Sony A7R III Hands-On Reviews

The new A7R III has been announced a few weeks ago and full reviews are starting to appear online and they seem to be very positive. Our friends and colleagues Chris Niccolls and Jordan Drake from the Camera Store had a chance to do a review of the camera in Arizona (Sony had an event there and quite a few reporters were invited) and got back very pleased.

We covered the A7RIII when it was first announced (see here) but pre-production testing is one thing and actual production models is a bit different (especially when you can actually work with the RAW files). From Niccolls’ and Drake look it seems that the camera improves in almost every aspect of the A7RII and the inclusion of dual SD and especially the larger battery is really welcome additions. As for video, the full frame is now much better compared to the S35 although the S35 is still sharper and cleaner.

Toby from PhotoRec TV was also in Arizona and he was especially impressed with the improved usability (joystick and improved controls) as well as the small bump in dynamic range. The new AF is definitely improved over the A7R II and the shooting speed and buffer are really a big jump compared to the A7R II. The pixel shift is nice but the difference is not huge and you need to be very stable on a tripod for a perfect shot (and need to combine the picture using Sony’s software which is kind of a bummer).

Toby from PhotoRec TV on the A7R III from Arizona

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Finally, we have Dan Watson which was also on the Sony Arizona tour and here is his look at the A7R III

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Here is a reminder about the specs of the new A7R III:

  • Sensor: 42MP Full-Frame Exmor BSI CMOS sensor – the sensor isn’t new but Sony did include several technologies that should make the image quality coming from this sensor better than its predecessor.
  • BIONZ X Image Processor with front-end LSIe – the processor is new and much improved helping the image quality, shooting speed and some of the new features of the camera.
  • 399-Point AF System – the same number of points but Sony improved many aspects of the original AF system of the A7R II and the new system is now closer to the A9 in its performance (although the A9 is probably still better).
  • Shooting speed- 10 fps(up from 5fps on the previous model), buffer isn’t huge though –
  • Video UHD 4K 30p video (and up to 120p in 1080p) with HLG & S-Log3 Gammas.
  • 3.69m-Dot Tru-Finder OLED EVF
  • 3.0″ 1.44m-Dot Tilting Touchscreen – including touch to focus when your eye is looking through the viewfinder.
  • 5.5 stops image stabilization on the sensor – up from 5 stops in the older model.
  • Improved dynamic range – Sony claims 15 stops (from some first impressions online it seems that Sony might indeed pushed the dynamic range quite a bit with this camera).
  • Pixel Shift Multi Shooting – this feature (which a few other manufacturers including Pentax and Olympus have used before in their cameras) takes several images and combines them to get a higher quality image (not higher res image mind you). The downside is that you will have to do this yourself in post using a Sony software – we can hope that Adobe will add automatic integration to Photoshop/Lightroom as well to save us the trouble.
  • Built-In Wi-Fi/Bluetooth.
  • Dual SD Slots – one is UHS-II and one UHS-I.
  • USB 3.0 Type-C Port & micro USB  – this is the first camera with dual USB ports for sync/control and charging at the same time.
  • PC Sync Terminal – for ultra-fast flash work (if your flash can support 10fps).
  • New menus (similar to the A9 system).
  • New battery – similar to that of the A9 with over 2x times the power of the previous model.
  • Price: $3200.

You can find many more previews and reviews on our Photography review section here on LensVid. You can find many of The Camera Store videos here on LensVid.

Iddo Genuth
Iddo Genuth is the founder and chief editor of LensVid.com. He has been a technology reporter working for international publications since the late 1990's and covering photography since 2009. Iddo is also a co-founder of a production company specializing in commercial food and product visual content.

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