A7RIV: A Quick & Dirty Review

M

mcbob

Veteran
Recently picked up one of these to replace my aged GH4 in the "hybrid cam" role, as the latter started powering off randomly (in addition to having an inoperable touch screen and cracked lens mount which was inadequately repaired with JB Weld). Figured that one lasted me a good 5 years, wanted something to do the same, and also wanted ALL THE MEGAPICKLES IN THE WOOOORRRLLLDDDD. Aside from a few test-for-function shots around the house, it got a trial by fire on a paid job at a NASCAR race shooting some b-roll for a marketing company - scenics, swag handouts, a dinner, surprise driver meetings, etc. Client wanted this to be low-key, spec'ing a DSLR/mirrorless vs. a large pro cam... precisely what I got this thing for. Now... don't scream at me pros, I had another tested cam on ready backup just in case... fortunately never needed to power it on, though I had some fears I would. Nothing quite like the joys/headaches of early adoption. Anyway, thought I'd submit my initial findings to the public braintrust

SUPER SHORT: It's very good but has minor issues

LESS SHORT GOOD/BAD (w/ short detail)

Bad points
- It overheats rolling 4K. This was most pronounced on Day 1, rolling 4K24-100, only about 85F outside but sunny. I'm talking 5D2-like levels of "ok, 3 minutes is enough for you" overheating, bad enough that I thought I'd have to sideline it. However, this day was all non-critical swag and event b-roll stuff... including "Brand Ambassadors" passing out free ice to campers at the track, so I was rolling with huge half-filled ice coolers all day which made cooling the camera back down a simple chore... so I pressed on. Praying this gets repaired in a firmware update a'la A7S2. I did note an item in the camera menu days after the shoot that reduced overheating warnings... not sure if that works or exactly what it does or exactly what can happen if you let it do what it does, remains to be seen.

- It has problems auto-detecting FF/S35 lenses. Also noticed this on day 1. I had the swanky 24-70GM on it, FF/S35 set to "auto" in camera, and a button on camera programmed to switch when desired. At some point in the day, it went to S35 mode every time I powered on. INTERESTINGLY.... this problem may have also exacerbated the overheating issue, because for Day 2 I switched the camera to FF mode vs. auto-detect. Temperatures that day were 5-10 degrees hotter, and just as sunny, and the camera only gave two overheat warnings on two longer ~15m takes.

- Micro-HDMI. Grumble.

- No cage available for it yet. Minor point, but was informed that no, the A7R3 cage won't fit it... so we'll have to wait to rig anything to it with confidence.

Good Points
- I for one have fully embraced our coming robot overlords, and will whistle as I slave in their salt mines. That is to say... autofocus on a pro video camera, on a pro job. I think we're there now... or at least, I'm there. I know some will scoff... I used to scoff... I still kind of scoff, depending on the camera... I ran this, seeing if I'd keep scoffing... but the video AF on this, with a good lens (24-70GM, or even the uninspiring 18-105 in S35 mode), is flat out better than I am. How it works... heck I don't know. I'd just compose shots and the part that I wanted to see in focus... WAS. f8, f4, f2.8, didn't matter. It was stupidly freeing, in a way. On big screen review, with over 269 clips, there was NOT A SINGLE MUFFED TAKE due to blown focus. That's just... eesh. The C100 Canon DPAF I've used is a joke compared to this.

Think about how much less expensive this made my camera rig... 5" monitor to focus anything? Unnecessary. Wireless FF to work on a gimbal? Feh. Lenses... oh, well, granted, the Sony AF glass isn't cheap... but I'll eventually get to test this on some adapted stuff, just to see.

- Stable IBIS. For b-roll shots, it was steady enough (even at 70mm) that I ditched my monopod. Better than GH5, in my experience. Would still want stabilization of some sort for very long takes, but it makes the whole thing very "slingable" for finding different angles quickly.

- Stock colors are solid. For quick shoots, there's no need to go an un-Sonyfy the thing... it just looks good. Slog2 even looks better than normal Sony Slog2.

- Batteries have good endurance. Roughly 4 hours on a new FZ100, rolling 4K. YMMV.

- Nearly infinite button customizability. The menus may be a bit of a cluster, but being able to put about anything on a button or dial and have it at the ready... Convenience Level 13. Might take a few months to settle into a "best" configuration, but looks like I can save and restore settings to my heart's content.

- Two slots of affordable media. I dual-recorded 4K to relatively cheap UHS-I U3 cards, and handed one to the client at the end of the shoot. Always beats making smalltalk while offloading at the end of a long day.


Anyway... a lot more good than bad, FWIW, though the next few months will tell. At the moment, however.... nearly-perfect B-roll camera, event camera, gimbal camera, 2nd-angle interview camera... I think I've found it (if it doesn't overheat).
 
Thanks for the review.

You have the world's best video AF camera...everyone eventually comes around.

A lot of people still don't know how good it is and how much more creative it allows you to be. (Make sure you're using eye-AF too.)

I'm very close to purchasing one and the only thing that's holding me back is the a9 II announcement in a few weeks and if it will have 4K/60p.

P.S. The overheating warning menu setting basically will not shut the camera off when it normally would after the warnings. The camera will run as long as possible but does also increase the possibility of damage to the internals.
 
It's the AI AF, so all AF E-mounts should work. Phil Bloom tied a Zeiss 50mm Planar on FX9 and it worked fine too. Tamron should work. Sigma should work. Even Rokinon should work.
 
NorBro said:
A lot of people still don't know how good it is and how much more creative it allows you to be. (Make sure you're using eye-AF too.)
Click to expand...

That's exactly it. I was dangling it out the side of carts, craning it on a monopod, getting the "inside the opening/closing ice chest" shot... with a gimbal to keep it rock steady, it's almost like a huge un-waterproof shallow-DOF GoPro in terms of "just point it here and see what we get"ness.

and yeah... I know Sony will debut a 10-bit 4k60 flipping-screen never-overheating thing to make this pointless (and twice over again within the remaining year), but it's making my work better and easier now.
 
mcbob said:
All lenses are equal... but some lenses are more equal than others
Click to expand...

Not sure what you're saying here, but AF performance is NOT equal on all lenses.

A good example is the beloved Tamron 28-75mm...people hounded them to fix it to perform better, and they did.
 
Visually, RIV looks to have a different color filter array that produces much warmer, Canon-like tones.
 
The autofocus and unlimited recording times were what really sold me on the thing. The absurd number of megapickles was just a side bonus.
 
unless I'm rolling 120fps, the R4 seems clean at least up to 12800. Noise starts to creep in after that.

So far, the worst thing about things about this camera are that it sometimes overheats, that it lacks internal 4:2:2-10, and that it makes my FS5 footage kinda look ugly as hell in comparison.
 
No, and probably won’t. One battery already lasts around 3-4 hours, and I like to use a smallish form fitting cage when I can.
 
Another update, FWIW...

Recently picked up the K3M XLR module. It's a little ridiculously huge for what it is, but is a very nice accessory for audio with discreet controls over gain, pad, low cut, phantom power, and can take up to three inputs (2 XLR, 1 1/8" TRS). Input can be set to CH1, Ch1+2, or CH3 (TRS only). It's actually easier to control this than my FS5's audio.

Downside, aside from being large, is that it's very plastic, and the mount flexes disconcertingly with any leverage. Waiting on somebody to make some cage armor.

ALSO....

Do any other A7's allow custom clip naming? Had a shooter with an A7III a bit back, and it didn't... if it's new to this camera, that's another little ultra-useful feather in its cap.
 
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