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As expected, Sony has finally unveiled the new full-frame Alpha series camera, the highly anticipated Sony A7S III. At the same time, just a few hours before the official announcement, pre-order of this camera has also been started on the Bhphotovideo.com, with a starting price of $3,498 for the body only and shipping will begin from September 24, 2020.
So, the new camera from Sony has a 12-megapixel (back-illuminated) sensor that allows you to record 4K video at a frame rate of 120fps. At the same time, the manufacturer focused on the possibilities of shooting this camera in low light conditions.
The sensor is supported by the new BIONZ-XR processor, with an expanded range from ISO 40-409600, as well as fast 10 fps continuous shooting for up to 1000 consecutive raw frames.
This chip can process information eight times faster than the previous processor of the previous generation. It is due to this innovation that the rolling shutter effect will be largely neutralized.
Also confirmed information about the fully rotatable display on Sony A7S3 (this was previously reported by several sources at once). It has a resolution of 1.44 million dots and a diagonal of 3 inches. The display itself is touch-sensitive, it is reported that the new camera’s menu structure has been completely revised for better user experience.
Here is a screenshot of the new Sony A7SIII camera control menu:
The viewfinder has a record resolution of 9.44 million dots (OLED technology). One of the main features of the new camera is the ability to shoot video in 4K 120fps. However, this mode only works with a 1.1x crop factor. The recording time limit in this mode is 1 hour.
At the same time, the manufacturer named 4K quality as one of the best on the market.
FullHD mode at 240fps is also available. A recording is carried out with a color depth of 10 bits and a scanning rate of 4: 2: 2. New codecs are available: XAVC-SI records single images (All-I) at data rates up to 500 Mbps, XAVC-HS reduces the data volume when compressing groups of pictures to 200 Mbps thanks to H.265. 10bit 4: 2: 2 is available in all shooting modes.
The camera through the HDMI 2.1 port can output 4K 60fps video with a color depth of 16 bits (ProRes RAW) to an Atomos recorder (Ninja V). The dynamic range when shooting in S-log 2 / S-log 3 is 15 stops.
The Sony A7S III incorporates an enhanced 5.5-stop effective 5-axis SteadyShot INSIDE image stabilization system, which compensates for five different types of camera shake encountered during handheld shooting of stills and video. When recording video, digital stabilization can also be used (which relies on the work of a special gyro sensor).
The camera received an advanced autofocus system and the ability to shoot at a speed of up to 10fps. Hybrid AF covers 92% of the sensor area and uses 759 phase focus points and 425 contrast focus points.
Sony is using two memory card drives for the first time in the Alpha 7S III, which can use both SD (UHS-II) cards and the new Type A CFexpress cards. They are smaller than Type B cards and faster than SD cards. For most video modes, V60 and V90 class SD cards are sufficient. CFexpress is only required in S&Q mode with 4: 2: 2 subsampling and 10-bit color depth.
The camera can take about 600 shots or record 95 minutes of video on a single charge. The new camera is measuring 129 x 97 x 81 mm and weighs 690 grams.
Sony A7S III is now available to pre-order via the Bhphptovideo.com store and should be available in September this year. Thus, this camera will compete with Canon EOS R5 and Panasonic S1H in the price segment among full-frame devices.
