sony a7iii lcd screen replacement free sample

The Sony images look good albeit not quite as life like and natural as Canon. I don"t know what it is, but Sony images remind me very much of the output from m43rds bodies (overly sharp and processed).

Overall, I would recommend Rawtherapee, as it gets excellent results, and with the processing technique I laid out, there is no reason for you to not buy an a7iii if the banding issue is a deal breaker.

This is encouraging! Taking it a step further, if the RAW converter was aware it was an A7III and "knew" of the specific potential issue it could do an even better job!

Point being, the tools available for the hobbyist photographer today is astounding. Sony a7 series, Rawtherapee, cheap manual focus lenses, drones, social media, and online forums would astound a grandpa.

The Sony 24-105mm lens is $1,300 ? The Pentax FA counterpart is $500. Pentax K1Mark II is a better option for folks like me with limited funds allocated for this hobby.

The Pentax version is a variable aperture lens starting at 28mm rather than 24mm while this has a constant aperture and is one full stop faster towards the long end. Not really an apples to oranges comparison. Sony has a cheaper but very decent 24-240mm lens which is much cheaper. Its soft at the long end of course but very decent upto 100mm and even 240mm is very usable but don"t expect tack sharp results.

Plus the Sony has silent af motors, silent iris, superior build quality, better mf throw, is sharper,... I like and own the Pentax version, but it"s no comparison to the Sony.

I"ve placed my pre-order for this body and the native 35mm Sony lens. Aside from the stripes in the purplish blue flare, I"m assuming these are off-cam images and I find the colors dull compared to both Lumix and Canon images that I am used to. There"s more than enough latitude for post-processing, which I noticed after I downloaded and worked on RAW files. Images are so clean with very good DR, but the color science - seems not for me.

Yeah I saw a raw fix in Jim‘s post. There"s some excellent work done by @Pippo27. So I guess this problem might be able to get solved by FW update if Sony are well aware of it?

Overall, I would recommend Rawtherapee, as it gets excellent results, and with the processing technique I laid out, there is no reason for you to not buy an a7iii if the banding issue is a deal breaker.

What I also found is that some photos, especially in probably darker surroundings (higher ISO used) may have bad focus, mostly frontfocus. If that´s a camera error and not a user error that would be alarm bells for me since I want to exchange my whole Nikon gear with Sony (have a7III on preorder).

Overall, I would recommend Rawtherapee, as it gets excellent results, and with the processing technique I laid out, there is no reason for you to not buy an a7iii if the banding issue is a deal breaker.

For the record, I was a Sony hater even as I owned - and made money with - an A7R. I still dislike their body shapes and shutter sound. When the former is fixed likely I’ll change back.

I was in the same boat. Hated the Sony SLT system but since I had a lot of lenses invested I was forced to use them for a few years. Glad to have given up on that SLT nonsense.

Those SONY Jpg"s are absolute garbage ..I need to wait for Camera Raw update ..until then it"s hard to judge image quality. Those JPG"s looks absolutely horrible.

If Somebody is interested to play with the raw files just dowload Sony Imaging Edge software. It can open the file and you process them there to some extend. Its not Capture one or LR but you can open it.

How about Raw Therapee? That has usually no problems opening and editing any raws at all. On the top of that it is very handy for Sony users who adapt Canon, Sigma and Similar lenses as one can get automatic lens based distortion correction, after supplying files from Adobe DNG converter (free) of charge). I use DXO Optics PRO 11 as I believe that they Prime noise reduction is state of art, but it annoys the hell out of me that users are not allowed to select and use any of the automatic lens corrections when adapting. DXO won"t allow you to select the lens manually so here comes the freeware RawTherapee which does excellent job with Fuji"s X-Trans too.

LOL, so true. I will say though that I dont shoot Sony, Fuji or Pentax; I shoot everything raw and have nothing in my gallery either as I really hate how any shots look through DPR; I just link to my own galleries :)

I don"t hide my photos. Everybody can see them. I used Nikon, Canon and Olympus. Also had Sony but faces was so orange... First time I even thought that Trump"s photographer shoot Sony!

I shoot Sony and I tweak the default color profile for my Jpegs (to make them punchier and a bit warmer) and manually adjust (often in groups) the white balance, contrast, clarity, and exposure (highlights, shadows, etc.) of RAWs. I thought that was the norm.

It"d be interesting if they compere A7iii to first gen A7 jpeg colors ... The A9 jpeg engine was good that we didn"t différenciate Sony jpegs with the canikon"s in blind test ... Sometimes even with X-t2...

Yeah, yeah we know a9 is overhating,banding,buffer issues, sony colors are bad, doesn"t have proper grip etc. and now PDAF banding (anyway this isn"t banding).

I didn"t say any of that, and this isn"t an A9...I think you have the wrong idea. I think the A73 is a fantastic cam with one critical flaw under a certain shooting condition that hopefully Sony can address.

Tony Northrup shot 4100 samples and tried to but could not replicate what Rishi produced with the A7III. The affected Rishi JPEGS are half the size of the other DPR photographer"s so who knows what the hell happened. Could be a bad sensor sample on the camera or setting he hasn"t disclosed. I did see somewhere he was using the mechanical shutter instead of EFCS which would be an unusual way to shoot in the studio under 1/2000th shutter speed on this camera.

For those who say Sony have bad colors: just stop using awful adobe raw converters like LR. Capture One using each cameras own LCC profile instead of LR wich is forces adobe"s generic profile (what is terrible) to all cameras. So the problem here is the software what you use, not Sony colors...

And talking about skin tones from SOOC jpegs is ridiculous. We don"t know what WB they use what picture profiles etc. Maybe Sony jpg engine not the best but in RAW they have best IQ and best colors

Even with Capture One pro the colours are bad compared to Olympus for example. I compared Sony and Olympus in jpeg and Capture One. I could not get the sony images anywhere near the olympus output, neither jpeg nor capture one treatment. Even with the same lenses.

Adobe LR has camera calibration profile (instead of using the Adobe Standard). These look way better to me than C1 (and they match Nikon"s jpeg colors). Not sure about Sony, though.

You can import Sony arw files into LR and have LR apply the one of the camera"s profiles instead of the Adobe default. Most Sony"s have about eight distinct profiles. You can even pick which of the camera profiles you want as the new default.

One of the biggest drawback remains the skin tones that are either too greenish/yellowish or too reddish (depending on the light conditions) for my tastes, and still look unappealing and not natural at all. Sony still needs to put more efforts the color response of their sensors. I would probably need to look at the raw files as well, but Canon and Fuji have much better skin tones right out of the box.

On my monitors (110% AdobeRGB) most skins and colors look OK, if not perfect (a minor issue one can trivially tune). Hence I don"t quite agree w/ the "bad Sony color science" conjecture, albeit i"d like better JPG engines in general.

granted, you may not need an aRGB screen (often overpriced). However, once you see your shots on such a beast, with deep rich colors, there"s no desire to go back.

Yes my Samsung S6 Edge wasn"t really good at displaying photos sometimes, like green and blue part you know. But still much better than old fashion LCD backlit or edgelit screen for the deepness of black to make it more 3D pop look. OLED still have a long way to go to get better actually due to overheating issue. So LCD LED will remain the top brand for now.

I still can"t believe Sony is crippling A mount lenses and limiting them to 2.5FPS. This is not the case with the A9, so Sony doesn"t have to do it. It is another way Sony jerks over their customers.

Sony is not necessarily crippling A-mount (and adapted) lenses to 2.5-3 fps performance. The a9 has a stacked sensor that can read out its sensor far faster -

btw, do you agree there is no technical reason A mount cameras are limited to F/3.5 for focusing? (there was a bug on one A mount camera that allowed it work at other apertures) It sure seems like Sony it driving people away from A mount while still offering A mount cameras and lenses at the same time.

It can"t be... These results don"t match with what the voices in my head were saying. It not possible... It must be... A conspiracy. Yes, DPREVIEW IS BOUGHT BY SONY. Its the only explanation.

So I guess since this banding doesn"t happen in 99% of the cases, according to Sony specialists here, Dpreview must have been REALLY lucky to capture EVEN THREE of those pictures in one shooting.

True Badi....Sony may have the issue addressed with a quick firmware update. And for what many amatuers are doing, it probably won"t matter. Those of us who do or have shot professionally will be more cautious.

@badi actually several samples were taken by FE 85/1.8 in the gallery of this thread at the top, Rishi said no such issue from that lens and zoom lenses. The only samples shown that issue in last thread was taken by FE 85/1.4 GM at f1.4. But at the same Sony event others invited photogs such as Tony Northrup said they didn"t experience. So it only shows up in rare scenario even under the same light source from the same lens wide open, you"d need to shoot from specific angle and distance to luckily get that artifact. Really worry too much and vastly blown out of proportion.

@Badi - Yes, hopefully the issue can be addressed quickly during the first phase of the release. A camera that even works 99% of the time but fails in certain important situations will hopefully get Sony"s attention. After all, some used to think dynamic range wasn"t important 99% of the time....but with experience things change.

My Sony camera of A7 hates bright LED light causing flare issue on the edge of LED light or so for outdoor low light shot. It never happen with old fluorescent light or so. Interesting. It got zero to do with lens, it is to do with sensor reflection problem.

Are you new to mirrorless cameras? While you might be used to viewing your images on the back of your Nikon d750 this is how we used to in the past check images for focus. In the future we take advantage of the amazing darkened environment that is without reflections on the screen and start using the electronic viewfinder eyepiece! Zooming into 100% in the viewfinder in a controlled dark environment is amazing and I never check focus on the back of the camera again. The only drawback to viewing images in the viewfinder is I have had strange looks by people walking by asking what I was photographing on the ground and I just smiled and told them I was checking my image in the viewfinder with my mirrorless camera!

However, I shoot probably 95% from a tripod at waist level, and since I am 6 foot 3 and have a bad back, I use the LCD 95% of the time. I wear bi-focals as well so eyesight is not my strong suit.

I used to shoot with a Nikon D7000 (no tilting screen). When I accidentally destroyed my a6300, I had to use my D7000 again. I will never do that again.

The Sony a7 was the first generation of the alpha 7 series camera by Sony, released in December 2013. The Sony a7 is identified by the name "a7" in the top right corner on the front of the device, and its model number ILCE-7 is listed on the bottom of the device, which is shown below the manufacturer.

The Sony Alpha 7 is a small, light-weight camera that is often used to record high-quality photos and videos. Therefore, this is one of the cameras that travelers love to carry around. There are a total of three Alpha models that are currently on the market (a7,a7ii,a7iii), and the best way to identify each of them is by the name written on the top right corner in front of the camera. There are a couple of features that make this camera stands out. For example, it has a sealed alloy body with making the camera "tougher" and weatherproof; also, it can connect with the cellphone via WIFI or NFC, and it allows the user not only review the pictures after they took it but also they download the pictures and share it with their friends. Furthermore, it has a video mode of 1080p AVCHD video, and it can shoot 24MP with five frames per second.

This year is the seventh year of the Sony a7 production, and yet, it does not have a single recall from the manufacturer. The Sony a7ii replaced the Sony a7 in September of 2014.

Thank you for your constructive comment. The criteria we needed to meet for this project was to provide instruction on iFixit guides for how to remove various parts on the device. We were being evaluated on the content pertaining to our writing and not the technical depth of the guide. Furthermore, we did not have a vested interest in replacing the screen nor did we have another screen to replace it with. In your rush to make a rude comment, you might have missed the end of the guide where it states that in order to reassemble you must follow the steps we provided in the reverse order. Reverse means doing something in the opposite direction.

Sony’s a7III camera has enjoyed rave reviews since its introduction earlier in 2018. Most tests focus on its superb auto exposure and auto focus capabilities that rival much more costly cameras, including Sony’s own a7rIII and a9.

I did this testing in preparation for the new third edition of my Nightscapes and Time-Lapse eBook, which includes information on Sony mirrorless cameras, as well as many, many other updates and additions!

As with Sony’s other popular Alpha 7 and 9 series cameras, the new Alpha 7III is a full-frame mirrorless camera, a class of camera Canon and Nikon have yet to offer, though models are rumoured or promised.

In a mirrorless, the camera remains in “live view” all the time, with the sensor always feeding a live image to either or both the rear LCD screen and electronic viewfinder (EVF). While you can look through and frame using the EVF as you would with a DSLR, you are looking at an electronic image from the sensor, not an optical image from the lens.

In testing the Sony a7III I ignored all the auto functions. Instead, I concentrated on those points I felt of most concern to astrophotographers, such as:

The North America Nebula with the Sony a7III and a Meade 70mm f/5 astrographic refractor, for a single 4-minute exposure at ISO 1600. The reds have been boosted in processing.

• The a7III lacks any internal intervalometer or ability to add one via an app. But it is compatible with many external intervalometers and controllers.

The a7III offers 4K video and, at 24 frames-per-second, is full-frame. Shutter speeds can be as slow as 1/4-second, allowing real-time aurora shooting at reasonable ISO speeds.

The Sony a7III is a superb camera for still and time-lapse nightscape shooting, and excellent for real-time aurora videos. It is good, though not great, for long-exposure deep-sky imaging.

That was a bit surprising. I expected the new BSI-equipped Sony to better the Nikon by about a stop. It did not. This emphasizes just how good the Nikon D750 is.

Nevertheless, noise performance of the Sony a7III was still excellent, with both the Sony and Nikon handily outperforming the Canon 6D MkII, with its slightly smaller pixels, by about a stop in noise levels.

NOTE: I performed all Raw developing with Adobe Camera Raw v10.3. It is possible some of the artifacts I saw are due to ACR not handling the a7III’s .ARW files as well as it should. But to develop all the images from Sony, Nikon, and Canon equally for comparisons, ACR is the best choice.

The Sony a7III exhibited noise levels similar to the Nikon D750 at high ISOs, with the Sony and Nikon each about a stop better for noise than the Canon 6D MkII.

At ISO 3200, a common nightscape ISO speed, all three cameras performed well in this moonlit scene. The Canon shows a darker sky as its images were taken a few minutes later. The Nikon had the Sigma 14mm Art lens; the Canon and Sony used the same Rokinon 14mm SP lens.

At ISO 6400, the Canon begins to show excessive noise, about a stop worse than the Nikon and Sony. No luminance noise reduction was applied to these images. All cameras show an equal number of stars recorded.

Both the Sony and Nikon use sensor and signal path designs that are “ISO invariant.” As a result, images shot underexposed at slower ISOs, then boosted in exposure later in processing look identical to properly exposed high-ISO images. Well, almost.

The Sony still showed some discoloration artifacts and added noise when boosting images by +4 EV that the Nikon did not. Even with uncompressed Raws, the Sony was not quite as ISO invariant as the Nikon, though the difference shows up only under extreme push-processing of badly underexposed frames.

A closeup of the scene shows the ISO variant Canon exhibited more noise and magenta discoloration in the +4 EV boosted image. The Nikon looks very clean, but the Sony also shows discoloration, green here, and an increase in noise. These are all uncompressed 14-bit Raw files.

Comparing just the two ISO-invariant cameras, the Sony and the Nikon, on another night, shows a similar performance difference when boosting underexposed slow-ISO images later in Camera Raw. The Sony begins to show more noise and now a magenta discoloration in the +3 and +4 EV images, similar to, but not as badly as does the ISO-variant Canon 6D MkII.

Over the last year or so, firmware updates from Sony introduced a much-publicized penchant for Sony Alphas to “eat” stars even in Raw files, apparently due to an internal noise reduction or anti-aliasing routine users could not turn off. Stars were smoothed away along with the noise in exposures longer than 3.2 seconds in some Sony cameras (longer than 30 seconds in others).

While others beg to differ and claim this camera still eats stars, they offer no evidence of it other than graphs and charts, not A-B photos of actual tracked starfields taken with the Sony vs. another camera thought not to eat stars.

I saw none of the extreme effects reported by others with other Sonys, where masses of faint stars disappeared or turned into multi-colored blotches. It is possible the effect is still present in other Sony Alpha models. I have not tested those.

But in the a7III, I did not see any significant “star eating” in any long exposures even up to the 4 minutes I used for some deep-sky shots. In images taken at the same time with other cameras not accused of star eating, the Sony showed just as many faint stars as the competitors. Stars were visible to just as faint a limiting magnitude, and that’s what counts, NOT graphs and charts, especially when such results are not shown for other cameras.

Tracked deep-sky images through a telescope using 4-minute exposures show the Sony a7III recording an equal number of faint stars as the Canon 6D MkII. No luminance noise reduction was applied to these images in processing.

Another example with 4-minute exposures again demonstrates no problems recording faint stars. The Canon does show more noise than the Sony. No noise reduction was applied in processing.

For yet more evidence, this is a comparison of the Sony a7III vs. the Nikon D750 in tracked 90-second exposures with 14mm lenses. Again, the Sony records just as many stars as the Nikon.

Sony advises that when using LENR Raw images are recorded with only 12-bit depth, not 14-bit. This might be a contributing factor. Yet frames taken with LENR on were the same 47 Mb size as normal uncompressed frames.

These are 4-minute exposures of dark frames (i.e. the lens cap on!) taken at room temperature with and without Long Exposure Noise Reduction. In the Sony, LENR did not eliminate all hot pixels nor the magenta amp glow at the left edge. LENR also added a background level of fine noise. These have had exposure and contrast increased to exaggerate the differences.

A real-world example with the Sony, with a properly exposed nightscape, shows that the ill effects of using LENR don’t show up under normal processing. You do get the benefit of reduced hot pixels in shadows, especially on a warm night like this was. This is a blow-up of the lower corner of the frame, as indicated.

Taking a dark frame with LENR did not eliminate this, and it should, demonstrating again that for whatever reason in the a7III LENR is not as effective as it should be.

I have not seen such “amp” glows in cameras (at least in the DSLRs I’ve used) for a number of years, so seeing it in the new Sony a7III was another surprise.

UPDATE: March 27, 2021 — Subsequent firmware updates seem to have eliminated this amp glow. One supplier of filter-modified cameras, Spencer’s Camera, who had refused to modify Sonys because of this glow, now lists many Sony Alphas as suitable for modification. However, the sensor masks and “green stars” (described below) still make the Sony a7III less desirable for deep-sky imaging than other mirrorless cameras I’ve tested.

The full field of a deep-sky image taken through an f/5 70mm astrographic refractor shows the minor level of edge darkening at the corners from shadowing of the sensor in the Sony.

To get the most out of the Sony for deep-sky imaging you would have to have it modified by a third-party, though the amp glow described above makes it a poor choice for modification.

Three deep-sky exposures compare cameras for red sensitivity: a filter-modified Canon 5D MkII, a stock Canon 6D MkII, and the stock Sony a7III. As expected the filter-modified camera picks up much more red nebulosity. The Sony doesn’t do quite as well as the Canon 6D MkII.

In Live View it is possible to make the image so bright you can actually see the Milky Way live on screen! Wow! This makes it so easy to frame nightscapes and deep-sky fields.

But this special “Bright Monitoring” mode is as well hidden as Sony could make it. Unless you actually read the full-length 642-page PDF manual (you have to download it), you won’t know about it. Bright Monitoring does not appear in any of the in-camera menus you can scroll through, so you won’t stumble across it.

Like the Nikon D750, the Sony’s screen tilts vertically up and down, great for use when on a telescope, or on any tripod when aimed up at the sky. As photographers age, this becomes a more essential feature!

In new models, Sony now offers the option of a final “My Menu” page which you can populate with often-used functions from the other 35 pages of menu commands!

Using the right lens adapter (I use one from Metabones), it is possible to use lenses with mounts made for Canon, Nikon, Sigma and others. Plus there are an increasing number of lenses from third parties offered with native Sony E-mounts. This is good news, as astrophotography requires fast, high-quality lenses, and the Sony allows more choices.

The compact a7III body weighs a measured 750 grams, vs. 900 grams each for the Nikon D750 and Canon 6D MkII. The lower weight can be helpful for use on lightweight telescopes, on small motion control devices, and for simply keeping weight and bulk down when traveling.

It is possible to power the camera though the USB port (indeed that’s how you charge the battery, as no separate battery charger is supplied as standard, a deficiency). This might be useful for long shoots, though likely as not that same USB port will be needed for an intervalometer or motion control device. But if the Sony had a built-in intervalometer…!

To reduce battery drain it is possible to turn off the EVF completely – I find I never use it at night – and to turn off the LCD display when shooting, though the latter is an option you have to activate to add to the Display button’s various modes.

Most DSLRs do not offer this, but the Sony’s option of an electronic front curtain shutter and the additional Silent Shooting mode completely eliminates vibration, useful for some high-magnification shooting through telephotos and telescopes.

UPDATE: In April 2019 Sony issued a v3 Firmware update for the a7III which added an internal intervalometer. I’ve used this new function and it works very well.

While a built-in intervalometer is not essential, I find I often do use the Canon and Nikon in-camera intervalometers for simple shoots. So it is great to have one available on the Sony. However, like other brands’ internal intervalometers Sony’s is good only for exposures up to 30 seconds long.

However, while the Sony has a Bulb setting there is no Bulb Timer as there is with the Canon. The Bulb Timer would allow setting long Bulb exposures of any length in the camera.

Instead, for any exposures over 30 seconds long (or time-lapses with >30-second-long frames) the Sony must be used with an external Intervalometer. I use a $50 Vello unit, and it works very well. It controls the Sony through the camera’s Multi USB port.

When using its internal intervalometer, the Nikon D750 has an excellent Exposure Smoothing option. This does a fine job smoothing frame-to-frame flickering in time-lapses, something the Canon cannot do. Nor the Sony, as it has no intervalometer at all.

The dark frame kicks in and locks up the camera only after the series of “light frames” are taken. This is wonderful for taking a set of noise-reduced deep-sky images for later stacking. Nikons don’t have this, not even the D810a, and not Sonys.

The Sony’s buttons are not illuminated. While these might add glows to long exposure images, if they could be designed not to do that (i.e. they turn off during exposures), lit buttons would be very handy at night.

An alternative would be an LCD screen that was touch sensitive. The Sony a7III’s screen is, but only to select an area for auto focus or zooming up an image in playback. The Canon 6D MkII has a fully functional touch screen which can be, quite literally, handy at night.

I would assume not, but not having an a7s (either Mark I or II) to test I can’t say for sure. But the a7III should do the job for bright auroras, the ones with rapid motion worth recording with video, plus offer 24 megapixels for high-quality stills of all sky subjects.

For another example of using the Sony a7III for recording real-time video of the night sky see this video of the aurora shot from Norway in March 2019.

I found the a7III would use up about about 40% of the battery capacity in a typical 400-frame time-lapse on mild spring nights, with 30-second exposures. This is with the EVF and rear LCD Display OFF, and the camera in Airplane mode to turn off wireless functions to further conserve battery power. I was using the wired Vello intervalometer.

I used the Metabones Canon-to-Sony adapter when attaching the Sony to my telescopes using my existing Canon telescope adapters. Image quality was just fine.

And, as I found, the Sony might need to be placed into Continuous shooting mode to have the shutter fire with every trigger pulse from the motion controller. When used with the Genie Mini (below) the Sony fired at only every other pulse if it was in Single shot mode, an oddity of Sony’s firmware.

For example, the TimeLapse+ View (see http://www.timelapseplus.com) works great for automated holy grails, but the developer recommends that with most Sonys the minimum allowed interval between shots is longer (8 to 14 seconds) than with Canons and Nikons. See http://docs.view.tl/#camera-specific-notes

With the Alpine Laboratories Radian2, exposure ramping is not possible with a Sony, only basic shutter triggering. See https://alpinelaboratories.com/pages/radian-2-support-get-started_s

SONY:I deducted marks from the Sony a7III for deep-sky imaging for its lack of a light frame buffer, poor red sensitivity, odd LENR performance, and purple amp glow not seen on the other cameras and that dark frames did not eliminate.

However, I did not consider “star eating” to be a negative factor, as the Sony showed just as many stars and as well-resolved as did the competitors, and what more could you ask for?

I rate the Sony excellent for nightscape imaging and for real-time aurora videos. I list it as just “good” for time-lapse work only because it will not be fully compatible with some motion controllers and rampers. So beware!

It’s just a pity the 6D MkII has only a 3-frame buffer when using LENR. Really Canon? The 2008-vintage 5D MkII had a 5-frame buffer! Your cameras are getting worse for astrophotography while Sony’s are getting better.

The Sony would perform better in an ISO Invariancy “face-off” if its ISOs were kept above 640, to keep all the images within the Sony’s upper ISO range of its dual-gain sensor design, with two ranges (100 to 400, and 640 on up). Fair enough.

For the additional tests, I shot all images within a 3-hour span on the night of June 5/6, using the Sony a7III, Nikon D750, and Canon 6D MkII, with the respective lenses: the Laowa 15mm lens at f/2, the Sigma 14mm Art at f/2, and the Rokinon 14mm SP at f/2.5.

I show only the Sony and Nikon compared here, shot at the common range of ISOs used for nightscape shooting, 800 to 12800. All images are equally well exposed. The inset image at right in Photoshop shows the scene, the Milky Way above dark trees in my backyard!

To the eye, the Sony and Nikon look very similar for noise levels, just as in the moonlit scene. Both are very good – indeed, among the best performing cameras for high-ISO noise levels. But the Sony, being four years newer than the Nikon, is not better.

And this was with equal processing and no application of Shadow Recovery. This is where the Sony’s Backside Illuminated sensor with presumably higher quantum efficiency in gathering photons might be providing the advantage. With its good shadow details, you have to apply less shadow recovery in post-processing, which does keep noise down. So points to Sony here.

The resulting values and graph show the Sony actually measured worse for noise than the Nikon at each high ISO speed, 3200 to 12800, though with both performing much better than the Canon.

The higher noise of the Canon is visually obvious, but I’d say the Sony a7III and Nikon D750 are pretty equal visually for noise, despite the numbers.

Again, here I show only the Sony and Nikon, the two “ISO invariant” cameras. The correct exposure for the scene was 30 seconds at ISO 6400 and f/2. The images shown here were shot at lower ISOs to underexposure the dark scene by 2 to 4 stops or EV. Those underexposed images were then boosted later in processing (in Adobe Camera Raw) by the required Exposure Value to equalize the image brightness.

Contrary to expectations, the Sony did not show any great loss in image quality as it crossed the ISO 640 boundary into its lower ISO range. But the Nikon did show more image artifacts in the “odd-numbered” ISOs of 640 and 500. In this test, the Nikon did not perform as well as the Sony for ISO invariancy. Go figure!

I shot images over a wide-range of exposures, from 2 seconds to 2 minutes, but show only the ones covering the 2-second to 4-second range, where the “star-eater” anti-aliasing or noise smoothing applied by Sony kicks in (above 3.2 seconds it seems).

I shot with the Sony a7III on Single shot drive mode, on Continuous Low drive mode (with the camera controlling the shutter speed in both cases), and a set with the Sony on Bulb and the shutter speed set by an external Vello intervalometer.

This is really pixel peeping at 400%. In Single drive mode, stars and noise soften ever so slightly at 4 seconds and higher. In Continuous mode, I think the effect is still there but maybe a little less. In shots on Bulb controlled by the External Timer, maybe the stars at 4 seconds are a little sharper still. But this is a tough call. To me, the star eater effect on the Sony a7III is a non-issue. It may be more serious on other Sony alphas.

An issue that, to me, has a more serious effect on star quality is the propensity of the Sony, and to some extent the Nikon, to render tiny stars as brightly colored points, unrealistically so. In particular, many stars look green, from the dominance of green-filtered photosites on Bayer-array sensors.

The Sony shows a lot of green stars with or without LENR. The Nikon seems to discolor stars only when LENR is applied. Why would that be? The Canon is free of any such issue – stars are naturally colored whether LENR dark frames are applied or not.

What’s going on here is a mystery – it’s a combination of the cameras’ unique Raw file formats, anti-alias filter in front of the sensor (or lack thereof in the Sony), and the de-Bayering routines of all the many Raw developers wrestling with the task of rendering stars that occupy only a few pixels. It’s unfair to blame just the hardware or the software.

But this test re-emphasized my thoughts that Canon DSLRs remain the best for long-exposure deep-sky imaging where you can give images as much exposure time as they need, while the ISO invariant Sony and Nikons exceed at nightscape shooting where exposures are often limited and plagued by dark shadows and noise.

The Sony shows a propensity to render small stars in many vivid and unreal colors. The Nikon can do so after LENR is applied. The Canon is more neutral and natural.

The A7R III hasn’t reached the same level of popularity as the A7 III but it isn’t far behind. It has experienced the same success as its predecessor – which was game-changing for Sony at the time of its announcement – but also improves upon its weak points, making it a serious contender on today’s market.

All buttons including the shutter release provide a nice tactile feel and are precise in operation. The rear control wheel is thicker and doesn’t turn as freely in comparison to the previous generation. Some of you may find some of these buttons a little small but I personally got used to them quickly. The only area I would advise Sony to improve are the twin dials as I find them somewhat tiny.

The rear LCD screen is the same concerning the tilting capabilities (up 107°, down 41°) and the size (3-inches), but the one on the A7R III has more resolution (1.44M dots vs 921k dots).

The advantage of the A7R III is that both EVF and LCD give you a sharper live view with crispier details. You notice the difference especially when manually focusing and using the focus magnification assist. Unfortunately the advantage in sharpness is minimised when working in movie mode, where there is a significant decrease in resolution and increase in aliasing.

You can choose to keep the touchscreen active when composing with the EVF and use it as an alternative to the physical AF Joystick to move the focus point. You can also render just part of the screen active which stops you from moving the focus point inadvertently with your nose for example. Personally though, I prefer the Joystick solution.

The composite can’t be created in-camera. You need the Sony Imaging Edge or the third-party SonyPixelShiftDNG app. The final image is encapsulated in an .ARQ file that can be opened by popular software such as Lightroom Classic.

The metering modes are the same and so is their behaviour. You can choose between Multi, Center and Spot as well as two additional settings (Highlight, which preserves the brightest areas of the image, and Entire Screen Average). You can also adjust compensation for each metering settingin ±1Ev steps or link the focus point to Spot metering.

Sony has tweaked its colour rendering with the third generation of A7 cameras so both the A7 III and A7R III benefit from a subtle warmer look in comparison to the previous generation. The colour palette is very similar for both RAW and JPG files, and there is the same number of profiles to choose from (13 Creative Styles plus five that can be customised).

For skin tones, the dominant yellow tint I’ve always disliked on previous Sony cameras when using the Portrait profile is now gone, which makes that style much more pleasant to use. Here we can notice a warmer rendering from the A7R III, but if you work with the RAW files you can obtain the same result.

The A7 III inherits a similar autofocus system to the Sony A9. Although it doesn’t share the same calculation speed as the flagship model, it retains the same number of phase detection points (693) and feature 425 contrast detection points. The A7R III shares the same number of contrast detection points but has fewer phase detection points (399).

The most challenging situations I’ve encountered was with the A7 III at a special film screening at my local cinema, where spectators were allowed to come and enjoy “The Isle of Dogs” with their furry friends. The light was poor and I was testing the Samyang AF 35mm f/2.8 which has a decent AF motor but isn’t the fastest you can find amongst primes for the E-mount system. Contrast detection was my only option at times, and overall the camera did a good job but was slower to acquire focus.

A few settings let you enable or disable the square frame displayed on the screen that indicates when the camera has found a face, and prioritise metering on the detected face when the Multi metering mode is selected. You can also register up to 8 faces to give them priority in shots with multiple people, and change the priority order.

First you don’t have to assign it to a custom button necessarily; it can work in real time when half-pressing the shutter button (or pressing the back button focus). If the camera stops detecting the eye, it will revert to the focus area you selected. It’s a shame that Sony didn’t include the possibility to prioritise the left or right eye as you can do on the A9 and a6400.

Second, and without a doubt the most interesting aspect, you can choose between humans and animals for eye tracking. It works just as well as it does for people when it comes to speed, responsiveness and accuracy. The little green square overlays the animal’s eye in your screen’s live view.

Concerning dynamic range, both cameras feature Sony’s Picture Profiles with various gamma and colour modes to choose between. The colour rendering of the two cameras is very similar.

They do well with continuous autofocus and when following fast subjects. The same conclusion applies to face detection although they can be a little slow to correct focus if the subject is very close to the camera. You can also take advantage of the touch screen capabilities, the AF Drive Speed and AF Track Sens settings to make smooth transitions between two focus points.

There are a number of off-camera flash solutions starting with Sony’s own products. Some of its latest flashes have radio communication and can use the front LED light as an AF assist beam. There are options from third-party brands as well (check out our accessory list to see a few examples).

Important note: if you use a third party battery on the A7 III or A7R III with firmware 2.0, both cameras will display a message saying that the operation and safety of the battery cannot be guaranteed. The percentage indication next to the battery icon will also disappear. The cameras appear to work fine nonetheless. I hope Sony will release another firmware to fix the issue. You can read more about this in our A7 accessory article.

If you are lucky enough to already have the Sony a7III sitting inside your gear bag, or perhaps you are thinking about picking one up, then you might like to know which are the best accessories to pair with the a7III.

I’ve spent quite some time reading reviews to figure out which are the best Sony a7 III accessories to buy so that you don’t have to. I also own and use many of the accessories mentioned here myself with my own a7 III and other Sony Alpha cameras.

Although this guide is primarily for the Sony a7 III, I think it also goes without saying that many accessories here like straps, cases, cleaning gear and tripods will work with many other camera brands and models too.

If you are looking for further help and advice on the a7III or would simply like to share your photos, then please head over to our friendly Sony a7 Forum. If you prefer Facebook then I also run the Sony a7III Shooters Group.

Sony’s official screen protector for the a7III is the PCK-LG1. You’ll find that the PCK-LG1 is labelled as the screen protector for the Sony a9 in many stores, but rest assured this is also supported fully with the a7 III. You can check the compatibility information here on Sony’s website. I’ve been using this screen protector on my a7III since day one. It’s well made and doesn’t affect the touch screen operation at all.

The Lennon Gecco LB3 combines a grip extension and a traditional arca swiss plate. The grip is attached via the a7III’s tripod socket and provides somewhere for you little finger to rest. Both Sony and Meike also offer similar grips but they need to be removed to change the battery. The Lennon grip however also includes an unlock button so that you can change your cameras battery without removing the grip itself. There is also an additional side plate (Lennon LB2) that can be purchased to turn the grip into an L-bracket.

The Sony RMT-P1BT Remote Commander is the newest remote control option for the Sony a7III. The RMT-P1BT operates using Bluetooth connectivity which provides a reliable connection even in bright sunlight or when there are obstacles between the commander and the a7III. In my own tests the RMT-P1BT remote works reliably up to around 18m or 60 feet away from the camera, and this is the case whether you are behind or in front or the camera, indoors or outdoors.

When the Bluetooth Remote option is enabled in the a7III settings the Location Info. Link is disabled. So if you are using Imaging Edge Mobile to record your location information via bluetooth, I’m afraid this will not work at the same time as the remote.

The Sony a7 III uses the new NP-FZ100 which doubles the battery life compared with the smaller NP-FW50 battery found in the a7 II. Still, if you are shooting all day then you will probably go through at least one battery. Personally I’ve never gone through more than two NP-FZ100 batteries in one day whilst shooting wildlife and motorsport (stills) with my a7III. That said, I still have 4 of these batteries just to be safe!

The Sony a7 III does not include the Sony BC-QZ1 charger in the box. You can still charge the NP-FZ100 battery in camera via USB but this takes approximately 5 hours to fully charge one official NP-FZ100 battery, compared with only 2.5 hours when charged via the Sony BC-QZ1 wall charger.

The SanDisk Extreme Pro cards have a claimed read speed of 300MB/s and a write speed of 260MB/s. The only cards that are slightly faster are the Sony SF-G cards, however these have been made obsolete unfortunately.

The Sony SF-G Tough cards should be the fastest, however in my Sony a7III Memory Card Speed Tests the Sony SF-G Tough cards are underperforming in the a7III possibly due to a firmware issue. Therefore I recommend the SanDisk Extreme Pro UHS-II (300/260) cards instead.

If you aren’t happy with the quality of the internal microphone on the a7III and the Rode VideoMic Pro+ is a little too pricy, then the Rode VideoMicro is a great alternative. It’s much smaller and lighter than the Pro+ version and it does not require an additional battery, you simply connect it through the mic port on the a7III.

The Peak Design Cuffwrist strap is a great way to protect your camera from accidental drops. It connects to the a7III via Peak Designs anchor system and the wrist loop magnetically locks in the open position, or comfortably cinches down on your wrist for added security. It took me a little while to get used to the magnetic lock, but now I wouldn’t want to be without this strap.

There are two versions of the slide strap, a full sized version with a strap width of 45mm, and a lite version with a strap width of 32mm. I’ve been using the full sized version of this strap for over a year, but it’s overkill for a mirrorless camera like the a7III. So I’d recommend going with the Lite version which I’ve also since picked up and now the full sized version never gets clipped on!

I own this bag myself although in the woodland green color and not charcoal grey like pictured above. It’s extremely comfortable and the straps are well padded. I like to use this as my lightweight day pack and it will even fit my Sony FE 200-600 attached to the camera (with lens hood reversed).

Sony mirrorless cameras packed full of technology are always going to need lots of juice. So here are your best battery options for the Sony a7 III. For a more comprehensive guide to batteries and chargers for the a7III, see my guide here.

The Sony a7 III uses the new NP-FZ100 which doubles the battery life compared with the smaller NP-FW50 battery found in the a7 II. Still, if you are shooting all day then you will probably go through at least one battery. Personally I’ve never gone through more than two NP-FZ100 batteries in one day whilst shooting wildlife and motorsport (stills) with my a7 III. That said, I still have 4 of these batteries just to be safe!

Important Note: Since firmware version (v2.00) Sony has really gone to war with third-party batteries. Many a7III owners who have updated to the latest v2.00 firmware have reported that they now receive a warning message stating that the operation and safety of this battery cannot be guaranteed. You can ignore the warning by pressing OK and the batteries will still work, however the battery percentage remaining indicator next to the battery icon disappears (rather inconvenient). This appears to be the case for all popular NP-FZ100 third-party batteries including Wasabi, Patona, Newell, and Baxxtar.

If you do insist on using third-party batteries in your a7III then the RAVPower NP-FZ100 are reported to work well and not throw up any error messages at this time. These batteries are also bundled together with a dual charger. Their capacity is 2000mAh compared with 2280mAh for the official Sony NP-FZ100 batteries so they don’t last quite so long.

Sony decided not to include an external battery charger in the box with the Sony a7III. You can charge the battery in the camera with the supplied micro usb cable, but if you want to charge the externally here are your best options.

If you charge the NP-FZ100 battery inside the a7iii it takes approximately 5 hours to fully charge one official NP-FZ100 battery, compared with only 2.5 hours when charged via the Sony BC-QZ1 charger.

The Sony NPA-MQZ1K multi battery kit might be a very useful addition to your a7 III if you shoot very long video sessions and need as much power as possible. This kit can charge four batteries (NP-FZ100) in approximately 480 minutes. It also allows you to power two USB devices as well as the camera at the same time. The NPA-MQZ1K also includes two NP-FZ100 batteries, a cable protector and a mounting plate. You can find full details on Sony’s website here.

You can also charge your a7III via usb whilst on the move. My personal favourite portable charger is the Anker PowerCore 20100mAh portable charger. Although designed for smartphones and tablets, they are also great for charging your a7III on the go via USB.

The Sony VG-C3EM battery grip is crafted from the same materials as the a7 III and it’s also weather sealed. The grip holds two NP-FZ100 batteries, thus doubling your shooting time, and can also be charged via the a7 III’s USB port.

The battery tray does unfortunately feel rather cheap and flimsy, otherwise this is a fantastic grip if not somewhat overpriced. I’m using it on my own a7III and find that as well as extended the battery life, it also helps with the ergonomics enormously. Read my Sony VG-C3EM Review for a closer look at this grip.

If the official Sony battery grip is too expensive for your tastes, then thankfully Meike have a solution. Their MK-A9 Pro battery grip is very similar to the Sony VG-C3EM, yet it’s almost a third of the price. The grip itself doesn’t feel as nice as the Sony, but surprisingly the battery tray is actually better built. The button layout is the same, but it is missing the lock dial on the shutter button, so you’ll need to be careful not to inadvertently press this when shooting in landscape orientation.

Meike actually trumps the Sony grip by providing a remote control that works up to 100 meters with a 2.4Ghz wireless transmission. It can be used to control the shutter in Bulb mode or set interval time shooting (time-lapse). This is really quite useful since the a7 III does not provide any time-lapse functionality.

A lot of people will purchase the Sony simply for continuity reasons (myself included), but if this doesn’t bother you then you certainly can’t go wrong with the Meike MK-A9 Grip.

Although I have plenty of third party NP-FW50 batteries for my a6000/a6300/a6500 and a7R II, I’ll be sticking with the original Sony batteries and chargers for my a7III, at least until the third party options have been tried and tested for a little longer. As if my a7III goes up in smoke due to a dodgy battery, it’s unlikely that Sony will be replacing if for me. However, if you have taken the plunge with a third party battery for your a7 III, it would be great to hear how you are getting on in the comments below.

These cards should be in the joint top spot because they have identical write speeds to the Sony SF-G (Non Tough) cards but in the a7III they are underperforming by quite some margin. I’ve also tested the exact same cards in my Sony a7R IV and Sony a7R III and the in-camera write speeds are identical to the SF-G cards (as they should be). So I’m pretty certain there is a bug in the a7III firmware 3.10 causing these cards to underperform. When shooting jpegs the speeds are as they should be, but with raw files there’s an issue.

Sony’s MRW-S1 UHS-II USB SD Card Reader/Writer enables the fast transfer of data via a USB 3.1 interface. It can read/write to UHS-II SD Cards and is backward compatible with UHS-1 SD cards. It’s been designed with the Sony UHS-II SF-G series SD cards in mind but will also work with other UHS-II cards like the SanDisk Extreme Pro cards. The MRW-S1 together with Sony SF-G cards can transfer files to and from your computer at around 2.6x faster than UHS-1 cards.

The Sony a7III certainly has a lot of technology packed into a small body, although this is great when it comes to travelling light and packing small, some may find that it’s not the most comfortable camera to work with, especially if you are coming from a much larger SLR. Thankfully, as well as the battery grips mentioned above, there are a few more ways that you can improve the ergonomics of your a7 III, here are some of the most popular.

The RRS L-Plate has been designed to fit the Sony a7 III perfectly. You are still able to access all of the cameras ports, and just like the SmallRig l-bracket there is also a magnetic storage space for the included allen key. There is space to rest your pinky finger, and the l-bracket is fully arca swiss compatible. However, unlike the SmallRig l-bracket, you will need to remove the battery door to attach it.

The Sony GP-X1EM increases the height of the built-in grip on the a7 III and gives you somewhere to rest your fingers. The grip is very well made from aluminum and rubber, and it also matches the same color and texture that you will find on the a7 III.

Unfortunately the GP-X1EM does block access to your cameras battery door, so you will need to remove it to change the battery. This isn’t ideal but since the new battery in the a7III lasts so long, it shouldn’t prove to be too much of an inconvenience for many shooters.

The Meike MK-X1EM is very similar to the Sony GP-X1EM grip, but it costs half of the price. Just like the Sony grip, you will also need to remove the grip to gain access to the battery. There is also a very useful arca swiss plate built into the grip itself, which is something that the Sony grip does not include.

The Lennon Gecco LB3 combines a grip extension and a traditional arca swiss plate. The grip is attached via the a7III’s tripod socket and provides somewhere for you little finger to rest. Both Sony and Meike also offer similar grips but they need to be removed to change the battery. The Lennon grip however also includes an unlock button so that you can change your cameras battery without removing the grip itself.

The Sony a7 III has a new touch screen, so you need to be a little careful about which screen protector you put on it. Pick the wrong protector and you might find the touch screen is no longer as responsive as it should be, or even no longer works at all. Thankfully the following screen protectors work perfectly on the a7 III.

Sony’s official screen protector for the a7 III is the PCK-LG1. You’ll find that the PCK-LG1 is labelled as the screen protector for the Sony a9 in many stores, but rest assured this is also supported fully with the a7 III. You can check the compatibility information here on Sony’s website. I’ve been using this screen protector on my a7III since day one. It’s well made and doesn’t affect the touch screen operation at all.

The Expert Shield glass screen protector is made from optical grade glass and hardened it to withstand impact so that it spreads blunt force across its surface and shatters uniformly to protect your camera’s LCD. The screen protector works perfectly with the Sony a7III’s touch screen functions such as touch to focus.

The neck strap supplied with all of Sony’s Alpha cameras including the a7 III is pretty thin, and I don’t find it to be the most comfortable strap for extended periods of use, especially when using heavier lenses like the FE 100-400mm GM (my review here). I also sometimes like to use a wrist strap, or clip my camera to a belt or rucksack. This is certainly not the most comprehensive list of straps, but I’ve been using Peak Design for quite some time now and can certainly attest to their quality as well as their customer service.

Needless to say, there are thousands of cases and bags that could be used to carry the Sony a7 III. Here I’ve just listed some of the most popular, including the ones that I’m using myself.

If you are looking for a small case for the a7III then the Lowepro Adventura TLZ 30 II is a great choice. It holds the a7III along with a single lens that is no longer than 120mm.

I’ve tried it with the Sony FE 24-70 F4, FE 16-35 F4, FE 28-70, FE 24mm F1.4 GM, and FE 85mm F1.8 all of which fit comfortably. With the FE 16-35 F2.8 GM it’s a very tight fit.

I’ve also read that it will hold the Sony a7III with the Tamron 28-75mm but it’s a tight fit. I’ve not tried it with the Sony FE 24-105 G lens but since it’s 113.3mm in length it should also fit comfortably.

I own this bag myself although in the woodland green color and not charcoal grey like pictured above. It’s extremely comfortable and the straps are well padded. I like to use this as my lightweight day pack and it will even fit my Sony FE 200-600 attached to the camera (with lens hood reversed).

There are many different types of filters that you can use with your Sony a7iii, but two of the most popular are the circular polarizing (CPL) and the natural density (ND) filters. These filters are available as both screw-in type filters that simply screw into the filter thread on your lens, and also slot-in filters that require a filter holder. Attaching a poor quality filter to an expensive lens and camera really makes no sense, so here are some of the best filter options for your a7iii.

If you are looking to use your Sony a7 III underwater then you will need to invest in a waterproof housing. There are a few options on the market, but you can’t go wrong with the following:

The Nauticam NA-A7III is probably the best waterproof housing that money can buy. If you need to dive down to up to 100m, then this is the housing for you. Full details can be found on Nauticams website.

The Sony a7 III does not include a built-in flash, so your only option is to go external, but don’t worry as there are plenty of options to choose from.

It has a built-in wireless radio-controlled system, and can be used as either a commander or receiver. As a commander you can connect up to 15 compatible flashes or receivers in up to 5 groups. Full details can be found on Sony’s website.

Sony’s flagship flash is the HVL-F60RM. More powerful than the HVL-F45RM, if you simply want a top-of-the-range flash and money is no object, then this is it. Full details can be found on Sony’s website.

If the price of the Sony flash units leaves you in tears, then you can dry your eyes now as the Godox VING V860IIS TTL is a much more affordable flash option for your a7 III. If you read the reviews on Amazon you certainly won’t find too many disappointed customers.

You can use the FA-WRC1M to connect up to 15 wireless receivers (FA-WRR1) for radio wireless flash control. You can also control existing flash units like the HVL-F60M, F45RM, F43M or F32M over a range of up to 30 m (98.4 ft.). For details on how this works I recommend taking a look at Sony Ambassador Mark Galer’s article.

There are far too many lens adapters on the market for this article, so I’ll be writing a complete guide to e-mount lens adapters very soon. Until then, here are some of the most popular e-mount lens adapters that can be used on the Sony a7 III.

For adapting Sony A-mount lenses to the a7III there are three adapters to choose from. For a full comparison of these lens adapters I’d recommend checking this Sony Article.

The LA-EA5 is Sony’s newest A-mount to E-mount adapter. The LA-EA5 adapter provides autofocus support for Sony A-mount SSM (Super Sonic wave Motor) lenses, SAM (Smooth Autofocus Motor) lenses, and even non-motorized screw-drive lenses (currently limited to the a7R IV and a6600 only) in still shooting modes.

The Metabones adapter lets you mount Canon EF/EF-S lenses to Sony E-mount cameras like the a7 Mark 3. It retains electronic communication between the camera and lens to provide automatic aperture control, EXIF data, image stabilization and autofocus. Metabones regularly update the firmware that helps to improve AF performance with many Canon EF lenses.

The MC-11 Mount Converter enables the use of Sigma EF-mount lenses on Sony E-mount camera bodies. It supports autofocus and auto-exposure, as well as in-camera image stabilization and full EXIF data transfer.

The adapter also supports Sony’s Human and Animal Eye-AF, as well as high-speed continuous shooting (up to 10 frames per second on compatible cameras).

The Sony RMT-P1BT Remote Commander is the newest remote control option for the Sony a7III. The RMT-P1BT operates using Bluetooth connectivity which provides a reliable connection even in bright sunlight or when there are obstacles between the commander and the a7III. In my own tests the RMT-P1BT remote works reliably up to around 18m or 60 feet away from the camera, and this is the case whether you are behind or in front or the camera, indoors or outdoors.

When the Bluetooth Remote option is enabled in the a7III settings, the Location Info. Link is disabled. So if you are using Imaging Edge Mobile to record your location information via bluetooth, I’m afraid this will not work at the same time as the remote.

Another wireless remote control option for the a7 III is the Sony RMT-DSLR2. It uses infrared communication and is pretty reliable. However, it rarely works well from behind the camera when outdoors, but works perfectly indoors from behind with a range of around 5-6 meters (18-20 feet) away from the camera. It will also work outdoors with the same range when you are in front of the camera, and a range of 3-4 meters (10-13 feet) to the side of the camera.

If the Rode VideoMic Pro+ is a little too expensive then the Rode VideoMicro is a great alternative that you might want to consider. It’s much smaller and lighter than the Pro+ version and it does not require an additional battery, you simply connect it through the mic port on the a7III and you are ready to go.

Rode’s latest audio recording system is the Wireless GO. It features a very compact design and offers a simple receiver and transmitter with microphone built in. The two-piece set simplifies the setup process by clipping the transmitter-microphone combo to your subject then connecting the receiver to the a7III.

The ECM-XYST1M makes use of the Multi Interface Shoe to pass audio directly to your camera, so no additional cable is required. The directional angle of the microphones can be adjusted from 0° to 120°, allowing you to fine-tune your audio capture with precision. An included windscreen enhances audio-quality further by cutting down on wind noise.

One of the reasons that many photographers switch to the Sony Mirrorless System and a camera like the a7III is to save weight. A lighter and small camera also means that you no longer need the largest and heaviest tripod on the market to stabilize your camera. As you most likely already know, there are thousands of tripods on the market to choose from. Here are just a few of my recommendations including the ones that I’m using myself.

If money is no object and you only want the best then it’s hard to go wrong with a Gitzo tripod. I don’t own one myself but would very much like to. Gitzo offer a wide range of tripods but if I were buying one I’d probably go for their Mountaineer Series 3 tripod for my a7III.

The Manfrotto Befree Advanced Alpha travel tripod is a special version of the Befree Advanced Lever dedicated to Sony Alpha Shooters. The plate is designed to match Sony a7III camera body to ensure perfect grip, even in the most angled camera shots. The front jut of the plate physically blocks the camera, preventing any play both on tilt and rotational movements, always keeping the camera stuck to the head plate.

The MeFOTO RoadTrip is a great travel tripod for the Sony a7III. I’ve owned one for over 2 years until I replaced it with the Sirui T-025x. It’s only 39.1 cm when folded but extends to 156.46 cm, it weighs 1.63kg / 3.6lb and can support up to 7.98kg / 17.6lb. It comes with a precision mat