Sony Negatives and Complaints

Negatives, nitpicks and complaints about the Sony Alpha System

UPDATED MAY 2019

At times this blog can sound a bit Sony fanboyish.   For the most part, I like the Sony system or else I wouldn’t be shooting with it.  But I am not a die hard fan of any brand or system.  I shot Sony A-mount for many years, I shot Nikon F-mount for several years.  In each case, I enjoyed the system but no system is perfect.

As the Sony Alpha mirrorless system has started to encroach on the dominance of Canon and Nikon and as Sony cameras have gotten more industry buzz, many Canon and Nikon users have tried to bash the Sony system.  And in response, there are Sony fans who blindly and wildly defend their system, ignoring any deficiencies.

Four years ago, I considered the Sony system but chose the Nikon system as my primary camera.  (Though I used a Sony A6300 as my second/backup camera).   While there were many great things about the Sony system, there were still too many issues and negatives for me at the time.  With the continued release of the newest models (Sony A9, A7riii and A7iii), most of my complaints about the system were addressed.

That said, there are still many legitimate complaints about the current Sony system and camera.  There are also complaints that are greatly distorted or exaggerated by those who feel threatened by Sony’s rise.  Finally, there are some very legitimate complaints that have been completely addressed by Sony and now just reside in the past or in older models.

Updated May 2019: In the year since this article was written, much has changed. Sony has released firmware updates addressing certain issues. First and third party lens development has grown. Also critically, Canon and Nikon have entered the mirrorless market, giving a new perspective on the development of mirrorless systems.  It’s nice to see that my list of Sony negatives shrinks, and generally the list is much smaller than those of the newer mirrorless systems. 

 

Legitimate Sony Alpha Complaints and Nitpicks

1-      No lossless raw:

Not that long ago, Sony didn’t offer uncompressed RAW at all, before finally offering uncompressed RAW in the Sony A7rii.   Compressed RAW files from Sony have always still been excellent quality but in some high contrast situations, they would lose important data.

The problem is that uncompressed files are MASSIVE.  Looking at the Sony A7riii 42 megapixel raw files, the compressed files are about 43 megabytes while the uncompressed files can be in excess of 80 megabytes!   Files that large don’t just fill up memory cards and hard drives quickly, they also slow down work flow.  In comparison, Nikon offers different types of compression alternatives including lossless raw, which manages to preserve all the critical data.  While the D850 is a 46 mp camera, the Nikon D850 lossless compressed raw file is still much smaller than the A7riii uncompressed file  — about 50 megabytes.

My solution is to shoot compressed in most situations, but there are some top quality landscapes where I switch to uncompressed.  But I would love to have the option of lossless compressed.  Anyway, make sure you buy a fast large SD card.  

2-     Star Eater

Much has been written about this issue.  I debated whether to include it in the legitimate issue list as I continue to see absolutely amazing astro photography with Sony cameras.  Not the best star shot, but my own quick recent image:

But this issue has been confirmed by independent sources —  Essentially, when you have tiny stars of just 1 pixel in size, in long exposure situations, the camera will mistake the star for a hot pixel and delete it.  It is explained further here.

3-      No intervalometer

With newest firmware updates, an intervalometer is now included in the Sony A9, A7riii, A7iii and A6400. 

4-   Limited touch screen implementation

Considering Sony has the reputation for leading technological innovation in cameras, it’s shocking how far behind Sony is in touch screens.   Canon and Nikon offer well developed highly functional touch screens.

Limited Sony A7riii touch options

When shooting stills, the Sony Alpha touch screen can be used as a touch pad (dragging the focus point with your finger) or touch panel (touching where you want to move the focus point).  You can’t use the touch screen to change settings, access menus or even touch to focus.  You can assign the focus point with touch but it won’t focus until you press the shutter or AF button.

5-      Lack of affordable third party and older lens options

The last year has seen significant third party development for the Sony FE system. Now in the “exaggerated list.” See below.

6-  Lack of exotic telephoto lenses

With the release of the Sony 400mm F/2.8 GM lens (See on Amazon / Adorama), this complaint is no longer true.  Now in the “exaggerated” list, see below. 

7-    Questionable weather sealing

I wouldn’t hesitate to shoot my Sony A7riii for a few minutes in a moderate rain, but there are legitimate questions about the effectiveness of the weather sealing on the Sony A7riii (and likely other Sony cameras).

Imaging-resource.com tested multiple cameras and found issues with the Sony.   Lensrentals did a tear-down of the Sony A7riii and found gaps in the weather sealing.  In most real world situations, I think the newest Sony cameras would survive some bad weather but if I was shooting in typhoons, there are other cameras that I’d be more confident in.

8-   Slow second card slot

Yay, Sony added a second card slot to the newest generation of Sony Alpha cameras.   Unfortunately, the second slot is the slower UHS-I type SD card.  The first slot has been upgraded to a UHS-II.  If you put a fast card in the first slot, it can write at almost 300mb per second but the second slot is limited to under 100 mb per second.  When writing to both cards (using the second card as backup raw files), then your total speed is limited by the slower card.  In other words, you are throwing away some of the speed potential of the camera.

This is a non-issue if you are only using the second card slot for overflow or for video.  Personally, I use the second slot for jpegs.  Since the files going to the second card are smaller, I’m not too limited by the fact that the slot is slower.

9-   Poorly designed menus

Sony has taken strides to improve this, especially with the addition of the MyMenu.  But especially until you customize the camera, the menus can be a disorganized mess.   Groupings are not always natural.  Some functions remain confusing.  I’ve seen many Sony shooters confused as to how to set up the fantastic eye-AF as they mistakenly try to use Eye-Start AF:

Eye-Start AF

The Eye-Start AF has nothing to do with eye-AF.  It is irrelevant to most shooters, it is a function of limited value that only even works with adapted A-mount lenses.  Yet is is prominently featured in the menu system, causing people to mistake it for eye-AF, which can only be found when assigning custom function buttons.  This is just one example where the menus are messy.  Personally, I abhor the organization of the delete function, as you need to delete images from each card separately and it becomes a sloppy process if you want to delete an entire card.

Once you get used to the menu system and especially after you properly customize the MyMenu and Fn menus, the whole system becomes usable.  But expect an adjustment learning curve.

10-   A mirrorless camera is not instantaneously ready to shoot

This applies to all mirrorless, not just Sony.   Start-up time is one of the few inherent negatives of mirrorless cameras.  When shooting a dSLR, the optical viewfinder is always “on.”   If I want to shoot a photo and the camera was off, it is ready to shoot almost instantaneously.   On the other hand, it takes 1-2 seconds for a mirrorless camera to “wake up.”  Potentially, this can cost an occasional image.

11-   Poor connectivity

Sony isn’t alone among camera makers here.   I’ve been in family situations where I’m taking a shot with my expensive camera and lens, and my wife insists on capturing the image on her iPhone.   It is tragic that when a $3000+ camera/lens is sitting right there, anyone would prefer the iPhone picture.  Yet, I can’t fault anyone for preferring the iPhone picture, as that iPhone picture is immediately  GPS tagged and ready to be posted on Facebook, Instagram, etc, immediately.

Posting a photo from the Sony Alpha camera to Facebook is a multi-step process requiring button pushing on both phone and camera.  The newest Sony cameras do offer a bluetooth link to the phone which is supposed to sync GPS data but I have found it entirely unreliable.

Sony Alpha location linking

Sometimes it links, sometimes it doesn’t.

False, Exaggerated or illegitimate Sony Alpha Complaints and Nitpicks

Above I list those issues which I feel are legitimate drawbacks to the Sony Alpha system for myself or most other photographers.  If you have ever browsed online photography forums, you will hear lots of trash talking with lots of complaints that I just don’t feel are valid.

1 – Lack of Affordable Third party / older lenses.

A year ago, I had this listed as a legitimate negative of the Sony system. It remains true that Sony doesn’t have the same back catalog of old uses lenses such as exist for Canon. On the new Canon system, users can seamlessly adapt every Canon dSLR lens produced in the last 30 years, creating lots of cheap used lens opportunities. Unfortunately, many of the older Sony lenses are far less adaptable. (Canon has used an all electronic lens system since the 80’s, making them easily adaptable. Sony continued using screw drives on  many of their dslr lenses, making them far less adaptable). 

But when looking at non-adapted lenses, Sony now has a wide and growing selection of affordable third party options. Sigma has released their premium prime lenses for the Sony FE system. Tamron has released/announced some very competitively priced zoom lenses. Rokinon/Samyang are nailing some real value prime lenses. 

Here is a non-exclusive list of some real standout affordable full frame Sony lenses. Each of these lenses sell for less than half the price of the closest equivalent first party lens. 

It would be nice to see more third party zooms, especially telephoto. But thanks to Samyang, Tamron and others, it’s now possible to build a much more affordable system with Sony. In fact, I own and rely on three lenses from that list. 

2 – Lack of Exotic Telephoto Lenses

How many $10,000+ telephoto lenses does someone really need? Sony now has an exceptional Sony 400mm F/2.8 GM lens (See on Amazon / Adorama). They do need more than just one long prime lenses. I’d also love to see some cheaper telephoto primes, like a good lightweight 300mm F/4 lens. But for those that truly need a top notch sports/wildlife lens, Sony has an offering. We can hope that more are coming in the next 1-2 years. 

3 – The A7 series isn’t really any smaller than a dSLR especially when you add a large lens

How is this a negative?   It’s as illogical as saying, “well…. $10 is barely more than $9, so I would rather have $9.”

It’s absolutely true that if you pair a Sony A7/A9 camera with a large lens, you don’t get much if any size advantage over a dSLR.  Still, there are almost no situations where the A7/A9 is at a disadvantage compared to a dSLR.   And at times, the difference is very significant.

The Sony A7iii + Sony 12-24mm F/4 combination weighs a mere 1,215 grams.  The Canon 5D mark IV with Canon 11-24mm F/4 lens weighs in at a massive 2,070 grams.

So at times the Sony Alpha system can save the photographer a tremendous amount of weight, at other times the difference may be minimal.  This certainly can’t qualify as a negative.

4– The A7 series is too small and large lenses balance poorly

I’m amused when Sony haters will complain in one breath the cameras aren’t really much smaller than dSLRs yet in the very next breath they will complain the cameras are too small.

The grip on my Sony A7riii is nearly identical in size to the grip of my Nikon D750:

Sony A7riii vs Nikon D750 grip
Sony A7riii vs Nikon D750 grip

The Sony Alpha camera is slightly thinner than comparable dSLRs but remember that dSLRs are thicker than SLRs.  I don’t recall anyone ever complaining about poor balance on SLRs.

Below is an image of the Nikon 180-400mm lens from Nikonrumors.com:

Does this look particularly well balanced?  Would it really make any difference whether the camera body was just a bit thinner?

Really large lenses won’t properly balance handheld on any camera body.  Such lenses will use a tripod regardless of whether using with a thin mirrorless camera or slightly thicker dSLR.

At most, a handful of moderately large lenses might have slightly better handheld balance on a big dSLR than a small mirrorless.  Of course, there are small dSLRs too — From camerasize.com:

Nikon D3400 vs Sony A9

While you are comparing an entry level APS-C dSLR body to a flagship full frame Sony A9 body above, the comparison does suggest any lens that can balance well enough on the D3400 should balance just as well on the Sony A9.  And it’s pretty rare that I’ve seen a Nikon or Canon fan complain that their APS-C cameras are too small or poorly balanced.

5–The ergonomics are terrible

As shown in the comparisons above, the ergonomics really aren’t that different other than the Sony Alpha bodies being slightly thinner.

Sony Alpha bodies did have some major ergonomic issues in some older models.  I still find the ergonomics of the A6000 series to be poor and awkward.

But ergonomic preferences are very subjective.  To the extent there are objective standards, the newest A7 and A9 models have designs and controls very similar to dSLRs.   The Sony A9, A7riii and A7iii share some major improvements over their predecessors:  relocation of the movie record button that was previously awkwardly placed on the side of the camera and the addition of a thumb-stick to make it much easier to move auto focus point.

I can still appreciate someone having a subjective ergonomic preference for another camera but Sony Alpha cameras have evolved to the point where you can’t just objectively dismiss the ergonomics.

UPDATED 2019: Sony hasn’t introduced any new full frame cameras in the last year but the Nikon Z, Panasonic SL and Canon R cameras give us a basis to compare the ergonomics of other full frame cameras. The conventional wisdom is that Nikon really has done the best job from an ergonomic perspective. In many ways, the Nikon Z layout looks similar to the Sony, but the buttons are a bit bigger and more raised, the grip is a bit deeper, all without the Nikon Z being significantly bigger than the Sony cameras. The Nikon Z proves that the Sony ergonomics could be a little better. 

4–There are not enough lenses

Sure, when Sony launched the original A7 camera there were only 2 lenses.  In short order, Sony now has 24 full frame lenses plus other third party lenses.  While there are some missing specialty lenses and there are a few lenses that I wish Sony had (updated for 2019), the system can now easily cover every need for 95% of enthusiast and professional photographers.  In zoom lenses, Sony can cover 16mm to 200mm for both F2.8 and F4, and can cover from 12mm to 400mm in total, plus the addition of 1.4x and 2x teleconverters.   Additionally, there are plenty of fast aperture primes covering the most common focal lengths.  Sony may be missing some lenses that exist in other brands, that will always be the case.  There are some lenses you can get for Sony (like the 100mm STF) that are lacking in rival brands.

UPDATED 2019: Sony has added a couple lenses in the last year and third parties have added many lenses. It’s getting harder and harder to identify any gaps. I considered removing this from the list entirely but Sony could use a couple more telephoto lenses. In total, Sony now offers 27 first part full frame lenses and 17 aps-c lenses. One can legitimately gripe that Sony has mostly ignored the aps-c lineup, but that’s the reality of the present age and changes in the market. Nikon has released two full frame mirrorless cameras but hasn’t even released an aps-c mirrorless camera yet. Canon’s aps-c M-mount is in limbo. 

5 — The native lenses are overpriced

See some of the legitimate complaints above.  There are cheaper third party options and older design lenses for Canon and Nikon.   But when comparing truly equivalent lenses, Sony pricing is really about equivalent.

Take for example the spectacular Sony Zeiss 50mm F/1.4 (my review here).  Priced at $1400, it is much more expensive than the Canon 50mm F/1.4 at $329 but the Canon lens is 25 years old!  The Nikon 50mm F/1.4 priced at $449 is also much cheaper but is 10 years old and a mediocre performer.   For modern F1.4 primes, Canon charges $1649 for the Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L II USM Lens and Nikon charges $2200 for the new Nikon 105mm F/1.4.  

This is just one example but it’s similar across the board.  For truly equivalent lenses, Sony Alpha lenses are similarly priced.

UPDATED 2019: As Nikon and Canon enter the mirrorless market, we can get a better perspective. While the pricing still makes some Sony lenses look expensive, the price differences are usually not outrageous. See some of the comparisons (pricing approximate as of May 2019) below:

This is just a cross-section to get a general idea and doesn’t provide every possible comparison. Some Sony lenses do indeed appear overpriced: While the Sony 55mmm F/1.8 is an exceptional lens, not sure any 50mm F 1.8 lens should be priced at $900 and the exceptional Nikon equivalent is indeed 1/3rd cheaper. But such price differences are the exception, not the rule. The Sony zooms are priced very similarly to the Nikon zooms. The Canon 50mm F/1.2 is 2/3rds of a stop faster than the Sony 50mm F/1.4 but $700 more expensive. 

In other words, everyone tries to charge a lot of money for their newest top-of-the-line glass. If you really did a complete comparison across the board, you’d find some Sony lenses that may be moderately overpriced but you’d also find some Sony values. 

6- Professionals don’t shoot Sony

This is simply not true.  Sony has introduced very competitive professional service and many types of professionals have been adopting the Sony system.

This argument typically comes down to, “you don’t see any Sony cameras at professional sports events.”   But sports is just one narrow type of professional photography.  And of course few professional sports photographers shoot Sony —  They also don’t use your common Nikon or Canon cameras.  They shoot with the flagship sports cameras, the Canon 1Dxii and the Nikon D5.  Until 2017, Sony didn’t even have a flagship sports camera.  As noted above, Sony still doesn’t have the exotic telephoto lenses needed by sports photographers.  Canon and Nikon have been making gear for sports photographers for decades.  So it is no surprise that you’d see very few sports professionals shooting Sony.

But the fact that sports professionals would pick a Nikon D5 or Canon 1Dxii is entirely irrelevant in comparing a Sony A7 series camera to a Nikon D850 or Canon 5D series camera.

7- The autofocus tracking isn’t as good as a dSLR

There was definitely a time when Sony Alpha mirrorless cameras could not track autofocus nearly as well as dSLRs with dedicated phase detect AF systems.   But this is mostly an outdated argument.

Sony haters will cite comparisons like this one, which suggests that there are a few issues with the Sony A9 autofocus when compared to the flagship Canon and Nikon cameras.

I wouldn’t call Sony Alpha AF tracking complaints totally false, just greatly exaggerated.  Any differences in tracking capabilities are extremely minor and unlikely to effect most shooters.   For example, this is what dpreview.com said about the A7riii depth tracking:

“When using a single, centrally located point placed over an approaching subject, it’s no surprise that the a7R III does very well, whether shooting at 8fps with Live View or its maximum speed of 10 fps. As we’d expect from a camera of this caliber, the hit rate is basically 100%.”

8- The low light autofocus is poor

Low light autofocus does work differently in the Sony Alpha cameras than in dSLRs.   Where dSLRs continue to use a dedicated phase detect system in all light levels, the Sony Alpha system needs to rely more on contrast detection in extreme low light.  As a result, it would be true that in extremely low light, the Sony Alpha system might not track as well.   But I don’t know many people shooting sports in near total darkness.

In many instances, especially if you are using a fast lens, the Sony Alpha system can achieve autofocus in low light superior to a dSLR, as demonstrated in this test from Dpreview.com:  

“The a7R II, when paired with a bright lens, can match or exceed the performance of the best DSLRs with respect to low-light AF ability.”

9- The EVF lags too much

Sony Alpha EVFs recycle at rates between 1/60th of a second and 1/120th of a second.  So yes, technically this is lag — the EVF is displaying the view 1/60th of a second behind truly “live.”

But the entire photo-taking process is filled with different lags.  There is the human lag of how quickly the photographer can appreciate what they are seeing, how quickly a photographer can press the shutter.  Then there is the lag of how quickly the shutter can react, how quickly the dSLR can flip the mirror, etc.

The lag of the Sony A7riii and Sony A9 EVF are well measured in this blog by Jim Kasson. 

So yes, this lag does exist but I am confident it doesn’t actually affect any photographer.  The lag is no different than a video camera — Video camera operators never have difficulty following a fast moving sports game.   Even with the fastest action, a scene just isn’t going to meaningfully change in 1/60th of a second.  (Anything moving that fast, the photographer wouldn’t be able to react fast enough regardless of the viewfinder).

10- Sony colors are terrible

Let’s put this in the greatly exaggerated list.   Here is a great comparison of colors from the different camera brands.  If you shoot JPEGs straight out of the camera, there are indeed some color differences and Sony doesn’t have the best reputation.

But there truly are so many different external factors that affect color.  And then even for a jpeg shooter, there are so many ways that the photographer influences the color by adjusting white balance and “Creative style” on the Sony cameras.

Choosing Creative Style on the Sony A7riii

If you do shoot RAW, then the jpeg colors are entirely irrelevant to you, and you tweak the colors however you like.

Thus, few enthusiast photographers really need to concern themselves with the appearance of Straight out of the camera default colors.   It should only be a concern for totally green beginners who essentially use their dSLRs as point and shoot cameras.

11– Sensor is a dust magnet

In a dSLR, the sensor is hidden away in the back of the body behind the mirror, providing some level of protection from dust when changing the lens.  In Sony Alpha cameras (and all mirrorless), the sensor is right up front and exposed when you change lenses.   As a result, yes it will attract dust.

But any photographer who changes their lenses will have to deal with dust at times.  Any good landscape photographer must sometimes do a wet clean of their sensor as well as often giving it a quick pass with an air blower.

It just comes down to the Sony Alpha photographer needing to clean their sensor slightly more often.   On the positive side, the positioning of the sensor actually makes it easier to see and clean dust on the Sony Alpha, compared to the dSLR.

I do recommend the Altura Professional Cleaning Kit  for all ILC owners (not just Sony), as a nice basic all-inclusive kit.

12– Overheating During Video

Mirrorless cameras are better for video than dSLRs which are really designed for still photography.  While you can shoot video on dSLRs, you can’t even use the viewfinder when doing so.  You need to lift the mirror and convert the dSLR into a quasi-mirrorless camera.

Still, many older Sony models were notorious for overheating during lengthy 4K video shooting.  If you are primarily a stills shooter who might dabble in occasional short videos, this is likely a non-issue for you.   Most recent reports suggest that the overheating has become a total non-issue in the Sony A9 (report here) and Sony A7riii (report here).    Personally, I shot about 15 minutes of video the other day and the camera never felt dangerous hot but it did get warm.

Former issues now completely dead

In addition to the issues listed above, there is a long list of complaints that were valid at one time but are no longer even mentioned.  Go back a couple of years and you would hear some Sony haters say, “No serious photographer can shoot Sony because they don’t have 2.8 zooms” or “every serious professional photographer needs dual slots.”

To me, this list demonstrates just how far Sony Alpha has come in just a few years.  I expect many of the complaints listed in the above lists will soon be on this “former” list:

  1. No uncompressed raw (fixed in A7rii)
  2. No 2.8 zooms (full trinity now available)
  3. No professional support (Sony Pro Support is available in most markets and compares well to Canon and Nikon)
  4. No second card slot (added since the A9) (Updated May 2019: and Canon/Nikon mirrorless were introduced without such card slot)
  5. No “my menu.” (Added since the A9)
  6. No touch screen.  (Added in the Sony A6500 and forward)
  7. Poor ability to move AF point  (Improved by touch screen and thumb stick in A9, A7riii and A7iii).
  8. Terrible battery life  (Still doesn’t compare to the best dSLRs but the A9, A7riii and A7iii have very respectable battery life ratings).  (Update May 2019: Sony has better battery life than the newest mirrorless competitors from Canon/Nikon). 
  9. “slide show” lag when shooting action.  (This was a lag that interrupted burst shooting and has been improving ever since the A6300).
  10. Shutter shock (original A7r and no camera since.  Electronic first curtain shutters eliminate shutter shock)
  11. No intervalometer — Introduced in firmware in 2019

Conclusion

No camera system is perfect.  To Sony’s credit, they have been addressing shortcomings on a continuing basis and the Sony system, with the new generation of the A9, A7riii and A7iii, are very well rounded products with far more strengths than weaknesses.    While there are many legitimate complaints about the Sony Alpha system, many of the complaints and weaknesses are exaggerated or distorted by dSLR fans who feel threatened by the rise of mirrorless.    Canon and Nikon truly make fantastic cameras, I won’t be bashing them.   But they have some weaknesses, Sony cameras have some weaknesses.

In evaluating which camera and which system is right for any person, it’s best to have a realistic idea of what to expect.  Whether it is one’s first time buying a serious camera or someone is switching brands, it’s wise to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each system you are considering.

Updated 2019

A year ago, I wrote “The Sony A7iii appears to be the best camera you can buy for under $2,000.”  Since then, Nikon and Canon have jumped in to mirrorless with good first generation cameras. It’s great to have options.

But even a year later, it seems the Sony A7iii is STILL the best camera you can buy for under $2,000. In terms of “system,” Sony’s system is far more complete than the Nikon and Canon mirrorless. In terms of camera technology, Sony’s autofocus systems are more advanced. Sony cameras have better battery life, better performance. They aren’t perfect. We have addressed the shortcomings of Sony above.

But a year ago, Sony was primarily competing with dSLRs and Sony was the up and coming competitor against the established systems. Now, as Canon and Nikon move to mirrorless, Sony is the established leading system and Canon and Nikon are trying to catch up.

There are plenty of great cameras, but the Sony A7iii delivers big bang for the buck.   If you are considering ordering the Sony A7iii from Amazon, please use our link.  It won’t cost you any more, but it will help to support this site.


 

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