Today, Sony announced its long-awaited a7S III with an eagle-eye focus on video performance. For those less excited about a video-oriented camera, this is what we can expect for Sony’s other product lines based on new developments within the a7S III.
For a deep dive into the a7S III, check out our news released today. To summarize some key new features relevant to this article:
- The new BIONZ XR processor is capable of eight times the processing power of the BIONZ X found in all previous full-frame mirrorless Alpha cameras.
- Dual card slots that accept new CFexpress Type A or SD memory cards.
- Two new video recording formats that include HEVC to double compression efficiency and All-Intra for higher data rates.
- New option of HEIF compressed photo file format along with JPEG.
- New touch menu design and better delineation between photo and video settings.
- Impressive 9.44 million EVF points with 0.90x magnification.
- “Active” electronic image stabilization that works in conjunction with optical body stabilization for more stable portable video.
How will the next cameras benefit?
Sony a7 IV
With the a7 III, Sony started playing an interesting game with the feature / price ratio. Its intention was to avoid negative connotations for being the “base” model. They chose and chose where the camera would excel given the price tag (eg video and autofocus) and where they could save money on their production cost (eg low-quality viewfinder). While the a7S III unlocks a wealth of technology and potential specs, we can’t expect everything to be thrown into the a7 IV and keep the price down.
Given its history, I think we can safely assume that the a7 IV will not get the 9.44 million point EVF from the a7S III, for example. On the other hand, one of the tricks is that it will share the same form factor as the a7R IV, a9 II, and a7S III.
I’m happy I’m wrong, but I also don’t think the a7 IV shares the new BIONZ XR processor. This would also boil down to not having CFexpress Type A card slots and the high bit rate video recording or extremely deep photo buffering it provides. They could still market it with “the same processor as the Sony a9 II” to meet expectations. One argument I can see against this is that Sony is trying to roll out its new CFexpress Type A card in the world, and it would help to gain traction by starting to roll it out in all future full-frame Alpha versions. But it’s a give and take, so if we’ll look at your next-gen processor here, we won’t see anything else instead.
Fortunately, the a7S III also brought many software-based enhancements, such as a new menu design with full touch capability and independent camera settings retained between photo and video modes for faster switching. These changes should be included in any future camera releases for the sake of consistency, just like the menu design above is found on all previous Sony cameras, from the RX to the a9.
Sony a9 III
Sony may have released the a9 II in November 2019, but it was also the most lazy camera update I’ve seen from the company; Everything good about the a9 II is because the original a9 is great. There is a precedent for a quick update as the a7S II was announced just a year after the a7S started shipping, and the a7R IV arrived a year and a half after the a7R III. After seeing the new components of the a7S III, I hope that the a9 III will arrive sooner rather than later.
The a9 III, with its much higher price in the market, will probably take advantage of almost everything developed on the way to the a7S III and adapt it to your type of consumer. The BIONZ XR processor could make the updates expected in the a9 II come true. Between 30 percent faster subject recognition over the BIONZ X, faster autofocus and auto exposure processing, better color and gradation reproduction, and an even deeper buffer and faster write speeds on cards of CFexpress Type A memory, there is a lot of potential for unlocking in a latest generation a9 Camera.
While we may or may not eventually see image profiles like S-Log 3 on an a9 in the future, other video features like HEVC or All-Intra recording and “active” image stabilization would be a possibility. Also, with the praise Canon received for adding HEIF photo files on its EOS-1D X Mark III, we can expect the a9 to include the HEIF option as seen on the a7S III as well.
Without speculating on new features and specifications outside of what the a7S III has shown, I will say that I am very anxious to see what Sony can do using the new components and developing the camera that should have been the a9 II.
Sony a7R V
Probably the furthest from launch, the a7R V will be harder to predict right now. I would hope that the features advertised with the a7 IV and a9 III, plus what competitors are doing, further guide where the a7R V will go. That said, there are at least a couple of developments with the a7S III that would fit in at home. the a7R V.
For one reason or another, it appears that the a7R IV missed the ship by receiving the 9.44 million-point EVF found in the a7S III. While the a7R IV’s 5.76 million-point EVF was at the time the best available, I can’t see Sony holding on to it again when there’s something better in one of its other a7 cameras. After all, it’s supposed to be the “R” resolution camera. It is more than likely that you bet that Sony argued that it is about to be released on a product that, in many ways, was in danger of not living up to the years and years of advertising construction. Something like the a7S III. Now that the cat is out of the bag, we can all see that the 9.44 million-point EVF with a 0.90x magnification and a 41-degree field of view is reaching a7R V, right?
Like the future a9 model, the upcoming a7R camera will use the BIONZ XR to improve performance across the board, and perhaps allow for some new tricks, like processing on the Pixel Shift photo camera. Even with the a7R IV’s extremely large 61-megapixel files, that camera can still punch 10 frames per second with good-sized buffer writing to SD cards. Imagine having eight times more processing power than the BIONZ X within that camera plus CFexpress Type A memory cards, and we’re looking at the potential of the a7R V in moving much heavier data loads.
What would you like to see in the next Sony cameras?
