The Sony a7C, the first full-frame mirrorless camera from Sony to look different from its barrage of a7 range cameras, has been officially launched in India. The camera was announced some time ago, and is available for purchase from both online and offline retailers, starting today. The Sony a7C actually bears more resemblance to Sony’s crop-sensor APS-C mirrorless cameras, and Sony claims that it is the world’s lightest and smallest full frame camera. While there is some dispute to this claim (some reckon the Sigma fp owns that crown), there is no denying that the Sony a7C offers an impressive array of features with the a7C – despite its tiny size.
At the heart of its offerings is a 24.2-megapixel full frame back-illuminated CMOS sensor, which is further combined with sensor shift-based 5-axis in-body image stabilisation – a pretty impressive feat for a camera this small. Sony has paired this with its Bionz X image processor – the same as what you’d find in the Sony a7 III. While this should keep the processing stack and buffer operating fast enough, Sony has also thrown in real-time eye tracking autofocus, including animal eye tracking for stills, which is pretty good as well. Continuous shooting is at a healthy 10fps with AF/AE tracking, for 39 frames of uncompressed RAW and JPEG photos simultaneously – making it a pretty usable camera for casual photographers and hobbyists for shooting live action sports or wildlife.
In terms of video abilities, the Sony a7C comes with support for oversampled 4K videos at 30fps, which is understandably limited to 8-bit 4:2:0 subsampling readout. However, this is not a video-centric mirrorless camera – you’d be looking at the Sony a7S range for that. The a7C is clearly geared towards being a mainstream camera with an all-round balanced array of features, and for that, Sony should be appreciated for including S-Log and HLG LUTs to help you post-process the recorded videos to your colour grade preference, making this potentially among the richest 8-bit 4K video outputs that you can get from such a compact camera. That, in itself, should make it an appealing second kit camera for pro videographers, or a great camera for an amateur to learn videography on.
Standard ISO in the Sony a7C ranges upward of ISO 100, hinting at dynamic range that should be quite good in this camera. It also gets a multi-interface hot shoe for your speed lights and boom mics, but you won’t need an external viewfinder. Continuing in the vein of rich viewfinders, the Sony a7C offers a 2.36-million-dot resolution OLED viewfinder at 100 percent frame coverage. It also gets a 3-inch touchscreen LCD monitor that will thankfully host a new, more organised Sony camera interface menu, but the 921k-dot resolution seems a bit of a letdown. Finally, it gets a new battery pack that is CIPA-certified to last 740 stills in a single charge cycle – ample for amateurs to use through a brief family holiday.
All of this comes in at a price of Rs 1.68 lakh, body-only. The only kit lens on offer right now is a 28-60mm f/4-5.6 standard zoom lens, which will also be sold separately from January 2021. The kit will cost you Rs 1.97 lakh, and if the promise of imaging performance similar to the a7 III in the size of an a6600 interests you, the Sony a7C is available in online and offline retail stores right now.
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