Sony Alpha 7s III - Low Light Specialist

The long-awaited Sony Alpha 7S III comes over five years after its legendary predecessor. The scenario has changed since then. Does it still maintain its competitive advantage? K Madhavan Pillai finds out.

-  K Madhavan Pillai

With video, things seem to be back into the numbers game. 2k, 4K, 6K, and now 8K. When the Alpha 7S II launched five years ago, it was a market where professional 4K products were rare. The Alpha 7S III does not have the same, immediate benefit of a pristine market as its predecessor. 4K and UHD have now become common parlance with many cameras, and cellphones as well, and the ecosystem is maturing in India.

However, what many new buyers fail to consider are the enormous file sizes, massive storage, processing environment, and specialised displays and equipment needed to work with high quality, high resolution 8, 6 or even 4K footage. And when you are talking of a RAW workflow with cinema, that’s a whole different ball park.

As far as buying behavior and usage is concerned, the fact is that those who purchase 4K television sets in India today, do so because of smart marketing, and usually end up watching Full HD or HD content on them. Adoption of UHD or 4K is slowly taking off though, primarily with several over-the-top (OTT) media services offering 4K, and compatible streaming devices, more available over the last six months or so. Beyond all this, of course, is internet bandwidth, which is a whole different story. The fact remains that few in India have experienced the brilliance of well produced high quality 4K on a good 4K display. And I expect that it will be five years or more, before it becomes truly common in India.

So there is no doubt that 4K, more than 6 or 8K, is more relevant now than ever before. Sony’s strategy of making the Alpha 7S III (or A7S III) a low light 4K video specialist is right on the money. It takes what’s necessary and delivers it with a new level of finesse. Let’s take a look under the hood.