Live Science Verdict
owing autofocus , attractively detailed 61MP closure and out - of - this - world simulacrum for professionals who need the practiced . One of the best cameras we ’ve ever used , but its Achilles blackguard limits it for wildlife picture taking .
Accurate AI - power autofocus with Deep Learning
Stunningly detailed 61MP resolve
The button layout is intuitive and easy to operate.
8 kelvin video
Ca n’t shoot 8 K in S&Q mode
Large data file take faster card
The Sony A7R V has two card slots.(Image credit: Jase Parnell-Brookes)
10FPS burst rate is underwhelming
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Sensor:61MP full frame BSI CMOSEVF resolution:9.44 M dotsMonitor:3.2 - inch touchscreen , 2.09 M dotsImage stabilisation : Five - axis , eight stopsWeather - seal : YesAutofocus detection range:-4 to +20EVISO Range:100–32,000 ( expansible to 50–102,400)Minimum shutter speed:30 secondsBurst rate : Up to 10 FPSRAW buffer zone : Up to 583 birthday suit filesVideo : Up to 8 K 25p*Battery life:440 shot ( EVF ) / 530 crack ( LCD)Storage:2 slots ( both SD and CFexpress A compatible)Dimensions ( in):5.16 x 3.82 x 3.23Dimensions ( cm):13.1 x 9.7 x 8.2Weight:1 lb 10 oz ( 723 g ) with bombardment & card
The ports on the Sony A7R V.(Image credit: Jase Parnell-Brookes)
The Sony A7R V was rotatory when it was released back in October 2022 , but is it still worth corrupt in 2025 ? We ’ve put it to the test for astrophotography , wildlife photography and everything in - between to see whether it ’s still worth its monetary value rag .
Its still unbeaten in terms of firmness of purpose — the banging 61MP sensor is still at the top of the pyramid , but with Sony ’s new coevals A1 Mark II now capable of fast burst rate and boasting a pre - capture buffer , the A7R V perhaps might not be the arm of choice for wildlife photography any longer .
A heir has n’t been sustain by Sony yet , but rumors are circulating that an 80MP brute could be announced in 2025 . If this turns out to be lawful , the Sony A7R VI could blow the V out of the water , especially if it has a higher burst rate .
The ports are easily accessible even with the screen flipped out.(Image credit: Jase Parnell-Brookes)
Sony A7R V review
Sony A7R V: Design and comfort
The design of the Sony A7R V is broadly speaking what we expect from Sony at this cost dot . In term of button layout , it ’s selfsame to the A7 IV , but it has some welcome improvements over its predecessor , the A7R IV . There ’s a disjoined sub - dial to select between photo , TV and S&Q ( Slow & Quick – AKA irksome motion and timelapse ) modes , and the locating of the video record button is a thousand times dear and easier to press on the A7R V.
If we were to change anything , we ’d wish the alternative to become the chief telephone dial whorl on and off , as you could with the exposure compensation dial . It can get a footling annoying and fiddly having to bid and oblige the release to move the dial to transfer mode .
It is one of the heavier Sony manikin , at 1 lb 10 oz ( 723 deoxyguanosine monophosphate ) with the battery and a card , but we thought it go nicely in the hand . The grip , finger and thumb placement line of business up absolutely to allow you to hold the camera well in one hired hand , and it only feel expectant when we paired it with a foresighted telephoto lense to snap some wildlife .
The screen can tilt up, flip out and fully articulate independently.
As expected , the camera is weather - sealed so you should be good to use it in lightness to medium rain , and the anti - dust organization should protect you against gumption and dirt out in the field . We took it to a beach to frivol away animal picture taking without any problems whatsoever . The interface are well - located and both card slots are SD- and CFexpress A - compatible .
The menu system is absolutely fine if you ’re used to Sony cameras , but call for a leafage out of OM System ’s Quran and provide a short explanation with each alternative / setting would be a welcome move — this is something we loved about theOM-1 Mark II when we reviewed it . This would make life easy for those who are n’t so technically minded .
Sony A7R V: Electronic viewfinder and LCD screen
The EVF gas a stunning 9.44 M window pane firmness of purpose , the same as the A1 , with 0.9x magnification . The refresh charge per unit is up to 120 FPS , so a downside of the A7R V is that it does n’t offer up dimout - loose shooting . That say , it ’s not design for speed , nor can it even shoot that fast , so this wo n’t hamper your shooting as much as it would on a faster tv camera . On the plus side , we did n’t see any rolling shutter when look through the viewfinder .
But one of the more hard-nosed john this camera has up its sleeves is the gymnast - alike flexibility of the LCD cover . The four - axis vertebra blind can tilt up and down , as well as flip out and in full articulate severally , meaning you’re able to view the screen at quite literally any slant you like . As some photographers prefer careen screen and others favor somersaulting - out , this camera will supply to everyone in this regard . The 3.2 - in liquid crystal display screen is also the joint - largest alongside the new A1 II , and it has the highest resolution ( albeit only just ) at 2.1 M Department of Transportation .
Sony A7R V: Image quality and dynamic range
While image timber is partly see by the quality of the lense , we have never been disappoint by the paradigm we ’ve accept on the Sony A7R V. The images are astute , with racy color and dumfounding contingent .
Even in low brightness level , we were easily able-bodied to retain detail in the vestige and fetch back details from the high spot in our images .
We take the Sony A7R V to inject the colorful buildings of Copenhagen , and even on a dull , clouded day it catch the colouring material and detail exceptionally well . At dusk , the balance between the highlighting and shadows was effortlessly rendered and brilliantly balanced throughout the image .
The Sony A7R V produces vibrant, rich colors.
This was also the character when we tested it on a sunny July afternoon in the Lake District — the rough shadows from the tree were no equal for the A7R V.
Sony A7R V: Autofocus and subject detection
The Sony A7R V has seven subject espial modes — Human , Animal / Bird , Animal , Bird , Insect , Car / Train and Airplane . Insect modality is a great add-on for macro photography , plus have got both combined and separate animate being and chick modes is useful for truth when photographing wildlife .
Due to its dull 10 FPS burst rate ( more on that afterwards ) , it ’s not suit for really fast - move brute , which is a pity because the AI - powered autofocus and Deep Learning engineering science would really be able to go around its wings when coupled with a fast camera , like the 30 FPS burst pace in the new A1 II . We thought the autofocus bring in the A7R V a place as one of thebest cameras for wildlife photography , but the burst rate lets it down in comparison to its rival .
We claim the Sony A7R V to a nature reserve to photograph wildlife , and we were very impressed with the subject detecting and tracking , particularly in Animal / shuttle mode . It did clamber to interlace onto a camouflaged Hero in the distance , but it tracked a bird in flight around 100 feet ( 30 time ) above us well and the eye detection worked really well on a particularly camera - friendly Robin . The eyes were personal identification number - keen , and the 61MP sensing element produced artificial item — we could even see the robin ’s pupil .
On a bright summer’s day in the Lake District, the Sony A7R V could easily handle the harsh shadows from the trees.(Image credit: Kimberley Lane)
Sony A7R V: Astro and low light performance
We were n’t have a bun in the oven much from this tv camera when it came to astrophotography , due to the 61MP sensing element . But colour us fabulously surprised , as the amount of detail we wangle to get contract our breath aside .
Yes , there obviously was more racket than there was when we compared the images to the ace we take on the less - detailedSony A7 IV , but overall we were expecting the A7R V to be a lot less capable for astrophotography than it actually was . If you shoot chiefly astro , then you ’ll want to shoot with less resolution to avoid the need to use a denoise tool on every single shot when editing , but for those of you who only take astro occasionally , the Sony A7R V is fantastic .
We took the Sony A7R V to the gloomy skies of the Brecon Beacons in South Wales to fool the aurora borealis during the week of the raw moon . We ’d have like some consecrated astro features like illuminated buttons or dark vision mode to make astroshooting a bit easy . We used Bright Monitoring , which help if you ’re in a more light - polluted areas and want to better o.k. - air your piece of music on the blind .
(Image credit: Kimberley Lane)
Due to its high ( and noisy ) 61MP resolution we would n’t necessarily call it one of thebest astrophotography tv camera , but it ’s sure as shooting very capable for episodic astro shot .
For scummy - light photography , however , it’smuchmore capable . The above images were taken at ISO 12,800 and although the randomness is visible , it does n’t break the photo completely . Plus , the eight stops of image stabilisation mean you could shoot handheld at slower shutter speeds — we were able-bodied to germinate swooning track from cars handheld at 1 second while leaning against a rampart for documentation .
For general low - light photography , such as wildlife photography during dusk and sunrise hours , this image stabilisation could test priceless .
The sharpness and color in our images, even on a dull day, were well captured.(Image credit: Kimberley Lane)
Sony A7R V: Burst rate, buffer and battery life
On theme , Sony claims the A7R V can pullulate 440 shot using the electronic viewfinder or 530 shots using the LCD screen . During the course of a two - day shoot , we took over 1,200 images using a assortment of the EVF and LCD , without involve to charge or change shelling whatsoever .
We had mixed experiences regarding the buffer capacity depend on what form of card we were using . Sony states the buffer capacity of the A7R V is 1,000 JPEGs , 583 tight birthday suit or 547 lossless RAWs . Unsurprisingly , the buffer took a band longer to sort out when we used a SanDisk Ultra with speed of up to 140MB / s then it did when we used a more expensive Lexar placard with a write speed of up to 210MB / s. With the Lexar , we come up that we never had to block up shooting due to the polisher , whereas that was a vulgar occurence with the SanDisk . It ’s also compatible with faster CFexpress cards , a immense plus for professional photographers .
But on to the Achilles cad of the Sony A7R V — the burst rate . In higher quality RAW modes this maxes out at a pitiful 7 FPS , and only increase to 10 FPS if your’e using JPEG — and why would you ? For a television camera of this calibre , we find this unsatisfying , though we do have to cut it a little falloff due to the specially openhanded data file sizes .
(Image credit: Kimberley Lane)
But that said , we do n’t find this to be a dealbreaker for wildlife photography unless you ’re photograph super fast - moving subjects . The autofocus is so good that it kind of makes up for the low burst charge per unit , because you ’re still just as likely to boom your shot — there will just be less shots to pick out from .
Sony A7R V: Lens compatibility
Sony seems to have put a set of thought into its electron lens lineup , provide an appropriate lense for every case of user , for any type of picture taking , making the A7R V an easy camera to recommend . With updated versions of all three " holy trinity " lens , the company is constantly improving its catalog and we ’ve been astounded by every genus Lens we ’ve used .
Astro shooter will love theSony iron 14 millimetre f/1.8 GMandSony FE 12 - 24 f/2.8 GM , and wildlife wizards will get some cause of death shots with theSony FE 200 - 600 f/5.6 - 6.3 Gor theSony FE 100 - 400 f/4.5 - 5.6 GMlens . There ’s a really good mix of primes and rapid climb lens , plus a focal duration to overcompensate all bases . Even the APS - C stove is impressive .
One downside is that there are limited third - party lenses uncommitted , which means to get the well lens , you ’ll have to pass a lot of cash .
(Image credit: Kimberley Lane)
Sony A7R V: What’s new?
With just a $ 400 Leontyne Price difference , anyone thinking of going for the previous model , the Sony A7R IV , would do well to moot upgrading to the V.
Some of the biggest divergence between the two are :
- The A7R V features a new BIONZ XR processor ( as match to the IV ’s BIONZ X ) that admit the camera to fully employ the sensor ’s capabilities in a way that the IV could n’t . Sony lay claim it has up to eight times the processing power .
(Image credit: Kimberley Lane)
The A7R V now supports lossless RAW format , and the IV only supports compressed RAW , uncompressed RAW or JPEG .
The IV has 5.5 plosive speech sound of simulacrum stabilisation , whereas the V has eight .
Perhaps the biggest change is the addition of AI - power autofocus , literal - Time recognition and Deep Learning in the A7R V.
Bobby the Jack Russell was very helpful when posing for us.(Image credit: Kimberley Lane)
The A7R V is the first Sony camera to have focus bracketing built - in .
you may snap in 8 K 24p/25p on the A7R V , as oppose to 4 yard 30p on the IV .
The EVF resolution on the fivesome is now 9.44 million dots , whereas the resolve on the IV ’s EVF is 5.76 million Transportation . The fully articulating screen is also a huge betterment over the IV .
At a 100% crop, the image is still pin-sharp and the autofocus on his eyes is spot on.(Image credit: Kimberley Lane)
Verdict
What we liked:
What we didn’t like:
✅ You want first-class subject recognition for portraits : With its low burst rate , the A7R V would be well - suited for portraits of people with its AI autofocus , subject and face recognition options. ✅ You want lots of contingent : The 61MP sensor captures an copiousness of detail .
❌ You want a lightweight camera : This is one of Sony ’s labored cameras , so if you favour a small , lightweight camera , you might want to think more travel - friendly models , like theSony A7C IIor even a crop sensor. ❌ You in the main inject astro : Although we were pleasantly surprised by its astro mental image , you ’ll desire a photographic camera with less resolution for consecrated astrophotography .
This tv camera is n’t perfect , but boy , it ’s not far off ! There are no major faults that would stop us from buying it , although photographers who are deeply invested in a particular niche will need to determine if it ’s veracious for them . It ’s good at astro — although the images are noisy , and it ’s not bad for wildlife — although the burst pace could be better . While call it a " jack of all trade , passe-partout of none " seems a little coarse , it can do most photographic styles exceptionally well , but sometimes it falls a little short of being everlasting .
At 200mm, the image details are sharp as a pin with room to crop.(Image credit: Kimberley Lane)
Our reviewer , Kimberley Lane , said"My heart really need to give it 5 virtuoso because it really is an unbelievable camera , and I screw it so much I even bought one for myself after reviewing it on Space.com back in 2023 . But my formula is that if I can observe something wrong with it other than ' it ’s heavy ' or ' it ’s expensive ' , then I ca n’t give it full marks . So perhaps this camera realize a 4.9/5 from me " .
If the Sony A7R V isn’t for you
While we ’d recommend the Sony A7R V formostphotographers , we would n’t recommend it for everyone . Here are some alternative choice to consider if the A7R V did n’t quite gain the mark .
Sony A1 II
If you ’re a professional lensman who get money in the industry , you ca n’t do much better than theSony A1 IIright now — if you may get your hands on it ( it ’s presently on backorder ) . With a stacked sensing element , 30FPS burst charge per unit and pre - shooting buffer ( hellobest wildlife cameras ) , this thing will be capable to handle pretty much anything you throw at it .
There’s a ton of detail in the image, even at a 100% crop.(Image credit: Kimberley Lane)
Sony A7 IVIf you desire a better high ISO performance , theSony A7 IVis the one to get . Its 33MP sensor produces much less stochasticity than the 61MP on the A7R V , and it ’s one of thebest astrophotography cameraswe’ve ever used , as we stated in our fullSony A7 IV review . Plus , it ’s a circle meretricious than the A7R V.
Canon EOS R5 IIIf you do n’t want a Sony , theCanon EOS R5 IIwould be an incredible alternative . It is more expensive , but it ’s an absolute wildlife admiration and even has middle dominance autofocus , something we ’ve only date in the EOS R3 before .
How we tested the Sony A7R V
After reviewing the Sony A7R V for our sister site Space.com , our reviewer , Kimberley Lane , bang it so much she actually purchase one for herself the next year .
practiced cameras for wildlife photographyBest astrophotography camerasBest telescopesBest binocularsBest binoculars for stargazingBest binoculars for kidsBest star projectors
We consider the A7R V everywhere from the dark skies of the Brecon Beacons ( to shoot astro ) and coastal Wales ( to shoot landscapes ) to nature reserves ( to snap wildlife ) . We tested dissimilar autofocus subject detection modes and film in various firing conditions to get a feel for how the camera handles different shot state of affairs .
We also try out the tv camera with a multifariousness of crystalline lens , include theSony FE 70 - 200 mm f/2.8 GM OSS II , Sony FE 35 millimetre f/1.8andSony FE 85 mm f/1.8 .
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The Sony A7R V can capture an insane amount of detail for astrophotography.(Image credit: Kimberley Lane)
(Image credit: Kimberley Lane)
At ISO 12,800, the noise is visible but it doesn’t ruin the image.(Image credit: Kimberley Lane)
(Image credit: Kimberley Lane)
When it comes to compatible lenses, Sony is hard to beat.
The Sony A7R V is intuitive and a pleasure to use.
(Image credit: Jase Parnell-Brookes)
