a7RVI AF Performance Real World Sports W/100-400 f/4.5
p.1 #1a7RVI AF Performance Real World Sports W/100-400 f/4.5
Well, if this camera had just a little better readout speed, it would be a sports beast. I just shot a summer league baseball game with this camera all at 1/4000, ISO 800, wide open f/4.5. Regarding AF with people, this thing is great! After looking thru 1070 images or so, I don't think it missed any or very few. Players standing around, running the basepaths, pitching, batting, always kept eyes sharp. I also shoot the a9iii and a1ii, I can say with humans, it is on par with those great bodies. At least paired with this GM lens. I still can't get how good the AF is with sports. When I first received this camera, I had gone in the backyard and shot my dog running full speed at me in 'animal' mode and it did not do that well to be honest, for whatever reason. Thankfully, I don't shoot a lot of animals with my workflow.
Now, the sensor speed readout
. It didn't really matter how I configured the settings, 30 fps, 20fps, jpg on both cards, jpg on one card, compressed RAW on the other.....it just didn't seem to make much of a difference. Sadly, if the ball or bat was moving across the frame...it could not handle it. For a player throwing the ball at the camera position, it was pretty good of course. But with across the frame, the ball was always distorted, not horribly but too much for me. The bat wasn't bad but 30% of the time you could see mild bending though I don't think the avg person would notice. The ball distortion, hard to miss even for most non-camera people.
I have included this link to my smugmug account that has all 1070 images I shot. SOOC jpgs, did not do anything to them. It was a high sun day so some could be cleaned up but not why I'm posting them.
https://www.kenmurphyphoto.com/6272026-a7RVI-AF-and-Rolling-Shutter-Eval
Now, the sensor speed readout
. It didn't really matter how I configured the settings, 30 fps, 20fps, jpg on both cards, jpg on one card, compressed RAW on the other.....it just didn't seem to make much of a difference. Sadly, if the ball or bat was moving across the frame...it could not handle it. For a player throwing the ball at the camera position, it was pretty good of course. But with across the frame, the ball was always distorted, not horribly but too much for me. The bat wasn't bad but 30% of the time you could see mild bending though I don't think the avg person would notice. The ball distortion, hard to miss even for most non-camera people. I have included this link to my smugmug account that has all 1070 images I shot. SOOC jpgs, did not do anything to them. It was a high sun day so some could be cleaned up but not why I'm posting them.
https://www.kenmurphyphoto.com/6272026-a7RVI-AF-and-Rolling-Shutter-Eval
Jun 27, 2026 at 11:31 AM
p.1 #2a7RVI AF Performance Real World Sports W/100-400 f/4.5
hyken wrote:
Well, if this camera had just a little better readout speed, it would be a sports beast. I just shot a summer league baseball game with this camera all at 1/4000, ISO 800, wide open f/4.5. Regarding AF with people, this thing is great! After looking thru 1070 images or so, I don't think it missed any or very few. Players standing around, running the basepaths, pitching, batting, always kept eyes sharp. I also shoot the a9iii and a1ii, I can say with humans, it is on par with those great bodies. At least paired with this GM lens. I...Show more →
Now that you know, can’t you use the mechanical shutter for some of your images?
Jun 27, 2026 at 12:25 PM
p.1 #3a7RVI AF Performance Real World Sports W/100-400 f/4.5
Very sharp! Are you sure they were throwing a baseball, not an egg?
. Just kidding. I will use mine for the very first time at an airshow tomorrow, all jets, no propeller planes. It should be fine. I guess by now we all know for certain situations the A1(II)/A9III are better tools.
. Just kidding. I will use mine for the very first time at an airshow tomorrow, all jets, no propeller planes. It should be fine. I guess by now we all know for certain situations the A1(II)/A9III are better tools. Jun 27, 2026 at 12:33 PM