Amateur Photographer - UK (2020-08-22)

46 http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk

Sony

a7SII

BodyOnly

£1,259

from

excellentcondition

Sony

FE24-105mm

f/4GOSS

£809

from

excellentcondition

Testbench SECONDHAND CAMERAS

FELenses

It’s easy to forget just how revolutionary

the Sony Alpha 7 looked when it was

launched back in 2013 alongside the

36MP Alpha 7R, as one of the world’s

 rst full-frame mirrorless cameras. Now

that we’re three generations down the

line, with the Alpha 7 III being one of the

most sophisticated and accomplished

all-rounders on the market, it’s also

easy to forget just how small,

stripped-back and lightweight the

camera felt compared to contemporary

full-frame DSLRs.

At heart the Alpha 7 answers a very

simple question, of how to squeeze a

full-frame sensor into the smallest

possible body while including an

eye-level view nder. The resultant

SLR-style design with its central EVF

measures 127x94x48mm and weighs

474g, making it almost 200g lighter

than the contemporary Canon EOS 6D,

or 176g less than the current Alpha 7

III. Even now, the only full-frame model

that’s lighter is the rather less

practical Sigma fp.

It still packs in a pretty decent set of

speci cations, as be ts a camera that

originally cost £1,300 body-only. The

24MP full-frame sensor offers

sensitivities up to ISO 25,600, and you

can rattle off shots at 5 frames per

second, with a creditable 28-frame raw

buffer. Autofocus uses a hybrid system,

with 117 phase-detection points

arranged in the central region of the

frame, complemented by contrast

detection that extends almost to the

edges. With static subjects autofocus is

pretty snappy, and inherently accurate,

but C-AF performance lags some way

behind Sony’s latest technology. One

notable omission is in-body image

stabilisation, which debuted on the

second-generation model, but that’s the

trade-off for the slimmer body.

There’s no denying that, in certain

aspects of its design, the Alpha 7 now

feels decidedly clunky. Sony was still

feeling its way into mirrorless, after all,

having released its  rst APS-C bodies

little more than three years previously.

Sony Alpha 7

Sony’s cheapest standard

zoom is the FE 28-70mm

F3.5-5.6 OSS, which is

available for less than

£160 second-hand. But

unless you’re really on a

budget, we’d forgo this

entry-level lens in favour

of the Zeiss-branded

24-70mm F4, as a better

way of realising the

potential of the full-frame

sensor. It provides a

usefully wider view, along

with higher-quality optics

and a more robust

all-metal barrel that’s

sealed against dust and

moisture. However it’s

still relatively compact

and lightweight, at

94.5mm in length and

426g, and uses 67mm

 lters. It also includes

optical stabilisation to

help keep your images

sharp when shooting

handheld at slower

shutter speeds. Overall

it’s the ideal everyday

zoom for use on the

Alpha 7.

SONY

For a certain generation

of photographer, the

50mm f/1.8 is simply the

classic lens for use with

full frame, having been

near-universally supplied

with manual-focus 35mm

 lm SLRs. Sony’s version

updates the venerable

double-Gauss optical

formula by the use of an

aspherical element in its

6-element, 5-group

design, with the aim of

reducing peripheral

aberrations to give

sharper images at large

apertures. The diaphragm

employs seven curved

blades to deliver

attractive bokeh, and

 lters can be used via a

49mm  lter thread. At

just 186g the lens is

distinctly lightweight,

although at 60mm in

length, it’s longer than

classic SLR 50mm

primes. In real-world use

it provides sharp images

with minimal distortion or

chromatic aberration, but

users may  nd its

sluggish autofocus to

be frustrating.

Sony FE 2470mm F4 ZA OSS

● £439

Sony FE 50mm F1.8

● £129

● £409

ALL PRICES CORRECT AT THE TIME OF WRITING. FOR THE L ATEST DE ALS, CHECK WWW.PARKCAMERAS.COM