Sony Alpha 7R V Full-Frame Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera with Vertical Grip for Sony Alpha 7R IV - VG-C4EM

I currently own 2 A7RIII's that I've used professionally for a few years. I was looking to upgrade and checked out the A1 and others in the Sony line. I didn't feel the A1 really fit my needs, or budget, so I waited. I'm glad I did because I love everything about this model.Mainly a portrait and wedding photographer, I wanted to stay with the R line for the resolution capabilities and really didn't need 20 fps or any crazy video capabilities. The A7R5 has a 61 MP sensor that delivers amazing detail in images. I often crop my images and really benefit from the sensor size. Coupled with any G-Master lens, this camera delivers sharp images. I shoot mainly with the 35mm 1.4, 50mm 1.2, the 100mm 2.8 (5.6), and the 70-200 2.8. All deliver exceptional results on this body.Focus/Auto Focus: The Autofocus, as usual, is excellent. You can set the Eye AF to target human, bird/animal, animals, birds, insects, car/train, and Airplane. I haven't used it on anything but my dogs and cats so far, and so far it has been flawless. I used the Eye AF on the A7RIII almost exclusively. It really makes shooting with lenses with really narrow DoF very easy. Additionally, it has human movement AF that keeps focus on the subject even when the eyes aren't visible (like when shooting a subject from behind). I have not really tried out the video focus capabilities because it's winter in PA and too cold to be outside shooting (haha). It has 693 Phase Detection Points too!Menu: The menu has changed styles and I definitely like the change. With the A7RIII, a rarely used the touch screen, but with the new menu system on this, I do and even having it only a week, I can say it's definitely improved. As usual, with Sony Menus, it takes a bit of research to find out what and where everything is. I'm sure with a little practice, the new menu will be extremely usable.Video Capabilities: EDITED July 17, 2023 - One thing to note about this model, and other "R" Models in the Sony Lineup, is that this is a RESOLUTION camera, meant for stills and delivering HIGH RESOLUTION as the "R" in the model name suggests. It is NOT Sony's best video camera in my opinion, and with 10 fps, not the best for shooting stills in sports. If you're a sports shooter, look at the A1 or A9. If you are mainly interested in vlogging or video capabilities, look at the FX3, A7C, or A7S III. Sony has a variety of models to choose from that are tailored for your specific needs. I am 90% portrait photography, so the A7R5 is what I needed. I'm glad they improved the video capabilities, because I do sometimes take video. This can shoot 8K @ 24p and 4K 60p. Way more than I'd really need, but not as good as some other models out there. There are some good videos on YouTube that talk about the video capabilities on this camera and mention the ever painful rolling shutter issue.Flip Screen: The new flip screen design is amazing. I struggled with the tilt screen on the A7RIII for a long time. If you find yourself in a situation where you have the camera extended high above your head, or at any weird viewing angle, the new flip screen is easily visible. Contrast that with the previous models, where you only had a limited angle to view the screen because of the design. With the A7R5, you can view at any angle you desire, which is absolutely amazing.Size: Ergonomically, the size is a little bigger than the A7RIII. I personally like the larger grip because I always felt like the A7RIII was a little small in my hand. The A7R5 has a bigger grip and overall is slightly larger than the III. (In the photos, the A7R5 is on the right, and the A7RIII on the left).Storage: A7R5 has dual SD/CFExpress slots. For the sports photographers, that's another benefit over the A7R3. I most likely won't use CFExpress cards as the cost is fairly prohibitive, but it's nice to know that this body has that capability. For portraiture, SD cards handle everything very well.Side Ports: On the side ports, they've replaced the 'floppy' cover with a hinge design. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet since I haven't hooked up external monitors or anything. They seem pretty solidly built but one would have to use them a lot to test. One thing to note is that if you do have cables plugged into the USB or HDMI ports on this body, it can block the screen a bit. This is overcome by using the flip out mechanism to bring the screen away from the body more. Not a deal breaker at all.Viewfinder/Screen: Beautiful. Monitor is 2,095,000 dots and the viewfinder is over 9,400,000 dots with 100% coverage.Continuous Shooting: It can capture 10 frames per second and caps out at 583 frames (RAW) and 1000 frames (JPG). Pretty beastly.Image Sizes with 14-bit depth (I shoot 3:2 Raw so I get the largest files).3:2 JPEG / Raw60 MP (9504 x 6336)26 MP (6240 x 4160)15 MP (4752 x 3168)4:3 JPEG / Raw54 MP (8448 x 6336)23 MP (5552 x 4160)13 MP (4224 x 3168)16:9 JPEG / Raw51 MP (9504 x 5344)22 MP (6240 x 3512)13 MP (4752 x 2672)1:1 JPEG / Raw40 MP (6336 x 6336)17 MP (4160 x 4160)10 MP (3168 x 3168)It also has interval shooting, self-timer, electronic shutter (7 fps @ 61MP), 5-axis stabilization and sensor shift, IP streaming capability, WiFi MIMO 5 (5 GHz or 2.4 GHz), Fast/Slow Motion Support. One thing it doesn't have is the GPS Positioning.I'm really happy with the capabilities of this camera and look forward to shooting with it quite a bit. It comes in way less than the A1 on price and since I didn't need that capability, this model is perfect for my needs. Highly recommend!UPDATE: So, I've had the camera for a while now and finally did some shooting with a model friend and we generated these images. I added 2 images to the lineup. The camera is all it's cracked up to be.UPDATE 2 - 16-OCT-2023: Still going strong and I love it even more. I don't even use the A7RIII any more because it seems inferior to this body in terms of resolution and image quality, which is to be expected. I took the III out for a couple shots, and it didn't last long. I realized quickly that the A7R5 is just so much nicer to use. I'm going to be looking for another body in 2024, and I'm considering a backup 5 or maybe something with better video specs... but not sure yet. Still feel the same way about this body as I did when I wrote the review, it's my go-to camera and is still delivering crisp beautiful images with no issues.

I plan to make this camera my main gear for the next five years so I went ahead and bought the best photo-centric camera. Technically the a1 is sublime but I don't have the money for that luxury item.In any case, I'm sure the reader have seen quite a lot of reviews already while looking at this page preparing to shell out four grand on a camera body. Other reviewers can go down to the specifics, all I need to say is the fact that this camera makes me happy. Its sharp, autofocus is downright fast and despite the crop mode on 4k60fps, it's still pretty much a hybrid camera.This will mainly be for Real Estate & Portrait so it's perfect for my main of use. If you're deciding to get this or ARIV, just think of it longterm wise, this one will age better.

I got it about a month right now. First, as a photo-only shooter, it has a lot of features that I don't need, and even don't know how to use (I mostly shoot in 1080p 30). So I am not going to comment about the video features. But the image quality on still images are TERRIFIC! At 61MP, I mean, it's absolutely a beast. Image quality is even better than my previous Canon EOS R6 (which by the way has 20MP). And now, I can finally do the APS-C Crop without any worries about resolution, which is pretty good. Worth noting is, people have polarized view about this camera's low light performance. I see some comments says that it is okay in low light, some other says it is terrible. For me, it is not a problem. There is perceptible more grain then my previous Canon under high ISO, but overall I think this is controllable and solvable using post production softwares like Lightroom. Also, as a sports and aviation shooter, I am not very happy with its 7fps shooting rate at uncompressed RAW mode. But it is still acceptable, and it is a necessary evil compared to a lot of other great features. Anyways, great cameras. Another point worth noting is I didn't realize that CFExpress A Cards are that expensive until I bought this camera! I mean, you can definitely use UHS-II SD as an alternative, but I just need a bigger buffer clearance speed as a sports photographer. But if you don't shoot a lot of continuous, CFExpress Card is not a stuff you should consider since this camera already has a MASSIVE buffer zone for images - I have never used up its buffer, even under my SD card. I promise I tried to do so intentionally. Overall, Great camera, Terrific Quality.

After around 20,000 pictures, this cameras still amazes me.It has the greatest AF you can get in a camera. Super easy to use menu system and takes amazing pictures. You can take a photo of a bird from down the street and crop in to get a totally usable picture. If for some reason this camera was lost/stolen from me, id repurchase it the same day. Its the best camera I've ever used and I've been shooting my whole life.