Sony on 4:2:2 10-bit, UHS-II, XQD and The a7RIV/a9

Imaging Resource spoke with Sony about why they haven’t added internal 4:2:2 10-bit yet and below is a summary of why and when it will come.

Sony a7RIV doesn’t do 4:2:2 10-bit internally because of the sensor and type of camera, but it can do 4:2:2 with an external recorder
There are lots of features like C-AF, Frame rate, Exposure being locked, Codec, Dynamic range, Color Space that play into the limitations of a camera and Sony is chipping away at them and trying to perfect them including 4:2:2 10-bit internal
Sony thinks lightness is one of the five most important features even though that a7RIV is a little bigger
The redesign of the grip made the a7RIV larger and the grip was something photographers wanted
Sony only makes cameras larger when there is a technical reason
The grip is important, but hard to balance with keeping things small
The speed and responsiveness with full-frame makes it very appealing and they aren’t trying to discount medium format
Sony doesn’t really want to say the Sony a7RIV is their flagship camera and they think it’s fairer to say the Sony a9 is still the flagship
For some photographers capturing more data is very important
File management can become a concern with higher resolution
For some resolution is going to be the feature that makes something flagship
Sony went UHS-II instead of XQD because the more advanced and capable cards are still on the expensive side and you can get larger UHS-II cards now for a good price
The buffer in the camera also helps to mitigate card read/write speeds becoming an issue
State of the art SD is very robust

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Sony a7RIV: B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama

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XLR-K3M Mic Input: B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama

ECM-B1M Digital Audio Shotgun Microphone:

B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama

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Sony a9: B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama

a9 Battery Grip: B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama

Battery NP-FZ100: B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama