After 3 months of use with the Sony A7 III, we are going to look at three complaints I have with a great overall camera that is one of the best selling cameras of 2018.
Sony A7 III Feedback Results – Transcript
Hey guys, what’s up? It’s Robb Sutton back here with another video. This time we’re talking about the A7 III. I’ve been using it for three months now and I really only have three major complaints…So that’s what we’re going to cover today. So let’s get at it.
So you’ve heard the typical complaints from other video reviewers, like the smaller form factor makes it so your pinky falls off the side and the more complex menu system that Sony has. You know we’ve heard all of those. For me personally, I haven’t found it to be that big of an issue. So here are the three issues I have with the camera and let’s get started.
APS-C / Super 35 Mode on the A7 III
So the first one, APS-C mode, I get why people think that’s a good idea. One, it is great for video, so don’t get me wrong, but when you’re shooting stills you’re basically at half the resolution to get a little bit longer focal length. So like on this 50mm that I’m shooting with now, it would end up being an effective 75mm, but you’re shooting at around 10 megapixel images. My issue is not so much the function of it, but I used the evf almost exclusively when I’m shooting photographs, unless there’s some kind of weird angle.
I am using that evf to shoot stills and in the evf there is no alert that you are in ASP-C mode and really to use that mode, you need to custom map it to a button. So like in my case I custom mapped it to the C3 button thinking that was far enough away where I wouldn’t hit it on accident, but easy enough to access when I needed to use even using that button out. I accidentally hit it every now and then and not realize it was in that mode until I got home, downloaded those images and realize that they were a lot lower resolution than what they should be. So yes, you can look at the file size that you have on the remaining images on your SD card because obviously at a lower resolutions are going to fit a lot more files.
But unlike, you have with the LCD screen on the outside, which actually gives you a little box indicator, you don’t have that within side the evf I really wish they had put that in there because until then I basically just turned it off completely. I turn it back on when I’m shooting video, but if I’m doing video and stills at the same time, I leave it off because I don’t want to hit that on accident and get stuck in that mode, not realizing it.
EVF and Rear LCD Settings on the A7 III
All right guys. So number two. Now first off, I get what Sony is trying to do here. It’s all about battery life. They don’t want that rear lcd running at the same time as the ebf. Unlike my canon and Nikon cameras of the past, they basically last a really long time because the view finder was not drawing battery from the power.
So there are times when I’ve headed in the tripod or even handheld in some cases where I’m trying to use the rear lcd to compose a shot and I need to change something in a menu or touching something else in the camera. And you reach across and that sensor for the evf shuts off the rear lcd screen. That can be a little bit of annoyance. There is a quick little workaround to it that if you actually pull the LCD screen back from the camera just a little bit, it deactivate that sensor and assumes you’re using the rear lcd. I just personally wished it was some kind of setting within the camera that I could personally turn that off when I’m in a tripod situation. I don’t want to have that angled out from the camera.
Intervalometer on the A7 III
Number three, and actually this is kind of a big one and it was a big disappointment for me was the lack of an interval amateur have built into the camera.
Sony used to have that available as part of their play apps that were actually built into the camera, but now you have to have one of these intervalometer if you want to do time lapse footage, more and more cameras from Canon and Nikon and others are already building this feature into their camera bodies. When Sony actually took it out, that was a big disappointment for me. I was looking forward to having that built into the camera. Yes. This is a cheap little accessory that’s light to carry fits in my camera bag easy, but if I’m just carrying the camera around and not any other gear, like I’m just doing a walk around with a 50 milliliter lens or the wide angle and I don’t want to have a bag with me. I don’t have the ability to just throw it on a small tripod and go for the time lapse footage anymore.
It would’ve been really nice to see that built into the camera.
So really the way I see it, to have these annoyances or instantly fixed through a software update and I really wish Sony would do that for this camera. It would make the function of it even that much better without having to change any hardware.
That said, my switch from Canon to Sony has been great. The dynamic range of this camera combined with the low light performance as a smaller form factor as made it so, uh, been able to take this camera more places and get more shots. That combined with the auto focus and eye focus on finding that I hit a higher percentage of shots as well, so incredibly happy with the switch. Really those are my only three annoyances I have with this camera so far to, you know, after three months of use. That’s pretty good. So guys, if you have anything that you found with the [inaudible] that you wish would get updated or changed, hit up the comment section, let us know. And until then, onto the next video. Thanks for watching.