Sony Camera 350
Martta
I can be a control freak. There. I said it. In photography, that tendency caused me to resist letting the camera make a lot of decisions for me. Starting with my first high-end film SLR, I tended to bypass technology and instead I kept it pretty much set to manual exposure and that approach served me well for a long time. Switching to Sony mirrorless cameras, however, led to a new way for me to make perfect exposures with every frame. As a landscape photographer, that's a big deal. I'm often shooting at the edges of the day when the light is changing fast and even with the power of post-processing software, getting the exposure right in camera matters.
To explain how I work with my Sony cameras, and how they've changed my process in the field, I'll start by going back to that first serious film SLR. As I mentioned, I'm a bit of a control freak and that camera launched me into the manual exposure paradigm that would serve me for most of my photography life:
That approach changed very slightly when I purchased my first digital SLR, about 15 years ago. With selectable ISO, I made 100 ISO my default, but remained steadfast with the belief that the composition determines the f-stop, and the light determines the shutter speed. Since I always use a tripod, the only time I compromise my ISO and f-stop is to deal with motion in the scene.
Before I meter a scene, my camera is at whatever exposure settings I used for the prior scene I shot, so they can be far from the exposure the current scene requires. When a new scene needs a large exposure adjustment, I push my shutter speed fast until the zebras appear (if my prior exposure was too dark) or disappear (if my prior exposure was too bright), then refine the exposure more carefully while watching the histogram.
While accuracy is usually paramount where exposure is concerned, sometimes speed is just as important. For example, chasing lightning at the Grand Canyon, I got a bonus when a full rainbow arced above the canyon. But by the time I could drive to a vantage point with an open view of the canyon, only a fraction of the rainbow remained, and it was shrinking fast. Knowing that time was of the essence, I quickly vaulted from the car, set up my tripod, and framed a composition.
The dynamic range between the canyon shadows and sunlit clouds was well within the range of my Sony α7R II, but extreme enough that I needed to be careful with my exposure. My camera was already set at ISO 100 and f/11 from the previous stop, but the pre-capture histogram showed that the current shutter speed was much too fast to capture clean shadow detail.
With my eye on the bright clouds, I rapidly dialed in more light with my shutter wheel. As soon as the zebras appeared, I turned my attention to the histogram, refining it with a few deliberate shutter adjustments. When the histogram just barely nudged its right boundary, I clicked this frame.
2.) If you use another raw processing engine, such as Capture One Pro, you get a whole different experience with Sony .ARW raw files, both with regard to tonal response and color science. The contrast and colors both look great. Different, yes, but still great.
Disclaimer: I say this as someone who worked full-time in post-production for many years, and who has post-produced over 2M Canon CR2 files, 2M Nikon NEF files, and over 100,000 Sony ARW files.
There is no question that the A7R3 shook up the market with its feature set, regardless of the price point. This is a high-megapixel full-frame mirrorless camera with enough important features that any full-time working pro could easily rely on the camera to get any job done.
Furthermore, the A7R3 offers a diverse variety of focus point control and operation. And, with new technologies such as face-detection and Eye AF, the controls really do need to be flexible! Thanks to the level of customizability offered in the the A7R3, I can do all kinds of things, such as:
By the way, for all you marathon-length event photographers and videographers out there: A spare Sony NP-FZ-100 battery will set you back $78, while an Anker 20,100 mAh USB battery goes for just $49. So, no matter your budget, your battery life woes are officially over.
This is definitely the biggest catch-22 of the whole story. The Sony A7R3 is very complex to operate, and even more complex to customize. Of course, it has little choice in the matter, as a pioneer of so many new features and functions. For example, I cannot fault a camera for offering different bitrates for video compression, just because it adds one more item to a menu page. In fact, this is a huge bonus, just like the ability to shoot both uncompressed and compressed .ARW files.
There are 35 pages of menu items with nearly 200 items total, plus five pages available for custom menu creation, a 26 grid of live/viewfinder screen functions, and approximately a dozen physical buttons can be re-programmed or totally customized.
Lastly, because the camera relies so heavily on customization, you may find that you run out of buttons when trying to figure out where to put common things that used to have their own buttons, such as Metering, White Balance, AF Points. Not to mention the handful of new bells and whistles that you might want to program to a physical button, such as switching IBIS on/off, or activating Eye AF.
However, as Sony has already proven, its mount is nothing to scoff at, and is entirely capable of amazing glass with professional results. Two of their newest fast-aperture prime lenses, the 135mm f/1.8 G-Master and the 24mm f/1.4 G-Master, prove this. Both lenses are almost optically flawless, and ready to easily resolve the 42 megapixels of this generation A7R-series camera, and likely the next generation too even if it has a 75-megapixel sensor.
There is no denying that Sony has achieved a huge milestone with the A7R mk3, in every single way. From its price point and feature set to its image quality and durable body, it is quite possibly the biggest threat that its main competitors, Canon and Nikon, face.
Advanced AI analytics allow subjects to be accurately tracked with smooth, natural-looking framing, making it easier than ever to produce high-quality content with fewer camera operators. Direct pan and tilt drive using newly developed motors results in exceptionally smooth camera operation. This advanced drive system is also remarkably quiet and ideally suited to situations where silence is a requirement.
The BRC-AM7 is the smallest and lightest camera of its type in the world*, making it easy to install just about anywhere. It is unobtrusive for the same reason, even in multi-camera setups. Additionally, the BRC-AM7 offers broad connectivity and system compatibility with, for example, S700PTP and free-d protocols.
A 1.0-type Exmor RS image sensor with approximately 14.0 million effective pixels and the latest BIONZ XR image processing engine work in unison to achieve high resolution with low noise. Textures and materials are rendered with lifelike accuracy.
AI analytics uses detailed human pose, head, face, clothing, and other data to recognize human subjects with high precision. This can be used to automatically control pan, tilt, and zoom to follow an athlete at a sports event, for example. PTZ Auto Framing is smooth and natural-looking, making it possible to work with a smaller camera crew.
The latest Exmor RS image sensor and BIONZ XR image processing engine work in unison to achieve outstanding subject detection precision and speed for significantly improved tracking performance. The image sensor has focal plane phase-detection AF in the imaging area, easily focusing on fast-moving subjects with extraordinary speed and precision over a wide area.
PTZ Auto Framing works with this newly adopted AF system to dramatically improve overall AF tracking performance. A performer who is actively moving around on stage can be reliably followed while precise focus is maintained, for example. With this capability, a multi-camera system can be set up to follow individual performers without requiring a correspondingly large camera crew.
A direct drive system using newly developed motors allows for smooth, detailed control of camera pan and tilt for high-quality visual presentation. These advanced motors work with precision optical encoders to allow pan and tilt speeds ranging from a very slow 0.004 degrees per second to a snappy 180 degrees per second. This broad speed range makes it possible to be used in various applications.
While these new motors deliver high torque for responsive pan and tilt control, they are also remarkably quiet with a noise criterion rating below NC25*, and can be used without worrying about noise at broadcast studios, ceremonies, weddings, classical concerts, or other events where quiet operation is essential.
The BRC-AM7 is the smallest, lightest camera of its kind in the world.* It fits easily in limited spaces where installation of other PTZ cameras might be difficult or impossible. This product is less likely to be noticed if it appears in a shot in a multi-camera installation. The BRC-AM7 also has a standard 1/4-20 UNC screw socket for tripod mounting and the same 3/8-16 UNC screw socket as other system cameras for accessory attachment.
In addition to 12G SDI primary output, 3G SDI is provided for monitoring. The BRC-AM7 offers a variety of video output options such as optical-fiber 12G SDI available via an SFP slot, and HDMI. Audio input can be connected via a pair of 3-pin XLR type connectors or a 0.14 in stereo jack, providing plug-in compatibility.
The BRC-AM7 has dual memory slots that are both compatible with CFexpress Type A and SDXC memory cards.* Slot A and Slot B accept CFexpress Type A and UHS II/UHS I SDXC memory cards for high-speed storage and retrieval of large volumes of data. The dual memory slots also allow simultaneous recording, relay recording, and proxy recording.
We have our own Facebook camera groups you can join to discuss the upcoming new cameras in detail:
Sony Alpha group. Sony A1 group. Sony A9 series group. Sony A7r series group. Sony A7s series group. Sony A7 series group.