In-depth evaluation of Quan Huafu micro-single Sony A7M3 without short board.

IT 168 Evaluation Looking at the development, specialization and market segmentation of Sony Quan Huafu Micro-single in recent years, it is an ever-present proposition. This is particularly obvious in the third generation Quan Huafu micro-single products represented by A9, A7R3 and A7M3: A9 is a brand-new professional sports machine; A7RIII is also upgraded to a high-pixel+high-continuous shooting all-around professional machine on the basis of A7RIII's high pixel; The newly released A7M3, 10 frame/second continuous shooting speed, 693+425 point 4D focusing system and high standard video performance are not like our usual "entry machine". So, what is the actual performance of this camera? How do we know the location of this camera? This is the question to be answered in this assessment.

Advantages:

1, excellent image quality, balanced analysis, high perception and tolerance;

2, high-speed focusing, eye-controlled focusing, with 10 continuous shooting per second, excellent dynamic capture ability;

3, five-axis anti-shake is highly available, and the hand-held night scene is pure;

4. Over-sampling is obviously improved, and S-Log video meets professional requirements.

Regret:

The A9 is not equipped with a high-speed processing sensor, and does not support an electronic shutter without black continuous shooting and distortion.

Evaluation summary:

Generally speaking, Sony A7M3 should be said to be a very high-completion product. This camera should be said to be very balanced in focusing and operating experience, as well as in image quality and video performance.

For the vast majority of consumers at present, there may be no special requirements for cameras, just want a micro-single with good operability, high image quality and practical use for several years. I believe A7M3 can meet their requirements well at this point.

Regarding the positioning of A7M3, I prefer to believe that it is a revolutionary work similar to RX 100 in Sony Black Card RX100 series. With the listing of A7M3, the previous generation products continue to be sold as entry products, while the new products are upgraded to quasi-professional market, which should be the new layout of Sony Quan Huafu Micro-single in the new era.

Review of Sony A7M3 fuselage design with dual upgrade in configuration and operation

On February 27th, 20 18, Sony officially released this brand-new Quan Huafu micro-single A7M3. The official positioning of the new aircraft is a new benchmark for Quan Huafu. What are the details of this brand-new benchmarking machine that deserve our attention? From these details, what is the future development trend of Quan Huafu Micro-single? Let's watch and talk together.

The overall design style of A7M3 is completely close to the new generation A7RM3, and the design is very professional. Because the body design of Sony Quan Huafu micro-single is in the same strain, there should be no threshold for users who have used Sony A7M3 series or A9 series micro-single before.

Just like A7RM3, this A7M3 also adds a speed control lever. This is undoubtedly more convenient and efficient than the arrow keys in the past when we choose the right focus.

At the top of the fuselage of A7M3, there is only one mode dial. At this point, A7 series and flagship A9 are still different.

The design of the top of the right hand area is the same as that of the previous A7 series. The shutter button integrates a switch lever, two custom keys, a mode dial and an exposure compensation dial.

It should be mentioned here that the mode dial of Sony A7M3 has no locking mechanism on A7RM3, so it will increase the probability of misoperation in theory, but it has little effect on shooting. From this point, we can still see that A7 series and A7R series are still differentiated to some extent.

In the operation area on the back of the right hand, by default, pressing the center button of the rear dial is eye-controlled focusing, and pressing the speed control lever is the center point focusing. With these two points, in fact, most focusing operations no longer need to manually select the focus point. Users can enter the shooting state by hand, which is very convenient.

Of course, A7M3 has also been upgraded to dual SD card slots, the first of which is UHS-2 high-speed slot.

The viewfinder of A7M3 has also been upgraded, adding Zeiss T-star coating. Glare in the viewfinder can be effectively reduced.

The logo on the left shoulder seems to announce the official and comprehensive debut of the third generation of Quan Huafu Micro-singles.

The flash hot shoe interface of A7M3 still adopts Sony's own standard.

In addition to audio input/output and video output interfaces, A7M3 is also equipped with Micro USB (commonly known as Android port) and USB Type-C interface on the left side of the fuselage, and both support data transmission and charging. Of course, plugging two wires at the same time does not support fast charging.

In addition to the traditional flip display, the screen of A7M3 finally supports touch operation, but at present it can only be used to select the focus. But as I said before, in the face of such a convenient focusing system (eye control, central one-button operation), it seems that touch selection is not so necessary for focusing.

The battery of A7M3 has also been upgraded to the same big battery as A9 and A7RM3, and the models are NP-FZ 100 and 16.4Wh respectively, which directly doubles the battery life of A7M3. At this point, A7M3 is also highly consistent with A9 and A7RM3.

To sum up, A7M3 draws on the design of its own A7RM3, but only chooses the viewfinder, lock and other details. Considering the addition of Zeiss T-star coating, dual-card slot and focus rocker, A7M3 should also be considered as a conscience configuration from the fuselage design.

The analysis and evaluation of Sony A7M3 has reached the limit of 24 million pixels.

Sony A7M3 uses a Quan Huafu CMOS sensor with about 24.2 million pixels. Compared with the previous A7M2 sensor with about 24.3 million pixels, the number of pixels is slightly reduced. However, considering that A7M2 has been released for three years, A7M3 should be improved in all aspects, so we are also curious about the resolution performance of A7M3, so let's test it quickly.

▲ ISO 12233 shooting target.

The test method is still to shoot the ISO 12233 target in the evaluation room environment, and use Imatest software to get the resolution data. The lens used together is FE 55mm F 1.8 ZA.

According to the actual test results, the overall resolution of Sony A7M3 is slightly improved compared with the previous generation, although the pixels are slightly decreased. The author speculates that this should be related to the improvement of sensor technology and processor. As for why there is no better performance, it may be because it is close to the resolution limit of the 24-megapixel Quan Huafu sensor.

In order to let people know the resolution of A7M3 more intuitively, we still look at the resolution performance of Sony A7M3 through actual shooting.

We still use 100% to enlarge the screenshot to see the actual resolution performance of A7M3, and the red box above shows the selected area.

Through the 100% screenshot, we can see that the resolution of Sony A7M3 is very good, even the inconspicuous details in the picture can be recorded well. Whether it's the wrinkles on Grandpa Washington's forehead, the bifurcation on the plastic rope, the metallic flower arrangement, or the logo on the wine bottle, we can see it clearly with the naked eye or we can't see it. The photos taken with A7M3 can be seen clearly when enlarged. At present, the resolution of A7M3 should be one of the best among cameras with the same level and pixel.

𙾠can be evaluated by using Sonia A7M3 high-sensitivity painting quality.

The image quality performance of the camera at high sensitivity directly affects the shooting ability of the camera at night and sports themes. Usually, the better the high-quality performance of the camera, the purer the picture in dark light, and the stronger the ability to improve the shutter speed and condense the moment. Sony A7M3 is equipped with about 24.2 million Quan Huafu sensors, which is the mainstream level in today's full-frame cameras. How is the high sensitivity performance of this camera? Here we still test it by real shooting.

We put the Sony A7M3 on a tripod with an aperture of F8, turn off all internal noise reduction optimization and output JPEG files directly. Take the 100% enlarged screenshot of the position shown in the red box in the following ISO file.

Interpretation of ISO image quality of Sony A7M3 file

From the picture details, Sony A7M3 is between ISO 100 and ISO800. With the increase of sensitivity, noise increases slightly, but overall, sensitivity has little effect on the picture. From ISO 1600, the noise in the bright part of the picture began to be relatively easy to detect, and the whole picture was no longer as pure as that in ISO800, which was considered as entering the high sensitivity range. In ISO3200, the noise continues to increase, but fortunately, the color noise is well controlled, so the overall look is relatively pure; No O6400, the noise in the picture, especially the color noise, began to increase, and the details also decreased, but fortunately it was still within the acceptable range; At this time, the image quality is a watershed; Han O25600, the noise continues to increase and the details are further reduced; Until ISO5 1200, the details were lost, the red and green noise began to get out of control, and the picture entered the unusable range.

Sony A7M3 High-sensitivity Image Quality Comments and Suggestions on Sensitivity Use

Overall, the high-quality performance of Sony A7M3 basically meets our expectations. Although there is no accident, in the current full-frame camera camp, it can still stand firmly in the leading echelon.

Suggestion on the use of A7M3 sensitivity, in short: it can be used casually in ISO800 and safely in ISO6400. This high-sensitivity performance means that we can shoot most dim light, indoor scenes and five-axis anti-shake functions with A7M3 without using a tripod. As for going up, at present, no camera should dare to stand up and say that its ISO 12800 is stable and available. Being able to do A7M3 is already a first-class performance.

The Tolerance Performance Evaluation of Sony A7M3 in Quan Huafu Top Class.

The tolerance of a camera is reflected in the tolerance rate of user exposure errors. Nowadays, even if the photographer makes mistakes in the early stage (underexposed or overexposed photos), the final photos can be adjusted to the correct exposure by brightening or darkening in the later stage. The better the tolerance of the camera, the greater the acceptable range of underexposure or overexposure.

At the same time, the dynamic range performance of a camera is usually positively related to its tolerance performance. A camera with good tolerance usually has a large dynamic range. In landscape photography, it is very instructive for us to judge the performance of a camera.

As a newly released Quan Huafu micro-camera, the performance of Sony A7M3 on latitude must be the focus of attention. Next, we will take a real shot test to see the strength of Sony A7M3.

We still use the standard scene of IT 168 evaluation room to test the camera's tolerance. Put the camera on a tripod, ISO 100, aperture F8, fixed white balance, turn off all internal noise reduction optimization, and use lossless RAW format. Manual exposure takes underexposed file 2, underexposed file 1, normal exposure, overexposed file 1 and overexposed file 2 for shooting, and then it is adjusted to normal exposure through Sony's official editing application. The screenshot in the upper right corner of the scene is as follows.

▲ The interception area is shown in the red box above.

▲ The exposure of Sony A7M3 is less than 2 files, and it is adjusted to 100% enlarged slice after normal exposure.

▲ Sony A7M3 underexposed file 1, adjust it back to normal exposure and enlarge the slice 100%.

▲ Under normal exposure of Sony A7M3, 100% enlarged slice.

▲ Sony A7M3 was overexposed to 1, and adjusted to 100% after normal exposure.

▲ Sony A7M3 was overexposed to 2nd gear and adjusted to 100% enlarged slice after normal exposure.

From the results, Sony A7M3 can be adjusted back to normal exposure through post-processing when the exposure is less than 2 files, underexposed 1 file and overexposed 1 file.

There is no obvious difference between the details and colors of the picture and the photos exposed normally. If you have to be picky, there is a faint noise in the second gear, which is a pity.

When the photo is overexposed for 2 files, the color of the adjusted picture cannot be damaged. But objectively speaking, the degree of loss is acceptable. Moreover, from the actual picture perception, it seems that the people on the right side of the picture have not been greatly affected, and the photo still has high usability.

To sum up, from the measured results, the latitude performance of Sony A7M3 should belong to the top level in the current 135 full-frame camera. For beginners, even if they make mistakes in the early stage, they can get the correct exposure back by adjusting later. For experts, the tolerance of A7M3 should also have enough space for them to play in landscape photography.

Practical evaluation of Sony A7M3 focusing with strong eye control in sports.

As Sony's latest Quan Huafu micro-single, the focusing system of Sony A7M3 should be said to come from A9 in general, but it is different from A9 in specific details. Sony A7M3 uses the same 693 phase focusing point as A9, and the coverage rate of focusing point is 93%, while the number of contrast focusing points has been upgraded from A9' s 25 to 425. Simply from the focus configuration, A7M3 does go further than A9.

However, the number of focus points in the book is only part of the configuration. For micro-single, the focusing system should refer to the configuration of the focus, the calculation speed of the focusing system and other factors. In the process of continuous shooting, A9 can calculate up to 60 times per second, tracking the movements and brightness changes of the subject. In official website's introduction to A7M3, there is no mention of its computing speed per second, so I guess Sony should have some reservations here. What is the intuitive experience of such an increasing and decreasing focus configuration? We think it is necessary to test it through actual combat.

First, the actual CBA playoffs

This time, the author filmed the match between Beijing and Liaoning in the CBA playoffs. The professional basketball game is an excellent test center to test the camera's focusing, photometry and high sensitivity because of the fierce confrontation and the rapid movement of athletes.

How did Atlas A9 perform? Sony A7M3 actual CBA playoff

Before shooting sports games, you should set up and confirm the camera. For example, the image format is set to JPEG ultra-fine, the driving mode is ultra-high speed continuous shooting, the focusing mode is AF-C, the focusing area is wide, and there are many metering modes.

▲ Setting AF-C priority to AF priority can ensure a higher focusing success rate.

The lens used for shooting is Sony SEL 100400GM, and the shooting mode is shutter priority. When moving, the shutter speed is locked at11000 seconds, and the sensitivity is set to automatic.

▲ When multiple metering is turned on, the face takes priority, and the motion shooting scene can make the exposure more accurate.

Sony A7M3 first impressed the author, it should be said that its viewfinder with high brightness and high response speed. In order to observe the details easily before the game, the author manually set the brightness of the viewfinder of A7M3 to the highest. At this time, the display effect is very good, and even the tattoos on black players can be clearly seen, which is obviously difficult for SLR cameras in the past.

In terms of focusing performance, Sony A7M3 gave me a very pleasant experience, which is very similar to its "big brother" A9.

▲ GIF animation generated by photos of Sony A7M3 in high-speed continuous shooting mode.

On the one hand, A7M3 has the same large focus range as A9. Almost everything you can see in the viewfinder can be covered by the focus of A7M3.

In response speed, A7M3 and A9 are almost identical. Half-pressing the shutter is driven in place immediately, and the whole process is almost instantaneous. Seeing the small green box (focus) moving with the athletes' movements does have a sense of controlled pleasure.

Looking back at the photos taken, the final focusing success rate of A7M3 is also excellent. Of the more than 700 photos taken by/kloc-0, only about 10 is not in full focus, and most of the photos are in focus enough to easily count hairs. This, of course, benefits from the fact that the micro camera has a phase and contrast focusing mode, and the focusing is fast and accurate.

Other aspects, such as viewfinder response speed, photometry and white balance performance, A7M3 has also done well. It is worth mentioning that Sony A7M3 really surprised the author in its endurance performance.

Without replacing the battery and using the charging treasure, when the whole game is coming to an end, the power of Sony A7M3 remains at 56%! I cann't believe I haven't used up half a battery yet It seems that our inherent impression that the life of micro-cameras is not enough is really going to change.

To sum up, in the actual test, Sony A7M3 has shown a very high level in focusing, metering and white balance. It can be said that A7M3 is highly available for shooting sports themes.

In addition, in some details, such as high-speed viewfinder and unexpected endurance performance, A7M3 also gives the author a brand-new experience different from the past, and its comprehensive performance is worthy of recognition.

Second, easy-to-use eye control focusing.

As a main function of micro-menu, eye-controlled focusing has been further upgraded on A7M3. When using A7M3 continuous focusing (AF-C), we can also use this function, which can only be used in AF-S single focusing on previous models.

When using the eye control focusing function of Sony A7M3, the camera will automatically select the eyes of the model closer to the lens for focusing. This function seems insignificant, but it can be said that it is a manifestation of camera intelligence.

In the past, portrait photographers had to manually adjust the focal length between the eyes of the model to ensure that the eye closer to the model was clearly focused (students who don't know why the eye closer should consciously face the wall).

After using A7M3, this simple and repetitive work in portrait photography can be safely given to the camera's eye control focusing, leaving the photographer more time and energy to play.

▲ Sony A7M3 eye control focusing function indicates that no model will be so coquettish in reality. .....

The function of eye-controlled focusing is particularly useful when cooperating with the high-speed continuous shooting of 10 per second: not only does it not need to manually switch the focus, but also it does not need to predict the grasping moment in advance. All the photographer needs to do is hold down the shutter.

A7M3 Eye-controlled focusing mode is a GIF animation generated by continuous shooting 10 photos per second.

10 continuous shooting+eye-controlled focusing every second seems to capture wonderful moments, which is beyond the reach of a master. The only thing that photographers need to worry about is probably the later film selection and the capacity of the hard disk.

Evaluation Addendum of Real Handheld Night Scene Sony A7M3 Anti-shake Video

The release of Sony A7M3 can be said to redefine the standard of a new generation of Quan Huafu micro-sheets in all aspects. In addition to the well-known high-speed focusing, good high-sensitivity performance and top tolerance, the performance of this new generation of "benchmarking machine" in anti-shake and video seems to be worthy of our attention.

The anti-shake effect of the first and fifth axes is remarkable.

▲ Sony A7M3 five-axis anti-shake diagram

Sony A7M3 adopts the latest five-axis anti-shake technology, senses the motion of the fuselage through the built-in gyroscope, and achieves the anti-shake effect of the highest 5-speed shutter through the motion sensor. What is the actual performance of five-axis anti-shake on A7M3? Can you really achieve the anti-shake effect of a 5-speed shutter? This is what we will answer next.

We still use the real shot test method to test the five-axis anti-shake performance of A7M3. In order to restore the real use scene of users as much as possible, we chose to shoot outdoors at night. The lens used is Sony SEL2470GM, the focal length is fixed at 70mm, ISO is automatic, and the focus is set in the center (the text part in the picture). Using the shutter priority mode, from1/60s, adjust the shutter speed through the whole step until1/2s (5-speed shutter).

▲ Specimen framing range indicates focal length: 70mm.

Then, take a 100% enlarged slice of the central text part of the picture under each shutter, as follows:

▲ After Sony A7M3 turned on the five-axis anti-shake, 1/60s shutter 100% enlarged the slice.

▲ After Sony A7M3 turns on the five-axis anti-shake, 1/30s shutter 100% enlarges the slice.

▲ After Sony A7M3 turns on five-axis anti-shake,115s shutter magnification 100%.

▲ After Sony A7M3 turned on the five-axis anti-shake, 1/8s shutter 100% enlarged the slice.

▲ After Sony A7M3 turns on the five-axis anti-shake, 1/4s shutter 100% enlarges the slice.

▲ After Sony A7M3 turns on the five-axis anti-shake, 1/2s shutter 100% enlarges the slice.

It can be seen that after turning on the five-axis anti-shake of Sony A7M3, although the shutter speed has been reduced from 1/60s to 1/2s, the picture has always maintained good clarity. Sony's own claim that "it can reduce the shutter speed of the fifth gear" is true, and the effect is quite remarkable.

This level of five-axis anti-shake can make photographers feel more at ease to use low sensitivity at night, in exchange for purer image quality, thus truly holding the night scene.

PS: The color change of the picture is mainly due to the change of scene light, not the pot of the author and camera. ......

Second, Sony's strongest video configuration

In terms of video specifications, Sony A7M3 not only supports 6K full format reading and outputting oversampled 4K video, but also supports S-log. In contrast, A7RM3 has no full-scale oversampling, A9 has full-scale oversampling, but there is no S-Log. From the specification point of view, Sony A7M3 should be the strongest micro-single in Quan Huafu at present.

▲ Schematic diagram of 6K oversampling and outputting 4K video

So what is the actual performance of A7M3 in the video? Let's take a look through real shots.

Let's look at oversampling first. The oversampling in the video is actually equivalent to the thumbnails in our photos. Calculate information with high pixels to generate pictures with low pixels, thus obtaining better image quality. This point on A7M3 should be said to be immediate. The following is a 100% enlarged slice of the central part of the picture, which was shot with A7M3 and ISO6400 respectively.

▲ Below ▲ ISO 6400,24 million pixels 100% enlarged slice photo.

▲ Under 4K video ▲ Under ▲ISO6400, 6K oversampling generates 100% enlarged slices.

It can be seen that, also under ISO6400, by using the full-frame oversampling technology, the image noise that is already obvious in high-pixel photos almost disappears in 4K video. A7M3 can still have such pure video quality performance under ISO6400, so it should be said that it has the ability to face more severe shooting challenges.

In addition, for professional video shooting, Sony A7M3 supporting S-Log curve is another plus item.

▲ Sony A7M3 regular shooting screen.

▲ Sony A7M3 shot with S-Log.

After using S-Log, the picture taken by A7M3 will be darker and grayer than the picture taken by us. Although the intuitive feeling at this time is not as good as usual, it can better preserve the details of the dark and bright parts of the picture. For later professionals, this will leave more creative space. Through professional post-color-matching pictures, of course, better visual effects can be achieved than conventional shooting.

Quan Huafu micro-single Sony A7M3 real shot sample without short board.

All the proofs were shot with A7M3, and the supporting lenses were SEL 1635GM, SEL2470GM, SEL24 105G, SEL 100400GM, and some of them were shot with tripod.

▲F4 ISO 100 24mm 1/80s

▲F4 ISO 100 40mm 1/80s

▲F4 1/80s ISO 100 56mm

▲F4 1/ 125s ISO 100 69mm

▲F8 ISO 100 97mm 1/ 100s

▲F4 ISO 100 40mm 1/60s

▲F4 ISO 100 35mm 1/50s

▲F4 ISO 100 24mm 1/ 100s

▲ISO 100 22mm F 10 25s

▲ISO 100 25mm F8 3.2s