• PROS

  • 24MP full-frame BSI sensor.
  • 10fps with tracking.
  • 5-axis stabilization.
  • 4K HDR video.
  • Silent shooting available.
  • Tilting touch LCD.
  • Dual SD slots.
  • Vastly improved battery.
  • Focus joystick.
  • Flat profiles available.
•  

• CONS

  • Screen not true vari-angle.
  • Only one card slot is UHS-II.
  • No in-body flash.
  • Shooting buffer must clear to start video.
  • Dense menu system.
  • Omits PC sync socket.

It didn't take long for Sony to reuse the body design it introduced with last year's high-resolution, pro-grade a7R III in an entry-level model. But despite a friendly (for full-frame) price, the a7 III ($1,999.99, body only) is anything but entry-level when it comes to its feature set. Its BSI CMOS sensor excels in all types of light, and offers incredible dynamic range. It can shoot at 10fps, with an autofocus system that covers almost the entirety of the image sensor. And it has serious video chops too, recording smooth, sharp footage at 4K, and slow-motion at 1080p. It run circles around competing models in this price range, and is our Editors' Choice for entry-level full-frame shoppers.

Note: This review has been updated to reflect changes in the a7 III added by its Firmware 3.0 release.

In addition to the body-only option, Sony is offering the a7 III in a $2,199.99 kit bundled with the FE 28-70mm F3.5-5.6 lens. The 28-70mm is one of oldest lenses in the series. I would have liked to see another bundle with the newer, more useful FE 24-105mm F4. The 24-105mm is a $1,300 lens, however, so I imagine the pricing of a kit would be prohibitive for many buyers.

Handling isn't that much different from the a7 II. You still get the EV dial on top, along with programmable C1 and C2 buttons, and a Mode dial—it's not a locking dial like the one on the a7R III. The shutter release is on top of the handgrip, slightly lower than the rest of the top plate, and set at an angle. The On/Off switch surrounds it. The grip has a command dial, accessible using your right index finger. Its rear counterpart is slightly offset from the EV dial and is easily turned with your right thumb.

Rear controls match the a7R III and a9. The programmable C3 button and Menu button are above the rear LCD, just to the left of the EVF eyecup. To the right, still running along the top, you find Record, AF-ON, and AEL. Below them, nestled between the rear thumb rest and LCD are the focus point selector joystick and Fn button.

The flat rear command dial is next down in the column; it has a button at its center and directional presses to adjust Display, ISO, and the Drive mode—there's no dedicated Drive dial like you get on the a9, that's something Sony has decided to leave out of the a7 series. The dial itself has deep ridges so you can turn it comfortably, and the turning motion feels much better than the similar dial on the a7 II—there's more resistance, and the dial is physically larger so the button presses offer better tactile feedback.

Rounding out the rear controls are the Play and Delete buttons. The latter doubles as the programmable C4 button when in shooting mode. By default it toggles the touch sensitivity of the rear display. The touch functions are a bit limited. You can't navigate through menus via touch. But you can tap on the screen to set a focus point. Even if the camera is set to a wide area, tapping on a spot will override and change to a flexible spot, which can be moved via touch or the joystick; returning to wide area is done using the button at the center of the rear command dial. This method of adjusting the focus point works in both still and video capture.

The camera also supports focus adjustment using the LCD when framing shots with the EVF. Just slide your finger on the display and the focus area will move. You can override the wide area setting with this method just as you can when shooting using the rear LCD to frame shots.

Speaking of menus, Sony has long been criticized for its rather lengthy, complex menu system. The a7 III includes some tools to help reduce the stress of trying to find the setting you want to adjust when flipping through dozens of pages of options. My Menu is fully customizable, so a setting you often adjust can be added to it for quick access. It's a step in the right direction, though I wish Sony would go further and better organize and categorize menu options.

The menu breaks up camera capture settings into two tabs, each with multiple pages, but mixes things up a bit. There are settings for both movies and still capture bookending a few dedicated pages for video capture squeezed in the middle. Some cleaner organization could help make finding the right setting easier.

Upgrading owners of the a7 and a7 II will notice that the apps section is gone. The a7 III doesn't support PlayMemories Mobile camera apps. That in and of itself is not a great loss—downloading apps to extend the camera's capabilities was a flawed concept, especially without support for third-party developers. But some functions that were available in PlayMemories, like the ability to fire the shutter using the EVF eye sensor, haven't been integrated into the a7 III's firmware. Time-lapse was added with Firmware 3.0 and, while the a7 III can't output a finished video, it will automatically fire images at set intervals so you can combine them into a video later. The camera delivers enough resolution for 6K time-lapse.

The rear display is a 3-inch LCD with touch input support. It's a step back from the one used on the a7 II, which is a 1,228k-dot design with "white pixels" to cut through sun glare on bright days. This one is a more pedestrian 921k-dot design. Even so, I shot with it under the harsh sun in the Nevada desert and had no problems seeing the screen.

The screen tilts up and down, but it doesn't swing out from the body to face forward like a true vari-angle display. It's a shame, as it limits the ability of vloggers to set up shots and record video while keeping an eye on framing, and the a7 III otherwise has such solid video chops. There are also some touch controls when reviewing images; notably you can swipe around a magnified shot with your finger when playing photos back.

The EVF is the same 0.78x magnification OLED with 2,359k dots as you get with the a7 II. The higher end models in the series, the a7R III and a9, match the a7 III in magnification, but pack more pixels into the frame, 3,686k dots. I didn't notice the drop in resolution when picking up the a7 III for the first time—the EVF looks great and I'm able to tell if a subject is in focus when shooting. But if you use the pricier models on a regular basis, you may appreciate the difference.

Power and Connectivity

The a7 III uses the Z battery, introduced in the a9 and also used by the a7R III. It's good for 710 shots per CIPA ratings with the a7 III, as its power requirements are less than the a9 or a7R III, both rated for 650 images per charge. The bigger battery is a boon to enthusiasts who don't want to buy a ton of spares, and pros alike. A grip is available; it allows the camera to use two batteries, effectively doubling its life. You won't have to worry about running out of power when shooting a wedding, for example.

Sony doesn't include an external charger with the a7 III. If you want to charge the battery outside the camera, you'll need to buy one. But you can recharge via USB and an included USB-to-AC adapter in-camera. I recommend a wall charger for travelers and pros, especially those who have multiple Z batteries to recharge at the end of a long day of shooting.

The camera has two USB ports (one USB-C and one micro USB), as well as micro HDMI, a 3.5mm microphone input, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. It doesn't include the PC Sync flash socket you get with the a7R III and a9. There is a standard hot shoe, with the extra electrical contacts for accessories like Sony's XLR audio adapter.

And there are two memory card slots. Slot 1, toward the bottom of the camera, supports SD, SDHC, and SDXC memory at UHS-II speeds. Slot 2, above it, works with all SD formats at slower UHS-I speeds, but also supports Sony Memory Stick media. I knocked the decision to only support UHS-II in one slot when I reviewed the a9 and a7R III, and do the same here—both slots should support the latest, fastest memory format. I'd be surprised if anyone outside of Sony cares about Memory Stick at this point.

In addition to wired connectivity, the a7 III includes Bluetooth, NFC, and Wi-Fi. This allows the camera to connect to an Android or iOS device running the free Sony PlayMemories Mobile app to transfer images and video to your phone for social sharing. You can also use your phone as a wireless remote control.

Performance and Autofocus

The a7 III starts, focuses, and fires in about 2.2 seconds. That's one area where it's slower than competing SLRs, like the Canon EOS 6D Mark II (0.4-second) and Nikon D750 (0.4-second). Its autofocus system is quite speedy, locking on in 0.05-second in bright light and an average of 0.4-second in very dim conditions.

I tested the burst speed using a Lexar 300MBps memory card in the UHS-II slot. The camera manages 10fps in its fastest burst mode. The amount of shots you can take before the camera stalls varies based on the file format you use. I tested Uncompressed Raw and Extra Fine JPG (34 shots), Compressed Raw and Extra Fine JPG (78 shots), Uncompressed Raw (37 shots), Compressed Raw (103 shots), and Extra Fine JPG (164 shots). Recovery time, the duration it takes for the buffer to fully clear to the memory card, varies based on file format. If you're shooting Raw+JPG (either format) expect to wait about 24 seconds, but only about 14 seconds for Raw alone. Because you can capture so many more JPG images at a time, the write time to clear them to the card is about 54 seconds.

See How We Test Digital Cameras

Continuous autofocus is also available at 10fps. Our standard focus test, in which I shoot a target that moves directly toward or away from the lens, netted almost all shots in focus at 10fps. There were a few slight misses here and there, but nothing worth getting worked up about.

The autofocus system is similar to that in the high-end a9, but it's not quite as uncannily intelligent. The a9's sensor design allows for instant readout (and 20fps capture), so even though the a7 III has the same number of focus points and area of focus coverage, it doesn't deliver the same level of performance.

But it's not that far off. A total of 693 phase detection points cover 93 percent of the sensor, all but its extreme edges, and are joined by 425 contrast points, more densely located in the central area of the frame. The two focus point types work together to recognize and track subjects.

The focus system not only supports face detection, but goes further with Sony's Eye AF system. It can lock on to a human eye, prioritizing the one closest to the active focus point. It's a great tool for portraits, and it works when focusing continuously, so your model can feel free to adjust a pose and you won't have to worry about losing crisp focus on their eyes.

The Firmware 3.0 updated improved the operability of Eye AF, allowing it to work at all times—previously it had to be engaged manually. It also adds support for animals, specifically cats and dogs. We tested the new focus system using an a7R III, which works the exact same way, and you can see it at work in the video clip above.

In field testing the autofocus system performed superbly. Shot after shot was sharp and crisp, even when tracking moving targets at 10fps. Of course there were occasional misses, but even the best autofocus systems miss from time to time. For example, when shooting a scene with heavy, simulated rain in the studio, with continuous lighting rather than strobes, using the wide focus area resulted in some shots that were wildly misfocused. Changing the focus area to a flexible spot, or engaging EyeAF using the rear center button righted the ship.

Few other full-frame cameras at this price point can hit 10fps, let alone with such a wide coverage of autofocus. The closest SLR competitors in terms of price, the Nikon D750 ($1,496.95 at Amazon) and Canon EOS 6D Mark II ($1,199.00 at Amazon) , top out at 6.5fps and have focus systems that cover a much smaller area of the frame.

Image Quality

The a7 III uses a new sensor, one that is similar in design to the 24MP sensor used by the a9, but not identical. The a9's sensor is a stacked design, which puts memory right on the chip in order to deliver instant readout and its 20fps capture capability. The a7 III doesn't do that. It is a BSI—Back Side Illumination—design, like the a9 and high-resolution a7R III. This type of sensor cuts the distance between its surface and light-sensitive area. The practical effect is that you get superior high ISO quality compared with sensors that put put circuitry in front of the light-gathering area rather than behind it.

Our lab tests show that the a7 III's image sensor performs very similarly to the a9. When shooting in JPG format Imatest tells us that noise is less than 1.5 percent through ISO 25600, a stop better than the a9 and Nikon D5. There's certainly some in-camera noise reduction going on to get there, resulting in some smudging of fine details at ISO 25600. Images are stronger at ISO 12800, but there's still some muddiness. At ISO 6400 photos are clean and rife with detail. Results at ISO 3200 are just as crisp as those shot at ISO 100.

Moving to the extreme ranges of the ISO range—the camera can shoot as high as ISO 204800—is a bit much for JPG shooters. You can get useable, albeit soft, results at ISO 51200. There's quite a bit of blur at ISO 102400, though I can still make out some detail in our test images. The ISO 204800 setting delivers blurry results, but that's to be expected when shooting at such an extreme.

If you opt to shoot Raw you can squeeze more detail out of high ISO images. Our test images, converted using Adobe Lightroom Classic CC with default develop settings applied, look just as good at ISO 6400 as they do at ISO 100—just with a bit more grain. There's a little more noise at ISO 12800 and 25600, but it's not overwhelming. At ISO 51200 I'd call grain heavy, but there's much more detail visible than its JPG counterpart. I'd not hesitate to use ISO 102400 for shots where a grainy look is desired—or for conversion to black-and-white—but rough noise overwhelms your images at ISO 204800. Crops, from both JPG and Raw files, are included in the slideshow that accompanies this review so you can judge for yourself.

It's not all about high ISO photography. At lower ISOs the a7 III delivers the image quality you expect from a 24MP, full-frame image sensor. You have extreme control over depth of field when working with a fast lens, and while you don't get as much resolution or detail as you do from the a7R III (which uses a 42MP sensor without an optical low-pass filter), you won't have any complaints when making prints or viewing photos at a pixel level. Sony promises that Raw images will deliver 15 stops of dynamic range at lower ISO settings, so you can reign in highlights and shadows to get an image looking just like you want it to. And it does it without adding unwanted color noise, like we saw when pulling up shadow detail from Raw images shot with the Canon EOS 6D Mark II.

There is an issue that some reviewers have noted in regards to flare. Under certain conditions, odd banding can show in subjects that are strongly backlit. It's typically only visible when shooting at f/2 or wider, with a very strong light source entering the lens directly, and only appears toward the edge of the frame. The banding shows up as single pixel straight lines, matching the position of the on-sensor phase detection pixels. It's not an issue that is exclusive to the a7 III—photographers have observed the effect in other cameras with on-sensor phase detection.

I shot several dozen images with strong backlight and flare using the a7 III, like the one above, and didn't see the lines in any of them. But I was using the 24-105mm lens, which has a maximum f/4 aperture, and I wasn't deliberately trying to induce the effect.

I've shot with a number of cameras with on-sensor phase detection points over the years and have not found this to be an issue in my images, but I tend to stop a lens down a bit when incorporating the sun or other bright source in the background in order to get a starburst flare effect. If you're more of a wide-open shooter and love the backlit portrait look, you may encounter it from time to time. But most photographers will shoot thousands of images without ever seeing the effect.

Video

Canon SLRs with Dual Pixel AF have caught up to mirrorless in terms of focus speed, but there are still big advantages to using a mirrorless system with on-sensor autofocus to capture video. The entire Sony a7 series has solid video chops—particularly the specialized a7S II. Despite entry-level positioning, the a7 III doesn't skimp on features.

It supports 4K capture at 60 or 100Mbps using the XAVC S 4K codec at your choice of 24 or 30fps. The 24fps video uses the full width of the frame (with the sensor cropped to the 16:9 ratio), but there is a modest crop applied when shooting at 30fps. Dropping down to 1080p gives you 50 or 100Mbs options at 24, 30, or 60p, and there is an in-camera slow-motion option at 60 or 100Mbps and 120fps.

I shot our 4K test video at 24fps and 100Mbps using the Standard video profile. It was cut together in Premiere Pro, but no grading was done. I did remove audio from some clips, as copyrighted music was playing at our location, but clips with audio use the in-camera microphone.

If you do want to grade footage, there are other profiles available, including several cinema looks, S-Log2, and S-Log3. Like the a7R III, the camera also supports HDR capture using Sony's HybridLogGamma profile.

All of my video was shot handheld as well, so you can see how the in-body stabilization works. I used the FE 24-105mm ($1,339.00 at Amazon) exclusively. As we've seen with other a7 models, the combination of body and lens stabilization removes jitter from footage. There's some shake visible in shots captured from a helicopter, but it's a lot less bumpy than what I experienced in real life.

There's certainly some wind noise in our outdoor shots. Thankfully you can use an external microphone with the a7 III. It has a standard 3.5mm input, as well as an output if you want to monitor audio using headphones. Sony sells an add-on accessory with balanced XLR input for projects that require true pro-grade sound.

We've also included a slow-motion sample using the S&Q 120fps setting. You're limited to 1080p, but it's a nice effect for those times when you want to slow down reality. The video is silent, as the a7 III doesn't record audio when its Mode dial is set to the S&Q position.

Conclusions

The Sony a7 III looks a lot like the a7 II, but the upgrades inside are palpable. Its sensor offers the same resolution, but the BSI design improves high ISO performance. The autofocus system is vastly improved, with much wider coverage and 10fps capture. And a high-capacity battery keeps the camera shooting for much longer than previous a7 models. All while making few changes to the compact, sturdy body.

I have a few small complaints. I'm not sure why Sony doesn't use dual UHS-II memory slots—if you want to record images to two cards simultaneously, the slower UHS-I slot can slow write times when shooting. The camera menu has a lot of options, but the camera does a lot of stuff. It could be better organized; you'll want to spend some time customizing the My Menu page before doing any serious work with the a7 III.

But any picayune gripes are overshadowed by the a7 III's all-around performance. It goes well beyond what similarly priced SLRs from Canon and Nikon offer. You don't get in-body stabilization with either competing system, nor do they support 4K video capture, and their autofocus systems don't shoot nearly as fast or cover such a large area of the frame.

The a7 III is a lot more camera than we're used to seeing at this price point. Instead of cutting out features to push buyers to a higher-end model, the a7 III inherits a lot of tech from the a9 and a7R III. We're used to seeing features from high-end options trickle down to more affordable camera over a period of years, but the a9 has only been on the market for about a year and the a7R III for about half that duration.

We're making the a7 III our Editors' Choice for full-frame mirrorless cameras, and do not hesitate in recommending it over its closest competition in the SLR world. The Nikon D750 is aging, and while it still delivers strong image quality, its video features are dated. The Canon EOS 6D Mark II was a bit underwhelming upon its release, and seems even more so now that the a7 III is available.

It compares well against pro models, too. The Canon EOS 5D Mark IV has a bit more resolution (30MP), but only shoots 4K video with a crop factor and doesn't match the a7 III's autofocus system. The Nikon D850, the best SLR on the market today, is in a different class as terms of resolution—its 45MP image sensor is a marvel—but does suffer from slower autofocus when shooting video. Both sell for more than $3,000.

On the Sony front, you can still buy the a7 II, and at it remains a solid bargain for budget shoppers. The original a7 is also still on sale. It doesn't offer in-body stabilization, but it's the least expensive point of entry into any full-frame system. Moving to higher-end options, the 42MP a7R II delivers a lot more resolution, but isn't a great choice for tracking fast action. The a7R III gives you both resolution and speed, but is a lot more expensive. On the highest end there's the a9, a 24MP model, but one that can shoot and track action at 20fps, without any sort of blackout.

And there are some very capable cameras out there with smaller image sensors. We just looked at the best APS-C mirrorless camera we've seen, the Fujifilm X-H1, and the Nikon D500 is our favorite high-end APS-C SLR. There are reasons to opt for a smaller sensor, especially if you like to use long telephoto lenses to snap shots of sports and wildlife, but for many photographers there is no substitute for a sensor that matches 35mm in size. In this price range, the a7 III is the best one you can get.

Sony a7 III Specs

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