Back in April, Sony quietly updated its a7R IV, bumping the quality of its rear display and renaming it the a7R IVA, in keeping with manufacturers’ tendency to choose model names that follow no logic. The a7R IV has now disappeared from sale, and right now, you’ll struggle to buy either of these cameras.
Dan Watson explains the situation, outlining the improvement to the resolution of the rear LCD, with Sony increasing it from 1.44 million dots to 2.36 million dots and giving it better specs than the a7S III that was launched in October last year. A few other small changes are included in the a7R IVA: battery life sees a small improvement, and the USB port also receives a boost.
Price and availability will frustrate some buyers, but where it gets confusing are the product codes used by Sony. Searching B&H Photo for the a7R IV will only produce results for the a7R IVA. If you want to find the a7R IV, you will have to type in “ILCE7RM4/B,” where you will find that the camera is listed as discontinued. Given that it was launched as "ILCE7RM4," the /B has since been added to differentiate it from /A, one would assume.
That would all make sense until you realize that the updated version is not "ILCE7RM4/A" as you’d expect, but "ILCE7RM4A/B." To add further confusion, some retailers are listing the updated model not as the “a7R IVA” but as the “a7R IV (Updated Version).”
Is Sony confused? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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B&H has updated some of these links since I submitted this article. Apologies! It will get fixed.
I'm waiting for something between the a7Riii and A1. The a7R IV just wasn't as good as the Riii or even the 7iii in ISO performance. The A1 picked that back up and with higher resolution sensor but it's too expensive. With the R IV I didn't feel the higher res sensor, better AF and menu system was worth the downgraded ISO performance. Those are things I can work around.
I have both the A7Riii and A7Riv. After testing and using them for the last year, i fail to see any difference in the level of noise at normal ISO ranges. I know logically they should be a different, but this is just my real world take.
I'm using dpreviews to compare these shots. In their testing the R IV certainly has more color noise at minimum. It could very depend on camera. I read similar results with other reviews though.
Wow! That is significant. And not my experience at all. I really want to do another comparison test now, with tighter controls. Your right though, copy variation could be a factor.
you're
A few things I see:
1. The one on the right is sharper.
2. The left is blurry, which could account less appearing color noise.
3. The left also has either color shifted or there's purple fringing.
Edit: now that I think about it, the left is probably out of focus.
Lastly, those have got to be jpegs, not raw. Yes, I see the "RAW" dropdown. I can't remember ever having a raw file that had color noise at high ISOs. They've always had like a grain look. Below a7iii and a7rii examples are SOOC ISO 4000 and 12800.
Click the links for the full the res.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51279507153_b3a3459bde_o.jpg
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https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51279509788_8223491839_o.jpg
1. It's probalty sharper because we are comparing 42mp to 60mp.
2. See number 1.
3. There is chromatic aberration but this is probably the lens. DPreview doesn't mention the lens they are using with either camera. The lens isn't going going to contribute to the noise though.
"I can't remember ever having a raw file that had color noise at high ISOs."
Are you actually a photographer? Serious question.
The samples you posted are ISO 4000 and 6400, not iso 12800. Also f/2 vs f/3.5. At least you had the shutter the same.
In the end I'm just using the available information out there. I've watched many reviews on the a7R IV looking to upgrade. Most point out the ISO differences.
Ooops, my bad about the 12800. I meant to post this one, https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51280109606_6d8ebb7913_o.jpg . Pssst…at any rate, 6400 is still greater than 3200, in case you were not aware.
Yeah, I think you of all people should not be questioning if somebody is an actual photographer or not.
1. False. The sharpness of the dpreview images have nothing to do their MP. They are 100% crop. Put on your thinking cap.
2. See number 1 and 3.
3. False, again. The fact the sample they provided is out of focus can dilute the color noise whereas the other sample looks more pronounced. So, don't put away that thinking cap just yet.
--- "…Also f/2 vs f/3.5. At least you had the shutter the same."
You must be some kind of noob and/or just getting desperate to think settings should be same when using different bodies, different lenses, different locations/subjects/angles:
a. I'm not comparing my 2 samples against each other, I'm comparing them against the dpreview comparison. LOL! SMH
b. Dpreview's comparison as you posted does not include any other settings than ISO, so I'm not sure why you're even bringing up aperture and shutter.
The /b generally refers to body only, not a kit.
As long as they dont cut it out of firmware updates, i dont care what they call it.
"in keeping with manufacturers’ tendency to choose model names that follow no logic" ... that's gold right there...
You may appreciate this: https://fstoppers.com/originals/why-do-cameras-all-have-such-stupid-name...
Oh yes... Took me a while to decode the CoolPix line. Wanted a cheap small sensor bridge camera I could recommend for the poor folks. Finally settled on the P530. Same sensor as the P1000, has an evf and a LOT cheaper... )
Usually, /B refers to the color. As an example, DCZV1/B is the black color version. DCZV1/W is the white color. MPN for the A7R4 has always been ILCE7RM4/B.
"in keeping with manufacturers’ tendency to choose model names that follow no logic" .
Must be the same department that designed Sony's UI.