Sony unveiled its latest full-frame mirrorless camera system at PhotoPlus in NYC today. Dubbed the a7R III, some may scoff because it features the same 42.2 MP BSI full-frame 35mm Exmor R CMOS sensor and very similar body as the a7R II, but that’s pretty much where the similarities end.
The Mark III boasts an all-new circuit design, processor, and CPU, which improves speed, processing, and dynamic range. And remember the a7R II’s worst feature (battery life)? The a7R III is getting the a9’s battery, which will double battery life. And if that’s not good enough, you can power the camera via the USB Type-C port.
The a7R III is also getting a version of the a9’s autofocus system — 399 Phase Detection AF points and 425 Contrast AF points that cover about cover about 68% of the sensor area. You can shoot up to 10fps in 14bit uncompressed RAW for up to 28 frames OR 10fps compressed RAW or JPEG for up to 76 frames, which is incredible because you can shoot that fast SILENTLY. Or you can opt to shoot up to 8fps with the mechanical shutter in Continuous Live View, which will eliminate rolling shutter. Your choice!
5-axis in-body image stabilization give you 5.5 stops of exposure compensation, which will pair really well with the camera’s 15 stops of dynamic range, while you can shoot 4K video up to 30 frames-per-second in S-Log 2 or 3 as well as Hybrid Log Gamma HDR (which is built into higher-end 4K TVs from companies like Sony and LG).
If you’ve worked with the Olympus OM-D E-M5ii or E-M1ii, you may be familiar with High Res Shot Mode, which shifts the image sensor to combine four shots into one high-res image. Sony has introduced a similar technology, Pixel Shift Multi Shooting, here for product and architecture photography. This mode will combine four RAW images to create a — wait for this — 169.9 MEGAPIXEL still image (that you’ll need special software to process). Because of how this tech works, you probably don’t want to shoot moving subjects — that said, I’ve had a lot of fun shooting water with pixel-shifting because you get the built-in blur of a long exposure, so definitely experiment with this feature.
In other words, when I said in my Nikon D850 review that Nikon needed to figure out phase detection autofocus and jam that awesome camera’s features into a mirrorless body with in-body image stabilization, turns out that I was imagining the a7R III.
Bravo, Sony!
Key Features
- 42.2 MP BSI full-frame 35mm Exmor R CMOS sensor (same as AR7 II)
- No optical low pass filter
- Dust & moisture resistant
- BIONZ X processor
- 3.69 million dot OLED tru-finder
- Touchscreen LCD & physical joystick from the A9
- 399 Phase Detection AF points
- 425 Contrast AF points
- Covering 68% of the sensor area
- ISO 100 to 32000
- 15 stops of dynamic range
- 4K @ 24p & 30p + HDR capability (with Hybrid Log Gamma & S-Log3)
- Super 35mm Mode
- Full 1080p HD video at 120p
- Pixel Shift Multi Shooting
- 10fps in 14bit RAW with
- 8fps Continuous Live View
- 87-frame RAW compressed buffer
- 28-frame uncompressed RAW buffer
- 5-axis in-body image stabilization to 5.5 stops
- 2x Battery life (uses A9 battery)
- 2x speed Eye AF
- USB 3.1 (Type-C) & externally power the camera via USB
- Two card slots (UHS-II)
- E-shutter (shoot silently) & new mechanical shutter (avoid rolling shutter)
- My Menu lets you customize and move up to 30 menu functions
- Wi-Fi
- Bluetooth
Pricing & Availability
The Sony a7R III will be available in November (2017) for $3,199.99. Pre-orders start October 26!