You've just got look at the number of professionals on LuLa who've adopted this camera. Not replacing their systems but adding another dimension. The big plus, as Wayne Fox pointed out above, is the interoperability of the A7/E-mount with lenses from almost any manufacturer. Canon t/s, Leica M&R series, Nikon, Leitz etc - all on 36mp sensor.
The uses are many and varied, but definitely not limited to keen amateurs.
No I wasn't saying that. What I was saying was that I would love to know the numbers.
Remember when Apple stopped making "proper" monitors, and moved from Final Cut Pro 7 to Final Cut Pro X?
Effectively they were saying that they don't need 75% of a tiny market of professionals, they would rather make a product that had millions or even billions of potential customers who wanted something that looked like a professional product that wasn't really. Financially I have no doubt that Apple made the right decision, but it sure annoyed the heck out of people who were looking for upgrades from their 30" Apple AdobeRGB monitors and movie editors who could no longer use Final Cut Pro.
I'm sure that actually a lot of the engineers and programmers were upset too; just not the ones with stock options.
Even if 100% of the pro photographers go out and grab themselves an A7R and are annoyed by an issue that none of the amateurs will even notice, it may still be the case that 99% of A7R sales are to enthusiasts in overall terms - people who cannot distinguish shutter shock blur from ordinary camera shake. (Like me for example.)
And who frankly aren't that bothered because the images coming out of the system are ****ing amazing.
I think the A7R is an "okay" camera that produces amazing files and is giving me a chance to produce the kind of prints I've never even been able to approach before. I haven't even printed anything larger than A3 yet, but with the FE35&FE55 and A7R I'm getting a "wow factor" from the prints that I was never able to achieve with my 5D2.
I'm a happy enthusiast. For the price and weight - really amazing. Well done Sony!