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My Theory on Why I Think This Is the End of the Sony a7c

Chris Gampat
No Comments
12/28/2021
4 Mins read
Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Sony a7c review product images 21-320s1600

The sad thing about the Sony a7c is that it’s probably my favorite Sony camera: it has the most potential to be exactly what I want from Sony. But as I’ve learned in the past, what I want from camera companies isn’t what the masses want just yet. They all eventually come to want what I and other reviews wish for though. In fact, the Sony a7c is almost a perfect camera. But Sony needed to do more to it to transform this device into something more capable.

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According to Sony Alpha Rumors, the Sony a7c is temporarily having manufacturing halted. This isn’t surprising as the entire world is having problems with components and supplies. It’s truly Sony’s most affordable full-frame camera. So to that end, they’re probably also making the slimmest profits on it. With that said, I think that Sony is going to do something that Fujifilm quietly did in the pandemic. A slew of cameras from Fujifilm never got delivered from what I hear. This has to do with the more affordable ones like the Fujifilm XT200 and others. Instead, Fujifilm focused more on the hot sellers and those that make them more money. This means the higher end X-series cameras, the X100V, and the GFX lineup. From a sustainability standpoint, it makes a lot of sense. When supplies are low, focus on making as much money as possible so you can keep operating as a company.

That’s exactly what I think Sony might do. But for the record, this whole post is my hypothesis based on market outlook, and what I’ve seen over the past year as a reviewer. Sony has focused a whole lot on pushing their other cameras like the Sony a7 IV, Sony a1 and others. The Sony a7c received lots of discounts that we reported on. They were probably trying to move through them as much as possible. Again, that’s just business. 

Looking back too, the Sony a7c didn’t seem to receive as many pushes or promotions and hype as other Sony cameras. Think about it. How many photographers, YouTubers, or even reviews websites did you see talk about it? Despite that, the Sony a7c was my favorite camera of the bunch. It’s small, has a rangefinder-style body, and is capable. But man, it really needed a lot of reworking to the ergonomics, build quality, and autofocus. 

With manufacturing of the Sony a7c being halted, I think that a few things might happen. I’ll explore a lot of these below.

The Sony a7c is Really, Truly Being Halted

The first thing that’s happening right now is that the Sony a7c really is being halted. Manufacturing of it will continue sooner or later. If this is really the case and the other two scenarios I speak of never happen, then I was probably, genuinely, just paranoid. And I’d fully admit that I was wrong.

The Sony a7c Might have a Successor Coming Very Soon

Here’s a plausible theory of mine: the Sony a7c is being halted at the moment and some sort of update might be coming. In Sony’s history, there was a time when there were tons of updates. Heck, they brought out the Sony a6300 and then the Sony a6500 just a few months later if memory serves correctly. They also introduced a slew of a6000 series cameras in 2019. In contrast, the Sony a7 series has mostly stabilized and the cameras have a longer shelf-life. The Sony a7c was introduced in September of 2020. It’s not unlike them to want to offer fresh updates though. For what it’s worth, the Sony a7c was just a worse Sony a7 III. 

Given what Fujifilm has seemingly done, I wouldn’t be surprised if Sony discontinued the Sony a7c and replaced it with some updates that still make the Sony a7 IV shine. 

Is This the End of the Sony a7c?

Considering how little marketing I really saw go into it, I also think that this might be the end of the Sony a7c lineup. Don’t believe me? Well, compact full-frame cameras haven’t done so well for Sony. Remember the Sony RX1r series? We haven’t seen an update in many years now. It’s not like it was a bad camera. And if anything, Leica has shown the world how to make a full-frame compact camera with the Q2. 

I really hope that this doesn’t in fact mean that the camera’s life as a product lineup is over. I think that Sony tried with their first camera, and didn’t totally fail. But they could’ve done a lot better. If anything, I’d hope they approach the Sony a7c with the same tenacity that they do the Xperia lineup despite its comparative failures.

camera halt manufacturing sony Sony A6000 Sony A7 Sony a7c successor
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Chris Gampat

Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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