Gear Talk
In this segment I talk about the gear I use/have used…..
In this segment I talk about the gear I use/have used and MY thoughts on them. This will predominantly be camera/photography based but will also include adventure/travel gear. The world of travel photography can be a massive money pit and I am just trying to save you from spending money on unnecessary or overpriced gear.
Sony A7iii Review
A quick overview of the Sony A7iii
24 megapixel full frame BSI-CMOS sensor
ISO 100-51200 (expandable to 50-204800)
3 inch tilt screen
2359 dot EVF
weather sealed
10 frames per second continuous shooting
650 grams
Early this year (2020) I was finally able to upgrade to a full frame mirrorless system. I chose the Sony E mount system and this is my Sony A7iii Review. I have owned this camera for roughly 6 months, enough time to give a good honest review on how the A7iii handles in different situations. This is in no way a sponsored post so you can be sure my Sony A7iii review is un biased, these are MY thoughts on the camera. In my opinion there are 3 main cameras in the entry-level/lower megapixel full frame mirrorless category. The Sony A7iii, Nikon z6 and the canon eosr. I wanted a camera for primarily landscape/adventure shooting but I also wanted good auto focus for shooting stuff like portraits. For me dynamic range and lowlight performance are very important along with good lenses. Good Auto focus and decent frame rates would also be quiet important. For obvious reasons the Sony A7iii was the clear winner for me, here is why.
Dynamic range and lowlight performance
The Sony alpha range has been known for there lowlight performance for a long time know. The Sony a7s series has been the choice of nightscapers and videographers filming in lowlight situations for years. The Sony A7iii boasts a 24 megapixel sensor over the A7s 12 megapixel sensor making the Sony A7iii a happy medium between the high megapixel and lowlight performance. This makes for more than a lowlight video/astrophotography centric camera while still retaining incredible lowlight performance. With an expandable ISO from 50-204800 coupled with the amazing dynamic range of the Sony sensor this camera really is a lowlight beast. The dynamic range on this camera is mind-blowing, I have never been able to recover shadows like I can with the A7iii. Both the Canon and Nikon have excellent lowlight and dynamic range capabilities, but fall noticeably behind when compared to the Sony A7iii.
Autofocus
It is no secret that Sony’s auto focus is number 1. At the time of its release in early 2018 the eye af changed the game. The Sony A7iii was the first camera apart from maybe the A9 with reliable and consistent eye af. The canon and Nikon mirrorless cameras have tried to replicate the Sonys eye af, but have a long way to go. I used the Canon eosr and found it to work but only in the perfect conditions. I certainly would not rely on it. The Sony A7iii has completely changed the way I shoot portraits, the eye af is so reliable all I have to worry about is my composition. I have only used the manual focus points a few times, but it has always worked very well. The joystick makes switching between the 693 af points a lot easier, using a button would be absolutely impossible. Not only is the autofocus accurate but insanely quick, I have definitely been able to catch shots that I previously would not have been able to catch on my older cameras. I think the only real problem I have had with the Sony a7iii autofocus is when using the animal eye af. I have found that the focus seems to lock onto the animals nose quiet frequently. I don’t know if its because I have mainly used it to shoot dogs with a long snout?
Lens lineup
One of the things that really makes the Sony system more appealing is the lens lineup. Sony has been making there full frame mirrorless cameras for a fair while know. Meaning they have had plenty of time to put together a solid lineup of native lens. Unlike Canon and Nikon who have only recently started designing lens for there mirrorless systems. Sony has a great lineup of quality lenses from ultra wide suited for landscapes to telephoto lenses for sport and everything in between. Sony also has a range of cheaper budget friendly lenses that retain high image quality. But possibly the biggest advantage to the Sony A7iii is the massive range of high quality third party lenses. Brands like Sigma and Tamron have been making high quality e mount lenses for while know. The big advantage of these lenses is generally the considerably cheaper price tag. Sigma has even started making F1.2 primes (the only F1.2 lenses available for e mount) for the e mount system that are cheaper than Sonys native F1.4 lenses. Even so Sonys professional lens lineup are quiet reasonably priced in comparison to Canon and Nikon. For example the Sony 85mm Gmaster lens is roughly $2500 where is the Canon RF 85F1.2 is about $4000. Then the sigma 85mm is roughly $1700, you could literally almost buy the Sony and sigma for the same price as the canon. I am aware that the RF is a F1.2 compared to the sigma and Sony F1.4 lenses, but thats just the point. If you where to shoot Canon the only 85mm available is $4000, that is out of most peoples price range by a long shot. Nikon seems to have a lack of commitment to there Z system and have only provided a handful of lenses. The lenses they do have seem great but very overpriced, there 14-30 f4 is over $2000 dollars. that seems a lot to me for an F4 zoom lens. Sony definitely has the upper hand here when it comes to lens selection.
Dual card slots
The Sony A7iii is the only camera in this category that has dual card slots. For me that is not a massive deal but Is handy feature for those wanting to work professionally. Being able to save files to two seperate cards is a great idea if your worried about breaking, loosing or having an Sd card fail. Imagine shooting a wedding but your Sd card goes corrupt and you loose everything. You cannot simply go back and re shoot these images. This feature alone has made the Sony A7iii the choice for people wanting to buy there first camera to shoot professionally with.
Some bonus features
Video
When first released the Sony A7iii was boasted to be the best all round camera on the market. One of the main reasons for that was the excellent video features, along with all the great photography features. If you are a photographer who wants to shoot a little bit of video on the side or vice verser this is an excellent camera. I myself shoot very little video but its handy to have. The A7iii can shoot over sampled 4k/24p using the full 24 megapixel sensor (6k), has in body stabilisation (ibis) coupled with the great autofocus and lowlight performance you see when shooting photographs with this camera. It truely is a great film camera.
Size and weight
One of the great benefits to the mirrorless systems are the smaller/lighter cameras. The Sony cameras are especially compact particularly if you pair it with some of the smaller prime lenses. Although if you are going to be using some of their professional lenses like the 70-200 F2.8 Gmaster it is still going to be big and heavy. Some people do not particularly like the small body saying that they are too small and not very comfortable in the hand. I can see where they are coming from but I think that they are plenty comfortable, I will say if you have big hands your little finger will awkwardly sit below the grip though. This isn’t a problem for me.
Battery/vertical grip
The Sony Alpha series has a battery grip that fits the A7iii, A7riii and A9 camera body. The fully functioning grip gives you double the battery life and the ability to shoot in the vertical position. It will also solve the awkward pinky finger issue I was talking about previously if you do have large hands.
Battery life
One of the things that surprised me about the Sony was the battery life. The mirrorless cameras have been renowned for bad battery life. Something that really needed improving to make mirrorless cameras viable for the real photographer. You are easily able to shoot a solid few hours with only one battery.
Electric View Finder (EVF)
The Sony A7iii has an electric view finder which is pretty cool. I had never used an EVF before and really did not know what to expect. I really like it, being able to see how my exposure is looking while shooting and not needing to look down at the lcd is a game changer. My only problem with the EVF on the Sony A7iii is the resolution, like the screen the EVF does not have very high resolution making it a little hard to judge exposure. I would not really trust exposure from only the EVF until you have used it for a while and now how it is going to actually expose.
The bad things
There are a few bad things about the Sony A7iii, after all it is not the perfect camera. The first thing I noticed coming from shooting Canon cameras is the screen. My Canon 80D had a great High resolution fully articulating touch screen. The screen on the Sony’s seem to be the one thing that they tried skimp out on. They have used a Far lower resolution screen, with limited touch function. The screen is also only a tilt screen that only tilts in the landscape orientation, meaning if you are shooting vertical on a low angle you have basically no other option than to lie on the ground just to see what is happening. For me this can be very irritating seeing I shoot a lot of landscape/astro and I tend to shoot from a low angle quiet a lot. The low resolution can also make manually focusing tricky, that is also annoying because my primary landscape lens is a manual focus lens. Some people have said that they find the Sony cameras awkward to hold because they are so small. I find them comfy enough but I could understand if you had big hands how it could be annoying. Sony menu systems are another thing people seem to complain about and I can see why, they are pretty elaborate and may take some getting used to. Everything is in there you might just have to google where to find certain settings. Some of the abbreviations are quiet confusing and misleading I have found. Realistically these are some pretty minor problems and in no way a deal breaker for me.
Conclusion
Is the Sony A7iii worth buying in 2020!
Possibly the biggest question about buying a Sony A7iii in 2020 has to do with the future A7iv inevitably being announced soon. The A7iii was announced in early 2018 over 2 years ago. Sony has a habit of revamping there cameras every 2-3 years, rumour sites have been speculating about the release of a A7iv for a while know. So is it worth waiting for the A7iv? I honestly do not think the A7iv is going to that big of an upgrade from the A7iii. In my opinion the biggest changes will be the body, screen and some more small improvements. But new this camera is probably going to cost at least $3000, I got my A7iii for $2100 on sale. I honestly don’t know if the extra money will be worth the extra features. It may be worth waiting to see what is actually announced as I could be completely wrong but these are my beliefs. If you wait until the A7iv is released you could probably get a new A7iii for under $2000 with would be an absolute steal.
I think if you are looking for a camera that can shoot everything from landscapes, portraits and even high quality video then this is your camera. In my opinion the Sony A7iii has the best autofocus, lowlight performance, dynamic range, lens selection and the nail in the coffin ITS CHEAPER. I think unless you already have a big selection of Canon or Nikon lenses there really shouldn’t be any reason to go against the Sony. I hope this was helpful and if you have any questions do not hesitate too ask. Thank you all for reading my Sony A7iii review let me know what you think and what other products you would like to here my views on.