A few days ago, rumors started circulating that the forthcoming Sony a7S III would feature a 36-megapixel 8K sensor shooting 4K at 480 fps. While a few people got excited, the reality is probably a little more complicated.
After Sony Rumors published the alleged specs sheet, speculation has been rife as to its implications. Potentially, this could be the sensor that ends up inside Sony’s latest iteration of the "S" variant of the a7 line of cameras (with an announcement slated for early 2019), but what the camera does with the data coming off that sensor is much more important than the literal data rates, bitrates and resolutions listed on this specs sheet. The processing power required to process that amount of information would probably demand a much bigger body, not to mention a huge fan to keep things cool.
In this video (skip to 37:07) Jason Vong discusses the leak with fellow hybrid shooter Danny, aka that1cameraguy, and breaks down what all of these figures could actually mean. Like others, they believe that it’s unlikely that these specifications will be achieved by the a7S III, but some of those figures might be more of a hint of what Sony has planned for its digital cinema cameras (i.e., successors to the FS5 and the FS7).
The specifications of the a7S III are greatly anticipated, with many Sony fans expecting 4K at 60 fps and potentially, 6K 30 fps with some sort of crop.
What are your expectations, and how do you think it will be priced? The a7S IIÂ just dropped in price, having sat at around $2,400 for a while, but now available for just $2,198. Place your bets.
my money is on the a9's 24mp stacked sensor dropped into the a7 III body, but tuned for video with it's minimal rolling shutter. dual gain ISO 1600/6400 for enhanced low light performance. full width, oversampled 4K60 4:2:0 8-bit internal, 4:2:2 10-bit external, due to the thermal limitations of the current chassis, priced equally with the a7R III.
I'm hoping the record button gets moved to where the A7III is as well as offer the new stronger battery as well. I'm assuming they will. Touch Focus although I'm mostly manual anyway, but would be helpful for many I assume.