SonyAlpha 7R V Full-Frame Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera

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.

Upgrade from my Canon eos R. I've done one event so far and I love just how fast and accurate the face tracking is. Came out so clear too! And with the huge mp I can crop it and still have a clear image!

20241028 This is my 4th Sony Alpha camera, and so far it is the best. I hesitated buying it, because looking at the specs I did not see a lot different from the A7 R4, but it is quite a bit better.The battery life is great compared to the A7 2.There are some new features — such as a touch screen, but I turned that off. Too easy to touch inadvertently. The mega pixels are the same as the R4. All my E-mount lenses work fine. One problem I had was my 100mm lens, which was made for a Canon, and which worked fine with the adapter on the A7 2 and the A7 R4, does not work on the R5. Too bad, but I still shoot that on the R4.My Sigma 150-600 works great on the R5. No problems at all. And, or course, all my Sony lenses work well.The R5 also has a new eye detection feature. It can be set to detect animal eyes. Great for shooting horses, cows, and dogs.I was tempted to dock one star for the menu, but the camera is so good, I will stay with the 5 stars.That being said, however, I am not 100% satisfied. If Sony is reading this, the company should really pay attention. First, if you are new to Sony, understand that you will get NO support. There is no store to take your camera to if you have problems. Good luck even finding a place to ship it to.Second, the menu. Sony menu’s suck. But, once you get used to how things are organized, the menu is tolerable. What is extra bad about the R5 is that Sony, for some reason, decided to depart significantly from the R4 menu. That is a real pisser, because if you already know the R4, your knowledge is of little use with the R5.Third, the choices for custom settings are also different from the R4, and for that matter from the A99 and the A72. Why, o why, Sony, do you keep changing things? Make it better, sure, but don’t move or worse, remove, things.Fourth, Sony moved the buttons around. Some tiny improvements were needed, but Sony moved way more than was necessary, and still no unassigned button for focus. I don’t understand why Sony won’t acknowledge that no serious photographer is going to use the shutter release for focusing. It is good that Sony lets the user re-assign a button to do focus, but, of course, that means the original function of the button is lost.

Amazing camera. I own a few Sony cameras and the A7RV is by far the best one, but I'd recommend you be wise with your investment. To get the most of this camera you need G-Master lenses as well and the kit will become very expensive. Finally, in my opinion this camera is an overkill for non-professional use, which is my case. I print a lot of pictures in A4 and A3 paper and unless I'm doing heavy cropping, you won't see major differences for those sizes.