Kevin, your preference for Sony gear, and interest in technology is not the point. But as a spokesperson for photographers, I believe you have a duty to look behind the curtain. As a Sony user myself, I know very well Sony has been less innovative and more pitchman. You know Sony has not been heeding photographers wishes and needs.
We all know Sony has some of the best engineers in the world and yet they can’t implement a lossless compressed .ARW format? Really? And in fact it took years of complaints to finally drag Sony kicking and screaming into at least offering a non-compressed .ARW format. It may be that the rather negative article on the subject by DPreview embarrassed Sony into finally offering the full .ARW format.
Sony cameras have a ridiculous operational lag. On my a6500, changing aperture settings means waiting for the change to show in the viewfinder. I also have a Panasonic GM5, a tiny camera with much less processing power than the Sony, yet changes in that camera’s settings are displayed instantly. The GM5 also starts, and wakes from power save mode quicker than the Sony. And again, according to DPreview, the new A7III has operational lags. Innovation? Really?
And then there is the lens issue for the E APS-C cameras.
Building a mirrorless body around a 135 sized sensor is not innovation by itself. Yes, Sony has introduced new features that facilitate some kinds of photography, but has also been lacksidasical at best in understanding what Canon and Nikon know about cameras: A camera should respond immediately to a photographers needs, not be a gadget that requires a user to wait on it.*
*As Sony only makes small cameras, not medium or large formats.
If you test the Nikon D850, try this comparative test with your A7RIII: With each camera turned off, and while pressing the shutter button down all the way, turn the camera on. How long does it take for each camera to start exposing? Between my Sony a6500 and the much older Nikon D90, there is a considerable difference with the Sony taking much longer to start. Sure, this is only one part of a camera design, but the Sony disregard of these details is why you should start pulling the curtain back.