The Zenitar 50mm F0.95 lens (800 euros) is a massive beast in term of size and weight compared to the Mitakon 50mm F0.95 – Dark Knight (800 euros) The build quality is lower than the Mitakon with some unusual dampening for the aperture ring and only printed numbers and not engraved. Ergonomically its unusual large diameter makes it difficult to hold the body as there is no place for your finger and the lens hood is moving frequently The image quality is ok in the centre but the lens suffer from very strong field curvature , very bad resistance to flare, very strong vignetting even with aperture closed down. The very long min focusing distance is also an issue as not allowing very big bokeh balls Where it shines is in term of color rendition (better than Mitakon) , smoothness of background blur below F2.8 and special soap bubble bokeh at F0.95 If you want a pure 50mm F0.95 that is at ease in most situations: the Mitakon 50mm F0.95 – Dark Knight (800 euros) is a bit sharper on the entire field (much less field curvature), much smaller and lighter with a better build quality , better resistance to flare but with a less nice color rendition If you want an artistic lens maximising blur (<F2.8) and special soap bubble bokeh with very nice color rendition then the Zenitar will be the one to go The 7 Artisans 50mm F1.05 (486$) is also a very interesting budget option to try a F1 lens
All in all, we’ve had a hard time finding any faults with the Sony A1. It does so many things and does them all extremely well. It’s fast, it’s designed well, and it captures excellent high-quality photos and videos. It *is* very expensive, however. But for that price, you get one heck of a camera.
The Laowa Argus 35mm F0.95 (1069 Euros) is the fastest 35mm for full frame cameras. Unlike some cheap F0.95 lenses, it provide very good and totally usable images at F0.95. Sharpness is good wide open , color rendition if very good, background blur and bokeh balls are excellent. As of F1.2 you get very good sharpness and excellent as of F1.4
The main weaknesses are the long min focusing distance (50cm) , the resistance to flare, CA , the high vignetting and corners sharpness requiring to close to F5.6 to get consistency on the entire field
Its only real competitor is the Sigma 35mm F2 DG DN Contemporary (1500 euros) that is a more a workhorse for heavy duty job providing also excellent background blur and bokeh but not at the level of the Laowa. The Sigma is however excellent as of F1.2 and has very good to excellent corners even wide open. It is more versatile and can be used from Weddings, to sports, to night photography without any issues.
Equally suited for stills or video, with a great performance and handling extremely well, the Sony A7 IV has a lot going for it. Yes, it’s the most expensive of its peers, by which are meant the full-frame options of up to 33MP, but it is a hybrid camera that does tackle both stills and video in the one package. The handling is excellent, and the only questions regard the menu style, which may or may not suit the user. Familiarity will help no doubt, but the overall set-up is, in this reviewer’s opinion, somewhat over-complex. In summary, a very high-quality package that should consistently deliver the highest quality of results – ‘Highly Recommended’.
The Sony A7 IV represents a major upgrade from the popular previous model, but increased competition and a major price-hike means that it’s no longer our default choice as the best entry-level full-frame mirrorless camera.
That’s largely because it no longer has an entry-level price-tag. £2399 / $2499 for the body only is significantly more than the £$2000 launch price that the A7 III enjoyed. OK, so the camera market and the world as a whole have changed somewhat since then, but it’s still a big increase that makes the A7 IV more expensive than all of its main rivals.
Back in 2018, the Alpha A7 III faced very little competition at all, with Canon, Sony and Panasonic all still to join the 35mm full-frame market. Fast forward to 2021 and the new A7 IV has several very capable main rivals, including the the Canon EOS R6, Nikon Z6 II and Panasonic Lumix S5, not to mention the venerable Panasonic GH5 II, all of which are cheaper than Sony’s new camera whilst offering, for example, faster burst rates or uncropped 4K/60p video.
What Sony have succeeded in doing is pushing the boundaries of what we can expect from what they still consider to be their entry-level camera – the Sony A7 IV clearly out-performs its predecessor by some margin in virtually every regard, no mean feat given how far ahead of its time the A7 III was.
And while each of its rivals can point to a few key areas where they win the day, none of them quite deliver the accomplished all-round stills and video package that the A7IV clearly is – if you can only afford one hybrid camera to meet all of your diverse shooting needs and your budget stretches beyond “entry-level”, the Alpha A7 IV should be at the top of your list.
All of which is quite a roundabout way to conclude that the new Sony A7 IV is a very capable hybrid all-rounder that should more than meet the needs of most videographers and photographers alike. Whilst it has a few foibles that we hope Sony will address next time around, for us and many others, it’s well worth venturing beyond entry-level to enjoy everything that the Alpha A7 IV has to offer.
The Sony a7 IV shows overall very strong results in the lab test – really good dynamic range, 12.9 stops at SNR = 2! Rather good exposure latitude with 7 stops. But the rolling shutter falls a bit short unfortunately, it is on the high end at 26.8ms, also in comparison to the Panasonic LUMIX S1, S5, and S1H, the Canon EOS R5, and the Sony A1 and a7S III full-frame cameras.
