Sony Alpha 7S III Body

The A7S III is a good camera for photographers but an excellent one for video makers. Compact, well-built and thoughtfully designed, it possesses a raft of pro-friendly video capabilities and features that make capturing fantastic footage easier than ever. For demanding videographers, it’s quite possibly the best consumer camera on the market.

The Sony Alpha A7S III is an exceptional video camera, with excellent low-light performance, however, it may not have enough resolution for stills photographers.

Sony kept us waiting five years for the third model in the A7S series, but it certainly doesn’t disappoint. It may stick with the 12 Megapixel resolution of its predecessors to maximise sensitivity, but employs a new sensor with confident phase-detect autofocus and a wealth of movie modes including unlimited 4k up to 120p with 10 bit internal recording. There’s also 1080 up to 240p and 16-bit RAW up to 60p over HDMI. It also debuts a bunch of firsts for the A7 series including a fully-articulated screen, brand new user interface with full touch control, twin slots that support both SD and CF-Express cards, a full-size HDMI port and the highest resolution viewfinder I’ve ever seen. There may be no headline-grabbing 8k or internal RAW video, but the 4k is amongst the best I’ve seen and while Canon’s R5 can match it in movie quality, the Sony is simply much more practical to shoot with. Of course, there’s pros and cons to each model, and I’ll be making separate videos and articles directly comparing their photo and video quality side-by-side. Ultimately the A7S III is an unashamedly specialist camera designed to satisfy demanding videographers with impressive features and real-life handling to match. It’s one of the most confident and capable video-oriented cameras I’ve tested, delivering practical, mostly uncompromised performance in any mode. If your priority is 4k video, it comes highly recommended.

The Sony a7S III is a powerful video tool that can shoot 4K footage at up to 120p (up to 60p with no crop), in a variety of 10-bit formats to provide plenty of flexibility in terms of both grading and workflow. It has dependable autofocus, in-body stabilization and good battery life to boost its run-and-gun credentials. Its 12MP resolution means it's less impressive as a stills camera but it's a hugely powerful choice for independent video producers.