Looking for opinions/suggestions on possible upgrade from an A7iii to an A7V. This is my landscape camera with use as occasional second body for wildlife. Thinking the increase in resolution and better A/F would be noticable. I can trade in at local camera shop for $600.00 credit. Shutter count on A7iii is 47,000.
I upgraded my A7iii to an A7V and don't regret doing it at all.
Back story: I had three Sony's, A7iii [bought new as a present to myself], A7Riii [Bought used], A9 [bought used]. I decided that the A7V would make a good replacement for the A7iii and A9, so sold them to help pay for the V. I now use the A7Riii when I want to have the 'reach' of the added megapixels. The addition of the V was/is one of my better decisions. I took it to Disneyland yesterday in celebration of my grandsons' 5th birthdays (twins). I used my Sony 40 2.5 lens as I didn't want to be bogged down with the 24-105 lens. It worked great! I couldn't be more happy with the pictures I got out of it, some unexpectedly I might add. I had thought hard about which of the cameras to sell/keep before buying the V. In the end I think I made a good decision as the camera does what I need and more. In combination with the Riii, I think I'm finally set camera wise for a long time. Both cameras now use the same battery and the controls are not that different that I'll have problems (read this as 'I'm old now') jumping from one to the other. I hesitated selling my A7iii because I had bought it new, a rarity for me as I've been buying used for most of my Sony's up until its purchase. I'm glad I went the route I did and I don't think you'll be disappointed at all if you do upgrade.
If you mainly shoot landscape, I'd look into trading it for an A7RV, or buying an A7r5 used. Twice the pixels of the A7V and a great all-around camera to boot. Once you experience the cropping ability of a high res camera, it's hard to go back. You can pick up a new A7R5 now for around $2,800 on the buy/sell forum.
I would look into the A7RV at this point if you don't feel you need precapture. That's about the only feature I can think of for wildlife that would draw me towards the A7V over the A7RV. But yes, either way, I would upgrade if you're thinking about it.
If megapixels and croppability aren't the most important factor, I'd also consider other advantages the A7V has over the A7RV:
- As of now the A7V still hast the most dynamic range of any full frame mirrorless camera. We'll have to see if the new A7RVI beats it.
- If you're shooting anything fast moving, the A7V will have faster readout speeds and a lot less rolling shutter "jello" effect than the A7RV.
- The A7V has the newest Sony processor (not sure if the same as the A7RVI or a slightly lesser one), which plays into both of the above as well as general operational speed improvements.
- If you also plan to shoot video at all, the A7V is better in all of the above ways, while also having a much better video menu system (derived from the FX series).
I had the A7RV for some time in addition to an FX3, one being my photo camera, the other being my video camera. I got the A7V to consolidate both and it's been great. It was nice to be able to crop in more freely with the A7RV but it's not something I'm missing that much at this point.
mudlake wrote:
If you mainly shoot landscape, I'd look into trading it for an A7RV, or buying an A7r5 used. Twice the pixels of the A7V and a great all-around camera to boot. Once you experience the cropping ability of a high res camera, it's hard to go back. You can pick up a new A7R5 now for around $2,800 on the buy/sell forum.
What exactly is the advantage of buying a used camera if the same model is available brand-new on the gray market for less money?