As an amateur photographer, I’m always interested in cameras that have a compact body and excellent video recording performance. I used to own a Fujifilm XT4, it was a great camera and I loved its retro design. As a long-established camera brand, Fujifilm brings those beautiful color filters from their film camera days to their digital cameras, so I really enjoy shooting photos of people and pets with my XT4. Even if you’re a novice, you can get impressive photos with the proper filters, and if you like vintage designs and taking portraits, the Fujifilm XT4 is arguably the perfect camera at that point in time in the $2,000 price category.
But as I gradually tried to shoot video with it, I found that compared to Sony and Canon cameras, Fujifilm is really a bit behind in video shooting, especially in focusing, so I finally sold it and chose Sony A7C for better video shooting.
In fact, at that time, if you wanted to buy a camera with a better video recording aspect at an affordable price, you had another very popular choice and that was the Canon EOS R6. However, compared to Sony’s A7 series, EOS R6 has some of the same dealbreakers as EOS R5. For example, when you are recording 4K video, the camera can easily interrupt the recording because of overheating, and once this happens, the only thing you can do is wait until the system thinks the camera has cooled down. A friend of mine who owns an EOS R6 said this is really a problem that often bothers him.
In my opinion, until the release of the A7 mark4, the A7C is the most beautiful design and the most balanced performance of Sony’s camera lineup. Its design is somewhat like the Fujifilm XT series but looks a little more modern. As Sony’s most compact full-frame camera, it’s like a rebirth of the RX1R series, and while it’s not as extremely compact, the interchangeable lenses give it the same potential as other Sony full-frame cameras.
A year later Sony released the Fx3 and A7 Mark 4, both of which brought 10Bit 4K 60P video recording to a truly acceptable price, while image quality in low light improved dramatically, and more importantly, Sony finally completely redid their long-reviled settings menu, which greatly improved the efficiency of the camera’s use. After that, I’ve been looking forward to Sony bringing these improvements to some of its more compact models, whether it’s the a6600 or the A7C successor.
After two years of waiting, this year we finally heard some rumors about Sony’s new camera, although the information about the a6600 successor is still unclear, it is said that Sony has a high probability of releasing the A7C Mark 2 in 2023. The new model will have the same 33MP Exmor R CMOS sensor as the A7 mark 4, which supports 10 Bit 4K 60P video recording and 10 Bit HDMI video output, up to 10 FPS continuous shooting, and 51200 ISO. In terms of focus, the A7C Mark 2 will have 759 focus points and better 5-axis stabilization.
While the word is that the A7C Mark 2 will not have significant screen and EVF enhancements, I’m already pleased with its sensor and video recording upgrades. The Sony A7 Mark 4 and Canon EOS R6 Mark 2 are both excellent cameras in terms of video recording and have affordable prices. But, I really like the retro and colorful designs too much, so the upcoming A7C Mark 2 will undoubtedly be my next camera.
