Sony Alpha ILCE-7RM4A Full-Frame 61.0MP Mirrorless Digital SLR Camera Body (4K Full Frame, Real-Time Eye Auto Focus, Real time Animal Eye AF,…

I have owned every A7r camera including the original, A7rii, A7riii, and now the A7riv. The A7riv is the first big image quality improvement in years! Is it worth it to upgrade to 60MP? Definitely but be aware that this still a specialized camera and not an action camera.

The camera industry remained stead at the 24MP range for years now. In the past year the Canon R5 and R6 cameras have pushed the envelope and the new megapixel race is back in full swing. Usually high megapixel wars were more about bragging rights and marketing than actual usability. Noise and image quality decreases with higher resolutions due to smaller physical pixels. This remains true with the A7riv’s 60MP sensor over the A7riii’s 42MP. However the increased resolution minimalizes the perceivable noise increase (You won’t see it unless you pixel peep). In addition, the higher resolution helps with sharpness, contrast, and cropping flexibility across the board and you get an overall better camera.

The Good:

Image Quality. As mentioned above 60MP improves sharpness and cropping flexibility. There is some degradation of dynamic range and noisier ISOs. But again, since the resolution is much finer, the small amounts of noise introduced is much less noticeable at these resolutions. When used with uncompressed RAW (see below) you get much better ISO and dynamic range.

Cropping. I cannot emphasize the ability to crop with 60MP. The larger megapixel count gives greater range of flexibility to crop, refocus, and recompose photos in post. Often I change the entire composition of a photo with extreme cropping of my A7riv files. You can change full body portraits into headshots and retain excellent sharpness. Reframe centered subjects to align with rule of thirds or vice versa. The ability recompose shots afterwards is amazing!

Autofocus. The A7riv has a significantly improved AF that covers much more of the sensor than the A7riii. The A7riii just added a few more contrast detection points over the A7rii but the A7riv has PDAF points nearly covering the entire sensor. With my A7riii it was very difficult to eye-AF on subjects on the corners of the sensor. With the A7riv, unless your subject is on the very edge of the sensor, you will have full AF functionality including eye-AF. Furthermore the AF is much snappier and eye-AF finds the eye faster and stays locked on in dimmer conditions and further away than the A7riii.

Battery. The camera still uses the newer Z batteries that comes with the newer generation of Sony cameras. The Z Batteries have doubled life over the older W batteries. Getting such a long runtime with such a high MP camera is pretty great.

IBIS stabilization. Sony was one of the first large companies to use IBIS in full frame cameras. 5.5 stops of stabilization is amazing and still makes handheld slow light photos seem like they were on a tripod. I am still amazed by this feature sometimes. Tests do show that in real world tests the A7riv has slightly better IBIS stabilization than the A7riii.

Ergonomics/usability: Not much has changed over the A7riii. Every year, each new version of the camera is bigger, thicker, and heavier. The joystick feels nicer and the shape is more comfortable. The camera itself is slightly thicker which is better to hold for your hands. There are no glaring issues here.

The bad:

Dynamic Range. Dynamic range is on par with other cameras of this generation. However shadow recovery is slightly worse than the A7riii. This is mainly due to the use of Compressed RAW setting with continuous shooting. When using Compressed Raw and continuous/burst mode, the camera shoots at 12-bit instead of 14 bit. If you shoot in single shots with uncompressed RAW you can get much better dynamic range and shadow recovery. 60Mp files are huge and not easy to process and this camera is NOT an action camera. But the fact that you can get 10fps with a 60mp camera even at 12-bit is still pretty amazing.

Processing speed: With 60MP, writing to SD cards is even slower than before. As previously mentioned you can improve image quality by using uncompressed raw which DOUBLES file sizes from around 59mb to around 117mb. This makes writing to a regular 90/95mb/s USH-I card EVEN SLOWER. You can’t review images after each shot without waiting for the writing to clear. With continuous multiple shots it takes EVEN SLOWER! You can help alleviate this problem with faster UHS-II 300mb/s cards but at the time of this review these cards are RIDICULOUSLY EXPENSIVE. Sony really needs to implement compressed lossless RAW files as 60MP is nearing the limit and resolution will continue to creep up.

Speed. This is not an action or sports camera, but it CAN handle some action at 10fps. As mentioned previously, shooting in burst and continuous does reduce quality a bit. If you are a wedding photographer or lifestyle/street photographer this will be fine for your needs. However if you are shooting sports, dance, motion, a dedicated action sports camera that can handle the speed without quality loss like the A1 or A9 would be better suited for you.

Pixel shift. Pixel shift is a great feature on paper. The sensor shifts very slightly letting you get significantly better quality images by using quadrupling the color information in each pixel. However realistically you can’t use it without some smearing or ghosting. Unless you are using it for perfectly static scenes you will get some sort of smearing. Wind moving tree leaves or grass, moving cars in cityscapes, any movement will throw off the sensor. I have never meaningfully used this feature. Additionally you need Sony’s Edge software to compile the images which just adds to the processing steps.

This is a great camera and a phenomenal upgrade. It does however have some limitations. For years the A7r series was the flagship camera of Sony’s line. However we must remember this is really geared for landscapes and studio work were lighting conditions are controlled and you don’t need to shoot fast action. Sony has diversified with the A9 and A1 line with the A9 being sports and the A1 being the dedicated all-around flagship camera with little compromises. For your everyday photographer who is not shooting ballet dancers or basketball games regularly, this should be perfectly suitable for their needs. Even professional wedding and street photographers will find little to complain about. Only the most demanding action photographers pushing the limits will want more.

The more pixels you will get ..
bit costly but ..Worth for professionals
Go for it if you are ready to pay more.

Incredible camera. I upgraded from the A7iii and I am amazed by the picture quality and the ability to crop the photos and still retain the resolution. I took it on a recent trip to Key West for a wild dolphins watch. I am so glad I brought the A7riv with me. I was able to take some amazing pics of the dolphins from far away using the Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 and then crop in. The focus tracking works amazingly well as well. Noise is definitely worst then the A7iii in low light situation. But I am willing to live with that with all the other amazing features of the A7Riv.

I have had all 4 generations of the A7R cameras.
I loved the A7R II for the amazing sensor vast improvement on autofocus and play memories app. But I was frustrated with battery life.
The A7R III corrected the battery life with a huge leap forward in Stamina. The new battery is still the best in mirrorless cameras. The 3rd generation also improved ergonomics, button placement, etc while using the same sensor as the previous generation. The A7R III is an amazing camera and truly refined. The only thing negative was slow sensor readout that resulted in banding when using silent shooting or electronic shutter. You could also see it in videos. But this sensor was still better than anything out there.

Unfortunately Sony decided to participate or precipitate the megapixel war for the 4th generation (A7R IV).
This means compromising in terms of noise, iso sensitivity and slower sensor readout. The A7R IV sensor readout is 50% slower than the A7R III and has more noise than that of the A7R III at similar iso.

But they did refine the body by changing the buttons size, putting a much needed lock on the aperture compensation and increasing the grip.
Here’s my opinion on the changes to the body:
1. I actually prefer the grip of the A7R III but in time I am sure I will adjust to the new one.
2. The buttons while larger, feel mushy when pressing it. This is a step backwards.
3. I really like the lock on the exposure compensation dial, as I would inadvertently turn the dial on the A7R III.
4. I prefer the lock mechanism of the older memory door, but the new one seems more weather sealed.
5. I prefer the new port doors to the older one.
6. I am hoping that there is really improved weather sealing here. Photography is not just a fair weather art.

Other features:
1. Same old video codec and still only 8 bit. But I like that the recording time limit is removed. So a positive.
2. Improved menu options (autofocus color options, other customization)
3. Supposed to have real time tracking. But I noticed the my A7R III was faster and a bit more accurate overall. Hopefully future firmware will improve it.
4. I have to admit that the 50% increase in resolution does give incredible detail. But this comes with a greater possibility of blur. You have to be extremely careful with your shutter speeds and techniques to prevent shutter shock.
5. Unfortunately Sony has been extremely short sighted when designing a high megapixel sensor, by not programming in lossless compressed raw files. In addition smaller raw files with lower resolution are not options. This actually makes me feel that this camera was a rush to market to demonstrate technological capabilities.
6. They have not fixed or improved the speed of the buffer writing to the sd cards. Another callous decision considering the amount of data needed to be written with 61MP. This makes the camera unusable when writing from buffer same as in the Mark III.

I think Sony missed out on refining the camera and making it a big leap forward.
So, why did I buy this camera? I actually purchased it to augment my A7R III and not replace it, for the following features:
1. No more recording limit on 4K, so I can record long classical concerts.
2. New digital interface for audio
3. Possibility of using the SAL 135mm 1.8 A-mount lens with this camera, using the soon to be released LA-EA5 adapter. This is my favorite lens and I prefer it to the e-mount GM lens. This was the biggest reason I bought this camera.
4. Price: Sony reduced the price by $500 for the amazon prime day sale.

So, in the week I have had it, I can say it is a solid camera.
I hope Sony will make improvements with firmware as they did with the Mark III.
I feel that this is much more of a specialist camera than the A7R III due to the big increase in resolution.
If you are looking for a better all round camera with high resolution, I would go for the A7R III.

For those that want an excellent all round camera, the A7 III is still the one to beat. I hope that Sony takes a lot more care when designing its successor (A7 IV).

Note: I did find the perfect Arca Swiss plate for this camera and all the other A9, A9 II, A7R III, A7 III, etc – the Arca-Swiss 802225. It’s a little pricy, but let’s you clamp the camera on its horizontal axis, thus letting you use larger adapters, lenses, etc without any obstruction. It’s also designed to not twist.
I use it on all my Sony cameras.
The best wrist straps that I use is Gordy’s camera wrist strap.

The auto focus is the best I’ve ever used. I’ve not used the A9 II but easily better than the 1DX II or D5. Shocked at how good the AF was in all cases. The picture quality is a different story not impressed at all. At 1 to 1 it doesn’t compare to a GFX 100 or even GFX 50 for that matter. It’s saving grace is you can apply heavy amounts of noise reduction and it will still be pretty detailed for web use. If you’re buying this and thinking you’re going getting amazing image quality I’d say look elsewhere. The A7R III, D850, Panasonic S1R, all make nicer images. Any detail gains are not worth the overall reduction in image quality, mainly unpleasant noise. It may not have helped that lately I’ve also been using the X-T3 and while not as detailed the colors are amazing as soon as I open the raws in Capture One. The A7R IV files not so much. Specifically when you have shots from same shoot on different cameras and can compare the images side by side. Wish the A7III or A7R III had the focusing system of the A7R IV. That is really the special feature that sets this camera apart, not the 60 megapixels or the image quality. If you’re looking ultimate image quality you will still have to pony up for Phase One, Hassy, or Fujifilm GFX.

The price is to high compared to other market and it around 2.6grand in US so SONY be carefull Panasonic S1 is winning market with 180fps and 4k60.