Jay P: Hi, this is Jay P. Morgan.
Kenneth: And this is Kenneth Romero.
Jay P: And we're here in Las Vegas.
Kenneth: Let's say that one more time, sorry.
Jay P: Hi, this is Jay P. Morgan.
Kenneth: And this is Kenneth Merrill.
Jay P: And today we're in Las Vegas.
Kenneth: Las Vegas.
Jay P: Yes.
The land of Las Vegas.
Here we are, we are here.
And we have the new Sony announced camera, the A7III, which is a fabulous, so they called
a basic camera in a very souped up sorta way.
So, let's talk about the things we have that really this camera does.
Kenneth: Well, it inherits a lot of things from the A9 which is pretty amazing because
it's half the price.
It has super fast frames per second, 10 frames per second, which is great for a $2,000 camera.
It has 693 auto focus points which is also nice, and they're saying that the low-light
performance is supposedly very good on this.
Jay P: Which we're gonna test.
We're gonna take a look at that low-light and see how it looks, to just see how the
shadows hold up.
Put it through its test.
It's really interesting because this feels like kind of a bringing together of some of
things from the A9, some of the things from the R3, and kind of into a basic package that's
$2,000, for someone who's just starting out as a wedding camera because of the speed that
you get, that's really a great feature for shooting weddings.
Kenneth: Yeah.
For sure, especially if you're gonna be buying multiple camera bodies, two camera bodies.
It's easier to do two A7IIIs than two A9s.
Jay P: Yes, it is.
Kenneth: Or even A7RIIIs.
Jay P: For about $2,000 or $3,000 easily.
So, there you have it.
Kenneth: All right.
Let's get to it.
Jay P: We'll get to it.
[00:01:28] [music]
[00:02:14]
Jay P: So, we're back at our plush studio here at a room back at the W, here in Las
Vegas.
We've got a nice white couch, and a little '50s couch and our white table.
It's a whole new look for "The Slanted Lens".
Kenneth: New branding.
Jay P: New branding, at least for this one video.
We've been with the Sony group here in Las Vegas looking at their new camera that's come
out the A7III.
And so, we're just excited to kind of give you a rundown some of the things that it does.
This is really an interesting camera because they called it a basic camera.
But, they were...as they said basic, they wanting to make sure that you didn't feel
like it meant that it wasn't capable.
Kenneth: Yeah.
I think the idea here is that they're trying to say this...this is sort of like the bottom
line of what a full-frame camera can be.
And I think they're kind of putting a challenge out to the other companies saying you know
if you are gonna beat Sony then you're gonna have to beat these specs.
Jay P: Well, let's just take a look at some of the features as we tested them and we'll
go from there.
Kenneth: The first one we wanted to look at was the auto focus, the new eye tracking.
So they've had the eye tracking auto focus for a while, but I guess it's better implemented
in this camera than their others.
Jay P: We just set and she's kind of in the shadow which was a great test because she's
not in super-bright light as she comes across walking towards us.
But, as she does it holds on her eyes and she moves in a nicer light when we get up
front here, but it stayed with her the whole way.
Kenneth: Yeah.
It was pretty...I mean I was super impressed.
Jay P: And I'm pretty wide open on this this.
We're on a 2:8 lens.
Kenneth: What I love about it is, you know, focus tracking has been around for a long
time of course, but how many times do you shoot something like this and every two out
of three images are focused on the nose or the ear or something like that, you know.
The fact that this is grabbing the eye, which is what you want and just following that is
insane.
Jay P: And they're spot-on, every one, I mean every one of them.
We did it two or three times and it just stayed right with her, you know.
Even though she was going in and out of shadows and, and brighter light but it worked extremely
well.
Very, very pleased.
So one of the things I was very impressed with when we looked at the camera is the ISO.
The way the ISO responded.
We started at 400 ISO on our test because we couldn't get our exposure low enough to
be able to go to 200, 100.
We're shooting at night on the strip.
So, we start at 400, it's extremely clean at 400.
Kenneth: Yeah.
Super clean, kind of exactly we expect from a modern digital camera, 800 looks great.
This photo is not super fair because one of the lights turned off, it got a little dark.
1600, still looks super great, I would totally shoot at 1600.
Jay P: In the blacks are clean, you don't get that, you know, that kind of chromatic
noise going on.
It looks very clean and you start to see it at 3200.
Kenneth: A little bit, you look at, you know, the shadows on my forehead and stuff.
You start to see some of the noise.
Jay P: If I'm in an event situation, I would shoot at 3200.
Kenneth: Yeah, events, I think 3200 is where I'd start to think, okay, what's my output,
what's my limit, you know, is this supposed to be like a fashion editorial because then
I might start looking into a strobe or something.
6400 is starting to push it a little bit.
Still usable, I think you could still print with this.
Jay P: But you're starting to get, it's starting to look a little bit light green.
When you get 12,800, it definitely looks like green.
Kenneth: Yeah.
Beyond, honestly, I've never shot a photo at 12,800 and beyond this point I'm not really
interested because I just don't see myself shooting this side.
I mean, maybe in the future but right now, you definitely see the chroma noise, all over
the image.
Jay P: At 25,600, it's starting to look, when you blow that up on your face, it looks...it's
all over the place.
Kenneth: So, denoise this you, just lose all the detailing, and you'd have to denoise it
because otherwise it looks weird.
But again, you know, I don't shoot this side.
I would rarely shoot beyond 3200.
So, it's like, oh, it has usable 3200 awesome.
This is a great camera.
Jay P: And in most situations, you know, if you're in an event situation there's enough
light that 3200 is probably gonna work for you and if you bring just a tiny little bit
of light it's gonna work.
But you can go higher, the 6400 was not, you know, it's starting to fall apart a little
bit, and you'd have to work on to try and denoise it, but it certainly, if you had to
you could go to it, you know.
Kenneth: Let's look at the video, the video side of things.
I'm really interested to see how, you know, in the future how this compares to the A7SIII
when that comes out.
So, we started this test at ISO 800 and it looks clean enough.
You do see a little bit of noise but, I think, you know, that's acceptable in video, you
kind of expect it.
Jay P: Yeah, you do.
It certainly it looks good.
At 1,600 it's still...
Kenneth: Yeah.
1600 looks great.
If I was shooting a video on the strip shooting at 1600, I wouldn't be afraid of that at all.
Jay P: When you go to 3200, I mean we're just getting a little, but that's at 400%.
Kenneth: You start to see it.
Yeah, this is...
Jay P: 400%, which is quite a lot.
Kenneth: This is at 400% blow up, so if you look at the regular image, it looks fine.
Jay P: It looks fine looks very clean as 3200, but with that blow up, you start to see some.
Kenneth: At 6400, you start to see the color kind of go sideways a little bit, which I
guess you expect at some point.
I don't know if I would push it as far as 6400.
Jay P: Well, it that was 800 it's definitely it's own animal.
Yeah.
The color definitely has shifted a little bit, but you know.
it's...these cameras have come so far.
This is basic, you know, a basic model, you know, which is delivering a very acceptable
ISO up to 3200.
You know, which gets you in acceptable low-light situations that most everyone's gonna be in.
Kenneth: I mean I think the bottom line is this has better, you know, I would shoot this
at 3200 ISO pretty comfortably.
I would hesitate to shoot like a Nikon or Canon at 3200, yeah, you know.
I think this might have a one stop advantage, is the bottom line.
Jay P: At least that, yeah.
So, this camera has several different frame bursts.
You got a low, kind of a mid, a high and a high plus.
It's just more frames per second as you go through.
So, we shot some of these on high plus, which is giving you the maximum number of frames.
Just hold down the shutter and it's gonna just keep firing.
Kenneth: Yeah, up to about 90-100 frames.
Our friend Daniel had this water tank set up and all these sprinklers, and we had these
dancers kind of doing these leaps and splashes and stuff in the water.
Kind of a perfect thing for this.
Jay P: It was really nice just because she's jumping and you wanted to catch the motion
of her jumping and, you know, you try to anticipate that.
Kenneth: I mean, if you're shooting with it...like imagine shooting this on film, it would be
incredibly frustrating.
Because you're trying to catch that, that peak moment where they kind of reach the apex
of their jump and with this camera you just hold down as soon as you start to see them
rev up, you just hold that that shutter release down and you get it.
Jay P: This really becomes an action application.
If you're shooting motocross or, you know, even your bride who's walking down the aisle.
I mean there's so many different applications where you want to get several frames, you
don't want to miss the moment, this helps you get the frames before and after.
And get that moment as you're shooting, because you can just hold it down and get a variety
of frames through that entire process.
Kenneth: So, one of the things that always interests me with the A7 cameras is, because
you can shoot full frame and crop from the video mode, is which one's better.
And in the past, crop frame has typically been better because you have like the faster
readout on the sensor and it's usually [inaudible 00:09:30].
It's a little sharper.
But the cool thing about this camera is that when you shoot full frame it's actually down
scaling.
The full 6k image to 4k.
So, you're not pixel bending or line skipping like some cameras have in the past.
So, we did a little comparison here and on the left you have your full frame image and
then on the right you have your crop frame image of the same wall.
And at 100% they look identical, but you blow it up to 400% and even then there's almost
like no difference between the two.
Jay P: I mean you really have to look to be able to see any difference here.
Kenneth: There might be a tiny, tiny bit more resolution in the crop frame, but it's almost
like I had to stare at these for like two minutes to really come to a conclusion.
Jay P: So really you would choose a crop sensor if you want to have...you got a 200 on and
you want a 300 millimeter, you know, to be able to have a little better reach there.
And it looks like it holds up, you don't lose anything.
Kenneth: And I do suspect the rolling shutter is probably still a little better in crop
frame, but even then, the thing is with like the image stabilization on these, the sensor
stabilization, I don't really worry about rolling shutter as much as I used to.
Jay P: Really negates a lot of that.
Kenneth: It negates a lot of that, unless you're shooting, you know, fast moving objects,
but.
Jay P: Well, let's just take a quick look at the images and what we thought about the
image quality, because we shot on some great sets in the Sony thing.
You got this '50s kind of set with great color.
We've got some blue sky backgrounds.
I mean, they just were really fabulous opportunities to look at the color rendition, and to look
at the images.
And I was very impressed.
I feel like the skin tones we're extremely nice.
Kenneth: The skin tones look good, the color looks good.
What I like about the Sony is that the color is very...it pops a lot.
Jay P: I'm impressed that the color rendition feels nicer to me, it feels a little warmer
than we've had a past on a Sony, and I like that, I like that about the A7RIII.
I like about this on the A7III.
Kenneth: They're definitely getting better with the color.
Jay P: Yeah.
I just think the color is really pretty.
I think this has become a standard here that I think moving forward is really important,
because I think the color rendition in the past prints sometimes bother me a little bit
but not on these.
I feel this is really where it needs to be.
Kenneth: Well, I think the shot of the the guy on the couch is a great example of that,
because you look at his face and his face does have that sort of natural tonality.
I feel like in the past, Sony's always struggled with getting color in the face.
It also felt a little bit too, like, neutral.
But, in in this scenario it it looks normal which is what you're going for.
Jay P: Yeah.
For me it's been interesting process because I've got Mark IIIs.
I'm very comfortable shooting them.
So, moving over to that mirrorless world has been a little more of a challenge to work
with the EVF and I feel comfortable shooting that way, but the more I do it now it's become
a natural way to shoot, just like one was before, because that's just the way I had
learned.
This has become a natural way to shoot.
There's some, you know, obvious options here that are an advantage.
Size being one of them, and frames per second being one of them.
I mean, there's just so many different advantages that start to come into play here.
I mean, look at the menus on the back of these cameras.
There's so many different things that you can do.
Kenneth: So, I mean the real question is, do DSLRs still have a place?
Sony would say no.
I'll tell you that.
Jay P: Yes, so anyways, should we say no?
Kenneth: I'm not totally convinced.
I mean, I still liked...I like looking through a lens.
I think EVFs maybe in five years, the EVF will be good enough that I feel totally comfortable
with it.
I still like seeing real life.
But anyways, I think this camera works super well for people that don't own a full-frame
camera already.
Like for sure, if you don't want a full-frame camera and you're looking for one, this is
the most competitive camera on the market by far.
Jay P: Yeah.
Price-wise, absolutely.
Kenneth: If you already have Nikon lenses, if you're shooting like a Nikon crop camera
or a Canon crop camera, and you have full-frame lenses for those, which isn't everybody, it's
a little bit harder...I mean it's hard to convince people to switch from a system that
they're already comfortable, with already shooting with.
But, if you're getting into full frame, I think this is the camera we kind of have to
recommend, because the color is looking way better than it used to.
Sony's really improved on their color over the last couple years.
Jay P: They really have.
You look at the skin tones in a lot of these images we shot.
Skin tones look fabulous.
The color is vibrant, there's a warmth to it that I think I've missed in the past, that
I think has now arrived with the A7RIII.
Kenneth: Yeah.
Absolutely, and I think just the feature set, it's just, it's hard to recommend a camera
that does half as much at more money.
Jay P: So for me, I think this is a great camera for a pro-sumer, somebody who wants
to get into a full frame market and at an affordable price.
It's great for wedding shooters.
If you're gonna have, you know, two cameras or gonna have another shooter, you want to
get these into people's hands.
I think you have a great market for this camera, that really becomes that pro-sumer introduction
to the full frame at a $2,000 price.
I think's great.
Battery life on this, same batteries as A7RIII, which we shot all day on the battery and we're
still at 68% at the end of the day.
Kenneth: Yeah, it was pretty awesome.
You know, I think like the bottom line is, I was talking to Ken Rockwell in the elevator
and I just said, "Hey, what do you think about it?"
And he said, "I think it's just great because it's basically in A7RIII with a lower pixel
count at $2,000 and he said, "I don't need the high pixel count."
Jay P: Yeah.
So, if you don't need 40 megapixels, you can save $1,000 and this camera becomes a great
way to get in.
And this thing does a few things that the A7RIII doesn't do.
Kenneth: It's basically a top-of-the-line camera for two thousand bucks, which is really
awesome.
Jay P: A little bit of a combination of the A9 and the A7RIII.
So, there you have it.
So, keep those cameras rollin'.
Kenneth: Keep on clicking.
Jay P: The way you can win this lens is by tagging Tamron and "The Slanted Lens" on our
Instagram.
You can also leave a comment and tag a friend.
Also you can post a stories, "I'm gonna win this lens," but tag Tamron and "The Slanted
Lens" and they'll get you to enter as well.
And last of all, you can go to theslantedlens.com and give us your email, that will help you
win as well.
So, get out there tag, follow, email, tag, follow, email and win this lens
[00:15:21] [music]
[00:15:36]
Jay P: You should subscribe to The Slanted Lens.
It may not save your life, but why risk it . Just push that button right there.