It’s been a good 5 long years since Sony had last launched a video-focused mirrorless camera- the A7S Mark II. The news of unveiling Sony a7s III comes after suspenseful months of rumours, speculations and leaks. Their premier, low-light, video focused full frame camera can capture 4K at up to 120p but still uses a 12 MP sensor. Sony has claimed that the camera can capture 4K at 60 fps for up to an hour without facing any overheating issues due to its new thermal dissipation structure. It is even capable of recording up to 240 fps in 1080p as well. It features an overall thicker body design, in body image stabilisation (IBIS) and an entirely new menu system too along with an interesting design.
Sony a7S III makes use of a 12MP backside illuminated EXMOR R CMOS full-frame sensor. This perfect combination of low resolution and a large sensor size makes it perfectly suitable and a very good choice too, for low light videography. It even has a new BIONZ XR image processor boasting 8x more processing power than the previous A7S II.
As stated before, new Sony a7S III can capture 4K/120p and 4K/60p video at 10-bit 4:2:2 with no pixel binning or line skipping, and 16-bit ProRes RAW video over HDMI at up to 4K/60p by plugging into the full-sized HDMI on the side. The new BSI sensor has a better and higher ISO performance than the previous model. It even has 759-point phase detection AF points covering almost 92% of the image sensor as well as a maximum continuous shooting speed of 10 fps for more than 1,000 consecutive uncompressed RAW images with full AF/AE tracking. While the AF performance was somewhat lacklustre in the previous A7S models, the same seems to have been improved with this one. It even has Sony’s remarkable real-time eye autofocus and tracking in all modes, be it still pictures or videos.
It also includes Sony’s new 9.44M-dot OLED EVF, a full-sized HDMI port, a fully articulating touch screen display (a first for Sony’s Alpha mirrorless cameras), dual hybrid card slots that can take UHS-II SD cards as well as the new, smaller and faster CF Express Type A format. For that matter, Sony A7S would be the first ever consumer camera to support the latter format. The battery used by this model, which is also the same as those of the A7R III and the A7 III, can support almost 60% longer record times than the A7S II battery.
Finally, they have redesigned their entire menu system, making touch control and navigation a lot easier! The menu offers a great degree of customizability for both still and video modes and can be switched at the user’s whims.
While the upcoming model is a powerhouse in its own right, it feels more of an upgraded repetition than an improved innovation. Its predecessors entered the market when low light capability cameras were relatively new, the A7S III doesn’t make it feel like Sony has gone the full length in providing something truly mind blowing for its users and fans. Nonetheless, it’s still an improvement with a cleaner output.
Deepanjan Datta
Management student who likes to write articles at times, into mobile photography and likes to cook as a hobby.
