Sony Alpha 7 IV review: Is this the best-value full-frame mirrorless ILC today?

Note: This review was first published on 21 April 2022.

What does Sony's new A7 IV have to offer?

As its name implies, the Sony A7 IV is the successor to the Japanese tech giant’s popular A7 III camera launched in 2018. Launched late last year at the height of our Tech Awards 2022 Editor's Choice testing phase, now that the results are all rolled out, it's an opportune time for us to test drive Sony's latest full-frame camera. 

The A7 IV packs a 33-megapixel backside-illuminated CMOS full-fame image sensor with Sony’s latest Bionz XR image processor. While it won't top the resolution offered by the A7R IV with its mind-boggling 61MP back-illuminated Exmor R CMOS image sensor, the A7R IV is specifically catered to those in the industry who need to work with extra high resolution images. The newer A7 IV isn't out to chase that segment and offers its upsides with more manageable file sizes with the upgraded 33MP sensor over the 24MP sensor on its predecessor (A7 III). It's also using a newer processor that's first featured on Sony's flagship Alpha 1, which is newer than what's on the A7R IV and certainly the A7 III.

The Sony A7 IV is also equipped with a 5-axis in-body image stabilisation (IBIS), which offers up to 5.5 stops of correction (slightly up from 5 stops in the A7 III), which is yet another trait borrowed from the flagship Alpha 1. 

The A7 IV now features a 3.69-million-dot OLED electronic viewfinder and a fully-articulated rear 1.03-million-dot touchscreen display for framing your photos. 

Similar to the A7 III, the camera supports up to 10 frames per second (fps) shooting with autofocusing (AF)/ auto exposure (AE) tracking. It also supports 4K UHD video recording at 30fps in 10-bit 4:2:2 colour depth direct to an inserted memory card. The A7 IV has dual memory card slots with one SD UHS-II and another CFexpress Type A.

In addition, the A7 IV now has a more capable 759 phase-detection AF points (up from the A7 III’s 693) and 425 contrast-detection AF points (same as the A7 III) that cover 94% of the frame (just slightly up from the A7 III’s 93%).

Not to mention, the A7 IV now has Eye AF built into its main AF system instead of being a dedicated mode in its predecessor. For wildlife and pet photography lovers, you will be happy to know that the Eye AF now supports tracking cats, dogs and birds.

Design and Handling

The design is similar to its predecessor, with some quality-of-life improvements. While you might not even feel it when you hold the camera, it is a wee bit bigger and heavier than the A7 III, and its sturdy magnesium-alloy body gives plenty of confidence when the camera is in your hands.

Its rubberised grip feels deeper and more ergonomic, enabling a better grasp of the camera. Plus, the rear mini-joystick has been improved for better control.

The button layout continues to be superb, as you might expect from the A7 series. All dials and buttons are strategically placed to be within reach of your right index finger and thumb for minimised search for buttons. 

The exposure compensation dial at the right shoulder of the A7 III is gone. An unmarked lockable dial replaces it at the same location on the A7 IV. This dial can be set to shutter speed, ISO, aperture, or focus mode depending on your usage pattern. There is also a quick Photo/Video/S&Q switch sitting underneath the shooting mode dial for quick toggling between photo and video modes using your right thumb.

For content creators, the fully-articulated touchscreen display will be warmly welcomed as it allows them to vlog easily. There’s even a constant Bluetooth connection feature in the A7 IV, which would allow you to transfer and post photos to social media using your smartphone with ease.

Imaging Performance

For this review, we used the Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS telephoto zoom lens and walked around Singapore parks to capture the wildlife that grace our garden city. For landscape and other shots, we used the Sony FE 16-35mm f/2.8 GM lens. 

Regardless of lens used, AF performance on the A7 IV  is equally impressive whether in bright sunlight or dim lighting conditions. 

With Eye AF for birds turned on, the A7 IV was able to capture a common house crow in full flight at a focal length of 600mm handheld. And the IBIS (in-body image stabilisation) probably worked well to help prevent camera shake at this long focal length too. 

In fact, we were able to capture this pair of dragonflies "dancing" around the pond at Botanic Gardens. We are not naturalists, so we do not know if this was a mating process. Rather, we are amazed the camera managed to capture this image considering how fast the dragonflies were flying. 

The Eye AF works wonderfully with cats too. Despite their quick feet, the A7 IV was able to capture them with their eyes remaining sharp. 

The quality of the stills taken by the A7 IV is simply superb. Colours are punchy without being oversaturated with sharp rendering of pixels.

Straight out of camera without any editing, the JPEGs are sharp with great dynamic range and packed full of details even in darker areas. With its full-frame images, you can do a tight crop and still retain crisp details. Videos shot are equally stellar with quick AF. 

In addition, the A7 IV's noise performance is excellent too. There are very few noise artefacts all the way to ISO 6,400. Luminance noise only becomes more visible at ISO 12,800, but detail loss is not significant. In fact, photos taken at ISO 25,600 are still good enough for small prints and Web use. 

However, we will not recommend shooting any more than ISO 25,600 as there is substantial detail loss with visible noise artefacts. You can see that from the photo below.

Using a UHS-II SD card with a rated writing speed of 299MB per second, the A7 IV was able to shoot 76 RAW images in 9.2 seconds before the buffer ran out. This amazing performance is suitable for shooting sports and wildlife. 

Battery life is top notch too. It is rated at 580 still images on a full charge (lower than the A7 III’s 710). But in real life, we were able to shoot around 2,200 stills with the A7 IV and its battery level dropped only to 40 per cent. This is of course without constant Bluetooth connection to a smartphone.

More Sample Images

Conclusion

If you do not want to spend too much on a full-frame mirrorless camera while having almost all the features of a flagship, the Sony A7 IV is easily your choice. Its performance at every level - from design and handling, to AF and picture quality - is very comparable to any flagship-class camera you can get your hands on.

And probably because of that, its S$3,599 (body only) or S$3,899 (with 28-70mm kit lens) price is not exactly cheap. In fact, it is higher than the A7 III was at launch. You can get an iPhone 13 Pro Max and still have nearly S$1000 in change. And we haven't even factor in the cost of a better lens.

However, dollar for dollar, I have no doubt the A7 IV offers the best bang for your buck. And unlike iPhone's annual cycles, the A7 IV will not get a successor for at least 2 to 3 years. So, you can probably use it for a good 6 to 7 years before you need another upgrade.

If you've been holding out from a much older model or haven't yet stepped up to full-frame photography, the new Sony A7 IV is a really easy recommendation. You can buy the Sony Alpha 7 IV camera directly from the Sony Online Store.

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