It seems some of the sponsored internet experts or brand ambassadors missed a few critical things or did not want to talk about it probably they don't attempt to photograph a swallow handheld at 800mm
positives
- the AF is solid, it seems close to A1 series, if any difference I could not tell today and I tried a tough subject. I also used the 400-800 which is not a fast lens by any means.
- new battery lasts longer
Negatives
- The EVF: unfortunately there seems to be a dirty trick here again. I mentioned that the quality does not drop with AF tracking engaged, that is true, BUT, the refresh rate appears to take a hit. the image looked choppy and the wing beats from Fosters terns looked a bit jumpy.. It was noticeable to my eye. It seems the camera could not keep the 120Hz refresh rate when AF tracking was engaged. Certainly not as smooth as A1 II here. This is not noticeable until you start to pan at long focal lengths. It can become a bit distracting... not reason to dump the camera but disappointing. I wish Sony went back to "drop the quality a bit but keep the refresh rate" or at least given an option to choose from
- the rolling shutter is visible even in the viewfinder if panning quickly at long focal lengths. I can see the infamous "jello effect". Does it bother me ? not so much with natural backgrounds, but I don't like it if there are manmade objects in the BG after being used to the A1 series.
- is the rolling shutter an issue for BIF ?
- it depends, if you have any kind of manmade objects in the background (even OOF reflections of vertical objects on the water) it can look pretty obvious.... not something that can be fixed in post processing easily .... If you have a fully natural and nicely blurred BG then it is unlikely to be noticed unless you are looking for it, but I imagine in some scenarios (e.g. OOF trees in the BG) it could become noticeable....
So a HUGE step up from A7R5 but I call all of these "A1 killer" comments BS at least for BIF
Jun 08, 2026 at 02:31 AM
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It seems some of the sponsored internet experts or brand ambassadors missed a few critical things or did not want to talk about it probably they don't attempt to photograph a swallow handheld at 800mm
positives
- the AF is solid, it seems close to A1 series, if any difference I could not tell today and I tried a tough subject. I also used the 400-800 which is not a fast lens by any means.
- new battery lasts longer
Negatives
- The EVF: unfortunately there seems to be a dirty trick here again. I mentioned that the quality does not drop with AF tracking engaged, that is true, BUT, the refresh rate appears to take a hit. the image looked choppy and the wing beats from Fosters terns looked a bit jumpy.. It was noticeable to my eye. It seems the camera could not keep the 120Hz refresh rate when AF tracking was engaged. Certainly not as smooth as A1 II here. This is not noticeable until you start to pan at long focal lengths. It can become a bit distracting... not reason to dump the camera but disappointing. I wish Sony went back to "drop the quality a bit but keep the refresh rate" or at least given an option to choose from
- the rolling shutter is visible even in the viewfinder if panning quickly at long focal lengths. I can see the infamous "jello effect". Does it bother me ? not so much with natural backgrounds, but I don't like it if there are manmade objects in the BG after being used to the A1 series.
- is the rolling shutter an issue for BIF ?
- it depends, if you have any kind of manmade objects in the background (even OOF reflections of vertical objects on the water) it can look pretty obvious.... not something that can be fixed in post processing.... If you have a fully natural and nicely blurred BG then it is unlikely to be noticed unless you are looking for it, but I imagine in some scenarios (e.g. OOF trees in the BG) it could become noticeable....
So a HUGE step up from A7R5 but I call all of these "A1 killer" comments BS at least for BIF
probably they don't attempt to photograph a swallow handheld at 800mm