Sony A7SIII 2024 Review & New Firmware Update Soon! (vs. S5IIX/FX3)

[@Zmywak]

More than a 100 vlogs recorded using this beast. Chose it over fx6. Few times I was thinking of going C70 or S5IIX, but... no thanks. This thing roxx!

[@GeekyNerdyTechy]

It's held up so well over the years, it's a great camera. :)

[@queensalnd]

It's a great camera except in really hot weather.

[@GeekyNerdyTechy]

The new Sony A7S3 firmware update should be out this month (finally). I almost gave up hope Sony would actually continue to support this powerhouse. Fingers crossed they actually deliver on this update. Let me know if you're shooting an A7SIII and why! Cheers :)

[@ChartridgeMissionChurch]

Mine is used weekly to film sermons, Doc's, photos [friends love the photos I get out of this] and it has never let me down. Amazing camera!

[@GeekyNerdyTechy]

Awesome stuff!

[@Lunar_Films]

S5ii x, a7s iii, fx3…all great cameras. Beautifully summed up

[@BryanPopeProductions]

This is a weird choice to make someone have but I'm so stuck between the G9ii or A7Siii and considering you've tested both rather thoroughly I'm curious which you'd pick as a daily driver. I take 80% video 20% photo, run and gun street style, travel style, portraits. I love the Lumix 100-300 for its compact nature, in fact it's one of the key features next to IBIS that I'm even considering the G9ii. Anyways, any insight would be great, thanks.

[@GeekyNerdyTechy]

They are both excellent cameras but the G9II has the best stabilization I have ever used without going into some sort of massive digital crop. I'd say the G9II has the best photo modes and it also can shoot in higher video resolutions. That said, the A7SIII image quality is beautiful and the full frame look is pretty great. For run and gun stuff I am taking the G9II, for the studio, I would choose the Sony.

[@noahzeth]

I’ve had both but chose to sell A7Siii because it was too much money for me to enjoy using it. Decided to buy a G9ii instead. Now am probably about to sell that and switch back to a sony, probably the A6700 or A7Cii. Im no professional but i can give you my first hand impressions from using both cameras. The A7Siii is absolutely amazing, video quality is superb and lowlight abilities are great. However, in my personal experience, taking photos with it isnt really an option. Don’t get me wrong, 12 megapixel is probably more than enough but for someone who likes my creations to be as good as possible, the 12 megapixels at the very least, made it hard to use because i knew that i couldn’t crop in at all if i needed to and i like to have full flexibility no matter what. Now, i could forgive all of that if it werent so expensive, but at its price point, the fact i can’t take the best quality photos is a big reason as to why i sold it. I just felt its too overpriced at least for my needs as i plan to shoot photography as well as video, more so a 60% video and 40% photo. So, i decided to buy a G9ii, its a great camera, but i feel its gigantic. A very bulky camera and i don’t know if i drew a short stick but the flaps that cover the usb connections on the camera seems so loose and flimsy that it could fall off any minute. Again it could just be my luck but i’ve watched some videos and from what i can see it looks a similar quality on other cameras as if it were just designed like that. I would not be confident taking it out in anything but sunshine because it feels like a weak point in the camera. That being said, its all my opinion and other than that the G9ii is a great camera, but for me, the build quality is sub-par, im not a fan of the Lumix colours and image produced, the EVF is not that impressive(maybe im sabotaging myself because im comparing it to the A7Siii and as was just stated in the video thats one of the best EVF on the market). Still all of those reasons and the fact i’ve learnt i prefer a bigger sensor for better depth of field, as well as a small compact size, is whats making me switch from the G9ii. Personally, at least in this stage of my photo/videography career, i want something that i enjoy using that makes me want to go out and shoot rather than a tool i am forced to use to get the job done. Please remember this is all my opinion but to separate it from the things that matter you should consider the following: A7SIII: - no good for photos in my use case - Too expensive for what you were getting - Lack of video features like shutter angle for example - No support from sony, although that seems to be changing now but theres no guarantee that this isnt the last update they will ever give it. - Can’t crop in or reframe very much if at all due to low megapixels G9II: - build quality not great(some wobbly buttons I forgot to mention) - EVF not so great(probably wouldn’t notice much if you werent comparing it to A7SIII, in fact i think a6700 and A7CIi have worse viewfinder than G9II so im in for a treat) - MFT sensor - At this point in time Panasonic don’t have a cinema line with good autofocus so future upgrades in cameras may require buying into a completely new system Main reason im switching is because my end goal is to end up on a fullframe device, specifically something like the FX3. Maybe panasonic release GH7 with PDAF but i can’t invest in a system on the hope something comes true, and for all we know the GH7 could be L Mount, and all my lenses will be unusable when i inevitably upgrade. Rambled on a bit but hope you get the gist, ask me any questions and I’ll answer to best of my abilities. If you couldn’t tell im extremely picky lol

[@BryanPopeProductions]

@@noahzeth Wow I can't tell you how helpful that was. I think you just snapped me out of my materialistic need for something new right now, honestly I've been perfectly happy with what I've been working with. That was a valuable and insightful read, thank you again.

[@Ronbc000]

Mighty. My A7S3 is forever 👍

[@GeekyNerdyTechy]

I'm keeping mine long term. I have a feeling no matter what they release next, it'll be either more expensive or less reliable. Either way, this is a great camera.

[@studiovitta]

A true trusty beast with so many things hopefully upcoming ….

[@DanielHodotcom]

Great info! I use it with a Sigma 24-70 ART and it is wonderful

[@Meta0Monke]

Does anyone know anything about the Sony A7S three not being able to shoot in 60 frames a second?

[@Meta0Monke]

I just got mine and it won’t. It doesn’t even have an option.

[@GeekyNerdyTechy]

If you live outside of North America, you may need to change the region to NTSC.

[@Clayspeed]

Did you shoot the whole video on the 16mm 1.8?

[@GeekyNerdyTechy]

Yep, all of the outdoor stuff was shot on that lens.

[@Surtepfilms]

There is a function on the Sony A7iv that prevents the equipment from overheating. even setting it to high?

[@GeekyNerdyTechy]

It will be fine in most shooting scenarios, just not like on a day like this was filmed, it would have cooked it in minutes. You might be able to buy a Ulanzi camera fan for it or something to clip onto the back which will no doubt help.

[@Surtepfilms]

@@GeekyNerdyTechy cool, I use it on my aony A7I V what link to your SONY A 7IV presentation?

[@GeekyNerdyTechy]

It overheated the day I got it outside so I took it back and exchanged it for this one instead. I didn't make a review on it at the time. @@Surtepfilms

[@Surtepfilms]

@@GeekyNerdyTechy PERFECT

[@JimmyHuynhdesign]

I have the a7s3 since release, just picked up the zv-e1 as a B cam and its awesome. I didn't think the autofocus could get any better but ZV-E1 Autofocus is just ridiculous.

[@jholmes4824]

For everyone waiting on a firmware update be very careful. My fx3 is about 3 years old and out of warranty I updated from firmware 4.0 to 5.0 through the creators app it literally bricked my camera and it was not operable I got in touch with Sony Pro support and send it off to Precision Camera and in turn was quoted $1,100 and with Pro support I get 20% off and then they told me that because the cameras out of warranty they can give me an extra 10% off but I still have to pay for my camera being brick from a firmware update because it is out of warranty apparently the Control Board needs replaced also part of that quote is to replace the sensor filter that is not related

[@GeekyNerdyTechy]

Sony customer service sounds like their firmware updates. almost non-existent. Sorry to hear about the bricking of the update. It probably took them 15 minutes to fix it, what a bunch of pricks.

[@jholmes4824]

@@GeekyNerdyTechy I guess I made enough of a fuss. Sony decided to refund me for the repairs. Still not sure what happened but i'd like them to hopefully keep it from happening in the future

[@GVaniMusic]

​@@jholmes4824 would you mind sharing what your camera was doing in terms of being bricked? Mine was slightly over two years old, I had two years extra warranty go figure. But whenever I mount a lens it makes a weird noise and won't focus. I Tried cleaning the sensor and the lens connections on the camera but no luck.

[@jholmes4824]

@@GVaniMusic Sony called it a power loop. It would turn on and off. You could hear the camera boot up and immediately shut down. It would do it probably 6 times and stop. The screen would never light up. Even if you turned the power switch off after the first attempt it would continue until i happened about 6x.

[@RudraShahrier]

I just hope sony gives custom luts install option on a7siii, come on a6700 has that feature. do you know anything about that? i really really want this feature.

[@LiveProductionTips]

I believe you meant Long Term in the title, Great review

[@GeekyNerdyTechy]

Late night typo! haha. Thanks for the heads up. :)

[@LiveProductionTips]

@@GeekyNerdyTechy I can relate. What would be your best recommendation for upgrading from MFT to Full frame ( ideally Sony for autofocus ) for wedding filmmaking. Under $3K no overheating obviously, with 4K60 no crop

[@GeekyNerdyTechy]

You really only have two options this or the FX3. The FX3 has the active cooling advantage and as of right now, more updated features. If you're in a hot environment, active cooling is always a good thing. The S5IIX is killer and better value than both, but there's an APS-C crop in 60p.@@LiveProductionTips

[@LiveProductionTips]

@@GeekyNerdyTechy I live in Canada so our summers are very hot. My issue with the S5ii is the lens options, I like light weight setups for small gimbals and feel like Sony has better choices for light weight lenses

[@christopherblanco9497]

when will this update come out??

[@fotofilm9660]

Vielen Dank für Ihr Video. Es ist wichtig zu verstehen, dass die Sony A7SIII die Funktion "Real-time Tracking" Autofokus bietet, mit der Sie ein ausgewähltes Objekt während der Aufnahme kontinuierlich verfolgen können. Diese Funktion ist auch bei 4K-Videos mit bis zu 120 Bildern pro Sekunde (fps) verfügbar?

[@MilesSpearman]

Hi your reviews are fantastic! I wanted to make sure I understood correctly. Are you saying that the FX3 and the Sony A7SIII have the same exact low light capabilities?

[@GeekyNerdyTechy]

Yes, they are the same exact camera minus the form factor and firmware variations. The internals are identical.

[@ibremaa]

I got a7siii is my first to full frame camera. I’ve been using the a6400 last year this year I decided to get full frame. I’m having trouble with the autofocus it’s doesn’t really focus on the subject/object it focuses on the background sometimes. If a object/subject too close to the camera it doesn’t focus on it or object/subject far away from the camera it’s just blurry. Any help thanks.

[@GeekyNerdyTechy]

Is eye tracking on? I also use the large area mode box that fills up about two thirds of the full area.

[@GeekyNerdyTechy]

Also, check the minimum focus of the lens. If you're filming subjects turn the smaller area mode box on.

[@ibremaa]

@@GeekyNerdyTechy updated I went to wex to have look at the about the issue I was having turns out that the camera has autofocus problem. I sent it back to sony for repair. Thanks you

[@maviring]

so many rumors but no info from sony.

[@GeekyNerdyTechy]

It’s been announced officially.

[@SoFloCineFile]

@@GeekyNerdyTechy it's been announced officially, but with an indefinite waiting period, aka "March 2024, or later!" This is what frustrates me about Sony. Don't get me wrong, they have great products, but by the same token their gaslighting is next level too 🤦