Sony a7R IV Underwater Camera Review by Backscatter: “hands-down best stills image quality”

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Backscatter tested the underwater performance of the Sony A7rIV and concluded:

The Sony a7R IV is a massive leap forward in image quality. With 61MP of resolution, it will produce big prints with tons of sharp detail like no other camera before it. Cropping a vertical from a horizontal is not a problem and will still yield more resolution than most other cameras at full frame. The color of the still images look great right out of the camera, and the dynamic range is among the best of any camera. With both image quality and resolution, you can have your cake and eat it too.

10 frames per second continuous shooting with this much resolution is crazy good performance. 10 FPS used to be reserved for sports cameras with much lower resolution, but now this camera can push those boundaries and shoot fast action. This being said, it is a little clunky to shoot fast and review, requiring extra taps of the playback and shutter buttons to switch back and forth from shooting to image review, but this is something common to all mirrorless cameras. In this area a SLR is still king.

The Real-time Tracking AF is a major leap forward in autofocus for Sony. It can now compete with the likes of the Nikon D850 for that top autofocus performance slot. In our testing however the macro autofocus capabilities of the Nikon D850 still outperform the Sony a7R IV, but you can get closer with the Sony a7R IV than ever before to the Nikon macro performance if a Canon macro lens with an adapter is used.

We wish Sony would develop a proper fisheye lens and a better performing macro lens, but thankfully there is a good solution with using an adapter for some Canon glass, even if it adds a little bulk and isn’t as streamlined as native glass.

For video shooters, whether this camera fits their needs will depend on the type of shooting they do. It’s disappointing to not see any 4K/60p from Sony yet. Canon and Panasonic both have full-frame cameras now that are shooting over 4K resolution at 60p. That coupled with the rather shallow limitations of the custom white balance, make this camera a choice for more casual video shooters whose real main interest is photo.

If you’re looking for the hands-down best stills image quality and biggest resolution, there is no other place to look than the Sony a7R IV.

Sony A7rIV links:
Sony A7rIV in USA/CA at BHphoto, Adorama, FocusCamera, Amazon, BuyDig, Henrys.
Sony A7rIV in EU at Calumet DE, ParkUK, WexUK, Calumet NL.
Sony A7rIV in Asia at Sony Japan. Sony Australia.

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Sony Tidbits…

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Samyang AF 18mm F2.8 Thorough Review

Note: If you are interested in electric cars check out our new website Electric-fun.com
Macro Lens Buying Guide (Explora).
Camera Conspiracies: Guaranteed Camera and Lens Predictions For 2020 (MirrorlessRumors).
Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 FE review at Mobile01.
Mirrorless 24-70mm Shootout: Which Lens Wins in Sharpness vs Expense? (PetaPixel).
65mm f/2.8 Macro 2X test at Fengniao.
Tamron 20mm FE test at Mobile01.

Personal photos and tests from SAR Admin Andrea on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and 500px.

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Amazon still has the Sony A7III for the discounted price

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The $200 rebate on the A7III is gone and the price back to $1,999. But there is one last place you can get the camera for the near discounted price: Sony A7III with 64GB SD card at Amazon US (Click here).

Reminder:
From March the 9th till March 31st, you get a public 25% discount on Capture One for Sony perpetual licenses and subscriptions (Click here). Use code “SPRING25” to get the discount at checkout!

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WILD RUMOR: Possible Sony PXW-FX6 specs…

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Sony will showcase three new Cine E-mount lenses including the 16-35mm T/3.1 FE Cine lens (in the center of the image)

Sony just announced they will have a press conference on April 20.

There is little chance they will unveil the A7sII successor. At best e can hope to get a teaser or development announcement.
But there might be a chance to get a new Sony PXW-FX6. There are the bits of rumors I got on this E-mount camcorder:

Sony PXW-FX6 is the successor to the hugely popular PXW-FS5. The new full frame PXW-FX6 follows the design from PXW-FS5 with a light weight camera body and at the same time gets a thing or two from the PXW-FX9. The body color will be the same as FX9 and they will share the same sensor.

The new FX6 will record up to 3840×2160 at 30fps and in 1920×1080 up to 120fps. Recording media is SDXC and 10-bit 4:2:2 LongGOP XAVC-L codec. As the same sensor as the FX9 is used the hybrid auto focus system will be the same. Raw output for 3840×2160 up to 60fps is provided from the SDI output.
Both S-Cinetone and S-log3 as recording gamma options are included but there’s no real LUT support but a simple view assist.

The camera body will be updated with better weather sealing and both the rear EVF and LCD screen will have a boost in resolution. Also the mount and frame is more robust to handle heavier full frame lenses.

Sony will also announce the original PXW-FS7 to become discontinued later during this year and the FS7 II will see a price drop in the fall.

Pricing is set to around $7000 and available late summer 2020.

Still I hope Sony will at least gives us a clear answer of when they plan to announce the A7sIII. Form what I heard we can expect the new camera to be on market by September/October…

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25% discount on Capture One for Sony on new perpetual licenses and subscriptions!

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From March the 9th till March 31st, you get a public 25% discount on Capture One for Sony perpetual licenses and subscriptions (Click here). Use code “SPRING25” to get the discount at checkout!

The discount is targeting new customers only and can’t be applied for upgrades!

There are now many Sony and Zeiss Open Box deals from ebay sellers ProDigital (see articles here), BuyDig (see articles here) and OnceCall (see articles here). Some special mentions:

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