Should I buy a Sony A7C?

Is an upgrade to Sony A7C worth the money I pay? Is a good question that came to me when I saw this camera when it was released.

What does Youtube say about Sony A7C?

I went down looking on all the reviews and videos on youtube, most of them are talking on the positive side of this camera and only very few have spoken the real challenges this camera could give the photographer of the videographer. 

I thought all these bloggers and YouTube reviewers who took mostly the positive on the products are trying to sell the products to their viewers for a small commission and this is like playing with the money of the customer or the YouTube followers who are following them with a lot of confidence on their reviews. I don't want to do that, I want to share my real opinion on this camera and of course, a few reviews were real reviews, from a couple of Youtube channels as well.

I want my readers to know the real fact that will come as a shock when you start shooting with the new Sony a7c, I'm not here to sell this camera to you, my readers, I'm here to tell talk openly on this camera.

Price?

$1800 USD [Body only] and $2100 USD with the kit-lens, for this camera, seems not worthy, instead, you can buy a much cheaper camera that is way better than this one.

I love Sony for the technology and brilliant features that they offer in their cameras, providing a full-frame sensor on a compact body like this his extraordinary of course it comes with a caveat, it does not provide the expected in Body Image stabilization [IBIS] as that of other Sony cameras.

Its very good from Sony to provide us with the full-frame sensor on a very compact camera but I feel that it has not come with the correct pricing. To me, $1800 USD is really expensive for this camera body.

Questions in my mind for that $1800 USD

Can it shoot 4K videos in 60fps / 120fps?: No

- but for $200 USD more, Panasonic’s full-frame S5 shoots 4K at 60 fps and has a 10-bit internal recording for 4K

Do I get a dual card slot? : No

Do I have The Rolling shutter problem? : Yes

Does it shoot videos in 10-bits? : No, it shoots in 8-bits

How many photos can I take with a full charge? : 700 approx

8 Cons of Sony A7C

1. It is a small Factor camera may be called as a compact camera and it is very compact in big hands.  

2. The autofocus system is not as good as Sony a7sIII 

3. It has only one SD card slot and it is not possible to use it for professional work where you need a backup saving card

4. It has the old menu system and not the new menu system as Sony a7s III

5. It does not have have the front wheel or front dial on the index finger so for every adjustment you need to rely on the big dial on the back of the camera this comes a bit annoying when doing photography, where you might need to adjust the shutter speed for every shot or particularly during the photoshoot in the outdoors with natural light.

6. It does not have 1/8000  shutter speed 

7. It does not have a lock so you can lock your Dials and buttons and they tend to change while you move your hands around the camera while shooting.

8. Spending 1800 dollars seems to be not worthy for a camera like this instead you can try but Canon RP that has a great colour sign from Canon it has all the Dials and wheels appropriately weighted supposed to be B&M it's a mirrorless obviously and comes with a cheaper price dentist camera

So before you buy this camera please check on the Canon R or Canon RP and then make your decision

 Dynamic Range

What is Dynamic Range?

It is the difference between the darkest and the brightest part of tones in an image. The human eye has the highest dynamic range, that is why there the differences in the image from a camera and the natural human eye. The dynamic range depends on the camera you use, the high grade and expensive cameras have much more Dynamic Range that the cameras on a budget or cheaper. Dynamic Range is measured in 'Stops'

There are a few tweaks available for Canon DSLRs to increase the Dynamic range to a few more stops.

The more dynamic range helps us to see more details in the darkest and the brightest part of the picture. That is why the Dynamic Range is important on any camera, so the camera can capture more details it could. The human eye has 20-24 stops of dynamic range, whereas the professional cine cameras have 14-16 stops of Dynamic Range.

Why is Dynamic Range important in Videography and Photography?

Dynamic Range is important in Videography and Photography because of the level of details you can capture with the given stops of dynamic range. With the more dynamic range stops in a camera, the more overexposure and underexposure will become lesser in the output. 

The image from a 14 stop dynamic range camera looks almost like a flat and desaturated image. This will help you in the colour grade stages of the production. In colour grade, you can decide the look of the film like warmer or colder or any other colour tone you need.

Advantages of Dynamic Range in Cameras

1. Dynamic range helps to capture more details in the footage, so it could help in the post-production

2. The final image can have a high level of details in the darkest and the brightest parts of the final image/video

3. Dynamic range gives more freedom in the Colour Grade phase of the post-production.

Dynamic Range in common DSLR Cameras

Most of the budget DSLRs come with 8-10 stops of dynamic range, it is half of what a normal human eye can see or perceive. A few more expensive mirrorless cameras from Sony and Canon have a more dynamic range from 12-14 stops. They also shoot in S-Log and C-Log profiles to help the colour correction in the post-production phase.

Samples of Video shot on Canon 90D DSLR

Both these videos were shot on Canon 90D with CineStyle profile which gave a flat picture. This flat picture was then colour balanced and colour graded. You can see the details outstanding because of the CineStyle profile which helped to capture a few more stops of the dynamic range that the normal profiles in Canon 90D.

If less than $900 camera can capture such extraordinary footage then imagine about the cameras higher dynamic range and Log profiles. They can produce 10 times more quality output than what you have seen in the above 4K Video or UHD Videos you seen on Youtube.

Role of Profiles used :

Portrait and Landscape Profile

Usually, we use the 'Landscape' and 'Portrait' profile for shooting a picture or video. These modes are already preset for the tone and colour. The Portrait mode is tuned or set for smooth skin on portraits and the Landscape mode is tuned for the more blue sky. So the priority set on the Portrait mode is the skin and the Landscape mode is the blue sky. Here other equations are not forgotten but lesser priority is given.

Neutral Profile

Neutral profile keeps all the colours saturated and the contrast to a minimum level depending on the manufacturer. So all the colours and the contrast are available for any adjustment during the colour correction and colour grading in the post-production. With such a flat picture you can boost a particular shade of colour for more details if required.

CineStyle - Flat Profile

CineStyle is a flat profile for Canon cameras from a company called Technicolor. This profile is available and can be downloaded for free from their website. You can upload it to any Canon Camera through the Canon Connect software provided. CineStyle profile is more preferred by videographers using Canon DSLRs or mirrorless cameras. Of course, the colour correction and colour grading are required for the footage.

Difference in the Contract

Constant of a picture shows you the difference in bright and dark parts of the image. The higher the contrast the better the picture will look or the picture will outstand. But you tend to lose the details in the dark portions if the darkness is increased. Same to the brightest part of the image, if there is more contract the brightest part might blow up and will definitely hide the details. 

This is why in a flat profile and Log profiles [SLog on Sony Cameras and Clog on Canon Cameras] the contrast is kept at a minimum level, to capture all the possible details in the footage.

ISO factor

When talking about Dynamic Range we cannot avoid the ISO [Sensitivity of the sensor or film]. ISO determines the sensitivity of the image, if the ISO is higher in the low light situations or to capture details in the dark parts of the field, it will introduce noise in the image or footage.

This ISO noise will affect the quality of the output in many ways, even in the colour correction, colour grading, sharpness when we try to render the image. So the videographers and photographers will always keep the ISO to a minimum level st all times. The ISO is increased only when the shooting happens in low lit conditions. This is why the de-noising tools have become popular in the market.

Popular cameras Dynamic Range

Canon 80D - 12 stops of dynamic range

Canon 90D - 12 stops of dynamic range - SALE: UK  | US  | IND

Canon R5 / R6 - 13 stops of dynamic range

Sony A7sIII  - 15 stops of dynamic range

Sony a7S & a7SII  - 13 stops of dynamic range

Panasonic GH5 - 10 stops of dynamic range