Sony A7 V Review: A Partially Stacked Sensor Fixes the A7 IV's Biggest Weaknesses
The Sony A7 IV spent four years as the default full-frame hybrid. Its successor, the Sony A7 V, was announced in December 2025 at $2,899 for the body, and it goes straight at the two things people complained about most: the cropped 4K at 60p and the slow sensor readout.
Resolution stays at 33MP. What changed is the sensor design. It’s a partially stacked back-side illuminated chip, the same general idea Nikon used in the Z6III, with fast readout circuitry added at the edges. That speeds everything up without the price of a fully stacked sensor.
So you get the A7 IV’s familiar file size and a much quicker camera around it.
Video review: Dustin Abbott
Speed you can feel
Burst shooting jumps to 30 frames per second with the electronic shutter, in 14-bit raw, and there’s pre-capture that saves up to a second of frames before you fully press the button. The mechanical shutter still runs at 10 fps. The electronic shutter now reaches 1/16,000 sec, useful for fast primes in bright sun.
Autofocus gets Sony’s AI subject recognition, which reads body shape and pose to keep tracking people who turn away. It’s the same idea first seen in the A7R V and A6700, and it’s very sticky.
Stabilization is rated at 7.5 stops at the center of the frame.
The video fix
The headline for video shooters: 4K at 60p now comes from the full width of the sensor, oversampled from 7K. That’s the change A7 IV owners asked for. There’s a slight 1.17x crop at 60p unless you turn on an “angle of view priority” setting. 4K at 120p is available with about a 1.5x crop, and Full HD runs to 240p.
You get 10-bit 4:2:2, S-Log3, S-Cinetone and HLG. There’s no internal raw video, which keeps it a step behind the Canon R6 Mark III and Nikon Z6III on paper.
The rear screen now both tilts and flips out to the side, a hybrid design Sony uses on its higher-end bodies. Photographers get a screen in line with the lens; vloggers can still face it forward.
What didn’t change, and what did
The viewfinder is still a 3.69-million-dot panel. It’s fine. Rivals like the Z6III have noticeably better ones.
Battery life is much better: CIPA rates it at about 630 shots through the viewfinder and 750 on the rear screen with the NP-FZ100. There are two card slots, one taking CFexpress Type A or SD UHS-II and one SD UHS-II, and two USB-C ports. The body weighs about 695 grams.
Price went up. At $2,899 it’s $400 more than the A7 IV’s launch price, and the A7 IV is now much cheaper still.
Who should buy it
Hybrid shooters who need uncropped 4K60 and want to stay with Sony’s lens system. Event and wedding photographers who’ll use the faster burst and pre-capture. Anyone who bought an A7 III years ago and has been waiting for the right moment to upgrade.
Its rivals are the Canon EOS R6 Mark III, with internal raw video and 40 fps bursts, and the Nikon Z6III, with internal raw and a better viewfinder. The Sony counters with the biggest lens system of the three and excellent autofocus.
If you already own an A7 IV and mostly shoot stills, keep it. For everyone else buying into Sony full frame now, the A7 V is the one to get.