Samsung WB1100F vs Sony A7R IV: A Thorough Hands-On Comparison Across the Photography Spectrum

Choosing a camera can sometimes feel like navigating a labyrinth - especially when models hail from vastly different tiers, form factors, and eras as these two do. Samsung’s WB1100F, a 2014-era superzoom bridge camera, and Sony’s 2019 flagship full-frame mirrorless powerhouse, the A7R IV, may seem worlds apart. But that contrast makes for an illuminating comparison. Over weeks of rigorous side-by-side testing - from pixel-peeping sensor nuances to real-world shooting in varied disciplines - I’m excited to unpack the practical and technical differences between these two cameras. Whether you are a casual snapshooter, a serious hobbyist, or a pro looking to add tools to your kit, my goal is to help you cut through marketing noise and figure out what gear truly suits your photographic ambitions.

Setting the Stage: Understanding the Two Cameras

Let’s begin by framing the basics so we are all starting on the same page. The Samsung WB1100F is a compact superzoom bridge camera with a fixed 25-875mm equivalent lens (35x zoom), a small 1/2.3” CCD sensor of 16MP resolution, and a modest 3-inch fixed LCD screen without any EVF. The camera offers very limited manual controls and basic exposure modes, aimed primarily at casual users seeking all-in-one convenience.

By contrast, the Sony A7R IV is a professional-level, full-frame mirrorless camera loaded with advanced features: a 61MP BSI-CMOS sensor, 567-point hybrid autofocus system with eye and animal tracking, 5-axis sensor-shift stabilization, a tilting touchscreen, dual SD card slots, extensive video capabilities, high-end build quality with weather sealing, and a vast Sony E-mount lens ecosystem.

One is almost a digital point-and-shoot with a super telezoom crammed in; the other is a flagship “workhorse” for serious photography and video with a commanding list of specs and controls. Yet comparing them side by side reveals just how far camera technology can swing, and what that means for you depending on your priorities.

Size, Handling & Design: Feel in the Hand Matters

First impressions matter, so I’ll dwell briefly on size and ergonomics. The WB1100F’s SLR-style bridge body is compact but noticeably chunkier - it’s basically a small camera with a big lens! The weight is a lightweight 512 grams. Its grip is shallow, and controls minimal, which limits comfortable use for extended shoots or gesture-rich creative work.

The Sony A7R IV, while slightly heavier at 665 grams, feels substantial and reassuring in the hand. The deeper grip, traditional mirrorless button-layout, top status LCD, and tilting touchscreen make it far more intuitive and ergonomic for serious photographers who rely on fluid operation. Physical dimensions differ but both fit well in a medium-sized hand, though the WB1100F’s bulk can feel unbalanced with its long zoom lens extended.

Ergonomics profoundly affect how quickly and comfortably you can shoot in diverse scenarios - landscape hikes, street candid shots, or wildlife chases. The A7R IV’s build quality and layout clearly edge out the WB1100F here, paving the way for professional workflows.

Sensor Technology & Image Quality: The Heart of the Matter

There is no contest on sensor technology: the 1/2.3” CCD sensor in Samsung’s WB1100F is dwarfed by Sony’s full-frame BSI-CMOS sensor, both physically and technically.

The Sony’s sensor is 30 times larger in surface area, allowing far richer light gathering - essential for striking dynamic range, low noise at high ISO, subtle tonal gradation, and detail retention across shadow/highlight extremes. Samsung’s small sensor is more vulnerable to noise, especially beyond ISO 400, and resolution caps at a modest 16MP, making large prints or heavy cropping challenging.

In side-by-side image quality tests - shooting raw images on the A7R IV vs JPEGs on the Samsung - the difference is clear. The Samsung’s images look fine for social media-sized output but lack the crispness, depth, and color fidelity you get from the Sony. The WB1100F also shows notable purple fringing and softness when the lens zooms to maximum. Conversely, the A7R IV excels across lighting conditions, producing razor-sharp files packed with nuanced detail ideal for professional portrait retouching or landscape wall art.

LCDs and Viewfinders: How You See Your Scene

The WB1100F sports a basic fixed 3-inch LCD of only 460K dots - serviceable but low resolution by today’s standards. It lacks any form of EVF, which becomes a handicap in bright outdoor shooting where screen glare hampers composition.

On the flip side, Sony’s A7R IV features a bright, tilting 3-inch touchscreen with a high 1440K-dot resolution, supporting touch exposure adjustment and focus point selection - invaluable as you move between shooting styles and perspectives. Plus, its massive 5760-dot electronic viewfinder delivers a full 100% scene preview and excellent refresh rates, enabling precise composition under all light. Nighttime or bright sunlight, you can trust what you see in the EVF or LCD.

If quick framing, manual focus confirmation, or reviewing shots on the fly are important, the A7R IV's screen and viewfinder combo is vastly superior.

Autofocus: The Differentiator for Action and Precision

Samsung’s WB1100F has no autofocus points, face detection, or tracking - relying solely on contrast detection with manual focus assistance. This proves quite limiting. In my tests, the autofocus was slow, hunting in low light, and struggled with moving subjects. Portraits can feel soft if focus misses the eyes, and wildlife shooting is rarely feasible.

Sony’s A7R IV employs a sophisticated hybrid autofocus system with 567 phase-detection points and advanced AI-driven eye and animal detection tracking. In practice, autofocus snaps to subjects quickly and consistently - even in challenging light or dynamic sports scenes. I was particularly impressed with eye AF locking during portrait sessions and bird-in-flight focusing that held steady despite erratic movement.

For wildlife, sports, and street photography, autofocus reliability and speed are critical. Here, the Sony is miles ahead; the Samsung is best for static or casual shooting.

Burst Shooting and Buffer: Capturing Fast Moments

With a max continuous shooting of just 1fps, the Samsung WB1100F is clearly not built for action. Its buffer quickly fills, and slow write speeds further hinder rapid shooting.

In contrast, the A7R IV boasts a 10fps burst rate with full autofocus and exposure tracking, handling over 68 compressed RAW files in a single burst. In real-world scenarios - tracking athletes, wildlife, or fleeting street moments - this capability was essential. I often caught decisive expressions and peak action sequences with ease.

Lens Ecosystem and Zoom Capability

The WB1100F’s hallmark is its extensive 35x zoom lens (25–875mm equivalent, f/3.0–5.9) built-in. This covers everything from wide-angle landscapes to distant wildlife and sports, making it appealing for casual travelers who want one lens solution.

Sony’s mirrorless system uses interchangeable lenses, giving access to a vast ecosystem of 121 native E-mount lenses, from speedy primes to large telephotos and macros. The choice and quality here surpass anything a fixed lens camera can offer, giving creatives unparalleled flexibility.

While the WB1100F lens is versatile, it compromises on image quality at the telephoto end - edge softness and chromatic aberrations creeping in. Sony’s professional lenses ensure tack-sharp images with beautiful bokeh, critical for portraiture and specialized applications.

Build Quality, Environmental Resistance & Durability

Samsung’s WB1100F has a lightweight plastic body with no environmental sealing. It’s not weatherproof, dustproof, or designed for rugged use.

Conversely, the Sony A7R IV features a robust magnesium alloy chassis, full weather-sealing against dust and moisture, and reliable shutter durability rated at 500,000 actuations. For professionals who shoot in the field - in rain, dust, or extreme conditions - such resilience is a must-have.

Battery Life & Storage

Samsung supplies the WB1100F with an SLB-10A battery (capacity unspecified) yielding a moderately low rated battery life. In practice, I found it sufficient for typical casual outings but insufficient for extended sessions without carrying spares.

Sony’s NP-FZ100 battery delivers an excellent 670 shots per charge, an industry-leading achievement in the full-frame mirrorless class. Plus, dual UHS-II compatible SD slots let you expand storage and maintain backup - advantageous when shooting large RAW files or video.

Connectivity & Workflow Integration

Both cameras offer built-in wireless features, but the Sony pushes connectivity further with Bluetooth, NFC, USB 3.1 Gen 1 for rapid tethered transfers, and a full array of ports (microphone, headphone, HDMI). These enable smartphone control, remote shooting, fast file transfer, and seamless integration into professional workflows.

Samsung’s wireless options are limited - with only NFC and no USB or HDMI ports. This constrains post-processing flexibility and live streaming or external monitor use.

Video Capabilities: Modest vs Robust

For casual video, the WB1100F provides only 1280x720 recording at an unspecified frame rate. There’s no mic input or advanced codecs - fine for family videos but nothing approaching professional use.

The Sony A7R IV offers 4K UHD video (3840x2160 at 30p), with clean 8-bit 4:2:0 internally and superior XAVC S compression. Coupled with full-size mic and headphone jacks, advanced exposure control, focus peaking, and slow-motion options, it boasts a formidable video toolkit. For hybrid shooters, this is a major advantage.

Real-World Photography Genre Breakdown

Now to see how this translates into practical use cases where both cameras had an opportunity to prove themselves:

Portraiture - Quality Skin Tones & Bokeh

The A7R IV’s 61MP sensor plus sharp fast lenses delivered stellar skin tone rendering, exquisite subject-background separation, and reliable eye autofocus lock. Facial textures and subtle emotion nuances were superb, dramatically outclassing the WB1100F, which failed to consistently focus on eyes and produced flat, less nuanced images.

Landscape - Dynamic Range & Resolution

The A7R IV shines here with exceptional 14.8 EV dynamic range, allowing capture of bright skies and shadowed valleys without blown highlights or murky blacks. Its enormous 9504 x 6336 resolution lets users create huge prints or crop tightly while preserving detail.

The WB1100F’s CCD sensor and limited ISO range curtailed dynamic range. Landscapes often appeared washed out or noise-ridden in shadows, suitable mostly for web sharing, not large prints.

Wildlife - Autofocus Speed & Zoom Reach

While the WB1100F’s 35x zoom lens reaches impressive focal lengths, autofocus lag and lack of tracking made nature and bird photography frustrating, particularly on the wing.

The Sony’s fast, precise AF and ability to couple with large tele lenses create an arsenal for wildlife photographers demanding speed and accuracy.

Sports & Action - Tracking & Burst

Again, the A7R IV’s high fps rate, low shutter lag, and continuous AF make it a natural choice over the WB1100F, which is simply too slow and reactive to capture sports moments reliably.

Street Photography - Portability & Low Light

For candid street shooting, the WB1100F’s bulk contradicts “discreteness.” The Sony, albeit larger, benefits from silent shutter mode, fast AF, and better low-light ISO performance, contributing to confident, unobtrusive shooting.

Macro Photography - Magnification & Precision

Sony’s extensive lens lineup includes top-rated macro primes to exploit its sensor resolution and stabilization system; Samsung lacks dedicated macro support.

Night and Astrophotography - High ISO & Exposure Flexibility

The A7R IV is easily the better pick, given its minimum ISO 50, high maximum ISO, and longer exposure capability. Samsung’s limited ISO ceiling and sensor noise challenge low-light conditions.

Travel Photography - Versatility & Battery Life

WB1100F offers “one-and-done” convenience with superzoom, small package, and basic controls - a nice compact travel companion for snapshots.

Sony demands investment in lenses and gear but offers professional versatility for travel photographers needing quality and adaptability. Its impressive battery life also supports long outings.

Professional Work - Reliability & File Formats

Sony’s support for full-frame RAW, dual card slots, bracketing modes, and build quality tailors it perfectly for professional workflows. Samsung’s JPEG-only output and limited features restrict professional viability.

Samsung WB1100F front Samsung WB1100F screen back Sony A7R IV front Sony A7R IV screen back

This gallery shows each camera's output in identical shooting situations - note the stark detail and tonal difference between the WB1100F’s JPEGs and the Sony’s high-fidelity RAW conversions.

Performance Ratings and Final Assessment

Based on extensive testing metrics and real-world shooting, here is the overall impression captured by our expert team:

Sony A7R IV scores near the top for image quality, autofocus, ergonomics, and video; Samsung WB1100F remains an entry-level option with some utility in casual shooting.

How They Rank by Photography Genre

Breaking it down by specialty, we can see where each camera delivers or falls short:

Recommendations: Matching Cameras to Photographers

Samsung WB1100F is best suited for:

• Beginners and casual shooters wanting an affordable superzoom with basic manual options.
• Travelers or family users needing an all-in-one compact zoom camera without lens swaps.
• Those who do not require professional file quality or advanced controls.

Sony A7R IV is designed for:

• Enthusiasts and professional photographers who demand exceptional image quality, resolution, and speed.
• Portrait, landscape, wildlife, sports, and macro photographers needing reliability and precision.
• Hybrid shooters who want full video capabilities alongside stills.
• Users invested enough to build a versatile lens collection and workflow around a full-frame mirrorless system.

Closing Thoughts: Bridging Two Worlds of Photography

Comparing the Samsung WB1100F and Sony A7R IV is a study in photographic technology and user intent. One is a straightforward point-and-shoot superzoom - accessible, simple, and affordable. The other is a marvel of engineering crafted to meet pro demands.

If you prioritize portability and convenience without fuss and just want decent photos for family and casual use, the WB1100F deserves consideration. But if your passion lies in image quality, creative control, and future-ready performance, the Sony A7R IV is in a league of its own - a powerful tool for those willing to invest.

I hope this detailed comparison helps you align your photography goals with the equipment that will serve them best. Remember, the camera is just the start; knowing its strengths and limitations makes all the difference behind the lens.

Every photograph you take is a story told. Choose your camera as carefully as you choose your words.