Sony Alpha A7 iii
NO LONGER THE POOR RELATION.
THE ALPHA A7 III sits on the bottom rung of Sony’s full-frame mirrorless camera range, and is designed to appeal to both keen enthusiast photographers and professionals. In the past, the A7 series cameras have always felt like poor relations to the A7R and A7S series. While the latter two have tended to capture the limelight with their high pixel counts and advanced video capabilities, the A7 cameras have always been regarded as the basic models, sporting a solid but unremarkable set of features.
That looks like it could all change with this third-generation A7 camera. Borrowing many features from the top-of-the-range Alpha A9, as well as the Alpha A7R III, the Alpha A7 III looks anything but basic.
DYNAMIC PERFORMER
Sony hasn’t been tempted to increase the resolution, so it stays at 24.2MP, like the Alpha A7 II. However, the sensor is completely new and features a back-illuminated design, which, combined with the latest BIONZ X image processor, sees the sensitivity range greatly improved over the older model — with an extended ISO ceiling of 204,800 (the same as the Alpha A9), it’s two stops better than the A7 II’s 51,200 limit. Sony also reckons it’s managed to achieve a dynamic range of 15 stops with 14-bit raw files.
While the electronic viewfinder (EVF) doesn’t get a bump in resolution to match the A7R III’s 3.8 million dots, the 2.3 million-dot EVF on the A7 III gets a slightly higher magnification factor than the older model, up from 0.71x to 0.78x.
The rear 3.0-inch tilt-angle display is now touch-sensitive, enabling you to set the focus point and browse through images quickly, although it doesn’t allow for quick navigation of the camera’s menu. The 5-axis in-body image stabilisation system has also been tweaked, and now provides five stops of stabilisation, improving slightly on its predecessor’s 4.5 stops.
It’s no surprise to see 4K video capture on the A7 III. Recording in 24p, the full width of the sensor is used, with full pixel readout and without pixel binning. This sees around 6K of data collected (2.4x the amount of data required), before the footage is then oversampled to produce what Sony says will be 4K footage with exceptional detail and depth. If you want to shoot at 30p, there’s a 1.2x crop option that uses roughly 5K of the sensor.
The Alpha A7 III sports two SD card slots, but only one of these supports faster UHS-II cards. There’s also Wi-Fi and NFC connectivity for fast image transfer.
BUILD AND HANDLING
The Alpha A7 III has the same body as the Alpha
A7R III and benefits from the addition of a multi-selector joystick, which greatly improves the handling of the camera, with AF point selection that’s much quicker out in the field. Another bit of good news is the arrival of a dedicated AF-On button on the rear, making back-button focusing much easier.
Another welcome touch taken from the A7R III is that the eye sensor is now deactivated when the rear screen is pulled away from the body. This means it’s possible to shoot waist-level images without the feed cutting out and rather unhelpfully swapping to the EVF.
The body is a touch thicker than the A7 II as well, but it feels more satisfying to hold thanks to a refined grip, and the overall feel is very good due to a predominantly magnesium construction that virtually mirrors that of the Alpha A7R III.
As you’d expect for a camera at this price, all the major buttons and dials are sealed against the elements to protect from dust and moisture. That said, the camera’s various terminals don’t appear to have quite the level of sealing we’d hope to see, and feels a little flimsy.
SHARP SHOOTER
It’s not often that you see a manufacturer take the AF system from its flagship camera and put it in a camera less than half the price, but that’s exactly what Sony has done. The A7 III gets the same, brilliant, 693-point phase-detect AF system as the Alpha A9. This is a huge step up from the rather clunky 117-point system in the Alpha A7 II, with the new system offering an impressive 93% coverage across the frame, with an additional 425 contrast-detect points to aid focus; for good measure, it can also focus in light levels as low as -3EV.
The Alpha A7 III sports a wide variety of AF modes, too, and tracking performance is very impressive. While it can on occasion get tricked by fast and erratically moving subjects, overall, it’s an incredibly impressive and reliable system. Also included is Sony’s latest Eye AF focusing mode. This is a great feature for portrait and social photographers.
GET THE RESULTS
While the Alpha A7 II could shoot at a modest 5fps, the Sony Alpha A7 III doubles this rate. The camera boasts a pretty impressive buffer capacity of 89 compressed raw files (or 40 uncompressed), while it will happily shoot at 10fps for 177 JPEGs, a huge boost over the A7 II’s 52 JPEG file buffer.
Should you need to shoot discreetly or in quiet environments, you have the option to switch to the electronic shutter and take advantage of its silent shooting mode.
The viewfinder is large and bright, and its sharpness is great. If we do have one complaint, it’s that you can notice a little bit of ‘tearing’ should you move the camera from side to side too quickly. The rear display is very good, but as we’ve found with other Sony Alpha-series cameras, there’s still quite a bit of room for further touchscreen integration, especially in terms of menu navigation and settings.
The 5-axis, 5-stop image stabilisation system works a treat. The sensor is capable of delivering images that offer excellent levels of detail. Unless you’re planning to produce large prints beyond A2, the A7 III does a terrific job. The back-illuminated architecture helps the A7 III deliver excellent ISO performance. At base sensitivities, files appear incredibly clean and devoid of noise. Even at ISO6,400, results stand up well to close inspection.
VERDICT
Sony has taken some of the best bits from its flagship Alpha A9 and A7R III and distilled them into a single camera that offers a fantastic mix of performance, image quality and price. There’s still room for improvement, but those are all minor niggles, which fade away when you look at the wealth of features the Alpha A7 III offers. For the price, there’s nothing that can touch it.
THE REAR 3.0-INCH TILT-ANGLE DISPLAY IS NOW TOUCH-SENSITIVE, ENABLING YOU TO SET THE FOCUS POINT AND BROWSE THROUGH IMAGES QUICKLY, ALTHOUGH IT DOESN’T ALLOW FOR QUICK NAVIGATION OF THE CAMERA’S MENU.