DAVID BUSCHS
Sony a7R IV
GUIDE TO
DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY
DAVID D. BUSCH
David Buschs Sony a7R IV Guide to Digital Photography
David D. Busch
Project Manager: Jenny Davidson
Series Technical Editor: Michael D. Sullivan
Layout: Bill Hartman
Cover Design: Mike Tanamachi
Indexer: Valerie Haynes Perry
Proofreader: Mike Beady
ISBN: 978-1-68198-570-1
1st Edition (1st printing, March 2020)
2020 David D. Busch
All images David D. Busch unless otherwise noted
Rocky Nook, Inc.
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2019950821
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Printed in Korea
For Cathy
Acknowledgments
Thanks to everyone at Rocky Nook, including Scott Cowlin, managing director and publisher, for the freedom to let me explore the amazing capabilities of the Sony a7R IV in depth. I couldnt do it without my veteran production team, including project manager, Jenny Davidson, and series technical editor, Mike Sullivan. Also, thanks to Bill Hartman, layout; Valerie Hayes Perry, indexing; Mike Beady, proofreading; Mike Tanamachi, cover design; and my agent, Carole Jelen, who has the amazing ability to keep both publishers and authors happy.
About the Author
With more than 2.5 million books in print, David D. Busch is the worlds #1 bestselling camera guide author, and the originator of popular series like David Buschs Pro Secrets, David Buschs Compact Field Guides, and David Buschs Quick Snap Guides. He has written dozens of hugely successful guidebooks for Sony and other digital SLR models, including the all-time #1 bestsellers for several different cameras, as well as many popular books devoted to photography, including Mastering Mirrorless Photography. As a roving photojournalist for more than 20 years, he illustrated his books, magazine articles, and newspaper reports with award-winning images. Hes operated his own commercial studio, suffocated in formal dress while shooting weddings, and shot sports for a daily newspaper and an upstate New York college. His photos and articles have appeared in Popular Photography, Rangefinder, Professional Photographer, and hundreds of other publications. Hes also reviewed dozens of digital cameras for CNet and other CBS publications.
When About.com named its top five books on Beginning Digital Photography, debuting at the #1 and #2 slots were Buschs Digital Photography All-In-One Desk Reference for Dummies and Mastering Digital Photography. Busch has had as many as 18 books listed in the Top 100 of Amazon.coms Digital Photography Bestseller listsimultaneously! Buschs 250-plus other published books include bestsellers like Digital SLR Cameras and Photography for Dummies.
Busch is a member of the Cleveland Photographic Society (www.clevelandphoto.org), which has operated continuously since 1887. Visit his website at http://www.sonyguides.com.
Contents
Preface
The Sony a7R IV, the latest edition of the companys high-resolution full-frame camera, is the most versatile E-mount mirrorless model the company has ever offered. Its remarkable 61 megapixels of resolution capture enough detail to satisfy the most discerning landscape, commercial, or portrait photographers needs, and it can fire off continuous bursts at a 10-frames-per-second rate that make it a sports photographers dream. With advanced autofocus, five-axis anti-shake image stabilization built into the camera body, and 4K video capabilities, the a7R IV comes close to being a do-everything model that is a jack of all tradesand master of them, as well.
In a few short years, Sony has gone from being a Nikon and Canon competitor that offered warmed-over Konica Minolta digital camera technology, to an acknowledged innovator with a lineup of cameras that are smaller, lighter, faster to focus, and loaded with cutting-edge features that many of us have been dreaming about. So, its no wonder youre excited about your new Sony a7R IV. With all these features at your disposal, you dont expect to take good pictures with such a camerayou demand and anticipate outstanding photos.
Unfortunately, your gateway to pixel proficiency is dragged down by the limited instructions provided by Sony. Over the years, Sony has reduced the amount of useful information included in its printed guidebooks, often to a scant 100 pages or so, and relegated more detailed instructions to online HTML-based guides and PDF versions that are difficult to navigate. And, sad to say, not everything you need to know is included.
What you really need is a guide that explains the purpose and function of the cameras basic controls, how you should use them, and why. Thats what I am giving you in this book. If you want a quick introduction to focus controls, flash synchronization options, how to choose lenses, or which exposure modes are best, this book is for you. If you cant decide on what basic settings to use with your camera because you cant figure out how changing ISO or white balance or focus defaults will affect your pictures, you need this guide.
Introduction
With the a7R IV, Sony has packaged up the most alluring features of advanced digital SLRs and stuffed them into a compact, fully featured body, which boasts at least a few capabilities you wont find in cameras from other vendors. They include an innovative Pixel Shift capability, which captures 4 or 16 different images, each displaced from the last by a single pixel, and which are then combined in the free Imaging Edge software to provide the detail youd expect to find in a sensor with the equivalent of up to 240 megapixels. Many of the a7R IVs other features are significant upgrades from previous models.
Of course, once youve confirmed that you made a wise purchase, the question comes up, how do I use this thing? All those cool features can be mind-numbing to learn, if all you have as a guide is the mediocre manual furnished with the camera. Basic functions and options are explained, but theres really very little about