Sony A7R IV review

The 61 megapixel Sony A7R IV is remarkable as a technical achievement, but as a camera its handling is starting to grate

Sony A7R IV review
(Image: © Rod Lawton/Digital Camera World)

Digital Camera World Verdict

The Sony A7R IV’s design tweaks make it handle better than the A7R III before it (though it can still be tiresome), and the resolution puts it well ahead of all its full frame mirrorless rivals for megapixels. And yet… while Sony’s hybrid AF system just keeps on getting better and better, the 4K video stays capped at 30fps, and real-world sharpness gains are subtle.

Pros

  • +

    World record resolution!

  • +

    Better handling than the Mark III

  • +

    Eye-tracking AF

  • +

    10fps shooting

Cons

  • -

    No 60/50p video

  • -

    Small body/big lens imbalance

  • -

    Ageing design and handling

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The Sony A7R  IV should not be thought of solely in terms of resolution, but that 61MP sensor is bound to be what grabs all the headlines. It beats its full frame rivals by some margin and re-establishes Sony as a front-runner in a full-frame mirrorless camera market that’s suddenly become very busy.

The fact is, even though the Mark IV not without its foibles, the Sony A7R IV easily does enough to make it on to our list of the best full frame mirrorless cameras you can buy. It is also only beaten by medium format cameras in our chart of the highest resolution cameras you can buy.

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Rod Lawton
Contributor

Rod is an independent photography journalist and editor, and a long-standing Digital Camera World contributor, having previously worked as DCW's Group Reviews editor. Before that he has been technique editor on N-Photo, Head of Testing for the photography division and Camera Channel editor on TechRadar, as well as contributing to many other publications. He has been writing about photography technique, photo editing and digital cameras since they first appeared, and before that began his career writing about film photography. He has used and reviewed practically every interchangeable lens camera launched in the past 20 years, from entry-level DSLRs to medium format cameras, together with lenses, tripods, gimbals, light meters, camera bags and more. Rod has his own camera gear blog at fotovolo.com but also writes about photo-editing applications and techniques at lifeafterphotoshop.com