A7 - Half-press shutter button - disable DOF preview

[technicss]

Dear Sony users

I'm adding a A7r4 to my inventory to shoot macro and fast moving objects in studio situations. The AF and tracking is why I chose Sony.

Setup
A7r4 w/ 90mm Macro
M setting, iso 100, shutter 1/125, f22
AF on AF-on button
AF w/shutter OFF
Live View display - Setting effect OFF
Latest firmware

As for my problem
Half-pressing the shutter button activates the aperture preview (same as DOF button you find on some lenses). Meaning that the lens aperture goes to whatever you set in your settings, in my case usually in the range of  f11-f22. This makes the viewfinder dark, noisy and laggy as it compensates by shutter speed to show an image.

Allocating a Custom function button to have "Aperture preview" doesn't disable it on the shutter button.

I read a lot of articles online about similar issues with no work-around. Does anyone have knowledge into this particular issue?

The Canon mirrorless does not have this DOF preview on the shutter button. I went past a dealer today to test both the r3 and r4 to see that it had exactly the same issue. The Canon did not.

I hope someone has some insides. If it's impossible to overcome this functionality I need to switch to another brand basically.

[technicss]

For those of you who're interested, I've escalated the issue after my CHAT with Sony today to have a more in-depth response from the Sony tech team.

SONY: I see. As I have checked our database and based on the simulation we done, it appears that the darkening of the image whenever you half presses the shutter button of your camera is a normal function. The image sensor of the camera automatically adjust the image based on the setting you have set on your camera the moment you press the shutter button. Based on our database, there is no way to disable this function of your camera.

[kenthomson]

I'm not seeing this with my A7RIII, it works as expected in these conditions - but I don't have the 90mm macro lens (tested with the 25-105G & 28mm f2.0). Do you have a different Sony lens to try, seems it's either lens-related or a change in behaviour on the Mk4 body.

[jimh74]

Set Aperture Drive in AF to Standard and it will stop DOF preview on shutter half press.

Assuming you’re using S-AF and back button focus