I'm going to be traveling to Iceland next month and instead of bringing my trusty Fs5 with 7Q+ setup I was thinking of going more mobile and renting a A7r3 for video and Astrophotography/Northern lights. Has anyone here used them yet? I only see the typical reviewers with their hands on them. Also wondering how the Sony mirrorless cameras work with the Odyssey 7Q+ as I'm not planning on bringing it but if the 10 Bit Prores captured is better than internal then I probably would.
Any A7RIII thoughts or recommendations?
- Thread starter DerekDock
- Start date
Samuel H
Major Contributor
Even though it's not a video-oriented camera, it's the best Sony mirrorless camera for video right now. The 4k video looks clean in both FF and S35 modes, AF should be top notch (for Sony), rolling shutter is faster than on any other Sony mirrorless camera, battery lasts a lot more, DR and colors are just as good, and you can crank up the ISO to crazy levels and still get very little noise. The advantages with respect to the a7S II and the a7R II are relatively minor (no 4k 60 fps, no 10-bit, no DR improvements), but they are there, and there are no drawbacks.
As with all Sony mirrorless cameras, you only get 8-bit out of it: you can record 10-bit prores but two bits will be unused. The only advantage is the better codec, and it's not a huge difference (maybe somehow in the shadows?).
As with all Sony mirrorless cameras, you only get 8-bit out of it: you can record 10-bit prores but two bits will be unused. The only advantage is the better codec, and it's not a huge difference (maybe somehow in the shadows?).
caseywilsondp
Well-known member
I think you get a real 422 (external) vs the 420 (internal), no?
which IS a huge improvement as is the ability to save the image to a much better codec with significantly less compression. These 2 things add up to a significantly better image for grading that will not show banding in graduations even when shooting SLOG-2.
cyvideo
Veteran
If you are doing astrophotography just beware of the "Star Eater" issues with the A7R series. It looks like it may still be there in the A7R III. Still open for debate but not looking too good. I'm very close to dropping some coin on an A7R III. The phenomenon won't worry me but I think buyers should be aware if they intend on doing time exposures.
"“It turns out that the spatial filtering, which is called the ‘star eater’ algorithm because of its effect on some kinds of astrophotography, is readily identifiable by looking at Fourier transforms of dark-field exposures,” Kasson writes. “You don’t need to shoot stars to tell whether the camera has an appetite for them.”
Kasson finds that once exposure time hits 4 seconds, “spatial filtering kicks in big-time.”
Read more here:
https://petapixel.com/2017/11/21/sony-a7r-iii-eats-stars-new-report/
Chris Young
"“It turns out that the spatial filtering, which is called the ‘star eater’ algorithm because of its effect on some kinds of astrophotography, is readily identifiable by looking at Fourier transforms of dark-field exposures,” Kasson writes. “You don’t need to shoot stars to tell whether the camera has an appetite for them.”
Kasson finds that once exposure time hits 4 seconds, “spatial filtering kicks in big-time.”
Read more here:
https://petapixel.com/2017/11/21/sony-a7r-iii-eats-stars-new-report/
Chris Young