New A7III tests by Miguel Quiles, The Art of Photography, The Slanted Lens

The first Stock of Sony A7III cameras arrived today in Europe and will ship out tomorrow (Image courtesy: gmfoto.de).

Sony A7III preorder links:
Sony A7III in USA at Adorama, BHphoto, Amazon,  BestBuy, FocusCamera, BuyDig.
Sony a7III in Europe at Amazon DE, Calumet Germany, Amazon UK, ParkCameras UK, WexUK.
Join our Sony A7III Facebook group!

Dpreview added new A7III image samples an noted they didn’t find any pictures with “stripe issues”:

We found no further examples of PDAF-related striping as we selected additional images for this gallery. Notably, none of the new images added were shot with the FE 85mm at F1.8, leading us to believe the issue is prompted by certain combinations of cameras, lenses, and lighting conditions. We’ll be continuing to investigate this relationship as soon as a production camera arrives.

And here are new A7III tests from youtubers:

And I think that’s a polish review right? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlQckk9uaxY
And a7 III – sample raw photo – very high iso test https://www.dropbox.com/sh/5n9yoklfqf8is30/AABvHeoX5aSqRQ2R3T-TIxu2a/a7m3?dl=0

Very first Voigtländer Macro Apo-Lanthar 110mm f/2.5 FE lens test

We had many lens announcements in these weeks from Tamron, Tokina, Sigma, Zeiss, Laowa and Voigtlander. But the one lens I am personally very interested to buy is the new Voigtländer Macro Apo-Lanthar 110mm f/2.5 FE. I suspected right from the start that this would be a top performer. And it seems like my hope was well placed. The Spanish blog AlbedoMedia (google translation here) posted the very first quick test with image samples and their first impression is extremly positive:

In all the macro shots, we appreciate a very harmonic bokeh , which will undoubtedly please the photographers who love small subjects. In this case – since the images are made at full aperture – we think that the quality associated with the blurred parts is due to the excellent apochromatic correction that minimizes the corresponding aberrations.

One SAR reader also had the chance to play a bit with the lens and said:

It is extremely sharp and no C/A but quite heavy.

If the price and quality will be on par with their excellent 65mm FE lens I am probably going to buy it.

New Sony A7III tests and hands-on by Kevin Raber, CameraLabs, Dpreview

Sony A7III preorder links:
Sony A7III in USA at Adorama, BHphoto, Amazon,  BestBuy, FocusCamera, BuyDig.
Sony a7III in Europe at Calumet Germany, ParkCameras UK, WexUK.
Join our Sony A7III Facebook group!

Kevin Raber writes:

They understand the market, their customers, and the competition and have strategically positioned their camera lineup, so it is attractive to a wide variety of photographic needs. They didn’t cripple or hobble the Sony  a7III and they released it at a fair price, considering its features and abilities. They addressed just about all if not all the issues that were part of the older line. It’s tough to find major flaws with this camera.

Sony A7 III shutter test – mechanical vs silent at 10fps by CameraLabs:

Hands-on with the Sony a7 III (Dpreview).
CP+2018 a73 vs a7r3 Video Performance Comparison on Youtube.

Details on the Sony A7III “stripe issue”

The web went in tumult after discovering a weird “stripe issue” in the top right corner of that Dpreview image sample. Here is the feedback from experts on that matter:

Rishi from Dpreview writes:

In a couple of the photos you may notice striping, a problem we’ve found common to all cameras with masked phase detect AF pixels when shot a certain way: with very fast lenses wide open pointed directly at bright light sources to purposefully induce flare (e.g. here and here). In continued shooting today in the same venue and lighting, we noticed no issues shooting more modest apertures and zoom lenses.

Jim Kasson writes:

I’m not particularly worried about this, but some of the a7III examples I’ve seen make me think the effect might be worse in that camera.
It’s pretty clear that this effect is related to the on-sensor PDAF pixels in the a9. Bill Claff and Horshak did some work last year and identified a weaker version of the same pattern in dark-field images. It’s not clear to me why the effect is stronger with a very bright light source in the image.

Bill Claff writes:

Compared with the A9 the A7III has “Dramatically (3 stops) higher Read Noise in the PDAF blue pixels”

Tony Northrup writes:

We shot 4,181 pics with the a7 III and I can’t find any trace of this effect in the images, including shots with the 85 f/1.4 wide open into light sources, zooming in to 5:1. I’m confident this issue exists, but I think the community is making WAY too much out of it. People really love to latch onto any flaw in a new camera, and I think this is blown out of proportion.

To sum up: This is an issue that appears under very special conditions only. But it’s definitely here and we have to see if this is something Sony can fix easily via firmware update.

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Sony A7III preorder links:
Sony A7III in USA at Adorama (free overnight shipment), BHphoto, Amazon,  BestBuy, FocusCamera, BuyDig.
Sony a7III in Europe at Calumet Germany, ParkCameras UK, WexUK.

Important note: I would appreciate if you use those preorder links to preorder your camera. It rewards me for the work on SAR. I get a small commission and you don’t pay any cent more for that. Thanks:)

Join our Sony A7III Facebook group!

 

 

Sony A7III reviews and hands-on by Northrup, Ken Rockwell, Patrick Murphy-Racey, Jared Polin

Sony A7III preorder links:
Sony A7III in USA at Adorama, BHphoto, Amazon,  BestBuy, FocusCamera, BuyDig.
Sony a7III in Europe at Calumet Germany, ParkCameras UK, WexUK.
Join our Sony A7III Facebook group!

Every day we get plenty of new A7III tests. Here is the next roundup:

Ken Rockwell writes:

Sony has been the world’s top maker of image sensors for many, many decades — long before digital cameras. The A7 III is so good and so inexpensive I’m starting to wonder if they’re just trying to do anything to get us to buy their full-frame sensors, exactly as Kodak used to sell their cameras below cost just to get us to buy more film!

Anthony Thurston writes:

So take it from this Fujifilm shooter; the A7 III is legit and offers some of the best performance per dollar on the market right now. If full frame is what you are after and you are on a budget, the the Sony A7 III should be at the top of your list for consideration – no doubt. 

Patrick Murphy-Racey writes:

If Sony had picked the price of $2498 for the A7III, it would have still been a good deal, and would have been $700 less than the A7RIII.  But at under $2,000, it’s so obvious to me they are just messing with the marketplace.  They are doing it because they can, and they have earned the right to not just disrupt, but aggressively begin to change the very landscape in which they have chosen to compete.