Just Published Sony a7r III First Impressions

[Kevin Raber]

I have just published on the LuLa homepage an article on my afternoon with the NEW Sony a7r III.  It includes 2 videos as well as images you can zoom to 100% to see image quality.  Myself as well as many other journalists and content providers were really blown away by the performance of this camera.  Yes, I am a Sony user as many of you know.  It's my camera of choice and works well for what I do.  I am very excited about the a7r III. I'll be shooting more with this camera soon and will provide more images when I do. And, I did order a camera.

[brianrybolt]

In you article about the new Sony, this first pic of the model - at 100% she has a checkerboard on her iris.  Is this the camera or is there some weirdness to here contact lenses (if she's wearing any?) or what?  The man does not exhibit this peculiarity.

Cheers,
Brian

[Mark D Segal]

So far I haven't seen any statement from Sony telling their customers what materials they can safely use to clean sticky dirt from their sensors. While the technical performance of this line of cameras is excellent - I use an a6300 and think it's superb - it would complete the picture if other users could update the community on what products they have successfully used on Sony sensors to clean them.

[Kevin Raber]

As I stated in the caption below the model in the article.  A number of were thrown by the checkerboard pattern in the eye.  Turns out it is some kind of contact lens.  We were all ready to jump on Sony about a problem.  The Sony engineers were scratching their heads.  Then we talked to the moel and she showed us the contact lens. 

[Kevin Raber]

Mark, you just can't let that one rest.  I'll ask a service person I know and get back to you.  I have had my sensor cleaned a number of times at Roberts and they do a great job.  I'll ask them too what is used.  Need to give me a couple of weeks though since I am on the road for a while.

[Mark D Segal]

Hi Kevin - no I won't let it rest till I have an answer that works for me. We don't have a "Roberts" in Toronto. Wish we did. Vistek won't touch them - advice from them is to take the camera to the Sony service center, a Sony sub-contractor sixty miles out of Toronto. Thanks but no thanks. I'm not holding out on this one just to be cantankerous for the sake of it, that's not who I am - there's a practical issue for which I am trying to find a trustworthy practical solution and Sony has been of no help.

[Mark D Segal]

And thanks very much for offering to look into it. That will be most welcome and helpful.

[Jeff]

Hi Mark,

I am in the UK and use a product, which I have just checked and it is, in fact,  made in Canada.

A company by the name VisibleDust.

I have used their products, fluids / swabs for many years on Sony's A900 & more recently A99 II and have had no issues.

I prefer the Smear Away fluid to Sensor Clean but both do the job.

Obviously it is up to the individual to make a judgement on cleaning sensors and what method to use so this is not a recommendation, as such, just my personal experience

[Mark D Segal]

That's great Jeff. Understood on the question of recommendation - the important point is just to gather peoples' experience and from that be guided by what to do.

[E.J. Peiker]

Hey Kevin, no such thing as a 12-24 G-Master   The 12-24 is not part of the GM line.

[E.J. Peiker]

As for cleaning the sensor the Sensor GelStick that is made specifically for Sony (the orange one, not the blue one) works well.  You do have to lock down the IBIS which is done by initiating a sensor clean from the menu with the shaker.  That results in the IBIS being locked down until the camera is powered up again.

[Kevin Raber]

Thanks, EJ, my editor though since everything else was G-Master that I messed up.  It is corrected.

[davidgp]

As for cleaning the sensor the Sensor GelStick that is made specifically for Sony (the orange one, not the blue one) works well.  You do have to lock down the IBIS which is done by initiating a sensor clean from the menu with the shaker.  That results in the IBIS being locked down until the camera is powered up again.

I bought one of those... it left a really nasty mark on the sensor... luckily I was able to clean with aeroclipse... I’m basically using that with some sensor swabs on my Sony A7 II



http://dgpfotografia.com

[brianrybolt]

I've used the Sensor Gel Stick (orange) with appalling results.  VisibleDust has not removed the gunk the gel stick left.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Sensor cleaning on my old Canon 5D was a real hassle. Life was much better with the 5DII thanks to the built-in sensor shake.
But my current "big" camera is a Sony, and it never needs cleaning!

It's the RX10 III, with the built-in Zeiss zoom lens that goes from (FF equivalent) 24mm to 600mm, tack sharp, with excellent stabilization.   

No more lens changing or sensor cleaning, and hardly ever a tripod.  Bliss!

[JayWPage]

Kevin,

When you review the A7RIII, I'd be interested in finding out how much the battery discharges [overnight] while inserted in the camera. The A9 seems to be pretty bad in this respect.

If the battery is dead after say a week without the camera being used, then that will probably affect the number of spare batteries you might buy with the camera.

[Mark D Segal]

Battery capacity is not good on the a6300 either. The Watson batteries are better than the Sony batteries. Depends on how much in-camera reviewing you do. If I review each shot I don't get more than about 130 frames per battery charge. If I do no reviewing it can be well over 200 - still not good. So I keep four batteries handy. That's easily enough for a day's work, and recharge them all at night with a Watson charger that does two at a time efficiently.

[E.J. Peiker]

Interesting on the Sensor GelStick - I buy mine from the manufacturer and have had excellent results with them.  I know there were a lot of fakes being peddled a while back on some sites.  Is it possible you got one of those?

[BernardLanguillier]

This battery self drain is a major pain for part time users.

My H6D-100c is terrible, my Nikon bodied are great at this.

Cheers,
Bernard

[Rory]

Just a little typo for you:  "If it looses the eye for any reason"