Silly things Sony needs to fix on A7RV

[Sony captive]

Having the shutter close to protect the sensor is wonderful but it doesn’t work when electronic shutter is on.  Wait!  It does, but that is not the default and you need to be a genius to enable this with silent shutter on….it took me weeks to discover. It’s a hurried feature called “target in silent mode”. 

why is there a way to create a shortcut for some things and not others? Like recall memory settings from card.  

why are some settings saved to custom dial modes and others are not? For example I shoot with back button autofocus by disabling focus’s on half-press.  It would be useful to have normal half-press focus and other things saved to a custom mode for when I hand my camera to someone who is not used to back button, but stupidly Sony decided arbitrarily that this would be one of the few things NOT saved to a custom mode.  Why?..?   No reason.   
 

these little things really bug me when I just spent 5k on what I hoped would finally be a perfect camera.  These things add up.   Please add to this list and maybe Sony will listen and update the firmware . 

 

Edited September 24, 2023 by Sony captive
Siri screwup

[FunWithCameras]

Arguably there is no perfect camera, and never will be. The A7RV comes close to it for me, though. I’d love it to use a stacked sensor, weigh half as much, and cost under $1000, but none of those are reasonable requests 😉

I don’t like the idea of closing the (fragile) shutter to “protect” the (tough) cover glass over the sensor, but hey, if it makes you feel better, you have the option. Glad you worked out how to do it when shooting with e-shutter.

When you say “shortcut”, do you mean adding it to the My Menu? That’s one of the places I put things I access often (stuff like the Format command). I also use the fn menu, but that’s more for settings - I have put stuff I like to check there because it gives me the ability to check the current settings for a bunch of stuff really quickly. Or do you mean assigning it to a custom button?

I am quite happy with the A7RV, having plenty of fun with it, and I am looking forward to the A1 II for even more fun.

[Pieter]

3 hours ago, FunWithCameras said:

I don’t like the idea of closing the (fragile) shutter to “protect” the (tough) cover glass over the sensor, but hey, if it makes you feel better, you have the option.

There's good reason Sony disables the closed shutter by default. Dust or goo on your sensor is easy to clean. Try to rub it off the shutter blades and you'll likely wreck your camera. In the camera manual it even says that even droplets of water will already cause the shutter mechanism to malfunction.

It's just a marketing gimmick: Canon has it, so Sony had to include it as well.

Edited September 25, 2023 by Pieter

[Michal Polowinski]

Unfortunately, there are many things that need improvement in the A7R5.
It looks as if this model was released too hastily and without testing. The admiration for the new autofocus system overshadowed many minor shortcomings in this camera.
I kept my old A7R3 and have a side-by-side comparison of both cameras.
One of the things I wrote about in a post some time ago about file numbering during focus bracketing. Problem with numbering
The second one is that the battery drains quickly even in sleep mode. I replace the batteries in the A7R5 twice as often as in the A7R3.
The third one is hopeless cooperation with the application on the phone. Despite repeated attempts, I am unable to configure the connections to save the GPS position in the photos. It works for a while, but on the next set of photos it doesn't work anymore. The application does not run without Internet access. Sony - I really need to save the position from which I took the photo, especially in a place where I don't have GSM coverage.
I have the impression that the autofocus sensitivity in single mode is worse than the A7R3. It's just a feeling. I didn't do any measurements, but it seems to me that in low light the A7R3 handles autofocus better in single mode.
The A7R5 is a good camera. It has a great screen, an excellent viewfinder and many functions that I really appreciate, but there are also many shortcomings that I hope Sony will improve.
After 6 years of using A7R3, I had to replace the sensor because it was scratched, which is a big expense. R series cameras do not have a filter on the sensor. I'm hoping the shutter closure system will save me from the same thing on the A7R5.
Many of these minor errors can be corrected if you want to. But I have the impression that the priority is to sell the new mode

 

 

 

 

[Pieter]

3 hours ago, Michal Polowinski said:

After 6 years of using A7R3, I had to replace the sensor because it was scratched, which is a big expense. R series cameras do not have a filter on the sensor. I'm hoping the shutter closure system will save me from the same thing on the A7R5.

Ehm, no. All E-mount cameras have a filter on the sensor. It is part of the optical path so should be incorporated in the lens design. You simply can't put a filter on one sensor and leave it out on the other in the same camera system. If something scratched your cover class, it would surely have devastated your shutter blades. But sure, feel free to expose that delicate shutter mechanism to whatever harm you can throw at it.

Have a look here of the teardown of an A7R3, with sensor cover glass clearly shown in one of the last pics.

https://kolarivision.com/sony-a7r-iii-dissasembly-teardown/

[Sony captive]

On 9/26/2023 at 5:10 AM, Michal Polowinski said:

Unfortunately, there are many things that need improvement in the A7R5.
It looks as if this model was released too hastily and without testing. The admiration for the new autofocus system overshadowed many minor shortcomings in this camera.
I kept my old A7R3 and have a side-by-side comparison of both cameras.
One of the things I wrote about in a post some time ago about file numbering during focus bracketing. Problem with numbering
The second one is that the battery drains quickly even in sleep mode. I replace the batteries in the A7R5 twice as often as in the A7R3.
The third one is hopeless cooperation with the application on the phone. Despite repeated attempts, I am unable to configure the connections to save the GPS position in the photos. It works for a while, but on the next set of photos it doesn't work anymore. The application does not run without Internet access. Sony - I really need to save the position from which I took the photo, especially in a place where I don't have GSM coverage.
I have the impression that the autofocus sensitivity in single mode is worse than the A7R3. It's just a feeling. I didn't do any measurements, but it seems to me that in low light the A7R3 handles autofocus better in single mode.
The A7R5 is a good camera. It has a great screen, an excellent viewfinder and many functions that I really appreciate, but there are also many shortcomings that I hope Sony will improve.
After 6 years of using A7R3, I had to replace the sensor because it was scratched, which is a big expense. R series cameras do not have a filter on the sensor. I'm hoping the shutter closure system will save me from the same thing on the A7R5.
Many of these minor errors can be corrected if you want to. But I have the impression that the priority is to sell the new mode

 

 

 

 

 

I will say this, I think the new creators app integration with smart phone works much better now.  For me the gps always works, and does not require a cell signal or wifi.  In fact this helped me find my phone when I was camping out of cellphone range….  I knew the phone was not lost or stolen because my camera was giving coordinates.  I just had to keep removing my camping gear until it stopped, and then I knew where my phone was!  
 

don’t get me wrong…. I moved from the RIV to the RV and I love the improvements, it’s just that there always seems to be a few features missing, features which could be fixed in firmware, then they get fixed on the next camera instead.

[FunWithCameras]

On 9/26/2023 at 7:10 PM, Michal Polowinski said:

Unfortunately, there are many things that need improvement in the A7R5.
It looks as if this model was released too hastily and without testing. The admiration for the new autofocus system overshadowed many minor shortcomings in this camera.
I kept my old A7R3 and have a side-by-side comparison of both cameras.
One of the things I wrote about in a post some time ago about file numbering during focus bracketing. Problem with numbering
The second one is that the battery drains quickly even in sleep mode. I replace the batteries in the A7R5 twice as often as in the A7R3.
The third one is hopeless cooperation with the application on the phone. Despite repeated attempts, I am unable to configure the connections to save the GPS position in the photos. It works for a while, but on the next set of photos it doesn't work anymore. The application does not run without Internet access. Sony - I really need to save the position from which I took the photo, especially in a place where I don't have GSM coverage.
I have the impression that the autofocus sensitivity in single mode is worse than the A7R3. It's just a feeling. I didn't do any measurements, but it seems to me that in low light the A7R3 handles autofocus better in single mode.
The A7R5 is a good camera. It has a great screen, an excellent viewfinder and many functions that I really appreciate, but there are also many shortcomings that I hope Sony will improve.
After 6 years of using A7R3, I had to replace the sensor because it was scratched, which is a big expense. R series cameras do not have a filter on the sensor. I'm hoping the shutter closure system will save me from the same thing on the A7R5.
Many of these minor errors can be corrected if you want to. But I have the impression that the priority is to sell the new mode

 

 

 

 

 

Question: which lens are you using? Do you leave the lens attached? There have been issues before with certain lenses causing batteries to drain even when off. Happens most often with third party lenses, especially third party lenses with OSS.

Try taking the lens off when you get home, and see if the battery still drains excessively. I believe the problem lies with the lens, not the camera.