Sony's new Alpha A7 Mark III, has a number of improvements over the Mark II, including 10fps high-speed shooting, 4K HDR video, improved AF, improved battery life, 3inch touch-screen, USB tethering and more. The new Sony Alpha A7 Mark III is available for £2000 body only, or £2200 with 28-70mm lens.

Sony Alpha A7 Mark III Features

The Sony Alpha A7 Mark III features a new full-frame 24mp BSI CMOS sensor, with copper wiring, for improved low-light performance, and faster readout speed. The ISO range goes from ISO50, all the way up to ISO204800. Skin tones are said to be improved, thanks to the BIONZ X image processor. The camera has a number of different options for auto white balance, including standard, ambient, and white. 

There are 693 AF points, with phase-detection autofocus (AF), with 93% AF coverage of the full-frame sensor. You can shoot at 10fps in high-speed+ continuous shooting mode, with continuous AF, using either the mechanical shutter or the electronic shutter. 

In-camera 5-axis image stabilisation has been improved, to give up to 5-stops compensation (compared to 4.5 stops for the Mark II).

The camera records 4K UHD resolution video internally (at 30/25/24fps), which is downsampled from 6K, to give better detail in video. FullHD video is recorded at 120/100/60/50/30/25/24fps, with built-in stereo microphones. 4K HDR recording can be played back on compatible 4K HDR TVs, without the need to process the video files.

Wi-Fi, NFC, and Bluetooth are built-in. There's a mic and headphone socket on the side, plus HDMI, MicroUSB, and USB Type-C connections. The camera uses the new NP-FZ100 battery from the A9 and A7R Mark III, giving the A7 Mark III an improved battery life rating of 710 shots (using the LCD screen).

One image can change us.

A picture, a moment can change the way we feel. Change how we see ourselves. Change our understanding and change the rules. Provoke and change history.

MPB puts photo and video kit into more hands, more sustainably. Every month, visual storytellers sell more than 20,000 cameras and lenses to MPB. Choose used and get affordable access to kit that doesn’t cost the earth. Sell the kit you’re not using to MPB. Trade in for the kit you need to create. Buy used, spend less and get more. Buy. Sell. Trade. Create.

Sony Alpha A7 Mark III Key Features

• 24.2mp Full-Frame BSI CMOS sensor
• 693 AF points, -3EV sensitivity, 93% coverage
• Silent (electronic) shutter
• ISO50 to ISO204800 (extended)
• 710 (LCD) shots per charge, 610 (EVF)
• 3inch tilting touch-screen, 921K dots
• 2.36M dot electronic viewfinder (EVF), 0.78x magnification
• Dual SD card slot
• USB3.1 Gen 1 USB Type-C
• 15 stop wide-dynamic range
• 10fps continuous shooting, silent, 177 images, anti-flicker
• 14bit RAW compressed / uncompressed
• Wi-Fi, NFC and Bluetooth built-in

Sony Alpha A7 Mark III Handling

The Sony Alpha A7 Mark III feels extremely well built in the hand, with a large rubber handgrip. The camera is responsive in use, and focus is very quick, with Sony saying that the autofocus (AF) performance of the camera is twice as quick as the A7 Mark II. 

With large lenses, the system will seem similar in size to full-frame DSLRs, however, with more compact lenses, the system can be considered quite compact, with the camera body similar in size to an entry level APS-C DSLR.

The top mode dial is not locking and has 2 custom modes, as well as scene modes. The button layout on the back is the same as the A7R Mark III, and the exposure compensation dial is neatly placed to make it easy to change this when needed. It's also firm enough so that you can avoid turning it accidentally. The camera does not feature a flash-sync socket.

The build quality is excellent, with a very similar design and construction as the more expensive A7R III and A9. There are even 6 screws around the lens mount, rather than the 4 found on previous models. 

The camera has 2 USB sockets – USB3.1 Type C, and MicroUSB, so you can power or charge the camera via MicroUSB and use remote live view (tethering) via the USB 3.1 Type C connection. There's a microphone socket, a headphone socket, plus HDMI out. 

There is side access to the dual SD card slots, with slot 1 supporting high-speed UHS-II cards, and the second slot supports SD or Sony Memory Stick memory cards. 

Focus points - There are 693 focus points, covering a wide area of the image area (93% - the same area as the A9), significantly more than you get with most Digital SLR focus systems. Focus tracking is rapid, and face / eye detection ensures that your subjects face and eye are the areas given priority focus. Again, in comparison to DSLR focus systems, this is much more reliable and consistent for portrait shoots. You can use the touch-screen or the joystick on the back to set the focus position. 

Then using the electronic viewfinder (EVF), there is a slight flickering visible when on normal quality - this can be improved by setting the display quality to high and unless you're looking for it, you may not notice it. The EVF may not be to everyone's taste. However, it does offer a high resolution display, and what you see is what you get, so you can adjust settings clearly before taking the photo. The rubber surround makes it comfortable to use, and there is dioptre correction if needed. 

You can tilt the screen up and down. The screen looks very good, with good viewing angles, and colour reproduction on both the screen and EVF match. 

Menus – There are numerous settings and options spread over a many number of screens. This can make finding the setting you want to change quite time consuming. Once you get used to the layout it will get quicker. Thankfully you can add your favourite settings to the "MyMenu" menu. You can also customise the options that come up when you press the Fn (function) button. You can use the touch-screen to set the focus position, but you can't use the touch-screen to scroll through or set menu options. You can switch on anti-flicker shooting, so that the camera will automatically avoid shooting when it detects flickering caused by fluorescent lighting. 

Wi-Fi features - The camera has built-in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and NFC, as well as support for FTP transfer over Wi-Fi. To connect the camera to your smartpyhone you need to installe "Remote app: PlayMemories Mobile" - this can be set up quite quickly using a QR Code displayed on the camera. Alternatively if your smartphone supports it you can use NFC, which can be found on the right hand side of the camera.

Battery life is improved, with up to 710 shots using the LCD screen, and will be a welcome to anyone who's used the previous cameras, thanks to using the A9 battery. The camera is also compatible with the same battery grip and battery accessories as the A9.