Sony A7 IV Battery Compartment Door

[cjsmall]

Well, I just unpacked my new A7 IV along with three new lenses and am excited to get out and start shooting -- after plowing through the manual and setting things up. One thing I immediately found odd was that the battery door latch is not spring loaded and I have to manually push the latch closed after installing a new battery. Every other camera I've owned had a spring loaded latch so I'm wondering if this is normal of whether the latch is broken. Can other owners confirm. Thanks.

 

[Brownie]

Well, I just unpacked my new A7 IV along with three new lenses and am excited to get out and start shooting -- after plowing through the manual and setting things up. One thing I immediately found odd was that the battery door latch is not spring loaded and I have to manually push the latch closed after installing a new battery. Every other camera I've owned had a spring loaded latch so I'm wondering if this is normal of whether the latch is broken. Can other owners confirm. Thanks.

Normal.

Irritating,

but normal.

 

[cjsmall]

Thanks for the confirmation. Sony does seem to have an odd philosophy of changing certain things for the worse on occasion. I wonder if this happens the same way that developers cost out their building projects. A long time ago when I was just starting out in a new architectural firm, I sat in a meeting where the developer/owner spent hours repositioning the outlets in apartments so that one $8 outlet (that was the construction cost per outlet at the time) could be eliminated from the apartment layout. User convenience be damned! I wonder of the latch spring was felled by one of these meetings!

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

Very irritating

 

[AlphaWorld]

Thanks for the confirmation. Sony does seem to have an odd philosophy of changing certain things for the worse on occasion. I wonder if this happens the same way that developers cost out their building projects. A long time ago when I was just starting out in a new architectural firm, I sat in a meeting where the developer/owner spent hours repositioning the outlets in apartments so that one $8 outlet (that was the construction cost per outlet at the time) could be eliminated from the apartment layout. User convenience be damned! I wonder of the latch spring was felled by one of these meetings!

Sony battery doors have been like this for many many generations of cameras - not just the current ones.

 

[iain clyne]

They seem to mess about with the card door as well, some it's a catch and the door springs open. The A9ii its slide the door to open it and the 7iv has a catch and then you slide the door. I wish they would make their mind up.

 

[Brownie]

Thanks for the confirmation. Sony does seem to have an odd philosophy of changing certain things for the worse on occasion. I wonder if this happens the same way that developers cost out their building projects. A long time ago when I was just starting out in a new architectural firm, I sat in a meeting where the developer/owner spent hours repositioning the outlets in apartments so that one $8 outlet (that was the construction cost per outlet at the time) could be eliminated from the apartment layout. User convenience be damned! I wonder of the latch spring was felled by one of these meetings!

Well, you could eliminate the spring itself and two anchor points!

 

[Deleted Member 5045]

Rumour has it that this was a money saving scheme by one of the lead engineers. Sounds like they moved him to another department after that...

Exciting times for you! What lenses did you get mate?

 

[cjsmall]

Rumour has it that this was a money saving scheme by one of the lead engineers. Sounds like they moved him to another department after that...

Exciting times for you! What lenses did you get mate?

I got the new Sony FE 20-70mm F4 G, the Sony FE 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 G OSS. and the Sigma 14-24mm F2.8 DG DN Art. I generally shoot architecture and landscapes and have a month-long trip to the UK, Portugal and Spain coming up in May, so I'll really get an opportunity to try things out. Although I could have paid better attention to the dimensions, I was a bit shocked at how much larger the 70-300 lens was compared to my ancient Minolta 70-210. My next project is finding larger cases for my Lowepro lens belt!

I think this 20-70mm is going to be an excellent walking-around lens for my general shooting needs. Much better than my Minolta 35-85mm that I was using on my APS-C Alpha 77 camera -- as if I need to point that out!

 

[Deleted Member 5045]

That's a great kit! Got to be loving that! That's a smart, good value move I think...

I do like that 20-70mm lens. The extra 4mm on the wide end would be amazing! Was going to question the 14-24mm instead of a 16-35mm, but I guess if you can already go to 20mm with that Sony then it only makes sense to go a bit wider than 16mm with your super wide option, and I'd personally choose that Sigma over the Sony 12-24mm f4.

 

[cjsmall]

I was using the Sony 11-18mm lens on the A77 APS-C which turned it into an effective 16-27mm lens. So I figured that the 14mm lens would be just fine. I did like the Sigma a bit more than the Sony 12-24 considering the price and the additional F-stop. It's a nicely made lens and received top reviews.

 

[AlphaWorld]

The card door changes every generation or so.

There was one that was springloaded with a catch, then one that you slid to the rear, now the one where you slide the catch down, then the door to the rear.

I suspect the door will require you to say “Open sesame” while holding down a catch, and tapping out the Morse code for “SONY” with your left foot, sooner or later…

 

[Deleted Member 5045]

I was using the Sony 11-18mm lens on the A77 APS-C which turned it into an effective 16-27mm lens. So I figured that the 14mm lens would be just fine. I did like the Sigma a bit more than the Sony 12-24 considering the price and the additional F-stop. It's a nicely made lens and received top reviews.

I was very much a Sigma Art man for a while mate. The build quality, well the overall quality for that matter is outstanding! I will never ever object to someone wanting any of their lenses.

 

[cjsmall]

Back in the late70s I had a Sigma F/2.8 70-210mm that was a real work horse. It was a very nice lens and I used it for almost 20 years until some internal cam broke and the zoom function jammed.