A7iv review | Wildlife photography, Johan kaethoven

Sony A7 mkIV Review

First time safari with the Sony A7 mkIV & Sony G lenses

May 2024 I went to Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in South Africa for my next wildlife photo series.

It was my first wildlife safari with my brand new Sony system, after switching from my previous mirrorless system that I used for 15 years. Each system has its advantages and disadvantages, including the previous- and this Sony system. Although I trusted my previous system for years, both in terms of quality and technology, there were other things that made me decide to make the switch.

I must admit that when viewing and editing the pictures, as well as using the camera and lenses, I immediately noticed the quality differences. Therefore I decided to share my experiences, so that I can assist others by selecting a good and reliable camera system.

Here is my story about the Sony Alpha A7 mkIV and some G lenses from their range.

Every wildlife photographer is aware that most of the action takes place in the early morning or at sunset. So, I mainly used the system in those golden hours, but also in very sunny conditions during the day.

I had some anxiety for those early and late hours as the FE 4/70-200mm macro G OSS II &

the FE 5.6-6.3/200-600mm G OSS don't seem to be the most light sensitive lenses. However, I was amazed at what these lenses can achieve when paired with the A7 mkIV. There were certainly challenging situations where the light was limited and the ISO had to be increased significantly to achieve a reasonably workable shutter speed. Despite this fact, the system managed to capture quite good pictures. I was able to take beautiful pictures that perfectly capture the atmosphere of the golden hour with both lenses!

ISO 1000 – f:6 – s:1/1600 – 370mm

ISO 4000 – f:9 – s:1/2000 – 840mm

ISO 1250 – f:9 – s:1/2000 – 840mm

I really pushed the system to its limits by adding a 1.4x teleconverter, which reduced the available light even more. Such a teleconverter is really necessary in areas such as the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park because the animals are often at great distances. With dry riverbeds that reach a width of approximately 500m in certain places, with dunes behind them where wildlife roams, we’re talking about distances of up to 1 km. With the teleconverter, I was able to photograph some animals at large distances on several occasions, shots that I would otherwise not have achieved! As for image sharpness with a teleconverter, examples include close-ups of the ostrich, the vulture and the secretary bird

ISO 640 – f:9 – s:1/2000 – 840mm

ISO 2000 – f:11 – s:1/2000 – 840mm

ISO 1250 – f:9 – s:1/2000 – 840mm

Several times I even combined the 200-600m lens with the 1.4x teleconverter and the APS-C function from the menu to obtain extra range up to 1260mm. Even these pictures show an acceptable sharpness, especially considering the total focal length at that moment.

It's estimated that the furthest subject I photographed was about 1.3 km away and that’s quite an achievement for a camera. Furthermore, the A7 mkIV also has face-, animal- and bird detection, all of which I definitely wanted to test. Nothing but positive about this feature: once it locks onto the subject, the target is quickly in focus and images are sharp.

ISO 800 – f:8 – s:1/2000 – 424mm

ISO 500 – f:9 – s:1/2000 – 840mm

While photographing the snake eagle in full flight, out of 29 photos in burst, I only had 1 blurry photo and 28 successful images. Quickly converted, this is a success rate of over 95% - a very nice achievement!

These detections itself, not only recognize the subject, but can also distinguish and focus on the eyes. Also there, the success ratio is high and the results are astonishingly sharp. Considering that I photographed the Lanner Falcon and the martial eagle at the top of a tree with a total focal length of 840mm, we’re talking about a long distance and even then the eye was recognized and the camera immediately focused on the eye.

ISO 1000 – f:9 – s:1/2000 – 840mm

ISO 500 – f:9 – s:1/2000 – 840mm

So far I was only talking about the large zoom lens, most commonly used by most nature photographers. However, it is also necessary to have a lens with a smaller zoom range for those subjects that are closer. I used the FE 4/70-200mm macro G OSS II and this lens also performed very well with high-standards.

What attracted me the most on this lens is the fact that it has a macro switch and I definitely wanted to test this macro function. It's very nice to have a 70-200mm zoom lens that you can also use as a macro lens! Thank you Sony!!!

On safari you’re in the car most of the time and chances of photographing insects are slim. However, in the camps you got this opportunity and that's where I mainly experimented with this function. The results were amazing and really blew my mind. The detail and sharpness of this lens, as well as the minimum distance between your lens and the subject are astonishing. If you look at the picture of the armored cricket, without making use of any bracketing or focus stacking, the result are fabulous.

ISO 8000 – f:20 – s:1/200 – 200mm

Other photographers, not familiar with this system, wondered what I was doing with such a lens so close to my subject and had doubts about the results. However, when they were able to see it on the computer screen a bit later, they were amazed by the result and what this lens was capable of.

To keep it short: the performance of the A7 mkIV exceeds your expectations. Examples of this are these pictures of the moon that I took out of hand. They show more details than you would expect at such a moment.

ISO 10000 – f:16 – s:1/2000 – 840mm

ISO 200 – f:13 – s:1/30 – 600mm

Since I am more of a photographer than a videographer, I have limited myself to the photographic part of the camera. However, I will provide some technical details for enthusiasts.

The A7 mkIV is an ingenious piece of technology. Get used to the menu settings takes a lot of time, so setting the camera to your liking requires patience. Once you have done this, you have a camera completely tailored to your wishes with the desired functions pre-programmed behind each button, so that you can achieve a quick and fast work flow. In addition, the camera has 3 memory locations on the mode dial to save your most frequently used settings. So all you have to do is turn the mode dial and the preset is ready to use. You can also save another 4 settings on the memory card. Furthermore, there’s also a personal menu space on the settings-menu to store your most commonly used menu functions for quick recall. Also the ability to protect your sensor when turning off the camera is very useful in dusty and sandy environments. In that case the shutter is placed in front of the sensor when the camera is turned off to protect the sensor against dust and dirt when changing lenses.

This mirrorless system camera is also suitable for filming. In addition to the fast film function, it has a special dial underneath the mode dial to activate the video functions and you can fully adjust the video options and resolution through the settings menu. Also here, you have the option to save 3 favorite settings on the mode dial and another 4 settings on the memory card. The image quality of videos is amazing. The 33mp sensor oversamples from 7K to 4K at 25/50 frames or full HD at 25/50/100 frames. All this in 4:2:2 at 10bit and supports the S-Log profile. In addition, there is also the Cinetone color profile to work with.

Anyway, I could go on and on but my enthusiasm is clear and I rest my case. A selection of photos from the Kgalagadi safari 2024 will be added to the website in the near future. Here you have a few examples.