Derek Ting
Aug 5, 20204 min
Digital cameras that are disrupting how we make films, making cameras much more affordable. It used to be you've have to spend a luxury car's worth of money(and before that a house) to get a film quality camera, but now, you can spend a motorcycle's worth of money to get top gear.
So Sony gave me a chance to work with the new Sony A7SIII when it came out, and I had it only for a few hours and all of the vloggers are raging about it, though, bear in mind, as a new youtuber myself, I know all influencers want your views, so it's hard to cut through the noise and make sense of it all because I have to tell you that a lot of opinions are going to be biased, including mine.
I've used 3 brands that compete in this space: Sony(a7 series), Canon(EOS R), Blackmagic Design(Pocket Series) for testing. I don't know much about Nikon, or Fuji.
I've worked with the Sony a7R III and III(Agent Revelation), and a7s II (Agent I) on my projects so I know the camera line very well. I've worked with RED 8K Helium as well on Agent Revelation. I can't wait for you to see the movie, the footage matches really well.
From an overall company perspective, I have to praise Sony, they really do listen and try their best to improve, and the III is a dramatic improvement from the a7sII. In particular: The card slots and media, dynamic range, the design and access to the ports, 120fps in 4K, 10 Bit 422 internal recording, flip out screen and much much more. They work with filmmakers, they listen. They are on a warpath and came out of nowhere to be the best camera and the most affordable at the same time.
So I'm not going to waste your time talking about what everybody else is talking about. I'm not going to do some graphs either. Let's get down to what I tested and what I think. If you are reading this, you are probably already a fan of Sony.
4K 120fps: I wanted 120 fps at 4K and after my test, they delivered. It's so much better than what the a7RIII does even in HD. I believe this is the case because of 1 fundamental reason: the internal recording speed of 280 Mbs vs. the other camera's 100 Mbs. The codecs(file compression) Sony uses has already always been good but the throughput was always lacking. Hence, if you want to push the quality of your picture with the Sony, an external recorder is recommended for the 16bit color.
The Lowlight: I think at the time of the Sony a7s II when it was released, yes it was the low light king, especially for mirrorless, heck that was because it was one of the only ones too. Now, Canon and a lot of manufacturers have caught up. After my comparison on Youtube, I have to say it's more on par, with everybody else. This is actually not a dealbreaker for a Sony person, you just have to be aware of it. The takeaway you need to know is that the sensor is great and does well in low light. But it doesn't mean you can walk into a situation and expect you won't need to light it any more and I wouldn't buy this camera just for it's lowlight performance. A side note, Gaffers are worth their weight in gold, and if you have the budget, spend it on them.
The Design: Full HDMI port! Yes! Flip out Screen. Yes! Touch Screen. Yes! Better placed dials and buttons. Yes! Everything is solid. I just wish they had a cover on the sensor for lense changes...And something you should be aware of: fast dual card recording which is super fast when connecting to the computer too.
Overall: Before I get into this, I want to remind you I'm not a DP. I direct. So my feeling is that if I were directing a picture, and my DP wanted to use the Sony line, I'd say. Go for it. Everything about working with the camera is great, and it'll match with other Sony higher end cameras as well as the RED. But from my experience, you should also be aware that it's not an easy camera to get a great image out of the box. It's not the the type of camera that you change the aperture, Shutterspeed, ISO, WB and that's it. I always have problems getting it right, versus the Canon I have an easier time working with it. That's because I am not as good with color and all the technical tweaks you need to learn like working with S-Log 3 too, etc. I do feel though, that Sony just keeps iterating itself and getting better and better, faster than other brands, so I see if you stick with the brand and how they work, you have a lot to look forward to and the problems you have now will eventually go away.
So if you are addicted to Sony, the a7s iii just may be the best camera cocktail you've been waiting for.