Sony Announcement on October 18th (Sony FS5 Mark II or Sony a7SIII ?)

So, last week it was just the broadcast camera, and this week's announcement is all about photography: a7R III with nice -but not revolutionary- improvements for photography and basically nothing new for video, plus 24-105mm f/4 and 400mm f/2.8
https://www.sonyalpharumors.com/officially-announced-new-sony-a7riii-24-15mm-400mm-fe-lenses/

And the rumor sites were split between a7 III and a7S III, so, as usual: they have no clue what's coming at any given moment, just what's in development and may come out in the coming months.
 
So, much like D850, 7RIII protecting the video line, including its camcorders. At $3,300, it doesn't have the video features of a $2,000 GH-5.

On the positive side, there's currently a big sale on the A7RII and A7SII @$2,400.
 
The new Sony A7R III is listed at $3198 in B&H Preorders from 26th Oct.

It records UHD upto 30p internally based on Super35mm recording area at 100Mbps XAVC S via H.264.

These days video shooting in DSLR or Mirrorless cameras shouldn't be just for cost reasons.
 
Yes, it's definitely not the model for video shooters. We'll have to keep waiting, because Sony must know they have to match the features of the GH5 if they don't want users to move to the other camp.

Stills shooters are probably very happy with it, though. They got dual card slots, much longer battery life (a9 battery), higher fps, better AF, pixel-shift shooting... Nothing revolutionary, but lots of tiny little things that make it an even more stable leader. Sounds like a winner for landscape, wedding and portrait photography.
 
Samuel H said:
Yes, it's definitely not the model for video shooters. We'll have to keep waiting, because Sony must know they have to match the features of the GH5 if they don't want users to move to the other camp.

Stills shooters are probably very happy with it, though. They got dual card slots, much longer battery life (a9 battery), higher fps, better AF, pixel-shift shooting... Nothing revolutionary, but lots of tiny little things that make it an even more stable leader. Sounds like a winner for landscape, wedding and portrait photography.
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Yeah as an A7R II owner, It was some nice things but nothing worth jumping at. The 120 fps at 1080 is nice and slog 3 would be nice if it was 10 bit internal footage.
 
ReelFilmGeek said:
... Yeah as an A7R II owner, It was some nice things but nothing worth jumping at...
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And that's the thing. When Sony announced A7RII in the summer of 2015 (June, 10th, if anyone's keeping the score), it was a pretty huge jump in terms of both stills (resolution) and video (4K) in one package. With this, one gets some improvements, obviously, but kind of around the margins. Even the pixel-shift gets you the same 42 MPX. I guess A7SIII may be more video geared. It'd better be for the model to show up on the best sellers list. As it is, A9 isn't slaying any Canon dragons. With the Japanese manufacturers "cooperating" with each other, this could result in another huge drop in the size of the hybrid photo/video market.
 
with the A7rIII the lack of 60fps @ 4k is really really lame. i have more of an interest in the A7sIII and hoping it does do 60fps @ 4k. would really like to see a beefier codec than another 100mbit 4k file. does anyone know is the A7rIII has "touch screen AF"?

david
 
It's not a camera for video shooters, and it's not a camera for current a7R II shooters. It's for those who didn't jump ship from Canon or Nikon because Sony was missing some details that were really important to them (dual card slots and AF joystick are irrelevant for me but hugely important for many pro photogs).

But the pressure for the a7S III is mounting. They better bring something awesome, because the competition is not resting: the GH5 has a really impressive feature list, and BlackMagic must surely be working on a successor to the Pocket.
 
I honestly do not think Sony will give a7sIII or a9s 4k 60p/1080p 10 bit internal.































now as I said it out, they might be some hope :(
 
Who knows if Sony feels the pressure to make the A7s III a video powerhouse? These are still cameras and Sony has video cameras to sell. I think the rest of the makers are sending hate mail to the GH5 team for putting internal 10bit 4:2:2 processing in a still camera. It throws a wrench into their segmentation plans. I would not be surprised if the A7s is the same incremental approach as the A7r.

Now that Sony has added much needed still features into their high end models, one can hope that the next round of cameras along with new sensors will be the crusher for the competition. But, will we ever see better internal recording specs from Canon or Sony in their still cameras? Kind of comes with the territory of hybrids.
 
GH-5 can have all it wants because it's only an MFT camera. That's your market segmentation. But it's nice to see GH-4 (video) features on a camera twice the price three years after the fact. But to be fair, pro video shooters should be just as aggrieved at Sony for not having a new sub-$30,000 Cine Alta camera for six years. Say what you will about Canon - nicely and without the 4-letter words - but they have entirely replaced their cinema line within that time frame - C100 by C100 MKII and C200, C300 by C300 MKII and C500 by C700.

PS. About the A7RIII pixel-shifting - it seems to be different than Pentax K1 and provide with a 169 MPX resolution in post, with appropriate software.
 
True. The C200 is a nice offering. I just looked at the A7rIII sample images on DPReview with the new 24-105 f4 lens and they look pretty nice. I wonder if the video will see some image improvement? Looks like a nice combo for motion work.
 
I have to hand it to Sony for making another perfect product launch. Not anything real leaked, no odd footage showing up, no speculation. Facts and footage at launch just as it should be. Take not Panasonic.
 
^ And working cameras to play with, for selected people.

I don't take the a7R III to be an incremental upgrade: for many photogs it will be a big deal. Mainly because of a few features that are very important to many of them (dual slots, AF joystick, battery), but really, just overall: apart from the Mpix number, they claim to have improved absolutely every aspect of the camera. Of course, I'm not a photog, and I don't really know what could be still missing. But it looks like a winner in terms of bringing users from Canon and Nikon (if you already had an a7R II, well, maybe for once you get to keep your camera more than 18 months, some people say that's a good thing XD).

So yes, I still expect the a7S III to have 4k 60fps. I'm not so sure about internal 10-bit, but it could also happen.

Now, questions in case anybody here gets to play with an a7R III:
* The touchscreen allows touch-to-focus; how well does it work?
* Does eye-detect AF work in video mode?
* They claim better DR in stills mode, does it have better DR in video mode too?
 
I will probably get the A7RIII because it betters so many things compared to A7RII for stills. I look at the improved battery, faster and better auto focus, faster file processing and higher burst shooting, better EVF, better LCD-screen, better buttons, better menus, improved IQ and what not. And after that I look at the improved video functions as a bonus with better read out, S&Q1-120fps and gamma assist which to me at least makes my A7SII a bit obsolete.

But yes not to many video things implemented and the A7SIII will be better for video but never as good as the A7RIII when taking stills. I could see a scenario when Sony continuous to make increment improvements on the A7SIII and but the big guns inside an A9S.
 
Thanks for the video share. Yes, eye focus in video and any rolling shutter improvements would be nice to have. The fact that the 1080p in s35 mode is not binned is good as well. With the nice 24-105 f4 lens, I could see a move to Sony even if this might not be the last body I own. I have wanted Canon to improve their 24-105 forever but it has basically stayed the same. I might be warming to the system.
 
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