"Future proofing" thoughts

Mental note: Never walk into a camera store with GAS and money burning a hole in your pocket! Especially not at a time when Sony currently is having cashback offers on most of what you are looking at getting.

No A7RIV in stock locally but shouldn't take them more than a day or 2 to get one in from their main warehouse.
Hope they have some form of sales bonus for the staff, might just of made the kid that processed the orders week.

Picked up my loot this afternoon, all unpacked and now it's the long wait for the batteries to charge followed by getting my head around the camera.
And can also confirm for sure the question in this thread, mine's an A7RIVA according to both the tag on the box and bottom of the camera.

Ended up with a 3 lens kit to start off with plus the 1.4x TC.
24-105G, 70-200 f/4 G and the 200-600G.

Holding it though I have to admit I regret not adding a grip, feels tiny compared to the gripped A99ii that I'm used to.

Very much looking forward to getting to know it! Got 2 short wedding anniversary trips coming up in the coming 2 weeks (one from last year that Covid nipped in the butt and we had to reschedule). Those and the cashback Sony is offering right now was the main catalyst for buying this fast.

And indeed, the lack of a grip is an easy fix...one that would be 100% covered by the cashback in the long run, even more so as even the grip is covered by the cashback.

And had to laugh today as I picked the gear up...even if it's a loaded subject. Drop a decent amount of cash on high end lenses and the sales attendant was still trying to push me onto their rather budget line of clear filters for protection.

QuietOC wrote: Any recommendation for a small non-metal grip extender for the A7RIV?

Only having had a day with the new gear I can't say I have any kind of recommendation in mind.
Though with that one day out in mind I'm now less concerned with the smaller form factor of the camera body, pinky might be doing the posh English tea thing and it kinda feels a tad front heavy but over a near 4 hour walk it didn't really feel a challenge and had plenty left in the battery I started with at the end of the day. Challenge now seem more to be finding a new camera bag to house the new kit!

Did some backyard tests with the 70-200G bare and 200-600 with the 1.4x TC this afternoon and both smoke my old Sigma HSM and Beercan for focus speed.

Think I have the camera mostly set up now after following Mark Smith's A7RIV BIF guide with some changes for what I mostly shoot, likely be tweaking some of the settings over the coming weeks if I find something that works better for me.

addy landzaat wrote: QuietOC wrote: I find my pinky mostly fits on the A7RIV. It would be nice if the grip were a couple of millimeters taller. The Meike MK-X1EM that fits very nicely on the A7II bodies and was ok on the A7III is too small for the A7RIV. Any recommendation for a small non-metal grip extender for the A7RIV? What about the Meike MK-A9II if you liked the MK-X1EM you might like that one. The Meike site is not clear on the material used.

While I used the MK-X1EM and find it helpful. I would rather it was made differently. I might prefer the Sony GP-X1EM--I just never convinced myself to pay the price.

I know of MK-A9II one. It looks to be metal like the MK-X1EM. Looking at the MK-X1EM again the texture surface of the grip is a thin, hard plastic piece mounted over the metal. The rubber on the A7 grips is not very soft, but even it is nicer than this.

Edited by QuietOC - 16 May 2021 at 14:32

More and more getting comfortable with the "lack" of a grip and letting the pinkie hang out there.
Much more likely to fork out for something like the ZA 16-35mm F/4 than a grip at this stage.

pegelli wrote: SnowFella wrote: More and more getting comfortable with the "lack" of a grip and letting the pinkie hang out there. I'm with you on that, ergonomics are very "personal" but I actually find that curling my pinkie under the body more comfortable then a camera where my pinkie is on a grip (or grip extension) below the other fingers. As they say YMMV.

Moving from the A7r2 to the the A7r4 I felt somewhat restricted by the bigger grip on the newer camera. The new grip is better, but it also forces you to have a firmer grip, while the A7r2 allows a looser grip, with your little finger hanging FREE.

I before mentioned that I do not understand the need for a "pinky grip" but understand that YMMV.