Sony A7 Image Quality

Both Sony Alpha A7 models produce a tremendous amount of clean, fine detail at ISO 100. The A7R, though, takes the cake with crisper, finer detail and better rendering of the threads in the fabric swatches, thanks to its 50% higher resolution and lack of an optical low-pass filter.

This is an interesting comparison with both cameras producing lots of fine detail, but the Sony does noticeably better with the mosaic crop, while the Canon does a bit better with the tone-on-tone detail in the red fabric. Despite having a low-pass filter, we can see some moiré pattern interference in the red fabric in the A7 image. The Sony, however, does do considerably better with detail in the pink fabric.

Similar to what we saw with the A7R vs D800E, it appears that the Sony is applying a bit more in-camera sharpening versus the Nikon. Both cameras produce a lot of fine detail, and both do great with the red fabric. The Sony wins with the pink fabric in this comparison. Sony has made huge strides in their JPEG processing, and particularly with how they can create dramatically sharp images without creating halos or outlines around objects.

Pitting a 24.3 full-frame camera against a 16.3 APS-C camera is a little unfair, but the two cameras have similar form-factors, and the Fuji's X-Trans sensor is known to produce fantastic images, so we thought this could be an interesting comparison. In all three comparisons, both cameras produce lots of sharp, fine detail, but the Fuji struggles in the pink fabric and just doesn't have the "pop" of the sharpness from the Sony (which could be in part due to differences in their in-camera sharpening).

Now, this is a compelling comparison, because according to Sony, the A7 and A99 share the same 24.3 megapixel full-frame sensor. It appears the A7 with its newer BIONZ X processor is able to pull out a lot more fine detail versus the A99, most notably in the mosaic crop. Both cameras do great in the fabric, but the moiré issue in the red fabric from the A7 is apparent. This last comparison is very interesting, given that both cameras have the same sensor (which includes a low-pass filter), and the magnification is pretty much identical between the two. We wouldn't have expected it, but somehow the A7's incredible sharpening algorithm seems to be bringing out moiré patterns that were completely absent in the A99's image.

At ISO 1600, both cameras here are pretty evenly matched, apart from the obvious resolution difference. Both cameras have default noise reduction enabled and both show minimal high ISO noise while still preserving lots of detail. The A7R appears to show slightly more fine detail in the fabrics, however.

The default noise reduction from the Canon in the first crop seems to be just a hair cleaner and smoother than the Sony, but it's quite minor. Both cameras retain lots of fine detail in the mosaic, with the Sony in the lead thanks to its excellent sharpening, and both do almost equally well with the red fabric (though the edge goes to Canon with a better leaf pattern).

This is a bit of a mixed comparison, with no clear winner. The Sony does better at cleaning up high ISO noise with their default level of noise reduction in the bottle crop, and also produces more detail in the mosaic. However, Nikon does markedly better with the red fabric, while the Sony handles the pink fabric much better. Apart from its handling of the red fabric, we'd give the nod to the Sony A7 here.

The smaller sensor of the Fuji holds up surprisingly well here at ISO 1600. There's a little more grain in the bottle crop from the Fuji (and we mean a little), and the Sony produces crisper detail in the mosaic. However, the Fuji is able to produce a much more distinct red leaf pattern. The overall win goes to the Sony, but it's frankly surprising how well the X-Pro1's smaller sensor does here.

While the A99 does just slightly better in producing a more discernible leaf pattern in the red fabric, the A7 is the clear winner overall, with cleaner noise reduction and more detail in the mosaic and pink fabric.

At ISO 3200, it's clear that the default noise reduction is affecting fine detail, especially in the mosaic crop. However, both cameras hold up really well at this ISO level and still produce a lot of fine detail. The A7R does slightly better in the pink fabric, however.

The Sony does a bit better with the mosaic crop in terms of fine detail, but the Canon looks slightly cleaner with noise in the bottle crop and does slightly better with the red fabric. A toss-up, really, depending on what you're looking for. We'd personally probably go with the A7, but others might as easily pick the 6D.

Wow, big differences in overall noise levels here: The high ISO noise starts to hurt the image quality from the Nikon, which you can see in both the bottle and mosaic crops. The Sony shows much less noise and is able to produce a lot of fine detail in the mosaic. As before, the Nikon does better with the red fabric, while the Sony handles the pink fabric better.

Both bottle crops here looking very similar with both cameras doing equally well at controlling high ISO noise. The Sony does better with fine detail in the mosaic crop, while they both struggle with the red fabric pattern. Again, advantage Sony, but we're surprised by how well the X-Pro1 does, given the difference in sensor sizes.

Cleaner, sharper and more detailed is the mantra for the A7 in this comparison; its more powerful processor really makes a difference at the highest ISOs. The A99 has a little more high ISO noise, as seen in the bottle crop (although it's still very low), and doesn't produce nearly as much fine detail in the mosaic as the newer A7 can.