Sony a7RV evaluation up to date: Digital Images Assessment

Product photos by Richard Butler

The Sony a7R V is the fifth era of the corporate’s high-resolution full-frame mirrorless sequence.

Key specs

• 60MP BSI CMOS sensor
• Improved AF with topic recognition
• In-body stabilization rated at as much as 8.0EV
• Steady taking pictures at as much as 10fps with flash (JPEG or Lossy compressed Uncooked)
• 8K/24p or 4K/60p video (each with 1.24x crop)
• Full-width 4K as much as 30p
• 10-bit 4:2:2 video choices, together with S-Log3, S-Cinetone and HLG
• Totally-articulated rear display screen on tilt-out cradle
• Lowered-size Uncooked recordsdata (26MP/15MP)
• Focus bracketing mode (with stacking through pc)
• Multi-shot pixel shift high-res mode with movement compensation (through pc)
• Sensor-shift mud elimination and shut shutter with energy off choice
• 2×2 MIMO Wi-Fi
• UVC/UAC USB-standard video to be used as webcam

The Sony a7R V might be accessible from December at a really useful worth of $3899, physique solely. This makes it $400 dearer than the Mark IV was, at launch (itself a dearer digicam than its predecessor), although provide chain shortages and inflation will account for a few of that improve.

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Bounce to:

What’s new? | The way it compares | Physique and controls | Preliminary impressions | Picture high quality | Video efficiency | Pattern gallery | Specs | Press launch

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What’s new?

The Sony a7R V is constructed across the similar 60MP BSI CMOS full-frame sensor because the Mark IV was, however Sony says the brand new processor permits it to make use of the total extent of the sensor’s capabilities in a approach the earlier era digicam could not. The corporate would not be any extra particular in its declare, making it troublesome to evaluate.

No matter’s being finished, the a7R V is ready to supply a wider vary of capabilities than the present digicam.

Bionz XR processors

A lot of what the a7R V presents over its predecessor stems from the extra highly effective processors within the new digicam. They create a sequence of capabilities, in addition to a a lot improved menu system. Sony additionally talks of a processor devoted to crunching the complicated AI-trained algorithms used for focus, publicity and white steadiness.

Enhanced AF

The ability of the brand new processor considerably enhances the digicam’s topic recognition capabilities. The a7R IV had the flexibility to acknowledge and prioritize individuals, their faces and eyes, however the V takes this a lot additional. It features a system designed to higher acknowledge human topics but additionally educated to acknowledge a variety of non-human topic sorts.

The human recognition system has been educated to acknowledge a big selection of physique elements in order that it could possibly establish our bodies in a fancy number of poses, to make the monitoring of your chosen particular person extra strong. On this occasion the digicam has discovered the topic’s eye, though it is probably not seen. Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II @ 70mm | F2.8 | 1/60 sec | ISO 2000 (Credit score: Richard Butler)

Moreover People, the digicam’s AF system will now acknowledge Animals, Birds, Bugs, Vehicles & Trains and Plane. Curiously, there are separate modes for Animals and Birds in addition to a mixed Animal/Chook choice. Your topic sort may be chosen from the primary menu, the Fn menu or a customized button. The listing of topics accessed through a customized button may be tailor-made to incorporate solely the modes you utilize.

Every particular person recognition mode has a sequence of parameters that may be modified, with management over how far out of your chosen AF level the digicam will seek for a topic, how prepared it’s to refocus to different topics, and the way delicate or tolerant the precise recognition might be. On high of it is a alternative of whether or not the digicam focuses on Eye/Head/Physique, simply Eye/Head or simply Eyes, for people, animals or birds.

It is a frankly dizzying variety of choices, however presumably most photographers will solely rely on one or two of the popularity modes and therefore will solely must spend the time fine-tuning the best way the digicam reacts to their chosen topic(s). All detection topics can be found in each stills and video modes.

Improved stabilization

Extra processing energy and extra refined algorithms supply a big increase to the digicam’s in-body stabilization system, serving to it ship a score of 8.0EV in business customary checks. This has been achieved with out combining in-body and in-lens stabilization, as many different manufacturers do (Sony’s system makes use of both in-body or in-lens motion for every axis of correction, by no means each collectively). This could imply that the upper efficiency is maintained with non-IS lenses.

As all the time, IS checks performed utilizing the CIPA methodology are considerably simplistic and may considerably overstate the real-world impact, however such a excessive score is barely more likely to be achieved in a system that works properly in observe, even for those who do not essentially expertise a full eight stops of profit.

Small Raws

The a7R V presents a broader vary of Uncooked file sizes, for circumstances through which massive numbers of 60MP full-detail Raws can be overwhelming. Along with the total, Uncompressed choice, the digicam can shoot Massive, Medium or Small Lossless Compressed recordsdata. There’s additionally the choice of Sony’s (barely) damagingly lossy ‘Compressed’ Uncooked.

Medium and Small Uncooked recordsdata are downsampled variations of the total picture. There’s additionally the choice to seize cropped APS-C Raws

The Medium and Small Uncooked recordsdata are 26MP and 15MP downsampled variations of the total picture (so are presumably tonally lossless, not totally spatially lossless), which due to this fact have extra element than photos shot with 26 or 15MP cameras (see the Picture High quality part beneath). There’s additionally the choice to seize cropped APS-C 26MP photos (or downsampled 15MP variations of this crop).

Multi-shot excessive decision mode

16-shot Pixel Shift high-res picture, mixed utilizing a beta of Sony’s Imaging Edge suite of software program. The movement correction choice has finished an excellent job of correcting the foliage blowing round on the high of the picture. Slight digicam motion means this picture does not present the mode’s full potential. Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II @ 28mm | F9.0 | 1/400 sec | ISO 100 (Credit score: Richard Butler)

Because the ‘R’ is the corporate’s high-resolution mannequin, it presents a tripod-based multi-shot pixel-shift high-resolution mode. It actually presents two choices. There is a four-shot mode that captures pink, inexperienced and blue data for each output pixel location, giving larger chroma decision and avoiding the softening results of demosaicing Bayer photos. There’s additionally a 16-shot mode that shoots 4 Bayer-cancelling quartets of photos at slight offsets, relative to at least one one other, to spice up the general seize decision to 240MP.

Each these modes require that the pictures be mixed in Sony’s Imaging Edge Desktop software program, the most recent model of which detects topic motion between photos and corrects for this movement. It is carried out properly with the less-than-perfectly-steady examples we have examined it with.

Focus bracketing

The a7R V turns into the primary Sony to have a spotlight bracketing perform built-in. It is chosen as a Drive mode and you’ll choose the ‘step-width’ between the totally different focus distances and the variety of pictures it takes (as much as 299). Within the menus you’ll be able to select whether or not the digicam continues to focus additional past the present level or whether or not it focuses each nearer and farther than the present level. Publicity smoothing, publicity delay to permit flash recycling and the choice to save lots of bracketed photos to a separate folder are additionally choices.

As with the pixel-shift mode, for those who want to stack and mix a set of focus bracketed photos, you will want to make use of Imaging Edge Desktop or different off-camera software program.

Quicker Wi-Fi

The a7R V’s Wi-Fi now presents 2 x 2 MIMO (a number of in, a number of out) compatibility. This implies it ought to be capable to use parallel channels of communication to different MIMO gadgets. This helps the digicam ship wi-fi tethering regardless of its massive file sizes. The Wi-Fi can nonetheless be used for sending and receiving recordsdata to smartphones and it labored properly for us utilizing the present model of the Imaging Edge Android app.

Steady taking pictures with flash

The a7R V can shoot at as much as 10fps in JPEG or lossy Compressed Uncooked modes, with the speed dropping to round 7fps within the increased high quality Uncooked modes. The buffer permits for as much as 583 Compressed Uncooked recordsdata. With appropriate flashes it could possibly use its P-TTL flash metering at this highest burst fee. Flash customers will recognize the digicam’s means to document separate ISO and shutter pace settings when a strobe is in use, making it simple to modify backwards and forwards from pure mild taking pictures.

The shutter is rated to final for 500,000 actuations, however a most sync pace of 1/250 sec suggests it isn’t the identical mechanism because the one used within the a1.

As well as there are anti-flicker modes that sync the shutter to the brilliant level in standard lighting, and a mode that enables tiny factional shutter pace changes to be used with high-frequency flicker that you just may expertise with LED lighting.

10-bit video

As with the opposite cameras constructed across the Bionz XR processors, the a7R V is ready to seize 10-bit video, which helps ship far more versatile Log footage or excessive dynamic vary ‘HLG’ footage.

The a7R V can seize UHD 8K video at as much as 25p from a 1.24x cropped area of its sensor, capturing native 7860 x 4320 pixel footage. Alternatively it could possibly document UHD 4K footage at as much as 30p from its full sensor width. There’s additionally the choice to seize 4K at as much as 60p from the 8K area of the sensor or 6.2K oversampled 4K from the APS-C / Super35 area of the sensor.

There’s important rolling shutter in 8K mode and within the oversampled APS-C 4K modes. It is higher within the digicam’s full-width 4K modes but it surely’s solely actually within the cropped 4K/60p setting that we might think about it properly managed.

The digicam has the identical heat-dissipation know-how because the a7S III, on this case permitting it to document half-hour of 8K if the temperature limits are relaxed.

Just like the a7S III and FX fashions, you get a alternative of XAVC codecs for seize. XAVC S and S-I present Lengthy-GOP or All-I H.264 choices, whereas the XAVC HS mode makes use of H.265 compression. The near-final S-Cinetone profile or S-Log3 profiles can be found, together with 10-bit HLG seize for playback on HDR shows.

Energetic SteadyShot mode, which provides digital stabilization – utilizing a continuously altering area of the sensor to supply a larger magnitude of shake correction – is on the market as much as 4K/60 mode, and provides an additional 1.16x crop (1.09x extra crop in APS-C mode).

The a7R V additionally information the digicam’s gyro knowledge as you are taking pictures, permitting digital correction to be utilized to footage (together with 8K seize) utilizing the corporate’s Catalyst software program.

The digicam contains the opposite video options launched in latest Sony cameras, together with the Focus Map show, Respiration Compensation and choice so as to add shot marks as you document. A ’16-bit’ Uncooked video stream may be output over HDMI for seize as ProRes RAW by an Atomos Ninja V or V+.

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The way it compares

The Sony’s most direct rival is Canon’s glorious EOS R5, whereas Panasonic’s S1R and Nikon’s Z7 II additionally goal to fulfill the high-end, high-resolution area of interest. However maybe its best competitors is more likely to come from its predecessor, both within the type of current customers pondering whether or not to improve or if Sony follows its regular sample of constant to supply its current mannequin at a lower cost.

The specs put the a7R V squarely on par with the Canon, however with larger decision, battery life and a extra versatile display screen. However it’s the comparability with its predecessor that issues most to anybody already invested within the system. The brand new digicam is quicker in each approach (together with its Wi-Fi and USB connections) and has the corporate’s most superior AF but in addition to the anticipated upgrades reminiscent of a nicer viewfinder.

A spec desk cannot convey how far more refined (and sophisticated) the brand new digicam’s autofocus system is, however neither does it convey that the video capabilities could not show fairly as spectacular because the numbers make them look, relying in your tolerance for rolling shutter.

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Physique and controls

The a7R V makes use of a physique that is similar to that of the a7S III, which is itself an evolution of the a7R IV’s physique. Meaning the buttons and dials will all be in pretty acquainted locations for current customers, however there have been a couple of enhancements alongside the best way. As you’d count on of a digicam at this degree it has a magnesium alloy case that is designed to be mud and moisture resistant.

The digicam’s grip and dials are very, similar to these of its predecessor, however the [REC] button has swapped locations with one of many numbered Customized buttons in order that it now sits on the digicam’s high plate, simply behind the shutter button.

On the entrance of the digicam you’ll be able to see the pale white circle of the digicam’s white steadiness sensor, used to assist in giving much less jumpy Auto White Steadiness efficiency, notably in video mode.

Take a look at the ports and you will find it nonetheless has the flash sync terminal provided by the a7R IV, however now joined by the full-sized HDMI port of the a7S III. The USB C port has additionally been upgraded to the USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) customary, making it a lot sooner to switch recordsdata off the digicam. The USB socket may also, through an adapter, permit the digicam to hook up with an Ethernet LAN.

The largest change, although, is the inclusion of a tilting cradle behind the fully-articulated rear display screen. This implies you’ll be able to tilt the display screen ahead, out of the best way of the mic and headphone ports earlier than extending the articulating display screen, or you’ll be able to flip the display screen outwards and simply use it like a traditional tilting display screen, for those who desire.

The a7R V’s viewfinder has additionally been improved, in contrast with its predecessor. The finder optics improve the magnification to a powerful 0.9x and it now makes use of a 9.44M dot (2048 x 1536 pixel) OLED show. You may want to have interaction the ‘Show High quality: Excessive’ choice to get the panel’s full decision when taking pictures, and the decision will then drop because the digicam focuses, but it surely offers an excellent high-res view of the world. There’s additionally a excessive ‘Finder Body Fee’ choice, however this locks the EVF to its customary res mode.

Card slots

As with different latest Sony cameras, the a7R V has two dual-format card slots. These can settle for both UHS-II SD playing cards or the small CFexpress Kind A playing cards that solely Sony at present makes use of. There are not any modes or capabilities that demand using CFe playing cards on the a7R V, however their sooner write and browse charges make the digicam really feel a bit of extra speedy, particularly when taking pictures at 10fps.

Menus

Probably the most apparent adjustments with the Mark V is using Sony’s new menu system, with choices organized as vertical tabs with sub-categories that develop to point out sub-menus. We have discovered this to be an enormous enchancment over the older system, making it simpler to anticipate the place choices may be discovered and requiring a lot much less must memorize areas.

The a7R V additionally features the interactive settings tab we first noticed on the FX30. This shows all of the digicam’s key settings on a web page that lives close to the highest of the menu. The web page is analogous to the ‘Quik Navi’ panel on early Alpha fashions, and exists as a sub-menu of a class referred to as ‘Primary,’ which makes it a bit of simple to by accident navigate away from. In video mode this panel spills over to 2 pages.

As with earlier Sony cameras there’s additionally a Fn menu that may be personalized with as much as 12 choices and individually configured for stills and video taking pictures. There’s additionally a ‘My Menu’ tab on the very high left of the menus through which it can save you all of your most-used menu choices, if you need quick entry to a selected parameter.

Battery

The a7R V makes use of the identical NP-FZ100 battery as Mark III and newer a7 cameras. These are 16.4Wh batteries that energy the a7R V to a score of 530 pictures per cost when utilizing the rear display screen or 440 pictures per cost utilizing the viewfinder.

As regular, numbers derived utilizing the CIPA customary check are inclined to under-represent what number of pictures most individuals will really get from the battery. We sometimes think about double the rated quantity to be an affordable expectation and greater than this for those who shoot quite a lot of bursts.

The battery may be powered over USB, as long as there is a battery current. A robust sufficient USB PD charger will permit the digicam to cost whereas being operated.

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Preliminary impressions

By Richard Butler

Even with out the main focus stacking or pixel shift modes, it is laborious to argue with the a7R V’s credentials as a panorama digicam. Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II @ 24mm | F14 | 1/100 sec | ISO 100 (Credit score: Richard Butler)

It appears wonderful that we’re already on the fifth iteration of Sony’s high-end, high-res full-frame mirrorless digicam, however right here we’re. The early fashions developed in leaps and bounds over their predecessors, gaining important options reminiscent of picture stabilization and ever-improving ergonomics, however as every mannequin will get higher, it is more durable to take care of that diploma of enchancment.

But, regardless of the a7R IV already feeling like a reasonably mature product, the a7R V does an honest job of increasing its capabilities. Improved AF, focus stacking, movement correction for high-res mode, adjustable Uncooked sizes – the listing goes on. For a lot of photographers, Sony’s promise that it is higher at specializing in the floor of the attention, reasonably than occasional eye-lash-focus, might be an considerable enchancment for such a high-res digicam.

The film/stills selector is borrowed from the a7 IV and the digicam features lots of the choices from the a7S and FX-series cameras, however important rolling shutter means the a7R V is at its finest with the swap set all the best way to the left.

I’ve not examined the total extent of its options and capabilities but, however this in itself has fashioned a part of my impression of the digicam. Whether or not it is the retention of separate publicity settings when a flash is connected, for wedding ceremony shooters going backwards and forwards between indoor and pure mild pictures, the main focus stacking choice for macro and product photographers or the newly-expanded video capabilities, it appears like there’s one thing for everybody, and that makes it troublesome to think about anyone photographer utilizing all of the digicam’s options.

I am not saying it is a D850, which was a digicam so polished that it was troublesome to think about the way it may very well be improved upon (to the purpose the place it felt like a monument to the DSLR period, even at launch), but it surely’s troublesome to have a look at the a7R V and level to areas through which it is considerably poor. It presents loads of decision and DR, because the ‘R’ sequence all the time has, however gives help instruments for an entire vary of photographic niches. And, due to the revised menu system, it is not fully overwhelmed by this degree of complexity.

The a7R V is not meant as a journey digicam, however there are actually events on which it could be helpful to have the ability to re-convert the Uncooked recordsdata in-camera. Sony is the one main model with out such a perform. Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II @70mm | F8.0 | 1/320 sec | ISO 100 (Credit score: Richard Butler)

The expanded AF capabilities are the characteristic I most need to put to the check, given Sony’s promise of a 60% enchancment in Eye-AF efficiency and the flexibility to acknowledge such a variety of topics. The variety of configuration choices for every of those makes me a bit of cautious, however like many, I believe it is just one or two topic sorts I am more likely to discover myself needing to fine-tune.

The opposite factor I have never but bought a way for is how likeable a digicam it may be. On paper it has every thing it wants to offer the EOS R5 a run for its cash, however do its menus, ergonomics and efficiency come collectively to make it a digicam that I need to take out and shoot? We’ll discover out within the coming weeks.

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Picture high quality

Studio Scene

Our check scene is designed to simulate quite a lot of textures, colours and element sorts you will encounter in the true world. It additionally has two illumination modes to see the impact of various lighting circumstances.

The a7R V reveals a comparable degree of element to that of its quick predecessor, placing it forward of its full-frame rivals however behind the likes of Fujifilm’s GFX 100S. There seems to be no low-pass filter, so there is a threat of aliasing and false coloration in high-frequency, high-contrast particulars. It is a bit of noisier than its rivals, which turns into extra obvious at very excessive ISOs.

Glorious sharpening means the JPEGs take advantage of the element distinction between the a7R V and its full-frame friends whereas, conversely, refined noise discount helps cut back the noise differential between fashions. JPEG coloration is nice too, as our real-world pictures attest. Magentas aren’t as saturated as these of Canon, and there is a slight trace of peach to pink ‘skintones,’ whereas the mid blues are richer than the opposite cameras right here, giving a punchier look to sunlight skies. Oranges seem a contact extra saturated, which might clarify why the yellows lean barely that path, reasonably than inexperienced, however these variations are inside the realms of the margin of error that 1/3EV publicity steps give, when making an attempt to match lightness between cameras. The vital factor is that real-world use bears out the constructive impression we bought from our check scene.

Downsized Raws

The a7R V presents Medium and Small sized Uncooked recordsdata taken from the total space of the sensor. Sony does not specify how the scale is diminished however the check scene suggests that the digicam is utilizing the total 61MP picture as its place to begin, not line-skipping or pixel binning (false coloration is going on on the similar frequencies on smaller-res pictures as on the full-res shot).

This ends in photos which can be far more detailed than a digicam natively taking pictures these smaller resolutions would produce (the A7R V’s 26MP Uncooked vs 26 and 24MP cameras on this occasion). There is not any inherent noise profit to taking pictures downsized Raws, although: excessive ISO pictures in difficult mild fall a bit of behind the efficiency of decrease pixel-count rivals. The outcomes are primarily the identical as downsizing the 61MP photos your self; if something they give the impression of being barely worse in our check scene as they had been sharpened at 61MP, then downsized, whereas the Medium Raws had been sharpened at 26MP res.

Total we would say the diminished Uncooked choice is usually helpful when it comes to saving output time and card/space for storing when your output does not require full decision. Simply think about the prospect of lacking a full-res model of an amazing shot if you interact the mode: your 26MP Raws will look higher than these from a 26 or 24MP digicam, however you will by no means absolutely get well all 61MP of element.

Pixel Shift mode

As with the previous few a7R cameras, the V presents a Pixel Shift high-resolution mode. There are two choices: 4 pictures that simply cancel out the impact of the Bayer filter sample, sampling each coloration at each place, or a 16-shot mode that does the identical factor 4 occasions with slight offsets to seize the element between the unique pixel positions. In each cases the Raws must be mixed utilizing desktop software program.

As earlier than the 16-shot mode can ship very spectacular ranges of element in case your tripod and topic are static. The noise-averaging impact of mixing so many exposures additionally boosts picture high quality. As seen additional up the web page, the a7R V features an choice to appropriate for some digicam and topic motion. This tends to imply much less excessive ranges of element in areas the place there’s been some motion, however avoids the crosshatched glitches that the mode was previously vulnerable to in a lot real-world taking pictures, making it a much more useful gizmo exterior the studio.

Dynamic Vary

Digging within the shadows of the recordsdata to search for the bounds of the digicam’s dynamic vary reveals a slight improve in noise in contrast with its predecessor. The distinction is so small that we will not fully rule out variations in Uncooked converter profiling or some tiny affect from utilizing the lossless compressed Uncooked mode. Both approach, it is a distinction within the excessive deep shadows that you’re going to solely discover in side-by-side comparability.

There’s loads of scope for pulling up base ISO shadows for those who’ve needed to cut back publicity to seize highlights (with a lot of the noise stemming from the discount in publicity).

As regular for a contemporary Sony Semiconductor sensor, it is a twin conversion achieve design, so the decrease ISOs (beneath ISO 320) are barely noisier than the upper ones. In low mild conditions the place there are vivid particulars reminiscent of neon indicators that you just need to seize, there will be little noise price to taking pictures at ISO 320 with the identical publicity as you’d use for the next ISO, then lightening the outcomes. In such circumstances you will retain round one cease of extra spotlight data for each cease of extra ISO you determined to not use. It is a clumsy strategy to work, although, so is barely price utilizing in case your inventive imaginative and prescient calls for it.

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Publicity Latitude | ISO Invariance

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Video efficiency

Our studio scene nonetheless solely actually tells you about element seize and coloration rendition: it could possibly’t present the affect of temporal noise (or temporal noise discount) or rolling shutter (measured, beneath). However what it reveals is that the full-width 4K, which does not use all of the sensor’s pixels, is not as detailed because the footage taken from an APS-C/Tremendous 35 crop, which is produced from 6.2K seize. Utilizing a cropped area means the necessity for shorter focal lengths for those who want a wide-angle view and imposes round a 1.2EV noise / picture high quality price.

The headline-grabbing 8K footage is as detailed as you may hope (although once more comes with a big crop), however the very excessive diploma of rolling shutter will restrict the kinds of topic and digicam motion you should use it for. Conversely, the 4K/60 footage created by sub-sampling the identical area has properly managed rolling shutter however noticeably much less element and extra aliasing than the extra detailed 4K modes.

Regardless of the addition of 8K functionality, we do not see video because the a7R V’s sturdy level. Whereas it is true that the digicam can output 8K or high-speed 4K video, most of its modes are topic to important crops, important rolling shutter or each. If high-res images is your precedence and also you solely want occasional video clips, the digicam will do properly (the full-width 4K is greater than ok for many functions), however if you need high-res and excessive pace stills and video from Sony, you will must pay the Stacked CMOS premium for the a1.

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Pattern gallery

Please don’t reproduce any of those photos on a web site or any publication/journal with out prior permission (see our copyright web page). We make the originals accessible for personal customers to obtain to their very own machines for private examination or printing (along with this evaluation); we accomplish that in good religion, so please do not abuse it.

With due to London Digital camera Trade (Gloucester) for using a tripod for the pixel-shift photos.

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