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Sony Alpha 7R IV vs. 7R III

Reading time: 10 minutes - March 12, 2020 - by Niels Stiefeling

Once again, Sony has launched a new device on the market with the Sony Alpha 7R IV, which brings small improvements in almost all areas. Now that the third generation has made an enormous leap in quality and Sony has become a serious alternative for all professionals in one fell swoop, the question arises as to whether it makes sense. Are the upgrades big enough to go straight for the RIV instead of the RIII? And for whom is the new "often referred to as a megapixel monster" device really worthwhile?
I took a close look at the new camera and compared it with my experiences with my own Alpha 7R III .

1. Shape and ergonomics of the Sony Alpha 7R IV

Compared to its predecessor, the Sony Alpha 7R IV has received some upgrades in terms of shape and ergonomics. At first glance, the slightly deeper grip is particularly noticeable, which makes working with large hands or during longer sessions much more comfortable.
This goes against the current trend of making mirrorless cameras smaller and smaller. In my opinion, this step is absolutely the right one, with the RIV they want to offer a camera that is primarily aimed at professionals. Commercial photographers who have already worked with a Canon 5DIV or a Nikon D850 will only trade a small design for robustness and ergonomics with a heavy heart. The current design is a very good compromise between a small size and particularly comfortable handling.

However, small but sensible changes have also been made to the various buttons. Each button protrudes a little further from the body, making it easier to find and easier to hit even when wearing gloves. Another new addition is the locking knob on the exposure compensation dial, so you can be sure not to change the brightness of the image unintentionally. I have to admit, however, that this has never happened to me once with the Alpha 7R III.

What still hasn't changed, however, is the integration of the touchscreen. Furthermore, it cannot be used to navigate through the pictures taken or menus, and unfortunately there is no function for zooming into the picture, as is usual with smartphones.
Instead, the built-in touchscreen is only used to set the autofocus point. Unfortunately, this is still untapped potential and should be much better in 2020, especially if the necessary technology has already been installed for several generations.

A new addition: The lock button on the exposure compensation
Improved buttons and new joystick
The SD card slots have swapped places

1.1 Viewfinder

One of the main factors for me when deciding between buying an Alpha 7RIII or my 7RIII was the significantly better viewfinder of the higher-resolution 7RIII.
The new Alpha 7R IV has even gone one better in this area. It now has an impressive resolution of 5.76 million pixels. This results in a clear, very sharp image and is on a par with the industry leader in the Panasonic S1 (5.8 million), well ahead of Nikon's mirrorless flagship Z7 (3.69 million), or the in-house Alpha 7 III (2.4 million) / 7R III (3.7 million).
In practice, however, this very large difference on paper did not have too much of an effect. Even the viewfinder of the RIII is clear and sharp, you never feel disadvantaged or hindered when shooting because you are looking through an electronic viewfinder. Especially if you start the display at 120 frames per second, you have a very pleasant viewfinder image. However, a direct comparison does reveal a difference. During manual focusing using the screen magnifier, the viewfinder of the new 7R IV is even more pleasant.

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The Sony Alpha 7R IV's eye AF in action

The autofocus of the new model now covers a significantly larger area of the image. If you compare the technical data of the two cameras, the RIV offers 567 autofocus points covering 87% of the image, significantly more than its predecessor. In a direct comparison, the latter still had 399 points covering 68% of the sensor. In theory, the new autofocus system not only allows new compositions to be realized, as the subject can move even further to the edge of the image. Finer and therefore more accurate autofocus results can also be expected in the center of the image.

What Sony has achieved in this respect over the last few years is almost unbelievable. When the new mirrorless A7 series was launched, it was miles behind the reliable and powerful autofocus of cameras from established manufacturers such as Canon or Nikon. In the meantime, however, Sony has perhaps even become the industry leader in this respect, offering not only a reliable system, but also a range of different autofocus points and features such as continuous eye AF. This is now so sophisticated that the competition can't quite keep up, especially in this area. This is really worth its weight in gold in practice, especially during portrait sessions. Focusing the eye is no longer a challenging task, but is safely taken over by the system. In the meantime, the photographer has much more time to focus on the model, give instructions or create a clean image composition.

In the endurance test, however, the autofocus performance of both cameras was comparable. We had a dog run directly towards the camera and saw which camera could keep up better with the sprinting animal. Neither camera achieved an accuracy rate of 100%. If you want to reliably and consistently get every picture in focus, you should probably go for the Sony Alpha 9II, which is designed for this purpose. However, what both high-resolution cameras achieve with their data power is impressive in the end. The 10 fps produces a sufficient number of images, of which a sufficiently large proportion can be used. The focus of the new RIV seems to be a touch more reliable. However, this does not make a world of difference
Also worth mentioning: The new animal eye autofocus does not engage reliably in the hectic action situations with either camera. In calm moments, however, the camera reliably recognizes the animal's eye and focuses accordingly.

Also nice and worth a mention:
The autofocus field can now be set in color. At first, this sounds like a feature that will make it difficult for the photographer to even crack a tired smile, but in practice it is actually very useful. It happens more often than you might think that you can't find the AF point in dark and hectic situations and have to search for the current AF area in front of a bright surface, cursing.

Autofocus with running dog

When it comes to fast action or wildlife photography, it is of course not only the accuracy, but also the continuous shooting speed in combination with the buffer depth that is decisive. It is impressive that similar values can be achieved with the 32% increase in resolution. Even with 61 megapixels, you can still shoot at 10 fps. With the RIII, 76 compressed RAWs were still possible, with the RIV it is still 68 until the buffer is full.

If you switch to the APS-C (or as Sony calls it: Super 35) mode of the camera, you still have a strong 26 megapixels available (this is the absolute upper edge of APS-C resolution for many manufacturers) and can even record a full 250 RAWs in one go. This is very useful in borderline situations, as you get more range and longer continuous shooting at the same time.

Pixelshift mode makes it possible to shoot at up to 240 megapixels

The biggest difference between the two cameras is of course clearly the resolution. At low ISO values, the new Sony model offers an incredible depth of detail and plenty of space for additional cropping. You realize that you have to/can rethink your work. Often the initial image composition is no longer too critical. Close-ups are also possible with a high resolution and good quality afterwards.
The pixel shift mode increases the difference in resolution even further and makes it possible to create images with up to 200 megapixels. This is, of course, a level of detail that is no longer needed for every area of application and in the end really makes sense.
For landscape, architecture or product shots, however, you can of course never capture enough detail. For this purpose, 16 shots are combined into one, while the image stabilizer shifts the sensor by half a pixel in different directions. In plain language, this means that a tripod is mandatory for this shooting mode. A problem quickly becomes apparent with landscapes: If you have moving objects in the picture, they become a blur of pixels. In the example shot, you can see this particularly well in the trees.

Who really needs this level of detail will know best. However, the function can only really be used practically in a limited range: In controlled environments with still subjects.
The images must then be processed on the computer using Sony's specially developed "Imaging Edge Desktop" software. The images cannot be processed in-camera, nor do other common RAW converters support this mode.

The same picture.
...in a different crop.

3.1 Low Light

Due to the significantly higher number of pixels, it is to be expected that the performance decreases considerably at high ISO values. In a direct comparison, some differences can actually be discovered from ISO 20,000. However, these are not so noticeable in the overall picture. Accordingly, it can be said: If you are looking for particularly good low light performance, the Alpha 7 RIV is not the best choice. However, the high number of pixels already suggests this. If this aspect is high on your list of priorities, neither the RIII nor the RIV should be on your wish list. However, it should be possible to take pictures up to ISO 6400 without any problems. This is really impressive in terms of the level of detail.

What stood out in the test, however, was surprising: The new Sony Alpha 7 RIV seems to perform better in the most extreme situations. The two pictures below were taken with identical settings. An ISO value of 20,000 was selected and the image was subsequently made a whole f-stop brighter. As expected, the image of the higher-resolution Alpha 7RIV is grainier and has more noise. However, what fills the picture and has a much greater impact on the overall impression of the image is the strong color cast that creeps into the image of the predecessor. Here, a color shift to greenish can be seen in the upper area of the image, while the Alpha 7RIV has a lot of noise, but remains quite true to color.

 

Sony Alpha 7R III | ISO 20,000 | processed one f-stop brighter
Sony Alpha 7R IV | ISO 20,000 | processed one f-stop brighter

This is new:

  • new sensor with a resolution of 61 megapixels (42.4 megapixels on the Sony Alpha 7 R III)
  • 567 autofocus points with a coverage of 86.5% of the image. (68 % with the Sony Alpha 7R III)
  • large buffer in crop mode allows up to 250 continuous shots at 10 fps
  • the viewfinder now has a resolution of 5.76 million pixels (vs. 3.7 million in the 7R III)
  • improved ergonomics and grip
  • Pixel-Shift mode creates images with up to 240 megapixels
  • Locking button on the exposure compensation
  • Eye AF also in video mode
  • Replacement of the two SD card slots
  • adapted buttons and improved joystick
  • color-adjustable AF field
  • adapted menu navigation and more easily explained settings
  • more color stable at high ISO values

This has remained the same:

  • the ISO range (50-102,400)
  • Continuous shooting speed of 10 fps
  • the battery
  • in video mode still 4k@30fps and FHD@120fps
  • 5-axis stabilizer
  • Dynamic range
  • Touch functionality

Conclusion on the Sony Alpha 7R IV

All in all, it can be said that Sony is once again taking steps in the right direction with the new Sony Alpha 7R IV. With its features and, above all, its not insignificant price tag, it is aimed primarily at professional photographers who make their living from photography. Keeping this in mind, it must be acknowledged without envy that the camera feels a little more professional in almost all areas. What is particularly positive is that Sony seems to listen to its customers, implementing their wishes from generation to generation. Even if it's just little things like the new arrangement of the two SD card slots or the integration of a colored focus field. In the end, however, it can be said:
I never had the feeling that the new R IV could take pictures that the RIII could not. Sony's cameras are already at too high a level for a huge leap.
However, if you want a more rounded overall package, if the improved feel and operability are important to you, or if you simply want a lot of megapixels for large-format prints or the creative possibilities of subsequent cropping, you're better off with the latest member of the Alpha 7R series.
You can't really go wrong when choosing between the models. And the release has one positive side effect either way: the price of the wonderful Sony Alpha 7R III will fall, perhaps making it a real (affordable) alternative for more ambitious amateur photographers.


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