I am a long time Canon user and my beloved Canon camera is nearing the end of her life. And with all the talk about mirrorless cameras, I decided to rent one after hours of research, and see what all the talk is about!

I decided to rent the Sony Ariii for a week, along with an adapter for my canon lenses. I’ve read that DSLR’s will eventually be a thing of the past with mirrorless cameras being the new standard for digital – so I was excited to try it out!

The short version: I loved it!

Here is what I loved:

1.) The focusing technology. Ok wow! Its ability to focus is what sets this camera apart from DSLR’s  – especially the eye detection. It’s like nothing I’ve ever used. I love to shoot wide open (I generally keep my aperture at f/2.0 and wider), and I didn’t have to worry about missing focus with the focus technology on this camera.

2.) Low grain at high ISO

3.) Lightweight. Who doesn’t want to carry a lightweight camera around? It almost didn’t feel like a professional camera because it was so small and lightweight.

4.) The files when paired with the C1ick one profiles and refined presets. Overall I feel like they produced images closer to my film scans with less editing needed.

5.) The dynamic range. Its ability to capture data is better than my canon cameras. I was very impressed with its ability to retain highlights.

Now onto the “cons.”

I don’t really want to call this a “cons” list because they are not cons – more like, things that didn’t come easy.

1.) It’s like a computer. All of the options available and the setup made my brain hurt. I spent many hours on YouTube Learning how to program custom functions and how to use the camera in general. But there is a learning curve to anything new, so really, it’s just part of the process. I definitely made technical errors with the shutter speed in one of my practice shoots from not being accustomed to all the controls, but by the end of the week, I didn’t have any issues.

2.) I was never able to use my canon 50mm f/1.2 because the focus was too slow or I couldn’t get it to focus at all. On the other hand, I had no trouble at all with my Canon 35mm f/1.4. If I move to this system, I’ll need a new 50mm lens.

3.) The grip. While I loved the lightweight of the camera, I also love the way a bigger camera feels in my hands. So overall the “shooting experience” was something that took adjustment. I could easily fix this with a grip. But I think the experience of holding a camera in your hand and really loving it is important…but that may just be me.

In summary, I loved it! I decided to try out a couple more cameras before officially deciding but I loved the Sony and as of now, it’s my top choice.

Here are a few images of this beautiful mama with her children taken with the Sony- all taken right at sunset and during “blue” hour.