Camera Sony A9 III brings a long-awaited revolution to the camera class. While we can already occasionally encounter global shutter with industrial sensors, we only now have something like this with a CMOS sensor in a camera (CCD had a global shutter by its very nature of operation). The advantage of the global shutter is that all the pixels are read out at one time, so cutting down vertical lines due to the rolling shutter effect is a thing of the past. Another advantage is the possibility of extremely short synchronization with the flash (up to 1/80000 of a second). The chip does not have a mechanical shutter, but it remained there in some form as a prevention against the ingress of dust.
The new Sony A9 III has a full frame chip with dimensions of 35.6×23.8 mm with a total resolution of 25.2 MPx and an effective 24.6 MPx. It is a layered Exmor RS CMOS chip, which is mechanically stabilized in 5 axes and the manufacturer promises an 8EV effect. The sensor supports Fast Hybrid AF phase focusing with 579 points and sensitivity from -5 EV with an F2.0 lens. Data can also be saved in 14-bit RAW files, and it is also possible to combine them to reduce noise (4-32 frames). The BIONZ XR processor has 8 times more performance than its predecessor.
As for video, both H.264 and H.265 are supported. The camera handles 4K video (3840×2160 pixels) up to 119.88p with color coding up to 4:2:2 in 10 bits and 280 Mbps without cropping. If you use 59.94p, it will be 4K video created by oversampling from 6K video, so it will be slightly more detailed despite the same number of pixels. All-Intra recording is available in max 4K 59.94p with a data rate of 600 Mbps. The A9 III also handles USB streaming in 4K and 30p. Many will also be pleased with the presence of the S-Cinetone profile, we have a dynamic stabilization mode and focus breathing compensation.
An interesting feature is the high basic sensitivity of ISO 250, the maximum is ISO 25600. The expansion mode adds downwards ISO 125. Exposure correction is available in the range of +/-5 EV. Exposure times start at an extremely short 1/80000 second (really four zeros past an eight), maxing out at 30 seconds. Sequential shooting reaches a speed of 120 fps including AF and AE, the viewfinder has no blackout. A bonus is the ability to use the memory before pressing the shutter button, so you won’t miss any important moment. Even with slower shooting, the camera can temporarily increase the shooting speed to 120 fps.
The Sony A9 III has two slots for memory cards, both of which can handle CFexpress Type A or up to SDXC UHS-II. The main display has a 3.2″ diagonal and a resolution of 2.09 million dots, it is touch-sensitive and both tiltable (98° up, 40° down) and rotatable (180° tiltable to the side and 270° rotatable there). The electronic viewfinder has a 0.64″ diagonal, 0.9x magnification, a resolution of 9.44 million dots, and in addition to 60fps and 120fps refresh rates, it even supports 240 fps.
We have HDMI type A, USB-C 3.2 (5Gbps), Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0. But there are also two 3.5 mm jacks and there is even a place for gigabit Ethernet with FTP support. The battery is NP-FZ1000 with a duration of 400 shots via EVF, or 530 images using LCD. The camera measures 136.1×96.9×82.9 mm and weighs 617 grams (702 grams with battery and card). Of course, the durable construction. The camera will cost $5,999.
