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USER REVIEW SONY A7 CAMERAS
to the A7 III. The stills frame rate is now upped to 10fps, and the R can record up to 76 compressed Raw files in a continuous burst, while the lower- megapixel version can shoot 89. Most pro video shooters stick to manual focus and both cameras offer peaking and all the usual focus aids from Sony’s mirrorless cameras. But they have such good video AF that it can be used reliably, in situations where even the best focus puller would struggle. Here, the more basic A7 III aces its big brother as it uses an advanced hybrid system, and there is a noticeable improvement over the A7R III. Both struggle a little in low light, but both are very good at acquiring focus on a moving subject and tracking it. The screen still tilts, but is now a touchscreen so is ideal for doing focus pulls during video, or just touch-to- focus in stills or video mode. If you don’t use AF as a matter of principle, you might be missing out. Both new Sony A7 series cameras have two USB connections, one standard USB-2 but the other is the fast USB-C. This makes it ideal for tethering via USB-C, or even for
ABOVE Both cameras have eerily similar video spec.
SIMILAR VIDEO SPEC Both Sony 7-series camera have eerily similar video spec as they shoot in 4K to 30p and now in 120fps super slow-motion, in full 1080 HD. For the A7R III, it can record from the full width of the sensor or cropped into a more traditional Super 35 size. The 4K footage is actually improved slightly when using the Super 35 crop as 5K footage is captured then downsized, rather than as in full-frame 4K where the more lossy pixel-binning is used. It also means that you can use Super 35-size lenses. If shooting in 1080, then full frame offers a far better image quality than the Super 35 crop (and rolling shutter is better than on the A7 II series of cameras). The A7 III samples a 6K image to deliver 4K video in its highest-quality XAVC-S codec up to a maximum bitrate of 100Mbps, still in 8-bit, in full frame without a horizontal crop in 24 and 25p. But at 30p there is a minor 1.2x crop. In HD, even at 120fps, there is no crop at all. And thanks to its lower megapixel sensor with larger photosites, it is excellent at low light, high-ISO shooting. It’s slightly disappointing there is no 4K 60p recording on either camera, and that all footage is 8-bit 4:2:0 rather than the 10-bit 4:2:2 many had hoped for. If you record to an external monitor, you get 4:2:2 clips but still at 8-bit. Perhaps that’s what’s coming on the A7S III. Both cameras also record in S-Log 2 and S-Log 3 to maximise dynamic range and Hybrid Log Gamma for easy HDR use, although S-Log 3 isn’t recommended on an 8-bit camera.
downloading cards or charging up the camera from a laptop; while tethered, you can use a remote release in the other USB-2 slot. Best of all is a bigger battery – you’d need at least a handful of the batteries in the old A7 series to see you through a day’s shooting. The new lithium battery is more than twice as big and lasts for a lot of shooting, thanks to the camera’s more efficient use of power. You’d still want to carry a spare for an all-day shoot, though. One of the biggest benefits of mirrorless cameras is their video capabilities, helped by impressive five-axis stabilisation (which has been improved on both cameras). It’s not quite in the same league here as on the Pananisonc GH5 or Olympus OM-D EM-1 MkII, but these have smaller sensors.
IF YOU DON’T USE AF AS A MATTER OF PRINCIPLE, YOU MIGHT BE MISSING OUT
DEFINITION JUNE 2018
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