[Wheatfield]

As the Thread Title says - talk me out of jumping ship from Pentax after 45 years & buying a Sony A7RV...

Why?

[mlag]

the Sony will be void in less than 5 years due to shrinking market, pentax will have established his niche of SLR with mirror ....

so you could save you effort switching.

PS: no guarantees on future oriented statements....

[Medex]

Why not to try "greener grass"?

[EssJayEff]

Just be sure EVFs don't give you headaches or make you queasy. Each time I've looked through an EVF it made me feel ill, the last being a Sony A7R IV a couple months ago. It only took a few seconds for me to feel nauseous.

[AfterPentax Mark II]

As the Thread Title says - talk me out of jumping ship from Pentax after 45 years & buying a Sony A7RV...

If you want to jump, by all means JUMP! But I agree there is a lot to dislike from the Pentax brand, certainly if you knew them from long ago. But each camera system has its strong and weak points. Strong point of Ricoh/Pentax is that the 18-55 (18-50 now) is one of the better kit lenses. In general APS-C lenses with Pentax on them are very affordable. So are the camera's. That is a few strong points mentioned. Weak points according to some people is the AF, it is not fast enough. I once wrote that there is not a camera system that is in focus even before you decide to make a picture, but it has a very accurate AF system. And last, but not least, you probably have a nice collection of lenses acquired over the years (I did in 48 years of using Pentax) . By buying another camera brand you throw away that investment. Or you could sit back and relax and sum up what you want that Ricoh/Pentax does not deliver and find another camera that can fill in these gaps and you use two systems alongside each other. So I have Samsung NX alongside my K-3 II and KP. For bridge a Samsung WB5000 (not a Pentax one, because those did not have RAW) and for in any pocket a Panasonic LX3. So I did not jump ship, but filled the gaps and I am happy.

[csa]

No one should have to talk you out of it.

This! Why do you need to be talked out of it? It's your money, your decision.

[Kozlok]

You should practice goal-based decision making. What is it you want/need that brand P doesn't provide, and is it worth the cost of switching gear to fix that?

In my own case, I would like to try eye-AF, and the Fuji 10-24 is an interesting lens, so I have a thought to add a Fuji and 10-24. When I look at the cost of that, it's not worth it to me. The K3III focus is pretty good, and I stumble along with the Sigma 10-20, so the plusses are very small.

[luftfluss]

As the Thread Title says - talk me out of jumping ship from Pentax after 45 years & buying a Sony A7RV...

Jump!

If you don't like it, you can always come back

[biz-engineer]

Jump!If you don't like it, you can always come back

I wouldn't do that, unless I used the new system long enough to be knowing exactly what I get into. Lesson learned with the K1 system, I fell in love with the K1 and immediately purchased the whole DFA lens lineup, much later realized that the Pentax FF primes offering is not what I'm looking for.
Rent or get a camera body with one or two lenses to test the water, learn about the system, then decide for a full system switch or not. The problem with internet reviews, specifications and a touch & try in a camera shop is that you only see the tip of the iceberg, you are being sold, so they show you what works well with the system, then you'll later find things that you had in your previous system but lost with the new system.

[Lord Lucan]

Sony are a company which is oriented to mass-markets. They jumped on board the digital ILC market (by acquiring Minolta) back when it became a big thing. However, I would not trust them to remain interested in the small market that it has since become. Sony could switch their manufacturing facilities to something more profitable at the drop of a hat, to food mixers for example : being a household name Sony could sell food mixers like hot cakes so to speak, something that Pentax of Nikon could never do. The smaller camera companies will outlast Sony in the camera business.

[vector]

As someone who bought into Nikon Z last year I will throw a few comments in here. I wanted 600mm full frame for my bird photography, something that is hard to come by in Pentax land. I almost bought a DA560, ok scratch that I did buy it, and talked myself out of it and returned it because for that kind of money I could buy a new mirrorless body and a lens to go with it, so I did. Since then I have shot birds, vacations, a wedding, my daughters grad with both. The new AF even on Nikon Z6II which is not as sophisticated and A7RV is easier. Plain and simple, it makes things easy. I still get out of focus shots and motion blur, it still takes time to pose a subject and get the light right, so arguably for people stuff it's not that I am getting amazing shots I couldn't get before, they are just a little easier. For my bird photography I really appreciate 600mm on full frame so much that I ended up selling off all my APSC gear including a K3 mark III. I put the money into a second Nikon body, a Z7 and another tele lens. The main advantage I find is the stabilized lenses at super telephoto. Image quality has not gone up over my pentax gear. Lenses, well screw drive lenses have their shortcomings for AF, but for people and landscapes there is no significant lens adavantage, I just got access to F mount and Z mount long tele options. The EVF, well Nikon has an average resolution EVF on these cameras but consider top notch for quality. I have gotten used to it and it isn't a blocker for me, but I wouldn't call the EVFs nice. There is the slight lag, despite the bragging about what you see is what you get, that is not true at all. There are so many settings that influence how that image is rendered lit and coloured in the EVF that you still have to chimp to know what you got.

At this point I have 3 cameras, Nikon Z6II and Z7, and Pentax K1. I struggle with the idea of getting rid of the K1. For the few benefits of mirrorless for me (easier AF, and long tele lenses) the K1 is still a better handling camera. Nicer to hold, nicer to use. I don't care what you buy or if you jump ship entirely, I would just echo the earlier statements that overall your photography will not change or suddenly get better because of the new camera. Make the switch if it fills something your current gear cannot. For me that was 600mm super tele lenses and it was worth it to me. The rest of my photography is the same.

[btnapa]

As the Thread Title says - talk me out of jumping ship from Pentax after 45 years & buying a Sony A7RV...

You beat me by a couple of years. I have been a Pentaxian (on and off) since 1980!

What kind of photography do you do? Do you need the added resolution A7RV offers. Remember you need a beefier computer to handle the files.

I jumped ship to a Sony A7RIV and Tamron lenses. My last camera was a K1. I needed more resolution for a project and weighed my options with 645Z, Fuji GFX and then decided to go with Sony and Tamron as the best option with max resolution for the money.

Sony A7RIV is no K1. The ergonomics are not as good and the color science is not as good as Pentax either.

It is a compromise. I gained mega resolution and the use of excellent Tamron zoom lenses at the expense of ergonomics and better color.

BTW, I have kept almost all of my Pentax lenses with the hope of a higher resolution K1 someday. In retrospect, I regret selling my K1 as I would have converted it to a full-time B&W and used it for my next project.

[BigMackCam]

talk me out of jumping ship from Pentax after 45 years & buying a Sony A7RV

OK...

Since you're asking this, clearly you're not yet 100% convinced about the switch. When you factor in the camera, batteries, glass and accessories, that's a lot of money to lay down - and a lot of time to invest in building and learning your new setup - if you feel there's a reasonable chance you'll regret it (and it seems you're concerned you might). You need to do whatever research you feel is necessary to convince yourself fully before making a firm decision one way or the other (no-one else can do it for you - it's such a personal thing)... unless, of course, you have both money and time in abundance - in which case, keep your Pentax gear, buy the Sony, see how you feel after a year of using it in anger, then sell the system you like least

[James O'Neill]

I was sent a talk long ago - so long ago it was on a cassette tape. And the guy giving the talk said "We and our customers want exactly the same thing - who can say what it is"
And after some mumbling and exchanges with the audience he said "We want them to have an excellent experience of our technology. And so do they". And I have been of the opinion pretty much from then that customer who wants something different to what you have to offer is a customer you don't want. If they're difficult, let them be someone else's problem, but the customer who buys or sticks with your product when they would be happier with the competition does you more harm than they would do the competition good.

So; if you have weighed things up and think the Sony works better for you, please be a happy Sony user not a miserable Pentax user. Personally I find Canons make me feel like I have ten thumbs, Nikons are made for people with bigger hands. If I leave Pentax will be probably be for one of the the Sony A7R family (maybe not the very latest one), which combined with the monster adapter will let me keep using the lenses I love. To switch I need to get over my hatred of all EVFs so far made, and Sony's massively inferior ergonomics. They're expensive too, but the AF is so superior. If Ricoh would get a K1-iii to market with the AF enhancements of he K3-iii that would keep me for the next few years. But things like making film compacts instead make me doubt if we'll ever see it. For someone who wants to shoot FF with better technology then the K1, Sony could be the best answer.

[biz-engineer]

If we haven't heard of the OP within 24 hours, that could mean he jumped, broke his leg and now can't reach his keyboard to respond