Sony a7R III full frame mirrorless camera

introduction

announced Oct 2017
similar to Sony a7R II full frame mirrorless camera but faster with more dynamic range and a new Pixel Shift mode - see below for more details on the differences
who is it for?
- wedding photographers - the a7III may be adequate for this and far less expensive
- portrait photographers - industry leading Eye AF tracking technology (although the a9 and a7III give more frame coverage)
- landscape photographers - industry leading dynamic range and image detail in a full frame camera
- studio photographers - Pixel Shift offers high detail, improved color rendition and minimal moire
- videographers
- unlike the earlier model, the C-AF tracking and improved burst rate now makes it an option for sports and wildlife photographers and even birders although telephoto reach may be an issue unless you are prepared to pay a lot for big, expensive lenses

specs

see also full specs
42.4mp back-illuminated sensor with no anti-alias filter
- 425 CDAF points
  - Eye-AF, which locks the focus on the pupil of faces that are detected
  - Flexible Spot AF (with adjustable focus point sizes)
  - Zone AF
  - Lock-on AF C-AF
- excellent RAW dynamic range now to 15EV
399 PDAF points PLUS 425 CDAF points giving 68% of frame coverage
Bionz X processor
- improved sharpening algorithms
- diffraction reduction software for small apertures
- context-sensitive, 'area-specific noise reduction'
focus peaking
panorama sweep mode
10fps burst with AE/AF tracking up to 28 uncompressed RAW or 76 compressed RAW (8fps with continuous live view)
Pixel Shift mode for less moire
shutter 30sec - 1/8000th sec but is it still loud?
silent shutter mode
1st electronic shutter to reduce vibrations
flash sync 1/250th sec
no built-in flash but multi-interface flash shoe
- Multi-Interface Shoe allows you to connect a latest model Sony flash, an external mic, video lamp, or XLR adapter
exp. compensation ±5 EV
ISO 100-32,000 (extended: 50, up to 102,400)
3“ tilting 1.44m dot touch LCD but touch only to select AF point
3.69-million dot Quad-VGA OLED Tru-Finder with 0.78 x magnification and 18.5mm eye point (from the frame)
4K video:
- internal UHD 4K 3840 x 2160p at 30/24 fps in XAVC S format
- full pixel readout with no binning and can be shot with full-width frame capture or Super 35 crop mode (at 5K data then oversample to 4K)
- customisable picture profiles
- S-Log3 Gamma as well as SLog2 and Hybrid Log-Gamma (HLG)
1080 120/60/24p HD video XAVC S7 codec at 100Mbps, with uncompressed HDMI out
USB 3.1
weather sealed, magnesium body
WiFi with NFC
PC sync terminal
2 x SD card slots including one UHS-II
ability to star rate images in camera
improved menu with a favorites My Menu section
1lb 7.2oz / 657 g incl. battery, card
5.0 x 3.8 x 3” / 126.9 x 95.6 x 73.7 mm
$3200 / $AU4899 body only, in late 2019, this has been reduced to $AU3499
optional VG-C3EM vertical grip & 2nd battery holder
optional AC Adapter

firmware updates

v2.10
- released Dec 2018 addressed the bugs introduced with v 2.0
v2.0
- released Dec 2018
- unlocks all autofocus modes (eg. subject-tracking Lock-on AF modes, Zone and Expand Flexible Spot) for adapted lenses adapted with the Sony LA-EA3 mount adapter and these seem to work with Canon EF lenses on either the Sigma or Metabones adapter
- new 'Aperture Drive in AF'which allows AF to be acquired with aperture at f/2 instead of at selected slower aperture which allows faster AF
- general improvements to operation and to flash exposures near flickering light sources
- version 2.0 is buggy and causes issues and has been withdrawn ³⁾

version 1.10:
- Pixel Shift Multi-Shooting Interval reduced to 0.5 seconds instead of 1-30secs
- support for bracketing during silent shooting with uncompressed RAW
- support for tuning of the peaking display level for S-Log shooting
- improvements for a condition where the Eye AF does not work with certain camera settings
- improvements for a condition where Viewfinder Brightness is not reflected correctly in the Manual setting
- improves overall stability of camera

issues

bottom of camera is NOT weathersealed - do not let it sit in a pool of water!
HIRes pixel shift file processing is slow
- consider using sonypixelshift2dng software

improvements over the Sony A7RII

same sensor but 1EV more dynamic range at low ISO due to a gapless on-chip lens design and anti-reflective sensor coating and improved circuitry and processing
processes images 1.8 times faster
adds 425 CDAF points instead of 25, giving 68% of frame coverage instead of 45% coverage
IBIS improved to “5.5EV”
10fps burst rate instead of only 5fps in either mechanical or silent electronic mode but need to drop to 8fps for continuous live view
better mirror shock handling and better shutter shock handling
improved EVF and rear screen
adds HiRes mode (“Pixel Shift Multi Shooting”) similar to Olympus OM-D cameras but delivering 4 pixel shifted RAW images covering 169mp but outputs to a single 42mp RAW with better colour fidelity and texture reproduction than a single shot (ie. much less moire)
adds the a9's touchscreen focus point control and multi-selector joystick on the back of the body in place of the button-style directional pad as well as anti-flicker ability, a 2nd card slot,
AF twice as fast and extends to low light of -3EV
“Additional improvements in focusing flexibility include AF availability in Focus Magnifier mode, focal-plane phase-detection AF support when using A-mount lenses, an ‘AF On’ button, a multi-selector or ‘joystick’ for moving focusing points quickly, flexible touch focus functionality and much more,”
Much improved AF with Canon lenses via the Metabones Smart Adapter - now get C-AF and Eye AF in burst mode with most lenses see youtube: test by The Brotographer
120fps 1080 HD mode
USB 3.1
larger grip and battery 2.2x longer lasting (same as the Sony a9 full frame mirrorless camera)