sony-a7c-review#section-sony-a7c-verdict