My thorough review of the A7R and possibly the A7R II

IronMaskDuval · Mar 15, 2016

Imagine you are a ninja. As you walk through a kitchen full of pots and pans, you hit all of them and trip on the trash can on the way out. That's what the A7R sounds like.

That is all.

cherylynne1 · Mar 15, 2016

Lol! Why don't all mirrorless cameras have silent shutters? That should be a selling point on all of them!

robbins.photo · Mar 15, 2016

IronMaskDuval said:
Imagine you are a ninja. As you walk through a kitchen full of pots and pans, you hit all of them and trip on the trash can on the way out. That's what the A7R sounds like.

That is all.

Wow.. a little too in-depth really. Maybe you could sum it up?

Lol

Derrel · Mar 15, 2016

The A7r has a loud, long, annoying shutter noise...I read one test that listed it at 67 to 68 decibels. Why so loud? Well...it's got dumb engineering...the first shutter curtain is MECHANICAL...so shooting a photo with a mirrorless of that type means you are viewing reading the image directly off the sensor; the shutter release is pressed, and immediately the first curtain slams closed...then it immediately slams open and moves across the focal plane and hits the end of its travel, and then the mechanical second shutter curtain flies across the sensor plane, and it slams closed to end the actual the exposure. The perception of loudness is due to both amplitude AND an incredibly long, slow-duration, multi-step shutter operation. Oh....and one other detail...after the second curtain slams closed, the first curtain has to OPEN, yet AGAIN, to return to viewing mode!

The A7R's shutter sytem makes a heck of a noise. It really,really does. I noticed this when I demo'd the camera. The racket it makes reminds me of the loud, annoying mechanical racket that my 1938 model 2.25 x 3.25 ("Baby") Speed Graphic's key-wound, focal plane shutter makes.

The mechanical complexity and long duration of the shutter's multi-step operation is why the A7R is so loud and clattery. So, Sony's brilliant engineering saddled their high-Megapixel 36MP mirrorless camera with a loud, slow-acting,clatttery,vibration-inducing mechanical first curtain shutter system. Genius. Not. Oh....and one other detail...after the second curtain slams closed, the first curtain has to OPEN, yet AGAIN, to return to viewing mode!

This video shows on reading as high as 68 decibels, but he calls his new baby 66 dB...

As if the above BS were not too much--the waveform graphing of an A7R exposure sound is very slooooooow (three shot measurements of 421, 413, and 417 milliseconds). This page shows the waveform of an A7r and a Nikon D3...which has a very brief sound footprint of 100 milliseconds duration. In other words, it takes the Sony A7r four-tenths of one second to complete a single exposure cycle. It takes 0.16 second for the first curtain to move and for the exposure to begin.

Sony A7R shutter SOUND

" It takes the A7R a total of .4 seconds to complete a shutter cycle for a 1/60 sec exposure. The reason lies in the fact that the A7R has no electronic first curtain shutter (EFCS). This requires the shutter to close, then open and close for the exposure, then in order to return to it’s original resting position it has to open again. Keep in mind the A7 (NO R) does have EFCS so it’s shutter waveform will be quite different."

IronMaskDuval · Mar 15, 2016

Derrel said:
The A7r has a VERY loud shutter noise...I read one test that listed it at 67 to 68 decibels. Why so loud? Well...it's got dumb engineering...the first shutter curtain is MECHANICAL...so shooting a photo with a mirrorless of that type means you are viewing reading the image directly off the sensor; the shutter release is pressed, and immediately the first curtain slams closed...then it immediately slams open and moves across the focal plane and hits the end of its travel, and then the mechanical second shutter curtain flies across the sensor plane, and it slams closed to end the actual the exposure.

Ot makes a heck of a noise. It really,really does. I noticed this when I demo'd the camera. The racket reminds me of the loud, annoying mechanical racket that my 1938 model 2.25 x 3.25 ("Baby") Speed Graphic's key-wound, focal plane shutter makes.

This is why the A7R is so, so loud and clattery. Oh....and one other detail...after the second curtain slams closed, the first curtain has to OPEN, AGAIN, to return to viewing mode. So, Sony's brilliant engineering saddled their high-Megapixel 36MP mirrorless camera with a loud, clatttery, vibration-inducing mechanical first curtain shutter system. Genius. Not.

This video shows on reading as high as 68 decibels, but he calls his new baby 66 dB...

As if the above BS were not too much--the waveform graphing of an A7R exposure sound is very slooooooow (three shot measurements of 421, 413, and 417 milliseconds). This page shows the waveform of an A7r and a Nikon D3...which has a very brief sound footprint of 100 milliseconds duration. In other words, it takes the S0ny A7r four-tenths of one second to complete a single exposure cycle. It takes 0.16 second for the first curtain to move and for the exposure to begin.

Sony A7R shutter SOUND

" It takes the A7R a total of .4 seconds to complete a shutter cycle for a 1/60 sec exposure. The reason lies in the fact that the A7R has no electronic first curtain shutter (EFCS). This requires the shutter to close, then open and close for the exposure, then in order to return to it’s original resting position it has to open again. Keep in mind the A7 (NO R) does have EFCS so it’s shutter waveform will be quite different."