High-res cameras are notoriously slow, but I just photographed wildlife at 67MP and 30fps with the new Sony A7R VI

For years, cameras have fallen into one of two categories: high resolution or speed. But the Sony A7R VI threatens to change that or into an and with a camera that’s both 67MP and 30fps.

When I unboxed the new A7R VI, I knew exactly what genre I wanted to photograph with it: wildlife. Sony’s lower-resolution A7 series without the R, like the Sony A7 V, has long offered more speed than the high-resolution R series. Only flagships like the 50MP / 30fps Sony A1 II offered a balance between resolution and speed.

But that’s changing with the Sony A7R VI. With Sony’s highest-resolution fully-stacked sensor yet, the new R-series camera mixes 67MP with burst speeds at up to 30 fps.

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The A1 II still offers the faster readout speeds and the larger burst speed buffer (240 RAW files compared to 150), while the lower-resolution Sony A9 III still offers the fastest 120fps bursts. But with the sixth generation, the A7R series no longer seems slow by comparison.

The Sony A7R VI can bounce between genres far better than any of its predecessors. The R series has long been directed towards genres like landscapes, portraits and weddings. So when I heard that the newest camera would shoot at 30fps, I knew I needed to step outside those genres and try to capture wildlife.

The other well-known downside to high-resolution sensors is that they tend to introduce more noise – so I didn’t just photograph wildlife, I photographed wildlife just before sunset.

I prefer to hike with a camera rather than sit in a wildlife blind and wait, which means my biggest challenge is getting close enough – yes, even using the FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens.

The 67MP resolution on the Sony A7R VI offers quite a bit of croppability. The original files are nearly 10,000 pixels wide; that leaves plenty of room to crop in closer and still get something that’s at least 4K.

Even cropping images in half, the A7R VI will still have more resolution than the Micro Four Thirds 2x crop format, which has peaked at 25MP (albeit at a lower price point than full frame).

An f/6.3 aperture isn’t the best to photograph wildlife just before sunset – my ISO ranged from 800 to 3200 during the entire hike.

At 100%, looking at those 67MP shots at ISO3200 does muddy the details a bit – I didn’t get that lovely texture on a bird’s features possible at lower resolutions.

The noise is going to be the biggest hesitation for photographers working in fast genres like sports and wildlife.

The wildlife photos that I shot on the 33MP Sony A7 V at ISO3200 were, naturally, a bit cleaner and retained more of that texture in the feathers.

But the trade-off for that noise is exceptional capability. In shots where I couldn’t get close enough, I still had plenty of room to crop in from that 67MP file.

And shooting more towards midday, the ISO100 images that I shot have exceptional detail.

Perhaps one of the key challenges with using cameras that are both high-resolution and fast, particularly amid an AI-induced memory crisis, is the rapid pace at which such a camera will fill up a memory card.

The A7R VI has a clever customization option, however – I set the AF-ON button to a temporary 30fps burst. When photographing more slow-moving wildlife, I shot at a slow burst. But with a press of the button, I could switch easily to 30 fps.

Like its predecessor, the A7R VI includes subject detection autofocus. The animal eye detection did a decent job in most shots, though I don’t think it picked up birds that were tucked into a mess of tree branches or deer that had tall grass in front of their faces quite as well as some more wildlife-oriented cameras that I’ve used.

A few times, I had to focus on the trunk of the tree – which felt faster than using the AF limiter switch on the lens – to get the bird detection to pick up the subject after previously focusing on something at a much different distance.

One of the other key changes that I really appreciated for wildlife is a redesigned grip. With the 200-600mm on the front, I still needed a second hand underneath the lens. But I think this is one of the more comfortable grips that Sony has made.

The Sony A7R VI isn’t a camera geared specifically towards wildlife or sports. But the new body is far more capable of fast action than any of the earlier R-series models – which means it's a far better option for photographers who shoot across multiple genres.

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