I’ve heard rumors that the Sony A7r III has improved its handling of colors compared to the A7r II, but I have never seen any samples. When the Sony A7rIII arrived, it was the first thing I noticed, and wow!
I feel like the colors are between Nikon’s look and Olympus’s, with very soft and neutral tones. Previous Sony profiles were rough, harsh, and digital, especially when shooting in mixed lighting. You almost always had to adjust the colors to get things looking natural, especially when dealing with skin tones where things were a bit pink with notes of harsh yellows. This has all been improved, and overall, it feels like the camera is now smarter when trying to render accurate colors. There is still something about the yellows that scream Sony to me with the Standard profile, but at least my daughter doesn’t look like the Simpsons anymore, and the colors all around feel more natural.
As a side note, Fujifilm has mentioned that as they get faster processors, they can add new color profiles and improve how colors work. I’m sure the same is true with Sony, and it would seem the in-camera color engine is more than just a preset of colors but a fairly processor-intensive task. I think we could benefit even further here from some new profiles, but this is a great first step.
So, the new Sony colors are usable right out of the can for the first time. Or am I just losing my mind and suffering from new toy syndrome? You tell me why I’ve posted many samples from complicated lighting situations that would have sent the Sony A7rII into a tailspin.
In my case, I think that the new toy syndrome with this camera is very unlikely because I’m usually very critical of Sony cameras and am a borderline troll. I was fed up with the Sony A7rII, its terrible battery life, ugly colors, and god-awful buffer, so I was ready to jump ship to Nikon. But I’m glad I didn’t, I feel like Nikons are only designed for old people anymore, with their circa 1988 UI menu system and that weird mirror flappy thingy, both of which always bug me. This new UI in the Sony A7r III is great, it’s just like the A6500 which I also lovd. So I’m back on the Sony train, baby, and it feels great!
I also noticed the Sony A7r III handles itself better in mixed lighting than the A7r II. AWB is still a little slow but better than before. The Nikons and Canons are still a touch better in the AWB department.
Some of these samples may look a little extra pastel, but that’s how I adjust the tones in Lightroom. I spike the whites while lowering exposure and highlights. This tends to strip the harshness of the highlights, making the colors look very rich. Then, with curves, I usually do an S-curve and sometimes lift the blacks and slightly bring down the highlights.
I wouldn’t mind slightly adjusting the profiles to give better color harmony, but I can live with this.
Now that Sony has proven they can make a nice camera with usable colors, all that’s left to do is to stop trying to sell us a P.O.S. that means a piece of shit, 300 dollar+ vertical grip, and they’ll be a real camera company. I guess Sony has Fisher Price still making some of their accessories; at least they’re not making their cameras anymore. 🙂 Well, maybe I did lose my eyecups on the first day I used this camera. Can these things just be permanently attached to the camera already? All the cool cameras do it. (I’m just bitter the grip was so expensive; it’s not terrible, but nowhere near the quality of the Fujifilm X-T2 grip.)
Speaking of which, with Fujifilm stealing the mirrorless APS-C show and encroaching on Sony’s mirrorless full-frame dominance with their somewhat affordable medium-format camera, Sony is being forced to step up their game, and it’s looking rather good and only getting better. I’m very happy with my current setup: Sony full-frame mirrorless and Fujifilm APS-C with Voigtlander Leica M-Mount lenses that work with both systems.
For all these sample images, I shot JPEG (shhh, don’t tell the Fro guy). I made some basic tonal adjustments (mentioned above) and no color adjustments except for removing some saturation in a few shots and completely removing saturation in one of the shots. The lenses I was using were the Zeiss Sonnar 35mm f2.8 and the Sony 50mm f1.8, even though I just got through telling you I use Voigtlander.
These were all shot in Beverly Hills using the Sony Neutral and Standard color profiles. I did not adjust any white balance, colors, or vibrance on any shot, just saturation.
Sony A7r III Sample Photos
