Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Like everyone else I was waiting for this camera as if it was my first child..I got the A7 with kit lens. I have been using Panasonic and Sony NEX mirrorless cameras for a few years now as well as some Nikon and Canon DSLRs. Specifically - NEX 5n, 6 and 7. Panasonic G3, G5, G6, GX7. Canon T3i, SL1. Nikon 3200, 5200 and D600. On paper this looks like a fantastic camera and Sony have achieved a remarkable milestone in the Camera industry. But in real life use there are some real concerns with this camera. I am not going to list all the features like most reviews do, which do not tell you about whats important... The first problem I have found is that in any mode with the Camera set to Auto ISO, it is opting to choose really high ISOs. I performed comparisons indoors with lots of bright lighting and in the evening with ample lighting with my NEX 6, D600 and G6 photographing the same objects under the same lighting. The A7 constantly chooses 3200, 6400 and even wildly high numbers like 12800. All the other cameras will use 800 (D600), 1600 (NEX 6), 1000-1600 (G6). Yes the lens is f3.5 but so are the lenses for the other cameras. This is a problem because the A7's jpeg engine is really smudging the picture details at 1600, 3200 and higher. Under natural daylight, it will use ISO 100 mostly but even on cloudy days it won't opt to use slightly higher ISOs whereas the other cameras will detect that there is less natural light and go up to ISO 400. The resulting photos under natural daylight are also not as bright and punchy like the D600 - which shares a similar 24mp full frame sensor. The resolution detail is about the same though. But I can't help notice that overall the pictures are really bland and not any better than my other cameras. The low light focusing is not great either. The Sony NEXs and the A7 will display a green dotted line box when it can't lock focus onto something. This is happening much more frequently with the A7 and less with the other cameras resulting in out of focus shots. Whats the point of having a full frame sensor that is supposed to be better in low light if you can't get the camera to Autofocus in the SAME lighting that m43 and aps-c cametas are able to ? The GX7 and SL1 have awesome low light autofocus. In good daylight the Autofocusing is very fast and accurate - better than NEX 6 and 7 and similar to the G6 and GX7. I have also tried lots of focusing tests with and without the pdaf enabled and like on the NEX 6, do not see a real difference(The NEX 7 does not have pdaf). I did perform some long exposure shots under street lighting and of the stars at 5,10,15 and 30 seconds and they are decent in terms of sharpness and detail, however compared to the NEX 6 and aps-c dslrs, especially the d5200 and d600, the colors are bland and highlights (areas of brightness) are really blown out. One thing that is missing from both the RX1 and A7 is the remote commander option in drive mode which allows you to use a remote to control the shutter which is useful in Bulb mode. Both the NEX 6 and 7 have this. I do not see a remote wire option either from Sony in their list of accesories..so to use Bulb mode you have to turn on the wifi which drains the battery even more and use your phone or tablet... The battery life on this camera is terrible. It is worse than my NEX 6, 7 and GX7. Wifi is off and I even turned off the pre-focus setting. The camera is well built like the NEXs. It is very ergonimic and easy to hold and light and has a substantial grip.The placement of the shutter button should have been on the top of the grip like it is on the NEX 6 and 7. The Menu button protrudes a little too far and is loose and plasticky. Sony's decision starting with the NEX 6 and recent NEX 5x models to not supply a battery charger but instead a usb wire to charge the battery in the camera is just plain cheap. I really was looking forward to this camera but I honestly cannot recommend it. PROS - - Full Frame sensor. - Light, small and well built body and comfortable to hold and carry around. - Wifi works well. - Can select different focus areas. - Better Menu than NEX. - Lots of customizable buttons. CONS - - Auto ISO opts to be too high. - Low light autofocus is worse than lesser cameras. - IQ not any better than lesser cameras. - Not a lot of native lens choices yet. - Battery life is bad. - No builtin flash. - Has same creative style options/filters as NEX 5x and 6 - nothing new. - No Touch screen. - No builtin time lapse or stop motion. - Limited options for shutter control in Bulb mode. **Small Update** - I forgot to mention about the Video..It is not bad but again not bright and sharp like the NEX 6 or 7 and definitely nowhere near as good as on a Panaosnic G6 or GX7. Again, having a full frame sensor you would expect better. - Just for kicks I tried 2 NEX E mount lenses on the A7 to make sure that the High ISO issue is not due to the A&'s Kit lens. I tried the PZ 16-50 that came with my NEX 6 and also my Zeiss F.18 24mm - same problem. I can't believe it. I put these cameras side by side and the A7 constantly chooses outrageous High ISOs !!! - I am going to go to BB and pick up another copy JUST so I can be 100% sure that there is not something wrong with this unit. **Final Update** - I spent most of the afternoon at 2 different BB's. The first had some A7's in stock so I took my NEX 6 and the new A7 and showed the most knowledgeable camera person there the issue - side by side with my NEX 6. Even in BB with all the bright lights the camera was opting to use very high ISO's, while the NEX 6 would never go above 1000. Then the BB employee took a brand new A7 out of a box, put in the battery and the lens...and bam ! The same problem, we spent an hour and tried every single setting - no change. He said that Sony may be setting the ISO higher than normal to ensure clear pictures. But he also noticed that the camera was not only choosing high ISOs but also crazy shutter speeds. Example, the NEX 6 chose ISO 200 at 1/60 of a second at f3.5, but pointing the A7 in the same direction, it chose ISO 800 at 1/160 of a second at f3.5. I then went to the second BB where I originally bought the camera and showed the guy who originally sold me the camera and he also confirmed that the camera is opting too high of an ISO for the lighting conditions. While there we also tried the D600 with the 24-85 f3.5 lens and it would not budge over ISO 800 at all. We also tried the Sony 20mm f2.8 lens - same problem. So there you have it. Actual real world, really verified with multiple copies and multiple lenses. Try it yourself. Take any recent m43/dslr camera set it up side by side with the A7 and you will see these problems.