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

But would they announce a stills camera at a broadcast tech show?
Maybe it's photo-camera without the limit of recording time. Go to see that Philip Bloom's post on Instagram to make you depressed about it. Now remains only EVA1 with poor LCD (on Facebook group I've read negative comments about it) the lack of autofocus and zoom function and maybe FS7 with 4,5kg of weight, and adding an EVF to EVA1 means another battery and shoulder mount. D-E-P-R-E-S-S-I-O-N!
 
But would they announce a stills camera at a broadcast tech show?

The original a7S was announced at NAB 2014 in the spring, so it's fitting the a7SIII is announced here (or something similar, a9S...a mirrorless focused on video).

Previous rumors were hinting for it to be announced this past spring at NAB but then changed due to the delays from the earthquake (again, rumors).
 
Well, maybe a challenge for GH5?

That would make strategic sense.

The GH5 is doing well, and now the all-intra codec is out it's about as long as Sony could sensibly wait. Without considering what else they might bring, A9 level autofocus is a clear win over perhaps the main weak point of the GH5.

Speculative roadmap thoughts: there's been some suggestion that the A9 and the Venice share sensor tech; putting a related sensor in a video-mirrorless body is probably a safer move—as far as protecting the lineup goes—than, say, putting it in an FS5II right now (though I wish they would).

Was always confused about why they'd want to repeat the A7/A7R/A7S triumvirate, surely the near future is a photography flagship, and a video flagship (until those two are the same).
 
Sad day today, because we have not still seen the EVA1's footage from Noel Evans and we must wait till Wednesday for this new camera announcement!
 
The best thing about Sony (for me) is they have released every mirrorless camera (at least in the past 3 years) one month or so after announcing it.

I really like that availability.

Not sure how fast the cinema cameras arrived in the past.
 
Sony shows a very consistent behaviour. First at tight lid and then a week or so before things are about to be announced they hint and do small leaks building a short hype and it's ready to pre order. And shortly there after it's available for sale.

And at release they show footage and features and no fuss about it. One can think their videos are boring or not to exciting but they show what each camera is about. I see this again and again and they are often spot on showing a camera how it's meant to be used. Compared to the very confusing way Panasonic handles Eva1. Watch and learn from Sony!
 
If Panasonic was as active in compelling camera releases as Sony, it would be like living in a permanent state of Christmas
 
Sony shows a very consistent behaviour. First at tight lid and then a week or so before things are about to be announced they hint and do small leaks building a short hype and it's ready to pre order. And shortly there after it's available for sale.

And at release they show footage and features and no fuss about it. One can think their videos are boring or not to exciting but they show what each camera is about. I see this again and again and they are often spot on showing a camera how it's meant to be used. Compared to the very confusing way Panasonic handles Eva1. Watch and learn from Sony!

I thought the Sony films were shocking for the release of the FS5, FS7 and FS700. The F55/5 had one decent film and a couple of dodgy ones, the F3 had a good one, but Sony are hardly tearing it up....
 
I agree many of Sonys release videos are boring (and flat looking) but when I look back they at least show the camera in a scenario where it is appropriate. That is they don't try to make a feature film camera out of a one man band camera. And when they do show off a feature film camera (F55/Venice i.e.) they do it like a real movie production. In general.

And I have to agree that both FS7 and FS5 release videos were far from the potential of these cameras. But they showed a typical shooting scenario for the intended use of such a camera.
 
I don't see anything wrong with having an a7S III announced now, and the a7 III in January. It's not what they're used to, but they used to bring RX10 and RX100 models on the same announcement, then changed that. And they took ages from the a6000 to the a6300 but then the a6500 came in what felt like a heartbeat. My point is: sometimes they do weird stuff with announcements.

An a7S III with the 24Mpix a9 sensor sounds weird to me: it would basically be an a9 with lesser body but more functionality, sold for a lot less $$$$. If it's the a9 sensor, I would expect an a9s that's just like the a9 but without crippling the video side of things, for a bit more $$$$. It would need to have either 4k 60fps or 10-bit. And it wouldn't really compete with the GH5 because it would be way more expensive.

Now, an a7S III with 16-18 Mpix sensor and good AF, for $3500, that's an easier pill to swallow. It would be yet another FF sensor, but Sony doesn't seem to worry too much about having a million different sensors.

We'll see, soon enough...

PS: about the a9 vs VENICE sensor thing, they do sound almost the same, but I still think it's not exactly the same sensor: VENICE does 16-bit ADC, a9 only 14-bit. They could be hand-picking a9 sensors and cheating their way to 16-bit, which would make business sense, but who knows...
 
A9 is a higher line so if they do a A9S and A7SIII what would set them apart? 10-bit 4k60p on the A9S and 8-bit 4k30p on the A7SIII among other things?
 
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