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■ Sony Cameras
If you follow any camera news, you’ll know that Sony has announced the Sony a7 V, the successor to the a7 IV… which originally came out Dec 2021 (four years ago). I think Sony wanted to wait a little longer to release this product (because of the Trump tariffs), but Canon forced their hands when they released the Canon EOS R6 Mark III camera last month.

Sony Alpha 7R VI

Everyone who shoots Sony is talking about getting the upcoming Sony Alpha 7R VI. This R-Line series is meant for higher resolution at full-frame and is said to be a “A9II killer” because of its incredible fast readout speed (fully-stacked sensor with a BIONZ XR2 chip) and high-speed 30-frames a second (zero blackout) shooting.

All that speed is nice, but the two items I’m most interested in is the higher resolution of 66.8MP (9500×6330 pixels) and 16-stops of dynamic range. My Sony Alpha 7 IV only has 33MP and 15-stops, and just based on my usage of shooting photos in darkness, the dynamic range and any tricks I can use to help brighten photos up, I will want. At higher resolution, it just means more details for me, especially when I have to heavily crop the image – and still make the image usable.

As much as I want the new camera, the price is just a little out of reach for me at $4,500. It is cheaper than an A9III (for global shutter), but more expensive than the Sony Alpha 7 V, which came out in December, 2025, at $2,900.

Below is an example of higher resolution, cropping, and dynamic range. The photo is of Colin Meloy from the Decemberists. His instruction is that we can only take photos during the first two songs, at the back of the stage. You’ll want to get a long telephoto lens, and you’ll want something with a low F-stop, because the only light source is going to be these light bulbs on his side. The original image came out dark, and the figure is very small in the frame. Thanks to the large 33MP RAW file (7,000×4700 pixels), I was able to keep the details when I had to crop in. I bumped up the exposure and boosted the shadows, and you can literally see the small light reflecting off his glasses. It’s incredible details, considering that I was behind the soundboard. It also helps that the glass I was using is a Sony G-Master lens, which is supposed to be the best of the best in terms of sharpness and clarity.