Sony’s entry-level full-frame mirrorless camera is a beast in every way with its 33-megapixel image sensor, 4K60p video recording, and ergonomic design.
When Sony released the a7 IV in December, with the continued success of its a7 III, it had a huge demand to fill.The predecessor came out more than four years ago in spring 2018, but remains one of the best entry-level full-frame cameras for both photo and video.
With some key tweaks and quality-of-life improvements, Sony has made the a7 IV a worthy heir to the title of best hybrid camera.
Over the years, Sony has established itself as one of the best mirrorless camera companies.It sold the most mirrorless cameras in 2021, according to NPD Group.Sony can’t match the industry heritage of Canon, Nikon or Fujifilm, but it has played a huge role in popularizing mirrorless cameras with its Alpha series.
Every type of creative has an Alpha camera, but the a7 series is designed to do it all.The a7 IV and its versatile build can’t match the a7R IV’s 61-megapixel photos, and are surpassed by the a7S III’s 4K120p video recording capabilities.However, it still plays an important role as a happy medium between the two more professional cameras.
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Sony’s a7 IV offers an incredible hybrid camera that can shoot 33-megapixel photos and video up to 4K60p.
Coming from Nikon, I think there will be a serious adjustment period to switch to the Sony system.But it actually only took about two hours to play with the a7 IV to make the buttons and overall design feel right at home.Sony threw in four customizable buttons, a customizable scroll wheel, and the ability to remap the AF ON and AEL buttons, but I don’t think I needed to change much to get used to the setup.When you do have to tweak settings, the menu system is very organized in categories, making it easy to navigate even with a ton of settings.
In my smaller hands, the a7 IV is very secure and comfortable to hold, and all the buttons feel in the right place, especially the record button that moves near the shutter button.The joystick and scroll wheel buttons are particularly tactile, allowing me to quickly scroll through bursts of photos while viewing or adjusting the manual focus point.
The fully articulating display is one of the a7 IV’s biggest improvements.It’s more versatile than the odd pop-up screen on the a7 III, and can be rotated 180 degrees to face you for easier vlogging or selfies.For tight shots very close to the ground, you can pop the screen around 45 degrees without having to bend awkwardly to see what your shot looks like.
The OLED viewfinder is equally good.It’s big and bright, and it feels like you’re seeing almost the photo you’d get when you clicked the shutter.
Sony also designed a new sub-dial below the mode dial to quickly switch from photo, video and S&Q modes (short for slow and fast modes, which allow you to record time-lapse or slow-motion video in-camera) .You can choose which settings to keep when you switch modes or program certain settings to be separated in those modes.It’s such a simple inclusion, but it’s a feature that really brings out the hybrid nature of the a7 IV.
When it comes to autofocus capabilities, Sony’s Alpha cameras are unrivaled.The same goes for the a7 IV.Because of the speed and responsiveness of the autofocus, it almost feels like cheating when shooting with it.Sony has equipped the next-generation Bionz XR image processing engine, which can calculate focus multiple times per second, allowing the a7 IV to quickly identify a subject’s face or eyes and lock autofocus on it.
I’m pretty confident with the a7 IV’s autofocus to keep it sticky to the subject, especially when I’m shooting in burst mode.I had little manual input when capturing focus for the perfect frame.Most of the time, I just let the shutter tear, as it can hit 10 frames per second; I trust the camera will keep my subject sharp throughout the burst.
With how good the a7 IV’s face/eye-priority AF is, I can focus on composition.Sometimes the autofocus does get lost and focuses on the wrong things, but it’s smart enough to reposition the face or eyes to recapture.For subjects without faces, the a7 IV was still able to find a decent subject within its 759 AF points, even when I was shooting at f/2.8.
At up to 33 megapixels (24.2 megapixels on the a7 III), there’s more detail to work with when cropping photos, and some extra leeway.I tested the a7 IV with Sony’s $2,200 FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM lens, so I can zoom in to fix my framing in most situations.For the shots I had to crop, there was still a lot of detail in the heavily cropped selection.
With the a7 IV’s 15 stops of dynamic range and ISO up to 204,800, low-light situations are nothing to worry about.Noise starts to become noticeable around ISO 6400 or 8000, but only if you’re really looking for it.Honestly, you’ll probably have no trouble bumping it all the way up to ISO 20000, especially if you’re just uploading images to Instagram or some other small social media format.Auto white balance also performed well in all the scenes I placed, including direct sunlight, cloudy, indoor fluorescent and basement incandescent lighting.
Since the a7 IV is a hybrid camera, it can also handle video, albeit with a few issues.The sensor provides the same clear video quality and supports 10-bit 4:2:2 for all recording formats, making video easier to process in post.The a7 IV supports S-Cinetone and S-Log3, so you get as much editing control as possible with color grading and adjustments.Or you can use 10 Creative Look presets to cut down on any editing and make your life easier.
The a7 IV’s five-axis in-body image stabilization makes for decent handheld shots, but there’s an active mode that crops slightly to further reduce camera shake.Even when I walked and shot without a gimbal and monopod, the handheld footage was stable enough; it didn’t look too distracting to correct while editing.
There are some notable caveats about the a7 IV’s video capabilities, though.As many have pointed out, 4K60p footage is actually cropped.If you want to shoot a lot of extremely high-quality video, this can be a deal breaker.There’s also a notable rolling shutter issue that the a7 IV carries over from its predecessor, but unless you’re a professional videographer, it probably doesn’t matter.
I understand why Sony calls the a7 IV an “entry-level” hybrid camera, but its $2,499 price tag (body only) certainly makes a difference.If we’re relative, it’s cheaper than Sony’s latest a7S and a7R models, both of which cost $3,499 (body only).Still, I think the a7 IV is worth it at this price, as it definitely hangs when it comes to photos and videos.
For someone like me who shoots mostly stills but wants to occasionally dabble in video, the a7 IV is an ideal choice.I’m not looking for the highest video quality, nor the fastest frame rate, so shooting up to 4K60p should suffice.Really, super fast and reliable autofocus makes the a7 IV such a great everyday shooter.
Overall, I feel like Sony’s hybrid camera has hit another home run.If you’re looking for a capable camera that can handle slightly sub-professional stills and video, the a7 IV is an easy recommendation if the price doesn’t put you off.