Sony My first impressions with Sony a7 Mark IV (Update #1,2)

L0n3Gr3yW0lf

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Somerset, UK
Name
Ovi
Disclaimer first: I had this camera with me for less than a week and I only got to use it 3 times thus far (bad weather, overworking and illness have kept me from using it). Also, this comes from using a Sony a7R Mark II for the last 9 months and past experience with Sony a7C for about 6 months.

First, the hardware:
* The build quality feels ... odd. It does feel improved compared to my previous Sony cameras. For example, the buttons are significantly more tactile and responsive with a more clicky sound to them and requiring more pressure to fully depress them. Most of the buttons are larger, especially the AF-On, which is a lot more comfortable to use. There has been some suffering of button locations but nothing major except for the loss of the AF/MF and AEL switch I am less sad about it because it couldn't be set like Olympus's Mode 1/2 switch anyways so it was less useful. But I am so happy that now the record button can be configured as a C button.
*The back dial is not particularly big and the feeling of it has not improved much, my finger can still actually miss in trying to turn it at times, I wish they would enlarge the dial and have the engraving on the inside of the dial instead. Because of the less tactile accuracy of the dial, I turn off all the Custom function buttons on its "integrated" D-pad because I would often activate and turn the dial of a function I did not wish (I would find myself stuck at ISO 50 without realizing that I pressed the right button and turn the dial just a step from Auto ISO). I set the back dial to scroll through the AF area size.
*The joystick is really nice under the finger, the raised texture dimples are unmistakable and it's large enough that I can find it with my thumb easily, but I do wish it was a bit taller and have a bit more travel when moving it around to "feel" the movement a bit better (I guess I just have to get used to it).
*At first I was not enthusiastic about the Exposure Dial being unmarked but after being used to having -0.7 EV compensation on all the time to save highlights I set that in the menu and costume set the Exposure Compensation dial to ISO instead. The front and back command dials feel great, very clicky and responsive (though I do wish Sony made them clickable for extra functionality. As for the Exposure Mode dial, I don't have much to say about it, I am not bothered by the lack of a locking mechanism as I never found it to move without my intention, having no extra fluff is very spartan and quick to use (just PSAM, 1 2 3 Custom modes and Auto). I couldn't care less about the video and S&Q modes as I don't have any interest in movie-making.
*It took some time to get used to the battery door with its new lock switch on it but it's reassuring that it's there. The battery door hasn't changed much either. The side flaps on the left side are nice as they were on Sony a7C but I rarely use them.
*The grip is bigger and it does feel nicer, especially with heavy lenses. The camera's weight feels a bit odd with the grip because it feels lighter than my Sony a7R II even though it is not still comfortable to hold. I still need an L bracket to extend the bottom of the camera because my (in between large and medium hand) pinky still hangs around like being unemployed for too long. I am happy that I found SmallRig and its brackets because the build quality is awesome and the simple but genius magnetic attachments make it very easy to take it off if I ever wanted to and its modular approach means I can take off any weight I don't want on the camera to keep the combo as light as possible.
*The EVF is an improvement though not a lot. I am happy to go back to the 120 Hz screen to have a less blurry action/tracking view and to see that the resolution does not halve when the camera is focusing. I did get an extended eyecup because I am so used to them now I don't want to use the OEM tiny ones. The proximity sensor has moved from top to bottom so the old ones will not work, unfortunately.
*The back screen resolution is a downgrade from a7R II but an upgrade from a7C. It doesn't make a huge difference BUT if it was more like the upgraded "a" version of cameras it would have been a lot better. I LOVE to have a fully articulated screen because I miss being able to see and frame vertically with ease. As well as folding it back when it's in my backpack or camera bag. I haven't played with the touchscreen yet.
*Overall I am happy with the improvements and it makes a big positive change in using the camera.
UPDATE #2:
*I don't know if Sony changed the texture or the paint they used for the body but for some reason, my Sony a7 Mark IV seems to attract dust and gunk to it like a magnet, I cleaned the camera for the 3rd time since I got it and there's seems to be gathering around the EVF edges (prism and under the EVF Eyecup). Also, there seems to be some dirt on some of the buttons (on the white paint of the letters) that just will not come out no matter how much I scrub it with a toothpick (wooden) and isopropyl.
*Finally managed to get the dust off the sensor. It took 3 swabs and 3 passovers (one per swab) to get the dust off the sensor so it doesn't show up at least to f 11 (I haven't tried to stop down more than that because I almost never use those values) but more importantly, they don't show up in images at f 6.7 with blue and white sky anymore (which was very annoying):
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Before the last attempt to clean, I tried a hand air-blower and Pentax's Sensor Cleaning Kit (sticky silicon tip stick and sticky paper).

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After using a 35mm FF Sensor Cleaning Kit with sterile swabs and cleaning fluid, it worked like magic (I have cleaned my Sony a7R Mark II as well which was A LOT WORSE, not my fault CEX really messed it up when I tried to trade it in but I refused because they downgraded the sale value by 200 £, and now it's sparkling clean with only one swab).
*Also note (not very relevant but could be helpful): The IBIS system on the Sony a7 Mark IV is very VERY lose once the camera is turned off, it seems to have a lot more space to manoeuvre but you need to be extremely careful with sensor cleaning because that sensor REALLY MOVES when you have contact with it, it moves by a couple of centimetres or about an inch. Compared to Sony a7R Mark II the older IBIS is significantly more rigid and fixed with a lot less movement in it, maybe 5-7 millimetres. Hopefully, by having the shutter mechanism closed when the camera is turned off I can avoid almost all the dust that the older Sony a7R Mark II attracts like flies to *insert preferred poop reference here*


The software:
*FINALLY, having a fast-ish camera is so much more comfortable for me. I enjoy the reactiveness of the camera, be it reacting to the dials or buttons, activating features, shooting continuously or playback the pictures. No more having to slow down because the camera can't keep up. It will take me months to get used to the camera so I can't talk much about this here but I can mention a few observations I have made thus far:
*The new menu, it's easy and quite intuitive. It has a learning curve because menus and options have been reorganised logically so there is a bit of getting used to where they are if you used previous cameras for many many years (I'm only one year into Sony's system). I haven't even set the My Menu yet but with all the customization that the camera as I think I will use it even less than on Sony a7C. The camera has 3 custom modes and that is more than enough for me, one would be for fast/tracking action for pets, one for portraits for humans and one for wildlife/bird tracking. I can share how I customised my camera if anyone is interested.
*On the UI side, I am quite happy with most things. I am still disappointed that Sony doesn't let you have a Histogram with all the information active but I do use zebras to let me know about my blown highlights. I wish the APS-C crop mode has a more obvious icon than a tiny square on literally the bottom right corner of the UI, at least make it red or any colour other than white to make it obvious that you have it on (I can often forget about it) and this will come in to play in a big way later.
I LOVE THE BUFFER BAR and I wish EVERYONE had this because it can help you know when you are pushing the limit of your tracking. Today it helps me realise that I need a CF Express Type A card for my future needs, which I will talk about later. As well as I love seeing how the buffer is being cleared in real time so I know when I am ready for the next action.
*The new connectivity options are awesome. Not just WiFi but Bluetooth as well, and the ability to stay connected with my phone and even transmit pictures as I make them is awesome, I can send RAW and/or JPEG files which is great because I can have a tablet with me (for example) and send JPEGS to it as I shoot and the client can pick with pictures they prefer on a big screen. That would make my selection process a lot easier. And in the future, I could find a way to integrate it in a studio workflow (if I can afford to make a studio set at my place). This is also great for working on the go, especially for holidays.
*The playback speed is great and very fast, no longer do I have to wait to see the picture, to zoom in to check the focus, scrolling is incredibly fast as well. And it can even group bursts and interval shooting if you do a lot of action, which I might consider setting it up that way once I get used to it. It would make it very easy to find specific groups and pictures in a day of shooting.
*White Balance is still not great but I guess I can try and set it up to work a bit better. Out of the box, the rendition of artificial light is still pretty bad, it's worst with street lamps where the tint is so orange that nothing can be recovered to a neutral position. I will have to make a custom White Balance for that kind of light. For everything else, during the day, it works great, I have found today that the White Balance on Auto was very close to daylight default settings.
*The one feature I really really REALLY love is the ability to have the mechanical shutter closed when the camera is off. It should minimize the amount of dust I keep getting while changing lenses. Only my a7R II the dust problem is so big I had to buy the Pentax sensor cleaning kit and I had to do it every 2 weeks, very frustrating. I am normally bothered when I use my primes or f 2.8 zoom but using my Tamron 150-500mm f 5-6.7 I can see the dust even in the viewfinder as I am framing because of the f 6.7 aperture. But here's the ironic bit, because I bought the camera used (stated as Good condition my MPB) it had a much of dust clumped on the sensor when I got the camera and try as I might I have yet to get rid of it enough to not show up in images at f 6.7. Today I have been staring at it every time I was using my big zoom unintentionally I am frustrated to the point that I contacted the official Sony repair service in my area and plan on sending the camera for a full-service next month. Still, after this "episode" I am hoping that this feature will keep dust away so I don't have to clean the sensor more than once a year (yus, I know the risks of using it and I don't have the habit of putting my fingers in the wrong holes :p )

I will talk about autofocus, tracking and subject recognition in a post below because it deserves its own section.
 
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So, autofocus. The best cameras I ever owned for autofocus, thus far, have been Sony a7C, Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III and Panasonic G9, in pretty much that order of performance from my own experience and usage.
When I started using the Sony a7 Mark IV I was pretty much blown away compared to all my previous experiences. Sony a7C does come close to tracking but not in subject recognition.

*I have tried 2 subjects so far, so I will talk about dog tracking. I used my little dog today on a 2-hour walk to get a baseline of how the AF-C and subject tracking works. I have not customised the AF performance or reactions an I am going with the box experience first.
*The first lens I tried was the Tokina atx-m 85mm f1.8 FE and the performance was expected but still disappointing. The lens can focus accurately on her face when she's faster than 5 meters away and coming towards me at a reasonable pace (not sprinting for example) but as soon as she's closer than 5 meters the lens struggles to keep up with her and most of the pictures are out of focus. I am not surprised by this because it's the same behaviour I have noticed with my Sony a7R Mark II with the only difference is that the Sony a7 Mark IV has higher keeper rate thanks to 10 FPS and higher accuracy with focus on the eyes instead of the nose. THIS IS NOT A SCIENTIFIC OR EVEN A PARTICULARLY ACCURATE TEST, it's a first time usage case. Some of the pictures are blurry from motion blur which I could as rejected even if in focus because they are not usable either way. I set green flag for pictures I will edit and keep, yellow flag if the sharpness is not great but the images can still be usable if I don't have any sharp images in that burst or if the composition or action/reaction is interesting enough to keep, and red flag if the image is unusable even edited.
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Out of the first sequence I had 2 very sharp (green) images and 3 usable (yellow) images if edited and sharpned and 13 (red) out of focus. I used Tracking with AF-On and Subject Detection on Animal or Bird (if I forgot to change it) with Eye Tracking. On this sequence the camera detected her eye on the first 4 frames but then changed to a small square after that until the end of the sequence. The box was on her (I can check this on the camera playback right now) but the AF motor on the lens was back focusing as she was getting closer.

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In this sequence the hit rate as a bit higher but I could tell that the AF was struggling. The box was on her and tracking her throughout most of the burst but in the middle of the burst 6 images had no tracking information displayed and in non of them did it ever "see" her eyes.

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This sequence was a bit longer but the last row is all red so not much information could be added if I zoomed out more. In this sequence the AF box found her while being VERY small in the frame and stayed on her in the entire sequence but not a lot of sharp images were captured. Towards the end the AF changed from box to small Eye AF size box but none of the pozitions where the small box is had any eyes there so it's false confirmation on the AF.

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This was the sequence that dissapointed me the most becuase, while in the shade, it was bright enough and with a clear background, the AF box was on her but on her right side of the face and towards the last 8 frames the AF box drifted towards the right onto the grass.
I might give the Tokina atx-m 85mm f 1.8 FE lens a try in better light as I wait for the holidays to be over before I trade it in at MPB for a Sony FE 85mm f 1.8 but I don't have much hope for it. At the distances where the magic of 85mm and f 1.8 shows in the images the lens fails to keep the autofocus if the subject moves. I could keep it for indoor portrait use BUT I need this focal length to be versatily because I will wait for Tamron to come out with a G2 version of their 70-180mm f 2.8.

*The second lens I have tried was my Tamron 150-500mm f 5-6.7 Di III VC VXD. I wouldn't normally use this lens for fast action tracking of dogs because the aperture is pretty small in terms of light as well as background blur/isolation. But since it's the only "real" telephoto lens I have might as well give it a try. What I have noticed is that the lens will fail to track if zooming in and out at the same time, the burst speed slowed down to less then 5 FPS (by the sound of the mechanical shutter). At 150mm f 5 it tracks a lot better then 500mm f 6.7 which shouldn't be a surprise.
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In direct sunlight, even at 500mm, even at f 6.7, even with green on green colour, even with clear or busy/close background, the sharp images are pretty high and usable (in quanity for selection of which moment you want to keep), the AF box was jumping a bit between Medium size and Tiny (Eye Tracking) size but it stayed pretty close to her face, between her nose and her eyes. This is the kind of result I am hoping to get with a reasonable consistancy to do action pet portrait photography/

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On this sequence we are back to the more dissapointing behaviour. While in the shade behind a hedge, at 323mm and f 5.6 (for a bit more light) the AF found her then lost her then found her again before falling behind on tracking her. Interestingly on the first one the AF was Small size on her left eye, then it changed to Tiny size on her forehead for the 2 frame out of focus, then switch mavk to Small size on her nose for the next 3 frames which are sharp but then the AF box dissapeared for 4 frames, showes up as Large size in the middle of her face for 2 frames then dissapears again.

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On this sequence I have locked the lens at 150mm and f 5 to keep it more reasonable in terms of DoF and light and the results were a bit better. The AF stayed on her the hole time and the box changed from Medium size to Tiny size halfway through and eye stayed on her left eye for most of the images though the accuract wasn't great. We were now through a thin line of forest path with light coming from the right side so the light was a bit variable between spots of shades from trees and spots of direct sunlight.

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On the next sequence things went from ok to worse. The AF box found her and tracked her from a pretty far away distance but as soon as she cleared that log that she was avoiding the AF box changed from Small size to Tiny and got stuck on the log itself until it tried to jump to her on the last 2 pictures.

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On the next sequence things went better again, I can't quite find why is that. The AF box found her and stayed with her like s&$% on velcro and gave me mostly sharp images, even going from bright to dark to bright light.

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This sequence quite dark at ISO 3.200 and f 6.3 for 1/1.000 second but the AF was able to get a few sharp images of her running through the mud, which is a very good selling point for active dogs playing outside.

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On the last sequence I made today there was just one picture where it wasn't completely sharp, this lens CAN track but I think it can be a bit picky on the light, the composition and the initial lock. It might do better during the summer and on brighter days. On the sequence the camera found her eyes and tracked them pretty well, which is the kind of performance I hope to have.

*The last lens that I have tried was my Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 Di III VXD G2 and it was the lens I had the highest expectations to perform and work well with the AF system. But it wasn't to be, I won't bore you with any more sequences so I will generalise. There were lots of red flaged images, a few yellow ones and not that many greens. I tested it it mostly at 75mm, 50mm and 35mm. I used Large Expandable Spot AF around the centre area but I think it might work best with wide because it would struggle to find her and get the initial lock on her. I am not sure if it's because of the wider Field of View but outdoors and woodland setting this lens and the Sony a7 Mark IV doesn't seem to be able to keep up with a Yorky Russel. It will be something I will explore more but I am disapointed by this right now.

I am starting to think that I should focus on native Sony FE lenses for lenses that I intend to use for action/outdoors for a more reliable AF BUT I can not afford GM f 2.8 zooms and I will stick with Tamron f 2.8s instead. For primes I think I will change to Sony FE 35mm f 1.8 and 85mm f 1.8. One alternative would be Zeiss Batis 40mm f 2 and 85mm f 1.8 or even 135mm f 2.8 because they are cheaper then GM counterparts but in terms of autofocus (from the reviews I have seen and read) they are the only 3rd party lenses that focus just as fast as the best Sony lenses).
 
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(Update #1) My first observation with Real Time Tracking and Real Time Eye-AF Tracking is positive. If I were to summarise the user experience (thus far) be that the Sony a7 Mark IV has made shooting birds significantly less stressful and significantly easier and quicker to get the results I hoped for.

I will start with the one that many would be interested in, and that is the Birds Eye AF. Simply put is that it works, and the accuracy of the AF is very high with subjects that are stationary and very good with slow & medium-speed-moving subjects. The Eye AF accuracy is good with birds in flight BUT I think it's very dependent on the lens you use, distance/size to/of the subject and direction of flight.
With birds smaller than a (common) Pidgeon it's going to be near impossible to have it work if it flies towards you (their size and speed would be too much for the AF to keep up), going from side to side it can work BUT it has to be at least 33% of the entire frame in size if the background is very clear from the subject, ex: clear blue sky or white/grey clouds for darker subjects). If the subject has difficulty being distinct from the background the subject has to be larger than 50% of the entire frame. I have tried shooting Gulls against the cloudy sky and the Eye AF did not engage until the bird's wingspan was at least covering 1/3rd of the frame, meaning the subject was so big in the frame that the Eye was the size of a few small AF points.
This is not necessarily a rule, just an observation, and it can vary in effectiveness depending on the light you shoot in, the type of subject it is and how you shoot as well as the lens you use.

What I need to test is a variety of eye colours in contrast to the body to see if the AF prefers a more contrasty combination (which would be expected of any AF system) like dark eyes on light feathers and vice versa.

Another test I would like to do (if I can get the required material) is to see at what (estimative) distances and with what size (generally speaking) of bird the Eye AF engage. I would have to get a porcelain sculpture (it is more expensive than plush toys but has more resistance to movement from the wind) replica of birds of different sizes. Long-Tailed Tit (one of the smallest local birds we have), Common Black Bird (very widespread bird and very difficult eyes to focus on), Jay/Pidgeon (very common size birds in most cities), Barn Owl and Kestral on the large size (I don't think I have the space at home or the money to get Blue Heron or Pink Flamingo :p). I can put them on my fence and measure in feet (I can convert to meters as well) the distance to where the Eye AF triggers one step at a time. To do the same test with ASP-C crop engaged I would have to be out in the field because of the space required. I can only try to test this on more common focal lengths that I have access to (ex: 500mm, 400mm, 300mm, 200mm). Using the ASP-C crop to get an equivalent 750mm or 600mm to the native focal length would not be a valid test because the AF behaves differently (faster/better) when the ASP-C crop is on.

One observation I have made is that engaging the ASP-C mode on a Sony a7 camera (I assume it would be the same as the other models as well) increases the accuracy as well as the speed of the AF and the Recognition software. Where, at 500mm, the bird was clearly visible the Eye AF would not engage and the AF would stick with squaring off the entire bird, activating the ASP-C crop the Eye AF would engage immediately and accurately after the bird's size in the frame increased.
I had other situations where the Eye AF took a few seconds to find the bird at 500mm uncropped but if I reframe and activate ASP-C crop the Eye AF activated A LOT quicker.
My theory (and it's just speculation) is that the Sony processor excludes any processing outside of the crop area once the ASP-C crop is active (makes sense to do so) and it gives the smaller area more "power" to work on, either having the speed of recognition/tracking higher or the accuracy be better (basically having to pay attention to a smaller area lets you be more focused on what you do).
And this might be the BEST friend for wildlife photographers who can't afford the Sony a9s and Sony a1s. Yes, you do lose Megapixels when you do this, 14 MP crop results for Sony a7 Mark IV, 18 MP crop results for Sony a7R Mark II and Mark III and 26 MP crop results for Sony a7R Mark IV and Mark V. But the same amount of information is still there as it would have been at 33/42/61 MP with the added benefit of improved autofocus (and all of the cameras).
This is also anyone's BEST friend if they can't afford (or are not interested in owning) super telephoto lenses and instead opt for smaller/cheaper/lighter/shorter lenses like:
*Tamron 150-500mm f 5-6.7 Di III VC VXD
*Sony FE 100-400mm f 4.5-5.6 OSS G Master
*Sigma 100-400mm f 5-6.3 DG DN OS Contemporary
*Tamron 70-300mm f 4.5-6.3 Di III RXD
*Sony FE 70-300mm f 4-5.6 G OSS

The Bird Eye-AF works in very low light as well, whether it's global low light (ISO 6.400) or if it's backlight (ISO 100 but the subject is several stops underexposed). The accuracy and efficiency will be lower and the only thing that can improve that is a faster aperture (more light).


The (normal) AF Tracking works great as well. Replacing the old AF Lock-On, the AF Tracking sets the box on a subject and it will stick to it incredibly well, no matter where it is in the frame. But there are limitations (like everything in life), the ones that I have observed so far are:

*Subject size. If the subject is small in the frame (let's say about the size of the Medium Size Spot AF box) and the subject goes in front of behind an object that is bigger or has similar colour/shape the AF Tracking Box will get stuck on their overlap position and once the subject clears that overlap the box may not jump back on the subject until the area that got the AF confused is cleared out of the frame. Luckily the AF Tracking is smart enough (most of the time) that it will find the subject of interest without the need to move the joystick or the Spot Box back onto it. One such case happened to me were a crow was flying high above the tree line but once the crow passed an electrical tower the AF Box was stuck on the tower until the tower left the frame as I was trying to track and the AF Box automatically jumped back on the bird, which was 2/3rds on the other side of the frame where the electrical tower cleared out the frame.

*Subject's distinction from the background, can get the AF confused BUT it was more of an issue if the subject was too small in the frame, the bigger the subject in the frame the more "resistance" for the AF to be confused if the background gets busy. I found here that ASP-C may not necessarily help with busy backgrounds if the subject blends too well (and it's their job to do that, survival and all). What may help more is faster lenses to separate the background from the subject and/or get closers to your subject (but this is with a caveat).

*Proximity, the direction of movement and relative size of the subject. The tracking can struggle with subjects coming towards you, especially when they get big enough in the frame that movement from one shot to another comes in significant changes in Depth of Field and the literal size of the subject. I had a Jay fly so close to me that, at 500mm and 10 FPS, from one shot to another the bird grew almost double in size and the AF point went from the head to the tip of the tail.

What I have not tried, yet, is zoom racking while (trying to) focus track and it will be something I will test in the future.
 
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Wow. Great first impressions. You have written a LOT here but zero BS. An impressive feat. :D You have also made your observations in such an insightful manner that I feel I've learnt not only about A7iv but about the overall Sony Alpha lineup.
Thank you, I try to be as helpful as possible to everyone and anyone interested. Though my experience with other system is not good enough for people looking to compare a more broader base options, like Canon, Nikon, Fujifilm or L Mount Alliance System.
 
Can you still use Lens Compensation (Camera Apps) on this model?
I'm currently using this on my A7ii to record name, focal length and maximum diaphragm of the lenses I use with an adaptor.
and if not, is there already an alternative?
 
Can you still use Lens Compensation (Camera Apps) on this model?
I'm currently using this on my A7ii to record name, focal length and maximum diaphragm of the lenses I use with an adaptor.
and if not, is there already an alternative?
Unfortunately no, Sony removed the PlayMemory integration from Sony a7R Mark III and Sony a9.
Dear Sony....please bring back Playmemories APP support on the a9, A7rIII and RX10m4! - sonyalpharumors

The only cameras that support apps you can buy/download in the FE line is Sony a7 Mark I and II, Sony a7R Mark I and II and Sony a7S Mark I and II.
I would stick with the older gen cameras if this feature is important to you to use for vintage and manual glass. The only benefit you would get from newer cameras is higher quality/resolution EVFs and back screen which can make it easier to manual focus and judge focus.

The only alternative that I know of and I use sometimes is a Lightroom plugging called LensTagger:
LensTagger – Exiftool Lightroom Plugin

It's free and it lets you edit the Exif data for RAW and JPEG and you can chose name, focal length and effective value (if used on smaller sensors), aperture value and effective value (if you stop down). The last settings you use will remain by default after applying a change so you can apply the changes to more pictures quite quickly but it is a intense process if you have lots of images, similarly to keywording.
But you will have to remember the settings you use to do this in post processing/importing. Not the best solution but the only other way I know of in "hardware" is the TechArt LM-EAx where it lets you hardcode some lens information into Exif file as you use the camera and lens.
 
Unfortunately no, Sony removed the PlayMemory integration from Sony a7R Mark III and Sony a9.
Dear Sony....please bring back Playmemories APP support on the a9, A7rIII and RX10m4! - sonyalpharumors

The only cameras that support apps you can buy/download in the FE line is Sony a7 Mark I and II, Sony a7R Mark I and II and Sony a7S Mark I and II.
I would stick with the older gen cameras if this feature is important to you to use for vintage and manual glass. The only benefit you would get from newer cameras is higher quality/resolution EVFs and back screen which can make it easier to manual focus and judge focus.

The only alternative that I know of and I use sometimes is a Lightroom plugging called LensTagger:
LensTagger – Exiftool Lightroom Plugin

It's free and it lets you edit the Exif data for RAW and JPEG and you can chose name, focal length and effective value (if used on smaller sensors), aperture value and effective value (if you stop down). The last settings you use will remain by default after applying a change so you can apply the changes to more pictures quite quickly but it is a intense process if you have lots of images, similarly to keywording.
But you will have to remember the settings you use to do this in post processing/importing. Not the best solution but the only other way I know of in "hardware" is the TechArt LM-EAx where it lets you hardcode some lens information into Exif file as you use the camera and lens.
Thanks for this information!
No issue for me at this point: as long as the a7ii works, I won't be replacing it but it's good to know I'll need an alternative if I need a replacement. Very unfortunate Sony doesn't write the focal length entered, into the exif data.
I know of LensTagger. A valid alternative but an extra step in the workflow unfortunately.
 
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