Mirrorless beginner

Mario

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Mario
Greetings all, I am from London and I am planning to treat myself for Christmas and switch from point-and-shoot to my first mirrorless camera.
I am currently reading as much as I can about new Sony A7 IV.
What I have seen to far looks exactly what I want but there is one thing that caught my eye and that is cropping at 4K 60fps.
I am very green when it comes to digital cameras so pardon my ignorance and here is the question...
How big of a deal is this cropping, is this because of a physical or software limitation?
Is this something that can be addressed months or a year down the line via software upgrade or not if it is caused by a physical limitation.

The camera looks incredible, portability is very important to me and it looks small enough to be carried around for hours, just what I am looking for.

What an awesome WebSite this is, I have checked out some photos and what can I say, a decade down the line I will give you a run for your money :)

Best regards.
 
Greetings all, I am from London and I am planning to treat myself for Christmas and switch from point-and-shoot to my first mirrorless camera.
I am currently reading as much as I can about new Sony A7 IV.
What I have seen to far looks exactly what I want but there is one thing that caught my eye and that is cropping at 4K 60fps.
I am very green when it comes to digital cameras so pardon my ignorance and here is the question...
How big of a deal is this cropping, is this because of a physical or software limitation?
Is this something that can be addressed months or a year down the line via software upgrade or not if it is caused by a physical limitation.

The camera looks incredible, portability is very important to me and it looks small enough to be carried around for hours, just what I am looking for.

What an awesome WebSite this is, I have checked out some photos and what can I say, a decade down the line I will give you a run for your money :)

Best regards.
Welcome. But a decade down the line we will still have 10 years on you :) Enjoy the camera when it arrives. A steep learning curve, but that camera is a very good point to start, it will do all you need for years.
 
I think your talking about one of two things.

A) The full frame sensor is larger than aspect ratio of 4k, I think it’s like 5 or 6 (don’t quote me), so it down samples the video to fit 4k, essentially squeezing more detail into the 4k ratio (not to be confused with squeezing pixels, as pixel sizes don’t change “strictly not true, but that’s a whole different tech level”).

B) A small crop factor gets applied to the lens, this is because of above… the sensor is too large to fit into 4k, so by only using a portion of the sensor the lens applies a minimal crop factor.

When a mirrorless Full Frames is set into APSC mode (crop), it does the same thing and will only use a portion of the sensor, by the way light lands onto the sensor it then crops.

Hopefully this helps. It’s normal and can’t be fixed years down the line. If the sensor was 8k and the processor was capable of handling 8k then the crop factor may go away as the full sensor would be used. However it can’t on this model or previous ones that down sample from none native 8k sensor. I suspect the A7R is 8k or above in sensor size but doesn’t support 8k on its processor, motherboard as we are talking serious amounts of data, 4k with 10bit sampling can produce 600Mbps… so 8k would reach the limitations of most if not all SD cards.

I have the Sony A7iii and was blown away by the 4k footage vs my iPhone 12 4k…. Just a different level all together.
 
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Also found this, but the above is quick and short.

I suspect I have made some technical errors on the above, but it’s what I think happens and why’s.
 
Congrats on deciding on the A7 IV. However, I hope your Christmas present doesn't include unwrapping it Christmas morning. The chance of that is slim to none. In fact, it's unlikely for those of us who already have deposits in. Sony 'expects' to start sipping by the end of December.

There are a lot of different processes to which you can apply the term 'crop'. In each process, it refers to making the image smaller by using fewer pixels. In-camera, this could be shooting video on a FF sensor due to the different aspect ratio (Picture shape. Videos are wider.), or shooting in APS-C (smaller sensor) mode. After shooting, it refers to cutting off some of the image in a processing program. This could be done to remove an unwanted item, make the photo subject appear closer than what it actually is, or to make a change to the composition.

In your case, you're asking specifically about recording video, so my first example is the answer. And as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. The image is for a Nikon, it's the only one I could find quickly. The concept is the same:

R.b23607ca53d6f0a3e9f51bfef6606e68
 
Congrats on deciding on the A7 IV. However, I hope your Christmas present doesn't include unwrapping it Christmas morning. The chance of that is slim to none. In fact, it's unlikely for those of us who already have deposits in. Sony 'expects' to start sipping by the end of December.

There are a lot of different processes to which you can apply the term 'crop'. In each process, it refers to making the image smaller by using fewer pixels. In-camera, this could be shooting video on a FF sensor due to the different aspect ratio (Picture shape. Videos are wider.), or shooting in APS-C (smaller sensor) mode. After shooting, it refers to cutting off some of the image in a processing program. This could be done to remove an unwanted item, make the photo subject appear closer than what it actually is, or to make a change to the composition.

In your case, you're asking specifically about recording video, so my first example is the answer. And as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. The image is for a Nikon, it's the only one I could find quickly. The concept is the same:

R.b23607ca53d6f0a3e9f51bfef6606e68
I went to Jessops and I was told they will start receiving them beginning of December. I was told there are 60 people in the queue for body only option but as I am getting both body and lens I am in position 8 so with a little bit of luck I should get it at some point in December. I am not in a hurry anyway. Thanks very much for your response.
 
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Also found this, but the above is quick and short.

I suspect I have made some technical errors on the above, but it’s what I think happens and why’s.
Thanks very much Andrew for both comments, much appreciated. Lots to learn that's for sure but you have to start somewehere.
 
Greetings all, I am from London and I am planning to treat myself for Christmas and switch from point-and-shoot to my first mirrorless camera.
I am currently reading as much as I can about new Sony A7 IV.
What I have seen to far looks exactly what I want but there is one thing that caught my eye and that is cropping at 4K 60fps.
I am very green when it comes to digital cameras so pardon my ignorance and here is the question...
How big of a deal is this cropping, is this because of a physical or software limitation?
Is this something that can be addressed months or a year down the line via software upgrade or not if it is caused by a physical limitation.

The camera looks incredible, portability is very important to me and it looks small enough to be carried around for hours, just what I am looking for.

What an awesome WebSite this is, I have checked out some photos and what can I say, a decade down the line I will give you a run for your money :)

Best regards.
Welcome to the site!
Will you be mostly taking photos or video?
If only photos, feel free to ignore that limitation you mentioned (bold and underlined in your quote).
If you plan to video a lot, you will mostly be taking video in a lower frame rate (24/25/30 fps) for regular footage. 60fps and higher are used if you specifically want to slow down the footage in your video editing program later on. The problem with having a crop at 4k60fps means that at this speed and resolution, your footage will appear zoomed in... for some people that's a deal breaker, but for others maybe not.

Another thing to consider is the video file size. I have 4k capability on my a6400, but I choose to record video in 1080p to save space on my memory card and harddrive, and also to make it easier to edit on a low-spec laptop. 4k video files will be large, so make sure to get a large memory card and ensure your computer can handle 4k editing.
 
Congrats on deciding on the A7 IV. However, I hope your Christmas present doesn't include unwrapping it Christmas morning. The chance of that is slim to none. In fact, it's unlikely for those of us who already have deposits in. Sony 'expects' to start sipping by the end of December.
In Europe I am quite sure there will be some pre-christmas deliveries (if you pre-orderdered in 1st days after announcment).
I was one of the 1st to get A7M3 delivered back in 2018 (march 07 2018), same for A1 in 2021, same for 50mm f1.2 GM, so I defineltly see a trend here: higger paying European customers get Sony products in hands a lot sooner than lower paying US/Canadian customers.

EDIT: FYI Eu customers will be paying north of us$3.200 for the A7M4
 
Greetings all, I am from London and I am planning to treat myself for Christmas and switch from point-and-shoot to my first mirrorless camera.
I am currently reading as much as I can about new Sony A7 IV.
What I have seen to far looks exactly what I want but there is one thing that caught my eye and that is cropping at 4K 60fps.
I am very green when it comes to digital cameras so pardon my ignorance and here is the question...
How big of a deal is this cropping, is this because of a physical or software limitation?
Is this something that can be addressed months or a year down the line via software upgrade or not if it is caused by a physical limitation.

The camera looks incredible, portability is very important to me and it looks small enough to be carried around for hours, just what I am looking for.

What an awesome WebSite this is, I have checked out some photos and what can I say, a decade down the line I will give you a run for your money :)

Best regards.
Best choice you could make in 2021 (for your first FF mirrorless camera)

About your worries: have you been recording much video so far? Do you have a 4K capable TV ? Do you have a computer powerfull enough to be editing 4K 60p footage ?

Chances are you will be recording video (if at all ...) in 1080p (your hard drive certainly will thank you for staying away from 4K)
 
In Europe I am quite sure there will be some pre-christmas deliveries (if you pre-orderdered in 1st days after announcment).
I was one of the 1st to get A7M3 delivered back in 2018 (march 07 2018), same for A1 in 2021, same for 50mm f1.2 GM, so I defineltly see a trend here: higger paying European customers get Sony products in hands a lot sooner than lower paying US/Canadian customers.

EDIT: FYI Eu customers will be paying north of us$3.200 for the A7M4
Yes, but Sony has said they expect to begin shipping end of December. While that could be a conservative estimate on their part in order to avoid possible delays in customer's expectations, it's still out there for now.
 
I went to Jessops and I was told they will start receiving them beginning of December. I was told there are 60 people in the queue for body only option but as I am getting botu body and lense I am in position 8 so with a little bit of luck I should get it at some point in December. I am not in a hurry anyway. Thanks very much for your response.
With any luck that'll work out. Good job on the body/lens, 8 is way better than 61! I was never even asked, so even though I don't want the lens I may have to take a kit to keep my place in line.
 
Here's what B&H and other major dealers are saying for US:

BH IV_LI.jpg
 
Yes, but Sony has said they expect to begin shipping end of December.
Should be "Sony US said...", OP is from UK, not ordering from Sony US

Edit: the PT Sony dealer I pre-ordered from expects delivery December-17


Edit #2: this PT Sony dealer just called me with delivery info: they expecting between 20 to 40 units to be delivered to them by Sony around December-17, I am #4 in queue so I definitely expect to get my unit in time for Christmas Tree ;-)
 
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Should be "Sony US said...", OP is from UK, not ordering from Sony US

Edit: the PT Sony dealer I pre-ordered from expects delivery December-17


Edit #2: this PT Sony dealer just called me with delivery info: they expecting between 20 to 40 units to be delivered to them by Sony around December-17, I am #4 in queue so I definitely expect to get my unit in time for Christmas Tree ;-)
Yes, if you read my posts following that one you'll see I corrected myself.

Keep us posted as to how this progresses!
 
He he...just came back from Jessops and gues what I've landed :)

On top of that Sony gave me £300 cashback so Christmas came very early indeed.

(Now I need to learn how to use the darn thing...)
 

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