Sony’s a7R VI is here, and every other camera brand has opinions about it. So I got all of them in a room together, which is to say I put on seven different outfits and argued with myself for five minutes, and somewhere in the middle of all that shouting there are actually real specs on this camera.
Here’s how it went.
Nobody Can Agree On What Camera This Even Is
It opens with the line that starts every one of these arguments. The camera everyone’s been waiting for is finally here. Is it the FX3 Mark II? No. They’re never coming out with that. Is it the new Canon R6? Isn’t that just the C50 with IBIS?
Leica’s position, from a bathrobe, in a library, holding a quill: “You don’t need new features when you have a name and history as famous as mine.” Which earns him the suggestion that grandpa go release a camera that only shoots in black and white, and earns Fuji the accusation of releasing another expensive cinema camera that reuses a sensor.
The Sensor
Here’s the first thing that’s actually true. The a7R VI has a new sensor, not the same one from 2018, and it’s backside illuminated and fully stacked.
The resolution is great. Sony would rather not say the megapixels though. It’s not that the number is bad, it’s that it’s a dangerous number.
Fine. It’s 67 megapixels. Six, seven. Oh, I get it now.
Very annoying, but I agree, it’s a pretty impressive sensor. If you want the version of this without the costumes, I did a full review of the a7R VI as well.
32-Bit Float, With An Adapter
It does have the thing filmmakers have been asking for, which is 32-bit float audio. It just needs an XLR adapter to do it.
Which is where the Nikon ZR gets to be smug, because it does 32-bit float straight into the mic jack, no adapter required. The defense offered here is that some people like adapters. They make the camera look bigger and more impressive.
If you’re setting up audio on a camera like this, these are the cables I use.
Still No Open Gate
Another year, another Sony camera not supporting open gate. Panasonic takes this one personally, as Panasonic should.
Nikon doesn’t have it either. Canon technically supports it, but only recording in RAW at the highest resolution, which prompts the best exchange in the whole video: “At least I support it.” “Like you supporting third party lenses.”
Canon’s official position on third party lenses is that any company who wants to make lenses for their cameras can absolutely do it. They just need to let Canon acquire them and become part of the company first. That’s not supporting third party lenses. That’s just making third party lenses first party.
I put together Camera Companies ROAST the Sony a7V Reveal and Sony a7R V Review For Wedding Filmmakers & Photographers – BEST Hybrid Camera For Photo & Video as well, which cover the part I skipped over here.
Don’t Say Magic
Somebody says the M word. Not medium format. The other one.
And now Blackmagic is here in a cape doing card tricks and asking a man in a cowboy hat what his favorite card is, which is genuinely how it feels every time Blackmagic announces something. Just try to ignore him.
A New Battery
The bigger change on the a7R VI is way better battery life, and it gets there with a new battery. A new battery shape, which means your old ones don’t fit.
Panasonic crammed more power into their existing battery shape a couple of years ago specifically so it stayed backwards compatible. Nikon did the same thing. Neither of them can imagine telling customers their old batteries are now paperweights, because those things are expensive and people would revolt.
Leica’s contribution: “My cameras have been the same shape since 1925. The rangefinder style is timeless.”
So Where Does That Leave Us
New sensor, new battery, no open gate. And they added a tally light to the front.
Where is the FX3 Mark II again?
If you want to pick one up, here’s the a7R VI, and if you want to watch more of these, here’s the earlier video in this series. Cameras React is what I’m calling it in my head, at least right now.
A couple of other things that might help while you’re here. My color presets work on any of these cameras, my Filmmaker Gear Guide is free, and so is Edit Videos Like A Pro.