Sony A7 Series Sensor Mount and Shutter Problems

[VidThreeNorth]

Some time ago I wrote that I was being careful to include bodies with and without In Body Image Stabilization (IBIS) in my overall system. Right now I have a Panasonic G85 (M4/3) with IBIS (one of the best IBIS bodies for UHD video) along with my Yi-M1 (M4/3) and Sony a5000 (Sony E-Mount) without IBIS. And yes, mostly it was because I anticipated the possibilities of problems with IBIS systems. They work wonderfully and there have not been many problems with them over many years now. But that does not make them complete fool-proof nor indestructible:

"Lensrentals discovers cracked sensor mounts inside some of its Sony a7-series rental fleet",
Published by Gannon Burgett for DPReview.com, Jun 12, 2020,
"Lensrentals discovers cracked sensor mounts inside some of its Sony a7-series rental fleet"

 

[Derrel]

Sony design quality at work. They make fantastic TV sets, decent radios, and the Playstation is fun.

 

[VidThreeNorth]

Sony design quality at work. They make fantastic TV sets, decent radios, and the Playstation is fun.

I dunno. If you look at the overall failure rate (only Canon, Sony and M4:3 bodies were tested) the failure rate in the other bodies were similar (only M4:3 were a bit better). But the Sony's were specifically due to the sensor mount problems. Roger notes that everything with moving parts can/probably will break (my words, but essentially what he wrote).

I'd go a bit further. All "new technology is suspect" for reliability. Many years ago I had the opportunity to attend the launch of Toshiba's first laptops with Lithium-Ion technology batteries. I knew a bit about rechargeable battery technology at the time. The Tosh sales rep asked me what I thought about it, and I grinned and said "ask me in five year." I was not being a wise-guy -- that was just what experience had taught me. What I did not know until later was that Apple had their first Mac Books with Li-Ion batteries ready to launch, I think within days of the Toshiba launch. They delayed it because one of their demo units caught fire. They wisely stopped the launch until they could look into it and confirm the safety. I think the delay was about a month.

So where are we today? Well, occasionally we still have Li-Ion batteries catch fire. Sometimes causing significant damage (I believe I heard of a plane crash related to one). Yet it is rare enough that we don't ban them, and in fact just about everybody has them (including the phone in your pocket or purse).

Because no similar issues were found in the Panasonic or Olympus bodies, it sounds to me like Sony should revamp their design, but meanwhile, most of them have been problem free. Here's an interesting fact: Roger did not find any problems with the A9 bodies. Those are not quite the same as the A7's because the sensor is "stacked chips". Maybe Sony made the mounts heavier to cope with the extra stress of the stacked chips? I'm only guessing. . . .

 

[VidThreeNorth]

"Class action complaint filed in New York alleges Sony isn’t addressing premature a7 III shutter failures"
Posted Mar 31, 2021 by Gannon Burgett for DPReview.com
"Class action complaint filed in New York alleges Sony isn’t addressing premature a7 III shutter failures"

DP Review does not attribute this law suit with this finding by Lens Rentals, but I believe they are "likely related." The shifting sensors and shutters are different, but physically close enough that a problem with one might result in a problem with the other.