Great video! I was curious as to what you think about the new Tamron 35-150mm lens to shoot sports. I find the 70mm range for the Tamron 70mm-180mm and Sony 70mm-200mm to be too tight if i'm shooting along the baseline in a basketball game.
I was wondering if you were shooting with the menu option of finder frame rate set to high, and if that would have made a difference in helping you frame some of the shots?
Excellent video (and the other one with your settings). Today I went out to do some BIF and ran into all the problems you have stated. I have dialled things in a bit and now am getting much better results (came from an A9 + RIII but now need MUCH better video, which this camera excels at).Hopefully work will pick up a bit and the price for the A1 drops. This is the perfect camera for a backup I think. Thanks again. Very useful info.
Thanks PMR. I was considering upgrading my a9 to the a7iv to get the higher megapixels, modern menu and updated auto focus. Since my use is almost all sports, though, I’ll keep the a9. This was very helpful. Sony doesn’t need to worry, though. I’m still buy glass from them and when kids sports are done, I’ll probably buy the a7v or Vi? Whatever the general purpose body is at that time. Of course if Sony put computational photography in the a7v as Tony Northrop and others have been suggesting for years, I would buy that body in addition to the a9. It just seems silly to not have it given what smartphones can do on the fly. Please let me do that with my great glass and better sensor so that I can get the picture to Instagram immediately (the teens really love that).
I'm completely surprised how great a value the original a9 still is today. I've had mine since the beginning of 2019. Its nice that sony is taking that foundation and refining their entire camera line up with all the lessons learned over time.
Agree 100%.. got mine used in early 2020 for $2200 from B&H and still love it.. (funny thing is I mainly shoot real estate with it, but when I do shoot NCAA football/basketball/baseball I’m reminded just how damn good it is 😄)
As always nice work. On A7 series cameras It’s not recommended to use drive mode high+ when shooting action that needs panning like football, soccer etc as you don’t have live view in the finder at 10fps. You need to drop to high (8 fps) to have live viewing to keep subject in frame, is this the situation you are running into…i.e. using high +?
Hello , how are you? And happy New Year. Do you think this would be an interesting camera for Birding photography? I would use it with the 200-600 mm, I make photography more than video, and it's very usual to crop in quite a lot with birds. What I liked about the camera is that I can take photos while it's still late in the afternoon. I would really appreciate your comment. Thank you very much and best wishes from Uruguay.
Darn, I just got this camera to shoot my kid's Rugby games. Thanks for the tips on not shooting too tight. I'll shoot a little wide and crop in using the 33mp. My shots are usually for parents w/o discerning eyes. They just like seeing their babies hit and get it. But hey, its Rugby.
PMR you mentioned in the video that you used affinity photo to edit heif files. How do you do this? I have affinity photo on my mac and when I try to open a heif file from my a7iv affinity photo says this file type is not supported. Thanks again for the great videos.
Thank you very much for this video ! I've been trying to shoot running with the A7iv and 70 200 GM2, I experienced all the troubles you mention. The best settings I found are flexible spot at 6 FPS with about 70 % sharp pictures. As you say, great camera, but not for sports. I'm so glad to hear that !
PMR can you tell me what meter mode you use for your action photography? I shoot mountain biking in the woods with many different colors and I seem to struggle to get the exposure or color profiles I am looking for with my A7IV. Thanks for the video
I use the default metering mode. Here are some tips for you: 1. make sure your EVF is set to manual and dead in the middle--this will mess you up in the woods and in broken sunlight. 2. shoot in manual (simplifies everything). 3. Use daylight for color balance or if you are only in open shade, then use that setting. Doing these three things will improve the consistency of what you are seeing and therefore shooting.
yes, it works OK but if the action is really fast, you have to switch over to the mechanical shutter to get rid of the jello/rolling shutter effects. In hoops, basketballs become elongated and heads can get pretty weird distortion too.
I’m looking at getting what you’re using, I shoot a lot of live indoor concert photography I have the A7ii and the A7iii and am looking to upgrade what are your thoughts Simon
the sensor upgrade is substantial from a7III in both low light performance and bumping up to 32mp from 24mp. The AF is better too! If you decide on the a7IV, please consider using my affiliate link to purchase from Sony direct: a7IV tinyurl.com/37fycp4m 70-200mm f/4GII tinyurl.com/46fnusw7
Do you think the overall image quality/dynamic range is significantly improved from that of the A9? I shoot both wildlife and landscape and am worried that i’m choosing the A9 over the 7iv I might end up being disappointed by the image quality despite the enhanced speed?
Image quality doesn't mean anything if the images you shoot aren't sharp. If you wildlife includes birds in flight, you are still better off with a9 IMO. If you do more landscape, then go a7IV.
Thanks for this action review of the a7iv. 12,800 using a 400 2/8 GM is obviously much better than 12,800 using the 100-400 GM or the 200-600 G! Action sports (HS football) is a small portion of my portfolio so I can't justify the 400 or 600 GM's yet.
"If you're shooting slow moving things or just people sitting..." lol! Sorry, Patrick I just had to. Just goofin' with you. Thanks very much for the review.
The A9 bodies are great for their intended purpose for sure. Even today. But they do not render fine details very well, so I couldn't use them for landscapes or even maybe birds. The image is too ratty, particularly when you make enlargements. But, they are purpose built for pretty much one thing only, and there are inevitable trade-offs. Footnote: A7III is also poor with rendering fine details. But the A7RIV and A1 are good. The A1 is for the most part good at both landscape and sport.
@@Biosynchro my long term strategy is to keep my A7Rii for just such uses and ideally get an A9 for sports/action! Only several thousand more to save....
This kinda settles my worry about moving from DSLR to mirrorless; I very seldom do action photo, but would not want to give up the chance of doing that. But this camera shows it can do it to the extent I'd ever need it. Now I just have to wait for this camera to drop in price.
Thank PMR! I was going to get a A7-4 but I'm going to wait. I just love the A7-3 and r3 and they get it done for me. I would love a new aps-c sony for video. Happy New Year!
@@PMRTV Noted! Thanks for the insight. I still would love a aps-c camera for video that can match that spec and more. I would like the lighter weight and gimble combination. This would be a b camera for video or on a tripod for streams.
remember the a9 has no possibility for anti-flicker and when you are forced to move to mechanical shutter on the a9II to get into anti flicker, you drop to below 10 fps. This is why the a1 is such an awesome beast when you can shoot at 30fps with no jello and anti-flicker!!!!!
Is it a pain shooting with the A9 without antiflicker? I shoot soccer games mostly and use my A7iii. I want to jump into the A9 cameras but I can get a used A9 for a really good price. Is antiflicker worth the upgrade to the A9II?
Are you comparing and complaining about the EVF of this camera (US2,500) vs the A1 ($6,500) ? … 😳 -Maybe you should evaluate this camera for the use cases it’s made for
Given that the F3 could do 6fps, and the D3 could do 9fps, I'd say that 10fps is pretty darn good. 😉 Mind you those other cameras had optical VFs so it's not necessarily a slam dunk.
Wow, an F3 reference. Cool. I used a couple during my newspaper years. Later, I bought what I couldn't afford back then: an F3/T in the rare original non-black version. Still occasionally use it. Sorry for the trip down memory lane!
In a shocking statement, Patrick says "a black guy at night" is the worst case scenario. Watch him get canceled by the public here at KERO 23. More news at 10. In all seriousness, this was a helpful video. I just upgraded from MFT to the A7 IV, so I'm looking to follow helpful people like you. Consider me subbed.
Rj, thanks for subscribing. You had m there man, I freaked out at that first sentence... What I said is also true in the video when I implied that virtually all cameras are racist when it comes to finding the correct exposure for humans. 18% grey is the right exposure for just a small fraction of the human race. One of the things I hope to test soon is the new Sony flash that no one really mentioned because it was announced with the a7IV. That flash connects directly two distinct technologies--the eye and face detection for AF and exposure. If it works the way Sony claims, then that new flash system when used with the newer bodies should be able to correctly expose a dark complected person standing on a glacier at noon. Wedding shooters in the people of color community would be able to remove all compensation from their flash exposure and just shoot for the first time. I want to do a video on this but it's worth checking out, I think!
@@PMRTV that definitely sounds worth checking out! I think the premise is very compelling, personally. And yes, while it was a bit of a joke, there's definitely some truth in what you and I said. Correctly exposing for dark skin tones is important (hence Google's messaging around their new phone camera AI/algorithms), so I look forward to seeing the results of your testing!
I would not hesitate to trade those extra 9MP for extra 5fps, bigger buffer, less rolling shutter, 4k60p no crop.
Glad to hear the camera performed well. I’m looking forward to trying it out this year as a back up camera for sports.
Now this is what I have been trying to find! I do sports and few other things. Thank you sir.
Great video! I was curious as to what you think about the new Tamron 35-150mm lens to shoot sports. I find the 70mm range for the Tamron 70mm-180mm and Sony 70mm-200mm to be too tight if i'm shooting along the baseline in a basketball game.
I was wondering if you were shooting with the menu option of finder frame rate set to high, and if that would have made a difference in helping you frame some of the shots?
excellent video, thank you for this important feedback. Can you please comment compere the noise of A1 vs A7M4?
Did you set the EVF Finder Frame Rate to High (120fps) or Standard ?
hello bro i just got my A7iv but i cant fine the smooth skin mode can u help me with that .
FANTASTIC!!!!!!! thanks for sharing!!!!!!
U bet!
Excellent video (and the other one with your settings). Today I went out to do some BIF and ran into all the problems you have stated. I have dialled things in a bit and now am getting much better results (came from an A9 + RIII but now need MUCH better video, which this camera excels at).Hopefully work will pick up a bit and the price for the A1 drops. This is the perfect camera for a backup I think. Thanks again. Very useful info.
What does BIF mean😂
Any issues with rolling shutter?
Thanks PMR. I was considering upgrading my a9 to the a7iv to get the higher megapixels, modern menu and updated auto focus. Since my use is almost all sports, though, I’ll keep the a9. This was very helpful. Sony doesn’t need to worry, though. I’m still buy glass from them and when kids sports are done, I’ll probably buy the a7v or Vi? Whatever the general purpose body is at that time. Of course if Sony put computational photography in the a7v as Tony Northrop and others have been suggesting for years, I would buy that body in addition to the a9. It just seems silly to not have it given what smartphones can do on the fly. Please let me do that with my great glass and better sensor so that I can get the picture to Instagram immediately (the teens really love that).
thank you
Great video again. Tell me what your video tacking settings. you are thee best!
tacking???? not sure what you mean there?
@@PMRTV how you maintain the focus with football players? Af eyes detection wide area thanks
I'm completely surprised how great a value the original a9 still is today. I've had mine since the beginning of 2019. Its nice that sony is taking that foundation and refining their entire camera line up with all the lessons learned over time.
totally agree!!!!!
A used Sony A9 must be up there in the top choices as best value for your money
@@neilvn Even better when Sony puts it on sale.
Agree 100%.. got mine used in early 2020 for $2200 from B&H and still love it.. (funny thing is I mainly shoot real estate with it, but when I do shoot NCAA football/basketball/baseball I’m reminded just how damn good it is 😄)
As always nice work. On A7 series cameras It’s not recommended to use drive mode high+ when shooting action that needs panning like football, soccer etc as you don’t have live view in the finder at 10fps. You need to drop to high (8 fps) to have live viewing to keep subject in frame, is this the situation you are running into…i.e. using high +?
Your comment has completely fixed my 1 issue with my camera! You, my friend, are a God send! Thank you!
Hello , how are you? And happy New Year. Do you think this would be an interesting camera for Birding photography? I would use it with the 200-600 mm, I make photography more than video, and it's very usual to crop in quite a lot with birds. What I liked about the camera is that I can take photos while it's still late in the afternoon. I would really appreciate your comment. Thank you very much and best wishes from Uruguay.
Darn, I just got this camera to shoot my kid's Rugby games. Thanks for the tips on not shooting too tight. I'll shoot a little wide and crop in using the 33mp. My shots are usually for parents w/o discerning eyes. They just like seeing their babies hit and get it. But hey, its Rugby.
Better rugby than hoops or volleyball! You will do fine, just don't use electronic/silent shutter on sports and it will be great :)
PMR you mentioned in the video that you used affinity photo to edit heif files. How do you do this? I have affinity photo on my mac and when I try to open a heif file from my a7iv affinity photo says this file type is not supported. Thanks again for the great videos.
make sure you update your AP software-- mine works great!
Thank you very much for this video ! I've been trying to shoot running with the A7iv and 70 200 GM2, I experienced all the troubles you mention. The best settings I found are flexible spot at 6 FPS with about 70 % sharp pictures. As you say, great camera, but not for sports. I'm so glad to hear that !
the newer version a7RV is amazing in terms of AF--not quite in the a1 range but easily 3x better than the a7RIV.
@@PMRTV Rather than A7R, I think I'll go A9 (ii or maybe iii) for the higher frame rate.
PMR can you tell me what meter mode you use for your action photography? I shoot mountain biking in the woods with many different colors and I seem to struggle to get the exposure or color profiles I am looking for with my A7IV. Thanks for the video
I use the default metering mode. Here are some tips for you: 1. make sure your EVF is set to manual and dead in the middle--this will mess you up in the woods and in broken sunlight. 2. shoot in manual (simplifies everything). 3. Use daylight for color balance or if you are only in open shade, then use that setting. Doing these three things will improve the consistency of what you are seeing and therefore shooting.
Did you happen to try the electronic shutter in the a7iv during this?
yes, it works OK but if the action is really fast, you have to switch over to the mechanical shutter to get rid of the jello/rolling shutter effects. In hoops, basketballs become elongated and heads can get pretty weird distortion too.
Great Focus system, Great for starting out with video & focus breathing but, I doubt you were getting 10fps here. At least not usable 10.
I’m looking at getting what you’re using, I shoot a lot of live indoor concert photography I have the A7ii and the A7iii and am looking to upgrade what are your thoughts
Simon
the sensor upgrade is substantial from a7III in both low light performance and bumping up to 32mp from 24mp. The AF is better too! If you decide on the a7IV, please consider using my affiliate link to purchase from Sony direct: a7IV tinyurl.com/37fycp4m
70-200mm f/4GII tinyurl.com/46fnusw7
Do you think the overall image quality/dynamic range is significantly improved from that of the A9? I shoot both wildlife and landscape and am worried that i’m choosing the A9 over the 7iv I might end up being disappointed by the image quality despite the enhanced speed?
Image quality doesn't mean anything if the images you shoot aren't sharp. If you wildlife includes birds in flight, you are still better off with a9 IMO. If you do more landscape, then go a7IV.
Correct me if I'm wrong but at 33MP, if it's best to shoot wide, can't you just crop in post to get the desired look?
33mp, yes
Thanks for this action review of the a7iv. 12,800 using a 400 2/8 GM is obviously much better than 12,800 using the 100-400 GM or the 200-600 G! Action sports (HS football) is a small portion of my portfolio so I can't justify the 400 or 600 GM's yet.
Which is why Sony needs to make an FE300mm f/2.8GM and an FE300mm f/4G!!!!!!!! I l keep telling them...
"If you're shooting slow moving things or just people sitting..." lol! Sorry, Patrick I just had to. Just goofin' with you. Thanks very much for the review.
What focus mode/area are you using for action ? For birds and race cars ?
tracking: flex M
@@PMRTV thank you 👌
Patrick because of the A92 and the A1, you can now find used A9's for sale for 2-2500 which is what I did, much better choice for wildlife and sports.
exactly!
The A9 bodies are great for their intended purpose for sure. Even today. But they do not render fine details very well, so I couldn't use them for landscapes or even maybe birds. The image is too ratty, particularly when you make enlargements.
But, they are purpose built for pretty much one thing only, and there are inevitable trade-offs.
Footnote: A7III is also poor with rendering fine details. But the A7RIV and A1 are good. The A1 is for the most part good at both landscape and sport.
@@Biosynchro I have shot with all of those cameras, and your premise is nonsense.
@@Biosynchro my long term strategy is to keep my A7Rii for just such uses and ideally get an A9 for sports/action! Only several thousand more to save....
@@longrider9551 My premise is based on unbiased observations of RAW files.
This kinda settles my worry about moving from DSLR to mirrorless; I very seldom do action photo, but would not want to give up the chance of doing that. But this camera shows it can do it to the extent I'd ever need it.
Now I just have to wait for this camera to drop in price.
come on in, the water is fine!
Thank PMR! I was going to get a A7-4 but I'm going to wait. I just love the A7-3 and r3 and they get it done for me. I would love a new aps-c sony for video.
Happy New Year!
actually, you want the a7IV for video!!! It allows 10 bit 4K recording that only the a7SIII, a1, FX3, FX6, and FX9 can offer.
@@PMRTV Noted! Thanks for the insight. I still would love a aps-c camera for video that can match that spec and more. I would like the lighter weight and gimble combination. This would be a b camera for video or on a tripod for streams.
Is the Sony A7iv good for shooting basketball?
as long as you use mechanical shutter, sure!
Would you rather choose the A9II or the A7IV? Im having a hard decision. I already have the A7III.
I think he pretty much laid out his thoughts about that in the video. His summary of the A7IV vs. other bodies starts at 27:10.
@@anthonyc1883 I jumped the gun on the question, I should of watched the entire video first. Now the real question, A9 or A9II?
remember the a9 has no possibility for anti-flicker and when you are forced to move to mechanical shutter on the a9II to get into anti flicker, you drop to below 10 fps. This is why the a1 is such an awesome beast when you can shoot at 30fps with no jello and anti-flicker!!!!!
How is the electronic shutter? I used it at my daughters volleyball game indoors with led and had zero issues.
@@justonbrazda3846 What lens were you using with the A7iv for volleyball?
When you could with A7III I am sure you can with A7IV. Thx for the video.
yep
What the dual ISO at? 1600 or 400?
I was at 12,800 and 16,000 ISO for this entire game
The base ISO for the high-gain circuit seems to be 400.
@@aliendroneservices6621 Yeah, according to DXO. Not to sure about that. ?
@@brettharrisphotography7463 I didn't know DxOMark had tested the a7iv.
have you ever tried to shoot in H instead of H+ to see if the viewfinder blackout helps you with the composition?
blsackout still appears in all cameras except the a9/a9II/a9III, and a1
@@PMRTV thats what i said. I asked if the blackout that appears in 8fps helps you track subject. In 10fps you get no blackout but get big delay.
Might just be me, but why would you compare this camera to the A1? completely different cameras for different shooters.
yep
Or the original A9?
absolutely
Is it a pain shooting with the A9 without antiflicker? I shoot soccer games mostly and use my A7iii. I want to jump into the A9 cameras but I can get a used A9 for a really good price. Is antiflicker worth the upgrade to the A9II?
Are you comparing and complaining about the EVF of this camera (US2,500) vs the A1 ($6,500) ? … 😳 -Maybe you should evaluate this camera for the use cases it’s made for
Given that the F3 could do 6fps, and the D3 could do 9fps, I'd say that 10fps is pretty darn good. 😉 Mind you those other cameras had optical VFs so it's not necessarily a slam dunk.
Good point!
Wow, an F3 reference. Cool. I used a couple during my newspaper years. Later, I bought what I couldn't afford back then: an F3/T in the rare original non-black version. Still occasionally use it. Sorry for the trip down memory lane!
@@anthonyc1883 I like those trips. My heart belongs in the 1990s. And besides, those cameras are in use today.
In a shocking statement, Patrick says "a black guy at night" is the worst case scenario. Watch him get canceled by the public here at KERO 23. More news at 10. In all seriousness, this was a helpful video. I just upgraded from MFT to the A7 IV, so I'm looking to follow helpful people like you. Consider me subbed.
Rj, thanks for subscribing. You had m there man, I freaked out at that first sentence... What I said is also true in the video when I implied that virtually all cameras are racist when it comes to finding the correct exposure for humans. 18% grey is the right exposure for just a small fraction of the human race. One of the things I hope to test soon is the new Sony flash that no one really mentioned because it was announced with the a7IV. That flash connects directly two distinct technologies--the eye and face detection for AF and exposure. If it works the way Sony claims, then that new flash system when used with the newer bodies should be able to correctly expose a dark complected person standing on a glacier at noon. Wedding shooters in the people of color community would be able to remove all compensation from their flash exposure and just shoot for the first time. I want to do a video on this but it's worth checking out, I think!
@@PMRTV that definitely sounds worth checking out! I think the premise is very compelling, personally. And yes, while it was a bit of a joke, there's definitely some truth in what you and I said. Correctly exposing for dark skin tones is important (hence Google's messaging around their new phone camera AI/algorithms), so I look forward to seeing the results of your testing!
Tell Sonny to release the a9iii already. the world doesn’t need another vlogging camera (re their next rumored release).
lol, yep
Shot a gymnastics championships with a7iv. Performed better than a7iii, but far behind the original a9.
exactly!!!!
Please can you reply thanks again
I wondered why you had shot so loose. But given the characteristics of the camera you had no choice.
yep
Chris Heria 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂