Sony A7IV vs. Sony A7III
A year has passed since the release of the Sony A7IV and you want to know whether the Sony A7IV is worth getting over the A7III or if it'd be better to save the extra cash and go with the A7III. Well, I'll try to help you with that decision as there are a few things to think about.
I've had the A7III for 2 years and a half years and the A7IV for around 9 months or so and as for a disclaimer, this is not a review video about the cameras. I'm only going to go through the functions and portions of the camera that I actually use for the type of photography work I do as well as a bit of video work I do. Your needs may be different than mine and that is perfectly normal. This simply will be my opinion on which camera would be best based on what I do for who and why if I were in your shoes, I'd make a certain decision.
The megapixel difference: Now, there is something you must know right off the bat. More megapixels does not mean a cleaner image or a "better" image. For me, I think of megapixels as a double edged sword. The positive is the ability to crop into your image without losing a significant amount of quality. This can come very handy when you take a picture, but maybe you're a bit too far and you want to get rid of anything that might take your attention away from your subject, you can crop into the image and have a clearer focus on what is going on in the picture. The negative quality is the file size. When you take a bunch of pictures with a 33 mp camera vs 24 mp camera, the files will start to add up and weigh on your hard drive/sd card and you'll be out of space very quickly, especially if you take burst photos. Though a quick thing to note, the Sony A7IV had an update sometime last year, letting you change file sizes between L, M, and S. L being the regular 33 MP, M being 14 MP, and S being 8 MP. I personally only use the L format as I always want the ability to crop if necessary, but it’s nice to have options to choose from.
Ergonomics: Personally, I think the ergonomics of the A7IV trumps the A7III in my opinion. I like the bigger grip and the feel the camera has in comparison to the A7III. It's definitely a personal preference, but it's such a big difference maker for me. The only thing about the A7III's grip that I like more is that it is more comfortable to shoot with one hand than the A7IV due to the small grip. With this method, I'm able to sort of be more stealth if I don't want to attract attention with certain shots.
Flip Screen/Tilt Screen: The A7IV has a flip screen while the A7III has a tilt screen. For photography, I liked the tilting screen more at first since it’d be more useful to get low angled shots, which it was, but as time has passed, I actually noticed I liked the tilt screen. The whole process of flipping out the tilt screen then flipping it back towards me is a bit annoying compared to just flipping up the screen like I could for the A7III. Overall, I would say the flip screen is probably something more convenient to have, but definitely not something that is a must have. There are positives and negatives for both. For video however, it is a different story. The flip screen is way more valuable to. You'll be able to see what you're actually recording from various angles and heights that simply would be much more difficult or impossible if you had a tilt screen.
Focusing: I don't know the specific numbers or anything too detailed as I don't care much about that type of stuff, but from my experience, the autofocus of the Sony A7IV has seen a good improvements over the A7III. I've been able to focus on certain subjects in low light when doing street photography at night and it locks on focus quite easily whereas with the A7III, there have been times in low light where it wouldn't be able to focus on objects/people. The face detecting with the ability to focus on either one of a subject's eyes is also very handy to have. And if you're into animal photography, the A7IV also have bird eye autofocus. I get photos of birds on the street every now and then when I see some birds on the street, but it's not something I mainly do. The A7III is no joke though. The focusing was great in 2018 when the camera first came out and it's still good now. You definitely won't be disappointed with it's autofocusing capabilities.
Ability to select modes on A7IV: With the A7III, you are able to record the memory of your favorite settings into the 1 and 2 Dial which lets you save up to 2 of your favorite custom settings for quick access for both photo and video. With A7IV, since the camera separates the photo mode, video mode, and s&q modes and there are 3 dials, you can actually save up to 9 settings, 3 settings for each mode. This is one of my favorite changes for the A7IV. For photography, it isn't such a big deal as I mainly use aperture priority or manual mode. But for video, it allows for an easy switch if I want to easily switch frame rates (24 fps to 60 fps for example).
Dials and Buttons: This really isn’t a big deal, but there really is a difference with how the A7IV buttons, joystick, and knobs feel compared to the A7III. The A7IV buttons are much more “pushy” and “clicky” compared to the A7III and I personally like that way more. With the A7III, there would be times where I might press a button and I’m actually not sure it registered or not. With how clicky the buttons are on the A7IV, I’ll know 100% whether or not a button has been pressed. As for the dials, the ones on the A7IV feel more rigid and sturdy. (add more here after inspecting the A7III more at home)
Video: The A7IV can shoot 4k 24 fps, 30 fps, and 60 fps, but with a 1.5 crop. The A7III doesn't have the ability to do 4k 60. Both cameras can shoot in 120 fps as well, but only in 1080 p. Along with that, the A7IV has 10 bit 4:2:2 internal which gives you more room to grade your footage while the A7III only has 8 bit 4:2:0 internal. Because the A7III doesn’t have 10 bit, most shoot in the HLG picture profile. For me, I much prefer the workflow with SLOG3 which performs much better on the A7IV so for me, that is quite a big deal. You can still get great footage from the Sony A7III as proven by all the great work that has been filmed on the camera from others, but the upgrades the Sony A7IV has made for video compared to the A7III is important to factor in when making a decision between the cameras.
Gyro Stabilization: All newer sony cameras have gyro metadata built into them so the A7III does not have this metadata in the footage it records, while the A7IV does. Gyro metadata allows you to import the data into Sony's catalyst browse program which then lets you able to stabilize your footage even without a device such as a gimbal. Gyro stabilization works very well too with a tradeoff of your footage being cropped, but from experience, it definitely is worth it if you need your footage stabilized and you don't have a gimbal. If you do have a gimbal, you be able to stabilize your footage even more, which I find is a much better solution than the built in stabilizer from editing programs such as Final Cut Pro.
To put everything together, I do find myself enjoying the A7IV more. I like the changes they made with the camera from the small things like the buttons being pushy, to the big changes like the difference in the dials and being able to switch from photo to video to S&Q with a simple twist of a knob. Now for the reason why you probably clicked on the video, who are the cameras for? Personally, I think the upgrades they have made to the camera justifies the price increase. From the price point of a brand new A7III at this point in time at $2000, you are essentially paying $500 more or so for the A7IV. The new features are worth that much for me. But it really depends on your needs and what you do. If you are mainly a photographer with no interest in video whatsoever, the A7III is probably the camera you’ll want to go with. There are upgraded features for the photography portion that fix some of the minor inconveniences that I have experienced on the A7III, but it’s nothing crazy to the point where an upgrade to the A7IV is a must. Instead, you could take the $500 (or even more if you buy a used A7III and with people wanting to upgrade, you can definitely find some for a really good price). But yeah, you can take that money you save with the A7III and spend that on other important things like lens, tripod, life, travel, etc. If you are a videographer or a hybrid shooter, then I would recommend you go with the Sony A7IV. The 10bit 4:2:2 along with the flip screen just makes life easier for the video side of shooting. The photography aspect was already good with the A7III and that has further improved with the new features they have added such as the focusing. Now what if you already have the A7III and are looking to upgrade to the Sony A7IV? It’s really the same discussion. In my mind, it really just comes down to if you want/need the video aspects of the A7IV. If you have no interest in the video aspect of the camera, it really isn’t worth it to upgrade in my opinion. But if you are a hybrid shooter, then you should definitely take a look at the A7IV.