Sony A7 IV Is it worth upgrading from A7IV to A7V? (2025)

[candasulas]

Hello everyone,
I haven't shared anything here for a long time. According to AlphaRumors, the A7V is said to be released in early 2025. According to two reliable sources, this has been leaked.

RUMOR: The new Sony A7V is expected to be launched in Q1 2025! – sonyalpharumors

www.sonyalpharumors.com

I have been using the A7IV for about two years. I switched from the A7RIII and I am quite happy with it. I really liked the faster processor, focus, object tracking, CFExpress, controls and the new menu when I switched. Is it worth switching to the A7V for you? As far as I know, AI features will be added, the rear LCD screen will be like the A7RV. Maybe they will increase the shooting speed to 15FPS.
Frankly, I don't do any video work. I only shoot things like streets, landscapes, animals and portraits.

I don't know if I should start allocating a budget to switch to the A7V for an amateur user like me.
I wanted to get your opinion.

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

Probably not IMO. You may get a slightly better AF system, but don't expect more resolution or anything remotely useful or groundbreaking.

 

[iamdlewis]

I don't know if I should start allocating a budget to switch to the A7V for an amateur user like me.

Why not? If the A7v comes out and the feature set doesn't look like it will be worth the upgrade you don't have to spend the money or you could spend it on a lens or a trip somewhere or something not camera related at all.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

According to two reliable sources, this has been leaked.

I wouldn't describe the rumour sites as reliable sources! an a7v is probably inevitable, so it is a safe rumour. The when and what is pure guesswork.

I wondered why anyone was even going to discuss it at this stage... but yes, I do get that such things have to be saved for. I will not be buying one if-and-when. I've had my a7iv only a year or so, and there's no way that'd I'd buy another alpha-full-frame-price camera within several years. Not even saving up for one.

What will it have? Probably the latest "AI" autofocus. Plus some stuff that only video people know the meaning of. I don't do video at all, but it is very important to Sony to appeal to that market for a "hybrid" camera. Basically, it is going to be an a7Rv without the high resolution. A good question might be, what features of the a7Rv do you find tempting?

Whilst the a7iv does what you want/need, is it worth "upgrading" at all? GAS is real, but you could always give yourself more time for saving by planning on buying that new camera when it is 2-3 years old. The a7iv in 2003 was the highest I could go in the Sony price range, but I thought it was quite a good deal and didn't mind that I was not getting the very latest stuff.

From an a6500, I find the a7iv incredibly easy to use. No doubt, the next generation of AF would be even easier, with an even lower failure rate. But I can already point and snap with an amazing success rate (technically: the artistic side might still be way off. But that's not the camera's fault).

What I'd like is already there in the a9iii: the ability to go fully silent, in any light, with no banding issues. A whole new technology in full-frame cameras. If they made that affordable to me, I might start saving!

 

[AlphaWorld]

Hello everyone,
I haven't shared anything here for a long time. According to AlphaRumors, the A7V is said to be released in early 2025. According to two reliable sources, this has been leaked.

RUMOR: The new Sony A7V is expected to be launched in Q1 2025! – sonyalpharumors

www.sonyalpharumors.com

I have been using the A7IV for about two years. I switched from the A7RIII and I am quite happy with it. I really liked the faster processor, focus, object tracking, CFExpress, controls and the new menu when I switched. Is it worth switching to the A7V for you? As far as I know, AI features will be added, the rear LCD screen will be like the A7RV. Maybe they will increase the shooting speed to 15FPS.
Frankly, I don't do any video work. I only shoot things like streets, landscapes, animals and portraits.

I don't know if I should start allocating a budget to switch to the A7V for an amateur user like me.
I wanted to get your opinion.

If you save up some money gradually, then you can read the announcement of the A7V with confidence that you can afford it. Much better than reading it and thinking "I don't know if I can afford this!". Just put a bit aside every so often and let it accumulate. I've been doing it for a while.

As for "reliable rumours", I think the unreliability is proportional to the square of the number of days before the release! A few days before, the rumours may be based on real leaks. Months before? More like wishful thinking and the dreams of people who want to feel important

What might be in an A7V?

• the "AI" chip is pretty much a certainty. It has been put into every camera Sony has released since the A7RV.
• the new rear screen is a possibility, but not a certainty - I think it's only a certainty on high-end bodies (the A7RV and A9 III have it, the A1 II will have it, not sure about the A7V)
• dual CFeA / SD slots is likely
• pre-capture is a possibility, but I wouldn't count on it being present
• some people will insist that the existing 33Mp sensor is likely "because Sony always re-uses sensors" (they ignore the times when they haven't!) - it's possible but not certain
• an increase in frames/second is possible, but might depend on the sensor they use
• the A9 III body style is possible, but not certain.
• it won't have the left shoulder dials - those are restricted to the high speed bodies (A1 and A9 series)

Right now, there's plenty of speculation, but I doubt it's based on anything more than guesswork (everything I said above is guesswork!). OK, call it "informed speculation", but I doubt any of it is really leaked from Sony. If you look at the wild rumours that were circulating before the announcement of the A9 III - a few months out there were rumours it would be outrageously fast, like 40 or even 60 fps (!). That it would be 30 or 33 or 36 or 40 Mp. That it would include an integral portrait grip. That there was never going to be another A9, and the announcement would be a new A1. It wasn't until a few days beforehand that the rumours started to resemble what was really announced. Even then, Sony managed to surprise us. Maybe not quite as much as the A1 announcement (Sony kept that one heavily under wraps!), but I remember being surprised by the size of the changes in the A9 III announcement. Part of that may have been because Sony didn't give pre-announcement bodies to lots of reviewers, so one of key sources of rumours was cut off - the reviewers got access at the announcement.

If / when Sony does announce the A7V (and I mean when SONY announces it, not a rumour site), you can look at what the feature set includes, and make up your mind - is it worth the money to YOU? There will be a lot of reviews of the camera, and a lot of them will be positive ('cause reviewers like being on Sony's list of "reviewers we send pre-release cameras to" ). Listen to Sony's announcement carefully, then watch some of the reviews. Take careful note of what's new, what's changed, what's the same. (It's fun!)

Bear in mind, just because you have an A7IV, you don't have to get an A7V. You could decide that the differences aren't enough for you, and stick with the A7IV for a bit longer. You could decide that maybe you want to go for a different model - maybe an A7R model would suit what you shoot better? Or one of the compact bodies (A7C series or A7CR series)? Or maybe you like the specs of another brand (although that would be a more expensive switch, because of the need to buy new lenses - I have done it, and it cost me a lot). If you've saved up some money during the wait, you will have a better idea of what you can afford. You might even decide that you'd like to get an A1 (a good qualify used A1 might be more affordable if the A1 mark II came out before the A7V...). Or, as a few people have suggested, maybe it's time to get a new lens, or go on a trip to photograph new things.

So in all of that, the only solid advice I can give you is that starting saving is a good idea.