The Sony A7S III will shoot 16-Bit RAW and 4K120fps without overheating, report says
Jul 14, 2020
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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So this is an interesting round-up of specs that’s just been posted to Sony Alpha Rumours. If true, the long (long!) awaited A7S III is going to get Sony video shooters very excited. Interestingly, Sony seems to have stuck with a 12-megapixel sensor, for maximum light gathering ability and to more closely match the native 4K video resolution – It would also be pretty beneficial in the speed department.
SAR does say that this information is coming from multiple sources, and some of it may not be entirely accurate as they say the sources only saw prototypes and not final units. But it’s a pretty interesting list, all the same. We do know that the A7S III is finally on the way, but not exactly when, although the updated list suggests the end of this month.
- New 12MP sensor with fast readout
- Shoots 1080p 240fps, 4k 120fps 10-Bit 4:2:2 and 4K120fps RAW over HDMI
- 600mbps bitrate
- Base ISO 160 for S-LOG3
- Max video ISO 409,600
- 16-bit RAW output
- 15-stops of dynamic range
- New high resolution 9.44 million dot EVF (QXGA resolution)
- A new kind of silent passive cooling system
- No overheating and no recording time limits (this may be different in Europe)
- UHS-II SD card slots
- Similar in appearance to the Sony A7R IV
- A fully articulating LCD screen (flippy out LCD on a Sony?!?!?)
- Announcement is expected late July
- Shipping to begin mid-August
Sticking with the 12-megapixel resolution is interesting, although they say it’s a new sensor. This conflicts with a report from last December that suggested the A7S III might see a 15-megapixel Quad-Bayer arrangement.
16-Bit RAW output (presumably this is either for stills or it’s the clean HDMI feed) is definitely interesting, and presently only really in the domain of the Medium Format world for stills. If it really does put out 16-Bit RAW files, then your hard drives are going to be happy that the sensor is only 12-megapixels.
Apparently it will have no overheating issues, even shooting at a claimed 10-Bit 4:2:2 4K 120fps, which will be a neat trick. This seems thanks to the new passive cooling system. 4K RAW over HDMI at 120fps will also be very impressive. If it’s true, then I’m curious if Atomos might be getting ready to announce something, too.
UHS-II SD card slots are logical if the video bitrate really is going to be up to 600mbps. 600mbps is around 75Meg/sec, which means you’re going to want those V90 UHS-II cards. But I’m curious why they don’t just go with CFexpress, as everybody seems to be shifting over to it these days.
Again, these are just rumours, and it will be interesting which of these makes it into the final spec. But I think if they can just offer at least 10-Bit 4K60 without overheating they’ll be onto a winner.
[via Sony Alpha Rumors]
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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24 responses to “The Sony A7S III will shoot 16-Bit RAW and 4K120fps without overheating, report says”
Of course it won’t, the bitrate is one third of the one in the R5 when it comes to 4K 120 fps.
The main reason is 12mpix sensor – no oversampling. So “not overheating” with that sensor in mind is no problem. But will be unusable as a still camera.
Utter nonsense. 12mp is more than usable for stills. Some of my favourite cameras in years past (D3s / D700) were 12mp and could print really large without any issue
Yup, my D300s was still my main camera body until 2017 (and I’ve printed up to 2×1.5m from it). Still have it and have a D300. Both awesome cameras for shooting 4K timelapse. :)
It won’t be pixel sharp on an 8k screen unfortunately.
“unusable as a still camera” HA! That’s silly. It will work perfectly fine as a stills camera. even better so if the 16 bit rumor is true. If I knew it wasn’t going to cost my kidneys and my first born I’d have one pre-ordered as soon as the specs were confirmed. One of my favorite cameras of all time is the Nikon D700 with it’s 12mp image. most of my work has been done on that camera and 12mp served me perfectly fine.
Saso Domijan it’s a video camera disguised as a still camera. ?
Michael Estwik true. When they make a camera that can do oversampling from 35+ mpix sensor without overheating then this will be excellent news.
Saso Domijan exactly. But this time around, physics wins.
It’s only a selling point If it does a lot longer takes when all things equal. If it’s not weather sealed, not the same bitrate, AF, oversample etc it doesn’t matter.
So, everyone who didn’t hold the R5 in hands knows that it will overheat, and everyone knows that this not yet existing camera will not overheat and the 4K 120 fps will be impressive.
No wonder CNN and MSNBC can sell you anything.
In before “If you want a camera for video, buy a video camera” ;)
It’s very strange to get 12 MP in 2020 for video only. Lame Silver. One-armed bandit.
Or targeted to the needs of a specific kind of shooter? :)
12MP is for the low light capability. It causes the individual pixels to be much larger and allows for better light gathering and less margin for error, which is what the a7S series has done better than pretty much any other Mirrorless camera on the market. This is why you can shoot video at 51,200 ISO and it still looks reasonably useable. You only need 8MP to achieve 4K anyways. And with improved sensor technology, you can only expect the ISO sensitivity performance to be better.
A sincere advice:
When you feel insulted, because someone said or wrote something against you or your favorite brand of mirrorless cameras, think about what is written and how it is written. You know, fell the tone, read between the lines. Otherwise, you’re just proving the point of what the dude (in this case, me) said.
Sony is definitely not my favorite brand, their color science sucks (I’m a Fujifilm fan personally). I didn’t feel insulted, I was explaining the decision for a 12MP sensor because some people didn’t understand the reasoning.
So, as a Fuji fan, did you feel the tone of my comment? Did you reed between the lines? Did you understand what i was saying?
I understand the sarcasm, but the comment wasn’t directed at just you. Just look at the comments below.
Well, you could’ve addressed those comments, then. This way people may think that i don’t know that huge pixels are better than tiny ones. LOL
Anyway, take care, dude. Don’t let the bad virus bite you.
We are looking for that magic camera to appear at the end of the rainbow, is this it?
No. It’s a niche camera that targets a specific user base. Many stills shooters whine about the measeley 12 mp sensor but video shooters love it’s clean output, specially in low light. Horses for courses. The great thing about the world we live in is the variety it offers.
The Nokia phone did better as far as I remember ?
Ooooooh 16 bit RAW. been wanting that forever now. That’s the kind of stills advancement I’m looking for (assuming it is indeed for still).