A while ago, I made a video on Sony’s attempt at making a camera aimed solely at vloggers. And in that video, I didn’t have much praise for the Sony Z-V1. And yet, the Z-V1 is still a one of a kind. It’s got a large-ish sensor but a tiny body, it has a decent lens and fantastic autofocus, the built-in microphone is actually usable, it has a flippy screen, and Sony’s improvements to the skin tones were very welcome.
But I still stand behind what I said in that video, that camera has got some serious flaws. Well, it now appears that the Z-V1 might soon be getting some competition, from none other than Sony. And no, I’m not counting the Panasonic G100 as competition. All the samples I’ve seen from that camera look atrocious.
Sony A7C specs
The Sony A7C is an unannounced camera with a full-frame sensor which should be announced in the coming weeks. By the way, if you’re wondering where I got this information from, sonyalpharumors.com seems pretty confident as to what the specs will be. I hope this doesn’t come back and bite me in the arse.
An A7III in an A6600 body
Back to the A7C. It will have “similar” specs as the still popular A7III with one big difference. The A7C will apparently be the size of the A6600. That’s an APS-C camera. Considering how small Sony’s full frame cameras already are, that is a remarkable achievement.
The smaller body sadly doesn’t come without any drawbacks. There will be only one SD card slot. But it should come with a mic-in and headphone jack. The A7C will also have a popup EVF similar to the RX100. Being aimed at vloggers, the EVF obviously isn’t all too important. I’m not expecting it to be at the cutting edge of what is possible.
And A7SIII screen for the A7C
It will have an articulating screen just like the one found in the A7SIII. That is not an uppy-downy screen but a sidey-outy screen. I can’t be the only one who uses those words to describe screens, right? A uppy-downy screen is often obstructed by a tripod on the bottom or a microphone up top, so a sidey-outy screen makes perfect sense.
Small lenses for a small camera
To go with the new A7C Sony will apparently also be launching a new line of compact lenses. Considering the size of full frame lenses I think many travel vloggers will be pleased about that. It is not yet known whether these will be cheaper or more expensive than the existing line-up. But I can’t imagine them being as fast as their bigger brethren. After all, there are physical limitations that don’t allow those lenses to be smaller.
Sony A7C pricing
Someone, or something, that won’t be happy is your wallet. This camera will be priced higher than the A7III. Sonyalpharumors doesn’t have the exact pricing but it will apparently be slightly above $2000.
Are small sensors disappearing?
I think the launch of this camera, along with the recently launched Panasonic Lumix S5 says alot about where the industry is going. Sony, as was witnessed in the A6600, doesn’t appear to care much for their own APS-C cameras. They’re not even putting their best best sensor in their own cameras out of fear of cannibalising the sales of higher end cameras. The Panasonic Lumix S5 was launched just a few days ago when many were expecting the GH6. It could be that we’re witnessing the end of smaller than full frame cameras. The fact that Sony will be launching a line of compact full frame lenses reaffirms it for me. But then again, what do I know, I’m just speculating. Every year rumors suggest that APS-C and M43 are dead and yet they’re still going strong.
My take on the Sony A7C
While I’m speculating, I have one other possible prediction. If this is going to be the new entry level camera, we can expect the Sony A7IV to cost more than the A7III did at launch. And that’s a bit of a bummer.
If the rumors are right, this camera and especially the lenses will please a lot of travel vloggers. If you compare a Sony A7III to say a Fujifilm X-T4, the full frame camera is actually slightly smaller. It’s amazing what Sony has done in terms of size. However the full frame lenses are much bigger and heavier than comparable APS-C lenses. And if the rumours are true, it looks like Sony is attacking the APS-C and M43 market head-on.
I think this one will be interesting. And it could be added to my list of cameras that could potentially replace my NX1. Or maybe I have already replaced it. Who knows? You’ll know if you subscribe to my YouTube channel.
Photo by Nicholas Santoianni on Unsplash