Although the Sony A7R IV looks very similar to the A7R III, it feels a bit more solid and comfortable in your hand.
According to Sony the A7R IV’s durability and weather resistance has been enhanced. It has magnesium alloy covers and internal frame, helping to make it light but robust.
Sony has improved the weather-sealing around the battery cover, terminal cover, lens mount and all the joints in the chassis. In addition, the memory card bay now opens with a double-sealed sliding mechanism instead of a hinged door. This also helps improve the weather resistance.
I had plenty of opportunity to test the weatherproofing during a trip to the French Alps. On one occasion the A7R IV was subjected to heavy rain for a couple of hours. The camera continued to capture images as required but after about an hour an error message about a non-existent accessory kept popping up on the screen. I was able to clear it and keep shooting, but the message popped up quite a few times.
After the camera was dried, it worked as normal.
Control Changes
Sony has made few worthwhile changes to the controls and handling of the A7R IV in comparison with the A7R III. Chief amongst these, the multi-selector or mini joystick control of the back of the camera is broader and has a new texture, making it easier to find with your thumb when you’re looking in the viewfinder.
It’s great for positioning the AF point while you compose the shot in the viewfinder.
The AF-ON button has also been made bigger so it’s easier to find and operate.
I’m also very pleased to see that the exposure compensation dial has a lock button. This means you can choose whether to lock it or not. That’s great news because the A7R III’s exposure compensation dial is prone to shifting while you carry it or when it’s pulled from a bag.
I’m disappointed that Sony hasn’t upgraded the lock on the mode dial to the same type as is on the exposure compensation dial. You have to press the button at the centre of the mode dial before it can be turned.
Better news is that there’s lots fo opportunity to customise A7R IV’s controls. What’s more, the menu system make it very clear which button has which function when you make changes.
Menu
Sony’s menus have a reputation for being long and complex. A lengthy menu comes with the territory if you have a camera with an extensive feature set. However, it can take a while to find the features that you want. Naturally, you get used to it, but it’s good to see a customisable section to which you can assign the features that you use most often.
Pressing the Fn button also reveals the Function menu. It would be nice if there were two versions of this and the custom menu, one for stills shooting and the other for stills. I’ve mentioned this to several manufacturers but so far only the only camera that has this functionality is the Fujifilm X-T4.
I’m surprised that we don’t yet have cameras with completely customisable menus. I think that Sony would be a prime candidate to introduce this. It would be great if you could just drag any menu item to another location so that features can be grouped in ways that make logical sense to the photographer.
Read our Fuji X-T4 review
Viewfinder
The A7R III has a 0.5-inch type OLED electronic viewfinder with 3,686,400 dots, and it’s very nice. However, Sony has upped the resolution to 5,760,000 dots for the A7R IV. That’s a big step that makes for a very clear, detailed view.
It means that the viewfinder looks very natural, but as an electronic unit it has the advantage of being able to show the impact of the camera settings. That’s a big advantage in tricky exposure situations – not that the A7R IV’s metering system struggles that often.
It also means that you can get the white balance right in-camera.
The viewfinder can be set to 60fps or 120fps. I mainly opted for 120fps as this gives the most natural view when photographing moving subjects. The movement is just a bit smoother.
Screen
Sony has stuck with the same 3-inch 1,440,000-dot tilting TFT LCD as on the A7R III, which is a little disappointing. The view is fine if you’re shooting landscape format images above or below eye-level, but the tilting mechanism is of now help when you’re shooting in portrait format. I’d really prefer a vari-angle screen.
It’s also frustrating that Sony continues to make such little use of the screen’s touch-sensitivity. You can tap to set the AF point or zoom into an image, but you can’t use touch-control to navigate the menu or making setting selections (even in the Function menu). In fact, it’s not even possible to swipe through images, which seems very behind the times.
Sony has dragged its heels for a while in this area and I really don’t understand why.