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Sony A7rIII : 20 secret features that will make you upgrade from A7rII (or A9!)

Marc Alhadeff

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1 Introduction

The A7RIII is a significant upgrade over the A7RII, although using the same sensor as the A7RII its electronic and body is very similar to the A9 and it share a lot of functions in common with it

There are also some unique features to the A7RIII, some have been already extensively marketed like the Pixel shift multi shooting or the Hybrid log gamma for video, but they are also many features that are ergonomics/features improvement over the A9 (I hope they will also be available on the A9 via a firmware upgrade)

After a

I propose you a deep dive in no more than 20 secret/less known features of the A7RIII (Chapter 4) and some conclusion (Chapter 5)

2 Features Coming from the A9

On the minus side

3 Features Specific to A7RIII

 

4 The secret Features

  1. Star eater issue : solved or not
  2. No EVF lag in mechanical shutter
  3. Menu available even in burst mode
  4. AF working in magnification mode
  5. Group display for burst
  6. Notation
  7. Wireless Flash & Flash modes
  8. Dual card extra features
  9. Custom keys for video and display mode different than for still
  10. Bright Monitoring
  11. Toggle functionality for some function
  12. Disabling switch to EVF
  13. Display mode: monitor off option
  14. Peaking setting regrouped
  15. Gamma Display assist
  16. Zebra by 1% increment
  17. Tethering: dual recording
  18. Metering mode options: Face priority in multi metering
  19. Metering mode options: Highlight priority
  20. Raw + Jpg new combinations

1 Star eater issue solved ? or not ?

Previous Sony cameras had some issue for long exposure when taking photo of the sky , Sony was applying a treatment that erased some stars thinking it was some hot pixel, or noise see here

There is some on filed test that seems to prove the issue is no more there : see here,

and another one purely technical that says the issues is still there : see here

Let’s wait more photos to judge…

2 No EVF lag in mechanical shutter

When shooting with the mechanical shutter all previous Sony Cameras had a little lag in the EVF display, the A7RIII is the first Sony camera to offer a fully lag free shooting with the mechanical shutter

3 Menu available even in burst mode

Using the A7RIII in burst mode you will notice you can directly go in the menu , even if the camera is still emptying its buffer

Some menu options will still be greyed out, but at least you have access to it and are able to change some options, so better than A9

4 AF working in magnification mode

The magnification mode to zoom into the image for precise focusing is no more reserved for manual focusing

You can now zoom into the image and still use the AF ! Very nice for doing AF at F1.4

5 Group display for burst

When doing frequent burst e.g. when shooting sports you can quickly do a few thousands of images that are cumbersome to review. The A7RIII allow you to regroup all images of the same burst into 1 when reviewing your images for more easy navigation

This combined with the new image star notation make it easy to review and select THE image in each burst

When reviewing photos, you see each burst with a pile icon

Press the centre button to expand the burst

You see on the top right the frame number of the burst : here 1 out of 6

6 Notation

In display mode,  you now have the possibility to give a note to your photos to ease the sorting when you need to send your photos for post processing to your office or for yourself

You need to assign the notation to a custom key, then when viewing a photo press 1, 2, .. 5 times to give a star rating from 1 to 5

 

7 Wireless flash & Flash modes

The wireless flash is now an option on its own and can be combined with the flash mode

 

 

8 Dual cards extra features

On A9 there was no option to switch to the 2nd card if 1st card was full, also if you had only one card inserted e.g. in slot 2 but you had selected slot 1 as primary recording, the camera will refuse to take any photos

This is solved with A7RIII, there is no a dedicated menu with all possible options we want and some intelligence to use whatever card is inserted

9 Custom keys for video mode

With the A7RIII there is a new option to have different functions applied to all your C1, C2… left, right, AEL… keys when you are in the video mode (on the dial mode)

It is like having 2 cameras: 1 focused on Still photography one on Videos

Here are my settings for video, 

note that if for a given key you want the same as in still just keep the option “follow custom (still icon)”

my settings for still

and my settings for display

10 Bright Monitoring

This is not the same at all as monitor brightness (quite confusing name!)

it works as a toggle: press one, dark scene will be brightened, press second time back to normal

Personally, I don’t see the difference between this function and using the Setting effects on/off toggle

11 Toggle functionality for some functions

For some functions like live view display setting or peaking if you assign it to a custom key it will act as a toggle: no more menu with only 2 options and you need to switch between the 2

Very handy! but why not having applied to all binary function e.g. like the silent shooting where there is still a menu with only 2 options

 

 

No toggle for silent shooting

12 Disabling switch to EVF

By default, the camera switch between EVF and monitor automatically, or you can disable this behaviour and assign the switch to a custom key

I am shooting quite often in narrow space where I can’t put my eyes on the visor and with the camera on my belly. With A7RII, the camera was switching automatically to the EVF you had to keep 15-20 cm distance to avoid this.

Now with A7RIII and A9 as soon as you flip the monitor a little bit from the back of the camera, it knows you are trying to compose with the monitor and it won’t switch anymore to the EVF even if you keep the camera very close to you!

Very handy in closed spaces!

13 Display mode: monitor off option

A new option has been added for the monitor to turn it completely off

This feature was highly requested by some sports photographers, that just wanted to shoot with the EVF and only having the monitor turned “on” when displaying photos

 14 Peaking setting regrouped

All the features related to peaking options are now grouped together and not anymore spread over 2 pages. Well done !

 15 Gamma display assist

They are therefore displayed in low contrast during shooting and may be difficult to monitor, using [Gamma Disp. Assist], contrast equivalent to that of normal gamma can be reproduced. In addition, [Gamma Disp. Assist] can also be applied when playing back movies on the camera’s monitor/viewfinder.

Set it to Auto and it will pick up the right conversion according to the chosen gamma

16 Zebra display by increment of 1%

You can set a custom Zebra by increment of 1% both in term of limit and of range

17 Tethering : dual recording

In the past, you had only the option to save on the remote PC, nous you can choose to keep a copy on the memory card

18 Metering options: Face priority in multi metering

Face priority in multi metering

19 Metering options:  Highlight priority

Highlight priority

“Measures the brightness while emphasizing the highlighted area on the screen. This mode is suitable for shooting the subject while avoiding overexposure.”

This is hugely useful for landscape photographers who like to shoot quickly (like if hiking with non-photographers), as it makes it much less likely to blow out the highlights. Basically, it’s automatic ETTR (Exposing to the right)

20 Raw + Jpg new combinations

The A7RIII is the first one to propose some options in the Raw + jpg mode

you can choose

 

Most of the above functions could, I think , be added to the A9 via a firmware upgrade, let’s hope Sony is working on it

5 Conclusions

So, which one is better? Do I need to upgrade? To which model: A7RIII , A9?

As usual it all depends of your need and practices

Of course, the best is to have both a A7RIII and a A9 !

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