By Erick Lirios

Photography conversations often cover how expensive things are because, like it or not, this is a rather costly hobby or profession. Sometimes though, we get something that’s easy and fun to use while being a more than capable shooter. Once in a while, we even get something that looks good. The A7R Mark III looks really sturdy while being very, very handsome. Photographer Ken Rockwell calls it the best mirrorless camera ever introduced. What do we think?

The specs are impressive as is its price tag. This more than P170,000 camera shoots at 42 megapixels and has improved low-light performance compared to its predecessors. That’s significant as earlier models were noted for their low-light performance. This thing focuses quite fast and Canon or Nikon users will not miss the autofocus speeds of their usual cameras.

The controls are what you’d expect for a camera of this level and you have to appreciate those classic knobs. They give a better feeling of closeness to the machine than you get with just pressing buttons. There are custom function buttons though some may be bothered by their placement. Two are near the shutter button, another is easily reached by the thumb, but the last one really needs you to take your eye off the viewfinder to get at it since it’s at the back of the camera to the left. It also might have been better to have exposure compensation a bit easier to do when you’re shooting, with your eye looking through the viewfinder—and it is! While shooting, exposure compensation can be done using the adjustment wheel behind the camera so you don’t have to take your eye off the scene and risk losing your concentration.

The main control dial—switching you from shooting mode to shooting mode—has a locking mechanism which, admittedly, is a preference thing. When you’re in a rush, you may not appreciate how you have to press a button just to change exposure modes.

Now, about that LCD screen. As you’d expect from Sony, it only tilts up and down. It does not swivel to the left. It’s doubtful you’ll even look for it though. There are two SD card slots and you can choose to which card the camera saves or you can make the camera save to both cards at the same time. This, I feel, is a much better setup than what you get with, say, a Canon 5DSr with its combination of CF and SD card for the simple reason that you only need to bring one type of card when using the A7R III and still be sure you can back up all your shots. However, the two are put in facing outwards so it can be a little inconvenient whenever you need to check what card is in. One of the slots takes the Sony Memory Stick though it may not be a practical idea to use it since, again, it would just be more convenient to use SD cards throughout.

This camera is able to do a lot of things and this has a big impact on the menu system. Everything it can do in terms of shooting photos or videos can be tweaked in the menu and it can thus make for a fiddly menu system. How? When you get to the controls of the camera for photography, there are submenus within one tab and you can end up not knowing how deep you are in a menu. Not that good when you’re getting rushed. Maybe that’s why there are four custom function buttons. The trick is to be a pro and set things up before you go to a shoot rather than trying to figure things out when you’re already there. That’s how you can really enjoy shooting with A7R III.

This is definitely a professional camera and one way this is shown is by how many connection options it has. You get sockets for a microphone, headphones, USB-C, Micro-USB, and micro-HDMI. This also gives you the wireless kind in case you don’t want to stay tethered even within a studio. You have Bluetooth, WiFi, and NFC, which gives you an easy way to transfer and/or look at images on a phone or tablet for easy feedback sessions with clients, friends, and family.

It’s no secret that most photographers will eventually suffer from weaker eyesight just like any human being. It can be a real bummer trying to shoot with glasses on and this is where the diopter comes in really handy. Problem is, most cameras’ diopters don’t go far enough for people with more advanced grades. The A7R III handles my eyes and that’s something none of my Canon cameras can do.

When shooting

This is a Sony and noise levels are very low. That means very sharp images even in low light. That is one of the main reasons you get this camera. You don’t need to be scared of the dark anymore. What’s more is that you get a very sharp image when you give your image a good amount of light. It can be refreshing to get images on your screen that closely resemble what you see with your naked eye even when you’re already zoomed in a hundred percent.

A good question to ask at this point is whether it’s better to get this rather than the higher spec A9. This camera is cheaper plus the fact that you get similar-looking images at the same ISOs but at higher resolution. It “only” shoots at a maximum rate of 10 fps at full resolution so, yes, get the A9 if you really need to shoot at 20 fps.

The price tag is significant and people thinking about getting a camera may think twice about getting this—and that’s good. Doing so will allow a person to look much more closely at what it can do as compared to what the others can. For the price, you get a tremendous photography machine that more than adequately does double duty with video at 4K no less. The costlier Canon 5DSr doesn’t do 4K. For the price, you get professional results for photography or videography and you’re always backed up with two SD cards. Thinking of going upgrade your pro gear? This may just be the way to do it.