The a7R4 is a great camera and a true jack of all trades, master of many but like all cameras, there are still things that could be improved, as well as bugs, and just stupid design choices (almost all fixable in FW with a will to fix it). I went through my criticisms of the a7R III in my super long review of it to see what has been fixed in the a7R4 from my list. In short, some have been addressed but not many - here's the summary by item:
- Menu salad - not fixed and even more complex now due to new features
- Clear explanation when a function is not available - some improvement but there are still plenty of cases where a function is not available without explanation
- Lossless compressed RAW - not implemented
- FPS slows with uncompressed RAW - fixed
- Exposure compensation dial re-tasking not possible - not fixed resulting in a major camera control that is essentially useless for manual exposure shooters
- Faster than 1/8000s shutter speeds not possible in electronic shutter mode - not implemented, virtually every other mirrorless camera on the market has this
- Spacial filtering responsible for the internet overhyped “star eater” phenomenon - not fixed but also not a real problem unless you are doing documentary/scientific astrophotography. For artistic astro photography this is a total non-issue and never has been an issue. Internet Amplification Effect is turned up to 11 on this one.
- Only one slot is UHS II, if a card is also placed in the UHS I slot and RAWs are recorded to both, the camera slows way down - fixed, both slots are UHS II. Buffer clearing is still slower than the competition.
- No EVF update or accurate AF tracking at maximum frame rate - at 10FPS, the EVF is not updated in real time, at 8FPS it is. For action use 8FPS Hi mode, not the Hi+ mode.
- Lock on AF: flexible spot is not accurate - fixed, the whole AF system has been revamped, animal eye detect is amazing on mammals
- Many menu items are locked out while the camera is buffering - this is still an issue. If the camera is buffering after a burst of photos, you have to wait for the buffering to be complete before many menu items can be accessed. No other camera system does this, all Sony cameras do.
- Exposure warning way too conservative when shooting RAW - like every Sony camera with zebras set to 100+ you can go 1/3 to 2/3 of a stop into zebras before the RAW file will be affected. The a7R4 is the same in this regard - at least it's consistent if not accurate (this is true for every digital camera I have ever used by the way - Nikon cameras with the Flat profile are by far the most accurate in this regard in the industry, Fuji is worst)
- Bright monitoring function does not allow the camera to be focused - not fixed. With the bright monitoring option enabled it is great to compose a shot even in total darkness but as soon as you try to focus the camera either manually or with AF, the bright monitoring function turns off. Fixing this one item would make this the easiest to use camera at night on the market.
- Play memory apps do not work - Sony no longer supports this in newer cameras but some of the most useful features, like time lapse and an intervalometer are now included in the normal menu structure.
- The eye point makes it difficult for eye-glass wearers to see the entire frame - on the a7R4 with the eye cup removed it is just barely possible to see the entire image without having to move the eye aroundif you weare glasses. The EVF is dramatically improved.
- Touchscreen is pretty much useless except to roughly pick an AF point - the a7R4 is the same, simple things like menu and image navigation are not implemented.
- The included battery charger fully charged status is all lights off - this incredibly stupid design is still with us. A full charge should never be no lights because you can mistake a dead outlet as a fully charged battery and vice versa. Similarly when USB charging the camera, fully charged is status light off...
- If you last used an item on MyMenu and then took a photo and viewed the image on the rear screen via the playback button and then hit the Menu button again, the menu comes up on the Playback set-up page rather than the My Menu page that was last used - this was fixed in FW on the a7R3 and it is still fixed.
- In auto-exposure mode, the camera has the capability of allowing exposure compensation up to plus or minus 5 stops. As such the meter scale in the viewfinder goes to +5 and -5. However, when shooting in manual exposure mode, the scale still goes from +5 to -5 but the actual readings only go from +2 to -2. If you go beyond that, the meter does not go to +/-3 or +/-4, it just goes off scale beyond 2 - amazingly this incredibly stupid bug is still in the 4th generation of the a7R4
- No way to write the state of the camera to a memory card so that settings and set-up can be returned if service or camera reset is required - this is largely fixed and one can now write out the camera state to a card to be reloaded later but for some strange reason, the My menu set-up is not included so if you do have to reset your camera or have it serviced, My Menu will need to be set-up all over
- No calibration for the in-camera level is available. My a7R II was always off by 0.5 degrees - there still is no calibration but my a7R4 is accurate.
- WiFi set-up with iOS is buggy and temperamental - it seems to work much more reliably with the a7R4 but of course, like all other non-phone cameras, it's too cumbersome to use anyway so leaving it off to conserve battery life is probably the best way to go for the vast majority of shooters. The app you have to use on your phone to communicate with the camera is a total cluster - whoever designed this should seriously consider a career in politics or something... just stay away from coding, forever!
- No focus stacking - still no focus stacking, the only manufacturer that doesn’t have it in any of their cameras
- No vibration delay shutter mode - still no automatic vibration delay shutter mode that uses the cameras motion sensor to determine when to take the shot. I really miss this from my Phase One days.
- Can not select shutter speeds longer than 30 seconds - inexplicably Sony, Canon and Nikon continue to artificially cut off exposure time selection at 30 seconds, the rest of the world has moved on allowing as much as 1 hour shutter speed selection without needing to go to Bulb mode.
- No built in GPS - still no built in GPS but with what GPS positioning data combined with the internet is doing to the planet, this may be a good thing
- No fully articulating screen - the a7R4 screen is still just a tilt up or tilt down affair. it is totally useless in vertical shooting as it does not tilt up or down in vertical mode.