Sony A7iii
What the heck am I still doing with this old camera?
The Sony a7iii is a full-frame mirrorless camera that was released in early 2018 as a successor to the popular Sony a7 II. It was aimed at photography enthusiasts and professionals who want a versatile camera that can handle a wide range of shooting scenarios.
I still use it now, in 2023. In fact, I own two of them, they’re brilliant, and still very much available for purchase.
I’d recommend doing so from WEX, but it’s also still currently available on Amazon too.
Here’s a run down…
Design and Build Quality
The Sony a7iii features a compact and lightweight design, weighing just 650g with a battery and memory card. The camera is built around a magnesium alloy chassis, which makes it durable and robust. It has a dust and moisture-resistant body, which is ideal for the type of outdoor photography and filmmaking that I like to do.
It has a comfortable grip that feels secure in your hand, I rarely use it with a camera strap at all. The body has a total of 10 customizable buttons and a multi-selector joystick, making it easy to access the camera's settings and features. Having a great layout and customizable buttons is important. I think the operation of a camera needs to become so fluent that it can be done at night, in gloves, and the layout of the Sony A7iii allows for this.
The camera also has a 2.36m-dot OLED electronic viewfinder (EVF) and a 3.0-inch tilting LCD touchscreen. It only tilts along one axis, which can be a little annoying, but the robustness of this single-axis tilt is satisfying.
Sensor and Image Quality
The Sony a7iii features a 24.2-megapixel back-illuminated Exmor R CMOS full-frame sensor, which is capable of producing high-resolution images with excellent detail, dynamic range, and low noise even in low light situations. The camera's BIONZ X image processor ensures speedy processing and reduces noise for clear and sharp images.
The sensor, however, is often some sort of amazing dust magnet. I have no idea how or why it happens but this little camera has a remarkable way of attracting dust onto its sensor. You’ll need to be extra careful with lens changes, and get used to using sensor-cleaning swabs. I never go anywhere with a rocket blower. An essential mirrorless camera owner tool.
The camera's ISO range is 100-51200 (expandable to 50-204800), allowing you to shoot in low-light conditions without sacrificing too much image quality. I find that it’s much better in low light in video mode than it is in stills mode, but maybe that’s just me.
The camera also features 5-axis in-body image stabilization (IBIS), which compensates for camera shake, allowing you to shoot handheld with slower shutter speeds and lower ISOs. This IBIS coupled with in-lens stabilization is wonderful. Stick it in a gimbal, I use it in the DJI Ronin SC, and it’s phenomenally good to walk around with. And when you’re not walking around with it, the Ronin SC makes for some interesting timelapse and motion-lapse options…
DJI Ronin SC Motionlapse Timelapse Tutorial
While we’re talking sensor stabilisation, one of my favourite topics….. the stabilisation of the Sony A7iii sensor and lens combination really comes into its own on a slider. I chucked it on my GVM GT-60D motorised camera slider here and experimented with it using a few different lenses.
The Sony A7iii on a GVM GT-60D camera slider
Autofocus and Performance
The Sony a7iii has an advanced autofocus system, featuring 693 phase-detection AF points and 425 contrast-detection AF points, covering approximately 93% of the image area. The AF system is fast and accurate in the right conditions, making it easy to track moving subjects. It also has Eye AF technology, which automatically detects and tracks the subject's eyes, ensuring sharp focus on the eyes in portrait photography.
For landscapes, I tend to avoid auto-focus, particularly while out in the mountains or anywhere cloudy. I’m so used to focusing manually that I just trust it more. I have unfortunately had the autofocus ruin what would otherwise have been lovely cloudy shots, as mist rolls through the scene and the Sony attempts to re-focus.
Fortunately, there is a load of options to set the focus peaking indicators exactly as you like them, so manually focusing with this camera is a breeze.
The camera can shoot at 10 frames per second (fps) with full AF/AE tracking, making it ideal for sports and wildlife photography. It also has a buffer capacity of up to 177 JPEG images or 89 compressed RAW images. Be warned though, these high-speed bursts have been pointed at for the famous Sony A7iii shutter problem, see the problem section below.
Video Features
The Sony a7iii is capable of shooting 4K (3840 x 2160) video at up to 30fps, with full pixel readout and no pixel binning. The camera also features S-Log2 and S-Log3 gamma curves, which allow for greater color grading flexibility in post-production.
For me though, I’m a big fan of its HLG output, it preserves more than enough dynamic range and allows for much faster editing.
The camera also has a dedicated S&Q (Slow & Quick) mode, allowing for slow-motion and time-lapse video. I don’t use this. After some testing, I was unhappy with the quality and bit rate when shooting slow-motion, and there is also an independent built-in intervalometer, so the Q in S&Q is rather redundant IMO.
That built-in intervalometer is a nice addition. Importantly, it includes the ability to use the silent shutter. Brilliant. I’m a big timelapse user of this camera, my electronic shutter count on one of my bodies must be well over a million.
Spending 3 days on a mountain to capture timelapse with the Sony A7iii
Other Features
The Sony a7iii has built-in Wi-Fi, NFC, and Bluetooth connectivity, allowing for supposedly easy file transfer and remote camera control. In practice, however, it’s a pain in the backside, and I never use these options.
The camera features dual SD card slots, allowing for backup storage or overflow recording. Incredibly useful. I’ve been using twin 128GB Sandisk Pro Extremes in mine for years, absolutely flawless performance.
The camera's battery life is rated at 610 shots per charge, making it one of the best in its class. It is also able to charge and remain powered up and in use via the USB C port, something I’ve found to be invaluable while out creating timelapse.
Problems with the Sony A7iii
The Sony A7iii does have a few problems that seem to occur quite a lot.
The microphone port has failed for quite a few people, including me! I’m unsure what causes it but it looks likely to be that the internals of the port fails far too early due to a manufacturing fault. In my case, WEX repaired it for free, and allowed me to use a Sony Alpha loan camera while it was away.
There are a lot of reports of the shutter mechanism failing completely. Thousands of reports! Some people suggest that it’s caused by a high shutter count, and some by using burst mode too frequently. In my opinion, it’s probably a combination of both along with some bad luck. It’s repairable, and to be honest, considering how popular this camera has become, I’m not concerned about all those reports.
I’ve also experienced an annoying problem with the timelapse mode disengaging and turning off midway through shooting a timelapse sequence. Now, this is annoying!!! It happened to me on multiple occasions in the early days of owning it and is now less frequent. I suspect it was addressed in the latest firmware update. Get your firmware updated! Free and easy via the Sony website.
Is the Sony A7iii still worth it in 2023?
Problems aside, the Sony a7iii is an old but excellent camera for photography enthusiasts and professionals who want a versatile camera that can handle a wide range of shooting scenarios.
It still lines up very well against more recent alternatives in 2023 in terms of quality and cost. Sony FE lenses are magnificent, and I’m happy to recommend the Sony A7iii to “most” people.
Get in touch on the YouTube comments or via Instagram with any questions.
Where to buy the Sony A7iii?
You can buy the Sony A7iii on Amazon for around £1500, although for anyone based in the UK, I highly recommend purchasing it through WEX. Their customer service is far superior to Amazon.
Check out MY GEAR to see my current loadout, or take a look at this blog post, 10 popular lenses for the Sony Alpha cameras
