Is the Sony a7iv worth upgrading from the A7Riii?

[Christina84]

I have the sony a7riii but it recently took a fall and I am in need of a new camera. Is the a7iv an upgrade from the a7riii? Anyone else wondering the same thing?

Thanks!

 

[ne beginner]

I have the sony a7riii but it recently took a fall and I am in need of a new camera. Is the a7iv an upgrade from the a7riii? Anyone else wondering the same thing?

Thanks!

Sorry about your fall.

An upgrade to the A7RIII, based on the "tool" being discussed, would I think generally be considered the A7RIV. It has the improved ergonomics, AF, new menu, card slots, better EVK and screen, etc.

The A7IV is more a jack of all trades. As such, if that's what you want or need, it may be a good compromise.

Do you need faster AF for moving targets? Do you want smaller files, faster processing speed? Are you a vlogger, or into video? IV may be a better choice.

 

[Christina84]

Thank you! I shoot toddler, family, portrait and studio photography. Video is not a concern. With that being said, which would you advise?

 

[ne beginner]

Thank you! I shoot toddler, family, portrait and studio photography. Video is not a concern. With that being said, which would you advise?

I'm just a hobbyist. The question that first comes to mind is, how did the RIII's AF work for you? If that was letting you down, that might point you to the RIV or IV.

The negatives to the RIV would be the additional cost over the RIII or the new IV. Also on the RIV, could the 61 MP files size push other upgrades in PC, file storage , etc? Or slow you down?

 

[Silat Shooter]

Like others have mentioned, I think the RIV would be better jump based on what you shoot. The skin tones on the RIV are superb, and the crop-ability is a real benefit. Gives you 'breathing room' when you shoot.

The only feature I wish the RIV had from the new shutter cover when changing lenses.

 

[Gemini2525]

If all you shoot is stills then get the a7riv, the a7iv is more of a hybrid, stills and video camera.

 

[SafariBob]

I have the sony a7riii but it recently took a fall and I am in need of a new camera. Is the a7iv an upgrade from the a7riii? Anyone else wondering the same thing?

Thanks!

More or less same same, all things considered imho. Presumably significant upgrade in af

 

[dwalme]

Thank you! I shoot toddler, family, portrait and studio photography. Video is not a concern. With that being said, which would you advise?

Chasing a toddler I'd want the A7 IV with improved autofocus.

 

[Lelly]

This may sound trite but I have a clean, transparent plastic bag to use when changing lenses. Protects from dust and moisture, and flies sometimes too!

 

[Silat Shooter]

This may sound trite but I have a clean, transparent plastic bag to use when changing lenses. Protects from dust and moisture, and flies sometimes too!

I hear you but it's nothing something I'm always going to have handy. Especially if I'm working fast.

 

[goodbokeh]

I have the sony a7riii but it recently took a fall and I am in need of a new camera. Is the a7iv an upgrade from the a7riii? Anyone else wondering the same thing?

Thanks!

Christina, I sold my A7R3 a few months ago after using it for over 3 years. I thought I was done with Sony for various reasons. The A74 is bringing me back to Sony as a customer for my bird and grandson's sports photography.

The A74 is a superior machine in almost every way to the A7R3 and in many ways to the R4. Even the 33MP is a more usable pixel count to allow for the selection of the desirable f/8-11 apertures without the substantial megapixel robbing diffraction penalty the R3 and R4 will suffer.

The bottom line is this: A74 with its superior Eye AF will give you great high-resolution photos that the R3 and R4 will simply miss.

 

[papajohnny]

The skin tones on the RIV are superb,

Not according to my observations. If you have DXO PL, they have all Sony camera profiles available, so you can use any profile on any camera. You can notice that Riii has the most pleasing profile, followed by A1, and Riv has one of the worst looking profiles among all.

 

[moficera]

The skin tones on the RIV are superb,

Not according to my observations. If you have DXO PL, they have all Sony camera profiles available, so you can use any profile on any camera. You can notice that Riii has the most pleasing profile, followed by A1, and Riv has one of the worst looking profiles among all.

 

[dwalme]

The skin tones on the RIV are superb,

Not according to my observations. If you have DXO PL, they have all Sony camera profiles available, so you can use any profile on any camera. You can notice that Riii has the most pleasing profile, followed by A1, and Riv has one of the worst looking profiles among all.

 

[sportyaccordy]

It really depends on what you shoot. For me the improved AF, ergonomics & video are well worth the loss of megapixels.

 

[Christina84]

Thank you for your input!

 

[papajohnny]

The skin tones on the RIV are superb,

Not according to my observations. If you have DXO PL, they have all Sony camera profiles available, so you can use any profile on any camera. You can notice that Riii has the most pleasing profile, followed by A1, and Riv has one of the worst looking profiles among all.

Perhaps DxO wants you to believe that you can select another camera and you'll transform your raw to match the output to one of those other cameras.

It doesn't work perfectly across different brands though it's still a useful approximation, you can notice profiles for other cameras look better than Sony native ones. And it works very well within one camera family, like Sony A7/9/1 camera series. Since you haven't tried it you wouldn't know.

 

[Dan_168]

I have the sony a7riii but it recently took a fall and I am in need of a new camera. Is the a7iv an upgrade from the a7riii? Anyone else wondering the same thing?

Thanks!

Depends on your application, for me as a landscape shooter, the A7 IV would be a downgrade from the A7R III,

 

[goodbokeh]

I have the sony a7riii but it recently took a fall and I am in need of a new camera. Is the a7iv an upgrade from the a7riii? Anyone else wondering the same thing?

Thanks!

Depends on your application, for me as a landscape shooter, the A7 IV would be a downgrade from the A7R III,

Dan, as a landscape photographer you are loosing your R3's 42MPs to diffraction after f/8. By f/11 diffraction has your effective resolution diminished to 24MPs (@100%) according to the Photopills diffraction calculator. Landscape photography often requires f-stops in the 11-16 range for DOF, so I think you should reassess your conclusion.

https://www.photopills.com/calculators/diffraction

 

[Dan_168]

I have the sony a7riii but it recently took a fall and I am in need of a new camera. Is the a7iv an upgrade from the a7riii? Anyone else wondering the same thing?

Thanks!

Depends on your application, for me as a landscape shooter, the A7 IV would be a downgrade from the A7R III,

Dan, as a landscape photographer you are loosing your R3's 42MPs to diffraction after f/8. By f/11 diffraction has your effective resolution diminished to 24MPs (@100%) according to the Photopills diffraction calculator. Landscape photography often requires f-stops in the 11-16 range for DOF, so I think you should reassess your conclusion.

https://www.photopills.com/calculators/diffraction

i have 5 FF camera at the moment range from 20MP to 60MP, ( for varies different applications), so I can see my own result based on my own real world pictures, i will not pick one specific scenario and start any debate, in general speaking for landscape, I still won't call going back from 43 to 33 MP a upgrade , I won't even call it a " wash".