Industry News: Sony officially announces the Alpha A7s III

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www.canonrumors.com
SAN DIEGO – July 28, 2020 –Today, Sony Electronics Inc. announced the long-awaited addition to its acclaimed Alpha 7S full-frame mirrorless camera series⁠ — the Alpha 7S III (model ILCE-7SM3).
Featuring a brand new 12.1MP (approx., effective) back-illuminated full-frame image sensor with ultra-high sensitivity and 15+ stop wide dynamic rangeii, a host of impressive video recording capabilities including 4K 120pi and 10-bit 4:2:2 color depth, a new heat-dissipating mechanism, dual-slot relay recording enabling over one-hour of 4K 60p movie shooting, a new autofocus system, and touch screen interface and side flip LCD screen, the new Alpha 7S III will become the ultimate creative tool for video professionals and all types of hybrid still/video shooters.
Preorder the Sony Alpha a7s III at Adorama

“The Alpha 7S III is the ultimate representation of Sony’s passion to solve our customers’ pain...

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Bert63

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Pretty good specs


Are they really? I'm not a hardcore video shooter so I'm dumber than the average bear when it comes to stuff like this but to me it seems like a lot of money for that camera.

I see it can shoot 4K60P for over an hour so that's a good thing if that's something you need. So kudos.

What is so appealing that makes it worth that kind of money - and I'm not being sarcastic - a compare and contrast in an 'explain it like I'm five' kind of way would be very helpful.
 
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ahsanford

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What is so appealing that makes it worth that kind of money - and I'm not being sarcastic - a compare and contrast in an 'explain it like I'm five' kind of way would be very helpful.


You can run 4K longer without overheating, I'm guessing. #iamastillsguy #iknownothing

Surely low light as well

- A
 
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Bert63

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You can run 4K longer without overheating, I'm guessing. #iamastillsguy #iknownothing

Surely low light as well

- A


Yeah - I edited my post to reflect that as well - I guess that's a good thing if you're big into using a little camera like this for making movies/interviews/weddings or whatnot.

I'm sure there is something revolutionary here I'm just not smart enough to know what that is.

Good tip on the low light - I saw that and it sort of bounced off because it isn't something that comes into play for me.
 
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robotfist

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What is so appealing that makes it worth that kind of money - and I'm not being sarcastic - a compare and contrast in an 'explain it like I'm five' kind of way would be very helpful.

For video shooters, who this camera is targeted for, it can shoot continuous 4k, 10bit , 422, with a full pixel readout and no crop in all shooting modes including at 120 fps. It's got an ISO range from 80 - 409,600 so it will more than likely continue its status as the lowlight king. These are all very good specs.

And more importantly, it is designed not to overheat.

I'm not a Sony person. I'm a Canon guy and have been for over a decade. But I'm a video shooter, and it's been a frustrating ride with Canon. When it comes to video, Sony beat the R series with this release.

Some video shots showing the lowlight capabilities. Looks great...

 
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Bert63

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For video shooters, who this camera is targeted for, it can shoot continuous 4k, 10bit , 422, with a full pixel readout and no crop in all shooting modes including at 120 fps. It's got an ISO range from 80 - 409,600 so it will more than likely continue its status as the lowlight king. These are all very good specs.

And more importantly, it is designed not to overheat.

I'm not a Sony person. I'm a Canon guy and have been for over a decade. But I'm a video shooter, and it's been a frustrating ride with Canon. When it comes to video, Sony beat the R series with this release.

Some video shots showing the lowlight capabilities. Looks great...



The release says it can do 4K60P for over an hour. I see nothing about 4K120 limitations.

" even during extended continuous recording sessions at 4K 60p 10-bit 4:2:2 video lasting an hour or more. "

If so, good. And I get the low light thing - I imagine that is attributable in part to their small sensor design. Dunno.

I guess you really need to be a player to understand the game.

Thanks for the info!
 
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davidhfe

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Moving this from another thread. Sorry for the double post:

--

So Sony pulled a canon and took 5 years to perfect a body, and Canon pulled a Sony and crammed too many specs into a body.

I'm really curious what Canon's eventual response will be:
- Continue to pursue hybrids with adequate specs for both video and stills, leaving video workloads to the C-X00 line
- Build an RF "SLR" style video camera with lower mp that's more video-focused
- Put the 45mp 8K sensor into a larger body (XC style or something more like the S1H) with better thermals, codecs, HDMIs, etc, etc

For all the hype about hybrid cameras there have been very, very few that actually do it well. The reality is the video world wants 12-20mp and the new bar for non-PJ work is quickly going to be around 50 with the Z7, R5 and A7R all hanging out at 45+
 
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davidhfe

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Are they really? I'm not a hardcore video shooter so I'm dumber than the average bear when it comes to stuff like this but to me it seems like a lot of money for that camera.

I see it can shoot 4K60P for over an hour so that's a good thing if that's something you need. So kudos.

What is so appealing that makes it worth that kind of money - and I'm not being sarcastic - a compare and contrast in an 'explain it like I'm five' kind of way would be very helpful.

Higher quality video. With the lower res sensor, it's really focused on great 4K. The oversampled 4k on the R5 will be better but comes with a ton of asterisks around heat, rolling shutter, etc. Sony's promising those big pixels mean low rolling shutter, great video dynamic range, longer shooting times before hitting thermal limits. This is exactly the camera that video shooters seem to want canon to build. (And, honestly, the R6 should have been a lot closer to this)
 
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For video shooters, who this camera is targeted for, it can shoot continuous 4k, 10bit , 422, with a full pixel readout and no crop in all shooting modes including at 120 fps. It's got an ISO range from 80 - 409,600 so it will more than likely continue its status as the lowlight king. These are all very good specs.

And more importantly, it is designed not to overheat.

I'm not a Sony person. I'm a Canon guy and have been for over a decade. But I'm a video shooter, and it's been a frustrating ride with Canon. When it comes to video, Sony beat the R series with this release.

Some video shots showing the lowlight capabilities. Looks great...

I can honestly say I am going to buy this camera, Canon has officially shit the bed with a hybrid camera. If the 1DX didn’t have a record limit And 4k120 I would be purchasing that for a all around camera. This thing honestly looks Pretty amazing, I have been saying for a while along with many other people I don’t care about insanely higher resolutions just give us a really good 4K and I think Sony has delivered that, I will still keep my 1DC’s and a lot of my other stuff but this thing is going to be an awesome tool to have. It’s weird seeing canon push the envelope and have reliability issues and now we are seeing Sony becoming the reliable workhorse.
 
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Bert63

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Higher quality video. With the lower res sensor, it's really focused on great 4K. The oversampled 4k on the R5 will be better but comes with a ton of asterisks around heat, rolling shutter, etc. Sony's promising those big pixels mean low rolling shutter, great video dynamic range, longer shooting times before hitting thermal limits. This is exactly the camera that video shooters seem to want canon to build. (And, honestly, the R6 should have been a lot closer to this)


I don't disagree at all - I guess I'm just not there yet.

My wife just explained it to me this way:

Some people look at photos that come out of a cell phone and think they look great. Photographers look at photos that come out of a cell phone and all they see are the faults. I'm guilty of this. Cell phone photos are better than they used to be but TO ME they don't compare with a dedicated stills camera.

I guess video specs are the same to the guys that are heavily into that. I just look at $3,500 dollars for this and wonder why people don't just buy a dedicated video camera whose whole purpose in life is to shoot video? I guess there aren't many options with these features at that price point.
 
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Bert63

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I can honestly say I am going to buy this camera, Canon has officially shit the bed with a hybrid camera. If the 1DX didn’t have a record limit And 4k120 I would be purchasing that for a all around camera. This thing honestly looks Pretty amazing, I have been saying for a while along with many other people I don’t care about insanely higher resolutions just give us a really good 4K and I think Sony has delivered that, I will still keep my 1DC’s and a lot of my other stuff but this thing is going to be an awesome tool to have. It’s weird seeing canon push the envelope and have reliability issues and now we are seeing Sony becoming the reliable workhorse.


Hopefully you'll keep all of us over here at 'BRAND X' up to date on how you like it!

:)
 
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I can honestly say I am going to buy this camera, Canon has officially shit the bed with a hybrid camera. If the 1DX didn’t have a record limit And 4k120 I would be purchasing that for a all around camera. This thing honestly looks Pretty amazing, I have been saying for a while along with many other people I don’t care about insanely higher resolutions just give us a really good 4K and I think Sony has delivered that, I will still keep my 1DC’s and a lot of my other stuff but this thing is going to be an awesome tool to have. It’s weird seeing canon push the envelope and have reliability issues and now we are seeing Sony becoming the reliable workhorse.
Sony definitely seems like a better deal on the video part!
Much more reliable and of course "usable".
It's a shame. Was really hoping Canon would finally create a camera that added IBIS and no crop 4K. And they did, but then went backwards with the unpredictable over heating. Sucks.
 
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I pre-ordered one. It suits my style of hybrid shooting quite well. I always felt the ideal hybrid MILC was one with a balanced set of specs. Don't need RAW, don't want high-bitrates, don't need 8K. When I need those specs, I have my cine camera along with the budget and crew to support it. Here is what I like about shooting video on Sony, which continues with the S3.

- Single interface for audio. No need for dangling 3.5mm cables
- Dual card recording for redundancy and no need for new media immediately. My V90 UHS-II cards continue to work and I only need to carry 1 type of media.
- Base ISO and Max ISO. Many event halls, etc. have poor lighting which you cannot always control
- No overheating for obvious reasons
- White balance sensor to prevent rapid shifts when subjects fill the frame
- Large EVF for framing outdoors when a sunhood over the lcd doesn't always work.
- Selectable S&Q highspeed in base frame rate or actual frame rate to include audio which is sometimes imperative when editing a cinematic highlight and a long edit w/ sound. It's also easier in post to quickly identify all of your high speed clips and group them separately.
- Real-time AF (I never upgraded to the RIV, but I have a A6600 and ZV1 which are similar)
- Great battery life. I hated the FW50 batteries, but a bit more than 2 FZ100 batteries gets me through a very long day. I don't think the LP-E6NH last as long, but the Canon's draw more power as the Wh are almost identical.

In other areas, some reviews show ~13 stops on a test which is better than the R5 at ~11. The rolling shutter seems to be a bit better on the R5, but it wasn't apparent which modes were compared. Line skipped will probably readout faster than the 1:1 on the Sony but at a big cost of IQ. But at the end of the day, the Sony doesn't have 45MP and isn't great for stills. I would need two bodies to cover video (S3) and stills (RIV).

It's all a mess of compromises... :p
 
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