20 Reasons I Pre-ordered the Sony A7siii

What’s up guys, Sagi here and welcome to another Tech Gear Talk. Today I’ll give you the top 20 reasons why I preordered the Sony A7Siii – and we’ll also see how it compares to my C200 – Let’s go! Quick note: One reason – which was so obvious to me I forgot to include it is amazing low-light performance. The a7siii is going to be absolute magic in low light. Now let’s get going!

⭐️ Pre-order the A7Siii: https://geni.us/cgkg

My Top Sony A7siii lenses:
⭐️ Sony 24mm f/1.4 GM: https://geni.us/luQgU
⭐️ Sony 16-35mm f/2.8 GM: https://geni.us/s1a77
⭐️ Sony 85mm f/1.4 GM: https://geni.us/DSX2
⭐️ Sigma 24-70 f/2.8 DG DN: https://geni.us/1WKotV
⭐️ Sigma 14-24 f/2.8 DG DN: https://geni.us/ShUB

1. A7Siii Fully Articulating Touch Screen

Number 1 is the new fully articulating touchscreen. This could technically be two features because it’s a fully articulating screen and a full touch screen but I’m combining into one reason. For the hybrid type of work that I do, I always prefer the fully articulating implementation – it’s hugely valuable for video work when I’m using a gimbal, a slider or when I’m in front of the camera. For photography, I like that I can always position the screen in a way that I can see whether it’s on a tripod for product shots, low to the ground or even if I’m taking low angle shots in portrait mode.

As far as a full touch screen – Sony upgraded from their previous screens which were only touch screens for autofocus point selection and subject tracking. Now you can change settings, use the functions menu and the main menu which is something you’ve probably heard me complain about in some of my Sony reviews.

I love the fact that Sony is listening to feedback and is concentrating on improving ergonomics and user experience.

2. A7Siii New Menu System

This brings us right into number 2 which is the new Menu system. This has been another – I don’t want to call it a pain point – but certainly hasn’t been a strength for Sony in the past. I never felt like the menu system was optimally organized and features weren’t really sorted in a place or order that I thought made the most sense.

The a7siii has a completely redesigned cascading menu system. It’s much better laid out and should make for a steeper learning curve and again – with the full touch screen functionality – a better overall user experience.

3. A7Siii Better Ergonomics

Onto my number 3 reason for preordering the a7siii – better ergonomics. I already love the grip on my a7iii, so I know the a7siii will be comfortable to hold. But there are a few things that frustrate me when I use my a7iii. First, these little flippy cheap, dangly plastic doors, that always get in the way or get tangled up. The new a7siii, has much nicer hinged doors that should stay open and out of the way.

Next, I like that the mic jack has its own small door and that it doesn’t interfere with the functionality of the fully articulating screen. So you can rotate the screen and position it any way you can without bumping into the mic jack, or having it obstruct the view of the screen.

This is an issue I have with some of my current cameras (show m50) – it’s not the end of the world because I can still pull the screen back and then rotate it, but again it’s nice to see that Sony put some thought into this new design.

4. A7Siii Better Autofocus Settings and Performance

Alright, next is reason number 4 which is better autofocus settings and performance. Sony AF has been great for me with the last batch of models I’ve tested. Even entry-level cameras like the a6100 have incredibly reliable and accurate autofocus. But what I’ve always wanted is the ability to have a little more control over AF tracking sensitivity and drive speed. Essentially these two settings determine how quickly the camera will decide that it needs to reacquire focus and then, how fast it should rack focus.

This is important when you’re tracking a subject or when something may come between the camera and the subject for a split second and we don’t want the camera to quickly focus on the subject in the foreground and then go back to the main subject. We also don’t want the camera to rack focus too abruptly when it shifts focus from one subject to the next. So in my a7iii I have 2 options for tracking sensitivity – Standard and Responsive. And I have 3 options for AF Drive Speed – Fast, Normal and Slow. And there have been times where I wanted more control over this so I was happy to see that the a7siii has 7 step transition speed adjustments and 5 steps of subject shift sensitivity control.

Sony also gave us better autofocus performance in low light or when we’re intentionally overexposing our LOG footage.

5. A7Siii No Recording Limit

Ok, number 5 – no recording limit. Probably my biggest issue with my a7iii is the 30 minute recording limit. My videos are usually long – and I normally record for about an hour straight per video. That’s something I don’t have to deal with on my a6400 and was one of the reasons why I got it. I could also add use my ATOMOS Ninja V with the a7iii and get around that limit – but I’d rather use the ATOMOS because I’m choosing to use it for reasons like having easier to edit files and additional exposure features and better quality footage at a higher bit depth – rather than being forced to use it just to remove a recording limit.

The a7siii essentially solves all of those issues. First, there is no recording limit and second, it can record internally at the same quality as it can output to the Ninja V – but more on this later.

6. A7Siii No Overheating Issues

We’re now onto reason number 6 – no overheating. Some of the older Sony cameras had overheating issues – I’ve never had a problem with the a6400 or my a7iii – of course I don’t really use the a7iii for long recordings but regardless – it’s great to see that there are no overheating issues with the a7siii even when recording at 4k60 with IBIS and AF. It’s just great to know that I can get that higher resolution footage and like with my cinema cameras, I don’t have to worry about a recording limit or overheating.

7. A7Siii Weather Sealing

Alright, my number 7 reason for preordering the a7siii is weather sealing. This is more of a bonus for me than a requirement because I still try not to use my gear where it could really get wet, but I would always rather have this additional protection.

8. FZ-100 Battery

Moving on to number 8 – the battery. I love the battery life I get with the a7iii – it lasts for so long that the bigger problem is that I forget to charge it because I have to do it so infrequently when compared with my other cameras. I bought 2 additional batteries when I got this camera – which is something I always do – and I’ve literally never used them. The a7siii uses the same FZ-100 battery as the a7iii so I know it’s going to last at least a couple of hours.

9. A7Siii USB-C Charging

Another power related reason – number 9 – is USB-C charging. One of the things I love about all my Sony cameras is that I can charge them while recording. This is a great feature for live streaming and for long recording sessions. I’ve basically created a way to do this with every camera that I use, but it usually requires a coupler or a dedicate ac adapter like what I have with my cinema cameras.

On the Sony, I really like that all I need is a USB cambe and a power bank, but one of the issues I’ve run into is that the battery still drains while using a micro usb cable to power my a6400. So for example, I was using the camera for a live stream, and I forgot to charge the battery, so I think I started with something like 20% – well, it lasted much longer than 10% would normally last, but the battery died. Of course that was my fault for not charging the battery, but with the a7siii, using USB-C with a power delivery capable charger or power bank, I shouldn’t run into this issue.

10. A7Siii Improved IBIS

Now the next reason is one that contributed to me originally getting the a7iii – in body image stabilization or IBIS. The a7siii has an upgraded IBIS system over what I currently have with the a7iii where rather than just having on/off we now get the choice of normal and active – and I can’t wait to test those against the a7iii.

As far as video, I personally don’t overvalue in body image stabilization because when I want stable camera movement I’ll either use a slider or a gimbal. But, there are times when I don’t have a gimbal with me and I am forced to shoot handheld or I would miss the shot, and in those cases it’s a great feature to have.

The other use case – for me – would be if I used it to vlog. I don’t know if this would be the camera I would pick for vlogging, but on the other hand, it could create a situation where I only need to bring one camera with me for all my needs, unless I really needed higher resolution photos. I’ll get back to you on this one.

11. A7Siii Dual Card Slots

Ok, on to number 11 we have the dual SD card slots. This is something that I live without when I have to, but boy is nice to have. And Sony did a lot here – first of all, we get 2 UHS-II card slots vs 1 UHS-I and 1 UHS-II on my a7iii. You’re essentially able to use every codec with SD cards – as long as they are fast enough – and for when you need additional writing speed capabilities – Sony made each card slot also accept cfexpress type a cards.

This means that I will be able to always have an immediate second copy of every clip and image. So when I’m done shooting and I am driving home while backing up to my Gnarbox, I’m now making a third copy of the data. When I used to shoot weddings, we would immediately split the cards at the end of the day so that two the cards weren’t all in the same place and two separate people have to take back and create a backup.

12. A7Siii Rolling Shutter

The next reason I’ll be upgrading to the a7siii from the a7iii – number 12 – is improved rolling shutter. This is a pretty common complaint about the a7iii and it’s great to see that Sony has made some significant improvements with the a7siii. Rolling shutter is one of those things that really depends on how you use your gear. If you’re doing something like what I’m doing now where it’s basically talking head with some slow moving broll shots – rolling shutter is not really an issue. Again, for most of what I do, I don’t whip the camera around like you see in a lot of the rolling shutter examples.

But that’s not to say that it doesn’t matter – it just doesn’t matter for most of what I do. If on the other hand, you do things like shoot out of moving vehicles, shoot fast action or sports where you’re having to quickly pan or track a subject, and a few other situations – then this is more important.

Another example is when you’re vlogging – and this sort of goes hand in hand with image stabilization. A lot of the reason why handheld footage looks bad when you’re vlogging isn’t just because it’s unstable, but also because the rolling shutter compounds the effect by essentially creating a whip effect as the camera shakes from side to side.

I’m also super excited to see if this will have any impact on footage I get with the a7siii on a gimbal.

13. A7Siii Buttons and Dials Custom Buttons

Ok, let’s get to the number 13 reason which is the new buttons and dials setup. First, and this is not new because I have it with the a7iii – I always like to have dedicated dials for aperture, shutter speed and ISO. But there is something that super frustrating for me about the a7iii is the design of the exposure compensation dial. Because this dial doesn’t lock, I always find that I’m at +3 or -3 even though I didn’t intentionally change it. I don’t know if it happens when I take my camera in and out of my bag, but it happens all the time. It’s not super loose either so I’m not sure how it happens, but it happens. I like that on the a7siii there is a lock on the exposure compensation dial. There is also one on the Mode dial but that one doesn’t seem to happen to me. I do like the fact that Sony moved Manual photo mode to where it’s right next to movie mode and S&Q because those are the modes I most often use.

14. A7Siii Separate Settings for photos and video

Speaking of different modes brings us to reason number 14 which is the separation of movie and photo settings. This is something that I noticed and immediately loved about the X-T4. I had a chance to test the pre-production model of the X-T4 and this separation of the features was really nice because I so often switch between modes. This is also a feature that is available on the Nikon Z50 and again – was super useful. Because I may have a picture profile selected for video, but want a different one for photos and I don’t always remember to change the settings. Having the settings separated means that the camera will remember what I had selected as I switch back and forth and I’ll never run into trouble.

15. A7Siii photography

Speaking of photos, we get to reason number 15 – photography. Wait…what?! Look, if I want high resolution images, if I need more megapixels, this obviously isn’t the camera I would choose. But for the most part, I very rarely use any of my images at full resolution. I’m usually posting them on social media where I’ve drastically resized them. Even when I use photos in my 4k videos which are 3840 x 2160, I would still have to resize a7siii 12MP files which come in at 4240 x 2832. So this is going to save me from having to bring two bodies unless I’m doing client work where I would want to deliver higher resolution files.

I’m also super excited to test out the low light, or rather high ISO, performance of the a7siii for stills.

16. A7Siii Codecs and Recording Modes

Next we have number 16 – and I’m super excited about this – absolutely fantastic codecs and recording modes. I will go into this in much more detail in my review, but the a7siii has h264 All-Intra, or all I, which should give me beautiful looking footage AND footage that’s easy to edit. I do have an absolute beast for video editing but I still rather work with files that are less challenging for the system to handle.

I do want to mention one that I’m super excited to have 4K 120, 10 bit 4:2:2 in camera to both SD cards from such a small form factor with autofocus – the only thing I’m not sure of yet is whether it has face detection in 4k 120 – I think it does but if you know, put it in the description.

17. A7Siii Record Internally and Externally

Moving on, number 17 – external recording and monitoring. Since the a7siii has no recording limit, it has a fully articulating screen and can record internally in easy-to-handle 10 bit 4:2:2, there is less of a reason for me to use the ATOMOS Ninja V to record externally. I do like having that flexibility and in addition to that, I like that I can now monitor externally and record internally without a problem. With my a7iii and a6400, if I wanted to monitor externally in 4K, I would lose face detection. It worked in 1080p but not 4k – so if I wanted to monitor 4k externally, I had to disable internal recording and also record externally, then face tracking would work.

With the a7siii, I’m not going to have that problem and since I have it, I can still use the Ninja V for monitoring on a larger and brighter screen, and for the additional exposure assistance features it offers.

18. A7Siii Full size HDMI with Protective Cage

Speaking of recording and/or monitoring externally – we’re at reason number 18, which is a full size HDMI port. This may seem like it’s not a big deal, but I always prefer a full size HDMI port to a micro or mini. I always feel like the micro is going to snap off and break. It’s also a pain to have to find the right cable each time and it’s much easier to just have full sized HDMI cables that work for streaming, monitoring and external recording.

19. A7Siii Easy white balance

Alright we have two more reasons on this list – the first is a nice to have but the second I’m super excited for. So at number 19 I have easy white balance setup. I always try to use a custom white balance when possible. With some of my other cameras, I have to take a picture and then set a custom white balance which is a pain. With the a7iii and a6400 I can do this in movie mode but the point is in the center, so if my subject is off center and I want to use a gray card I’d have to re-frame the shot, get the custom white balance and then go back to the actual framing. It’s unlikely to be a huge deal but it’s nice that that WB capture point can be moved on the a7siii.

20. A7Siii Dynamic Range

Alright, so now to number 20 and I think I saved one of the best for last – I’m talking about dynamic range. From all my research and everything I’ve seen, the a7siii is an absolute beast as far as dynamic range is concerned – especially for something so small. But at this price, with this smaller form factor which I can bring with me anywhere, throw on a gimbal if I want to, shoot photos – mind you, at a lower resolution – record unlimited video and… well all the other things I mentioned in this video – come on, this is going to be awesome!

A7Siii FINAL THOUGHTS

Alright so these were my 20 reasons for pre ordering the Sony a7siii. I should be toward the front of the list so it should hopefully be here within a couple of weeks. If in the meanwhile you want to check out some of my detailed reviews of some other Sony cameras, I’ll put a link to my Sony playlist up in the corner and in the description.

If you are as excited as I am about ordering this camera, I’ll put links in the description to where you can pick up the body as well as a few lenses which I think will pair up well.

I really hope I was able to give you a good overview of why I think the a7siii is worth ordering. If I did, please let me know by giving this video thumbs up, tweet it, share it, and if you haven’t yet, join the community by hitting the subscribe and notification buttons. You can also find me on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @techgeartalk.You know what I always say, buy it nice or buy it twice!Good luck and see you soon.