Sony A7R IV A7R4 issues - Any advice?

[Oombie]

Greetings. I’ve had my A7R4 since late 2019, overall impressed, first dive into mirrorless coming from Canon DSLR. I shoot mainly birds, some landscape, and occasional portraits. Specific to birds in flight, it’s been a learning curve but have landed on settings which have helped, including back button focus. Over the course of the last few months, the back button approach has not been consistent, specificall, when I press the button nothing happens. i have two buttons configured, one with zone, the other spot focus, some times when I press the button, the focus ‘points’ don’t appear in the EVF, resulting in the autofocus not kicking in, and a lost shot. In the last couple of days a new issue has started where the screen flashes on and off when reviewing a shot, and when attempting to navigate through shots using the wheel, the camera goes back into shooting mode. It also seems slow to acquire moving subjects, birds, planes, etc., but i can’t and won’t rule out user error in that relative to iso, f-stop, shutter speed settings.

As a result I’m wondering a few things. Has anyone experienced the same, and if so, how did you address? Regarding the back button focus, is it a matter of cleaning lens contacts? Btw, shooting with the 100-400 G. Regarding the flashing, it’s possible the sensor in the eye piece that disables the display may need to be cleaned, can’t hurt any way. Any concerns in using a swab with rubbing alcohol? any insights which could be provided will be appreciate, I hesitate to send it in for repair if ultimately not necessary and am look8ng to rule things out.

Thanks

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

Greetings. I’ve had my A7R4 since late 2019, overall impressed, first dive into mirrorless coming from Canon DSLR. I shoot mainly birds, some landscape, and occasional portraits. Specific to birds in flight, it’s been a learning curve but have landed on settings which have helped, including back button focus. Over the course of the last few months, the back button approach has not been consistent, specificall, when I press the button nothing happens. i have two buttons configured, one with zone, the other spot focus, some times when I press the button, the focus ‘points’ don’t appear in the EVF, resulting in the autofocus not kicking in, and a lost shot. In the last couple of days a new issue has started where the screen flashes on and off when reviewing a shot, and when attempting to navigate through shots using the wheel, the camera goes back into shooting mode. It also seems slow to acquire moving subjects, birds, planes, etc., but i can’t and won’t rule out user error in that relative to iso, f-stop, shutter speed settings.

As a result I’m wondering a few things. Has anyone experienced the same, and if so, how did you address? Regarding the back button focus, is it a matter of cleaning lens contacts? Btw, shooting with the 100-400 G. Regarding the flashing, it’s possible the sensor in the eye piece that disables the display may need to be cleaned, can’t hurt any way. Any concerns in using a swab with rubbing alcohol? any insights which could be provided will be appreciate, I hesitate to send it in for repair if ultimately not necessary and am look8ng to rule things out.

Thanks

Have you disabled the AF on the shutter release button?

 

[Oombie]

Have you disabled the AF on the shutter release button?

Yes, it’s disabled

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

Ok. I would first try a camera reset, and then set everything up from scratch again. This will remove anything you may have inadvertently set. I had an issue with mine constantly moving the focus point. It was because I had enabled the touchscreen somehow and my nose with triggering it I would also definitely clean the eye sensor, this is the only thing I hate about the camera, it's very annoying when it gets dirty and I have missed shots because of it.

 

[Jeff A]

Yes, it’s disabled

I use BBF on my A7M3 without any issues but having two buttons with different focus settings I had not thought about. Research time for me I guess. FWIF, I use the joystick for the BBF.

 

[Oombie]

Ok. I would first try a camera reset, and then set everything up from scratch again. This will remove anything you may have inadvertently set. I had an issue with mine constantly moving the focus point. It was because I had enabled the touchscreen somehow and my nose with triggering it I would also definitely clean the eye sensor, this is the only thing I hate about the camera, it's very annoying when it gets dirty and I have missed shots because of it.

Great point, will reset and update. Thanks