Ho! Here's a brother from another mother checking out the new Sony A7r,
the world's first full-frame mirrorless monster of a little camera from Sony!
Yeah, sure I played with it too, but my expression wouldn't have been as
interesting as this Daddy's :-)
First impressions are...
The camera felt surprisingly solid, certainly more so than my OM-D EM-5.
The overall feel and handling was a lot like the OM-D EM-5 upon first inspection.
The EVF is excellent, perhaps similar to the A99, in fact I think this is supposed to
be the same EVF or at least very close to it.
The shutter slap, as my friends noted, felt "clunky" which was a little surprising for
a top-end mirrorless camera.
Now, once you get past the hype of "World's First Full-Frame Mirrorless Camera" the A7r
and its sibling the A7 doesn't really make a lot of sense for a lot of people.
First off, you have to buy those new FE lenses to take advantage of the full-frame sensor.
Sony says the cameras are compatible with the full-range of E mount lenses, but since
those lenses are APS-C, I would imagine you'd get vignetting or have to use a crop
mode.
Where this camera makes sense is for people who want this quality in a much smaller
package and there it delivers. It is MUCH smaller and lighter than your DSLR equivalent.
Another area where this camera makes sense is for that small and crazy group of people
who enjoy adapting and using old manual lenses. This is where it makes sense for me!
However, the funds are not there and I'm going to wait and see, but it sure doesn't
hurt to dream :-)