On the front of the camera, you’ll notice the shape of the grip, the height of the front dial, and the angle of the shutter button. The thickened, raised grip provides one-handed stability over 50% higher than that of previous models. The grip comfort of the Alpha 7R IV is quite close to that of medium and high-end DSLR cameras. The front dial is raised and tilted upwards, allowing you to operate the dial without needing to adjust the grip. The shutter button is raised and tilted downwards accordingly in an ergonomic design, making the Alpha 7R IV easier to operate than the Alpha 7R III.

The biggest surprise on the top of the camera is the rear dial, changed from a recessed design to an exposed structure. I can still remember that when the Alpha 7R II was released, Sony emphasized that the recessed design was intended to make the dial more durable and to avoid collisions. The recessed design was used in the Alpha 7R II and III models. The Alpha 7R IV returns to the exposed structure, which makes the dial easier to operate because of a larger contact area with the fingers. A senior representative from Sony headquarters said, “it’s an adjustment made as per the feedback of many users.” It is uncertain whether the exposed structure is durable, but it is definitely more helpful.

Another change made in response to user feedback is the exposure compensation dial on the top right corner. This time, a lock/unlock function was added, allowing users to lock the exposure compensation dial as required. If you’ve used a Sony Alpha 7 or Alpha 9 camera, you must have encountered unintended exposure compensation, especially when you’re carrying the camera on your back or working with two cameras at the same time. That’s why the exposure compensation dial was added to the Alpha 7R IV.

From the right side of the two cameras, we can see the difference in their “grip” thicknesses and shapes. Their NFC sensor areas are on the right side. The memory card slot of the Alpha 7R III is equipped with a physical button, while the memory card slot of the Alpha 7R IV pops out automatically after it is pulled.

The design of the Alpha 7R IV’s memory card slot is more complicated, but in line with the style of other professional cameras, and helps avoid unintended inputs. In addition, the memory card slots, “SLOT 1 (up)” and “SLOT 2 (down),” of the Alpha 7R IV are reversed, compared to those of the Alpha 7R III. This new memory slot configuration is more conventional.

Due to the Alpha 7R IV’s increased body size, battery grips and grip extenders compatible with Sony Alpha 7R III cameras cannot be used on the Alpha 7R IV. Users who want to upgrade from the Alpha 7R III and use a vertical grip have to purchase the VG-C4EM.

The Alpha 7R IV has a strong and durable magnesium alloy body. It is also dust and moisture-proof, with a shutter life of 500,000 shots—the same as that of the previous generation. The Alpha 7R IV is the world’s first full-frame 61 MP camera. This camera sports the world’s first 61 MP Exmor-R CMOS sensor. With the help of front-end large-scale integration (LSI) and a BIONZ X image processing engine, the Alpha 7R IV not only provides high pixel density, but also maintains ideal image quality. The camera offers up to 15 stops of dynamic range—the same as that of the previous generation.

Due to a high pixel count of 61 MP, the Alpha 7R IV can deliver 26.2 MP images even in APS-C mode. This is very attractive for those who love to photograph birds. The Alpha 7R IV allows you to take advantage of the 1.5-times crop factor to increase the reach of your telephoto lenses; your 200 mm lens instantly becomes a 300 mm lens.

A raised, thickened, and deepened grip is attractive for male photographers, especially Europeans and Americans. If you have small hands, your pinkie may not even be exposed. When I hold the Alpha 7R IV in a normal shooting position, about 1/3 of my pinkie is exposed. For the Alpha 7R III, almost my entire pinkie is exposed. In addition, when I hold the Alpha 7R IV, my fingertips do not push against the front panel; this is not the case with the Alpha 7R III camera.

The “shutter button” of the Alpha 7R IV is raised and its angle has been redesigned. After I repeatedly pressed the shutter buttons of the Alpha 7R IV and Alpha 7R III hundreds of times, I realized that the shutter button of the Alpha 7R IV felt concave, while the shutter button of the Alpha 7R III felt convex. Thus, the two cameras offer different “rapid shutter button feelings.” The “feeling” is subjective and it’s hard to say which one is better. However, the shutter delay of the Alpha 7R IV is shorter, and its shutter mechanism has been reengineered for a greater reduction of mechanical vibration than the previous generation.

The Alpha 7R IV’s power switch has a special groove. This shows that Sony focuses on the details. At first glance, there are no significant changes in appearance between the two generations, but the new power switch is better—a fact that is not mentioned on Sony’s official website. The dial on the top of the camera allows users to set three custom modes that can be stored. A new feature of the Alpha 7R IV is that users can access common settings through an SD card. A maximum of ten sets of settings can be stored and copied to another Alpha 7R IV camera. Since the Alpha 7R IV is a new generation product, only “Save/load settings” on a single model are currently available.

The 5.76-million-dot electronic viewfinder (0.78x magnification) of the Alpha 7R IV is capable of refreshing at up to 120fps. Officially called the UXGA OLED Tru-Finder, it can produce image fineness 1.6 times that of the Alpha 7R III. However, when I used the electronic viewfinder, I could not tell the difference between the two cameras. Frankly speaking, the viewfinder of the Alpha 7R IV is not as impressive compared to that of Leica SL or Panasonic S1R.

The new, small lever is anti-slip and provides a larger operating area. It is accurate and easy to use, with better overall control than that of the previous generation.

Here is a sample shot of Alpha 7R IV + SEL2470GM. Most of the sample shots shown in this post were taken with a G Master lens.

I think the most power-consuming part of Alpha 7R IV is the 5.76 million-dot UXGA OLED Tru-Finder. However, when I used the viewfinder, I discovered that the battery lasted for an average of 530 shots, similar to that of the previous generation. When I used the screen on the back instead of the viewfinder, the battery life increased from 650 shots (previous generation) to 670 shots.

When I received the test camera, there were only four business days left before the deadline. There was limited time to test the camera, so in the first post, I focused on discussing the appearance and operations of the camera and the difference between the Alpha 7R IV and Alpha 7R III. First, the newly designed grip of the Alpha 7R IV has greatly improved handheld stability, especially one-handed stability. This, in my opinion, is the feature that will most impress consumers when they use the Alpha 7R IV for the first time. Secondly, the Alpha 7R IV features a reengineered shutter unit assembly with dampened screws to reduce mechanical vibration and absorb mechanical shock.

Other changes in the Alpha 7R IV include a lockable exposure compensation dial, an exposed dial on the top, a redesigned focus lever, and an ergonomic button design. With these fine adjustments, the camera offers a better user experience, not to mention an increased pixel count. In order to cope with the 61 MP file writing, the camera is equipped with dual SDXC UHS-II Card slots, which is also a major advantage. Professional photographers working on two cameras can save or load common settings through an SD card, and apply the settings to another Alpha 7R IV camera quickly.

In this report, the items that were tested are limited, but I have attached a considerable number of sample shots, all of which are JPG right out of the Alpha 7R IV with a G Master lens. In the second post, I will give a more detailed test report on the Alpha 7R IV.

In this test, I spent over two hours on photo selection. Since each image was too large, it took about 2-5 seconds to zoom in the image to 100%. If you plan to buy an Alpha 7R IV camera, you may also need to prepare a workstation first. The size of a RAW image is about 120 MB; the size of a full-pixel JPG image is about 35-50 MB. Therefore, please remember to move your mouse and click the left mouse button to appreciate the details of 61 MP images.