Sony Announces The Alpha A7R III

Sony announced earlier today several new products including a new Alpha A7R III full-frame high-resolution mirrorless camera and a new FE 24-105mm f/4 G OSS all-around zoom lens.

There was a lot of information around about Sony’s press event today and indeed the company did not disappoint and released two very interesting products. The A7R III isn’t a huge game changer like the A9 was but it is a very interesting refinement to an already very capable (and very popular) professional camera from Sony.

Above is a video Tony and Chelsea Northrup recorded (very late at night apparently) in NY just before Sony full A7R III release event talking about some of the futures this camera has.

Similar looks – very different internals

Here are some of the specs of the new Alpha A7R III and some explanations on what is new:

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 (shipping in November 2017).

The A7R III rear view with the dual card slot

B&H look at the new A7R III and the FE 24-105mm f/4 G OSS Lens

Sony also introduced a new 24-105mm f/4 full frame lens – this new lens has the following:

AFocal length – 24-105, FE coverage.
Aperture – f/4-f/22.
Elements – 17 in 14 groups including 4 Aspherical Elements, 3 ED Elements.
9 rounded blades.
Min focus distance – 1.25 feet / 38 cm.
Max magnification – 1:3.2.
Nano AR and Fluorine Coatings
Image Stabilization.
Filter thread – 77mm.
Weight – 1.46lbs/663 gramas.
Price – $1300.

We will be looking into several monitors in the near future so stay tuned for that. If you don’t want to miss any new photography product be sure to check out our product photography section.

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.