Sony A7S III Announced + Early Reviews

After almost 5 years the long awaited (at least for video shooters) Sony a7S III has been officially announced and it packs quite the punch!

Improvements over its predecessor include a new 12-megapixel BSI (back-illuminated sensor) which is coupled together with a new BIONZ-XR processor.

There’s finally a fully articulating LCD screen that is also touch enabled along with a brand new and completely overhauled menu system that I expect will be included in all Sony Alpha cameras going forward. The OLED viewfinder now has a record breaking 9.44 million dots, a magnification of 0.9x and 41 degree field of view.

The a7S III offers in-camera 4K recording up to 120 frames per second, 10-bit depth and 4:2:2 colour sampling. There are new advanced movie recording modes such as All-Intra and MPEG-H HEVC/H.265 coding (XAVC HS™). The Alpha 7S III makes it easy to integrate video recordings with other professional camcorders by providing three colour gamut settings, S-Gamut, S-Gamut3, and S-Gamut3.Cine, allowing users to easily match footage shot on the Alpha 7S III with footage shot on the professional camcorders, simplifying multi-camera post-production workflow.

In addition to S-Log3 gamma curves, the Alpha 7S III supports an HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma) picture profile with minimum post-production. The Alpha 7S III also allows up to 4K 60p 16-bit RAW output to an external recorder via HDMI Type-A connector, offering additional post-production flexibility.

The a7S III design has been updated to ensure effective heat dissipation and minimise overheating — even during extended continuous recording sessions at 4K 60p 10-bit 4:2:2 video lasting an hour or more. A newly developed unique heat dissipating structure keeps the image sensor and image processing engine temperatures within their normal operating ranges, preventing overheating while maintaining compact body dimensions. The new heat-dissipating structure requires no fan or cabinet vents allowing the a7S III to maintain dust and moisture resistance.

According to Sony, it has minimized the rolling shutter effect and the a7S III now includes a 5-axis image stabilizer in the housing with an effectiveness of 5.5 f-stops. In video mode there is also a digital Stabilization (Active Mode) which uses a gyro sensor.

The autofocus has been improved and the a7S III can now shoot 10 frames per second and the autofocus points cover 92% of the image sensor (759 phase detection points and 425 contrast points). In addition to human eye AF the a7S III now joins other Sony Alpha cameras by recognizing animals eyes, apparently at a greater distance than with current cameras.

For the first time Sony now uses two memory card drives in the a7S III, both SD cards (UHS-II) as well as the new CEA-G CFExpress Type-A cards (with a write speed of 700MBs and a reading speed of 800 MBs) are supported and are also being released at the same time in both 80GB and 160GB capacities. There’s also a new MRW-G2 card reader being launched that’s compatible with the CEA-G CFExpress Type-A cards.

The Sony NP-FZ100 battery is also used and can be charged via USB-C and provides enough power for 600 photos or 95 minutes of video. Continuous power supply via USB is also possible.

The new a7S III will be available in late September priced at $3,498 in the US, €4.199 in Europe and £3,799 in the UK.

First Impressions and Early Reviews

Here are some early first impressions. You can also find DPReview’s early review here.

If you only have time to watch one video then this one from Gerald Undone is the one to watch:

If you have more time then this video from Philip Bloom is the one to watch:

Additional videos:

Sony a7S III Specs

• 12MP BSI CMOS sensor
• Bionz XR processor
• On-sensor phase detection
• ISO 80-102,400 (expandable to 40-409,600)
• 9.44M dot EVF with 0.91x magnification
• 4K video at up to 120p, 60p for ‘at least an hour’
• 16-bit Raw video output at up to 60p
• 10-bit 4:2:2 internal capture (in codecs including H.265 and All-I H.264)
• Fully articulating LCD
• 5-axis in-body stabilization with Steady shot active mode
• Twin card slots that each accept either SD or CFexpress Type A

Full specs can be found on Sony’s website here.

New Sony a7S III Shooters Facebook Group!