The Sony a7IV is an awesome camera,
and I think that's a pretty objective fact at this point, but also
pretty much every camera is awesome now,
no matter what the brand or the model is, everything's amazing!
But several months ago I did a review on my Sony a7IV, and while I gave it a good review,
I was kind of a little lackluster.
Like, it was fine.
But I wasn't super excited about the camera. In the time
since I've made that review,
and now that I've had the a7IV for almost a year, I've really come to appreciate
this camera in an entirely different way.
So I think it's very important to have a follow up on that initial review
so I can share my new view with you.
So definitely check out the full review if you want all of the specs and more
detailed info on how the a7IV compares to cameras like the FX3 and
the a7SIII. For today, there are a few key things that I want to focus on.
Get it? "Focus" – focus on with this camera that have really helped me to come to just love
this camera over the past few months.
And I think it's important to fire up this conversation by talking about overheating. 🔥
I did talk about that in my full review, and I was able to make the a7IV
overheat several times by putting it in really not ideal circumstances,
but for me and how I use the camera, which is usually 4K24 or 4K30 sometimes,
the camera has never overheated on me.
I don't usually film 4K60, which is when it's more prone to
overheating over extended periods.
Usually when I'm doing 4K60 it's to get really short clips like slow motion
b-roll or something like that. In my normal recording modes, it's never overheated.
Even one day last week, I think it was almost 110 degrees Fahrenheit outside (43 degrees Celsius)
and I left the camera out to do a time lapses
and then I came in here and started working on stuff and forgot it for
an hour and a half. And when I went outside to get it, it was completely fine.
It was a little bit warm, but it was still recording like a champ.
I got this very long time lapse of a palm tree, so that's cool.
But I was really impressed that even in that situation, it didn't overheat.
And for what it's worth, I did have the screen open at that time
while it was doing the time lapse.
So overheating hasn't been an issue for me.
And I think that's important to mention, because if you're somebody who wants
to do 4K60 for extended periods of time, this is probably not the camera to get.
That's when it's going to start overheating, if you need like an hour of
4K60 or something like that, but also if you really want to do only 60FPS, it's
probably not the camera for you anyway, because it does have that 4K60 crop.
But since that crop has cropped up in this conversation, let's talk
about that because for me, again just for me and how I use the camera,
it has not been an issue at all.
And I guess I should probably give some more context first
because as I was using this
as a "studio camera,"
My FX3 is my main camera.
Absolutely amazing.
My a7SIII is my second camera.
Also absolutely amazing.
And then I got the a7IV to be a third camera and to be a photo camera,
because even though both of these cameras can take great still photos,
those 12 megapixel sensors can be very limiting
if you want to do things like crop in on your photo or
do some crazy compositions in Photoshop or something like that. But for whatever
reason, as much as I appreciated that,
yeah, this seems like a good camera,
I wasn't like in love with it when I got it.
I thought it was fine.
And to be totally honest with you, there were a few times there where I
was kind of thinking maybe I should have just gotten another, a7SIII
or something as a third camera.
And I'm so glad that I didn't because the a7IV–
it might be be called the a7IV, but to me
it's number 1.
And so where this really started to shine for me was when I started using it sort
of out in the world more. The thing with my other two cameras is because they
are my main two cameras for like my job.
I'm very protective of them.
They're incredibly expensive.
Not that this is an inexpensive camera at $2,400, but the FX3
and a7SIII are like $4,000.
And if I'm just going out and doing something that's kind of like for fun,
like we're going on a trip or something that I just want to take
photos and videos, and I'm not really sure what I'm even going to do with them,
I'm very hesitant to take these cameras because if something were to happen
to them, it would really have a hugely negative effect on me being able to
do a lot of work that I need to do.
It's not that I would want anything bad to ever happen to the a7IV.
And even though it is still an expensive camera, since it is
less expensive to those ones
and for me it's less "mission critical,"
I'm much more comfortable just taking this everywhere, which is now
what I've done with it.
I've just started taking this camera with me anytime we do anything.
And seeing this camera in that new light is what has helped give me an entirely
new appreciation for the a7IV because it's basically the perfect camera
to have with you in a situation where you need to cover a little bit of everything.
You need to do some video.
You need to do some photos and have something that's reliable.
That gives good results.
I mean, this is definitely the way to go.
So now going back to the crop factor, the 4K60 crop,
like I said it has not been an issue for me.
I actually forgot that
the camera even had it because in my own workflow
when I'm using 4K60, like I said, it's usually to get a slow motion clip.
Maybe I'm doing a video and I want to get a slow motion b roll
clip of a product or something.
So I'll have a little product there.
Put it in 60 FPS and then get a little slow motion clip.
60 is not as nice as 120 is, like on these cameras, but it definitely gets
the job done or more often than not.
If we're out doing something somewhere and I just want to get a really
cool little quick shot to add into like a vlog or a video or something,
that's when 4K60 comes in handy.
And for some reason, the crop just hasn't been an issue for me at all.
If anything, it's usually been helpful because I'm typically using
a prime lens and having the crop kind of gives this fixed focal length,
a new, a different focal length.
So it kind of adds some variety.
So yes, in a perfect world, I would love full frame 4K60 with the
ability to crop in if I wanted to.
But I also understand that with that high resolution
7K sensor that's in this camera having full frame 4K60
or 4K120 would present a lot of overheating issues for the camera.
So if you're somebody like me where 4K60 is just a supplement to your workflow and
not the main thing that you do, that crop and those limitations probably aren't
really going to be an issue at all.
But additionally, as we're talking about crop, because we do have a
7K sensor, you do have the ability to go into a Super 35 crop.
So what I've done is just assign that to this joystick.
And now when I have a scene and I want to crop in and I just push
this joystick button and then the camera crops in 1.6x, I think
it is for super 35, which is great.
If I'm using like a 24 millimeter lens... What's 24 x 1.6?
Siri: It's 38.4 There we go! (can't believe Siri actually worked!)
Now my 24 millimeter lens becomes like a 38 millimeter lens.
And then because like most Sony cameras, this has Clear Image Zoom,
I can crop in and then I can even go
1.5 times further.
So that way, this, what is that?
(Asking my watch) What is 38 times 1.5?
Siri: The answer is 57.? (she's 2 for 2 today!)
So now my 24 millimeter lens is like a 57 millimeter lens!
You know, asterisk* "57mm*"
At some point I do want to get a zoom lens to use with this camera.
I'm very interested in the newly announced Tamron 20 to 42.8.
That sounds
pretty awesome.
But even using just a 24 millimeter prime fixed focal length, because of
the crop and the Clear Image Zoom, there's so much versatility,
even just with this one lens on the camera.
And as is the case with most Sony cameras, like I mentioned, I just assigned that
feature to this joystick because Sony's really good about essentially letting
you map basically anything to any button
for the most part. Like I mentioned in my full review, what is typically an exposure
compensation dial up here is now a fully assignable button with a great clicky.
Listen to this. (satisfying clicky sounds ensues)
So what I've done is I've actually set this to be my audio, so I can turn
this to adjust the camera's audio.
And when I have it at the level I want, I can lock it
so that way it doesn't accidentally get changed.
And that is super helpful if
I'm not using a mic that has auto audio gain. But I did recently get
this microphone, the Sony ECM B1M
which does have auto gain,
so then I don't need to worry about this at all. But that ability to
customize everything is a huge advantage to this camera because
it does take things even further.
And I didn't really understand or appreciate that until I was using
this camera more and more and more.
And it started to
kind of click because one thing I was doing
was clicking this mode dial.
If you're familiar with this camera, you're probably aware that the
mode dial is a little bit different than it is on other cameras.
You do have your typical settings on top, like manual and some of the
automatic and semiautomatic modes.
And then you also have 1, 2, and 3 custom functions, and then
you have this little sub switch here that lets you go from Photo, Video,
and Slow & Quick modes. Even though I thought this is a nice little design,
it didn't really seem that much better or that much faster or
more convenient than just turning a mode dial. Is going like this really
that different than going like that?!
If I want to go to Slow & Quick mode, what I didn't realize to
full effect was that every mode then has three custom settings
right here! Because you have three different shooting modes, each with
three different custom settings.
So for example, in Photo mode, you could have one custom setting be
slow shutter speed, one custom setting be fast shutter speed.
In my video mode, I have– what do I have?
I have the first one
set to kind of my "standard" settings at 4K24.
My second one is 4K30 because a lot of times when I'm doing streaming my
equipment, like the ATEM Mini just works better with 30 frames per second.
So I can easily just switch between 24 and 30 frames per second, but
Slow & Quick mode is where, oh my gosh, this has changed everything.
What I'm constantly doing is going between 60 FPS to get little so motion.
And then super slow, like 1FPS to do time lapses.
And instead of going through the menus, now I just have in the
Slow & Quick setting. Setting 1 is a slow time lapse, one frame per second,
with each exposure being 0.8 seconds.
And that way I can just flip it to that and then maybe make a couple adjustments
for exposure, and then I'm ready to do
a really fun time lapse. Custom setting 2
I have set to 120FPS in just full high definition.
So that way, if there is something happening where I really need
120FPS, even though it's not 4k, at least I can still get it
and it scales up just fine to 4k.
And then my third setting is just the standard 60FPS slow motion,
which is also what usually just the manual settings are set to.
So that's why I put it to number three, because typically if I'm in manual mode
and I switch to S&Q I'm at 4K60.
But if for some reason I'm not, and I want to get there
I can also just go to number three. And just real quick, if you've ever
been unsure of how to set these settings, you just put the dial into
the setting that you want to save
and then once you have your settings, how you want them to be, you just go
into the camera menu and then option number four says, what does it say?
"Shooting Mode."
And then you can just arrow over to Camera Set Memory
and that way you can select up here
It says 1, 2, or 3 and then you just set which one of those you're
going to save these settings to.
So it's a super simple process, which means you can change these settings
really easily if you're out and about, and you decide you need to fine tune
it a little bit more for something specific. But it's also super important
to talk about photos because that of course is a huge strength of this camera.
And it is one of the reasons that I originally bought the camera,
and it is absolutely incredible to have a high resolution.
Amazing stills photo camera
with you at all times.
And again, that's where I can't emphasize enough that even though
the FX3 and a7SIII, with their 12 megapixel sensors can take really,
really nice photos that you can print and blow up to pretty decent sizes.
This, especially if you're somewhere where you can't recreate something, you're on
a vacation, it's kind of like once in a lifetime moment that you want to capture,
capturing it in higher resolution, I think is definitely a smart thing to do.
And gives you a lot of versatility afterwards.
I've been using this PGYTech MantisPod.
I might even do a whole video on this thing because
this is one of the coolest things ever.
I absolutely love it.
So I usually use this as like my little run and gun travel tripod
setup thing, which is also very fun because it can easily go
low to the flo' if you need it to.
And of course, if you've seen anything about this little tripod,
it has like a hook that comes out and lets you hang it off of stuff.
It's really versatile and it works incredibly well.
And then I just pop this little microphone on here and now this setup will cover
almost everything I need it to do. I can get great video,
I can get great sounding audio,
and then I also have the versatility to position the camera pretty much
anywhere that I might need to.
And so it really just has been so much fun to know that this very small, compact
setup, which could even be smaller,
can cover like everything that I need for the most part, especially if I'm
not in this very controlled environment. But of course it wouldn't be fair to
talk about all the great things about this camera without talking about
the strengths of the other cameras.
I do cover this very in depth in my full review, but just to kind of give
you the SparkNotes™ version, the other two cameras, the FX3 and the a7SIII
have no overheating to worry about at all.
I live in the desert.
It's insanely hot here.
Neither of them have ever come close to overheating, but especially of course
the FX3 does have that built in fan,
so it will absolutely guarantee that even at 4K120 for however
long your memory cards will last,
you're not going to deal with overheating at all with those cameras.
And again, you have no crops.
So you have 4K120, you have 4K60 full frame,
everything, no crop.
You don't have Super 35 mode though
so you can't crop in as much.
You do have Clear Image Zoom though.
The FX3 recently got a new 2.0 firmware update, which did kind of change it a
bit to differentiate it
from the a7SIII.
So the image quality is the same between these two cameras, but some of the menu
functionality, some of the features are geared a little more towards video
now, and it also added some new picture profiles and shooting modes as well.
So it is absolutely a super strong, dedicated video camera.
And I do have to say the FX3 and the a7SIII, do both have slightly
better build quality than the a7IV.
The a7IV is great.
And it looks
so much like the a7SIII, but like, I've talked about before, there's
something about this area here.
That just feels a little bit like if you can kind of hear how that sort of sounds (plastic tapping noises)
like hollow and plasticky. It's probably not something you would ever notice
unless you use like the a7SIII, which feels exactly the same,
but is just like, sturdier.
I don't know what the reason is or what the change is or what this is not like
a poorly built camera by any means, but the other cameras do just have slightly
better build quality overall, but as you would probably naturally expect the
a7IV reminds me a lot of an episode of King of the Hill from the late 90's.
If you've never watched King of the Hill, it's an amazing show.
It's one of my favorites. But there's an episode in that show
where Hank needs to get a new truck.
He has this old red pickup truck that he's loved forever, and it's just
time to get a new one, but he really doesn't want to. This has become one of
my favorite analogies for learning to love new gear, because it's so relatable.
At one point in the episode, Hank ends up kind of being tricked into
test driving a new truck, and he needs to use it to go look for Bobby
his son who's run away. And it's a dark rainy night,
and as much as Hank is really not that interested in this truck at first,
as he goes out to search for his son
he starts to like fall in love with the truck because he starts to see
how practical it is, how useful it is.
It just sort of works for him in a way that he could only
discover after he needed to use it in those specific scenarios.
Hank: I love this truck.
Bobby: Yeah, me too.
Hank:But when we get back to the dealership, pretend you hate it.
For me, the a7IV, is that new red truck.
It's the camera that I thought was fine, but it wasn't until I really started using
it in these specific situations where all of these little features and these little
quality of life improvements and these little kind of unique advantages that this
camera specifically has started to shine.
And that's when I started to think that I had been totally
kind of wrong about this camera and didn't give it the credit that it deserves.
So the whole point in this long endeavor is just for me to go
on the record is saying that the a7IV absolutely amazing camera.
And if you're thinking about getting one, but you're kind of
on the fence, maybe this can sort of help you make that decision.
Of course, this is all just for my own point of view and my own use case,
so it doesn't necessarily guarantee that's it's going to be perfect for you as well.
It's just so good.
It's just such a good friggin' camera.
And speaking of things that are also friggin' good, thank you to everyone
who helps support my channel through Patreon and YouTube Channel Memberships.
And I did put together a special playlist of my Sony Camera Review Trilogy
if you want to see full reviews for any of these three cameras.