Sony A7RIV Review
Sony A7R4 (ILCE-7RM4)
Announced - Jul 2019
Pro
Real time tracking
New body design
61.0 MP sensor, Great IQ
New EVF
Con
No major improvement in video
Big file
No USB C to SSD function
I was very excited when the A7R4 was announced in July. I have always enjoyed my A7R3, but was curious on the real time autofocus system on the A6400 and A9. I immediately jumped on the preorder and got one from Sony Hong Kong at launch.
What’s in the box
Beside the body and cap, there is manual, battery, charger, power cords (EU, UK, US plugs all included), USB-C cable, neck strap, and plastic cable clamp.
Body
The A7R4 follows the same design as the previous generation A7R3. Dimension and weight are about the same as previous generation at 128.9 mm x96.4 mm x 77.5 mm, and 665 g.
On the top, one of the changes is there is not a toggle lock on the EV dial. It is a nice change to prevent accidentally changing the EV when taking the camera out of the bag. Buttons are generally bigger and more spongy to press compared to the R3.
Starting from the back, there are some small changes on the controls. The new AF ON button is bigger, the back control dial moved from body to the top, and the joystick also increased in size as well. There is also a new 5.76m dot with 0.78x magnification 120 fps OLED EVF, which has higher resolution than the R3. It is nice, sharp, and bright. I haven’t noticed any lag on the EVF.
There is no significant changes to the menu system from the A7R3. There is still no touch function on the menus. The joystick and D PAD can be used to navigate the menus. In my experience, the menu really isn’t that bad once the camera is set up. FN bar can be configured for still/video separately, and there is a configurable My Menu to store the items. The details can be found on Sony’s online help guide over here. GPS coordinate can be recorded by linking with the Sony Imaging Edge on smart phone. The app works fine with my Android phone. Connection is stable, but just have to remember to launch the app before shooting.
On the Left side, you see the different ports. There is USB-C, Micro USB, Micro HDMI, Mic in, 3.5mm headphone, and PC Sync port. The cover went from flaps on the R3 to doors on the R3, keeping things tidy. The battery can be charged through USB C, so there is really no need to buy an extra battery unless you really need it. I wonder if Sony will keep the Micro USB in the future. The trend seems to use USB-C for more and more functions, such as USBC to headphone on the XT30, or the USBC to SSD on Blackmagic design cinema 4k/Sigma FP.
From the right side, you can see the most dramatic changes. A7R4 has a new bigger and deeper grip. My initial feeling was that the new body is heavier and bulkier than the A7R3, but I come to really like the new grip after using it for months. It helps significantly when using heavy lens, such as 24-70gm, 70-300, giving more confidence when handling the camera.
In the grip, it still houses the same NP-FZ100 battery that provides impressive battery life. The CIPA rating is 530/670 shots. In real usage, I never have to change or even charge battery during the day. It also now has 2 UHS-II slots, instead of 1 UHS-II + 1 UHS-I SD card slots on the A7R3.
Image Quality
A7R4 has the a new 61.0MP 35mm Full Frame BSI EXMOR R CMOS sensor with BIONZ X image processor. The standard ISO range is 100-32000, and expandable to 50-102400. The sensor also features a 567 phase detect and 425 contrast detect AF points. There is In-body image stabilization on the sensor, giving 5.5 stops vs 5 stops on the A7R3. It gives 26.2MP even in crop mode, higher than even the top of the line APS-C Sony A6600.
In terms of image quality, I have no complaint about it. To be honest, it was not like the 42MP A7R3 was desperate for a resolution increase. No significant issue with metering/white balance, and there is plenty of dynamic range when editing raw files as well. Each photo is about 21mb (JPG) + 120mb (Uncompressed raw). There is also the pixel shift mode, where it will take 16 photos in a row, then use the Image Edge software to create an ultra high resolution file. I have never tried that, as the 61mp is more than enough for my need.
On the video side, there is not much change other than having Eye-AF in video now. It doesn’t do 4k60p, no 10 bit…etc. It also doesn’t do pixel binning in full frame mode,. This is not the camera if you want top notch video, and I find the quality acceptable for general use.
Autofocus
The most significant change is the new real-time tracking auto focus system, which was first implemented on the A9/A6400. I now shoot majority of the time in AFC tracking mode whether the object is moving or not. You can see the details on this very useful video from Dpreview. Autofocus is very sticky in most situation, able to keep track of the object even with complex background or challenging light. It is also very simple to use, just put the focus point on the object and half press the shutter. Eye-AF on animal and human works very well, and helps a lot in using large aperture lens to nail the focus. There are tons of video comparing the performance on Youtube, I have briefly compared EyeAF against Fujifilm, and Sony does have a noticeable edge over it.
Conclusion
It is surprising that Sony released the A7R4 so soon. Comparing against the peers, even the previous generation A7R3 still competes well to other high resolution camera on the market, such as Nikon Z7 and the Panasonic S1R.Perhaps the A7R3 sensor/processor was limited, and R4 is to roll out the class leading auto focus feature to the line up. We can also see this happening to the A6000 series APSC bodies, and I would expect this continue to trickle down to A7 IV, and RX/HX series.
A7R4 has no real weak point other than video feature is not able to compete against other 24mp full frame camera. Sony also has the largest selection of full frame mirrorless lens, so it is hard to find any significant concern on it. This is the camera to get if you are looking for a high resolution full frame camera.
Sample Gallery (edited from raw)
