The a7R series has long been Sony’s image quality champion. Ever since I first tried out the a7RII in the summer of 2015, I knew it was going to be a big deal. Looking back, it’s fair to say that it was the camera that made a lot of professionals turn their heads and contemplate about switching away from DSLRs. Despite some perceived short-comings, like dismal battery performance and not enough lenses available at the time, it was received by many photographers as their first mirrorless camera purely because of the beautiful files it produced. Since then, Sony has greatly improved their lineup to win more photographers over with the a9 and now the a7RIII (not to mention the the game-changing a7III that was recently announced). With each new camera Sony introduces, they are checking off many of the features that photographers have been waiting on before they make their move to mirrorless. I was able to test out the a7RIII recently on an engagement session in Yosemite to see how much it has evolved from the last iteration.
For this shoot, I wanted to mainly see if the camera is more responsive than the mark II version. I knew the image quality would already be top notch, so I did not focus on that. I’m happy to report that not only is the camera tuned up to be faster, but the a7RIII has inherited a lot of the features of the a9 that I love — namely a bigger battery, the vastly improved button layout that includes a thumbstick to make focus point switching easier, a repositioned movie record button, and dual card slots. There are many more improvements, but just the ones I mentioned is enough to make an upgrade to this camera well worth it. All of the other features only available in Sony mirrorless cameras that I use daily work even better. Eye-AF is faster, live-view looks even more beautiful, and silent shooting is also improved.
Final Thoughts & Special Thanks
A lot has changed in a couple of years. There are now many lenses available for the FE lens mount system and Sony’s full frame mirrorless cameras are maturing into professional grade tools that are changing the landscape of photography as we speak. It’s exciting for me to experience technology that makes my work easier and Sony needs to be commended for leading the charge. I want to express my appreciation to Dave Rhodes at Sony for letting me test out the a7RIII and a couple of awesome Sony lenses. Thanks for reading!
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Mirrorless photography is the next big thing, and it’s here! If you have any questions about switching to or starting with a mirrorless camera system, please feel free to ask by using the form below. I also reach out to my readers occasionally through a newsletter containing special content such as previews of new gear, videos, tutorials, and more. Use the same form to sign up and get advanced notice on all the exciting news.
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