Source: Sony A7 IV review: Mirrorless magic
(Pocket-lint) – For almost a decade, Sony’s Alpha range has been the choice of many filmmakers and creators.
The reason for this is simple: these cameras offer great performance in a compact form, essentially giving you a really high-quality tool that’s also easy to carry.
In the full-frame market, it all started with the release of the Sony A7 in 2013. And 2018’s Sony A7 III continues the lineage’s legacy that Mirrorless all-rounder range to consider, how does the A7 IV stack up?
Well, one thing is for sure – it doesn’t come cheap. However, as Sony has proven many times, the best value is in performance and features.
Sony describes the A7 IV as the entry-level model in the full-frame series. And technically it is. Don’t let that fool you into thinking the A7 IV is really just a basic or entry-level camera, though. It is not.
It may not be cheap, but it offers more than enough performance and versatility to justify the price.
For those looking for a camera that’s capable of both photography and video, there are currently few mirrorless cameras that perform as compellingly in this price range.
It’s a great starting point for those looking to upgrade to a ‘proper’ camera, while still being good enough to fit into a professional workflow as a ‘B’ camera for shooting additional cutaways on the fly.
- Fast and precise autofocus and tracking
- Relatively compact
- Lots of flexibility for connections
- High bitrate videos
- It’s not cheap
- Some buttons are in non-intuitive locations
- The menu system isn’t the easiest
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design
- 131.3 x 96.4 x 79.8mm
- 658g body weight – including battery and SD card
- E-mount for interchangeable lenses
We’ve long enjoyed the compact form of Sony’s full-screen offering. While the A7 IV isn’t tiny – at least not on par with the A7c – it’s still compact and easy to transport.
It’s not really bigger than Panasonic’s Micro Four Thirds cameras, like the GH5 and GH6, while still fitting in a full-frame sensor.
It also feels sturdy and well made. The case is solid, with a reassuring heft, although even then it’s light enough for easy handheld use. This is aided by the generous size of the handle, which protrudes from the front and is coated in grippy rubber to ensure you don’t drop it easily.
There’s also a ton of buttons and dials scattered around the body, which is useful. However, being Sony, these are also a bit impractical. Some just don’t seem to be doing particularly well. For example – in classic Sony style – the “Menu” button is not within reach of the right thumb. It sits to the left of the viewfinder instead.
So if you grab it with your right hand, you won’t get to the main menu without your left hand.
Other dials and buttons are much more convenient. Then there’s the dial for switching between photo, video and slow-mo and fast modes, which sits below the capture preset dial. It’s really fine, and the fact that it’s locked by default means you won’t accidentally switch to photo mode while recording a video.
Behind it are two more dials that adjust shutter speed and exposure compensation by default in manual mode. There’s also a handy little directional joystick on the back that lets you manually set the focus point in autofocus mode. Add that to the four programmable custom function keys, directional navigation wheel and dedicated movie button and you have pretty much everything you need.
Fortunately, the days when Sony didn’t introduce a proper fold-out screen are behind us. The A7 IV has one.
That means you can flip it out to look in the same direction as the lens, making it easier to film yourself. It also rotates 270 degrees to face forwards or backwards, or lets it face down when you’re taking photos while holding the camera above your head.
The only issue with this fold-out screen is that it blocks the ports a bit when facing forward, preventing easy access. Additionally, if you actually use these ports while filming, you’re blocking the view of the display.
ports and connectivity
- Dual memory card slot – SD and CFExpress Type A
- HDMI, Type-C (with Power Delivery), 3.5mm input and output
- 2.4GHz/5GHz WiFi – Bluetooth LE
It’s 2022, and of course that means any self-respecting camera manufacturer will make sure you have enough ports to make it useful for video capture. For Sony, that means a 3.5mm input and a separate 3.5mm output for microphones or headphones.
There’s a USB-C port for connecting to your computer for file transfers, but the A7 IV also supports Power Delivery for charging on the go. Then of course there is the HDMI connection for connecting to a monitor or external recorder monitor.
As for card support, you get two memory card slots. Both support SD cards, but the first slot is also compatible with CFExpressA, Sony’s proprietary CFEpxpress card format. It’s smaller than the kind used by Panasonic’s GH6, but it can read and write and is faster than SDXC. This is useful when you want to record in high bitrate file formats.
It’s also equipped with wireless connectivity via dual-band (2.4/5 GHz) Wi-Fi as well as low-power Bluetooth. This enables wireless file transfer and remote control functionality via your smartphone.
How to use?
- Real-time AF/tracking for humans, animals and birds
- breathing compensation
- 1.3 cm electronic viewfinder (OLED)
- Battery NP-FZ100
As with any camera, a large part of what affects how the camera feels is affected by the lens you use with it. Given that Sony sent us a top-of-the-line 14mm f/1.8 wide-angle lens, that limited the experience a bit. There’s only so much you can do with a lens that doesn’t zoom and, as a wide-angle lens, isn’t always sharp on close objects.
While the lens wasn’t ideal for all scenarios, there are many things to love about the way the A7 IV handles itself, and a big part of that is the advanced sensor and processing makeup. Just like we’ve seen with previous newer Sony cameras, the speed at which it works is really impressive.
Plug it into autofocus and you’ll get real-time eye-tracking by default. Whether you’re photographing a person or an animal, if their eyes are in view, they’ll be captured and tracked. And that too reliably. If you want to track an object manually, you can just touch it on the screen. It stays locked whether it moves or you move. For the most part this works fine.
For still photography, the speed at which it can capture an area and snap a photo is really impressive. At times it feels a little too fast and can actually feel like an exercise in confidence just believing the camera has focused on the right area.
However, there are a few elements that can make the Sony camera a bit difficult to use and they are the same as we’ve seen on the latest models.
First, the fact that you can’t just press the shutter button to start recording a video seems unusual, especially when you have to be in dedicated video mode to even record it. Instead, you’ll be turned away by the A7 IV and instructed to press the tiny, tricky red button instead.
Secondly, Sony’s menu navigation in the software takes some getting used to. There are so many options to customize the experience and settings, and while this is positive in some ways, it also makes navigating lengthy and unintuitive.
However, the battery life is pretty strong for such a powerful camera. We never panicked about how long we could shoot. Because it has USB-C that accepts power, you can plug it into a battery on the go to charge it while you’re not using it.
photo and video
- 33MP Exmor R CMOS 35mm full-frame sensor
- Bionz XR ISP – up to 10 fps bursts
- 4:2:2 10-bit 4K/60 video
- 5-axis SteadyShot stabilization
At the heart of the A7 IV is the latest 33-megapixel Exmor R full-frame sensor, paired with the powerful Bionz XR image processing unit. It’s a great pairing and together with clever thermal management allows for high bitrate and high frame rate recording at 4K resolution.
It shoots 14-bit RAW plus 4:2:2 10-bit video at 4K/60, which means you get crisp, smooth footage – especially when using 5-axis stabilization. Crucial for anyone doing a lot of color correction, the 10-bit data also means you have plenty of wiggle room to tweak colors, balance, exposure, highlights and the like without losing detail or adding noise to the image.
There are also several image profiles to choose from when it comes to color correction. These include S-Log2 and S-Log3, as well as a few different HLG modes for HDR capture. These join a handful of cine modes and the usual default automatic film setting. You can even tweak and fine-tune your own custom preset if you want, with the onboard screen providing a decent preview of what it’ll look like later on a well-balanced monitor.
The end result with video is a colorful image with sharp details and well-controlled exposure/shadows in auto mode. It didn’t seem to struggle with anything, as the aforementioned autofocus and real-time tracking kept subjects sharp.
The F/1.8 lens we used also meant quite dramatic depth of field with stunning natural looking bokeh/background blur. Of course, that also meant a very narrow focus range at peak times, but with the right subject and in the right environment, it’s effective. For example, if you’re photographing products in a confined space, this can help add some depth that otherwise wouldn’t be there when everything is so close together.
We didn’t find any major issues with the footage or the stills. Even in the shade or at slightly below optimal light levels, it can deliver good detail without excessive noise. And despite the fairly wide-angle lens, the distortion values were also low.
Sony describes the A7 IV as the entry-level or “base model” in its full-frame series. And technically it is. But don’t be fooled into thinking that the A7 IV is a basic or entry-level camera. It is not. It may not be cheap, but it offers performance and versatility worthy of its price tag.
Written by Cam Bunton.
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