My friends over at Sony of Canada sent over the first Sony a7 IV in Canada for me to give it a spin and test it out. Let's make no mistake, this is not a camera that was purpose-built for action or birds in flight photography, but it is much more affordable than both the much more capable (and expensive) Sony a9 II (CAD$5,999.99) and the Sony Alpha 1 (CAD$8,499.99) bodies that I use.
Priced at CAD$3,199.99, the Sony a7 IV is the base model Sony Alpha 7 series of cameras, but it now boasts many of the features of the much more expensive higher-end cameras like the Sony Alpha 1.
Since there are already many reviews out there, here are my initial thoughts about the camera from a bird photographer's perspective. This is simply a point-by-point summary of what I feel anyone considering the upgrade for bird (or action) photography may want to know. Do keep in mind that my experience with the camera is limited, as I only had one day in the field with it.
The new 33-megapixel full-frame Exmor R CMOS sensor should offer a similar dynamic range and noise performance as the Sony a9 II (To minimize the noise in any image on any camera, avoid underexposing and cropping). I say should, because of my limited experience with the camera. My results are excellent, but I don’t feel that I have enough variety to say with authority.
The maximum frame rate is 10 frames per second when using the mechanical or electronic shutter while recording lossy compressed RAW images. The scan rate of the sensor is much slower than the flagship Alpha 1, so there is significant rolling shutter distortion when photographing moving subjects with the electronic shutter. To minimize rolling shutter distortion, be sure to avoid the electronic shutter (silent shutter mode) in favour of the mechanical shutter.
Using the mechanical shutter to avoid the rolling shutter distortion becomes challenging while tracking fast and erratic birds in flight with significant electronic viewfinder blackout, and what you do see in the viewfinder has already happened.
Real-time Eye-AF for humans, animals and birds is incredible and works very much like the flagship Sony Alpha 1. I did have to rethink my autofocus settings and strategy to work around the significant EVF blackout and display lag. With the a9 and Alpha 1 there is no EVF blackout, and I always like to use the smallest group of autofocus points. With the Sony a7 IV, I found it best to use the largest group in tracking AF and zoom out just a little to give more room for error: to clarify, while photographing fast and erratically moving birds, there are significant intervals when the EVF is black and when I do see an image it has already happened, so I need to keep the subject slightly smaller in the frame and use the largest array of AF points to increase the odds of getting the bird in the frame.
The Sony a7 IV uses the same NP-FZ100 Z-series Rechargeable Battery Pack as the Alpha 1, a9, a9II, etc., with makes it an obvious low cost back-up camera for those who can’t afford or justify buying two flagships for redundancy while travelling.
One of the most overlooked new features of the Sony a7 IV is the bird eye AF while recording video - something I hope to see come the the Alpha 1 via a firmware update :)
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