Bit the bullet: A7Rm4!

[Ad Dieleman]

This morning I traded my Sony A7Rm2 for the A7Rm4. I got a good trade-in price and an additional € 400 discount on the new camera. Salient detail: the seller asked his manager if the discount offer was still valid because Sony had retracted some discounts because of the Covid-19 outbreak. Fortunately this discount wasn't affected and moreover the store manager said that he had made an agreement with me last week, so the deal stood. Phew! Now digging through the menus and setting up the camera, will take me a couple more hours.

Had been agonizing over this for the last few months, wanted to overcome the annoyances of the A7Rm2. Most important one: couldn't toggle peaking on/off with a single button click, which is a big deal to me because I like to use manual-focus lenses. The much faster AF of the A7Rm4 won me over, I gulped a few times and used the magic piece of plastic, AKA credit card.

Apple    iPhone 7 back camera 3.99mm f/1.8    4mm    f/1.8    1/35s    ISO 25

 

[WoodWorks]

Congratulations, Ad! I’m looking forward to an avalanche of great shots while you get comfortable with that new toy, er, tool!

 

[bdbits]

Congratulations! I know just going from A7m2 to A7Rm3 gave me a lot more control over the camera. Of course with more power comes more complexity - I am still figuring out parts of it.

 

[davect01]

Congrats. It is supposed to be an excellent camera but way too pricey for me.

 

[Ad Dieleman]

Congratulations, Ad! I’m looking forward to an avalanche of great shots while you get comfortable with that new toy, er, tool!

Ah, the pressure! After a good 3 hours of digging through the menus I think I have it set up well enough to get going. Made a profile with the Colorchecker Passport and gathering courage to do a firmware update. Oddly enough I don't feel like testing a lot, I'll probably just go out like I used to and see what comes out of it. From experience I expect to need a few months before I really get to grips with the new tool. I'm always much more excited to use a new lens than a new camera; call me crazy, but that's how it is.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Congratulations on the new baby .

I could be so envious of you guys... and I am envious of the features and capabilities, sometimes even a menu entry, or, as in this case, something being easily customisable.

I comfort myself: it is not just the out-of-reach price, but also weight and size that makes the APS-C road mine. I might have less money than when I started; I certainly don't have more muscle.

So here I am, vicariously enjoying.

By the way. Peak Design seems to be everywhere! Yes, I use it too.

 

[AlwaysOnAuto]

Way to go Ad!
Looking forward to seeing the results.

 

[mingus]

Don't make me regret my Rii purchase before it's even here! Seriously, though, that's awesome. I'm sure i'll hit some of those annoyances soon enough. Glad to see that 35mm 2.8 on there. That's one of the lenses i'm rummaging to find a good copy of for cheap to keep as the "normal" on my Rii when it arives. I like to shoot a lot of manual, but with kids in the mix now, it's nice to have native lenses. I found that with the 24mm on my a6000.

Congratulations!
-James

 

[Ad Dieleman]

Don't make me regret my Rii purchase before it's even here! Seriously, though, that's awesome. I'm sure i'll hit some of those annoyances soon enough. Glad to see that 35mm 2.8 on there. That's one of the lenses i'm rummaging to find a good copy of for cheap to keep as the "normal" on my Rii when it arives. I like to shoot a lot of manual, but with kids in the mix now, it's nice to have native lenses. I found that with the 24mm on my a6000.

Congratulations!
-James

The A7Rm2 has served me well for 4 years and I made 48,000 photos with it. Never regretted buying it, but now there's something even better. And that Sony FE 2.8/35 is certainly a fine lens.

 

[Tipton]

This morning I traded my Sony A7Rm2 for the A7Rm4.

Congrats on the new baby!

I'm hoping to hold out until September, the month before my annual waterfalls trip up north. I'd kind of like to see what the A7iv looks like before I purchase, too. Although I keep thinking I should spend the money on lenses, rather than bodies.

 

[WNG]

Nice! Looking forward to the images.

 

[WoodWorks]

+1 on the Sony 35mm f/2.8. It’s my desert island lens.

 

[bdbits]

Lots of people are hoping an A7iv is imminent. Maybe they will announce it at Photokina at the end of May. Let's hope coronavirus is history by then.

I sold my Sony 35/2.8 some time ago to fund other things. Something I regret; it really is a great lens.

 

[Ad Dieleman]

Congrats on the new baby!

I'm hoping to hold out until September, the month before my annual waterfalls trip up north. I'd kind of like to see what the A7iv looks like before I purchase, too. Although I keep thinking I should spend the money on lenses, rather than bodies.

I also was waiting for the A7m4 but a) it doesn't seem to come in the next few months and b) it's an unknown if Sony will stick to 24 MP or will increase resolution to, say, 36 MP. I can easily live with 36 MP but don't want to go back to 24. And patience is not one of my virtues...

 

[unlo]

i've made the mistake of putting one in my hands... it is only a matter of time now.. enjoy Ad!

 

[Ad Dieleman]

i've made the mistake of putting one in my hands... it is only a matter of time now.. enjoy Ad!

Thanks. Made exactly the same mistake .

 

[Ad Dieleman]

Some first impressions after 3 days with the R4 (A7Rm4), compared to the R2 (A7Rm2) I was used to.

• Peaking on/off with 1 button press. Wonderful! Finally!
• Not yet used to the joystick. The R4's directional pad feels much nicer than the R2's and I use it like I did on the R2. Moving the focus point on the touch screen might be useful, but so far I haven't been able to get comfortable with it.
• Peaking is somewhat more effective with the better finder, even without magnifying I can achieve good-enough focus. Critical focus however still requires magnifying; 61 MP reveals your errors just that little bit better than the R2's 42 MP.
• The initial acquisition of the R4's AF is much faster, I now can point the camera at someone in the street and acquire focus fast enough; the R2 was simply too slow for that.
• Bigger files. Lightroom's zooming in on full-size previews is noticeably slower, working in the Develop module and browsing through pictures feels the same as before. I use Sandisk Extreme PLUS cards, which are supposed to be writable with 90 MB/s; works for me so far, but I hardly ever do continuous shooting.
• The R4 is somewhat heavier and bigger, but it still feels much like an R2 with just a better feel to buttons. I always felt that the R2 was good in the hand, I could even operate it with thin gloves. The R4's separate AF-On button is nice.
• My Menu option is great.
• The R4's menus are much more extensive than the R2's. Many reviewers complain about the complexity and lay-out of the menus, I can find my way in them, they just take getting used to. But you really need the manual to find out what some options are for and what exactly they do.
• Done with fumbling with 4 batteries and 3 chargers on my desk, now just one battery in the camera, one spare in the bag and one charger on my desk.
• Getting the Peak Design anchors through the R2's camera lugs was a real pain, went much smoother with the R4. Could pull the anchors in with 0.5mm copper wire (from my electronics desk).
• Definitely a different look to the raw files, even after profiling with Colorchecker Passport and Classic charts: cooler and contrastier. Instead of the standard profiling tools from X-rite and Adobe I'm now experimenting with Lumariver Profile Designer, which is much more flexible, but also much more complicated; first results are encouraging but I think I'll have to make a lot of pictures under varying circumstances to fine-tune the profiles to my taste. And no, I don't like the standard Adobe Color profile.
• The R4 is supposed to have even better weather sealing than the R2. A few weeks ago I let the R2 get really wet and all went well, except for a fleeting fluke message that "the accessory is not supported". Probably the multi-interface shoe got some water between contacts.
• Didn't really test high-ISO performance but first impression is that it's a little bit worse than the R2's. This corresponds with the measurements of DxOMark and Bill Claff. Lightroom does a great job with color noise reduction, the pictures don't look good without it if you bump the ISO. To be honest, I still see the increase in resolution as a disadvantage because of the larger files and the slightly worse high-ISO performance; I would have been perfectly happy if Sony would have stuck to the R2's 42 MP.

 

[AlwaysOnAuto]

It's great having a 'real world' user such as you, Ad, give their impressions of using the camera. We know you aren't 'on the take' so will be honest with us. Thanks.

 

[unlo]

with just a better feel to buttons.

Done with fumbling with 4 batteries and 3 chargers on my desk, now just one battery in the camera, one spare in the bag and one charger on my desk.

yep.. for these are the 'real' straws on the camels back for me.

 

[Ziggy99]

To be honest, I still see the increase in resolution as a disadvantage because of the larger files and the slightly worse high-ISO performance; I would have been perfectly happy if Sony would have stuck to the R2's 42 MP.

I would have opted for a 42mp IV instead of the III I chose in particular because there's no resolution advantage of the bigger sensor above ISO400.