Sony α7R IV Conference Interview: Sony a7SIII is Coming and a New Focus on High-Resolution
Fengniao attended a launch event for the Sony a7RIV launch in mainland China and conducted an in-depth interview with Sony (China) Co., Ltd. Sony Group Senior Vice President Gao Qiaoyang, Sony (China) Co., Ltd. President of Consumer Electronics Business Division Xie Wei, Sony Corporation Digital Imaging Group Marketing Department Senior General Manager Aoki Aoki and Senior Manager of the Digital Imaging Group’s Marketing Department of Sony Corporation, and Mr. Kang Jiayi. Below are excerpts from the interview (warning the translation is rough):
- Right now Imaging Edge Edge has the best support for the a7RIV, but Sony working with other software manufacturers
- The a7R cameras transfer a lot of data, so the max fps did not improve on the a7RIV over the a7RIII
- The Sony a7SIII is still under development, but the a7RIV has a ton of pixels to work with, which bring many different advantages for shooting video
- High megapixel cameras are difficult because Sony doesn’t want to sacrifice sensitivity
- It also allows for high-resolution crops that will match the Sony a6400
- Higher megapixel sensors also push lenses closer to their limits and push designers to create better glass
- Sony thinks higher resolution is part of the future
- The exposure compensation lock button was added because photographers bumped it a lot
- Sony is studying what others are doing with their high megapixel video, but will not talk about their future plans at this time
- Sony’s recent reorganization did not lead to new products being developed, but it makes each division more independent financially and R&D wise, which could lead to new space between TV, video, camera, mobile phones, etc…
- Higher megapixel cameras consumer more power, but Sony engineers were able to reduce overall power draw to extend battery life in the a7RIV
- Eye AF is different in video than for stills and in the future, Sony will increase eye AF performance for animals in addition to other areas
So overall it sounds like the Sony a7SIII is still being worked on and should equal or surpass its peers. It also sounds like Sony is getting ready for a resolution war across the board with their cameras so maybe 24MP won’t be the standard for much longer. I wish we got a little more information about Sony’s reorganization though and the Sony a7RIV is still a beast of a camera.
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Sony a7RIV: B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama
via Fengniao