Anyone get a A7siii yet?

[Chris Johnston]

Correction "A7Siii" not sii


Just curious... I ordered one in mid Sept, BH said they were supposed to start shipping 24th of Sept. Mine is still back ordered. Just curious how many they shipped...(or had in stock TO ship.)

[Imamacuser]

ahalpert has one, see this thread: http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread...AW-out/page105

[ahalpert]

I pre-ordered mine a couple minutes after sales went live at B&h on launch day and they shipped it to me sept 24

[cyvideo]

Interesting comparison between A7Siii, Venice 6K, and the ARRI ALEXA Mini LF. I managed to pick the Sony straight away. It doesn't have that very slight hint of "greeness" that is characteristic of Arri's color signature. You only have to look at the LOG shots and see that in the grey T-shirt at 3.37... plus I saw that tell-tale in some of the earlier 709 LUT'd shots. Being pretty overcast no real idea of how the highlights rolled but overall considering the price the A7S III looks like to be a winner especially at its price point.

Chris Young

[Bassman2003]

I happen to watch this video as well. I thought it was very informative in quite a few ways. 1) These high end cinema cameras do not look earth shatteringly better when they are 'out in the wild'. They just look like a good mirrorless camera. 2) The A7sIII looks very good in comparison outside of some color attributes. This makes me wonder if the color inconsistencies can be remedied via custom LUTs. But the overall takeaway is that the A7sIII is a great choice for folks like me who would never purchase a Venice or anything Alexa.

Gerald Undone just released a great video about working with the A7sIII's different profiles. Worth a watch for anybody who might own the camera.

[Peter C.]

I've used the A7III which in many respects is similar to the A7SIII. My biggest complaint wasn't the color or image quality, it's the complicated user interface. I'm coming from a full sized "pro-sumer" camcorder, where the camera is easy to hold, it has the right amount of physical buttons that are clearly labeled, built in ND filters, xlrs, etc. Most of my user experience problems would extend to all mirrorless cameras, but I think Sony is even more complex.

Let's take all the custom buttons and the ability to assign them different functions. Great until you're in the dark or can't remember what custom button you've assigned the feature you need. I'd rather have a white balance button than assigning it to custom button C7 that has a trash can icon and double as the delete button during review mode. The functions also can change depending on whether you're in video or photo mode ( C1 in photo mode could be focus area but in video be iso). So why are there so many custom buttons and why would you want to use them? It's because the menu is so complex that you'll do anything to avoid going in there.

Then there are a lot of caveats you have to remember. Depending on what format you're recording some features are disabled. Some important features can't be assigned to function buttons or are unavailable in certain modes. Or "little" gotchas like you can't change a setting while your recording. Even though I've heard the menu has been improved its still complicated with strange terms and lots of sub menus that are not easy to navigate like your phone. Even to review video you've shot is cumbersome. You can't scrub through it like you would with your phone, you have to use these vcr buttons interface from the 80s.

No doubt it's possible to grow accustom to these inconveniences and get great video, its just I'm not a fan of the Sony A7 user experience.

[NorBro]

Sony has some of the best customizable functions out there. Panasonic too. Canon has a lot of settings, but doesn't offer as much as the aforementioned.

I guess it all depends on how your brain is wired as there is no doubt it can be confusing for some if you're coming from a traditional camera body.

What's better than flicking a switch in the dark to have a certain setting/function change? Not much. But there are only 1-2 switches on cameras, and the rest are buttons like on the mirrorless', and your memory should work the same in both cases.

___

FWIW, with Sony's buttons those examples above are all the weaker points of the system if you choose to use it that way. Because you can have matching commands in both still and video modes.

And white balance can be assigned to any other button on the camera that is comfortable for the user.

Some of the features like no face-tracking AF in HFRs runs across the entire industry. Some don't even have AF at all. I guess it's due to the processing load (but it magically gets better each year in every new model).

I'm sure the 4K/60p is a typo as there is audio in 1080/60p. No audio in HFR modes is also common in cameras but some models are starting to record it.

___

I think it's very fair to not be a fan of the user experience, but I think the above had to be pointed out as Sony has done a really good job with providing you options and I would rank their button customizability very high (which is separate from how they choose to make and arrange their menus).

[ahalpert]

I believe there is audio in 4k120? I didnt realize face tracking turned off. I'll have to test it all.

"4k 120 on the A7S III supports autofocus and audio recording" https://www.cameralabs.com/sony-a7s-iii-review/

Re:differences with high end cameras, I feel like the major differences are in form factor and rigidity/connections/controls etc.

And generally regarding IQ I feel like the differences are marginal or relate to edge cases, such as that last bit of DR, a little bit extra RS speed, color fidelity at the edge of the exposure range, etc. All of which may have an impact sometimes but not most of the time

As for the menu - it has gotten super easy to use. Probably 2nd only to BM menu. Touch screen is nice. You can put your favorite functions in a custom menu or on the function menu that has 8 options that can overlay on the lcd screen while shooting. The stills menu controls are hidden in video mode. Yay yay yay

[Peter C.]

Some of the particulars either have changed between models and there has been improvements. My point is that lots of custom buttons and feature choices add complexity and impact the ease of use for me. I no longer have the camera so I'm speaking from memory. But take a simple thing, recording a live event and you need to adjust the audio levels. I believe they can only be accessed in the menu, but while you're recording you can't access the menu. On a camcorder there is a physical dial to set the levels.

I remember the A7iii wasn't easy switch between slow motion and regular video. You had to setup separate profiles on the mode dial because slow motion needed to be at 1080p. These are things that if you're just renting the camera for the weekend was a lot to fool around with.

[mcgeedigital]

If have the Sony Audio module, all of those standard knobs and switches are on it, just like a normal camcorder.