Why I bought a 5-year old Full Frame camera (A7Rii in 2020)

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I bought a new camera.

Actually, I bought it 3 months ago. I didn't mention it here or anywhere because the last thing I want is anyone thinking they need a new camera -or even worse, the camera I bought- to create good images.

But a few people have spotted it in my videos and asked about it. I also want to be as transparent as possible when it comes to what I use to make my images, so here we go.

I got a Sony A7Rii, a 42MP full frame camera first released back in 2015. I'm sure it's considered old tech by now -two new models of this camera have been released since then-, but it's more than I will need for the foreseeable future, at the right price.

This is the first time I buy a camera for photography only in almost 5 years. Every other camera I have purchased was with video in mind first. And I believe the A7Rii is the best deal out there when it comes to stills photography.

It comes to replace my old a6000 -quite a change, you might think. It is, and I blame my RX100 cameras for this. Since I got the RX100va a year and a half ago, and the RX100vii a few months later, they've been my go-to cameras for everyday photography and video. They make such good images that the gap between them and my APS-C setup (the a6000 paired with a Zeiss 16-70mm f/4) was so narrow that was almost impossible to tell them apart from each other.

As good as the RX100s are, they are still limited on what they can do in low light or creating effects like shallow depth of field. When you pair the a6000's bigger sensor with a fast prime, there's no comparison.

I had 4 prime lenses, ranging from 12mm to 56mm, as fast as f/1.4. They were awesome, fast, bright, sharp, small, compact... and way too many. I barely used them because I don't like to carry 6 lenses with me, and I found myself constantly switching them, which is very distracting.

In an effort to broaden the gap between my compact cameras and my "bigger" setup, and to simplify my gear, I decided to get the A7Rii along with a couple of fast zooms: the Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 and Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8. This setup replaces up to 6 of my APS-C lenses (granted, a f/1.4 lens on APS-C will still perform better in low light than a f/2.8 on FF, but it's close... very, very close).

I sold the a6000 and kit lenses, along with a few more I didn't have the need for anymore. So, what am I keeping?

This setup should serve me well in almost every situation I might find myself into. It gives me options.

I choose to go with a couple of "outdated" cameras and relatively cheap lenses because this way I won't think twice about putting them through the elements. These cameras are here to work, and work they will. The A7Rii already got a taste, but it's got years of hard work ahead of it.

Once again, please keep in mind that this is the setup that makes the most sense for me, right now -or at least that's what I made myself believe.