Introduction

Ease of Use

Front of the Sony A7R III

Sony have once again resisted the temptation to make wholesale changes to the third generation of the A7R camera, which at first glance looks very similar to its 18-month-old predecessor. Look more closely, though, and you'll notice some subtle but important changes that make this latest version easier to use, following the lead of the flagship A9 camera that was released last year. From the front, the A7R III has a larger hand-grip than the Mark II, principally because it now has a larger capacity battery that almost doubles the CIPA-rated battery life to 650 shots, finally addressing one of the most common complaints about Sony's mirrorless camera range. Subsequently the A7R III is slightly heavier then the Mark II, but both easier to hold and capable of lasting for a full day's shooting on one battery.

The other physical changes have been made on the rear of the camera, where Sony have added a thumb-operated joystick to set the AF point, something that several rival cameras now offer and a much more intuitive method than using the navigation pad, as on the Mark II. Accompanying this is another addition in the form of a new AF-On button, which makes it a snip to back-button focus using your thumb, rather than half-pressing the shutter button, a method that many photographers swear by. The main casualty of these changes is the loss of the A7R II's AF/MF switch, which you'll now need to set via the Function menu.

Rear of the Sony A7R III

The A7R II's awkwardly positioned one-touch movie record button, which was previously located on the corner of the rear thumb-grip, has been moved directly to the right of the viewfinder, a much better location., while the C3 button is now on the rear-left of the camera. Look under the memory card flap and you'll find not one, but two, SD card slots, although somewhat disappointingly only one of them supports the fastest UHS-II standard, a missed opportunity on such a fast shooting camera. Finally, Sony have alos added a PC Sync port and both USB-2 and USB-C / 3 ports, the latter meaning that you can power and tether the camera at the same time. We'd also have liked to have seen the A9's continuous shooting/bracketing dial, which is located to the left of the viewfinder on the A9, replicated on the A7R III.

Which brings us on to one of the major upgrades to the A7R III, its continuous shooting speed. While the Mark II was no slouch considering the 42-megapixel sensor, the new Mark III takes things to another level by offering 10fps burst shooting with Full AF/AE tracking for up to 76 JPEG / RAW images or 28 uncompressed RAW images in one high-speed burst, available with either the mechanical shutter or a completely silent electronic shutter. It can also shoot continuously at up to 8fps in live view mode, much like the A6500 camera. It wasn't so long long ago that only professional sports DSLRs like the Canon EOS 1Dx and the Nikon D5 could shoot in excess of 10fps, thanks mainly to having lower-megapixel sensors, so it's testament to Sony's engineering team that this is now possible on a high-resolution camera like the A7R III. If you need even more speed, then the 24-megapixel Sony A9 can shoot at a blistering 20fps with full-time AF, but you'll have to sacrifice 18 megapixels to get that out-and-out speed, something that most photographers don't need in most situations. For us, the A7R III currently offers the best balance of resolution and shooting speed of any camera currently on the market.

Top of the Sony A7R III

As well as shooting speed, the new A7R III is also much faster in other ways. The older version took forever to startup, prompting many users to just leave it on all the time in sleep mode, which didn't really combine well with the short battery life. Thankfully the Mark III starts-up almost instantly and is ready for shooting in less than a second, and its general operating performance feels a lot snappier too. The auto-focusing speed has also been improved, another key criticism of the A7R II, with Sony claiming that it's 2x as fast at locking on to your subject, 2x as fast at tracking a moving subject, and 2x as fast at recognising and focusing on an eye using the dedicated Eye AF mode, ideal for shooting portraits, all at light levels down to -3EV. Using the two cameras side-by-side, we noticed a big difference between them in all of these areas, so if you ever had any issues with the previous model (and lots of people did), the new A7R III certainly addresses them and more.

The 399-point focal plane phase-detection AF system on the A7R III works very well with non-native lenses, including both Sony A-mount lenses when they are mounted on the camera using an LA-EA3 or LA-EA1 mount adapter, and a wide variety of third-party lenses via a suitable adapter. We tested the A7R III with a large number of Canon lenses using Metabones and Sigma adapters, and remarkably AF speeds were often the same as using the lens mounted on a Canon DSLR. Note that Eye AF is also now available with non-native lenses, something that the Mark II didn't support.

Tilting LCD Screen

The Sony A7R III once again features in-body 5-axis image stabilization, but now offers an improved 5.5-stops of compensation versus the 4.5 stops of its predecessor, ensuring parity with most of its principal rivals. The in-body system ensures that the A7R III can stabilize all kinds of lenses, not just those with the Sony FE designation, although third party lenses without any electronic contacts only benefit from three axes of compensation, and you need to manually input which focal length you’re using.

The brand new Pixel Shift Multi Shooting mode captures four consecutive frames which are shifted up, down, left and right by one pixel each, which can then be combined into a single image using Sony's new Imaging Edge software, resulting in a more detailed image with better tonal gradation. Note that it doesn't work with moving subjects, though, and the camera needs to be perfectly still too, limiting its usefulness somewhat. We also found the Imaging Edge software to be very slow at combining the Pixel Shift images, and generally non-intutive, so hopefully the mainstream Raw conversion programs will add support for this feature sooner rather than later.

The A7R III features a much better electronic viewfinder, now using a Quad-VGA Tru-Finder OLED unit with approximately 3,686k dots that is twice as bright, quicker to startup and and runs at 120fps. The LCD screen on the rear has also been improved, offering the same specification as on the flagship A9 camera. It's the same 3-inch size and tilts in the same way as on the A7R II, but is now also touch sensitive, which can be used for some elements of operation, including operating the auto-focus whilst looking through the EVF, a feature that we've seen on several other high-end mirrorless cameras recently. Unfortunately Sony have stopped short of offering a full touchscreen experience - somewhat inexplicably, you can't use the menu system in this way, press the on-screen icons, or even scroll through images during playback, a la smartphones.

The Sony A7R III In-hand

The Sony A7R III can shoot and record 4K video in multiple formats, including full-frame and now the Super 35mm formats across the entire width of the image sensor without any pixel binning. It can output uncompressed UHD 4K, 3840 x 2160 pixel video (30p/24p/25p) at a 4:2:2 color depth without down-sampling to either the inserted memory card or over HDMI to compatible third party recorders. A new HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma) mode is available that supports an Instant HDR workflow, while both S-Log2 and S-Log3 are available for increased colour grading flexibility. The A7R III supports the XAVC S format, which is based on the professional XAVC codec, and can record Full HD at 120fps at up to 100Mbps, which allows footage to be edited into 4x or 5x slow-motion files, with a new S&Q mode (Slow and Quick motion) on the shooting dial providing selectable frame rates ranging from 1fps to 120fps.

Press the Menu button on the back of the camera and a number of shooting and set up folders appear on screen, with white text on a black background aiding visibility. The A7R III uses the same newly revised menu system as the A6500 and A9, which is clearer and easier to navigate than on the previous A7 cameras, although still frustratingly difficult to navigate though, with no less than 35 different screens of options. As denoted by symbols on the side of the camera, the Sony A7R III is wi-fi and NFC capable, and it also now offers location data acquisition via a Bluetooth connection to a compatible mobile device.

Overall, although the two cameras look similar, the Sony A7R III is much improved when compared to the A7R II, both in terms of handling, performance and feature-set. Now let's take a look at its image quality...

Image Quality

All of the sample images in this review were taken using the 42 megapixel Fine JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 15Mb.

The Sony A7R III has an extensive and very usable ISO range of 50-102,400. ISO 50-6400 is virtually noise-free, while ISO 12800 and 25600 produce more than acceptable results, and even ISO 51200 and 102400 are OK for emergency use. The RAW samples illustrate just how much processing the camera does by default, as they're much noisier at all ISO values than their JPEG counterparts, with fewer unwanted colour artifacts.

The night photograph was excellent, with the maximum shutter speed of 30 seconds and the Bulb mode offering lots of scope for creative night photography. The new Pixel Shift Multi Shot mode alllows you to combine four images into one image with more detail using the Sony Imaging Edge software, although it doesn't work for moving subjects at all.

The Dynamic Range Optimizer function extracts more detail from the shadow and highlight areas in an image, without introducing any unwanted noise or other artifacts. The High Dynamic Range mode combines two shots taken at different exposures to produce one image with greater dynamic range than a single image would produce. It only works for JPEGs and for still subjects, but does produce some very effective results.

The various Picture Effects quickly produce special looks that would otherwise require you to spend a lot of time in the digital darkroom, while the Creative Styles provide a quick and easy way to tweak the camera's JPEG images.

Noise

There are 10 ISO settings available on the Sony A7R III. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting for both JPEG and RAW formats.

JPEG	RAW
ISO 50 (100% Crop)	ISO 50 (100% Crop)
ISO 100 (100% Crop)	ISO 100 (100% Crop)
ISO 200 (100% Crop)	ISO 200 (100% Crop)
ISO 400 (100% Crop)	ISO 400 (100% Crop)
ISO 800 (100% Crop)	ISO 800 (100% Crop)
ISO 1600 (100% Crop)	ISO 1600 (100% Crop)
ISO 3200 (100% Crop)	ISO 3200 (100% Crop)
ISO 6400 (100% Crop)	ISO 6400 (100% Crop)
ISO 12800 (100% Crop)	ISO 12800 (100% Crop)
ISO 25600 (100% Crop)	ISO 25600 (100% Crop)
ISO 51200 (100% Crop)	ISO 51200 (100% Crop)
ISO 102400 (100% Crop)	ISO 102400 (100% Crop)

File Quality

The Sony A7R III has 3 different image quality settings available, with Extra Fine being the highest quality option. Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.

42M Extra Fine (25.8Mb) (100% Crop)	42M Fine (11.8Mb) (100% Crop)
42M Standard (7.84Mb) (100% Crop)	42M RAW (81.9Mb) (100% Crop)

Night

The Sony A7R III's maximum shutter speed is 30 seconds and there's also a Bulb mode for even longer exposures, which is excellent news if you're seriously interested in night photography.

Night

Pixel Shift Multi Shoot

 

Off

On

Off

On

Image Stabilisation

The Sony A7R III features built-in 5-axis optical image stabilization worth up to 5 shutter speed stops, depending on your hand-holding technique.

Off	On

Dynamic Range Optimizer

D-Range Optimiser (DRO) is Sony's solution to improve shadow detail in photos taken in contrasty light. There are 5 different levels and an Auto option.

Off	Level 1
Level 2	Level 3
Level 4	Level 5

High Dynamic Range

High Dynamic Range Optimiser (HDR) is Sony's solution for capturing more contrast than a single exposure can handle by combining two exposures into one image. There are 5 different EV settings and an Auto option.

Off	1EV
2EV	3EV
4EV	5EV

Creative Styles

There are 13 Creative Style preset effects that you can use to change the look of your images.

Standard	Vivid
Neutral	Clear
Deep	Light
Portrait	Landscape
Sunset	Night Scene
Autumn Leaves	Black & White
Sepia

Picture Effects

The Sony A7R III offers a range of thirteen creative Picture Effects.

Off	Toy Camera
Pop Color	Posterization
Retro Photo	Soft High-key
Partial Color (Red)	High Contrast Mono
Soft Focus	HDR Painting
Rich-tone Mono	Miniature
Watercolor	Illustration

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Sony A7R III camera, which were all taken using the 42 megapixel Extra Fine JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Sample RAW Images

The Sony A7R III enables users to capture RAW and JPEG format files. We've provided some Sony RAW (ARW) samples for you to download (thumbnail images shown below are not 100% representative).

Sample Movie & Video

Product Images

Front of the Sony A7R III

Front of the Sony A7R III

Side of the Sony A7R III

Side of the Sony A7R III

Side of the Sony A7R III

Side of the Sony A7R III

Rear of the Sony A7R III

Rear of the Sony A7R III / Turned On

Rear of the Sony A7R III / Image Displayed

Rear of the Sony A7R III / Status Screen

Rear of the Sony A7R III / Function Menu

Rear of the Sony A7R III / Main Menu

Tilting LCD Screen

Tilting LCD Screen

Tilting LCD Screen

Tilting LCD Screen

Top of the Sony A7R III

Bottom of the Sony A7R III

Side of the Sony A7R III

Side of the Sony A7R III

Front of the Sony A7R III

Front of the Sony A7R III

Memory Card Slot

Battery Compartment

Conclusion

The A7R III is the most well-balanced Sony camera to date, offering a compelling mix of resolution, speed and size that also makes it one of the best cameras that we've ever reviewed, be that mirrorless or DSLR. 

Sony's aggressive strategy of launching several new cameras every 18 months has certainly paid dividends with the A7R III, which builds on the solid foundations of the Mark II model by adding most of the recent flagship A9's standout features, along with a few of its own. Although it can't match the A9 in terms of sheer shooting speed, the A7R III's 10fps mode is more than fast enough for most situations and most photographers, especially given the huge 42 megapixel resolution that's on offer. 

We've used the A7R III for shooting sports, at night, on the street, and just generally as a carry everywhere camera, and it's excelled at virtually everything. Sure, there are a few things that we'd still like to see improved, most notably the complicated menu system, limited touchscreen functionality and unintuitive Imaging Edge software for pixel shift conversions, but that list is noticeably smaller than with most new cameras. If you mainly shoot sports or wildlife, the A9 has the edge, but the A7R III is definitely better at shooting a wider variety of subjects.

With rumors abounding that Canon and Nikon will finally join the serious mirrorless party in earnest this year, Sony have jumped their gun by releasing a camera that's simply better than its direct rivals, be they mirrorless or DSLR. If the Big Two do actually launch full-frame compact system cameras, they've certainly got a lot of catching-up to do to even match the A7R III, never mind beat it. 2018 could certainly be an interesting year in the high-end camera market...

Ratings (out of 5)
Design	5
Features	5
Ease-of-use	4.5
Image quality	5
Value for money	4.5

Main Rivals

Listed below are some of the rivals of the Sony A7R III.

Review Roundup

Reviews of the Sony A7R III from around the web.

Specifications

News

The Sony A7R III is a new compact system camera with a 42.4 megapixel back-illuminated Exmor R CMOS image sensor with 15-stops of dynamic range, continuous shooting speeds at up to 10 fps with full AF/AE tracking, 399 phase-detection AF points, 5-axis optical in-body image stabilization and 4K video quality.

The Sony A7R III will ship in Europe in November 2017, priced at approximately £3,200, and $3,200 in the US.

Sony Press Release 

Sony’s New Full-frame α7R III Interchangeable Lens Camera Delivers the Ultimate Combination of Resolution and Speed

Innovative Full-frame Mirrorless Model Offers 42.4 MP High-Resolution, 10 fps Continuous Shooting, Fast and Precise AF Performance in a Compact Body

• 35mm Full-Frame 42.4 MP[i] Back-Illuminated Exmor R™ CMOS Image Sensor with Evolved Image Processing
• Continuous Shooting at up to 10 fps[ii] with either Silent Shooting or Mechanical Shutter and full Auto Focus/Auto Exposure tracking
• 399 phase-detection AF points covering 68%[iii] of image area, 425 contrast AF points and approximately 2 times more effective Eye AF[iv]
• 5-axis optical in-body image stabilization with a 5.5 step[v] shutter speed advantage
• High Resolution 4K[vi] Movie Shooting with full pixel readout and no pixel binning[vii]
• Completely redesigned for professionals, including upgraded Auto Focus, Dual SD Card Slots, Extended Battery Life, SuperSpeed USB (USB 3.1 Gen 1) USB Type-C™ Terminal and more
• Compact, Lightweight body at only 23 oz[viii]

Sony today announced an impressive addition to their full-frame mirrorless camera line-up, the α7R III (model ILCE-7RM3).    

Thanks to an evolutionary leap in image processing power and efficiency, the new α7R III combines a high-resolution 42.4 MPⁱ back-illuminated Exmor R CMOS image sensor with impressive shooting speeds at up to 10 fpsⁱⁱ with full AF/AE tracking, as well as beautiful image and 4K6 video quality, wide 15-stop9 dynamic range, high sensitivity with noise reduction of almost a full stop4 and more. With these immense capabilities and a compact, lightweight body, it’s an extremely versatile tool for photographers, videographers, multi-media creators and all other types of professionals that demand reliability, flexibility and versatility.

A New Level of Image Quality

The 42.4MP high-resolution, back-illuminated Exmor R CMOS image sensor utilises a gapless on-chip lens design and AR (anti-reflective) coating on the surface of the sensor’s seal glass to dramatically improve light collection efficiency, resulting in high sensitivity with low-noise performance and wide dynamic range. 

Sony’s new α7R III also features a new front-end LSI that effectively doubles* the readout speed of the image sensor, as well as an updated BIONZ X™ processing-engine that boosts processing speed by approximately 1.8 times compared to the α7R II.  These powerful components work together to allow the camera to shoot at faster speeds while also enabling its impressive ISO range of 100 - 32000 (expandable to ISO 50 – 102400 for still images) and massive 15-stop[ix] dynamic range at low sensitivity settings.  This ensures outstanding overall performance at all settings and in all shooting conditions.

This new full-frame model was built without an optical low pass filter to maximise resolution, while also having the ability to output 14 bit RAW format even when shooting in silent or continuous mode.  The camera is equipped with an innovative 5-axis optical image stabilisation system that has been fine-tuned to support its high-resolution shooting capacity, resulting in a 5.5 step^v shutter speed advantage, the world’s highest[x] compensation performance for an image stabilisation system.  There is also a new low-vibration shutter that reduces vibration and image blur in all modes, including the high speed 10 fps shooting, as well as several advancements in accurate colour reproductions of skin tones. 

High-Performance AF and AF/AE Tracking at up to 10 fpsⁱⁱ

The innovative new α7R III full-frame mirrorless camera is equipped with a refined image processing system that allows it to shoot full 42.4MP images at up to 10 fps with continuous, accurate AF/AE tracking for up to 76 JPEG / RAW images or 28 uncompressed RAW images[xi].  This high speed 10 fps mode is available with either a mechanical shutter or a completely silent shooting[xii], adding to the immense flexibility of the camera.  The camera can also shoot continuously at up to 8 fps[xiii] in live view mode with minimal lag in the viewfinder or LCD screen.  These high speed options ensure that fast moving subjects can be captured with extreme accuracy and incredible image detail. 

For added convenience, while large groups of burst images are being written to the memory card, many of the cameras key functions are operable, including access to the ‘Fn’ (Function) and ‘Menu’ buttons, image playback and several other menus and parameters* including image rating and other functions that facilitate on-location image sorting. 

Additionally, if there is fluorescent or artificial lighting present in a shooting environment, users can activate the Anti-flicker[xiv] function to allow the α7R III to automatically detect frequency of the lighting and time the shutter to minimise its effect on images being captured.  This minimises any exposure or colour anomalies that can sometimes occur at the top and bottom of images shot at high shutter speeds. 

The upgraded focusing system of the α7R III is comprised of 399 focal-plane phase-detection AF points that cover approximately 68% of the image area in both the horizontal and vertical directions.  There is also 425 contrast AF points, an increase of 400 points compared to the α7R II.  This advanced system delivers AF acquisition in about half the time as the α7R II in low-light conditions, with tracking that is approximately 2 times more accurate as well.  The acclaimed Eye AF feature is also approximately 2 times more effective, and is available when utilising Sony’s A-mount lenses with an adapter.[xv]

Additional improvements in focusing flexibility include AF availability in Focus Magnifier mode, focal-plane phase-detection AF support when using A-mount lenses[xvi], an ‘AF On’ button, a multi-selector or ‘joystick’ for moving focusing points quickly, flexible touch focus functionality and much more. 

High Quality 4K for the Video Professionals

The new α7R III is exceptionally capable as a video camera, offering 4K (3840x2160 pixels) video recording across the full width of the full-frame image sensor.  When shooting in Super 35mm format, the camera uses full pixel readout without pixel binning to collect 5K[xvii] of information, oversampling it to produce high quality 4K footage with exceptional detail and depth. 

A new HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma)[xviii] is available on the α7R III that supports an Instant HDR workflow, allowing HDR (HLG) compatible TV’s to playback beautiful, true-to-life 4K HDR imagery.  Further, both S-Log2 and S-Log3 are available for increased colour grading flexibility.  The camera can also record Full HD at 120 fps at up to 100 Mbps^vi, allowing footage to be reviewed and eventually edited into 4x or 5x slow motion[xix] video files in Full HD resolution with AF tracking.

Build, Design and Customisation for Professionals

Sony’s newest full-frame camera is equipped with a variety of enhanced capabilities that give it a true professional operational style.  These include dual media slots, with support in one slot for UHS-II type SD memory cards.  Users have a variety of options for storing their content, including separate JPEG / RAW recording, separate still image / movie recording, relay recording and more.  Battery life has been greatly extended as well, as the new camera utilises Sony’s Z series battery that have approximately 2.2 times the capacity of the W series battery utilised in the α7R II.

The α7R III features an upgraded high-resolution, high-luminance Quad-VGA OLED Tru-Finder™ with approximately 3,686k dots for extremely accurate, true-to-life detail reproduction.  The Tru-Finder, also found in the acclaimed Sony α9 camera, utilises a ZEISS^® T* Coating to greatly reduce reflections, and has a fluorine coating on the outer lens that repels dirt.  It also has a customisable frame rate, with options of either 50 fps or 100 fps[xx] to best match the action.  The LCD screen has been upgraded as well, with a resolution of 1.44M dots and WhiteMagic™ technology that improves viewing in bright, outdoor conditions. “Standard” or “High” display quality settings are also available for both the viewfinder and monitor as well. “High” takes advantage of the large amount of data read from the 42.4MP sensor to provide extra fine viewfinder and monitor displays for a more natural view. 

The new camera also offers a multi-selector joystick that provides a fast, efficient way to shift focus points, as well as an ‘AF ON’ button to activate autofocus when shooting stills or movies.

The new α7R III allows for convenient transfer of files to a smartphone, tablet, computer or FTP server via Wi-Fi^®, while also including a sync terminal, enabling external flash units and cables to be connected directly for convenient flash sync.  A SuperSpeed USB (USB 3.1 Gen 1) USB Type-C™ Terminal is also available for increased flexibility in power supply or connected accessories, as well as a faster image transfer speed when connected to a PC.

New “Imaging Edge” Software Suite and Pixel Shift Multi Shooting Mode

New with the α7R III is a software suite called “Imaging Edge” that extends the creative capabilities of the entire shooting process – from pre-processing to post-processing.   “Imaging Edge” provides three PC applications called ‘Remote’, ‘Viewer’ and ‘Edit’, available for free download, which support live-view PC remote shooting and RAW development.   

Also making its debut on the versatile α7R III is a new Pixel Shift Multi Shooting mode, which takes full advantage of the advanced 5-axis optical in-body stabilisation to create beautiful true-to-life, super-high resolution composite images.  In this mode, the camera precisely shifts the sensor in 1-pixel increments to capture four separate pixel-shifted images containing a total of approximately 169.6 MP* of image data.  These four images can be composited together and processed utilising the new “Imaging Edge” software suite.  This ultimately results in a still image with overwhelming resolution and an unprecedented level of colour accuracy, and is ideal for photographing architecture, art or any other still life photography subject with many intricate details and colours.

Pricing and Availability

The Sony α7R III Full-frame Interchangeable Lens Camera will ship in Europe in November 2017, priced at approximately £3,200. 

About Sony Corporation

Sony Corporation is a leading manufacturer of audio, video, imaging, game, communications, key device and information technology products for the consumer and professional markets. With its music, pictures, interactive entertainment and online businesses, Sony is uniquely positioned to be the leading electronics and entertainment company in the world.  Sony recorded consolidated annual sales of approximately $76 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2017.  Sony Global Web Site: http://www.sony.net/

[i] Approximately, effective

[ii] Up to 10 fps in continuous “Hi+” mode, and up to 8 fps in continuous “Hi” mode. Maximum fps will depend on camera settings

[iii] Approximately 68% of the image area in both the horizontal and vertical directions

[iv] Compared to the α7R II, according to Sony testing

[v] CIPA standards. Pitch/yaw shake only. Planar T* FE 50mm F1.4 ZA lens. Long exposure NR off

[vi] A Class 10 or higher SDHC/SDXC memory card is required for XAVC S format movie recording. UHS speed class 3 or higher is required for 100 Mbps recording

[vii] In Super 35mm mode.

[viii] Approximately

[ix] Sony test conditions for still images

[x] Among digital cameras with a full-frame image sensor. As of October 2017 press release, based on Sony research

[xi] “Hi+” continuous mode with UHS-II compatible SDXC memory card. Sony test conditions.

[xii] Some distortion may occur with fast-moving subjects of if the camera is moved sideways rapidly

[xiii] “Hi” mode. Maximum fps will depend on camera setting.

[xiv] Only 100 Hz and 120 Hz flicker is detected. Continuous shooting speed may decrease. Flicker-free shooting is not available during silent shooting, BULB exposure, or movie recording

[xv] With SSM or SAM lenses only. Eye AF not supported for movie recording. AF-C can only be used when the “Phase detection” AF system is selected, but focus is fixed at the first frame during continuous shooting in any mode other than “Continuous: Lo” (Hi+, Hi, Mid).

[xvi] With SSM or SAM lenses only. With the LA-EA3 mount adapter. Focal plane phase-detection AF not supported for movie recording. AF-C can only be used when the “Phase detection” AF system is selected, but focus is fixed at the first frame during continuous shooting in any mode other than “Continuous: Lo” (Hi+, Hi, Mid).

[xvii] 15-megapixel

[xviii] Connect this product to an HDR (HLG) compatible Sony TV via a USB cable when displaying HDR (HLG) movies

[xix] Sound not recorded. Class 10 or higher SDHC/SDXC memory card required

[xx] In PAL. 60fps or 120fps in NTSC

Image Gallery

Click on a thumbnail to see the full version.

First Impressions

The Sony A7R III is a new premium compact system camera that boasts a 42 megapixel 35mm full-frame CMOS sensor, ISO range of 50-102400, 10fps burst shooting, 5.5-stop in-body image stabilisation, a tilting touchscreen and an electronic viewfinder. We've spent some time getting to know the Sony A7R II, so check out our first impressions of Sony's new compact system camera...

Sony A7R III - Ease of Use

At first glance the Sony A7R III looks very much like its predecessor, the A7R II, with Sony resisting the urge to make wholesale changes, but it somehow manages to squeeze a thumb-operated AF joystick, dedicated AF On button, dual SD card slots and a bigger capacity battery into the same design. The inclusion of the larger capacity battery means that the hand-grip is larger than on the A7R II, making the camera slightly heavier but also easier to hold, especially when using longer lenses.

This is a very fast camera given the high megapixel count, featuring 10fps burst shooting with Full AF/AE tracking for up to 76 JPEG / RAW images or 28 uncompressed RAW images in one high-speed burst, available with either the mechanical shutter or a completely silent electronic shutter. It can also shoot continuously at up to 8fps in live view mode, much like the A6500 camera. So although it's not as blisteringly fast as the flagship A9 camera, the Sony A7R III is probably speedy enough for most photographers' needs. 

The A7R III features an upgraded electronic viewfinder with approximately 3,686k dots and a 3-inch LCD screen with 1.44M dots, the same specification as on the flagship A9 camera. The LCD screen is also touch sensitive, which can be used for some elements of operation, including operating the auto-focus whilst looking through the EVF.

Compared to its predecessor, the auto-focusing system in the A7R III is much improved (claimed to be 2x faster tracking than the A7R II), with 399 focal-plane phase-detection AF points that cover approximately 68% of the image area and 425 contrast AF points, some 400 more than the A7R II. AF aquisition, tracking and Eye AF are all claimed to be twice as fast and accurate, so if you've ever had any issues with the previous model, the new A7R III promises to address them and more. We certainly enjoyed using the impressive Eye AF feature, which definitely delivered a lot of keepers.

Other key differences between the new A7R III and the A7R ii include 1.8x faster processing speed, 1 stop better noise performance, 14-bit rather than 12-bit Raw files, 5.5 stop image stabilisation rather than 4.5 stop, a new anti-flicker mode and a much bigger buffer (76 versus 23 shots).

Check out our hands-on gallery of photos of the Sony A7R III camera.

Sony A7R III - Image Quality

The Sony A7R III has the same 42 megapixel CMOS sensor as the A7R II camera, but thanks to some significant internal improvements it offers an expanded dynamic range of 15 stops at low sensitivity settings, so it should deliver even better image quality than its already impressive predecessor. We've spent today shooting with the A7R III and can now bring you some full-size JPEGs, Raw images and movies.

Take a look at some sample images and a movie taken with the Sony A7R III camera.

On the video side, it can again record 4K movies across the entire width of the image sensor, but now uses full pixel readout in the Super 35 mode to improve the quality further. A new HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma) mode is available that supports an Instant HDR workflow, while both S-Log2 and S-Log3 are available for increased colour grading flexibility.

Sony A7R III - Early Verdict

Somewhat surprisingly, Sony have introduced an upgraded version of their highest-resolution camera, the A7R series, rather than update the three year old, lower resolution, cheaper A7 model, perhaps as a direct response to the Nikon D850 that was launched last month. Whatever their motives, our first impressions are that the new A7R III could well be the best Sony mirrorless camera yet, offering a compelling mix of speed and sheer resolution that should more than satisfy all-round photographers who don't need the out-and-out speed of the 20fps A9 camera.

So what do you think of the new Sony A7R III? Leave a comment below..

Hands On

Want to see exactly what the new Sony A7R III camera looks like in the flesh?

Check out our hands-on gallery of photos of the Sony A7R III camera, including a side-by-side comparison with the previous A7R II model and a look at the internal component parts.

A gallery of hands-on photos of the new Sony A7R III camera.

Image Gallery

Click on a thumbnail to see the full version.

Preview Images

Ahead of our full review, here are some sample images taken with the Sony A7R III camera and the FE 24-105mm f/4 and FE 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses. The Sony A7R III is a new compact system camera with a 42 megapixel 35mm full-frame sensor.

A gallery of JPEG and RAW sample images taken with the Sony A7R III camera.

Sony A7R III Sample Images

Sample RAW Images

The Sony A7R III enables users to capture RAW and JPEG format files. We've provided some Sony RAW (ARW) samples for you to download (thumbnail images shown below are not 100% representative).

Sample Movie & Video

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