Sony A7IV One Year Review - Was it a MISTAKE??

one year with the Sony a74 actually I think it's been more like 13 months today I want to talk about the good and the Bad and the Ugly do I regret buying this what are the things I love about it what are the things I hate about it what are the things that are mild annoances and should I have bought a different camera let's get into it so firstly what are my use cases what do I actually use this for I have another YouTube channel that's based entirely around music production I've been doing that for a long time every single video for the past year has been filmed entirely on this Sony a74 there's Vlog stuff on there there's talking head stuff like this there's lots and lots of b-roll especially product b-roll I'm also a pretty avid photographer lots and lots of product photography I also love doing landscape photography and I have used this just about every day for the past year so I have lots and lots of time on this camera and I definitely have some thoughts on it let's talk about the things that I like the most first now for those of you that are interested I'm actually shooting this right now on the Sony a6400 with a sigma 16 millimeter lens this definitely has Superior video quality but I want to be able to I want to be able to show you guys some stuff while I'm filming so I went back to the old camera side note let me know if you want a comparison between the aps-c Sony's and the latest full for one of the latest full frames I have made some notes so I'm going to read these notes in an effort to fly through this here are the things that I like about this camera uh the video quality is 10 bit 422 which means you can use s-log 3 and have no issues color grading it absolutely love that the autofocus is phenomenal in video and in photo it almost never never loses Focus the LCD flip screen this was one of the earliest Sony's with the flip screen I think the Sony a7s 3 was the first one and uh couldn't use it without it a flip screen is 100 necessary for me the electronic image stabilization on top of Ibis is really great this is not the only Sony camera to have this but it is fantastic the mode switch right on top here so that way you can very easily switch between photo video and S and Q is outstanding the fact that there are three separate memory locations and those are three memory locations for each mode so you get three photo presets three video presets and three s and Q presets so good and so usable now side note you actually can have four memory presets because even though there's actually only three memory presets you also have a manual here and that manual will remember whatever you set it to so you can set it to a particular bunch of settings in manual switch over to memory mode two or three and when you go back to manual it will go back to whatever it was set on in manual my favorite thing about this this is perfect for me and how I have setup is memory location let's talk about video first memory location one for me is set to this talking headshot when I'm doing these talking headshots it's all set up and dialed in for exactly this shot memory location 2 is 4K 60 with the active stabilization turned on in s-log 3. memory location three is 120 frames per second and I keep the manual set up with my vlogging setup so manual for me is auto white balance 4K 24p with the active stabilization on because when I'm Vlogging when I'm actually vlogging I don't I don't want to think about the camera at all but that's really awesome that I actually have four usable presets basically on this camera so usable the other thing that I love about this camera is the dynamic range you can go watch Gerald undone's video on this his original video where he goes over the dynamic range the diamond the dynamic range of this is fantastic and really just gives a much higher quality look now I will say if you want want to see video footage from this camera you can go check out any other video on this channel don't forget to subscribe while you're doing that or you can go to My Music Channel I'll link it down below and you can check out any video in the past year all the b-roll all the vlogging stuff everything was done on this camera while you're down links in description I'll put a link to this as well as all of my favorite lenses and a whole bunch of stuff that I use on a daily basis links down below if you use those links to cost you nothing extra and helps me out a little bit and I really appreciate it one of my next favorite things is 4K 60 at this price point but more on that because that's the most controversial part of this camera we're going to get to that in a minute it's small form factor compared to other full-frame cameras I think Canon Nikon like they all do such a great job these days but I do like how small this is compared to like a Canon R6 or something one of my next favorite things about this camera is The Unofficial second native ISO so at ISO 3200 this camera cleans back up again it's not quite as clean as the native ISO of 800 if you're in s-log but it does significantly clean back up and this is a really usable spot for me the Sony A7 S3 I think the second native ISO is like 12 800 and that would be too bright for me I never need to go that High ever so this is the perfect like sweet spot for the second native ISO perfect the 33 megapence the 33 megapit the 33 megapix not pixel not pencil pixel the 33 megapixel can't good Lord the 33 megapixel sensor in this in my opinion is kind of a great sweet spot it is high enough resolution to have really high quality photos but it's not such a big sensor it's not so many megapixels that the file size is enormous I find this like 30 to 35 megapixel The Sweet Spot of sensor size which also means that the 4K image coming out of this is down sampled from 7K this is one of the sharpest images the highest resolution 4K images you get from any Sony cameras available right now last but not least of the likes before we get on to the dislikes full size HDMI port why all modern cameras don't have full C full size HDMI port at this point is beyond me this is a must for every modern camera and this one has it let's get to my dislikes on the Sony a74 for photos in uncompressed raw it's only six frames per second it's a little slow there's one particular time we were in Monument Valley in Arizona the sun was setting behind the three sisters in Monument Valley and we were on a Jeep Tour we were in the back of a Jeep open air Jeep Tour and they weren't gonna stop and I really wanted to capture the sun setting right behind the middle of the three sisters so as we're driving I'm like I think I can get this and I flip the camera into high drive mode which is only six frames per second and as we're driving past I had no idea when the shot was actually going to be correct because I didn't have any time to set up the shop we're going 15 miles an hour the whole time so I throw the camera into high drive mode and I just hold the button down the whole way past and I was like if I just hold it down the whole way past it hopefully I'll get the shot that I'm looking for here's the shot that I got right here and I'm pretty happy with this however I think I would have really liked it to have like 10 frames per second I could have been a little bit more precise I think if you're shooting sports or any sort of action type stuff six frames per second for uncompressed raw it's a little slow now granted it does go faster than that for compressed raw and JPEG but I shoot everything in uncompressed raw so that's my first negative my second negative and this is a big one for me is that the 120 frames per second which is only at 1080 not 4K it is only 8-bit if you want audio that's unfortunate to me and here's why it's unfortunate because in s and Q mode you can do 1080 120p without audio at 10 bit so the fact that if you want audio with your 120 they you down to 8-bit that's annoying to me because the camera is clearly capable of shooting 120 and 10 bit that's real Annoying here's the next real Annoying part to me actually this might be the most annoying part I do a lot of time lapse stuff I do a lot of like 24 times quick time with the S and Q if you want a 4K 24 speed at one frame per second you have to use v90 memory cards the expensive high-speed memory cards stupid why would you have to do that like that's obviously significantly less data than shooting 4K at 24 frames per second and you don't need a high speed card for that why do you need the high speed expensive cards to do time lapse in the exact same resolution stupid the next thing that is a drawback to me is the rolling shutter now Gerald undone again did great tests on this go check out his video I'll link it down below the rolling shutter is not great now it doesn't matter for shots like this and I find with the electronic stabilization on like when I'm I'm Vlogging it's still it's fine but there are times when you're like whip panning or when you're like doing like quick movements when you're vlogging you can see the rolling shutter for sure I wish the rolling shutter was better but I also understand that you know this is this is not that expensive of a camera in the grand scheme of things the next thing that annoys me and I deal with this constantly is that this sensor right here and this is the sensor that turns the screen off when you put this up to your face uh it turns the viewfinder on and turns the screen off when something gets close to the sensor what annoys me about this is every time I go to reach for the menu button or any of these buttons here it turns the screen off for just a second because it thinks I'm good bringing it up to my face like that's a dumb location for this that sensor should be moved to the top up here so that way it only gets triggered when you actually go to bring the camera up to your face I I really think that that needs to be moved and that brings us to maybe the most controversial part of this camera is the crop in 4k 60. this camera does do 4K 60 but it is in an aps-c crop now this is when I was purchasing this this was one of the biggest hesitances that I had about purchasing this camera I should say that I've had zero overheating issues with this ever I've used this nearly every day for a year and it's never once overheated I've never gotten an overheating warning no issue there so the 4K 60 in the aps-c crop is still down sampled from 4.8 K I think the image is still great the con of course is that it's not full frame we would like full frame 4K 60. now here is maybe my somewhat uncommon take for the work that I actually do when I'm doing 4K 60. first I've almost abandoned 120 altogether 120 is almost too slow for most of the stuff that I do I actually like 60 frames per second more than I like 120 for just just about everything but when I am shooting in 4k 60 it's usually product b-roll or it's usually closer more detail work and so the interesting thing to me is like when I'm Vlogging or when I'm doing anything like that I'm I'm usually using the Sony 16 to 35 F 2.8 and when I need some b-roll I switch to 4K 60. but when I switch to 4K 60 with that aps-c crop on the 16 to 35 I actually get a 24 to 52 is that right yeah 52.5 millimeter crop which is actually my preferred range for b-roll that's that's what I would normally put on for b-roll anyway especially like a 50 mil I really love 50 mil so I can literally go from 16 mil Vlog Zoom all the way into 60 frames per second b-roll and it's instantly a 52 millimeter equivalent this is actually worked out to be kind of perfect for me if I'm being honest would I want full frame 60 of course has it held me back not at all if I I need something tighter I throw on the 50 mil and now I have like a 75 millimeter equivalent but there is another Pro that comes with this as well now Granite if we had full frame 4K 60 there would likely be an aps-c crop mode where you could punch in and this would all apply anyway I'm just trying to point out that the crop isn't that big of a deal at least for me and for how I work the other big Pro is it changes the minimum Focus distance kinda so this 16th to 35 G Master lens the minimum Focus distance is 11 inches when I'm zoomed into 35 on 60 frames per second with the aps-c crop I have a 52 millimeter equivalent the 50 mil F 1.8 minimum Focus distance is 15.3 inches this will actually get much closer much tighter to something in that 60 frames per second crop then this will at full frame and so honestly it's kind of a wash for me you get active stabilization in 60 frames per second it's still 10 422 so I can still shoot in s-log 3. so before I talk about should I have bought a different camera what's some things that I really wish that this had what do I feel held back by occasionally I feel held back by the crop in 4k 60 for sure but overall not really a big deal I do wish we had 4K 120 I don't use 120 that often but it would be nice to have I do wish it shot faster frames per second for photos but the image quality coming out of this is just it's beautiful in my opinion so after one year with the Sony A7 Ford should I have bought a different camera because my work is so equally photo and video driven there's not really another camera that does this now the brand new Sony a7r5 would do it and that's a real strong consideration for me um the Sony A7 S3 while incredible for video I half of my workers photo and I need more resolution than 12 megapixels and none of the other higher end a1s have the flip out screen and I do enough Vlog stuff where I need this so the Sony a7r5 really strong consideration wasn't out when I bought this also it's like fifteen hundred dollars more than this so no at the time that I bought this and still today with the exception of the Sony a7r5 if you can afford it if it fits your budget this is still the best camera money can buy in that like twenty five hundred dollar price point in my opinion that there is don't forget links down below for everything that I use all my lenses this camera all this audio stuff that I use thank you guys for watching don't forget to subscribe I'll see you in the next one peace foreign [Music]

Channel: Colt Capperrune Tech

Views: 61,511

Keywords: sony, a7IV, a74, Review, specs, for, video, photo, long term, best, lens, full frame, gerald undone, youtube, camera, film, making

Id: NnFfGhnTty8

Length: 14min 56sec (896 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 10 2023