Sony A7 IV vs A7S III - Detailed Video Comparison

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Sony A7 IV

Sony A7S III

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VIDEO CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction
0:35 Physical Differences
1:21 Codecs, Resolutions and Frame Rates
2:04 Sensor Differences and Crops
3:25 Low Light
4:51 Image and Color Quality
5:48 Rolling Shutter
6:05 USB Streaming
2:26 Overheating
6:49 Other Differences
9:42 Which Camera is Right for You

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FINAL THOUGHTS

The Sony A7 IV is a fantastic camera. Low light is great unless you need to film over 10,000 ISO, the 7K oversampling to 4K gives you a ton of detail and you save $1,000 over buying an A7S III.
The only reasons I would recommend getting an A7s III over an A7 IV would be:

1. No crop at 4K 60p
2. 4K at 120p
3. HD at 240p
4. Better EVF and display
5. Better rolling shutter performance
6. Raw video over HDMI

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DISCLAIMERS
This video was not paid for by outside persons or manufacturers. No gear was supplied to me for this video.
The content of this video and my opinions were not reviewed or paid for by any outside persons.

[geraldundone]

You said a7S IV in the intro and edited it out, didn't you? 😜💜

[Fixthisbuildthat]

I didn't expect that level of detail in the sensor of the IV to let it overcome so much. Excellent comparison, hit everything I had questions about!

[mike_s_media]

Finally, a truly unbiased comparison of specs and general performance! So tired of seeing people who clearly favor one over the other do a "comparison". They are both great cameras and each have their pros and cons relative to what the user needs.

[iPhonedo]

What a fantastic video! 
So nicely done Caleb!

[LukeBarousse]

Not all heroes wear capes! Thanks for this detailed comparison, Caleb! 🙌🏼

[BuildItMakeIt]

I know a lot of people hate sensor crop, and it is a bummer to have one at 4k60, but I LOVE that you can enable super 35 at anytime. When doing close up b-roll it is so nice to be able to crop if you need it and I use sensor cropping as extra zoom all the time.

[impatrickt]

I really love the S35 crop on the a7iv. I assigned the rear joystick button press to crop in and it’s turned every lens into 2 lenses with a click.

[dvdaltizer]

The detail difference is mind blowing! Also the fact that you can customize that exposure comp dial is amazing. ALSO as someone who uses little hdmi to usb boxes for webcams constantly having it built in is amazing. I think the a7IV is the one for me! Didn’t realize the low light was so good on it!

[grendizer]

I dont know so much about cameras but still watch your videos, highly impressed and appreciate your content!

[michaelbell]

Two huge things no one ever seems to mention regarding the a7IV video that Im glad you did. In 4K 24 and 30, its oversampled from 7K, . The a7S III comes nowhere close to that resolution as it can only do around 4.2K. Also, the crop on the a7IV 4K 60 is no big deal. Most every cinema camera from ARRI, RED, as well as the Sony and Canon cinema cameras, have sensors around the same size as that (APS-C) crop in 4K 60 on the a7IV. I chose the a7IV. Its $1k cheaper, its a TON better for photo, has a better AF system, separate photo and video settings, 7K resolution video and I dont need 240fps. Its pretty much the perfect camera IMO.

[nicholasjackson]

Seriously Caleb, you honestly have been such an amazing resource to me over the years. Yet another fantastic review/comparison.

[tiedtkeio]

Probably one of the best comparison videos I've ever seen.

[tyrustucker]

THE VIDEO WE'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR
u da goat

[evan]

Such an insane upgrade over the A7III though! I'm just happy it has 10 bit

[TacticalCactusMedia]

Caleb's LUT pack for the FX3/A7siii is one of the most slept on imo. It gives you such an amazing starting point with accurate skin tones to develop a creative look for your footage, AND it costs 10x less than many of its competitors on the market.

[Cinepoesias]

Man, you just nail it! Just get better as the time goes by... I´m a great admirer of yours from Rio- Brazil!

[LanceGoyke]

I watched this last night and then again today and I just went to "like" it for a second time. This is a wonderfully efficient video. Thank you for the chart at the end.

[jessbreheret]

Really love the last " what you'd get for a 1000$ more " . So effective imo. I would personally invest in lenses more than having 120fps or 4k uncropped etc ... being more photo than videos anyway . Again great comparison

[thisiserich]

The rolling shutter really isn’t a big deal on the 7iv. I can’t really see it being an issue except for in specific use cases. Which in those cases, like filming races or birds flying or something like that, just switch over to aps-c mode and get the improvement. It’s still being downsampled from 4.6k to 4k so it’s gonna look fantastic no matter how you shoot with it.

[tombuck]

I only recently realized that the a7IV doesn’t have an IR sensor for the little Sony remote. That’s the biggest bummer for me since I love using it!