Sony A7R Mark V
60 MP Full-Frame 10 FPS
Sample Images Intro New Good Bad Missing
Specifications Accessories Performance
Compared User's Guide Recommendations
Sony: A9 III A1 A9 II A9 A7R V A7R IV A7R III A7 IV A7 III A7R II A7S III A7c A7 II A6600 A6400 A6100 A6000 ZV-E10 RX10/4 RX100/7 RX100/6 Flash Lenses
Sony A7R Mark V (25.5 oz./723 g with battery and SD card, has two slots which each hold an SD card or a CFexpress type A card, $3,898) and FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM II. bigger. I'd get mine at Adorama, at B&H, at Amazon or at Crutchfield, or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.
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December 2022 Better Pictures Sony Sony Lenses Canon Nikon Fuji LEICA Zeiss All Reviews
Sony vs. Nikon vs. Canon Full-Frame
Sony A7R Mark V. bigger.
Sony A7R Mark V. bigger.
Sample Images top
Sample Images Intro New Good Bad Missing
Specifications Accessories Performance
Compared User's Guide Recommendations
(more at High ISOs)
These are just snapshots; my real work is in my Gallery.
These are all shot hand-held as 60 MP LIGHT JPGs (the smallest file size). No tripods, no STANDARD, FINE or EXTRA FINE JPGs or RAW files were used or needed. Distortion control is off, in-camera picture mode is VIVID with Saturation set to +9 and sharpening set to 9 for all of these:
Red Tree, 8:46 AM, Saturday, 17 December 2022. Sony A7R V, FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM II at 24 mm at f/7.1 at 1/200 at Auto ISO 100 (LV 13.3), cropped in Photoshop CS6 (2012), otherwise as-shot. bigger or camera-original 60 MP © 15 MB JPG file.
Yellow-Green Lamborghini, 8:50 AM, Saturday, 17 December 2022. Sony A7R V, FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM II at 30mm at f/8 at 1/400 at Auto ISO 100 (LV 14⅔), Radiant Photo Software. bigger or full resolution 60 MP © 8 MB JPG file.
How sharp is this setup? I was amazed at how sharp was the Lamborghini badge:
1,200 × 900 pixel (7.9×) crop from above. bigger or full resolution 60 MP © 8 MB JPG file.
Heck, even the dust specks are obvious with this camera and lens.
Bistro, 8:52 AM, Saturday, 17 December 2022. Sony A7R V, FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM II at 40mm at f/8 at 1/400 at Auto ISO 100, -0.7 stops exposure compensation (LV 14⅔), Radiant Photo Software, perspective correction in Photoshop CS6 (2012). bigger or full resolution 60 MP © 16 MB JPG file.
It's so sharp that it's easy to read everything on the menu. This is a three-dimensional subject and not everything is in perfect focus.
1958 Mercedes-Benz 190 SL, 8:53 AM, Saturday, 17 December 2022. Sony A7R V, FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM II at 24mm at f/7.1 at 1/200 at Auto ISO 100, -0.7 stops exposure compensation (LV 13.3), Radiant Photo Software. bigger or full resolution 60 MP © 11 MB JPG file.
The Inn, 9:03 AM, Saturday, 17 December 2022. Sony A7R V, FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM II at 24mm at f/11 at 1/60 at Auto ISO 100 (LV 12.8), Radiant Photo Software, cropped and perspective correction and vignetting for emphasis added in Photoshop CS6 (2012). bigger or camera-original 60 MP © 18 MB JPG file.
Yes, it's ultra-sharp, but realize that most of this image is not in perfect focus due to the great depth of the subject.
Porsche 911 T, 9:04 AM,Saturday, 17 December 2022. Sony A7R V, FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM II at 31mm at f/8 at 1/60 at Auto ISO 100 (LV 11.9), Radiant Photo Software. bigger or camera-original 60 MP © 8 MB JPG file.
Knight 2000, 9:08 AM, Saturday, 17 December 1982. Sony A7R V, FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM II at 39mm at f/8 at 1/40 at Auto ISO 100 (LV 9⅔), Radiant Photo Software. bigger or camera-original 60 MP © 15 MB JPG file.
There's enough depth here that not everything, like the left side of the dashboard, is in focus.
Cactus, 9:17 AM, Saturday, 17 December 2022. Sony A7R V, FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM II at 29mm at f/8 at 1/200 at Auto ISO 100 (LV 13⅔), Radiant Photo Software. bigger or full resolution 60 MP © 15 MB JPG file.
Introduction top
Sample Images Intro New Good Bad Missing
Specifications Accessories Performance
Compared User's Guide Recommendations
I buy only from these approved sources. I can't vouch for ads below. |
The A7R Mark V is an upgraded A7R IV, keeping the same sensor and image quality and adding a HUGE finder and numerous other improvements.
The new finder alone makes the A7R V worth $400 more than the A7R IV, especially when you realize you'll get most or even more than that back when you eventually resell it used.
I'd get my Sony A7R Mark V at Adorama, at B&H, at Amazon or at Crutchfield, or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.
New, Changed or Missing Since A7R IV intro top
New 9,437,184
dot QXGA 0.64" (16.3mm) OLED finder.
Finder magnification is now a HUGE 0.9× with a 50mm lens, up from 0.78× in the A7R IV. It's the biggest finder ever since the days of manual-focus 35mm SLRs which had huge magnifications because they didn't have to cram in all the external data displays outside the image itself. The big finder is a BIG deal!
8K video at 23.976 or 25 FPS.
New front-facing external light sensor for auto white balance (seen in 2003's Nikon D2H and earlier cameras, but ultimately abandoned):
Sony A7R Mark V. bigger. Note extra external auto white balance sensor on front just below the mode dial.
New claimed smarter autofocus that can identify body postures. So? Sony's autofocus has always been superb.
Marketing claims "AI" (Artificial Intelligence) autofocus, but "AI" is simply today's latest buzzword for the same continuously developing intelligence that's been programmed into AF systems for almost 40 years.
693, up from 567, phase-detection AF points for video and for stills. No more mention of contrast detection.
AF range now specified as LV -4 to +20 (a stop more sensitive) than the A7R IV's LV -3 to +20, but there's no lens speed specified for comparison.
Each of the two slots can now take a CFexpress type A card or an SD card:
Sony A7R Mark V. bigger.
New claimed "8 stop" internal stabilization.
Frame buffer now goes to 1,000 frames JPG (583 raw); was 68 frames JPG or raw.
New bulb timer, but only goes to 15 minutes (Canon's go to 100 hours). Only going to 15 minutes isn't a complete solution; it should go to at least 18 hours or so (all night).
The same "Pixel shift" 241 MP scanning mode now claims to add compensation for slight movement, but still no handheld use. I've never found this to be a useful feature for real-world shooting.
Video Auto ISO now only goes to ISO 12,800, not ISO 32,000. (still goes to ISO 102,400 with stills.)
Runs to 10 FPS with mechanical shutter, but now only runs to 7 FPS, not 10 FPS, with the electronic shutter.
No more NFC.
Now weighs 25.5 oz. (723g) with battery and card, up from the A7R IV's 23.5 oz. (665g).
Less battery life than the A7R IV shot either with the finder or the rear LCD. Rated 440 still shots or 90 minutes of video shooting with the viewfinder, down from 530 still shots or 100 minutes of video with the A7R IV. Both use the same battery but the bigger finder draws more power.
Full-sized HDMI type A connector rather than the smaller micro-D HDMI connector in the Mark IV.
New multiflip rear screen:
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Sony A7R Mark V multi-flip screen. click any to enlarge.
Good intro top
HUGE finder.
The HUGE finder is also ultrasharp with almost 10 million dots, and its optics are superb so we can see all that sharpness corner-to-corner. BRAVO!
The Sharpening setting of 9, as I use, is ultra-sharp, sharper than other cameras and free from artifacts.
Lens corrections, like distortion correction, are shown live in the finder before you shoot as you're composing.
Great buffer and data wrangling. It easily handles 10 FPS large-file shooting. Even if the buffer is still writing to the card, it easily plays all the files already written to the card. Shooting LIGHT LARGE JPGs with a Sony SD card rated 300 MB/s it wrote everything to the card as fast as I could shoot at 10 FPS! Shooting FINE LARGE JPGs was almost as fast. Only with RAW + LARGE FINE JPGs at 10 FPS could I get the buffer to take any more time to write to the card. No big deal, the A7R V easily plays the files already recorded to the card without a hiccup, can play new files as soon as they make it to the card, and shoots just fine throughout out all of these shenanigans. It never hangs up and just shoots, bravo! This is with a 300MB/s card; Sony makes plenty of even faster cards if you prefer.
Ultra-high 60 MP resolution.
1/250 flash sync with mechanical shutter, 1/320 in APS-C (no flash sync with electronic shutter).
Two standard SD card slots each also take expensive CFexpress type A cards if you prefer.
Even if you don't need 60 MP, images shot at the 26 MP setting are sharper than images made with a native 26 MP camera, and images made at the 15 MP setting are much sharper than images from a native 15 MP camera because the lower settings of the A7R V eliminate Bayer interpolation, which cameras shot at their native resolution can't.
Sony's usual ability to set the camera to create a new folder for each day's shooting. This is superb for figuring out what's new when when downloading from a card.
Rotation flags set well, even shot upside down
Camera states can save and be recalled from a card.
Bad intro top
The complex autofocus system doesn't seem to default to the settings most people would prefer, demanding more work to set it right — if you ever figure it out, which I didn't. Nikon and Canon had this problem with the first DSLRs years ago where the default AF settings weren't the most useful, and eventually they figured it out.
I must be doing something wrong or have a defective sample, but even with the power savings modes set to their stingiest options my A7R V runs down in a few hours anytime its power switch is left on. All my other Sonys and every other camera doesn't consume power after they've gone to sleep, while my A7R V sucks power even with the rear screen and finder off. I can't imagine this to be the way it's supposed to be, but for whatever reason if I leave the power ON, I've got a dead camera after a few hours.
When the battery's dead, it's not smart enough to tell us it's dead as an iPhone or most cameras do. When the A7R V battery is dead, you get nothing, not a RECHARGE NOW screen as most cameras manage. Therefore you have no idea if you have a dead battery, no battery or a broken camera when all you need is more power or a battery swap.
The usual confused menus and harsh ergonomics typical from Sony. The A7R Mark V is a wildly popular camera but I wouldn't buy it; I prefer Canon. Regardless of the magnificent best-in-the-world finder and how great this camera performs in a laboratory, it's a pain to shoot and gets in the way too often between me and my picture.
The MENU and C3 buttons are on the wrong side, requiring a second hand to operate.
No color histograms while shooting; they're only for playback when it's too late to do anything about it.
Takes standard SD cards, but only also takes Sony's very expensive CFexpress type A cards, not the more popular and much less expensive CFexpress type B cards.
Missing intro top
No built-in flash.
No color histograms while shooting; they're only for playback when it's too late to do anything about it.
No more NFC (was in A7R IV).
Flash doesn't work with electronic shutter (works great with the other shutters).
No automatic brightness control for rear LCD.
782,656 pixels are missing. While gloriously and very precisely advertised as "Approx. 61.0 megapixels effective resolution" and "62.5MP total," my kids know that 9,504 × 6,336 pixels equals 60,217,344 pixels, not 61,000,000. Shameful, but every other brand lies like this, too.
Like most cameras, no illuminated buttons.
Not threaded to use a standard threaded cable release.
No GPS.
No color histograms while shooting (only on playback).
No Auto Level mode.
Like most cameras except iPhone, no FIND mode in menu system.
Sony A7R Mark V. bigger.
Specifications top
Sample Images Intro New Good Bad Missing
Specifications Accessories Performance
Compared User's Guide Recommendations
I'd get my Sony A7R Mark V at Adorama, at B&H, at Amazon or at Crutchfield, or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.
Sensor
Sony A7R Mark V. bigger.
60 MP full-frame 23.8 × 35.7 mm CMOS sensor.
9,504 × 6,336 pixels (60.22 MP), native. (26.2 MP in APS-C crop.)
Trick "pixel shift" scanning mode lets you make 19,008 × 12,672 pixel (241 MP) files.
1.5:1 aspect ratio.
15-stop dynamic range.
No anti-alias filter.
70 kHz ultrasonic cleaner.
Mechanical "5-axis" sensor-shift stabilizer claims "up to" 8 stops improvement.
ISO specifications top
Stills, regular mechanical shutterRegular: ISO 100 ~ 32,000.
Extended: ISO 50 ~ 102,400.
Stills, silent electronic shutter
Regular: ISO 100 ~ 32,000.
Extended: ISO 100 ~ 102,400.
Video
Manual: ISO 100 ~ 32,000.
Auto: ISO 100 ~ 12,800.
Auto ISO specifications top
Upper and lower limits selectable from ISO 100 to ISO 102,400 in full stops (limited to ISO 12,800 for video).
Slowest shutter speed settable in full stops from 1/8,000 to 30s in full stops, as well as an Auto setting that varies with the lens focal length. The Auto Slowest Shutter Speed setting my be varied ±2 stops slower or faster than the lens' focal length.
Still Image Sizes
60 MP (9,504 x 6,336).
26 MP (6,240 x 4,160).
15 MP (4,752 x 3,168).
Cropped Aspect Ratios specifications top
1:1, 4:3 and 16:9 crops from the three sizes above.
Also APS-C crops in three resolutions, also with 1:1, 4:3 and 16:9 crops from those sizes.
Still Image Formats specifications top
JPG, raw or raw + JPG.
JPG: Extra Fine, Fine or Standard.
Raw: 14-bit compressed or uncompressed, even when shooting in silent or continuous modes.
Raw also works in the three images sizes.
Autofocus specifications top
693-point on-sensor phase-detection in full frame, 397 points in APS-C.
No mention of contrast detection points, those may be obsolete.
AF range specified as LV -4 to +20, no lens speed specified.
Video & Audio specifications top
Stereo mic built-in.
2 channel AAC LC or 16-bit 48 ksps LPCM.
2 or 4 channel 24 bit 48 ksps LPCM.
HDR-HLG, S Cinetone, Sony S-Log 2, Sony S-Log 3.
XAVC HS 4:2:0
File Format
H.265 XAVC HS 4:2:0 10 bit.
Rate & Size
7,680 × 4,320 (8K): 23.976 or 25 FPS at 200 to 400 Mb/s.
3,840 × 2,160 (4K): 23.976p, 50 or 59.94 FPS at 30 to 150 Mb/s.
XAVC HS 4:2:2
File Format
H.265 XAVC HS 4:2:2 10 bit.
Rate & Size
3,840 × 2,160 (4K): 23.976p, 50 or 59.94 FPS at 50 to 200 Mb/s.
XAVC S
File Format
MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 XAVC S ver.1.0 format compliant video with LPCM 48 ksps 16-bit stereo audio.
Rates & Sizes
3,840 × 2,160 (4K): 29.97p, 25p or 23.976p at 100 or 60 MBPS
1,920 × 1,080: 119.88p or 100p at 100 MBPS or 60 MBPS; 59.94p,50p, 29.97p, 25p or 23.976p at 50 MBPS.
AVCHD v 2.0
File Format
MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 video with Dolby Digital 2 channels, equipped with Dolby Digital Stereo Creator.
Rates & Sizes
1,920 × 1,080: 59.94p, 28 MBPS, PS; 59.94i, 24 MBPS, FX; 59.94i, 17 MBPS, FH; 23.976p, 24 MBPS, FX, 23.976p, 17 MBPS, FH; 50p, 28 MBPS, PS; 50i, 24 MBPS, FX; 50i, 17 MBPS, FH; 25p, 24 MBPS, FX; 25p, 17 MBPS, FH.
MP4
File Format
MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 video with stereo MPEG-4 AAC-LC.
Rates & Sizes
1,920 × 1,080: 59.94p or 50p at 28 MBPS; 29.97p or 25p at 16 MBPS
1280 × 720: 29.97p or 25p at 6 MBPS.
Electronic Viewfinder specifications top
0.64" (16.3mm) OLED.
9,437,184 dots QXGA (Quad-Extended Graphics Adapter).
120 frames per second update rate with regular mechanical shutter, 60 FPS with silent electronic shutter.
100% coverage.
0.9× with 50mm lens.
Auto and manual brightness control.
5 steps of manual color temperature shift.
-4 to +3 diopters.
Eyepoint: 25mm from the eyepiece lens.
Fluorine external coating to repel fingerprints, dust, water and dirt.
Light Meter specifications top
1,200 zone evaluative, entire screen Averaging, Center-Weighted, Spot, Spot standard or large or highlight-weighted.
Meter range LV -3 to +20 with an f/2 lens.
Flash Sync specifications top
1/250 sync speed, with Sony flashes.
1/320 sync speed, APS-C.
Only works with mechanical shutter; no flash works with the silent electronic shutter.
Dedicated hot shoe and PC (Prontor- Compur) flash sync connector.
Shutters specifications top
Mechanical Focal-Plane
1/8,000 to 30s and Bulb.
Bulb timer only out to 15 minutes (not hours).
"Tested to 500,000 cycles."
Silent Electronic
1/8,000 to 30s (no Bulb).
Self Timer
2, 5 or 10s delay.
Also can shoot 3 or 5 frames each time, and can make those bracketed.
Frame Rates specifications top
Up to 10 FPS with mechanical shutter.
Up to 7 FPS with silent electronic shutter.
Continuous High +: 10 FPS.
Continuous High: 8 FPS.
Continuous Mid: 6 FPS.
Continuous Lo: 3 FPS
Frame Buffer specifications top
1,000 frames JPG.
583 frames raw.
Storage specifications top
Sony A7R Mark V. bigger.
Sony A7R Mark V. bigger.
Two slots.
Each takes either an SD card (SD, SDHC or SDXC UHS-II cards) or a CFexpress type A card.
LCD specifications top
Sony A7R Mark V. bigger.
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Sony A7R Mark V multi-flip "4 axis" screen. click any to enlarge.
3.15" (80mm) diagonal.
3:2 aspect ratio.
2,095,000 dots.
Flips up 98º, down 40º, 180º sideways and rotates 270º
4.7× and 9.3× focus magnifiers.
Body specifications top
Sony A7R Mark V. bigger.
Magnesium-alloy chassis.
Connectors specifications top
Sony A7R Mark V. bigger.
From Top Left
Full-sized HDMI type A.
Prontor-Compur (PC) Flash Sync.
From Top Right
3.5mm Microphone input.
3.5mm Headphone output.
USB-C 3.0.
USB Micro-B 2.0, AKA "Multi" by Sony.
Wireless
WiFi.
Bluetooth.
No more NFC (was in A7R IV).
Power & Battery specifications top
Rated 440 still shots or 90 minutes of video shooting with the viewfinder.
Rated 530 still shots or 100 minutes of video shooting with the rear LCD.
(The A7R IV was rated 530 still shots or 100 minutes of video shooting with the viewfinder.)
(The A7R IV was rated 670 still shots or 115 minutes of video shooting with the rear LCD.)
NP-FZ100 rechargeable lithium ion battery:
Sony NP-FZ100 battery. enlarge.
Sony NP-FZ100 battery. enlarge.
It's 7.2V, 2,280 mAh, 16.4 Wh.
Charging
It charges via USB in-camera, or also charges in the included BC-QZ1 Corded Battery Charger.
Although I prefer a folding plug charger, the included universal corded charger works anywhere with the right cord.
A nice feature is the three-segment battery status indicator. It shows about 2/3 charged here:
Sony BC-QZ1 Battery Charger with NP-FZ100 battery. bigger.
Sony BC-QZ1 Battery Charger. bigger.
The BC-QZ1 is rated 100~240V, 50/60 Hz, 0.38A in, and 8.4VDC @ 1.6A out.
You can charge two batteries at once; one in the camera via USB and the other in this charger.
Size specifications top
3.8 x 5.2 x 3.2 inches HWD.
96.9 x 131.3 x 82.4 millimeters HWD.
Weight specifications top
25.5 oz./723 g with battery and card.
Environment specifications top
0 - 40º C (32 - 104º F).
Announced specifications top
10 AM, Wednesday 26 October 2022, NYC time.
Promised for specifications top
Mid-December 2022.
Price, U. S. A. specifications top
December 2022
$3,898 at Adorama, at B&H, at Amazon and at Crutchfield.
October 2022
$3,898 at Adorama and at B&H.
Optional Accessories top
Sample Images Intro New Good Bad Missing
Specifications Accessories Performance
Compared User's Guide Recommendations
I'd get my Sony A7R Mark V at Adorama, at B&H, at Amazon or at Crutchfield, or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.
Sony A7R Mark V with VG-C4EM grip (same grip as A7R IV). bigger.
Performance top
Sample Images Intro New Good Bad Missing
Specifications Accessories Performance
Compared User's Guide Recommendations
Overall Autofocus Auto ISO Auto White Balance
Color Rendition Ergonomics Finder High ISOs
Image Controls Lens Corrections Long Exposures
Mechanics Rear LCD Playback Data & Buffers
Power & Battery Clock Accuracy
I'd get my Sony A7R Mark V at Adorama, at B&H, at Amazon or at Crutchfield, or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.
Overall performance top
The A7R Mark V has the world's biggest and best electronic finder.
It has the same sensor and claimed 15 stops dynamic range as the old A7R IV (not specified how they measure that), and it still has a rolling electronic shutter. The mechanical shutter is still rated at 500,000 shots.
I'm amused at how the engineers run Sony's product management rather than product managers who get out in the field face-to-face with full-time working career pros to learn what's actually important in a camera. Sony's biggest pitch for this new camera, like most of their new cameras, is it's great autofocus performance, and therein lies Sony's problem: Sony's autofocus performance has never been beaten. Even the basic A6000 from 2014 has superb, clairvoyant autofocus that magically finds faces and things and just focuses immediately - even in the dark with no help. Autofocus is the last area in which Sony needs to improve, but its tunnel vision chasing that one aspect of performance means the things that really need serious help at Sony, which are their opaque menu systems and painful-to-hold industrial designs, are ignored, giving us pretty much the same clumsy camera in the A7R V as we've had for years in other models.
The real problem with this camera is that it's still merely an evolution of 2013's original A7, and still has poor ergonomics and industrial design, being uncomfortable to hold and shoot, and has a menu system so complicated and poorly thought out that no one will ever really figure out how to use this camera. It's not you; it's poor design that makes the A7R Mark V so opaque to figure out, especially its overly complex autofocus system.
For people already in the Sony system the A7R Mark V is a marvelous camera, even if I prefer other brands like Canon or even Nikon.
Autofocus performance top
Autofocus is so complex I was never able to figure it out. Its menus are exceedingly complex and never clearly explained, so good luck. I barely got it to go.
It should be the world's best, as Sony's mirrorless AF system tends to be, but now that there are so many ridiculous options I was never able to find the ones I actually needed.
For instance, it now has seven options to recognize your choice of Human, Animal/Bird, Animal, Bird, Insect, Car/Train or Airplane subjects, but no option to let the camera just figure out what's there and focus on it. Who has the time to fiddle with this in a menu system every time the subject changes? It's actually faster to just focus manually. Geeze.
Worse, each of those seven options now have various and numerous different mysterious options inside of them to program just how and what about these subjects you want it to recognize.
This is bad design because you have to spoon-feed the camera everything about the subject. It's not automatic focus if you have to set it all manually. A good AF system, like that of an iPhone, just figures all this out for itself and focuses the lens for you. This system I'm sure is impressive when it's set well beforehand, but that's like giving people all the answers to the test beforehand so they score well. In the real world I need an AF system that can figure this all out on its own automatically.
Auto ISO performance top
Auto ISO is great, with all the usual options.
Auto White Balance performance top
Auto White Balance is great. I can't see that it's any better than anything else; all mirrorless is excellent today at setting auto white balance.
Other camera brands that added external ambient light sensors decades ago removed them from newer models, so it's not that big a deal that the A7R Mark V has one.
It all works great.
Color & Tonal Rendition performance top
Color rendition is how pictures look in the real world. Real-world color rendition has nothing to do with color accuracy measured in a lab. Color rendition is dependant on how a maker programs all the color matrices, curves, and look-up tables to generate color from the data read from the sensor, and varies widely between makers once you set a camera away from its defaults. I never shoot at defaults.
The A7R Mark V seems to match other Sonys. It has a broader range of settings than earlier cameras, for instance ±9 steps of adjustment for saturation, just like in the A1.
Personally I prefer the colors I get from Canon or Nikon when I set them to extra vivid, but that's just me. We all have very different tastes. Photography is art, not science.
Ergonomics performance top
Typical for Sony, it's a squarish, blocky body with sharp edges and lots of right angles and uncomfortable dials. It is unpleasant to hold or to use, and becomes especially uncomfortable after hours of use. It's not designed to fit our hands; it's designed to look cool sitting on a shelf, like a VCR.
The battery door lacks a spring-loaded catch. When you close the door, you need to make sure you slide the tiny lock lever to lock the door closed. Otherwise the door will flap open if you simply close it!
Cards go in backwards, with the label away from you.
The battery goes in the wrong way, with its square side towards the outside of the grip. Weird; I see the curved grip and expect, like other camera brands, for the curved side of the battery to go in the same direction as the curved side of the grip.
The MENU and C3 buttons are on the wrong side, requiring a second hand to operate.
It still uses a dopey 1970s Space-Invaders style text entry where we see a telephone-style keypad where we need to press each button a few times to select one of the letters. Really? Are they using 7400-series TTL logic inside? Even my Apple Watch with its one-inch screen has QWERTY keyboards.
The weird card door requires too many steps to open. You first have to slide a button down and then towards you before you can slide to door itself towards you to open. Geeze, we don't need this lock to get in our way.
The charge LED is invisible, hidden between the USB connector and the open connector flap. There's no visible charge LED on the back or elsewhere.
Finder performance top
The finder is magnificent. It's the main reason to get this camera.
The finder is the biggest electronic finder I've ever seen, and it's super-sharp.
It automatically varies its brightness, and it looks great in every light.
Its optics are also superior, giving us a clear, sharp view of all of the finder. It has none of the astigmatism or limited view too typical of many other expensive cameras.
I also never have any problem with not being able to see the edges. I can move my eye around a bit and still see everything.
The only bad thing is that the finder is so good that the image looks great even if underexposed, making it more difficult to gauge correct exposure by eye.
Bravo!
High ISO Performance performance top
Complete Images details flat field dark detail performance top
As seen at normal image sizes below, the A7R Mark V pretty much makes the same images from ISO 50 (L) to ISO 25,600.
ISO 51,200 (H) gets a little blotchier and grainier, but still quite usable if I need it for normal-sized images.
ISO 102,400 (H+) looks pretty crappy, with green-magenta botches all over.
This is magnificent performance, as expected from Sony.
There's no mystery to comparing cameras; I shoot this same test at all the ISOs of every other camera I review so you can compare for yourself.
Click any for the camera-original © 60 MP FINE JPG files (about 29 MB each):
Click any for the camera-original © 60 MP FINE JPG files (about 29 MB each).
Fine Details: 600 × 450 Pixel Crops (15.8× magnification) High ISOs details flat field dark detail performance top
Here are crops from the same images as above, showing the clock on the right.
What we see at the high magnifications below is that fine details go away as the ISO increases. This happens with all cameras (and our own eyes) and is an artifact of the noise reduction working harder as the ISO increases.
In the A7R Mark V, the most detail is at ISO 100. ISO 50 (L) seems a tad softer due to the lower contrast overall. The A7R Mark V becomes softer at every higher ISO. This is normal and how noise reduction works in every camera.
ISO 50 is a "pull" ISO, and thus has more highlight contrast. This usually increases perceived highlight detail, and can lead to clipped highlights if you have too much subject contrast, as in the case of the window reflection in the glass of the clock face.
By ISO 3,200 most of the finest scrollwork between the clock numbers is gone.
By ISO 12,800 all of the scrollwork between the clock numbers is gone.
By ISO 51,200 (H) the minute marks are mostly gone.
By ISO 102,400 (H+) all the detail is gone from the clock face, leaving only the numbers.
It's normal for details to go away at higher ISOs in all digital cameras.
These 600 × 450 pixel crops will vary in size to fit your browser window.
If these crops are about 3" (7.5cm) wide on your screen, then the complete images printed at this same high magnification would be about 32 × 47½" (2.6 × 4 feet or 0.75 × 1.2 meters).
If these crops are about 6" (15cm) wide on your screen, then the complete images printed at this same extreme magnification would be about 63 × 95" (5.3 × 7.9 feet or 1.6 × 2.4 meters).
If these crops are about 12" (30cm) wide on your screen, then the complete images printed at this same insane level of magnification would be about 11 × 16 feet (3.2 × 4.8 meters)!!!
Click any for the camera-original 60 MP © JPG files (about 29 MB each):
Click any for the camera-original © 60 MP FINE JPG files (about 29 MB each).
Flat-Field 600 × 450 Pixel Crops (15.8× magnification) High ISOs details flat field dark detail performance top
Here are different crops from the same images as above, now showing the blank wall between the clock and the right side of the fireplace.
The top left of each crop shows a small piece of the marble fireplace. About a third of the way down on the left side there is a horizontal line segment. This is actually a defect in the wall, and as shown above, is a subtle detail that will disappear at higher ISOs.
Don't fret the subtle macroblocking and JPG artifacts. These are exaggerated here because I add sharpening for clarity to all my web images, which exaggerates this. I'm trying to show slight differences between the various ISOs; JPG artifacts are a different day's discussion. These were all shot in the FINE JPG setting.
ISO 50 is a "pull" ISO, and shows the least noise, also because of its slightly lower overall contrast.
Each higher ISO adds a little more noise, both at high spatial frequencies as grain and at low frequencies as color blotches. You'll also see the detail in the little piece of marble go away.
All the ISOs are pretty usable, while ISO 102,400 (H+) looks awful.
This is normal in all digital cameras at higher ISOs.
These 600 × 450 pixel crops will vary in size to fit your browser window.
If these crops are about 3" (7.5cm) wide on your screen, then the complete images printed at this same high magnification would be about 32 × 47½" (2.6 × 4 feet or 0.75 × 1.2 meters).
If these crops are about 6" (15cm) wide on your screen, then the complete images printed at this same extreme magnification would be about 63 × 95" (5.3 × 7.9 feet or 1.6 × 2.4 meters).
If these crops are about 12" (30cm) wide on your screen, then the complete images printed at this same insane level of magnification would be about 11 × 16 feet (3.2 × 4.8 meters)!!!
Click any for the camera-original 60 MP © JPG files (about 29 MB each):
Click any for the camera-original © 60 MP FINE JPG files (about 29 MB each).
Dark-Area 600 × 450 Pixel Crops (15.8× magnification) High ISOs details flat field dark detail performance top
Here are different crops from the same images as above, now showing the dark grillwork of the fireplace.
ISO 50 is a "pull" ISO, and usually shows the most shadow detail, however in the A7R V it has less overall contrast which results in less overall perceived detail.
ISO 100 has the most shadow detail, clearly showing the texture in the patina of the large iron scrolls, the fine screen and the brickwork at the back of the fireplace.
Higher ISOs greatly reduce the details in the shadows, as we expect.
By ISO 1,600 much of the screen has gone away, and at ISO 1,600 and above the shadows are rendered progressively darker to help hide noise.
By ISO 6,400 most of the bricks behind the grill have gone away.
By ISO 51,200 (H) most of the iron bars have gone away, and at ISO 102,400 (H+) there are more purple blotches than subject detail.
This is normal for all digital cameras.
These 600 × 450 pixel crops will vary in size to fit your browser window.
If these crops are about 3" (7.5cm) wide on your screen, then the complete images printed at this same high magnification would be about 32 × 47½" (2.6 × 4 feet or 0.75 × 1.2 meters).
If these crops are about 6" (15cm) wide on your screen, then the complete images printed at this same extreme magnification would be about 63 × 95" (5.3 × 7.9 feet or 1.6 × 2.4 meters).
If these crops are about 12" (30cm) wide on your screen, then the complete images printed at this same insane level of magnification would be about 11 × 16 feet (3.2 × 4.8 meters)!!!
Click any for the camera-original 60 MP © JPG files (about 29 MB each):
Click any for the camera-original © 60 MP FINE JPG files (about 29 MB each).
Image Controls performance top
For JPG images as I shoot, there are a lot of picture controls.
Saturation adjusts to ±9.
Sharpening sets as high as 9, and amazingly it looks great set to 9. It gets very sharp, but not coarse and there are no halos. I use a setting of 9. Bravo!
Lens Corrections performance top
The A7R Mark V corrects for any or all of Falloff ("Shading Comp."), Lateral Color ("Chromatic Aberration Comp.") and Distortion (Distortion Comp.).
By default, Falloff ("Shading Comp.") and Lateral Color ("Chromatic Aberration Comp.") corrections are ON (shown as Auto in the menu system), and Distortion correction is OFF.
I can turn any of these ON or OFF individually.
The A7R Mark V shows the effects of all these corrections live in the finder as you shoot. This is especially important for accurate composition with lenses with a lot of distortion when you use correction.
Long Exposures performance top
It's great that there now is a Bulb Timer, but maddening that it limits us to a maximum of a 15 minute exposure.
Bulb Timers, invented by Canon, are brilliant as we can program them to our desired speed and walk away. Use the self-timer and there's no need for a remote release or a stop watch; set and go.
Ideally I'd prefer that all cameras simply provide a complete range of manual shutter speeds out to 18 hours or so rather than forcing us to piddle in menus, but as of 2023 Bulb timers are state of the art.
Mechanical Quality performance top
It's the usual from Sony. It will last as long as this camera stays relevant. No digital camera other than LEICA M is immortal; we always want the latest model every few years so so long as one of these cameras holds up for a few years, swell. It's not like anyone will want this for anything other than a museum in 20 years.
Metal
Strap rings and lugs, top cover, hot shoe, far-right control dial, front cover, lens mount and tripod socket.
Plastic
Everything else: All other buttons, dials, levers and switches, back cover, LCD housing, bottom cover, card and battery doors.
Rubberized
Grip and card door.
Glass
LCD cover.
Serial Number
Printed on a sticker glued into a recess on the bottom, neither an acceptable nor a permanent way to do this for a product that's handled all day. This isn't a VCR.
Date Code
None found.
Noises When Shaken
Strong rattling from the loose image sensor flopping around with power off.
Mild clicking with power on and sensor position controlled by the camera.
Made in
Made in Thailand.
Rear LCD Monitor performance top
It's still the usual tiny, dim monitor with no auto brightness control. Any iPhone is far, far superior.
There is an extra-bright OUTDOORS mode which is great in daylight, but requires piddling in the menu system to set it. Geesh, don't these guys ever get out of the office?
Luckily on playback it can automatically rotate images as the camera is rotated. Turn the camera on its side to see vertical shots and it all rotates automatically, just like an iPhone. It even works with the camera rotated upside-down. It's about time they got this right.
Data & Buffers performance top
Even if the buffer is writing to the card, it easily plays all the files already written to the card, even as it's writing new files to the card. Excellent!
Shooting LIGHT LARGE JPGs with a Sony card rated 300 MB/s it wrote everything to the card as fast as I could shoot at 10 FPS.
Shooting FINE LARGE JPGs it also was almost as fast to write to the card, shooting at 10 FPS.
Only if I tried to shoot RAW + LARGE FINE JPG at 10 FPS could I get the buffer to take any more time to write to the card. No big deal, the A7R V easily plays the files already recorded to the card without a hiccup, and plays the new files as soon as they make it to the card, and shoots just fine throughout out all of these shenanigans. It never hangs up, bravo!
This is with a 300MB/s card; Sony makes plenty of much faster cards if you prefer.
Cards are not titled and left simply as "Untitled." Duh! It should be titled something like "SONYA7RV" so we know which card is which when we have more than one at a time in our card readers.
It's easy to program it to create a new folder for each day's shooting.
Rotation flags set well, even shot upside down.
Power & Battery performance top
Power
I saw 65% charge left after 206 shots, meaning I'd get about 600 shots like that on a charge with the same level of fiddling around. This is good.
Bad is that my camera drained anytime the power switch was ON, even if it was sleeping. This is very bad, as it's the only camera in at least a decade where I picked it up and it had drained itself a day later — even with power saving on. I hope mine or my settings were defective; I can't imagine Sony actually designing it this way.
It died even if left alone on a table set to ON with the LCD and finder both dark from auto-power off. That's not right.
It also died if carried around my neck, where the automatic eye-controlled finder confused my body with my face and thought I had the camera held to my eye for active shooting.
Worse, when the battery's dead, it's not smart enough to tell us it's dead as an iPhone or most cameras do. When the A7R V battery is dead, you get nothing, not a RECHARGE NOW screen as most cameras manage. Therefore you have no idea if you have a dead battery, no battery or a broken camera when all you need is more power or a battery swap.
it also can be powered via USB-C, where it draws a measured 3.5 W at idle with the LCD lit.
Charging
The battery charges via USB-C, or externally in the included BC-QZ1 Battery Charger.
The charge light is a nearly invisible tiny orange LED hidden between the USB connector and the connector flap. I doubt you'll ever see it unless you know where it is and move the camera around to be able to see it deep in that crevice.
It draws about 13.5 watts as it charges via USB-C; about 1.5A at 9V, and about 264mW when done charging (29 mA at 9V).
It takes a measured total of about 19 Wh to charge its 16.4 Wh battery via USB-C, which is about 86% efficient, which is typical.
Clock Accuracy performance top
Every sample is different, but mine runs fast by 30 seconds per month. This is poor.
This matters when you shoot multiple cameras (or this camera and an iPhone) and then sort all the images based on capture time to compare the similar views of each scene.
Compared top
Sample Images Intro New Good Bad Missing
Specifications Accessories Performance
Compared User's Guide Recommendations
I'd get my Sony A7R Mark V at Adorama, at B&H, at Amazon or at Crutchfield, or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.
See All Sony Cameras Compared.
User's Guide top
Sample Images Intro New Good Bad Missing
Specifications Accessories Performance
Compared User's Guide Recommendations
I'd get my Sony A7R Mark V at Adorama, at B&H, at Amazon or at Crutchfield, or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.
This A7R Mark V is very similar to the Mark IV. See my A7R Mk IV User's Guide, and know that some of the menu options may be in different places.
Recommendations top
Sample Images Intro New Good Bad Missing
Specifications Accessories Performance
Compared User's Guide Recommendations
The A7R Mark V is a great replacement for the old A7R IV for nature, landscape, portraiture, architecture, automotive, textile, environmental and most kinds of shooters. The only thing for which it's not great is if you need high frame rates, which are limited to what are, by 2022 standards, glacial speeds of only 7 to 10 FPS. While I prefer Canon or even Nikon for their far superior menus and ergonomics and my personal preferences for vivid color rendition (Sony vs. Nikon vs. Canon Full-Frame), if you're still in the Sony system this is a wonderful camera, especially for its gloriously large viewfinder.
Is the A7R V worth $400 more than the A7R IV? Absolutely, if even just for its amazing viewfinder or super fast buffer.
I'd get my Sony A7R Mark V at Adorama, at B&H, at Amazon or at Crutchfield, or used at eBay if you know How to Win at eBay.
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Ken.
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