Sony's newly announced a7 III is their first with this new 24.2MP backside-illuminated EXMOR R CMOS sensor with an effective ISO range of 100 to 51200. Combined with the latest version of the BIONZ X image processing engine and front-end LSI, the a7 III has twice the data readout speed of the a7 II. The backside-illuminated structure of the full-frame sensor "enhances light collection efficiency, expands circuitry scale, and, with the help of a copper wiring layer that contributes to quicker data transfer, outputs data at high speed, while minimizing noise to reveal fine details in every picture." Sony also claims that the a7 III's noise performance is 1.5 stops better than the a7 II and that it's dynamic range is up to approximate 15 stops.

The a7 III has 693 phase-detect autofocus points that cover approximately 93% of the sensor, a significant jump up from the 117 on the a7 II and a7. There's also 425 contrast-detect autofocus points for additional focus speed and accuracy. Performance is up to 2x faster than the a7 II in low-light conditions. The a7 III inherits the autofocus tracking technologies first found in the flagship a9 for precise, predictive continuous shooting.

Continuous mode shoots up to 10 frames per second, double that of it's predecessor, with AF/AE tracking. The buffer is good for "up to approximately 177 JPEG (standard) images, 89 compressed RAW images, or 40 uncompressed RAW images" in a single burst. Interestingly, the a7 III retains some of it's functionality such as menu access and image playback even as the buffer fills up and the camera is processing through your photos.

4K video (3840 x 2160) is shot with a full-pixel readout without binning in 35mm full-frame mode (Super 35mm is also an option). XAVC S file format bitrates go up to 100Mbps.

On the side are two SD card media slots with one being UHS-II compatible. Connectivity includes a USB 3.1 Type-C port for high speed data transfer, tethering and charging.

The a7 III uses a NP-FZ100 battery, which has more than twice the capacity of the NP-FW50 battery found in the previous generation, increasing the approximate number of photos you can take on one battery from 350 to 610 (using the EVF viewfinder). 

The a7 III is expected to arrive in early April with options for body only (MSRP: $2599.99) or as a kit with the 28-70mm OSS lens (MSRP: $2799.99). 

PRE-ORDER: a7 III (body only, $2,599.99)

PRE-ORDER: a7 III (28-70mm OSS KIT, $2,799.99)