The new Sony A7 IV packs a 33MP Exmor R full-frame backside illuminated sensor, backed by the company’s latest BIONZ XR processor. The sensor features 759 phase-detection autofocus with 94% coverage, and features real-time eye-autofocus for humans, animals, and even birds – the latter being a first for any Sony camera. Also onboard is an in-body image stabilisation (IBIS) system that offers 5.5-stops of stabilisation, which is a slight improvement over the 5-stop compensation of its predecessor. It is quite apparent that Sony spent a lot of effort in introducing various improvements to the autofocus features on the A7 IV. Aside from featuring the aforementioned eye-autofocus, the new camera comes with the same AF Assist as the FX6, which offers manual focus operation during autofocus shooting. The autofocusing algorithm has also been tweaked in order to achieve high precision down to light levels as low as EV -4 in AF-S mode.
In addition, as an extension to its built-in focus peaking, Sony has introduced a focus map that displays the plane of focus by using coloured squares. This is to enable the user to easily determine whether their shots are in-focus or not when shooting with a shallow depth of field. The company also implemented a new focus breathing compensation on the A7 IV. One particular issue noticed on predecessor models is the “breathing” effect, which occurs when the lens attempts to automatically focus on a moving subject, or while the camera itself is moving. This new solution automatically changes the crop rate depending on the attached lens and its metering to keep a consistent angle of view. However, Sony noted that this feature is not compatible with third-party lenses.
Photography-wise, its powerful processor, large buffer and fast write speeds enables it to shoot 828 continuous uncompressed RAW + JPEG images. While it is more than capable in capturing still images, the A7 IV’s main draw – much like its predecessor (and most of its spin-offs) – is video recording. Sony detailed that the new camera can shoot 4K videos using the full width of its sensor at both 24 and 30 fps (frames per second) without crop from 7K oversampling. For higher frame rates, the sensor crops footages down to 1.5x crop (or Super 35) for 4.6K oversampling, which provides up to 60 fps. Other than that, the A7 IV is able to produce videos in S-Cinetone and S-Log3 for 15 stops of dynamic range. It also features 10-but 4:2:2 colour sampling, as well as record footage in MPEG-H HEVC;/H.265 codec and 4K with intra-frame encoding for bitrates of up to 600Mbps.
In terms of design, the camera sports a familiar body but with some noticeable changes, especially for certain button layouts. The built-in grip has been made significantly larger in order to reduce stress when shooting over long periods, and then there’s a new dedicated recording button, as well as a new ring below the mode dial which allows users to quickly swap between still and video modes. On its back is a 3.68m dot OLED viewfinder with a feature that enables users to switch between 60 or 120 fps viewing modes, and a 3-inch vari-angle rear LCD touchscreen display. Sony also says the A7 IV comes with a new heat dissipation design that allows it to shoot hours of video footage without overheating.
In terms of ports and connectivity, the A7 IV comes with a Bluetooth and WiFi support, as well as a HDMI Type-A terminal, a 3.5mm microphone and headphone jack combo, a USB-C 10 Gbps port, a separate USB-C port for direct connectivity to 1000BASE-T Ethernet, a micro USB port, and a proprietary digital audio interface embedded in the hot shoe. Storage-wise, it is equipped with a CFexpress Type-A card slot and a UHS-II SD card slot. The company says the camera will also offer to activate live stream mode if it detects that it is connected to a computer, which is pretty neat. On that note, it is capable of streaming 4K 15p UVC/UAC, while simultaneously recording internally of up to 4K at 60fps.
Sony Malaysia has confirmed that the A7 IV will be available locally beginning December 2021. Unfortunately, local pricing for the new full-frame mirrorless camera has yet to be determined. For reference, the Sony A7 IV is expected to retail at US$2,500 (~RM10,385) body-only in the US, while a bundle with a 28-70mm is also available at US$2,700 (~RM11,216). (Source: Sony Malaysia press release / official website)
