Sony debuts Sony Alpha 7S III full-frame mirrorless camera for photo/video pros
Sony Electronics Inc. announced the latest addition to its Alpha 7S full-frame mirrorless camera series, the Alpha 7S III. The camera has a new 12.1MP back-illuminated full-frame image sensor with 15+ stop wide dynamic range, video recording capabilities including 4K 120pi and 10-bit 4:2:2 color depth, a new heat-dissipating mechanism, dual-slot relay recording enabling more than one-hour of 4K 60p movie shooting, a new autofocus system, and touch screen interface and side flip LCD screen.
The Alpha 7S III will be available in September 2020 for approximately $3,499.99 USD and $4,799.99 CAD. It will be sold at a variety of Sony’s authorized dealers throughout North America.
The Alpha 7S III also has a new BIONZ XR image processing engine providing up to eight times more processing power, minimizes processing latency, and enables many of the hallmark still and imaging features of the camera, the company says. The new system also includes the world’s brightest and largest 9.44 million-dot (approx.) OLED electronic eye-level viewfinder and is the first camera with dual CFexpress Type A card slots.
“The Alpha 7S III is the ultimate representation of Sony’s passion to solve our customers’ pain points,”, said Neal Manowitz, deputy president for Imaging Products and Solutions Americas at Sony Electronics. “We are always listening to our customers’ feedback, pushing hard to deliver innovation that goes far beyond their expectations. There is no better example than this new camera. Combining classic S series sensitivity with a feature set, performance level, and user experience that is simply unmatched in the market today — at any price level — the Alpha 7S III opens up a new world of possibilities for today’s creators.”
For the first time in an Alpha 7S series camera, the Alpha 7S III offers Fast Hybrid AF by combining phase-detection and contrast-detection AF, giving it the ability to track subjects over a wide area with outstanding speed, precision and smoothness, according to Sony. The Alpha 7S III’s design was updated to ensure effective heat dissipation and minimizes overheating — even during extended continuous recording sessions at 4K 60p 10-bit 4:2:2 video lasting an hour or more.
Stabilization
For video on-the-go, the Alpha 7S III is the first Alpha series camera to include Active Mode with 5-axis optical in-body image stabilization to support especially difficult handheld movie shooting. It is also the first Alpha series E-mount body to feature a side-opening vari-angle rear screen for gimbal-mounted shots, complicated angles, handheld operation and more. The screen rotates sideways, up and down, and features a 3.0 type 1.44 million-dot (approx.) touch panel LCD monitor, for optimal visibility even in bright outdoor environments.
In addition, the Alpha 7S III provides a selection of new Creative Look with 10 presets that can be used for both photo and video shoots, making it easy to create interesting moods right in the camera to be used as-is or customized by the user.
A digital audio interface has been added to the camera’s Multi Interface (MI) Shoe for clearer audio recordings from a compatible Sony external microphone. Used with Sony’s XLR-K3M XLR Adaptor Kit, the Alpha 7S III provides 4-channel 24-bit digital audio recording capability in an Alpha series camera for the first time. Like other MI shoe accessories, no cables or batteries are required.
Additional movie assist functions include a redesigned monitor display with a bold, clearly visible red frame that makes it clear when recording is in progress even when mounted on a rig or gimbal, custom zoom settings, adjustable white balance while recording, display rotation, interval recording, still extraction from movies and more.
For the first time in one of Sony’s digital cameras, the Alpha 7S III includes HEIF allowing for smooth 10-bit gradations and advanced compression technology to maintain image quality while significantly reducing file size and saving storage space.