The Samyang 50mm F1.4 AF II is a huge upgrade compared to the Samyang 50 mm F1.4 AF. It offers overall very good to excellent performances at a fraction of the price of Sony Planar T* 50mm F1.4 Zeiss or Sony 50mm F1.2 GM. Its main weaknesses compared to the Sony are : the AF that is a little bit less efficient and the bokeh balls that are not circular when aperture is closed down + a higher level of CA
The Sony 70-200mm F2.8 GM II (3000 Our) is establishing new standards for Sony zoom. It is largely better in almost all aspects compared to the Sony 70-200mm F2.8 GM (2800 euros), the Tamron 35-150mm F2-F2.8 Di III VXD (1800 euros) and the Tamron 70-180mm F2.8 Di III VXD(1200 euros)
In Summary
Excellent to Outstanding sharpness
Super light and extremely well balanced on Sony bodies (centre of gravity near the body)
Constant length design
Extremely complete ergonomics : Aperture ring (click or clickless) , Full time DMF, focus limiter, panning mode….
Super fast , precise and silent AF with a hitrate close to 100% and unleashing the full 30fps of the Sony A1
Super smooth background blur and very good bokeh balls
Excellent color rendition
Excellent behavior in video
Very good behavior with TC : minor loss of sharpness on TC1.4 and moderate on TC2.0, same AF
In 2020, Sony released the ZV-1 and made it clear that they saw potential for the vlogging-specific camera. One year later, they’ve upgraded this idea with the ZV-E10, a camera for content creators featuring the versatility of a mirrorless, interchangeable lens body. The ZV-1 was essentially a take on an RX-series camera, but purpose-designed for vlogging. The ZV-E10 does the same for mirrorless shooters, by essentially adding a vari-angle screen, 3-capsule directional mic, improved audio interface, live streaming support, and a product showcase mode to an a6000-series body. It’s a standout camera of the year because it’s at the forefront of a new and growing genre of cameras that’s likely to continue expanding over the next several years.
The Sony A7IV on 5th place:
One of the later releases of 2021, Sony released the Alpha a7 IV in the Fall and it’s almost instantly become one of the hottest cameras of 2021. Sony’s a7-line—not the R, not the S, just the plain a7—has been a true sweet spot camera for years and this fourth iteration continues this concept with the tagline of “beyond basic.” It features a new higher resolution 33MP sensor (finally graduating from the 24MP level), 4K 60p 10-bit internal recording, and Real-time Eye AF and Tracking. It uses much of the processing power of the flagship-tier a1 but manages to remain the approachable camera that’s appealing to all sorts of shooters.
The Sony A1 on 2nd place:
Sony’s Alpha 1 was one of the first mirrorless cameras to show exactly what’s truly possible in mirrorless camera development right now, when everything is turned up to 11 to create one of the most well-rounded, well-spec’d cameras to come around in some time. usually, cameras excel at speed but lack in resolution, prioritize video over stills, or make some other kind of concession to prioritize a certain kind of shooter—not with the a1. Sony tricked this camera out with a high res 50MP stacked sensor that’s capable of outputting 8K 30p video, 4K 120p video at 10-bit, or full-resolution stills with a 30-fps continuous shooting rate. Besides having chart-topping specs in both photo and video realms, its mundane specs are even hugely impressive… things like a 1/400-second flash sync speed, 1/200-second sync with an electronic shutter, 9.44m-dot OLED EVF, and blackout-free viewing due to the fast readout speeds from the stacked sensor design. The Alpha 1 is a lot of camera; it’s almost like having an a7S, a7R, and a9 all wrapped up together, but somehow it still manages to have the same svelte form factor and familiar appearance.
The Zenitar 50mm F0.95 lens (800 euros) is a massive beast in term of size and weight compared to the Mitakon 50mm F0.95 – Dark Knight (800 euros) The build quality is lower than the Mitakon with some unusual dampening for the aperture ring and only printed numbers and not engraved. Ergonomically its unusual large diameter makes it difficult to hold the body as there is no place for your finger and the lens hood is moving frequently The image quality is ok in the centre but the lens suffer from very strong field curvature , very bad resistance to flare, very strong vignetting even with aperture closed down. The very long min focusing distance is also an issue as not allowing very big bokeh balls Where it shines is in term of color rendition (better than Mitakon) , smoothness of background blur below F2.8 and special soap bubble bokeh at F0.95 If you want a pure 50mm F0.95 that is at ease in most situations: the Mitakon 50mm F0.95 – Dark Knight (800 euros) is a bit sharper on the entire field (much less field curvature), much smaller and lighter with a better build quality , better resistance to flare but with a less nice color rendition If you want an artistic lens maximising blur (<F2.8) and special soap bubble bokeh with very nice color rendition then the Zenitar will be the one to go The 7 Artisans 50mm F1.05 (486$) is also a very interesting budget option to try a F1 lens
All in all, we’ve had a hard time finding any faults with the Sony A1. It does so many things and does them all extremely well. It’s fast, it’s designed well, and it captures excellent high-quality photos and videos. It *is* very expensive, however. But for that price, you get one heck of a camera.
The Laowa Argus 35mm F0.95 (1069 Euros) is the fastest 35mm for full frame cameras. Unlike some cheap F0.95 lenses, it provide very good and totally usable images at F0.95. Sharpness is good wide open , color rendition if very good, background blur and bokeh balls are excellent. As of F1.2 you get very good sharpness and excellent as of F1.4
The main weaknesses are the long min focusing distance (50cm) , the resistance to flare, CA , the high vignetting and corners sharpness requiring to close to F5.6 to get consistency on the entire field
Its only real competitor is the Sigma 35mm F2 DG DN Contemporary (1500 euros) that is a more a workhorse for heavy duty job providing also excellent background blur and bokeh but not at the level of the Laowa. The Sigma is however excellent as of F1.2 and has very good to excellent corners even wide open. It is more versatile and can be used from Weddings, to sports, to night photography without any issues.
Equally suited for stills or video, with a great performance and handling extremely well, the Sony A7 IV has a lot going for it. Yes, it’s the most expensive of its peers, by which are meant the full-frame options of up to 33MP, but it is a hybrid camera that does tackle both stills and video in the one package. The handling is excellent, and the only questions regard the menu style, which may or may not suit the user. Familiarity will help no doubt, but the overall set-up is, in this reviewer’s opinion, somewhat over-complex. In summary, a very high-quality package that should consistently deliver the highest quality of results – ‘Highly Recommended’.
The Sony A7 IV represents a major upgrade from the popular previous model, but increased competition and a major price-hike means that it’s no longer our default choice as the best entry-level full-frame mirrorless camera.
That’s largely because it no longer has an entry-level price-tag. £2399 / $2499 for the body only is significantly more than the £$2000 launch price that the A7 III enjoyed. OK, so the camera market and the world as a whole have changed somewhat since then, but it’s still a big increase that makes the A7 IV more expensive than all of its main rivals.
Back in 2018, the Alpha A7 III faced very little competition at all, with Canon, Sony and Panasonic all still to join the 35mm full-frame market. Fast forward to 2021 and the new A7 IV has several very capable main rivals, including the the Canon EOS R6, Nikon Z6 II and Panasonic Lumix S5, not to mention the venerable Panasonic GH5 II, all of which are cheaper than Sony’s new camera whilst offering, for example, faster burst rates or uncropped 4K/60p video.
What Sony have succeeded in doing is pushing the boundaries of what we can expect from what they still consider to be their entry-level camera – the Sony A7 IV clearly out-performs its predecessor by some margin in virtually every regard, no mean feat given how far ahead of its time the A7 III was.
And while each of its rivals can point to a few key areas where they win the day, none of them quite deliver the accomplished all-round stills and video package that the A7IV clearly is – if you can only afford one hybrid camera to meet all of your diverse shooting needs and your budget stretches beyond “entry-level”, the Alpha A7 IV should be at the top of your list.
All of which is quite a roundabout way to conclude that the new Sony A7 IV is a very capable hybrid all-rounder that should more than meet the needs of most videographers and photographers alike. Whilst it has a few foibles that we hope Sony will address next time around, for us and many others, it’s well worth venturing beyond entry-level to enjoy everything that the Alpha A7 IV has to offer.
