SONY ALPHA 7C

A radically different look compared with other A7 models

- Rod Lawton

www.sony.co.uk £1,899/$1,799

The Sony Alpha 7C answers a burning question: what if you could have the full-frame sensor of Sony’s Alpha 7 mirrorless cameras in the compact rangefinder-style body of APS-C Alpha 6000 cameras? It looks like that’s what you get here; however things aren’t always what they seem.

The Sony A7C is like a compact version of the Sony A7 III, with some advances in design, ergonomics and autofocus. The resolution is the same, however, at 24 megapixels, and the video tops out at a relatively unambitious 4K 30p. Sony is aiming the A7C at a new, younger market, but placing its faith in a steady evolution of its digital capture technologies, rather than any headline-grabbing technical breakthroughs.

The biggest news around the A7C is its design. Lots of people have made lots of fuss over how small this camera is. It’s true that the rectangular body is smaller than that of the A7 III, but bigger and thicker than Sony’s APS-C cameras. The flip-out screen is a major ergonomic leap forward, though, and the A7C also has a brand-new retracting 28-60mm kit lens to go with the camera’s downsized dimensions.

Key features

From the outside, the A7C is radically different to the regular Sony A7-series cameras. The viewfinder housing on the top is gone, replaced by a viewfinder eyepiece at the top-left on the rear of the body. The rear screen now flips sideways, via a vari-angle pivot that gives a much wider range of movement, and the camera’s black-and-silver finish is a departure from the all-black livery of other A7 models – although Sony says a limited-edition all-black version is coming.