Sony Alpha 7C Full-Frame Mirrorless Camera - Black (ILCE7C/B)

Sony Announced the launch of the Alpha 7 C in October 2020 and claimed it as the smallest full frame mirrorless digital camera with built in image stabilisation currently available, and this is what attracted me to the camera.I have used Nikon film and DSR cameras for many years and I take travel, landscapes, portraits, candids and selfies, so the attributes I look for are in a camera now are compactness, eye viewfinder, tilting screen, lens quality, good battery life, full manual controls and a wide range of in-camera features. No camera will have all of these, but the ones I have used more recently – the Sony HX90 and Sony RX100 range have served me well for travelling for a long time.The Sony Alpha 7C however has opened up new possibilities. In terms of portability it has bridged, or at least narrowed, the gap between the RX100’s 1 inch sensor and the Sony Alpha 7 full frame range. This gap is currently being filled by Sony's 6000 range (APS-C sensor) but that range may now look less attractive compared to the Alpha 7 C which is only marginally bigger in size than the 6000 but with a significantly bigger, full frame sensor. The size difference between the Sony RX100 and Alpha7C is significant, but not huge.The full specifications and instructions are well covered in the 660 page downloadable pdf by Sony so I’ve discussed here only my likes and few dislikes/less likes of the camera.Handling and basic controls:The first thing to notice about this camera is its size, or lack of it. It’s lightweight and compact, and fits comfortably in the hand thanks to a small soft touch grip which houses the battery compartment. It feels positive and can be held very easily in one hand without fear of dropping it.The controls are straightforward and will be familiar to users of Sony’s camera range. Notable on the top plate is an exposure compensation wheel which I like for quick exposure tweaks, a hotshoe for accessories (note there is NO built-in flash), a function wheel for auto/manual/program/aperture/shutter etc modes. Also on the top is the ON/OFF switch, shutter release and video (4K) button. Note that the video button can be set so that it doesn’t operate unless the top plate wheel is also set to video mode. This for me is an important feature to avoid accidently pressing the video ON/OFF button.The controls on the rear are also standard Sony layout. The full instructions won’t be needed to get the hang of most of the buttons and menus. One notable feature for me is the ‘interval shooting function’ which allows up to 9999 shots to be made of between 1 and 60 seconds. This hasn’t always been present on the Sony camera range. All of the controls, top plate and back, are controlled with the thumb.Viewfinder and screen:Essential for me is a decent viewfinder with dioptre adjustment. This one sits on the top left of the body which I also like as I prefer to use my left eye to see the subject while the right one uses the viewfinder image. The viewfinder is small, but it keeps the camera size down.The screen is touch sensitive for a limited number of functions, which is not a feature high on my wish list. More important for me is the ability to rotate it 180 degrees (for selfies) and to swivel it round so that the screen faces into the camera back for protection while on the move.OPTIONAL KIT LENS (NOT INCLUDED) 28-60mm f4-5.6:Although the camera is offered as body-only, it's worth mentioning the kit lens which was developed specifically for the A7C. The lens’s 28 to 60mm range isn’t the widest of compact zooms, but it does retract down significantly when not in use and in this position protrudes just 50mm from the camera main body, and just 40mm further than the handgrip itself. This feature makes the camera even more compact and portable, and for me it easily compensates for the relatively short zoom range. Also, the 28mm end is the most important for me, and the difference between its 60mm end and the more commonly found 70mm is relatively insignificant in general use.For reference the lens itself weighs just 168g (excluding lens cap which adds 5g), and the body just over 500g (again, lightweight considering it includes the image stabilising feature).Also to be noted is the lens’s fairly modest widest aperture of f4 (at 28mm) to f5.6 (at 60mm). This is a slight compromise in ability to get shallow depth of field over the desire to maintain compactness. Again, for me this compromise is acceptable to maintain camera portability.Lens quality is well documented by independent reviews and is consistently quoted as excellent. Likewise, autofocus performance is reported as improved over previous Sony models.Battery:A performance busting 740 shots per charge is a great bonus for travelling light and being equipped for a full day’s worry free shooting. This is more than double the shots that many other travel cameras offer.Inputs and outputs:These are USB-C for charging, HDMI, 3.5mm audio, microphone input, mains input for external power supply (using a Sony adapter) and an SD card portConclusion:For me the Sony brings a real opportunity to use a full frame camera where it was previously impractical. When carried around, in the hand or on the shoulder, it feels more ‘compact’ than full frame, and this is perhaps the first camera to actually convince me that travel photography with full frame shooting are possible in terms of being practical and enjoyable.The negative points which I have mentioned - the small eye viewfinder and limited zoom range - are for me cancelled out by camera’s other plus qualities. Maybe another negative is the price. The cost of this model, at the time of launch, is a little higher than the full frame Alpha 7 model, and significantly higher than the APS-C 6000 range, but for a full frame compact travel camera it is probably, at the time of launch, unrivalled.