Sony A7R III review - the BBC fixed Sony's colour!

[Trek of Joy]

3 hours ago, Gregormannschaft said:

I believe Andrew confirmed this function in the original post. There wasn't a world of difference in video between the A7RII and A7SII, I wonder if that will be the case with the SIII. I'm tempted to grab the 7RIII, useable autofocus would be a huge help for me on solo shoots.

Yes, aps-c/FF is a custom button function and you can now switch between them. Its awesome - I wish Sony would add it in a FW update but the r2 is now left for dead. I do it a lot on my a7r2 - that's my #1 complaint about the r2, #2 is UHS-1 on a camera writing 42mp raws.

I have the r2/s2 - in FF 4k there is a world of difference, the r2 is softer and gets really noisy/mushy above 1600, the s2 is clean to 25600 or so. APS-c on the r2 closes the gap and is sharper since its oversampled, but its still noisier above 6400. Rolling shutter is bad on both. The r3 has improved that dramatically. It would be an easy buy for me if it had 4k60p.

AF on the r3 looks vastly improved, but I'm still holding off to see what NAB brings - a 10-bit a7s3 with the new body, updated sensor with faster readout/less RS, and PADF would be my ideal video camera. But Sony will likely gimp it in some frustrating way.

Chris

[mkabi]

12 hours ago, webrunner5 said:

I would say Sony Has to do it now between the GH5 and the GH5s. They Can't come out with 8bit anymore ,and they need to up the FPS just like he said. Sony's tit is in a ringer if this new A7s mk III doesn't have all that, not sure about the Anamorphic, but they had better pick up the pace because Panny has pushed them hard this week.

You know and I know the A7s will be bumping on 4 grand. It Has to be good, I say Way better than the A7r mk III. Now that the GH5s proves is doesn't Have to be FF to be good in low light the pressure is on. The FF myth has lost a Lot of it's edge this week. You don't Have to buy a Sony now. And m4/3 having I argue better DoF, by that I mean more, and damn near as good low light, why do you Need a FF Sony now, and pay more money. I argue even Panny Color Science now is as good or even better than Sony.

This new GH5s is a Game Changer that is for sure. Canon and Nikon trying to bring out a FF mirrorless probably pooped their pants when the heard abut it on the video side. They will sell them to Photographers but for video, hmm good luck.

Just to add... Sony needs to step up their game for another reason too - that is, to sway the people that bought a gh5 or gh5s or both to buy an a7siii.

Now....There are people that have one system or both, but if Sony wants to continue its current reign at whatever position they are in and want to climb that ladder to number 1 (if they aren’t already in whatever sub-segment of the market this belongs in)... they need to sway people who are in Sony, who have left Sony, or who are invested in their competition... and to do that... it can’t just match their competition i.e. Gh5/gh5s, 1dx mark 2, etc. 

If you already had gh5/gh5s and Sony brought in a FF version of it in the a7siii... would that really sway you to buy it???? Even if you had both Sony and Panasonic systems (lenses, flashes,etc.) would you still get it??? Not really right?

Even if you weren’t invested in either system... say you were in Canon/Nikon’s camp...and you were planning to buy either gh5/gh5s or a7siii... the price would likely motivate most to go Panasonic... especially if they had the same features.

So the question is... given that the gh5/gh5s is the minimum... cause that’s the baseline right now... what features will they ‘add’ to sway us?

[webrunner5]

Well stated. Like I said since this GH5s has proved you don't Need FF to get decent low light I see no reason to buy a Sony A7xxx camera anymore new to be honest. I doubt Sony is going to come out with Anything that is going to top the Gh5s features wise. How can they. It, other than IBIS, has everything but the kitchen sink in it now. And it is surely cheaper than any A7s mk iii will be. I doubt a Plain Jane A7 mk III will be tons cheaper.

I mean Sony is not stupid, but Panasonic in the last year, and now with the GH5s have given "Normal" people 3 cameras that are pretty much unbelievable for what they can do. They have given people a upward path from a G7 to hell, up with the big boys with the EVA1. There is no real reason, other than if you are Glenn and you HAVE to have Raw LoL, that you need some camera other than the 3 that have just come out as a average, or even half serious Pro. Sure a Arri is IT, but we ain't ever buying one of them, but you can buy a GH5s that in reality ain't far from it, for peanuts price wise, to a Arri.

We all ought to be happy as hell on here, and some people act on here like the GH5s is a piece of shit. A Downgrade of sorts. Hell I say it is a nearly a Arri for 2500 bucks! What can't you really shoot with it? What else , other than Raw, is it missing that would stop you from making a feature film on it? This ain't no Barbie Cam, this thing is the real deal, for people that want to make the real deal.

I think anyone that is serious about this stuff will have no reason Not to buy one I don't give a shit what the New Sony A7s mk III has. I say it Can Not beat this camera, unless like I said, some crazy ass breakthrough and you know that would go to the high end F55, F5, FS7, Etc. first..

The Only thing I see the Sony A7s mk III having is cleaner 52,000 ISO and above even over what they have now. But that is the reason Thomas Edison invented light people. I don't see that a big enough reason to buy it over the GH5s. That sort of ISO is not used very often to give up what the GH5s has to offer. But I am sure the new A7s will be a great product either way. I am not a Sony hater that is for sure.

[Emanuel]

7 hours ago, Gregormannschaft said:

There wasn't a world of difference in video between the A7RII and A7SII, I wonder if that will be the case with the SIII.

Indeed. Reason why I told @wolf33d to not count on it. Even though Sony has to do something anyhow if does want to beat sales. Let's hope for it. Small body size can compromise that 'cause overheating as wisely pointed out over here. So in the end it is very likely the 10-bit mojo will become restricted to HDMI output. My balanced guess.

[Dave Maze]

9 hours ago, jonpais said:

@DaveAltizer Buy it now and sell it when the a7siii comes out.  Throughout the entire video, I kept watching your camera perched precariously on the edge of the table on top of that wobbly gorillapod, thinking it was going to fall over any minute! Thanks for answering my question about AF-C and the touch screen thingy. One question - can switching from APS-C to full frame be assigned to a function button?

Lol ya I know I’m nuts. Glad you enjoyed it. Yes you can assign it to a function button. Can’t switch during recording though 

[webrunner5]

10 minutes ago, Emanuel said:

Indeed. Reason why I told @wolf33d to not count on it. Even though Sony has to do anything if does want to beat sales. Let's hope for it. Small body size can compromise that 'cause overheating as wisely pointed out over here. So in the end it is very likely the 10-bit will become restricted to HDMI output. My balanced guess.

Yeah with the same body size I think you are correct. But, but one thing this new sensor that is in the GH5s, which seems to be a Sony, is that it is more efficient ,so less heat .If that is true that it Might be possible to squeeze 10bit out of the same body?? It would be pushing it to the max I think for Sony. I really don't think Sony wants any more negative print in forums  about overheating any more.

[Michael1]

I was all set to buy an A7RIII.  The technology is amazing, but then the issues starting coming in, and coming in, and coming in.  Then I started seeing people sell their A7RIIIs.  Way too many engineering and quality issues.  It appears Sony rushed this out the door to take away some D850 sales, and beat Christmas.  Things like Sony lenses that would fit an A7RII, but were too tight to mount on an A7RIII were reported by multiple people.  One guy bought an A7RIII, and it had a stuck pixel in the EVF.  He sent it back, got another one, same thing.  Sent that one back, got another, and third one had two stuck pixels.  Game over!  Then we have the reports of EVF and LCD pixels that turn on for no reason when you go into focus magnify mode, similar to stuck pixels  or sensor hot pixels but they are not.  Extended exposures show tons of sensor hot pixels.  This is with Sony still not fixing the star eater issue.  I started looking at video, and people's skin looks like cardboard.  Or check out Sony's so called "weather resistant" body.

And there is more.  As far as I am concerned the A7RIII is a prototype that got pushed into production on an uncontrolled assembly line.  Now contrast this with the D850 or the GH5.   You have to really dig to find any quality issues.  

[Emanuel]

1 minute ago, webrunner5 said:

Yeah with the same body size I think you are correct. But, but one thing this new sensor that is in the GH5s, which seems to be a Sony, if that is true that it Might be possible to squeeze 10bit out of the same body?? It would be pushing it to the max I think for Sony. I really don't think Sony wants any more negative print in forums  about overheating any more.

Exactly. Wishful dreaming as written before is much different of the real chances to live that for more than a forum post ; ) @wolf33d Sorry mate ;-)

[Miklos Nemeth]

On ‎1‎/‎13‎/‎2018 at 2:54 PM, Andrew Reid said:

The only thing lacking is good AF-S if you’re in video mode – if you try half-pressing the shutter button it hunts. It doesn’t seem to use phase detect AF in AF-S mode. Just leave it to track a subject continuously or focus on whatever is under your centre point AF spot and it’s fine! It would be nice if Sony could make the movie-mode AF-S work as well as it does in stills P,S,A,M mode. If you want to confirm focus before recording, then leave it there, shoot video from the stills mode (just hit record and AF-L).

The way I have handled it so far, is let it get on with continuous phase-detect autofocus in video mode and use a function button to override it…I have AF on/off toggle programmed to function button…When I am doing a pan across a background but want the focus to stay where it is, I just hit that button before the pan starts, and then turn the autofocus on again when I need it to take back over control or track a moving subject that has come into the frame.

Read the full article

Excellent review, Andrew, Thank You so much.

There is a way to do this "AF-S in video" function with the excellent Touch to Spot Focus this feature is available only on touch screen Sony cameras: A5100, A6500, A9, A7RIII. This does exactly what you just described. When you gently touch/tap the screen in Wide, Center, Zone focus area modes, the camera performs a hunting-free rack focus to the touched position with a speed depending on the AF transition speed you configured (fast, normal, slow). While establishing the focus the camera screen is blinking a label Spot Focus. After the focus is established, it changes to MF (see the left hand side indicator icon), and the focus plane remains locked there until you touch again or cancel Spot Focus. You can touch another point to relocate the focus position and the focus is transitioned to that point with Spot Focus. Or, you can touch the Spot Focus Cancellation icon (a finger with an x) or press the Center Button to return back to regular continuous AF.

It would be great, if Sony implemented a no-touch version of Spot Focus function with the joystick and half-pressing the shutter/joystick or AF-ON button, I fully agree. Can you communicate this wish of ours to Sony, please? Thank you so much.

[wolf33d]

18 hours ago, Emanuel said:

Trying...? *cough cough* Sure. Let's wait for a new Panasonic arrival and we'll see where you'll be posting about.

In any case, I never stop to appreciate your entries which I half concur for awhile now. I don't think I am the only one. Don't you know? Is a first time being? Where have you been after all?

You're always missed man! Whether you go totally on defensive or not (Love, E :-)

At the moment I am waiting for DJI announcement on Jan 23. I am tired of the shitty image quality of my Mavic. It's a pain in the ass but has given me good money which is why I kept it. Why on earth are they not releasing a drone with the 1inch sensor camera of P4 Pro, with folding concept like mavic?! Be sure I will be here to comment what seems to be a new kind of Mavic next week

1 hour ago, Michael1 said:

I was all set to buy an A7RIII.  The technology is amazing, but then the issues starting coming in, and coming in, and coming in.  Then I started seeing people sell their A7RIIIs.  Way too many engineering and quality issues.  It appears Sony rushed this out the door to take away some D850 sales, and beat Christmas.  Things like Sony lenses that would fit an A7RII, but were too tight to mount on an A7RIII were reported by multiple people.  One guy bought an A7RIII, and it had a stuck pixel in the EVF.  He sent it back, got another one, same thing.  Sent that one back, got another, and third one had two stuck pixels.  Game over!  Then we have the reports of EVF and LCD pixels that turn on for no reason when you go into focus magnify mode, similar to stuck pixels  or sensor hot pixels but they are not.  Extended exposures show tons of sensor hot pixels.  This is with Sony still not fixing the star eater issue.  I started looking at video, and people's skin looks like cardboard.  Or check out Sony's so called "weather resistant" body.

And there is more.  As far as I am concerned the A7RIII is a prototype that got pushed into production on an uncontrolled assembly line.  Now contrast this with the D850 or the GH5.   You have to really dig to find any quality issues.  

Come on, I was sold and you come here and depress me. 
You are true... Sony sucks, most of what constitute their product sucks: reliability, weather sealing, menus, ergonomics, heating, long exposure... 
In fact usability sucks VS Canikon. 
Yet they are the only one giving us a well specced line of hybrid video photo FF mirrorless. As of Jan 2018, this out-weights usability issues for me. Pray for no dead pixel or deal with it. Don't put the camera in heavy rain (I would not do it with a 5DIV either), and deal with the menus man. 

There is nothing on the market competing with A7RIII now. D850 is a 1kg brick. I tried it the other day with a 24-70mm at B&H and the combo was so heavy, I was not confortable after 3min. Others are tiny sensors and/or tiny resolutions or damn expensive (medium format).
For A7SIII, one could argue that GH5S competes because even if the sensor is small, it has great low light and so on. Yet shitty AF and no IBIS, and no FF for depth of field, so still not exactly comparable. 

We miss more companies in the FF mirrorless market

[Andrew Reid]

1 hour ago, Emanuel said:

Exactly. Wishful dreaming as written before is much different of the real chances to live that for more than a forum post ; ) @wolf33d Sorry mate ;-)

Cut it out Emanuel

The forum is not about you.

Sick of reading the argument stuff.

[webrunner5]

38 minutes ago, wolf33d said:

For A7SIII, one could argue that GH5S competes because even if the sensor is small, it has great low light and so on. Yet shitty AF and no IBIS, and no FF for depth of field, so still not exactly comparable. 

 

What in video are you Ever going to need to use Super Shallow DoF? Put a Speedbooster on the GH5s and you are up , hell with this new sensor, at least s35, maybe APSH. How much difference is that compared to FF? Sure as hell not enough for me to want to have to use expensive as hell FE, or heavy Canon lenses on one.

And if it rains or gets wet what then? Waterproofing on the A7 series bodies is shit! I had one, it did not exude confidence out in the elements, even sand I can tell you that much.

I think the New A7r mk III probably is the best all rounder out there. For Video and Photo. One stop shopping. But I think this new GH5s maybe a better Cine only camera at this moment. Yeah AF, well we won't go there... But touchscreen AF, now that works pretty well. I still say if you are going big time, Manual Focus Lenses all the way. And MF Cine lenses to boot if you win the Lotto.

If I am going to the film in Africa in the boon docks I want a Canon Cx00 with DPAF. Simple as that for Documentary work.

[Andrew Reid]

23 minutes ago, wolf33d said:

There is nothing on the market competing with A7RIII now. D850 is a 1kg brick. I tried it the other day with a 24-70mm at B&H and the combo was so heavy, I was not confortable after 3min.

To be fair, Sony 24-70mm F2.8 GM is a brick as well

24-70 F4 on the other hand... tiny. But is it any good? Anyone used it?

[webrunner5]

4 minutes ago, Andrew Reid said:

To be fair, Sony 24-70mm F2.8 GM is a brick as well

24-70 F4 on the other hand... tiny. But is it any good? Anyone used it?

I have not used it but I have heard good and bad about it. For the price it is pretty good. But you get what you pay for applies also to it.

[Oliver Daniel]

21 minutes ago, Andrew Reid said:

To be fair, Sony 24-70mm F2.8 GM is a brick as well

24-70 F4 on the other hand... tiny. But is it any good? Anyone used it?

I had the 24-70mm F4 and I didn't like it at all. It's very sharp but the fly by wire focus sucks and the image aesthetic is pretty boring. The body of the lens isn't the strongest either. Kinda reminds me of the Lumix 12-35mm on a GH camera. SHARP AND BORING!

Onto the camera, I've been 90% GH5 in the last few months yet still use an A6500 on a gimbal because of the AF. Rarely use the A7SII at the mo. 

I find the A7RIII interesting as a hybrid - the AF is a huge plus for gimbals work plus mega resolution stills. It's just the damn lenses and the reliability that I'm not convinced with. Got EF and M43 glass, too much to get E-mount as well. (i want ALL the glass!!) 

Cameras are so bloody distracting. 

[webrunner5]

12 minutes ago, Oliver Daniel said:

IOnto the camera, I've been 90% GH5 in the last few months yet still use an A6500 on a gimbal because of the AF. Rarely use the A7SII at the mo. 

I find the A7RIII interesting as a hybrid - the AF is a huge plus for gimbals work plus mega resolution stills. It's just the damn lenses and the reliability that I'm not convinced with. Got EF and M43 glass, too much to get E-mount as well. (i want ALL the glass!!) 

Cameras are so bloody distracting. 

Sounds like you need to sell all that stuff and buy a EVA1, or a Canon C200, used C300 mkII, Sony FS5 and be done with it. These consumer cameras are just that, compromises on top of compromises. One brand, one lens type solution.

[Andrew Reid]

How about the Sigma 24-35mm F2? Worth a punt?

[mercer]

It gets great reviews but it’s big and heavy. But I love my old Minolta 24-35mm and my Tokina 24-40mm... just a great focal range for a zoom in my opinion... so awesome as a two primes in one solution with that ability to punch in or out a bit when needed. 

[Michael1]

1 hour ago, wolf33d said:

Come on, I was sold and you come here and depress me. 

You are true... Sony sucks, most of what constitute their product sucks: reliability, weather sealing, menus, ergonomics, heating, long exposure... 
In fact usability sucks VS Canikon. 
Yet they are the only one giving us a well specced line of hybrid video photo FF mirrorless. As of Jan 2018, this out-weights usability issues for me. Pray for no dead pixel or deal with it. Don't put the camera in heavy rain (I would not do it with a 5DIV either), and deal with the menus man. 

There is nothing on the market competing with A7RIII now. D850 is a 1kg brick. I tried it the other day with a 24-70mm at B&H and the combo was so heavy, I was not confortable after 3min. Others are tiny sensors and/or tiny resolutions or damn expensive (medium format).
For A7SIII, one could argue that GH5S competes because even if the sensor is small, it has great low light and so on. Yet shitty AF and no IBIS, and no FF for depth of field, so still not exactly comparable. 

We miss more companies in the FF mirrorless market

Sorry about that.  I wish I had better news to report myself.  The A7RIII does hold a unique place in the market.  Yes, the D850 is very heavy, but it is built like tank.  The entire body including lens mount area is magnesium for zero flex.  We can hope for more competitors.  Nikon may come out with their full frame mirrorless later this year.  Canon may have something, too.

[Don Kotlos]

I am quite happy with the 24-70 f/4. Very decent quality but yeah the manual focus is bad. AF is fast and silent though.  The new 24-105 is also very interesting but a bit larger... 

Personally I wouldn't buy any non-native general purpose lens cause the AF is so useful now. The FF Sigma is very good but with limited range, and once sigma releases native art lenses they will be a great choice.