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Some had asked me about this when I first got the Sony a7R4...

Any doubts about Sony's weather sealing are a thing of the past.  In the past Sony has taken some lumps on the waterproofing front compared to the competition.  They claimed to have totally fixed this in the a7R4 and upcoming a9 II.  After photographing for 4 hours often in torrential downpours in Great Otway National Park (Victoria, Australia) with the camera and two G-Master lenses totally drenched most of the time.  The camera and lenses never missed a beat.  The only thing you have to watch out for, as is the case with all cameras with an EVF, is to keep droplets of water off of the eye detection sensor.  If suddenly the rear LCD doesn't come on anymore when you aren't looking through the camera, just wipe the little eye detection sensor and all will be fine.  The drop of water on the detector triggers it and the camera will then turn off the LCD and turn on the EVF.  

But truly, I was scared that my camera would fail me in the downpours but it kept on ticking.  Other than the time that I dropped a camera into a river, I have never had a camera wetter...

Impressive! I have always hesitated to do much photography in the wet weather, fearing an expensive repair. I hope the 400 and 600 are as good in this regard.

Joe

Sounds like they have improved the weather sealing. Last May while packrafting the Escalante, I inadvertently laid my a73 on my spray skirt in 1/8" of water and it died. I thought it was toast, but at camp (took two days) with battery compartment open and battery removed it slowly came back to life. By comparison my D850 is much more robust.

This is good information EJ. Have not subjected my a7r4 to the elements yet, but things look hopeful.

Pradeep

Dear E.J.

Thank you for the advisement about the weather sealing on the Sony a7rIV.  The news about the weather sealing on the Sony mirrorless cameras, the new a7rIV and the a9 II, is great.  It appears that in all respects, Sony is on a roll.

Best Regards,

Roman 

E.J. Any idea about when you'll have your review of the a7R4 finished?

Taking the A7R4 and A9ii to Churchill this week. We'll see how they perform in below zero conditions.
mike

mikeojohnson wrote:Taking the A7R4 and A9ii to Churchill this week.  We'll see how they perform in below zero conditions.
mike

Have fun with the bears and do give us a report when you get back.

signgrap wrote:E.J. Any idea about when you'll have your review of the a7R4 finished?

I don't plan on doing a full review of the a7R4 like I did the a7R3.  The camera is very similar in many ways with much better ergonomics and a higher megapixel sensor.  I already wrote quite a bit about it in my Fall Newsletter (ejphoto.com/newsletter.htm) and may have a bit more in the winter newsletter.

Is the hotshoe still a weak point? and/or do you need to keep the cover in there?

Lost my cover on my a7r2 then got a few drops in there. Had a bunch of problems with "accessory not supported"

The hot shoe is a weak point on every camera and regardless of make you must keep a cover over it if you are going to use it in the rain. I don't know if it's any better than before or not but I have never had a problem with that on a Sony camera but have had on Canon cameras - since the problem on the Canon, I have always kept a cover on my hotshoes.

Yeah I lost my cover and procrastinated on getting another one. But mine took a long time to dry out (many days), so I suspect that water actually got inside the camera through the seams or something. Not just surface moisture causing a short.