62 12 October 2019I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI subscribe 0330 333 1113
Extremelyfinedetailis
preservedhighinto
theA7RIV’sISOrange
SonyFE24-70mmF2.8GM,
1/2000sec at f/2.8, ISO 1600LiketheSonyA7RIII,theA7RIV
featuresa PixelShiftMulti
Shootingmode.In thismodethe
camerausestheIS systemto
preciselyshiftthesensorin 1
or0.5-pixelincrements
betweenconsecutiveexposures.
UncompressedRawandsilent
modeareautomaticallyselected
in PixelShiftMultishootingand
aftertherawfilesarewrittento
thecard,thesecanthenbe
mergedtogetherona computer
runningSony’sImagingEdge
softwaretocreateonesuper-
high-resolutioncompositeimage.
WhereastheA7RIII previously
onlyallowedyoutomergefour
framesof thesamescene,
theA7RIVnowallowsyou
tocaptureupto 16 separate
pixel-shifted images containing a
totalof 963.2-million-pixels
worthof data.Thefinaloutputis
a colossal240.8MP(19,008x
12,672pixel)image.Thecaveat
is theseconddelaybetween
exposures.Whilethisisn’tan
issueforstatic,motionless
subjectssuchasarchitecture
orstudiostill-lifeset-ups,it
canresultin nastyartefacts
appearingwhenshooting
landscapes,seascapesorgeneral
sceneswhereshrubbery,trees
andwaterhavea tendencyto
move.It’sa similarstoryforother
manufacturers’pixel-shiftmodes- they’regoodin certain
scenarios,butareworthavoiding
if thereis anysignof movement
in thesceneorunlessyou’re
preparedtocarryoutextensive
post-processing work.
Pixel Shift Multi Shooting
JPEGsmorethanyoudo
raws,youmaywishtotweak
thecreativestylesettings.For
instance,I foundit beneficialto
increasethecontrastto+2in
BlackandWhitemode.
Witheachgenerationwe’ve
seentheA7Rgetfasterandmore
responsive,andagainwe’renot
disappointedbytheperformance
of theA7RIV.Oneareawhere
it reallyexcelsis itsAI-based
real-timeautofocus.Usingit ona
portrait shoot at the coast was a
greattest,anddemonstrated
clearlyhowaccurateit is at
identifyinga facewithintheframe,
withthesmallerof twogreenAF
squaresrevealingwhicheyeof
yoursubjectit haslockedonto.
Whenshootingportraitswitha
shallowdepthof fieldyou’llmost
likelywantthecameratofocus
ontheeyeclosesttothecamera,
whichthecameragetsrightmore
oftenthannot.If it selectsthe
wrongeyeoryou’dprefertohave
a say in this there’s the option tospecifywhicheyeit focuseson
fromtheAF2menusettings.Out
in thefieldI wasveryimpressed
bythewayit faultlesslyswitched
betweenfocusingonthesubject’s
faceandeye,evenmanagingto
holdfocuswhenthemodellooked
downorawayfromthecamera.
Thesamecouldbesaidwhen
I photographeda catat relatively
closedistanceafterchangingthe
subjectdetectionfromhumanto
animal.Thosewhoshootpetsat
homeoranimalsonsafariusing
telephotolenseswillfindanimal
EyeAFextremelyuseful.Myonly
criticism,whichwealsomentioned
in ourSonyCyber-shotRX100VII
review,is thatanimalEyeAFcan’t
becombinedwithfocustracking
likeit canwhensubjectdetection
is settohumans.
AsusualfromSonyyougetan
arrayof focusareamodes.In Wide
modethecameraattemptstofind
thesubjectwhereverit maybein
theframe,withZonerestrictingit
toa smallerarea.In FlexibleSpot
modeyoucanpositionthefocus
pointmanuallyalmostanywhere
in theframeusingthejoystick
andwithExpandFlexibleSpot,
surroundingfocuspointsareused
toassistthecamerain focusing.
Continuousfocusingonfast-
movingsubjectsis veryhasty.It
wasuntroubledwhenI askedit to
keepfocusona groupof cyclists
travellingtowardsthecameraat
speed.Althoughthehitrateof
sharp shots in a burst might not bequiteashighasyou’dgetonthe
sports-and-actionfocusedSony
Alpha9, it’sveryhardtofaultthe
speedat whichtheA7RIVkeeps
upwithsubjectsthatmove.
Afteryearsof usersputtingup
withthefocuspointbeingdrawn
in a dullmid-greyandcomplaining
thatit’sverydifficulttoseetheAF
pointwhensubjectcontrastis low,
Sonyhasfinallyrespondedwith
ananswer.Userswillwelcomethe
optiontochangethefocusframe
colourtowhiteorred.
Loadedwitha 64GBSDXC
UHSII Class 10 card,it hadno
troublerecording 70 compressed
rawfilesor 31 uncompressedraw
filesat 10fpsbeforethebuffer
washit.Repeatingthistestafter
changingthefile formattoExtra
FineJPEG,resultedin 70frames
beingrecordedat 10fps– a
numberthat’llallowsportand
wildlifeshooterstokeepshooting
withoutworryof theirburstbeing
interrupted.A drawbackof the
hugepixelcountis thatmemory
cardsfill upquickly– I shotjust
418 Raw&JPEGimagesbeforeit
spiltovertousingthesecondcard
in slot2.In addition,thelarge
123MB(uncompressed)and
61MB(compressed).ARWraw
filesdemanda lotfromyour
computer.My 2017 2.5GHzIntel
Corei7 MacBookProdidn’t
struggletoprocessthefiles,but
my 2010 3.2GHzIntelCorei3
iMacslowedtoa snail’space
when editing in Lightroom.