Page 27 - Photography_Week

CSC TEST SONY ALPHA 7R III

One shot from a multi-frame sequence, at 10fps. The A7R III
lets you capture the ideal moment in a fast-changing scene
COLOUR ERROR

Sony Alpha 7 III 4.3

Canon EOS-1D X II 2.9
Nikon D850 7.1

Sony Alpha A99 II 1.1
SCORES CLOSER ěĂ 0 Ă 10 ŎĂ 20
TO ZERO ARE
BETTER
We pitted the A7R III against three top professional
rivals – the Canon EOS-1D X II, Nikon D850 and Sony’s
own A99 II. In our colour error test, the A7R III came
PVU JO UIFçNJEEMF PG UIF QBDL XJUI B HPPE SFTVMU

We don’t normally cover video in or stabilised rig to iron out slower 3"8 4*(/"- 50 /0*4& 3"5*0
depth, but we did try out the Sony’s movements and ‘drift’.
ĉƻƤ8ƚĬĬ B% ŸĬŅƵěĵŅƋĜŅĹ Ï±Ş±ÆĜĬĜƋĜåŸ The A7R III’s sensor is very close
and its five-axis in-body stabilisation. ƋŅƤƋĘå üųŅĹƋ Ņü ƋĘå ÆŅÚƼØ ƋĘŅƚčĘØ ±ĹÚ ĂLj
‰Ęå ŸĬŅƵ ĵŅƋĜŅĹ ĬŅŅĩåÚ čųå±ƋØ ÆƚƋ has no mirror to protect it, so it’s a bit 40
while the stabilisation smoothed of a dirt magnet. It’s easy enough to
ŅƚƋ ŸĘ±ĩåØ ƼŅƚűĬĬ ŸƋĜĬĬ ĹååÚ ± ƋųĜŞŅÚ clone out sensor spots in stills, but 30
Ĭ域Ƥ屟Ƽ ĜĹ ƴĜÚåŅŸţ
8*5) " #*( 130 -&/4 '*55&% kƴåų±ĬĬØ ƋĘå eĬŞĘ± ƀ FFFűŸ DECIBELS 20
performance is deeply impressive. It
5)& " 3 *** %0&4/ 5 0''&3 offers superb resolution and overall 10
image quality, with 10fps shooting plus HIGHER SCORES ARE BETTER.
3"8 3&46-54 64& *."(&4 $0/7&35&% 50 5*''
THE SIZE ADVANTAGE OVER A ĉU ƴĜÚåŅ ±ĹÚ üƚĬĬ B% ±Ƌ ŎƖLjüŞŸţ ‰ĘĜŸ 0 100 400 1,600 6,400 ƖĂØƅLjLj
%4-3 5)"5 5)& #0%: 0/-: is a seriously powerful and versatile
professional camera. The noise results mirrored the resolution of these
DIMENSIONS MIGHT SUGGEST Rod Lawton four cameras. With the fewest pixels, the Canon
produced least noise, while the 46MP Nikon was
marginally the noisiest.
VERDICT

RAW DYNAMIC RANGE

The A7R III is so powerful and SENSOR 42.4MP FULL-FRAME EXMOR R
ƴåųŸ±ƋĜĬå ƋʱƋ ĜƋƤŸååĵŸ ÏĘƚųĬĜŸĘ CMOS, 35.9 X 24.0MM IMAGE PROCESSOR 14
BIONZ X "' 10*/54 399-POINT PHASE
ƋŅ ÏųĜƋĜÏĜŸå ĜƋ ±Ƌ ±ĬĬƤô ÆƚƋ ƵåƤ±ųå DETECTION, 425-POINT CONTRAST
čŅĜĹč ƋŅ ĩĹŅÏĩ Ņüü ʱĬü ± ŸƋ±ų 12
for its troubling body-lens size DETECTION ISO RANGE 100-32,000, 10
ĵĜŸĵ±ƋÏĘØ ±ĹÚ ĂƐLjxƅĂLjěŸĘŅƋ EXPANDABLE TO 50-102,400 MAX IMAGE
battery life, which is good for SIZE 7,952 X 5,304 METERING ZONES 1,200 EXPOSURE VALUE
mirrorless but poor next to a pro VIDEO 4K UHD AT 30, 24FPS 7*&8'*/%&3 í
26"% 7(" 0-&% ç.*--*0/ %054
%„Xţ ‰Ęå eƀ FFFűŸ ŸŞååÚ ĵ±ĩåŸ 6
it supremely versatile, but it also MEMORY CARD 2 X SD/SDHC/SDXC, INC HIGHER SCORES ARE BETTER.
RAW 3&46-54 64& *."(&4 $0/7&35&% 50 5*''
puts it up against tough rivals. 1 X UHS II LCD 3-INCH TOUCHSCREEN,
1,440K DOTS MAX BURST 10FPS (76 100 400 1,600 6,400 ƖĂØƅLjLj
COMPRESSED RAW) CONNECTIVITY WI-FI,
NFC, BLUETOOTH SIZE 127 X 96 X 74MM The Canon showed a small advantage here, with
the Nikon D850 in second place. The A7R III’s
WEIGHT 675G (BODY ONLY, WITH BATTERY dynamic range performance proved good in our
AND MEMORY CARD) lab tests, but not quite the best.