I wanted to share some observations regarding the viewfinder resolution of the A7rIV. I haven’t seen too much information about the EVF so i wanted to share what I’ve found. None of this is scientific, just what I’ve observed myself. This camera utilizes the 5mp chip found in cameras like the Panasonic S1 series. It’s a noticeable step up in resolution from the a7r3 and a9’s 3mp chip, and provides a very clean and clear image. Despite this, there are some instances in which the resolution will drop below the full 5mp, and I wanted to describe my findings below. Seems there is no such thing as a free lunch!
It appears there are 3 main EVF resolutions when normally operating the camera:
-Full resolution
-Mid Resolution
-Low Resolution
And these combinations of settings that affect the resolutions:
-Display Quality (Standard, High)
-Finder Frame Rate (Standard, High)
-Anti Flicker Shooting(Off, On)
Setting Display Quality between Standard and High seems to give either mid resolution (Standard) or full resolution (High). To ensure maximum EVF quality, I recommend always leaving this on high. Standard will cause lower battery drain, but that’s about it. When using menus and reviewing images in the viewfinder, it’ll use the full resolution regardless of whether it’s set to standard or high.
Setting the refresh rate between standard and high will give either medium resolution (High refresh) or full resolution (Standard refresh). It does not seem that any of the cameras with the 5mp chip are able to provide higher than 60hz refresh and deliver the full viewfinder resolution, from the tidbits I have read. This is likely why the a9ii has the 3mp finder, as it’ll mostly be used in this situation, and will look sharper at native 3mp versus upscaled to 5mp.
Lastly, the Anti-Flicker greatly impacts the viewfinder resolution, when in photo preview mode (I.e. half pressing the shutter). When anti-flicker is enabled, the finder will drop to a low resolution mode to give you a shot preview. However, when anti-flicker is off you will maintain the full viewfinder resolution when half pressing the shutter. As long as you have anti-flicker enabled and are previewing a shot, this will significantly reduce the viewfinder resolution (and even the rear LCD resolution). This is important to note if you have a custom button set to AF/MF hold, as that will trigger shot preview and give you a low resolution preview, making manual focus pretty difficult. I highly suggest putting this setting in the My Menu area, and disabling it unless it is needed. The impact to taking photos is significant, I would estimate it drops from 5mp to below 1mp. This setting alone is much more significant than the viewfinder quality or refresh rate.
If anyone else has any thoughts or findings definitely share them, the more info out there the better!
All I can say is I was hoping it will look much better. But it is a small improvement. I will make sure my settings are how you described. I am only comparing it to Fuji GFX50s. I haven't yet tried the one on GFX100s.
bobby350z wrote:
All I can say is I was hoping it will look much better. But it is a small improvement. I will make sure my settings are how you described. I am only comparing it to Fuji GFX50s. I haven't yet tried the one on GFX100s.
My only prior viewfinder experience was the 2mp chip Sony has been using since the A77 (also in A7 and A7r), and I can say this is a major step up. The size is much bigger, and the ability to see fine detail is greatly improved. Manual focus is quite a bit easier to nail perfect focus. It’s one of my favorite features about the camera thus far!
bobby350z wrote:
All I can say is I was hoping it will look much better. But it is a small improvement. I will make sure my settings are how you described. I am only comparing it to Fuji GFX50s. I haven't yet tried the one on GFX100s.
Both the Sony A7R4 and the GFX50s viewfinder don’t impress me. For the short time I had the pleasure to use the GFX100s I was blown away, however. The viewfinder is huge and the contrast is natural.
robert614 wrote:
Interesting. I knew about the first two settings. But I didn’t know about the last tidbit about silent shooting.
I just tried switching between silent shooting on/off. Honestly, I can’t see much of a difference between when it’s on or off.
I took a look at this, and I realized that you are correct, and there is another variable which I did not think about. It is the Anti-flicker shooting that is doing it! I’ll update my post to reflect this.
trogdon wrote:
I took a look at this, and I realized that you are correct, and there is another variable which I did not think about. It is the Anti-flicker shooting that is doing it! I’ll update my post to reflect this.
I was about to say the same thing as I don't think silent shutter affects viewfinder resolution, except that indirectly, it turns off anti-flicker.
I didn't know that anti-flicker reduced resolution. Thanks for posting this.
The A7R4's viewfinder is so good that I prefer turning peaking off and relying on the viewfinder res. to see fine detail.
trogdon wrote:
Lastly, the Anti-Flicker greatly impacts the viewfinder resolution, when in photo preview mode (I.e. half pressing the shutter). When anti-flicker is enabled, the finder will drop to a low resolution mode to give you a shot preview. However, when anti-flicker is off you will maintain the full viewfinder resolution when half pressing the shutter. As long as you have anti-flicker enabled and are previewing a shot, this will significantly reduce the viewfinder resolution (and even the rear LCD resolution). This is important to note if you have a custom button set to AF/MF hold, as that will trigger shot preview and give you a low resolution preview, making manual focus pretty difficult. I highly suggest putting this setting in the My Menu area, and disabling it unless it is needed. The impact to taking photos is significant, I would estimate it drops from 5mp to below 1mp. This setting alone is much more significant than the viewfinder quality or refresh rate....Show more →
Does the VF image degrade in Anti-Flicker mode even in natural light or when there is not a flickering light source?
EB-1 wrote:
Does the VF image degrade in Anti-Flicker mode even in natural light or when there is not a flickering light source?
EBH
It’ll degrade in any lighting condition. I can’t exactly explain why though. This feature was one of the very first things I enabled on my camera when I got it, and why I was noticing this lower resolution behavior. When I turned on silent shooting it naturally disabled anti-flicker, which is why I was seeing the resolution change.
Again, can’t explain why, but it will degrade in all conditions. Not ideal to leave on all the time.
BokehBeauty wrote:
Both the Sony A7R4 and the GFX50s viewfinder don’t impress me. For the short time I had the pleasure to use the GFX100s I was blown away, however. The viewfinder is huge and the contrast is natural.
Maybe I should so some side by side with A7rIV, GFX50s, GFX100s and Phase One IQ4.
Has anyone found a 'picture style' setting that best reflects the RAW file - especially for landscapes? The RGB histogram is reflecting the JPG (not RAW), and I've found that when exposing to the right, there is still a great deal of dynamic range being left on table as I'm about 1.5-2 stops from truly clipping the RAW file. Also noticed that in high contrast scenes, the EVF looks really weird (overly contrasty)...
I only shoot landscapes... and will continue to tweak these settings myself, but just curious if anyone else has been able to obtain 'good' settings for this?
Chris VenHaus wrote:
Has anyone found a 'picture style' setting that best reflects the RAW file - especially for landscapes? The RGB histogram is reflecting the JPG (not RAW), and I've found that when exposing to the right, there is still a great deal of dynamic range being left on table as I'm about 1.5-2 stops from truly clipping the RAW file. Also noticed that in high contrast scenes, the EVF looks really weird (overly contrasty)...
I only shoot landscapes... and will continue to tweak these settings myself, but just curious if anyone else has been able to obtain 'good' settings for this?...Show more →
It's more reliable to use the exposure zebras for ETTR - link
I never liked the Sony EVF implementation until the R4 was released. The EVF is a major jump forward especially using 11x magnification for MF critical focus. I rented the SL2 and it’s a bit disappointing to see Sony leapfrogging the SL2 for MF use. The SL2 magnified picture is wormy and aliased after 4X. I hope Leica/Panasonic can make some improvements over firmware to bring the SL2 inline with the R4 EVF performance.
photonc wrote:
I never liked the Sony EVF implementation until the R4 was released. The EVF is a major jump forward especially using 11x magnification for MF critical focus. I rented the SL2 and it’s a bit disappointing to see Sony leapfrogging the SL2 for MF use. The SL2 magnified picture is wormy and aliased after 4X. I hope Leica/Panasonic can make some improvements over firmware to bring the SL2 inline with the R4 EVF performance.
Agreed. I was shocked by how good the magnified image was. Might be my favorite aspect of the IV, along with the grip.
photonc wrote:
I never liked the Sony EVF implementation until the R4 was released. The EVF is a major jump forward especially using 11x magnification for MF critical focus. I rented the SL2 and it’s a bit disappointing to see Sony leapfrogging the SL2 for MF use. The SL2 magnified picture is wormy and aliased after 4X. I hope Leica/Panasonic can make some improvements over firmware to bring the SL2 inline with the R4 EVF performance.
I didn't even realize you could increase to 11x by pushing the joystick until reading this.
According to the online manual, Standard offers the highest resolution. High lowers it. The anti-flicker setting reeks havoc with the viewfinder image in my experience.
What page of the manual are you looking at? I can't find what your are referencing. Why would standard be better than high?
In the manual it says this about Display quality:
Sets the display quality.
* When [High] is selected, the battery
is consumed more quickly.
* When the temperature of the
camera is high, [Display Quality]
may be locked to [Standard].
I think you are referencing the Finder Frame Rate setting and you are correct
Finder Frame Rate (still image)
Menu item details
Standard:
Displays the subject at a normal frame rate on the viewfinder.
High:
Displays the movements of the subject more smoothly on the viewfinder.
Note
When [Finder Frame Rate] is set to [High], the resolution of the viewfinder is lowered.
Even when [Finder Frame Rate] is set to [High], the setting may switch to [Standard] automatically depending on the temperature of the shooting environment and the shooting conditions.
[Finder Frame Rate] is locked to [Standard] in the following situations:
During playback
During HDMI connection
When the temperature inside the camera's body is high
