Two years since the Sony α7R II was launched, Sony has finally announced its successor. The Sony a7R III features upgrades to what is already a solid camera, featuring a wealth of new features including better autofocus performance and longer battery life.
Underneath the familiar looking body is a massive 42.4MP full-frame back-illuminated Exmor R CMOS sensor. It has some updated hardware and software compared to the one in the a7R II, headlined by an updated BIONZ X processor that is 1.8 times faster. The ISO performance of the a7R III has also been improved from its predecessor, as it has an impressive range of 100 – 32000 (expandable to ISO 50 – 102400 for still images).
The other benefit of the new BIONZ X processor is in burst shooting. The a7R III can now shoot continuously at 10fps in RAW mode and with autofocus on (it was 5fps in the previous model). It can also do live-view continuous shooting using the LCD screen at 8fps. Coupled with 15 stops of dynamic range, the Sony a7R III is an image capturing beast.
Autofocus performance also gets a boost, thanks to the 399 focal-plane phase-detection AF points which covers 65% of the frame. This is true for both vertical and horizontal positions. There are also 425 contrast AF points now, compared to only 400 in the a7R II.
Video features also receives some boost. The Sony a7R III records 4K video across the full width of the sensor, unlike some of its competitors. In Super 35mm mode, it uses the full pixel readout without pixel binning, downsampling 5K videos to produce high-quality 4K video. It can also record Full HD resolution at 120fps that later can be slowed down for slow-motion video.
Another new feature of the Sony a7R III is the dual SD card slots, first seen on the Sony a9. To prolong shooting time, Sony is introducing the new Z-series batteries for the Sony a7R III, which promises 2.2 times the battery life of the older W-series.
Finally, there’s a first for any camera on the market – the Sony a7R III features a USB Type-C 3.1 Gen 1 connector for high-speed data transfer from the camera to PCs. WiFi and NFC are also available for mobile device connectivity.
Sony will be releasing the Sony a7R III this November for approximately $3,200 (abut RM13,550) – that’s for the body only.
(Source: DPreview)
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