When Sony introduced their 61mp sensor on the a7rIV a few years ago, I grabbed one right off the bat, mostly for the extra relative reach on full frame. Seeing a very unappealing noise signature in feather details, it didn’t take me long to offload it.

When Sigma used the same sensor on the f PL, I bought one on launch day hoping that they might have tweaked some improved IQ out of it. Nope. It looked the same.

A stroke of luck occurred when I, glutton for punishment, went looking for a silver M11 in the hope that Leica might have worked a miracle with that same sensor, as they had done with a couple of other Sony sensors. Told that silver was backordered and it would take five weeks to get one, I took a different direction.

Now, I don’t know for a fact that the a6700 sensor is a subsection of that same sensor, as the number of crop-sensor megapixels would imply. But after seeing unappealing noise in feather details and when I try to raise shadows even a third of a stop, I’d bet money it is. All I can say is that I hope I can find some bright sunshine for bird chasing with the a6700, else it won’t last long.

Another issue, a strange one, is that it’s missed critically accurate focus a few times. Maybe it’s the slow APS-C zoom, I don’t know. And with limited experience so far, it’s probably not fair to pass judgement on the AF system yet. But if I had to compare Sony’s AF to Canon’s at just this moment. I’d have to say the R7 is a notch or two better than the a6700.

Comparing the a7cII with the R5, I’d pick the Sony for two reasons: it hasn’t missed yet, and it doesn’t run the focal plane past the subject to the background. To the credit of both Sony bodies, spot focus is indeed a spot, which helps greatly.

Knee-jerk reaction overall: Sony tops Canon in general AF, but Canon’s bird eye AF is a bit quicker to respond and more persistent in tracking. Give me a faster zoom (and full frame) on the Sonys and it might be a different story. And with technology that’s a year or two newer than what’s in the aforementioned Canons, it should be that way. More field testing will be gleefully done.

a7cII/70-350mm G . . .