The Sony a7R IV Review: Pixel Powerhouse
Hi everyone. I hope you all are well. During the past few months of the pandemic, figuring out ways to photograph subjects safety has been a challenge. Different clients require different needs and figuring out the best way to meet those needs has been a chance to try out different ways to edit on the go. For the past few month I’ve been using the Sony a7R IV for commercial projects as well as personal projects. It packs in a bunch of features that have made me choose this as my main photo camera at the moment. Here’s what I’ve learned from a recent shoot.
Autofocus
A lot of the work I’ve been doing has been portrait based, which means getting the focus perfect. The a7R IV features some of the best autofocus tracking I’ve used on any camera. While taking photos of a model in the middle of a splash pad, with water spraying everywhere, the camera only lost focus when she was completely obscured by one of the jets. Outside of that, it had no problem at all keeping her face tracked while she did different poses.
Resolution
Another thing I love about the a7R IV is the 61 megapixel sensor. There are some situations where even with the 70-200mm f/2.8 GM I might not be able to get close enough to my subject. With 61MP it gives enough resolution to reframe or crop in on subjects. When using the APS-C/Super 35mm Mode, it goes down to 26 megapixels, which is still plenty of resolution to use. I might like the composition of a photo using the full sensor, but having that resolution allows me to crop in and reframe the shot to something that might fit better in a certain medium.
The file sizes of full resolution 61MP images are huge and in order to get those files off the buffer to the SD cards, the R IV supports UHS-II cards in both slots. These cards are faster than their UHS-I counterparts, allowing you to tap into the full burst speeds of the R IV when tracking a subject in motion. I use ProGrade Digital’s UHS-II v90 128GB cards. They’re reliable, in one of the fastest classes of SD card and the storage size is large enough to handle the files from the a7R IV.
Other Features
The a7R IV also has a few other features that I love compared over to its predecessor. The improved body feels so much better in the hand than the previous camera just because of the deeper grip, plus the improved port covers feel so much more reliable than the last generations. I also like that I can access photos from the camera with my phone or tablet using the Imaging Edge app even with the camera turned off inside my bag. That means I can take a photo I like, pack the camera away inside my bag and transfer it to my phone while on the go. It’s a super handy tool and one I’m finding more and more useful.
After using the Sony a7R IV for the past month, I am very happy I picked it up. It combines resolution with performance in a superb body that feels amazing to use. If you’re looking for a professional body to keep up with commercial work or are just looking for an upgrade in resolution, the a7R IV more than keep up for the job. You can pick it up here through my affiliate link, as well as the ProGrade Digital SD cards.
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