Sony A7 III review: An impressive camera

Note: This article was first published on 16th May 2018.

Introduction

Sony’s A7 series has always been popular with both enthusiasts and professionals alike, especially since it offers enthusiasts who prefer mirrorless cameras a viable full-frame camera option. Now in the third iteration, Sony’s A7 series has improved steadily over the years, and the company now has more than 25 lenses in the line-up, thus addressing the initial concerns about the camera.

Of course, it helps that Sony hasn’t been stingy with the features added to this series too. You may recall the A7 II was the first full-frame mirrorless camera to get a 5-axis image stabilization system. That was built from scratch to accommodate the larger size and greater mass of the full-frame sensor and could easily have been kept for the more expensive A7S II and A7R II models. The A7 III on the other hand, has taken on the new sensor design implemented in the high-performance A9 camera with back-illuminated sensor and the new front end LSI and BIONZ X image processing engine, allowing it to process data 1.8 times faster than the A7 II.

Needless to say, both cameras are very capable options despite being the “entry-level” options of the Sony’s full-frame camera line-up. Sony hasn’t increased the resolution of A7 III, choosing to increase performance by improving other aspects of the camera. These improved capabilities do come at a cost though – the A7 III retails for some S$700 more than the A7 II did at launch (S$2,899 vs. S$2,149).

Here’s a table showing how the two cameras compare.

Design and Handling

As you can see from the image above, both cameras largely share the same design, just that the newer A7 III appears a little stockier, with a more pronounced viewfinder. There seems to be just a bit more grip space with the newer model, which could largely be explained by the fact that the A7 III uses the larger NP-FZ100 battery (first seen in the A9) for better battery life.

As we mentioned in our A9 review, the new NP-FZ100 battery has almost double the battery life of the NP-FW50 from before. This translates to about 700 images on a single charge with the A7 III, easily doubling the 350 shots the A7 II can muster. We actually quite liked the slightly deeper handgrip, and the slight gain in weight (650g vs 556g on the A7II) seemed negligible, so it’s a good trade-off for better handling.

Turn the camera around, and you’ll see more change. The A7 III adopts the rear layout of the A9, shifting the movie record button just below the viewfinder, and adding a focus point selector joystick below it. Both are welcome changes compared to what we have on the A7 II, and allow for better handling overall. The focus point selector joystick in particular makes it much easier to set focus right where you want it; handy when considering how many more points the A7 III has (693 vs. 117) compared to the A7 II.

The menu system on the A7 III is also better organized now, and the camera itself allows for more customization, with 11 custom buttons compared to 10 from before. The new My Menu option lets you add up to 30 items for instant recall, much like what we saw on the Fujifilm X-T2, definitely a time-saver. The AEL lock function also gains its own dedicated button on the top of the camera making it easier to reach for while you’re taking pictures with the viewfinder up to your eyes.

The A7 III also has dual media slots as opposed to one on the A7, thus allowing you the option of having your images simultaneously backed up to both cards; separate stills from movies; RAW from JPEG, or to simply have more storage space. As with the A9 though, only one card slot (Slot1) supports the faster UHS-II type memory cards. One thing we do like though; is that the memory card cover on the A7 III is lockable, so you won’t have to worry about accidentally opening it.

Both cameras have a 3.0-inch rear LCD, but despite the fact that the A7 III’s rear screen is rated at a slightly lower resolution of 921k dots compared to the 1,228k dots of the A7 II, we found it to consistently be brighter and more vibrant in different locations even at the default settings. The A7 III’s rear panel is also touch sensitive, but this is unfortunately limited to setting AF points and zooming in to check focus.

Imaging Performance

Image capture is where all the new technology in the A7 III makes it stand out from the A7 II.  For starters, the A7 III has more than doubled the number of autofocus points, with 693 phase detect AF points covering approximately 93% of the image and 425 contrast detect points. The A7 II on the other hand, has 117 phase detect points and only 25 contrast detect ones.

Safe to say, the difference in focus speeds is immense. The A7 III obtained focus faster in all of our testing, and the wider spread of AF points allowed it to more accurately track subjects as they moved across the frame. Sony calls this 4D focus, and it essentially takes advantage of the faster processing capabilities to read AF points at a higher frequency for better tracking.

The new sensor design also greatly tilts the scales in favor of the A7 III in terms of continuous capture as the camera not only captures faster, but also performs at a higher rate for a longer duration. So, add that with the improved focus speed (and tracking) we just mentioned above, and it’s easy to see how the A7 III handles fast-moving action better than the A7 II. For the rare times when the camera doesn’t land a focus point exactly on the subject of your image, there’s still the focus lever for quicker adjustments.  That certainly beats using the four-way joystick.

The newer camera also has the edge in terms of color accuracy, producing images that are truer to life straight-out-of-camera JPEGs. The colors from the A7 II are quite a bit cooler in comparison, as you’ll see in the image above. Though both cameras have almost identical resolution numbers, it does seem like the A7 III is resolving slightly more detail than the A7 II too. The result of an improved image stabilization engine and a new processor perhaps?

The A7 III has a native ISO range of 100-51,200 compared to the A7 II which has a native ISO range of 100-25,600. That’s a one-stop difference, and it shows. Look at the two images above, and you’ll see that there is clearly more detail on the label of the bottle. Images from the A7 III at ISO 25,600 are still salvageable. And you have the option to move up to ISO 51,200 as the images from the A7 III while grainy, still maintain a good amount of detail – more detail than images from the A7 II at ISO 25,600 even!  

We also pulled up images from the APS-C sized Fujifilm X-H1 to see how the cameras (or more accurately, sensors) compared, given the A7 II was released back in 2014, and the X-H1 had a smaller sensor.  In all cases the A7 III performed best as expected from the newer, larger sensor. But while the A7 II had a very slight edge in terms of low ISOs, the X-H1 was quite clearly better above ISO 25,600, so the gap in performance between sensor formats probably isn’t as large as the marketing speak might have you think. 

Sample Images 

Speed demon

Whether it’s regarding resolving capabilities or color accuracy, the A7 III is clearly better than the camera it replaces. However, given that the camera is a full S$700 more than its predecessor, the question becomes: how much of an upgrade do you actually get? After all, S$700 can go a long way towards purchasing a better lens, or a flash unit perhaps. 

So why upgrade? Well, for starters the improved handling will certainly be appreciated if you use the camera with heavier lenses or for long periods of time, as will the various customization options available. Likewise, if you have to deal with lower shutter speeds and require more accuracy in focusing, then the improved image stabilization system and the ability to work at higher ISOs will certainly be invaluable.

Ultimately though, speed is what will make you upgrade to this camera because no amount of additional equipment can make your camera respond faster. Regarding taking images or making adjustments to settings, the faster processor, bigger buffer and better layout of controls simply make the camera easier to work with, giving you greater allowance to capture that perfect image. All things considered, the A7 III is certainly a worthy addition for all Sony photographers, be they amateurs or professionals.

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