I took 13,231 Photos to Beat Burnout | Sony A7CR
Shooting with the Sony A7CR in Japan.
Photography isn’t my job, but it’s my tool of choice for mental well-being.
My day job is a scientist and college professor and every year, without fail, I get burnt out. Feelings of exhaustion, being negative or cynical about your job, which both lead to being less effective and productive overall. Not great on any front.
I have tried a whole range of different coping mechanisms, but the one I keep coming back to is photography. Something about the click of the shutter, the stillness of the moment, managing the colour fidelity in each scene. It’s not an easy hobby, there’s a ton of studying, trial, and experimentation, but it’s so far removed from the daily grind of my day job. That’s perhaps why I’ve managed to find the time, amidst everything else to try and get marginally better at an entirely subjective art form.
Last year I took the newly announced Sony Alpha 7CR on an End of Year Trip to Japan. 61 megapixels, a ridiculous amount of pixels but still great low light performance, very usable up to ISO6400, 12800 if you lean into the grain. IBIS is good enough to hand hold 1/10 of a second consistently. Class leading tracking autofocus, decent grip, customisable buttons and dials to shoot in manual, video to photo with one switch. It can do almost everything the Sony A7RV can do for $1000 less and a lot more style. Yes the EVF is small, only one SD card slot, micro HDMI, no joystick, and yes the Sony menus - but at the end of the day a cameras only as good as the photographer’s work?
Once we landed in Japan, all around me was inspiration for dedication, commitment and even more hard work. No task is too trivial, no job too menial for the Japanese to give it their all in pursuit of their Ikigai - the overlap between what we love, what we are good at, what the world needs, and what we can get paid for to sustain our lives. The commitment really stands out come night time - 8, 9, 10 o’clock, people are still working, or just getting off work, still energised, undefeated by the daily grind.
I’ve shot with almost all current generation of Sony bodies - A7IV, A7Siii, A1, A7RV, and the A7CR is by far my favourite. It’s small, stylish, just gets out of the way - quick start up time, great battery life. I can live with all the downsides - small EVF is but it’s bright and up to 100hz refresh rate. The live view is actually live, not laggy, which matters to me the most. The resolution makes it a better travel camera to me than the A7C or A7Cii, you can make your 35mm lens work like a 50mm or even 85mm lens just through cropping and pack even lighter. 1 SD card slot only, but you should be swapping out SD cards every 1-2 days while you’re travelling anyway? My main gripe is that the mechanical shutter is a bit loud - see if you can hear it here. If they pair the guts of the A1 or A9 into this compact body you could get rid of the mechanical shutter altogether. It’s not the best for video, but good enough. It has 4K60 with a slight crop - one that you don’t really notice too much, unlike the A7Cii’s massive 1.5 crop.
In the end I had to take over 13,000 photos just to get 500 passable photos of the most photogenic country in the world. The best part about the Sony A7CR is its form factor - with how small and compact it is, i can take it everywhere and never have to compromise on image quality or the shooting experience. Photography takes an incredible amount of energy and commitment, and having a camera always with you just makes it all a little bit easier.
Talk soon,
Jack.
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