Hands-on With the Sony a7III and a9 at a Wedding

A couple of weeks ago, I got a chance to use the Sony a7III, which was announced last month and is shipping next week. I was able to shoot an entire wedding with it along with my existing Sony a9. Here was my setup:

For the purpose of reviewing the a7III, I am only featuring images created with that camera, but I would still like to share some of my thoughts on how it handled compared to the a9. Without further delay, here are a few sample images that I created that day.

The a7III and Image Quality

I think the image quality from the first a7 camera was excellent to begin with and it just keeps getting better with every camera that Sony announces. It’s no different with the a7III. I waited to make my edits until Adobe came out with an update to Lightroom so it can recognize the a7III RAW files. When editing the images from both the a7III and the a9, I couldn’t see anything that jumps out as different. The editing process has been quite seamless. I’ve had a few questions about banding issues while using the electronic shutter. During this wedding, I never had this problem. The only thing I noticed was banding under fluorescent light, but that is a phenomenon related to the shutter speed, regardless of the type of shutter. The problem was resolved by changing my shutter speed to 1/125th of a second.

Handling the A7III

When I picked up the a7III, I only had a couple of hours to set it up before the wedding. This was more than enough time for me adjust the system settings and custom buttons to match my a9, then I jumped right into shooting the bride preparation. I’m happy to say that it perfectly matches my shooting experience with the a7RIII (which I had previously reviewed here), and works similarly to the a9. I had no issues switching between the two bodies. I’ve read that the viewfinder of the a7III has a lower resolution than the one in the a9 and a7RIII, but it was a negligible difference in my opinion. I think the only glaring disparity is the lack of a blackout-free viewfinder. Although if you’ve never used an a9, then you won’t notice it at all. There is also the focusing and drive mode dials that are not present as with the a9. Instead, I had to relegate those duties to a couple of custom function buttons. The a7III inherited all the good stuff that was added to the a9 and a7RIII, including eye-AF (which worked perfectly and just as fast as the a9), better ergonomics, and awesome battery life. With the consolidation of these features within Sony’s full-frame lineup, I can easily see photographers with a gear bag containing multiple models of the 3rd generation a7 bodies along with the a9.

My Takeaway & Special Thanks

The a7III is everything it’s hyped up to be. I’ve already heard of many professional photographers who have long been hesitant to switch from a DSLR already pre-order this camera. Sometimes, features alone will not make a camera compelling enough to purchase. But the a7III has the perfect combination of features, utility, and price that will make many photographers move to mirrorless.

Last but not least, I  just wanted to express my appreciation again to Dave Rhodes at Sony for letting me use the Sony a7III for this wedding.

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