We’re used to getting new Sony a7 models that look a lot like the previous version—it’s very easy to see how the first-generation model evolved into the current a7 III. The latest addition to the family, the a7C ($1,799.99, body only), shakes things up a bit. It takes its design cues from APS-C models like the a6600, but squeezes a stabilized full-frame sensor into similar confines. A front-facing screen adds some appeal for vloggers, and the overall size (and superb battery life) make it a camera that you don’t mind carrying.
The Take-Anywhere Full Frame
We’ve seen small full-frame cameras before, some with fixed lenses (like Sony’s own RX1R II), and others with swappable optics, but limited features—the tiny Sigma fp, released last year, is smaller, but doesn’t have a viewfinder or a mechanical shutter.
The a7C’s compromises are far fewer. Its viewfinder is smaller, and it doesn’t have the dual memory card slots that allow pros to rely on the a7 III for paid gigs and events, but it still sports a 24MP full-frame sensor, a 5-axis IBIS system, and a mechanical shutter that can fire at up to 10fps.
It’s surprisingly small, too—you can see it above, side by side with the a7R IV. It’s not just an a7 with the raised viewfinder hump shaved off, but a camera that’s smaller all around. It measures 2.8 by 4.9 by 2.4 inches (HWD) and weighs just over a pound without a lens attached.
And the choice of lens is going to matter for this one—I’d definitely go with a smaller lens. Sony is introducing a new kit zoom with the a7C, the FE 28-60mm F4-5.6. It skips stabilization (the feature is built into the camera body), and adds $300 to the cost of the camera—the kit is $2,099.
Sony isn’t selling the FE 28-60mm on its own yet, but photo retailers have listed it for around $500 with sales starting February 2021. The kit represents a $200 savings, and is the only way to get the retractable zoom for now, secondhand market aside.
There are a couple others that will pair well with the camera. Sony offers a number of prime options, ranging from the vlog-friendly FE 20mm F1.8 G to the high-end FE 24mm F1.4 GM. I tried the camera with the slim Sigma 45mm F2.8 DG DN Contemporary and found the pairing to be absolutely perfect.
As for aesthetics, Sony is selling the camera in two versions. We received it in black for review; it looks much like the a6600 and others. The silver version only swaps out the color of the top plate; I’ve only seen photos, but it’s pretty, and the one I’d get if I was buying.
A Good, Not Great Control Layout
Photographers invested in the Sony system expect strong control from a7 cameras—front and rear control dials have been the standard since day one, and a small focus control stick was a very welcome addition to more recent entries.
The a7C drops the front dial—you still get a dedicated top dial for EV adjustment and two rear dials, but it’s a more tricky camera to navigate adjustments to shutter and aperture if you’re working in full manual mode—your thumb has to do a bit of a dance to move between the two dials. Sony and Sigma sell lenses with their own aperture control rings, though, and if you use those, the manual experience is a bit more pleasing. Still, I missed having a dial under my index finger.
Likewise, dropping the focus joystick isn’t unexpected—the a6600 body style has never had it, and this one follows that motif pretty squarely. If you typically use the autofocus set to a wide area you won’t miss it, and Sony’s autofocus is smart, fast, and accurate enough that you can rely on it to pick the right subject…but if you prefer to set the area of focus manually, an a7 III will make you a bit happier.
The touch screen does work to alleviate some things. You can, if you want, tap to set a focus point, and if you dive into the menu system and turn it on, you can also use it as a touch surface for focus control when using the electronic viewfinder.
But other touch functions are limited. Menus, for example, aren’t touch sensitive, and have the same dense structure—basically page after page of text—that’s been the hallmark of Sony cameras for years.
There have been some improvements over time, including a My Menu page that lets you bookmark frequently adjusted settings, but the a7C debuts after the high-end a7S III, a model that sports all-new menus with a slicker interface that cuts down on scrolling and better separates video and still settings.
Aside from that, there’s nothing unusual about the a7C’s controls. You get the expected hotkeys for Menu, Play, and Delete, and Fn launches Sony’s on-screen overlay menu. An AF-ON button is included, and activates the camera’s tracking autofocus system out of the box, but I’d still recommend tweaking focus settings versus the default (more on that when we discuss autofocus below).
An LCD That Flips
The a7C sports a vari-angle, touch-sensitive LCD. It’s the second full-frame model from Sony to include the feature, which has long been available from other camera makers. Vloggers will be able to monitor video footage when recording walk-and-talks, and photographers can more easily frame up selfies.
It’s a 3-inch screen with 921k dots of resolution. It’s the same quality display you get with the a7 III, but is a bit dated in 2020. Competitors, even the compact Panasonic S5, a $2,000 model, sport a 1.8-million dot touch screen with a similar vari-angle design.
The a7C’s viewfinder is also a compromise of sorts. It’s noticeably smaller to the eye than you get with other full-frame models, offering just 0.59x magnification, and its optics require you to have a pretty dead-on view to get a clear view of the frame.
You’ll still get a clear, sharp (2.4-million dot) view of the world, just not a big one. If you love using an eye-level viewfinder, I think you’ll be happier with a camera with a larger one—the a7 III, Panasonic S5, and Nikon Z 5 are all affordable full-frame models that include bigger viewfinders, and if you don’t mind an APS-C format sensor, the Fujifilm X-T4 fits the bill as well.
It’s located at the left corner, like the optical viewfinder in a rangefinder camera, rather than centered behind the lens. It changes the way you hold the camera, and if you’re right-eye dominant, it means the camera blocks less of your vision, giving you a bit more situational awareness.
I’m left-eyed, though, and while I adore rangefinders, I’ve never been able to appreciate that aspect of the experience. It also adds a wrinkle for using the touch screen—my nose frequently activated the touch pad focus function. If you use your right eye instead—about two thirds of the population does—it’s not a concern.
Connectivity and Power
The a7C supports external microphones, either via a 3.5mm jack or with select digital models via the hot shoe. It also has a 3.5mm headphone connection, a UHS-II SDXC memory card slot, micro HDMI video output, and a USB-C port for data transfer, charging, and webcam use (when paired with Sony’s desktop software).
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are included as well. The a7C pairs with your smartphone and Sony Imaging Edge Mobile software, a free download for Android or iOS. The app copies photos to your phone for quick social shares and edits, and also works as a remote control.
Power is provided by Sony’s newer, better mirrorless battery, the NP-FZ100. Its EVF is a bit less power hungry than larger a7 and a9 series cameras that use the same cell, extending life a bit. The a7C is rated for a best-in-class 740 shots, or 225 minutes of video capture. It’s nearly double the life of full-frame mirrorless cameras from other brands.
Fast, Reliable Focus
The a7C sports the latest and greatest Sony autofocus system, one that’s a bit more capable than what you get with the older a7 III. Out of the box, the camera picks the point of focus on its own, using scene recognition, as well as face and eye detection (for people and pets) to help it find the right subject.
The AF-ON button, on the rear, works a little differently. It engages the tracking system, locking onto a target and following it if it moves, or if you move the camera. I prefer to use Sony cameras with this mode enabled for pretty much every type of photography.
As for coverage area, you can set the tracking system to pick the subject for you or set a more narrow area of interest. It’s not as easy to move the square Flexible Spot area about without a focus joystick, though, one of the downsides to the smaller camera body.
Will you miss it? I find the flexible spot to be most useful for unpredictable subjects and long lenses. The a7C doesn’t balance well with a big lens like the Sigma 100-400mm or Sony FE 200-600mm, and I wouldn’t expect to use it for that type of capture. With a lighter lens, using the touch screen to move your autofocus area around is a lot easier to do.
Regardless of subject matter, you won’t want for speed. It’s able to track action at 10fps, and can keep shooting for a long duration—expect about 84 Raw+JPG pairs, 118 Raw images, or 224 JPG shots.
The mechanical shutter is audible; its higher-pitch click-click-click is a bit more noticeable to the ear than the more dampened sound from larger a7 bodies. It’s also limited to flash sync at 1/160-second and offers 1/4,000-second as its fastest speed; the a7 III and a7R IV both sync as quickly as 1/250-second and support 1/8,000-second exposures.
If you fill up the buffer, you’ll wait 15 to 30 seconds for all of the images to write to memory, and while you’ll be able to snap more photos in the duration, you can’t swap to video recording. It’s a longstanding pain point with Sony cameras—they can shoot quickly, and for longer durations, but you’re locked out of some functions as photos are committed to memory.
24MP Full-Frame With IBIS
The a7C’s imaging prowess is a known quantity—the sensor is the same that you find in the a7 III. The 24MP chip isn’t bleeding-edge technology, but it absolutely was when it debuted in early 2018. It sports a BSI design for superlative fidelity, even at higher ISO settings, and is mounted on an IBIS system that, in our testing, netted consistently blur-free shots at shutter speeds as long as 1/8-second at a 50mm focal length.
The JPG output is clean and detailed through ISO 6400, though that feat is table stakes for a full-frame camera in 2020. The JPG output at ISO 12800 and 25600 shows some smudging of very fine lines. More detail is wiped away by noise reduction at ISO 51200 and 102400, but you can get very usable results at either setting, as long as you don’t mind a rougher look. There’s a noticeable step back in quality at the top setting, ISO 204800, but that’s to be expected—it’s an extreme, even for a full-frame camera.
Adobe hasn’t added support for the a7C’s Raw format as of yet—the camera isn’t scheduled to ship to customers until the end of October—but I was able to use a beta build of the Adobe DNG Converter to process a7C images in Lightroom.
As expected, the Raw output is, for all intents and purposes, identical in quality to what you get from the a7 III. Expect a bit more clarity, and a bit more grain when comparing with the JPG output made with the same exposure settings. Detail is excellent through ISO 51200, though output is decidedly grainy at higher settings. There’s enough grain to detract noticeably from image quality at ISO 102400, and images at the top ISO 204800 setting are veiled by a layer of rough, heavy noise.
For Vloggers?
The front-facing screen, IBIS system, and strong (albeit not top-end) 4K video capabilities make the a7C an appealing option for vloggers and other video-first creators. Its video toolkit matches the a7 III, with 4K UHD recording at 24 or 30fps, 1080p at 120fps for slow-motion playback, and a number of color options, including a flat profile for grading, and black-and-white and vivid colors if you want to change the look of your footage without working with editing software.
The a7C seems like a half-hearted effort for vloggers. It doesn’t leverage any of the autofocus or metering enhancements from the compact ZV-1, a point-and-shoot targeted at video creatives. The ZV-1 will keep your face properly exposed when recording walk-and-talk footage, and incorporates a Product Showcase focus mode that’s beneficial for YouTubers who swap between talking and showing off what they’re talking about.
The IBIS system does a good job keeping footage steady for the most part. I did notice some shake in handheld footage, but using a small handheld grip can help smooth things out—the Sony GP-VPT2BT doubles as a grip and tabletop tripod, and would be a solid addition for vloggers. I’d also think about a wider-angle lens—the Sony FE 20mm F1.8 G is a great option if you can afford $900, and the Tamron 20mm F2.8 is worth a look if you’re on a budget.
For more general video use, the a7C is competitive, but not class-leading. It records at 4:2:0 8-bit internally, and supports 4:2:2 8-bit output via its micro HDMI port, for higher-quality recording to an external device like the Atomos Ninja V. But I don’t expect a lot of a7C owners to reach for a Ninja or another similarly bulky external recorder—it’s counter to the concept of a small camera.
If video is your bailiwick, the Panasonic S5 seems a bit more capable. It records 4K at up to 60fps; samples footage at 10-bit quality, retaining twice the information as 8-bit footage so you have a bit more leeway for color correction; and, if you’re sticking with the starter lens, its bundled 20-60mm zoom captures a wider view, a better fit for walk-and-talk vlogs.
If You Value Size Above All…
The Sony a7C is the full-frame camera for globetrotters, urban explorers, hikers, and anyone else looking for a small, lightweight, full-frame model. If you’ve been mulling upgrading from an APS-C camera, but are turned off by the size more than the cost of entry, the a7C has plenty of appeal.
And, while you do have to live with a smaller EVF than other models, there are fewer compromises than you’d expect. Sony managed to squeeze an effective 5-axis IBIS system into the a7C’s frame, and seal the body (and many compatible lenses) for protection from dust and splashes.
Still, Sony did make a few missteps when putting the a7C together. We like the front-facing screen, but wish it offered a bit more touch functionality, and it’s puzzling as to why the vlog-friendly focus and metering modes introduced with the ZV-1 aren’t here. It’s also missing the newer, easier-to-navigate menus introduced with the a7S III.
Likewise, photographers who appreciate a bit more manual control will miss having a dial integrated into the handgrip, and the focus control stick means you’re less likely to take full advantage of the camera’s otherwise superlative autofocus system.
The Sony a7C certainly has appeal to the right photographer—one who puts emphasis on size and is most at home with compact zooms or smaller prime optics. It’s just not as versatile as the a7 III, a camera that’s still on sale, and still our Editors’ Choice.
