Introduction
It’s hard to believe that Sony’s A7-series has been in existence for well over four years now. It feels like only yesterday the manufacturer presented us with the original A7and A7R, yet here we’re looking at the third release of its most basic full-frame mirror less camera, which advances in a number of ways on the Sony A7 II that arrived at the end of 2014.
Over the years, Sony’s A7-series has picked up great momentum. This has been achieved by introducing new and innovative technologies, refining the design, and dealing with the initial concerns surrounding the number of full-frame E-mount lenses available.
We’re now at the stage that there are no fewer than 25 lenses in Sony’s lineup. This excludes an ever-increasing number of third-party alternatives from the likes of Sigma, which has recently started making its highly acclaimed Art lenses available in Sony E-mount.
For those who are after a general-purpose, highly versatile and more affordable full-frame camera than the A7R III or A9, the A7 III looks very appealing when compared to the current DSLR competition. It incorporates many of the niceties of the A7R IIIand A9, at a price that falls below £2000 at launch. Don’t be mistaken by the ‘basic model’ status that Sony gives it, either: we’re looking at one very capable camera indeed.
Key Features
- 24MP Full-Frame Exmor R BSI CMOS Sensor
- BIONZ X Image Processor & Front-End LSI
- 693-Point Hybrid AF System
- UHD 4K30p Video with HLG & S-Log3 Gammas
- 2.36m-Dot Tru-Finder OLED EVF
- 3.0″ 922k-Dot Tilting Touchscreen LCD
- 5-Axis SteadyShot INSIDE Stabilization
- ISO 204800 and 10 fps Shooting
- Built-In Wi-Fi and NFC, Dual SD Slots
- USB Type-C Port, Weather-Sealed Design
Short Review
The camera body and feature set of the A7lll is nearly identical to the A7Rlll that was released last year. It’s major point of difference from the A7III is it’s 24.2 Megapixel back lit illuminated sensor that features 693 phase detect auto focus points (PDAF). The camera is capable of the same 10 frames per second in Continuous Hi+ drive mode but has the larger spread of PDAF points that the A9 enjoys. This model is significantly cheaper than an A9 or A7RIII cameras (less than half the price of an A9 and approximately 40% less than an A7RIII). Many of the early influencers who reviewed this camera decided to promote the strengths of this camera at the expense of Sony’s own full-frame premium mirror less cameras (the A7RIII and the A9). It would, however, make much more sense to first compare this camera with DSLR cameras that retail at the same price point and the previous A7II model. Owners of the A7 and A7II cameras may notice there has been a steady improvement in image quality (IQ) with each subsequent model. Dynamic Range and High ISO Performance are both superior on the A7III model, it should also be noted, however, that IQ was already outstanding, so many users who upgrade to the A7III camera won’t be shocked or surprised at the difference in image quality.
Sony’s ‘draw cards’ for enticing photographers to upgrade or switch to the A7III camera is the major upgrade in Auto focus Performance, Drive Speed (10 frames per second), Buffer capacity and the option for 4K video with fast hybrid AF. This camera, simply put, is built for ‘Speed’. The ‘user experience’ is also enhanced by the use of a larger Z series battery (one battery should now last all day for most photographers), the addition of dual card slots (an ‘insurance’ feature that most pro photographers insist on), better ergonomics (buttons and dials – including a joystick for fast positioning of the focus point). All of these features first saw the light of day on either the A9 or A7RIII cameras that were released in 2017. The fact that so many of these ‘premium’ or pro features found there way on to the basic model upset some owners of the premium models. This level of frustration was not helped when some influencers claimed that the A7III was somehow superior to the premium models. A lot of this information was offered up before the reviewers could even open up a Raw file from the camera as no software supported the Raw files from the A7III camera at the time of its release. It would have been more useful, as stated previously, to initially compare the specs of the A7III camera with the Nikon D750, Canon 6D MKII and A7II cameras. To compare how many hundreds of Phase Detect Auto Focus points between Sony Full Frame cameras is simply ‘splitting hairs’. To simply state that the Canon 6D MKII has 27 AF points clustered around the center of the frame, the Nikon has 51 AF points also clustered around the center of the frame and the Sony A7III has 693 AF points covering 93% of the area of the sensor would have been much more useful to potential buyers of this camera. Even the old A7RII can boast 399 AF points spread over 45% of the sensor area and is more than a match for any DSLR and, if it wasn’t for its limited buffer capacity, could be used at a greyhound track as a sports camera.
Camera Talks 
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