Sony A7C Photo & Video Review
I owned the original Sony a7C for three years. It was my first Sony mirrorless camera and my first full-frame Sony mirrorless camera. It was a decent upgrade for me at the time, coming from the Canon EOS R. However, I knew it was not the best that Sony had to offer. The specifications it provided, compared to the Sony a7III, included a few minor updates in terms of autofocus, a better touch interface, and the addition of a flip LCD screen, which made it quite suitable for my needs as a photographer, videographer, and YouTube content creator. My primary purpose for using the camera was as a freelance videography main camera and for shooting some street photography.
When it came to using this camera for YouTube, I was most surprised by its features and functionality, even though it wasn't up to par with the Sony a7IV, which came shortly after. First, I want to discuss the videography aspect of using the Sony a7C. For me, the ability to shoot in 4K 30 in full frame without any crop was a new experience at the time. Of course, now that would feel like the bare minimum expected from a camera in this category. In terms of slow motion, we also had 1080p at 50 FPS and 100 FPS, with most frame rates available up to 120 frames per second. For me, having 4K for most of my cleaner wide shots and slow motion in 1080p covered all my bases during the entire time I had the camera.
For my style of shooting, I typically shot in S-Log when outdoors. However, when I could control lighting situations, I usually shot in a fake S-Cinetone style. Using the camera for solo content creation or freelance videography was one of the best experiences I had with a hybrid camera for video. The touch interface for setting up focus and the ability to change tracking sensitivity and focusing speed meant the autofocus was as good as it could get without needing to intervene too often. Without a joystick on the back of the camera, you have to manually tap around on the screen to select specific points of focus. However, the face and eye tracking is among the best available in any full-frame camera, even now.
Briefly comparing this to the Sony a7C II, I honestly don't see any improvement in the autofocus of the a7C II compared to the original a7C, even though it has been theoretically revamped with AI. I believe the a7C is as good as the a7C II in that respect. The a7C also has all the ports you would expect from a camera, and this design, first seen on the a7C with its boxier rangefinder shape, has now become standard for the a7C series and the newer a6700. They all share this barn door design on the left side of the camera when held. This means you have a flap for the microphone at the top, the SD card in the middle, and your headphone jack and micro HDMI at the bottom. This setup provides everything you need in a camera.
Having manual audio gain settings for the microphone jack means that even if you're a solo operator, being able to set things up quickly and easily ensures you won't mess up your audio, as long as you take a short amount of time to learn your gain settings with your chosen microphone input. Additionally, having the ability to plug in a headphone jack means you have everything necessary for managing your audio. One area where I think the Sony a7C falls short compared to newer Sony mirrorless cameras is in-body image stabilization. It does have IBIS for the sensor, but it lacks the active stabilization found in the a7C II, a6700, a7S III, or the dynamic stabilization in the Sony ZV1, for example.
Even with that, I find the stabilization on the a7C usable, as long as you test it and understand its limits. It's not as good as what we see from Lumix or Micro Four Thirds cameras, but it's still usable and can make non-stabilized lenses feel like they have some optical stabilization.
Getting into photography with the a7C, this is an area where people may mistakenly judge this camera. It only has a 24-megapixel full-frame sensor, but in my experience, that has been plenty for street photography and freelance photography. One disappointing aspect is that when we crop into APS-C mode, we go down to 10 megapixels. Fortunately, in video mode, in 4K and 1080p, we can switch to Super 35 mode, which is APS-C mode, and also add clear image zoom to crop in by an additional 1.5 times. This means you can achieve extra focal length and reach from your lenses without needing to change them. For example, if you have a 28mm lens, the 1.5 times crop of Super 35 mode will give you 42mm, and the additional clear image zoom will take you up to 64mm.
Returning to photography, one area where I felt disappointed with this camera was the lack of a joystick on the back. Changing autofocus points means tapping on the screen or using the D-pad to navigate. This isn't the end of the world, and there is a workaround: changing the touch function of the screen to act as a relative touchpad for the focus point, which works similarly to a joystick. This was also used on some Canon EOS M mirrorless cameras, and it is acceptable once you get used to it. However, you can accidentally move the autofocus point with your cheek or nose while focusing with the camera.
As someone who primarily shoots street photography with this camera, I found the shutter sound to be quite loud, especially in quieter areas where I didn't want to attract too much attention. Therefore, having the ability to switch to silent mode was very useful. I would set one of my custom buttons on the D-pad to toggle between silent and non-silent modes, which I found to be very helpful. This allowed me to shoot fast-moving subjects in non-silent mode and switch back to silent mode for more stationary subjects when I wanted to avoid drawing attention. Having that functionality at my fingertips made the experience much easier.
The a7C line was the first of its kind to consider the compact factor of full-frame interchangeable lens cameras. In that respect, Sony and third-party lens manufacturers did a great job equipping these cameras with the right lenses to maximize their benefits, such as Samyang's compact 35mm and 24mm options, as well as offerings from Viltrox.
My final thoughts on this camera, considering how much it can be purchased for secondhand, is that it may be the best deal in hybrid video cameras available. If you spend £800 to £900 on a used Sony a7C Mark I, you get everything you need as a videographer, photographer, and potentially solo content creator to get started. The shortcomings that people often mention include the lack of 10-bit recording. While 10-bit recording is nice to have, many creators I know do not shoot in 10-bit or log, and it does not affect their production quality or the success of their videos. It is more of a luxury than a necessity.
During my time with the a7C, I never worried about shooting in 10-bit log. Most of the time, I would only shoot in log if the dynamic range of the scene required it. Otherwise, I would shoot in a more naturalistic fake S-Log picture profile. If you're considering this camera and want something slightly better for not much more money, you could look at the Sony a7IV, which secondhand goes for around £400 to £600 more than a secondhand a7C Mark I, but it actually costs less than the secondhand a7C Mark II. The benefits between the a7IV and the a7C Mark II are negligible, and it is more of a preference difference rather than one being better than the other.
The a7C Mark II lacks two SD card slots but features improved AI autofocus, which, as I mentioned earlier, is negligible. However, the a7IV has two SD card slots, a higher resolution EVF, and is ergonomically designed, even if it is slightly larger.
I hope you have enjoyed this retrospective review of the Sony a7C. It was one of the longest cameras I have ever owned, as I rarely keep a camera for more than a year. I owned it for over three years, so I can highly recommend it to anyone looking for an all-rounder simple camera that is also a beautifully designed piece of equipment. I will be doing more comparisons between the a7C Mark II, a7S III, and many other Sony and brand cameras in the future, so keep up with this blog. If you would like to support my work, please check out my store for some of my film simulation presets and ongoing camera guides.
