As the years roll by, one constant remains in all forms of tech: consumers (and in particular, prosumers) demand more and more from equipment. One area videographers will always cast a critical eye, is low light performance.
The Sony a7S III has been met with largely an excellent response. It has been called everything from a "technical masterpiece" through to many videographers' "new favorite camera." Hands-on reviews of the body have yielded impressive results, with many comparisons of the a7S III's footage with much more expensive cinema cameras falling favorably towards the Sony. With regards to the old adageĀ of "bang for your buck," the a7S III is proving to be a strong return on investment, despite being nearly $3,500.
This video by videographer and cinematographer, Sidney Diongzon, is exactly what I look for when I'm interested in upgrading equipment. There's no talking, no opinions, and no gerrymandering of information. We are shown footage straight out of the camera, then levels-adjusted, then color graded. At 3,200 ISO, the a7S III shows almost no noise whatsoever. I watched the video full screen, on a 4K monitor, in 4K resolution, and the quality is superb. While that may not be the ultimate litmus test for low light performance, it's enough for most.
The a7S III continues to impress, though I'd like to see Diongzon push the ISO higher to see when the footage becomes unusable.
"gerrymandering"?
I haven't been excited about cameras in a long time. I bought one of these and am finally excited to get it.
I'm doing more and more video work and I'm doing my best to resist! Let me know your thoughts once you've got it.
We'll be making a few videos about it I'm sure. Too bad I'm the last Youtuber on planet earth to get one.
Funny thing is, hardly anyone who's not a pixel-peeping photo enthusiast - not even my event clients - gives a rat's patootie about digital image noise.
That's nice, I was expecting more ISO options in the video, I think it can handle even iso100K pretty good.
I know I am more than happy with my a7III and a7RIII low-light event images at ISO 20,000, especially after processing with DxO PhotoLab, and I'm WAY more demanding than my clients are.