The Sony A73/A7R3/A7S3/A9 Thread

Caporegime
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Not if you downsample the image to 24mp to match the A7iii's resolution. If it's anything like my A7R3 then there's very little difference when downsampled.

Correct. It only "looks" noisier because of all the extra resolution. I had both and initially I was disappointed with the A7R4 noise at night shots until I figured that one out.

I think there are a couple of ISO settings where the A7iii has slightly less noise as the gain step is in a different place on the A7riv.
 
Soldato
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So, sold a car yesterday and have £2700 + possible £1k in the bank.

I'm looking to upgrade from a pentax k1. I mainly do general travel,family holidays and the odd portrait.

Current config I'm looking at is:
Sony a7iii
Tamron 28-75
Sony 85 1.8

Would it be worth spending a bit more and going with the sigma 24-70 or is the price per performance not really worth it.

Stick with what you have,and keep the money handy?? There are always going to be better cameras in the future,and it's probably better to see how things go??
 
Soldato
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So, sold a car yesterday and have £2700 + possible £1k in the bank.

I'm looking to upgrade from a pentax k1. I mainly do general travel,family holidays and the odd portrait.

Current config I'm looking at is:
Sony a7iii
Tamron 28-75
Sony 85 1.8

Would it be worth spending a bit more and going with the sigma 24-70 or is the price per performance not really worth it.


I'd really wait and see what the Canon R5 is like. The specs are monstrous, it seems much better future proofed, it has a flip screen which I personally find improves the versatility and ability of my run and gun photography x10, it has 8k, 4k 120fps, canon's DPAF is way more cinematic. It has seems to have some QOL stuff built in like auto uploading ur photos to the cloud which syncs do your lightroom so theoretically your photos are on your PC ready to edit when you get back. Canon also have better methods of dealing with over heating.

I say this based on the fact of having a flip screen or one that can come out makes taking family selfies which seem to be more and more wanted at events easier.

The issue is lens costs on the Canon side but it'll be interesting to see which lens they couple with the body.

The issue with canon however is 1) price 2) dynamic range. Sony's sensor tech is clearly 2 generations ahead of Canon when it comes to these things.

However Sony have clearly been caught sleeping by Canon's announcement. They should have released the A7S successor a long time ago but rested on their laurels of the excellent a73.
 
Caporegime
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I have seen some say the R5 will be an A7iii killer but surely the R5 could cost twice as much? I wonder what Sony are thinking and how they will amend the A7Siii ("mk5") :p.

It's got to be at least £3k, if not £3.5k. How on earth are they cooling it, and how long will it let you record 8K video for?

I am not going to get it but enjoying the speculation and it's balls to the wall specs :D!
 
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Caporegime
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yeah it cant possible be a A7iii killer if its over £3k and there is no way with a spec like it has that its going to be under £1500 to compete with the A7iii.#

And even if Canon did that, all SOny would do is drop the price of the A7iii to under £1000 (it has been out for some time now and the A7iv is due this year)
 
Soldato
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yeah it cant possible be a A7iii killer if its over £3k and there is no way with a spec like it has that its going to be under £1500 to compete with the A7iii.#

And even if Canon did that, all SOny would do is drop the price of the A7iii to under £1000 (it has been out for some time now and the A7iv is due this year)


True. I just think that if you're speccing out a build of Sony + multiple lenses, its better to wait and see what Canon will offer with the R5. They seem to have learnt their lessons on gimping hardware.


As we all know, the price of the body is only part of the story and investing in the eco system is equally as important and ultimately more expensive. I can't help but feel with Canon's shift towards better specs, they're the eco system I'd like to live in whilst Sony still have fairly stubborn design decisions with the lack of a flip screen, small bodies which can overheat etc.
 
Caporegime
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Yeah its definitely a case of you have to pick your eco system and you then tend to stick with it for life. Afterall you end up spending more on the lenses than you ever do on the bodies.

I know when I finally jumped eco systems from olympus to Sony it was expensive. luckily I had bought all my lens when on offer at stupid prices or second hand and I actually made money on 3 lenses. Lost a shed load on the body though and minor amounts on some on the lenses so lost around £1000 to swap eco systems which wasnt too bad in the end. I got 4 quotes for buying my lenses and sold a few to each one maximum my total value. If i had just chosen to sell the whole lot to one outfit there was over £1500 difference in the price I got them for them all.
 
Caporegime
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Canon’s RF mount looks to be something that will be a killer for the next 30 years. For the past 3 years Sony has been killing it and honestly I think Canon has missed the boat a little for some people who jumped ship.

I am tempted to go back, it cost me quite a bit to move from Canon to Sony, even though I sold my gear and recouped around 60% of it, there was still a price of thousands to pay for the switch.

To move back to Canon now will be insane, especially with the high cost of entry to their lenses. £2700 for an 85L is just soooooo much money, add to that the lack of used gear market right now. There is also the size of the new lenses, they are all pretty big and making them a travel combo a bit much.

It’s a good thing I don’t shoot video so all the 8k sensor width recording sounds great, it is not something that will be useful to me. Same as the flip out screen.

But I would go back to Canon for the files, if the high cost of entry isn’t there, I will most likely go back, even live with the size of the lenses. Another problem is that 8k sensor means a roughly 36mp sensor, so I would need a new computer too and honestly the switch with lenses, flashes plus computer will be a £10k investment. In this currently world climate, that would be insane, I could stay where I am with everything I have and keep the money.
 
Caporegime
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Canon’s RF mount looks to be something that will be a killer for the next 30 years. For the past 3 years Sony has been killing it and honestly I think Canon has missed the boat a little for some people who jumped ship.

I am tempted to go back, it cost me quite a bit to move from Canon to Sony, even though I sold my gear and recouped around 60% of it, there was still a price of thousands to pay for the switch.

To move back to Canon now will be insane, especially with the high cost of entry to their lenses. £2700 for an 85L is just soooooo much money, add to that the lack of used gear market right now. There is also the size of the new lenses, they are all pretty big and making them a travel combo a bit much.

It’s a good thing I don’t shoot video so all the 8k sensor width recording sounds great, it is not something that will be useful to me. Same as the flip out screen.

But I would go back to Canon for the files, if the high cost of entry isn’t there, I will most likely go back, even live with the size of the lenses. Another problem is that 8k sensor means a roughly 36mp sensor, so I would need a new computer too and honestly the switch with lenses, flashes plus computer will be a £10k investment. In this currently world climate, that would be insane, I could stay where I am with everything I have and keep the money.

You should try A7riv raw file sizes then. My pc luckily could handle them, my SAS is starting to groan under the weight. When I got it and it had 18 Tb of drives in it, it seemed massive,
 
Soldato
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Ha, yes, they're bonkers aren't they! 120MB and change :o

My iMac Pro/MBP handle them just fine. My 9300 XPS practically has a melt down when I try and open them on there.
 
Caporegime
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You should try A7riv raw file sizes then. My pc luckily could handle them, my SAS is starting to groan under the weight. When I got it and it had 18 Tb of drives in it, it seemed massive,

My plan is to get a new computer next year, my iMac is 8 years old so I have got the money's worth from it.

Tempted to get an R5 in a couple of years used and try it with just a 35/85 combo.
 
Soldato
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Canon’s RF mount looks to be something that will be a killer for the next 30 years. For the past 3 years Sony has been killing it and honestly I think Canon has missed the boat a little for some people who jumped ship.

I am tempted to go back, it cost me quite a bit to move from Canon to Sony, even though I sold my gear and recouped around 60% of it, there was still a price of thousands to pay for the switch.

To move back to Canon now will be insane, especially with the high cost of entry to their lenses. £2700 for an 85L is just soooooo much money, add to that the lack of used gear market right now. There is also the size of the new lenses, they are all pretty big and making them a travel combo a bit much.

It’s a good thing I don’t shoot video so all the 8k sensor width recording sounds great, it is not something that will be useful to me. Same as the flip out screen.

But I would go back to Canon for the files, if the high cost of entry isn’t there, I will most likely go back, even live with the size of the lenses. Another problem is that 8k sensor means a roughly 36mp sensor, so I would need a new computer too and honestly the switch with lenses, flashes plus computer will be a £10k investment. In this currently world climate, that would be insane, I could stay where I am with everything I have and keep the money.


You're right. Tamron having a few lenses on the Sony eco system definitely makes them an attractive proposition to stick with.

However I just have little faith Sony will fix their weaknesses compared to Canon. I don't see Sony increasing their body size to cure overheating issues, I still see them split between the A7s line and the A7iv line, I don't think they'll considerably improve the ergonomics of their camera, I think they'll still stick with the lower build quality compared to Canon, I'm not sure if they can match Canon's colour science and the flip screen they just seem so stubborn on and unable to get right. Sony's software is also just not as good as Canon's and their autofocus system for video, although extremely snappy, just isn't as cinematic and natural as Canon's.

TBH Photography is just so god damn expensive that I can see why people would rather just stick with what they have but for someone new, I'd definitely wait for Canon and the reviews to come out. If you really do enjoy photography, its just so nice having a camera which does it all. I've found a camera lacking a feature; for example autofocus, nice natural colours OOTB, dynamic range for night photography or a flip screen can make it really upsetting to sometimes use and detract me away from the hobby.

For example, my Panasonic G85's autofocus issues really killed a lot of what I wanted to do photography wise a year ago. Similarly the lack of a flip screen on Sony's camera has actually completely rendered it useless for a few use cases where I'd otherwise use the camera. Family video wise and photo wise for example, the selfie has become such an iconic thing to get in, especially in videos or vlog type work... and Sony just doesn't cater to it welle nough.

Canon have their issues too. They lack dynamic range, Sony's destroy them in night photography, they normally hold back and gimp every single camera they produce from a tech perspective and until this R5, they had a horrible crop factor and DPAF doesn't work in some modes.

Maybe the R5 will end up sucking.. but if it doesn't.. wow.
 
Caporegime
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You're right. Tamron having a few lenses on the Sony eco system definitely makes them an attractive proposition to stick with.

However I just have little faith Sony will fix their weaknesses compared to Canon. I don't see Sony increasing their body size to cure overheating issues, I still see them split between the A7s line and the A7iv line, I don't think they'll considerably improve the ergonomics of their camera, I think they'll still stick with the lower build quality compared to Canon, I'm not sure if they can match Canon's colour science and the flip screen they just seem so stubborn on and unable to get right. Sony's software is also just not as good as Canon's and their autofocus system for video, although extremely snappy, just isn't as cinematic and natural as Canon's.

TBH Photography is just so god damn expensive that I can see why people would rather just stick with what they have but for someone new, I'd definitely wait for Canon and the reviews to come out. If you really do enjoy photography, its just so nice having a camera which does it all. I've found a camera lacking a feature; for example autofocus, nice natural colours OOTB, dynamic range for night photography or a flip screen can make it really upsetting to sometimes use and detract me away from the hobby.

For example, my Panasonic G85's autofocus issues really killed a lot of what I wanted to do photography wise a year ago. Similarly the lack of a flip screen on Sony's camera has actually completely rendered it useless for a few use cases where I'd otherwise use the camera. Family video wise and photo wise for example, the selfie has become such an iconic thing to get in, especially in videos or vlog type work... and Sony just doesn't cater to it welle nough.

Canon have their issues too. They lack dynamic range, Sony's destroy them in night photography, they normally hold back and gimp every single camera they produce from a tech perspective and until this R5, they had a horrible crop factor and DPAF doesn't work in some modes.

Maybe the R5 will end up sucking.. but if it doesn't.. wow.

Actually, I don't think there will be a new A7S3, the A73 can do very good video already so I really don't think they will split the line like that anymore. It would make more sense to make the A74 to pack more punches.

As for cost, if you think it makes no sense financially to switch system, it makes even less sense to do it as a business. Because the client won't know what camera you are using or they care really. When I go to meetings I don't bring my gear, I bring albums. I am judged on my photos, not my gear. So if the camera is not going to give you a technical advantage in a way that can capture images that you can't do for your line of work, there is no financial reason to switch. There is financial reason to stay put.

Which is why I switched, the A73 has a significant advantage over DSLR in terms of Eye-AF, my keep rate is much higher with the Sony than with the Canon so it made sense. The R5 need to offer something on that level for me to switch.
 
Soldato
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Actually, I don't think there will be a new A7S3, the A73 can do very good video already so I really don't think they will split the line like that anymore. It would make more sense to make the A74 to pack more punches.

As for cost, if you think it makes no sense financially to switch system, it makes even less sense to do it as a business. Because the client won't know what camera you are using or they care really. When I go to meetings I don't bring my gear, I bring albums. I am judged on my photos, not my gear. So if the camera is not going to give you a technical advantage in a way that can capture images that you can't do for your line of work, there is no financial reason to switch. There is financial reason to stay put.

Which is why I switched, the A73 has a significant advantage over DSLR in terms of Eye-AF, my keep rate is much higher with the Sony than with the Canon so it made sense. The R5 need to offer something on that level for me to switch.


Canon have eye autofocus now from what I'm aware. It came in a firmware update.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygGByXcsiTU


Eye-AF was a game-changer. Absolutely amazing. It's like a cheat code for portrait photography
 
Caporegime
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Canon have eye autofocus now from what I'm aware. It came in a firmware update.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygGByXcsiTU


Eye-AF was a game-changer. Absolutely amazing. It's like a cheat code for portrait photography

Yeah they did, but by that point I already bought 2 Sony A73 bodies and still isn't on par to the Sony. No doubt the gap will be closer come the R5 but by that point I would have had my Sony for 3 years. Which is like a generation of bodies really.
 
Soldato
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Yeah they did, but by that point I already bought 2 Sony A73 bodies and still isn't on par to the Sony. No doubt the gap will be closer come the R5 but by that point I would have had my Sony for 3 years. Which is like a generation of bodies really.

It seems to be trading blows.
It can see through glasses whilst the a73 struggles with that. Whilst the a73 seems a bit more accurate.

I hope Sony have some innovations up their sleeves, but more importantly, I hope they fix their OS, menu system, overheating issues, lack of flip screen, color science and give us more bit-rate for videos. Their lens selection, specifically the Tamron's is appealing.
 
Caporegime
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It seems to be trading blows.
It can see through glasses whilst the a73 struggles with that. Whilst the a73 seems a bit more accurate.

I hope Sony have some innovations up their sleeves, but more importantly, I hope they fix their OS, menu system, overheating issues, lack of flip screen, color science and give us more bit-rate for videos. Their lens selection, specifically the Tamron's is appealing.


There will never be a perfect camera, and honestly those points above are quite minor if you look at it from 10 years ago.

p.s. I don’t shoot video so overheating and bitrate is not a concern at all for me. OS and menu although crap…I made custom menus so work around that, however the colour science part I can get on board with, perhaps my eyes is used to the Canon, I just like it more. That said…I once watched a video on YouTube someone made with a Canon/Sony/Fuji shooting the same thing side by side and you pick which one you prefer, I think I ended up picking the Sony in a blind test...
 
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