Sony A7 IV Sony a7 IV Images and First Impressions

[Mario]

Nice shots and nice dog. I’m jealous - just checked with my dealer and I’ve moved up from 71st to 32nd on the waiting list. They are awaiting their December allocation - hopefully, it’s at least 32.
looking forward to reading more as you use it a bit more + seeing some nice piccies, of course.

Hi David,

I've got mine from Jessops on 1st of December.
Traded in my old one and trade-in value with lens was around £405.
On top of that Sony has £300 cashback running at the moment so I really hope you catch it in time.
Overall I am £700 better off towards the camera so I am quite happy.

I am told that you wait significantly longer for body only.

 

[Jeff A]

Thank you Jeff. The eye AF definitely helps when they are hidden behind branches like this, although it doesn't always nail it.

I ws thinking that the "Zone" focus area would be helpful in this situation.

 

[Reciprocum]

I ws thinking that the "Zone" focus area would be helpful in this situation.

Zone is still too big to help on these situations. Has to be spot-M or spot-S, even with eye-AF assist

 

[Reciprocum]

CaptureOne (C1) v22 just released and now supports 7M4 RAWs.
Left are the C1 exports after just allowing for auto-adjust on import, right art the SOOC JPGs



The M4 had immense difficulty focusing on the man in the foreground despite a small focus point. Most of the frames were out of focus.
On normal lighting conditions the difference between auto-adjusted RAWs (no further editing applied) and SOOC JPGs is much smaller.

Probably going forward, for unpaid casual social shooting, I won't bother with RAW editing most of the times.
I think (subjective) the dynamic range of the M4 RAWs is greater than that of the A1 RAWs, that will also be a factor on which camera I will use depending on the light vs action mix. If shutter noise is tolerated I think I will prefer the M4 to the A1 for indoors shooting.

 

[pointreyes]

The dynamic range will be interesting to see from tests. These are the results between the M3 and A1.

Photographic Dynamic Range versus ISO Setting

 

[Reciprocum]

Lovely shots! Thanks for contributing Afonso! Looks like a wet week ahead for us, so a good chance to test its low light capabilities

I will be covering a very low-light event next week. Plan on using M4 as main body for that and A1 as 2nd body.
Will ask permission to share here some pics. Will be shooting both ARW and fine JPGs

 

[Jeff A]

The dynamic range will be interesting to see from tests. These are the results between the M3 and A1.

Photographic Dynamic Range versus ISO Setting

So a higher line on the chart is better?

 

[Brownie]

So a higher line on the chart is better?

In theory, yes. ISO is shown at the bottom, stops of dynamic range up the side. Read each node individually. You'll note some are directly over the top of one another. Also note the legend for native, extended, noise reduction, etc. If you hover over the nodes, it'll give you the exact reading. For example, The A1 at ISO 100 has a DR of 11.34, while the MK3 at 100 has a DR of 11.6. The real-world difference in those two is negligible.

 

[pointreyes]

So a higher line on the chart is better?

Yes. Higher dynamic range. It also shows that interesting bump with the increase of the dynamic range at 640 with M3 compared to 500 for the A1 which means that with the M3 if you are at 500, it is better to bump it up to 640 to improve the dynamic range.

 

[Reciprocum]

Glad that M4 RAW support has arrived as one cannot (easily) edit an 8-bit JPEG in such a big extent without leaving ugly tone banding, etc.
14-bit deep RAWs are on another level altogether.
M4's 33mpx is plenty of resolution for a 1/3 crop and still have enough resolution left for print.

• ILCE-7M4
• Sigma 85mm F1.4 DG DN | A (Sony E)
• 85.0 mm
• ƒ/2
• 1/800 sec
• ISO 100

• ILCE-7M4
• Sigma 85mm F1.4 DG DN | A (Sony E)
• 85.0 mm
• ƒ/2
• 1/800 sec
• ISO 100

 

[Reciprocum]

Experimenting a bit in the studio with strobes & gels (3), and comparing M4 to A1.

Main takes:
1) A1 allows to kill more ambient light than M4 (because of maximum x-sync of 1/400s vs 1/250s) thus I can have brighter modelling lights for better focus acquisition without impacting the final shot.
2) Resolution wise I can use both cameras in studio with full satisfaction.
3) I would tend to use A1 rather than M4 for the quieter shutter sound and better EVF experience (best for manual focusing)
4) I would rather pick up the M4 if I need to shoot at f8 or bigger to avoid DLA issues with A1 high res sensor.
5) ISO wise I would also trust M4 better for non-flash (concerts) low light situations.

• ILCE-7M4
• FE 50mm F1.2 GM
• 50.0 mm
• ƒ/2.2
• 1/250 sec
• ISO 200

 

[Brownie]

Your model looks really stiff. You should try to learn some techniques to relax them before the shoot.

 

[Reciprocum]

Your model looks really stiff. You should try to learn some techniques to relax them before the shoot.

She is called "Stiffany" for good reason , maybe is the low salary that makes her stiff...

 

[Jeff A]

She is called "Stiffany" for good reason , maybe is the low salary that makes her stiff...

Or maybe she's not comfortable with your style or she's not happy with your "Stiffness".

 

[Reciprocum]

I will be covering a very low-light event next week. Plan on using M4 as main body for that and A1 as 2nd body.
Will ask permission to share here some pics. Will be shooting both ARW and fine JPGs

I did not regret using the M4 (instead of the A1) as main body for this event
At ISO640 I don't even bother to apply any NR whatsoever in post (A1 would not allow that I suppose)

• ILCE-7M4
• Sony FE 50mm F1.2 GM (SEL50F12GM)
• 50.0 mm
• ƒ/1.2
• 1/250 sec
• ISO 640

 

[Jeff A]

Well, unless your subject was the Dude in the second row, It looked like you chose the correct tool for the job. Do you recall what Focus Area that you used?

 

[Reciprocum]

Well, unless your subject was the Dude in the second row, It looked like you chose the correct tool for the job. Do you recall what Focus Area that you used?

Spot-M with eye-AF assist, placed on the girl on the front row.
If using zone focus area the eye-AF will tend to pick the closest eye witch, with the shallow DOF of the f1.2, would leave almost everyone else hopelessly out of focus like here

• ILCE-7M4
• Sony FE 50mm F1.2 GM (SEL50F12GM)
• 50.0 mm
• ƒ/1.2
• 1/250 sec
• ISO 640

But for more face-on situations I toggle (focus areas custom assigned to the control wheel on both cameras, so just one rotation click away with the thumb) to zone focus and let the machine pick the focus point.

• ILCE-7M4
• Sony FE 50mm F1.2 GM (SEL50F12GM)
• 50.0 mm
• ƒ/1.2
• 1/250 sec
• ISO 640

 

[Jeff A]

Spot-M with eye-AF assist, placed on the girl on the front row.
If using zone focus area the eye-AF will tend to pick the closest eye witch, with the shallow DOF of the f1.2, would leave almost everyone else hopelessly out of focus like here
View attachment 15457

But for more face-on situations I toggle (focus areas custom assigned to the control wheel on both cameras, so just one rotation click away with the thumb) to zone focus and let the machine pick the focus point.
View attachment 15458

Thanks for the info. Being a Rookie, I was thinking Zone might have done the trick.

 

[Reciprocum]

Thanks for the info. Being a Rookie, I was thinking Zone might have done the trick.

For not so lateral situations as first example (up to 60deg off to any side I would say), if you pre-registered the face(s) of 1 or 2 persons (normally bride and groom or the birthday person) then you can get away with using wider focus areas as the camera (even M3 was able to do this) will recognise the priority person(s) and focus on their eye even in a line-up and even if they are not the closest one.

 

[Reciprocum]

Example of the croppability (without loss of quality) that the 33mpx sensor allows
Full frame

• ILCE-7M4
• Sony FE 135mm F1.8 GM (SEL135F18GM)
• 135.0 mm
• ƒ/1.8
• 1/160 sec
• ISO 400

100% crop

• ILCE-7M4
• Sony FE 135mm F1.8 GM (SEL135F18GM)
• 135.0 mm
• ƒ/1.8
• 1/160 sec
• ISO 400

So, after 3 weeks of moderate M4 use (and previous 3y of M3 use - 60k shots) it is my opinion that the M4 is a totally worthy upgrade over the M3.

Weak points: sports, loud m-shutter, rolling shutter with e-shutter.
Strong points: resolution, ergonomics, improved EVF, the new LCD tilting mechanism, more customisable than M3, much better AF than M3.
Tied with M3 on ISO performance