1 SONY ALPHA 7R V
• £4,000, sony.co.uk
It’s time to make two bold and controversial statements. One, the quality of Sony’s recent camera output now places it directly next to Canon and Nikon in pro cameras’ upper tier. Two: the DSLR is dead. Mirrorless sensors open up new possibilities, and manufacturers are only now scratching the surface of what’s possible.
Right now, the Alpha 7R V is utterly remarkable for its AI subject detection engine, which utilises deep learning to pull off what Sony calls ‘next-generation autofocus’, able to not only accurately pick out subjects in frame but to analyse their pose to ensure the 7R V never locks onto a foreground finger. Five years down the line? The entire mirrorless market will be brainier than your cat.
The Alpha 7R V also marks the debut of Sony’s BIONZ XR image processing engine in the R series, bringing seriously high-end picture refinements down from its highest-tier cameras. Again, gaze into the future and every camera worth its salt will be able to turn any shaky snapshot into a
