Moving from A7IV to A7RV

[russ0]

Hello everyone, I'm new here and passionated by Sony cameras/lens. I started as a hobbist 3 years ago with A7III and everything changed. I recently bought A7IV but after see all features in A7RV I was thinking if worth the move, I have the camera only for 2 months now but there are several feature due to the AI chip that caught my eyes. Im not a professional, I do not make money with it (Only spending), it would really worth to pay the double of  A7IV? I'm a big enthusiast of Astro, Landscapes, Macro (Insects) and Birds, also very addicted to Northern Lights when is possible to go for it. 

Any tip wll be very welcome..

Regards,

Alex

 

[Dan-cp]

Well, considering that you have an R V in your gear footer, perhaps a moot point. I’m a gadget guy and *always* like the idea of upgrading. Yet… I too spend money (vs making money professionally) and always try to keep in mind that Sony will come out with an R VI and R VII at some point. If money isn’t an issue, go for it, and have fun.

I’m shooting with an a9 and have an R IV for backup and am kicking around the a1. Do I “need” it? No. Not for the casual/hobbyist thing I do. While everyone is different, I decided to spend money on glass. Maybe I’ll upgrade beyond my current platform at some point (likely when they come out with the A2 or R VI. Lol. 

[MattK]

Hi Alex. I guess it depends what you shoot the most. You mentioned a variety of things that you like to photograph. I believe 100% that for landscape, macro and general nature photography that a camera from 10 years ago would produce exactly as good results as a camera today. For those genres, you're literally using a fraction of what the camera can do, and the only judgement you can make on the final photo is image quality - which was excellent 10 years ago and I haven't really seen much improvement since. 

That said, if you shoot a lot of birds and wildlife that could be a different story (fast moving that is). I was never really happy with my a7R4 for birds. AF was okay for perched or still animals, but not great if they were moving really fast. The a7r5 seems like it should be amazing, but we really have very few real world reports on it (I'll get mine in a couple weeks so hopefully will try it out and compare to my a1). So my suggestion would be wait and see. I think when you buy a new iteration of a camera, and expect your photography to drastically change we set ourselves up for failure because it won't. I'm sure it will be a great camera, but the main things I see don't relate much to what you like to photograph, so I don't know if you'll see much difference. 

In short, you have a wonderful camera that will take an amazing photo in any one of the genres you listed as long as you get yourself in front of an amazing subject. Use it. Wait and see how the new one shakes out and maybe even see if you can rent or try one out, before you buy it eventually. Good luck!