SONY ALPHA HAS A PROBLEM
For the bulk of my time as a photographer, I shot with Nikon DSLR cameras. I was happy with Nikon. It was what I needed at the time.
In 2018, I had an opportunity to shoot with a Sony a7rII and instantly realized how much better an experience these Sony Mirrorless cameras were. In 2019, Sony released the revolutionary a7iii onto the market, a sub- $2000 full frame camera with the best autofocus in the industry to that point.
It was a great choice. Mirrorless cameras made learning photography far easier for someone who learns empirically.
And while Sony no longer remains the clear winner in the mirrorless market (many have made the argument that Canon has quickly outpaced them), I remain in the Sony Alpha camp. And I still maintain that for newer photographers, Sony is the clear choice. Their tech is still on par with their peers and 3rd party lenses make entry into photography as affordable as possible without buying used equipment.
And yet I have long been of the belief that Sony has a massive problem. Their line is directionless and confusing.
To illustrate the problem, let me explain how Canon’s line works. The R8, R6, R5 and R3 are all full frame cameras. The lower the number, the higher the camera is on Canon’s scale, with the R3 being the current top dog, while still leaving room for a future R1 to be the flagship. Admittedly, Canon’s line isn’t perfect, since the R7 breaks convention by being an APS-C camera, albeit one with a 32 megapixel sensor. Which isn’t to mention the Canon R and RP bodies which seem separate, but shouldn’t be. That said, for the most part it isn’t hard to figure out which camera is more feature-packed from the group.
When I first got into Sony, they had the following main line cameras. The a7 line (1-3), the a7r line (1-3), the a7s mark 1 and the a7s ii, the a9, a6000 and a6500. This alone is confusing. The a6000 was an entry level, crop sensor camera. The a6500 is the high end crop sensor. Okay, those are easy. The a7 line started the full frame mirrorless Alphas. The a7 is a basic full frame mirrorless camera that can handle both stills and video. The a7r was the first high end, pro full frame for photography. The a7s focused more on video than photography. But why not make the a7r an a5? Why not make the a7s it’s own separate thing? Then Sony came out with the a9 which was their top camera for a long time, but that left no room to grow.
They did come out with an a9 mark 2, which was a minor update, but suggested that the a9 was Sony’s flagship.
Except, no.
A couple of years ago, Sony came out with the a1, it’s currently flagship. Aside from the stupidity of the name (there’s a famous steak sauce called a1), it also completely breaks the system. The a1 is the top camera, but the a9 is behind it. And theoretically the a7r line is behind that, except… no. Not necessarily. If Manny Ortiz (one of my favorite photographers) is to be believed, the a7r5 is superior to the a1 for pro photographers. And does anyone even know what is going on with the a9?
Then there is the video line. After years of waiting, Alpha videographers finally got the a7s mark 3. And by all accounts, it was a dream come true! …but then they came out with the fx3. And the fx30. Both of which occupy the same space and have even more features than the a7s iii. Which means Sony tricked their customers into buying a camera that was obsolete almost as soon as it was on the market. And their newest video focused cameras are the ZV-E line, like the newly released ZV-E1. I’m not even sure where those fit.
And the crop sensor cameras don’t fare much better. I really don’t even feel like getting into it, except for this one thing. The a6500 was replaced by the a6600. Fine. Kind of makes sense. But then they came out with the a7c (which I own and is my primary camera). The a7c is a cross between an updated a7iii and the a6600. And the price difference isn’t much. So why even have the a6600?
If someone at Sony Alpha HQ is reading this, please understand. I’m not a high end photographer. I’m working my way to be one, but currently I’m in the middle somewhere. Which means I represent your confused consumer base. We don’t have tens of thousands to pay for the newest equipment and we aren’t sponsored by anyone. When we spend 2000 on a camera, we need to know it is the right camera. Not one degree left of the right camera.
Fix your line. Update the products that we already wanted to buy instead of convincing us it would be better to buy some niche camera that you’ll ignore a year later. The a7r line seems to be the only one that gets proper care.
And whatever you do, please remember this. If you have a job opening, I’m a wh… available.
