Sony a7R VI Lab Test – Rolling Shutter, Dynamic Range and Exposure Latitude

Lab Test

by Gunther MachuMay 13^th, 2026

Subscribe to Lab Tests

This time, we managed to be fast, having the brand-new Sony a7R VI with the final firmware 1.01 in our hands early enough to run it through our CineD lab test. This camera is especially interesting as it is a “first” for Sony, featuring a Dual Gain mode in full-frame. Curious to see the results? Then read on …

In a way, this camera is also a first for us: we have never tested Sony’s a7R line in the CineD Lab before. We were curious to see what the new model could deliver, especially with its Dual Gain mode at 4K at up to 30 frames per second. We have seen dual-gain implementations in various cameras before, such as the Canon C70, the LUMIX GH6 and GH7, and, more recently, the LUMIX S1II, which set a new benchmark for consumer full-frame cameras in our standardized CineD lab test. For all of these cameras, turning DG “ON” resulted in about 1 to 1.5 stops better dynamic range and exposure latitude, but this mode also doubles the rolling shutter compared to turning it “OFF”.

In essence, this mode combines a low and high ISO gain in one exposure, resulting in expanded dynamic range in the shadows, and allows an ISO range from 200 to 3200 when shooting in S-Log3 mode.

The Sony a7R VI also features a new EXMOR RS 66.8MP sensor in combination with a new BIONZ XR2 image processor. This camera offers 8K video (at a 1.2x crop) or 4K video at up to 120fps, with 5K oversampling from the full-frame sensor. In APS-C mode, it uses 6.3K oversampling to derive the 4K mode at up to 60fps, whereas for 4K 120fps, it has an additional 1.4X crop compared to S35 (resulting in a 2.1x crop), derived from 4.6K oversampling.

Again, a big “thank you” goes to my colleague Florian Milz, who was a massive help in shooting and analyzing all results here!

Rolling shutter results for the Sony a7R VI

This is a rolling shutter sensor; hence, we use our 300Hz strobe light to create a sequence of black-and-white bars.

In 8K 25p mode (1.2x crop, no dual gain available), the rolling shutter is measured at 13.5ms (less is better). This is OK, but not particularly good.

Sony is in good company here with recent full-frame cameras like its sibling, the Sony a7 V, which clocked 14.5ms (4K only, lab test here), or the Canon C50 (lab test here), which exhibited 14.3ms. The recently tested LUMIX S1R II (lab test here) scored 21.9ms in 8K mode (dynamic range expansion “OFF”). Of course, there are cameras like the Sony a9 III, which features a global shutter sensor, resulting in zero rolling shutter artifacts.

With 4K dual gain (DG) mode “ON”, we are getting the following:

A rather surprisingly low rolling shutter of 15.6ms! The only other full-frame DG camera, the LUMIX S1II, features 27.5ms with DG “ON” (lab test here). When turning DG “OFF”, the rolling shutter reduces to 7.2ms (again confirming a rough doubling of the rolling shutter when DG is activated). That’s among the fastest readout speeds we have seen in full-frame cameras.

Please check all other rolling shutter results (APS-C, etc.) in our camera database.

Sony a7R VI dynamic range

If you are not aware of how we test dynamic range, please have a look here first.

Let’s start with a waveform in 8K 25p ISO800 SGamut.cine/S-Log3:

A solid 12 stops can be identified above the noise floor. Imatest shows this:

We get 11.4 stops at a signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio of 2, and 12.6 stops at SNR = 1. Unfortunately, there is quite some internal noise reduction ongoing, as the “Noise spectrum” graph on the lower right side reveals: amplitudes drop significantly (to below 0.2) at moderate frequencies (resolutions) already, hence, the image is not super detailed for an 8K image.

The camera menu suggests that there is a second “native” ISO at 12800, and here we get 9.45 / 11.1 stops at SNR = 2 / 1. Hence, 2 stops are lost (which is quite atypical for a dual native ISO sensor, as both native ISO’s should yield similar results).

But now, let’s have a look at full-frame 4K DG “ON” mode:

We can easily identify 13 stops above the noise floor. IMATEST reveals 14 / 14.4 stops at SNR = 2 / 1:

That is a really good result, placing it on the top of the list!! The middle graph above shows an additional 1 or 2 stops in the noise floor that could potentially be used in the latitude test below!

Already, the LUMIX S1II (lab test here) has revealed the great potential of dual-gain technology, showing around 13 stops at SNR = 2. In 12-bit ProRes RAW mode, it scored the highest value we’ve gotten so far for a consumer full-frame camera, 10 stops of exposure latitude. Will the new Sony a7R VI dethrone the LUMIX? Let’s have a look!

Sony a7R VI exposure latitude

As stated in previous articles, latitude is a camera’s ability to retain detail and color when over- or underexposed and then pushed back to a base exposure. This test is very revealing, as it pushes the complete image pipeline of any camera to its absolute limits, not just in the highlights but mainly in the shadows. And typically, it’s in the shadows that dual-gain technology is a massive plus.

Unfortunately, though, the Sony a7R VI only features a compressed 4:2:2 10-bit H.264 4K mode with the DG “ON”, not a 12-bit RAW mode like the LUMIX S1II. Pulling shadows in 10-bit could yield problematic color noise issues. But let’s see!

Our studio base exposure is (arbitrarily) chosen as having an (ungraded) luma value of around 60% on the forehead of our subject on the waveform monitor – in this case, my colleague Johnnie:

From here, we can overexpose 4 stops without clipping Johnnie’s forehead:

Now let’s underexpose by stopping down the iris of our ZEISS Compact Prime 85mm T1.5 in one-stop increments to T8, then doubling the shutter value. All the files are then normalized back again to the base exposure levels using the lift, gamma, and gain controls in DaVinci Resolve 20.3.

At 4 stops underexposure, pushed back, we get the following:

All fine, still looking good! We are at 8 stops of exposure latitude. For comparison, see the 8K 4 stops underexposed image (without DG “ON”, 1.2x crop) – a much noisier image:

At 5 stops underexposure, pushed back in 4K DG “ON” mode, we get the first signs of significant noise, and some very nasty reddish pixels dancing around the image:

Let’s see if we can get rid of them using noise reduction:

Well, only partially. There are still some erratic red pixels dancing around in the image (e.g., around Johnnie’s nose). Apart from that, no other significant artifacts. Looks like the limit has been reached.

Using the 8K mode (no DGO), those red pixels are very pronounced at 5 stops under (9 stops of latitude), including noise reduction, rendering the image unusable. See the darker side of Johnnie’s shirt, for example:

At 6 stops under, with and without noise reduction, we can see that we went too far at 10 stops of exposure latitude:

The noise no longer cleans up nicely, and in the moving image, there are large blotches of chroma noise hovering around, which is not tolerable. Game over!

Hence, the Sony a7R VI can be pushed to 9 stops (ignoring some of these nasty red pixels) but doesn’t quite reach the 10-stop exposure latitude. Hence, the undisputed leader of the pack is still the LUMIX S1II – please compare the images here. Well, that’s the power of the internal 12-bit RAW mode available on the LUMIX.

Summary

Sony managed to create a very attractive package with the a7R VI – rolling shutter values with or without the dual gain mode are very manageable, and the dynamic range results show the power of dual gain “ON” – we get up to 14 stops at SNR = 2! The highest result we’ve measured so far!

However, IMATEST and chart results do not reflect a real-world scene as we have in our CineD studio. And here, the limits of the 10-bit internal codecs are reached during the latitude test, preventing Sony from dethroning the consumer full-frame king, the LUMIX S1II. We can more or less comfortably reach 9 stops of exposure latitude, but it’s “game over” at 10 stops, even with DG “ON”. In 8K mode, where DG is not available, we cannot even reach 9 stops, underscoring the power of Sony’s dual-gain implementation.

All in all, if this new Sony a7R VI with its dual-gain implementation is a sign of things to come for a potential future Sony a7S model, then there is a lot to expect, at least on my part!

Are you interested in the new Sony a7R VI? What do you think of the lab results? Let us know in the comments below!