Last week we highlighted a Sony event where a new Alpha mirrorless camera was expected. True to the rumours, the Japanese revealed precisely that, with the Sony Alpha 7IV seeing the light of day.

At the time of writing, we do not have official pricing for the Alpha 7 IV from Sony’s local arm, but we have already seen South African retailers like Outdoor Photo listing the body of this new camera for pre-order, starting at R44 995.

We do not have a precise release date either, but Sony has noted that we can expect the camera to be available next month.

More specifically, a press release sent to Hypertext noted that, “The Alpha 7 IV will be available from November 2021 in the Middle East & Africa.”

As for why professional photographers and content creators will be dropping R50k-plus on the Alpha 7 IV next month, the latest addition to the company’s vaunted series features a newly developed 33.0MP full-frame Exmor R CMOS image sensor, along with an advanced BIONZ XR image processing engine that is said to be eight times the performance of the the BIONZ X iteration.

Added to this is real-time Eye AF that Sony touts as working on both human subjects, as well as animals and birds. There’s also 4K video recording at 60p (10-bit) and a few features for those working solo, including active mode, breathing compensation and autofocus assist.

It therefore looks like the Alpha 7 IV will be one of Sony’s most important cameras moving forward.

“With the introduction of the Alpha 7 III, we set the baseline for what full-frame cameras should deliver and now it is time to redefine those boundaries,” notes Murat Gebeceli, head of Digital Imaging for Sony Middle East & Africa.

“The Alpha 7 IV brings together the best of Sony imaging technology to deliver a fantastic experience in both stills and video, meaning that users in the Middle East & Africa region will be able to capture exactly the content that they want, in whatever situation they find themselves in,” the exec adds. 

Hopefully we’ll get hands on time with the camera in the coming weeks to determine whether it is indeed the go-to option for those wanting a professional-grade mirrorless camera.

For now, we have to enjoy videos from Sony like the ones below.