Sony A7 IV - A review with real world use
A blog about photography
In this review of the Sony A7iv I’ll go over every aspect of the camera you’ll use for stills.
After 3.5 years of the very successful Sony A7iii, they [Sony] have brought out the new Sony A7iv. This is the new camera for Sony shooters who are looking at a consumer/mid-range 35mm full frame camera. Sony has placed a completely new 33 megapixel sensor in the camera. The sensor is a EXMOR R back-illuminated full frame sensor with an optical low-pass filter, with the highest class BIONZ XR processor. This new sensor offers a dynamic range of 15 stops at the low ISO/sensitivity settings.
Specs of the A7iv
33 megapixels
4K 60p
Bionz XR processor
Realtime tracking
Eye-autofocus for people, animals and birds (stills and video)
10fps
EVF with 3.69million dots
5-axis in-body image stabilization and Active Mode for handheld movie
Dedicated still/video and S&O dial
Side-opening vari-angle rear monitor for flexible shooting
Two SD HCII ports with one CF Express type A compatible.
10-bits 4:2:2
S-CINETONE/S-LOG 3
Record botton on top of the camera
WiFi, Bluetooth & USB-C Gen 3.2
Streaming possible in 4K 15p & FullHD 60p
Sony A7iv + Sony 12-24/4G . EXIF: ISO100, F/10, 30”
The Sony A7iv boasts a dust and moisture-resistant magnesium alloy body with built-in image stabilisation worth up to 5.5 shutter speed stops, an ISO range of 50-204,800, and a hybrid auto focus system with 759 on-sensor phase-detect points supported by 425 contrast detect points that work down to -4EV.
The Sony A7iv supports Real-time Tracking AF and also Human, Animal and Bird Eye AF, all for both stills and movies, making it the first Sony camera to offer such comprehensive AF support for both shooting modes.
Other key features include 10fps burst shooting with full AF/AE tracking, a 3.69m-dot EVF with 0.78x magnification and a refresh rate of up to 120fps, and a fully articulating 3-inch 1.03-million-dot LCD screen with improved touchscreen functionality.
The Sony A7iv offers the fastest 5GHz Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.2 connectivity, in-camera USB streaming, dual UHS-II SD-cards and CFexpress Type A memory card slots, 610-shot battery life and USB-C charging.
The Sony A7iv is available now priced at around €2799 / $2499 body only or €2999 / $2699 with the Sony FE 28-70mm f3.5-5.6 OSS kit lens.
Building and handling
The Sony A7iv has the same looks as other camera’s in the A7 family. The big difference here is, is that the A7iv has the bigger grip of the A7Siii. This improves the handling of the camera greatly. Furthermore, the top plate is relative easy on the eye with no dials / buttons on the left of the viewfinder compared to other camera brands. One thing that I did miss, but that’s something that non of the Sony camera’s has, is a top LCD screen. This comes in handy if you want to check your settings quickly, but this will make the top plate a bit busier.
The outside of the camera is closer to the A7Siii instead of its predecessor the A7iii. This is mostly due to the bigger / thicker magnesium alloy body the A7iv has. However, the camera is still quite small overall with measurements of 131.3mm x 96.4mm x 79.8mm and weighs just 658gr without a lens, battery and memory card. This is only 8gr heavier that the its predecessor the A7iii despide being larger. The increase in depth and weight is largely down to a more generous handgrip that makes the Alpha 7 IV even more comfortable to hold than the A7 III, which was itself no slouch in that department.
The size increase is also caused by inheriting a 'heat dissipation' design, or internal heat-sink, from the A7S III, plus improved internal sealing so it can be counted upon in adverse conditions. Overall, the Alpha A7 IV feels chunkier than its predecessor, but in a good rather than negative way, with the new handgrip in particular making it feel more purposeful and business-like.
Higher resolution / sensor
The most obvious difference between the Sony A7iv and the Sony A7iii is the 40% higher megapixel count. The megapixels jumps from 24 megapixel up to 33 megapixels. This is for a consumer full frame camera where most people start their full frame adventure quite a lot.
On the two images above, I have created a 100% crop from an image that is taken with the Sony A7iv and the Sony 70-200/2.8G OSS MK2. As you can see, the resolution and details that this sensor can produce are really impressive. The improvement in resolution brings also more noise into an image. The image above is taken at ISO2000 and there is hardly any noise visible. It’s really incredible how the camera handles the noise with at higher ISO.
The photos above are taken with the A7Riv with the same Sony 70-200/2.8G OSS MK2 at the same settings. When these photos are compared, it shows that the A7iv handles the high iso noise better than the A7Riv, but just slightly and it’s only really visible in the 100% crop.
Below are some sample photos from the A7iv going from ISO50 to ISO102400. All taken with 24-105/4G OSS and on a tripod.
From ISO50 to ISO12800 the detail that’s in the image is incredible and something I would use without any second thought. The thing with high iso and the noise handling of said camera is dat the lighting you have is very important. The better the light you have, the better the noise handling of your camera is. The photos above are taken in my office with terrible lighting for photography.
AF handling and speed
In the first rumors of the A7iv, it was said that the camera would get the same AF performance and fps as his big brother the Sony A1. In the end, this isn’t what happened. The A7iv haven’t the same stacked sensor as those cameras and therefore also a lot cheaper. But, 10fps is still fast. The AF system did get an upgrade. The Fast Hybrid AF system, combining phase-detection AF and contrast-detection AF, has evolved even further to achieve greater speed, accuracy and tracking performance. With Sony's 4D FOCUS, a wide, dense AF area covers roughly 94% of the image area for both stills and movies with 759 phase-detection AF points. Both the mechanical and electronic shutters allow you to shoot more than 800 frames at up to 10 fps with AF/AE tracking, thanks to the A7iv’s high-capacity buffer memory, speedy BIONZ XR processor and improved memory-card writing speed. In my tests, I wasn’t able to get to these numbers, but I wasn’t using a CF Express type A memory card. This limits the camera quite a bit as the camera was slowing down after 16 to 25 images.
The AF system itself is quick. It sticks very quick to the subject, stays on the subject you’re photographing. The camera has eye-AF for humans, animals and birds. For my first test, I photographed a running dog, but I forgot to tell the camera I was photographing a dog. The AF had some misses in these 12 to 16 frames while I was shooting at 1/2000th and F2.8. When I told the camera I was photographing dogs and thus the eye-AF for animals was turned on, the hit rate was considerabel higher. See the photos below. The first set is without animal eye-af and the second set is with animal eye-af turned on.
Using the camera in the real world
I have had two real world shoots with the Sony A7iv in the past weekend (14 and 15th of Jan, 2022). Both days where filled with foggy conditions, early mornings, no colors in the sky, but awesome nevertheless. On the first morning I went to the Oisterwijkse bossen & vennen. This place is famous for its big open spaces with water and single trees in the big open water.
During this shoot, the autofocus did struggle some times, but that was completely user error. I was trying to get the camera to focus on scenes, where there was hardly any contrast. On the photos above, the autofocus was quick and accurate. Another aspect of photographing in super dens fog, is that your photos can become a bit softer. This hasn’t anything to do with the camera, but more to the conditions that is softening the sharp edges you normally have.
During this shoot the camera handled beautifully. The 33 megapixel sensor rendered the sharpness greatly in these foggy conditions, the colours came out nice and true. I tend to over expose a bit [ETTR] when shooting in foggy conditions, because this way, the shadows aren’t super under exposed and the fog seems to be even thicker and more present.
In short, I was very satisfied with the camera and how the Sony A7iv handled during some challenging circumstances for a camera.
On the second morning , I went to the Speulderbos. As some of you know, I organize photowalks. These are guided tours for photographers by photographers. We will give you all the tips and tricks and help you to get the best photos possible. The last photowalk I did was in the Speulderbos in the Netherlands and I of course took the Sony A7iv with me. I have also used the Sony 70-200mm F2.8 G OSS MK2 for most of the photos that I took. Because this is a workshop type photoshoot for me, I don’t go out with the intention to get the best photos I have ever taken and thus, the camera needs to do what I want quickly, accurate and just get the shot in the least amount of time. It also needs to be on when I want it to for when I want to show someone a composition or what different settings do to a scene.
The camera did just that. It did what I asked of it, very quickly and instantly. When I turned on the camera, it’s way faster than my own A7R4. This is a big plus when you want to show a participant a composition or settings when they ask you something.
Conclusion
Overall, the camera works beautifully. It focus fast, accurate and the image quality that you get from the Sony A7iv is awesome. Can it get the sharpness and detail rendering like the A7Riv? No, but it’s getting closer. The A7Riv is a camera that’s made for landscape, cityscape and product photographers. Insane amount of detail, very specific functions that makes my life easier as a landscape photographer. The Sony A7iv on the other hand is my perfect secondary body for everything else.
The Sony A7iv is the perfect camera for photographers who are entering the full frame camera market. Furthermore, it’s the perfect for the hybrid shooters who do video and stills, but also a very good camera for the landscape/cityscape photographers, but who also like to shoot wildlife or sports.
About the auteur
Matthijs Bettman
Matthijs is 31 year old photographer from Utrecht, the Netherlands. His passion is landscape and cityscape photography with a special interest in woodland photography. Matthijs his photos are distinguished by the use of color and by making known locations look new. Matthijs his photos have been published by various travel agencies, travel magazines and National Geographic.
Matthijs is also very skilled in leading workshops and photowalks. With his skills to find the perfect locations everywhere he goes, you’ll get home with some amazing photos from amazing locations.
Also check out his website: www.bettmanphotography.com & instagram: www.instagram.com/bettmanphotography7
Sample photos
Below is a full gallery of photos that I shot with the Sony A7iv. I have used the Sony 12-24/4G, Sony 24-105/4G OSS, Sony 70-200/2.8G OSS MK2 and Sony 200-600/5-6.3G OSS for these images.
Enjoy and thank you for reading.
