Camera with the coolest photo quality unattainable on smartphones and very simple controls

Looks and Ergos

The first thing that catches your eye when you pick up the camera is the new swivel display, which until then could only be found in the more budgetary Sony A7C. Now he has reached the cells of a higher class. An expected and desired feature by many that makes it easier to shoot yourself, for example. And choosing the right angle with a screen that spins in all directions is much easier. For transportation, this is also useful – the screen can be turned over and closed with the glass down. As a result, no offensive scratches.

How much and where to buy

Sony A7 IV

If you look at the camera from afar, it will be difficult to distinguish it from previous models. Disguise, by the way, on the level. There is no index “IV” under the ruler logo, it is found only to the left of the electronic viewfinder.

Sony A7 IV

The camera has a lot of controls. A beginner without training in them is likely to get lost, but for a person who shoots often, this is a real gift. The Sony A7 IV has six separate customizable buttons, but you can reassign all the rest. From the A7S III, the camera inherited an exposure compensation wheel with a lock button, but the wheel itself in the A7 IV did not receive any graphic designations. By default, it is still responsible for exposure compensation, but you can assign your own settings. In general, it is worth spending some time to adapt the camera for yourself. Evening is enough for this, but in return you will get a device that is really convenient to use.

Customizable wheel with lock button (pictured unlocked)

Switching from photo mode to video mode in this generation, as it seemed to me, became more convenient. Firstly, for this there is now also a separate ring with a lock, which is located directly under the mode switch wheel. Secondly, you can twist the ring itself literally with one finger, using the lock button as a lever.

1/2Equipped with ports at the level: there is Type-C, a “minijack” for monitoring sound while recording video, another “minijack” for connecting a microphone, a microUSB connector and full-size HDMI, which can be useful for displaying an image on a larger screen. Gun microphones and all other peripherals can now be connected via the multi-interface audio jack on top, which was not in the A7 III. The thing is convenient, it eliminates unnecessary XLR wires.

Sony A7 IV

While porting is an important parameter when choosing a camera, you should also consider how these ports are located. One swivel screen can easily deny access to some connectors (we have already seen this with the A7C), but here the engineers were able to avoid this unfortunate fate.

Dust_remains_in_the_past

It is difficult to surprise today with the usual protection of the case against moisture and dust. But getting rid of dust on the matrix is ​​something new. Now the shutter curtain will close itself when the user changes lenses. True, the innovation has one limitation – the silent shooting mode, which disables the mechanism of the mechanical shutter. With it, you will have to rotate the replacement of optics in a place where the chance of “covering” the matrix with dust will be slightly lower. Or you will have to turn off the silent shooting mode itself before replacing the “glass”.

What's new inside?

Perhaps the most noticeable change is the new 33MP Exmor R sensor. He came to replace the matrix with a resolution of 24 megapixels, retaining all the design features of its predecessor. The main one is the backlighting of the matrix, which allows you to use those ISO values ​​that simply cannot be achieved using a conventional CMOS sensor. There are, of course, Sony cameras with higher resolution. For example, Sony A7R IV with a 60 MP sensor. But it costs much more, and is used mainly only by photographers. Here is the most versatile option that is suitable for most scenarios.

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A larger number of pixels on a matrix of the same size is necessary, first of all, to increase sharpness and detail when scaling. At the same time, if the sizes of the matrices are identical, then the pixels themselves become smaller and, in theory, their reduced sizes can affect the photosensitivity. But this does not seem to apply to cameras from Sony. The A7 IV performs perfectly in low light and can produce a picture identical to that of the A7S III, a champion in darkness.

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Sony FE 50mm f/2 .5G (ISO 12800, f/2.5, 1/500s)

ISO 12800-25600 working values ​​are no joke. Even at these values, you can get well-exposed frames with a minimum of noise and normal detail. "Rough" noises begin to appear after overcoming the threshold of 25600 and a short shutter speed.

Shooting speed remains the same as the A7 III (10 fps compressed RAW, 6 fps uncompressed RAW), but keep in mind that the number of pixels on the sensor has increased by almost 50 percent.

Obviously, for such a speed, you need a fast drive and a decent buffer in the camera itself. Therefore, the Sony A7 IV received two ports for memory cards at once: one for the usual SD UHS II cards, the other hybrid: for the same SD, plus for lesser-known CFexpress Type A memory cards developed by Sony.

MRW-G2 Card Reader with CFExsress + SD support and itself CFExspress Type A memory card

What does support for another memory card standard provide? And it gives a write speed of 700 MB/s, for example. This allows you to shoot literally in one burst (compressed RAW + JPEG) until the battery runs out of power. By the way, about batteries.

The hero of the review uses a new Sony NP-FZ100 battery, which, in theory, should supply the camera with energy for two hours while recording 4K video. If you are not going to shoot a video, then this is about 580 shots without recharging. At first, you can even do without buying additional batteries, because the camera can be charged directly while shooting via Type-C. Have a portable battery that supports Power Delivery? Great, it will do.

Sony A7 IV Video Quality

Despite the fact that Sony has a separate line of A7S cameras, which focuses on shooting video, the hero of the review copes with this task just as well. As befits a flagship camera from Sony, the A7 IV can shoot in 4K at 60 frames per second, but with one limitation – the camera in this mode stops shooting at “full frame” and uses a sensor area comparable to APS-C framing (Super 35). If you shoot using the entire area of ​​the sensor, then the frequency drops to 30 frames.

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Shooting continuity is an important parameter, and Sony approached it responsibly. With a special case design that allows better heat dissipation, A7 IV can record 4K video (60fps, 10bit, 4:2:2) for more than an hour without interruption.

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The camera can perform simple color correction itself, for this it has Creative Look modes in A7IV and S-Cinetone with ready-made presets for all occasions. If you like to “twist” the colors yourself, then you will have at your disposal several profiles of the gamma index curve – S-Log2 and S-Log3. =”Artificial Intelligence Comes to the Rescue”>Artificial Intelligence Comes to the Rescue

Yes, processor power is important even in photographic equipment. The Sony A7 IV uses the BIONZ XR chip in its calculations, which is better than the “oldies” works with colors, provides good power and eliminates the delay in processing the footage. It's funny, but even the menu began to work noticeably faster if we compare the performance with previous models. Abstract computing power is, of course, great. However, it is much more interesting to see how this set of AI and cool electronics works in real conditions.

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The most important area of ​​application of “smart” algorithms in cameras from Sony – an autofocus system that can rightfully be considered one of the best on the market. Sony has succeeded so much in this that they managed to transfer the software part of the system to their flagship smartphones. And the matter was not limited to software improvements in recognition. The autofocus hardware has also been heavily pumped. The Sony A7 IV uses an impressive 759 AF points combined with 425 contrast detection areas. Approximate sensor coverage area – 94%. This autofocus system works both during photography and video.

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Sony FE 200-600mm f /5.6–6.3 G OSS, developed compressed RAW, crop

No matter what you shoot, you can be sure that the right subject will be in focus. Are you photographing people or animals? The camera will “catch” the focus on their eyes. And it doesn't matter if the object disappears from the frame or not. The same situation is with cars, and with any other objects. Click on the object on the screen – tracking starts. Do I need to say that this is manna from heaven for any genre of photography? Especially with the local shooting speed. Another thing is that this also requires suitable optics that can provide the appropriate focusing speed.

In addition to helping with focusing, local “smart” automation can slightly correct skin tone and slightly touch up roughness. If your tasks boil down to quickly sending content to social networks, then this is what you need. The function works, by the way, both during photography and during video recording.

Total

The Sony A7 IV is a well-balanced professional tool that takes the shooting experience to some extreme level of comfort. The speed of operation, a new sensor with a higher resolution than its predecessors, cool autonomy and an almost unlimited buffer make the camera a godsend for both photographers and videographers. Yes, and the fleet of lenses for the E mount is simply huge: either from Sony or from other optics manufacturers. /u>

And, even though this camera is far from being for ordinary people, it can easily “draw” a person who is far from shooting into the process. In many ways, due to the help of local artificial intelligence. It has little effect on the colors or other parameters of the final shots, but it turns out to be a cool assistant that relieves the user of the burden of responsibility for the same lost focus or underexposure. Filmed in the dark and as a result nothing is visible in the photographs? Open Camera Raw and pull out even bad shots. The situation is similar with video.

Sony A7 IV + Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS files look great), detail and performance. It's hard to find a better camera these days. Especially when you need a camera “for everything”.