Sony A7S III - WHOA!

Well its here! The new Sony A7s III!

This is the camera you’ve been waiting for - finally we have the Sony A7s III. It’s finally here - after almost 5 years since its predecessor, Sony has clearly put a lot into this new model - I can see why it was a 5 year wait. We’ve got new menus that are yes - touch enabled. We’ve got new file formats for both stills and video, 4k video up to 120 frames a second, heat management, simultaneous recording internally and externally, 2 dual function card slots - there is a lot to unpack here. I am really excited to share with you the new Sony A7s III.

This is the latest iteration from Sony's camera system which most technology will most likely be included on the Sony A7 IV, A7r V and other cameras.

The A7s III features a 12 megapixel sensor. You get a better pixel pitch with a less crowded sensor which gives you a better signal to noise ratio. The noise part of that equation stays the same, but the signal gets a boost which allows you to get much cleaner performance.

The A7s III gives you 4k, full-pixel readout with no binning in all modes up to 120 frames per second. This is also finally the camera that Sony gives us 10-bit depth with 4:2:2 color sampling for internal recording and the quality is excellent. The files are gorgeous and the move to 10-bit gives you files that you can work with in post with a much higher latitude for color grading or exposure adjustment.

Image stabilization is probably the best I’ve seen on any Sony camera. We have “active” available now in 4k, but it actually seems much improved over other cameras that have done this before. Active mode does use some digital image stabilization so there is a very slight crop. I assign this to a function key so I can switch if I’m on a tripod. Micro-jitters have been an issue on Sony cameras all along but this camera seems to match up with your technique better than previous iterations. Even with longer lenses, it works great. It also gets a boost if you’re using a lens that supports optical image stabilization such as the 100-400mm G Master or even the 100mm G Master which is an older, but very under appreciated lens.

Shooting in the S-Log 3 picture profile will give you over 15 stops of dynamic range to work with and now works down to 160 ISO so this is more versatile than the higher ISO minimums we’ve traditionally had in Sony cameras.

There are 2 new variants on the XAVC S codecs… up to now the standard supports long GOP, but we also have XAVC HS which is an h.265 file and also XAVC-S I which is an all Intra, h.265 format that gives you up to 600mpbs of data.

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Ted Forbes
The Art of Photography
2830 S. Hulen, Studio 133
Fort Worth, TX 76109
US of A

[westenbergerstephan]

Wow, Sony does again show that their cameras are top of the class... And finally, a flip display.... YES!

[chosen_none]

Hi Ted,
I think your description of Long GOP vs All Intra is not entirely accurate.

All Intra is the simpler of the two, it uses all I-frames for encoding. Intra frames are independent of any other frames in the video stream - they don't require information from any other frames to be decoded.

Long GOP will uses P (Predicitve) and B (Bi-Directional Predictive) frames along with I-frames. P and B frames may refer to information in neighboring frames. P-frames are forward predictive and will refer only to information in previous I/P frames, where as B frames are Bi-Directional and may refer to information in frames in either direction.

All intra is actually the technically simpler of the two and should require less computation to decode (and especially less to encode); it is also less prone to encoding artifacts. However, it is far less efficient than Long GOP and requires substantially higher bitrate for the same perceived video quality.

[ResizeFilms]

Hello, I’d want to inform you that you made a mistake about Long GOP and All-Intra compression.
Long GOP is actually much more taxing on the computer to edit requiring more processing power to decode and encode than All-Intra due to higher compression.
The first frame of a GOP structure is an I-Frame (or intraframe), and it contains all the information for that one particular frame, practically uncompressed. But the next frame only stores the changes or differences between the I frame and the B frame. Typically, there is then a second B frame followed by a P-frame (or predictive frame) which merely predicts what the structure will look like based on the information of the previous b-frames.
That means a computer always has to go back to previous frames to decode a determined image, to be able to playback on real time, which is very processor heavy.
All-Intra is much more easy to edit and playback because each frame of the footage is independent and has his own information.

[puggsincyberspace]

That was so in-depth, glad I watched yours first...

[foljs]

All Intra is less taxing on the editors than Long GOP, as there's less decoding involved. That's the reason we transcode common camera formats to something like Pro RES - to be easier on the CPU.

[alexffline]

I’ve never been this early to a video so this is just a comment to cement my place in History

[daveinpublic]

Long GOP is actually more computer intensive. Intraframes are easier on your computer but are much larger files. Editting will slow down considerably when shooting in something highly compressed like H.265.

[houseofintent]

What Sony needs to add now and what I've been asking for for a really really long time but has never been addressed is be able to let us choose been aspect ratios for video from open gate, 1:1, 4:3, 3:2, 16:9, 2:41:1, 2:76:1, etc.. On top of that, add an Anamorphic Mode (de-squeezed) from 1.33x, 1.5x, 1.8x, 2x, etc. It would only make since to put this on the next gen s series as it's gear more towards video. Other than these features, this camera hit most of my expectations. Great job Sony and I hope you're listening to this feature because Anamorphic shooters would LOVE this.

[STACYBURK]

If you're an outdoor wedding photographer and mostly do photos over video... would you wait for the sony a7iiii or go ahead and buy the sony a7siii?

[NewYorkerPEACE]

you talk about the important specs and useability items that other reviewers tend to go over the same things. solid thx

[dallatorretdu]

have to clarify a bit LONG GOP
when the video is played back you don't have missing frames or frame pieces, its the video files that saves only certain parts and tells the pc "the rest is the same, this moves a bit up, this is what changed totally"

[st.michaelthearchangel]

Wow. What an amazingly capable camera. Seems like one can buy this and be set for the next couple of decades.

[mdelmonte]

EXCELLENT Review! Thank you ! 🙏
Greatly appreciate the level of detail you always share! definitely looking forward to more videos in the near future. Excited for the new camera to arrive 📸

[nayasansaar]

I have a question. Does S Log -2, goes to ISO 1600 or ISO 80?

[GraphicMill]

Scopes of any kind would definitely help, or false colours for exposure. A great tool!! And custom LUTs would be luxury! You could make exposure adjustments to suit the look you’re expecting to apply.
But regardless, I’m so blown away by this “video workhorse”, I’ve already paid for my copy and I have my foot tapping on the floor in anticipation. Finally, some serious image and colour control, and recovery. And aim absolutely fine with 12mp still images. Especially with a much better sensor that will pull out far more low light image quality and colour depth.

[TimotheosEnterprisesMedia]

And also for the lenses the glass do think Sony is on par with leica or like a has better glass?

[marksharman]

If this is, fundamentally, the new format of the Sony Alpha Mirriroless, going forward, the A9III & A7R5 are going to be remarkable.

[mirthakoch]

Please test the gyroscopic stabilization feature of the A7siii, whose metadata can be used by the Sony Creative Software Catalyst Browse (free?) product to surpass the in-body IBIS. It involved more than the usual electronic stabilization too. This works well with the FX9, according to Mark Bone. This might be very useful, since Sony's IBIS has not been very stellar for tracking shots, and almost eliminates a need for a gimbal. It's not clear whether any A7siii reviewers to date have explored this. Alas, I don't think it works with prior Sony Alpha series models. It might be nice if future models offered it as an in-camera real-time option also.

[VictorWyatt]

Hopefully Sony will push that menu out to their whole line of cameras with touch screens.

[simoncejas]

ALL-I are larger files and take up much more space but is way easier on your computer. I've been using Long Gop with the Sony Pxw X70 and it is way more taxing on your computer. Long Gop is a more efficient codec in which it saves on space.. You explained it opposite.