If you haven't already done so, please check out Part I of this series as it will help you understand this blog entry better.

Gear Used for Testing



For the second series of tests, I decided to head to the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee.  Here, I was better able to test the Sony against mammals and shoot some water features.  Since, I live close to the Smokies, I can make it to the location on a day trip.

After about a 3.5 hour drive, I was on location at Cataloochee, NC.  This is an area of the Smokies I often go to, to photograph Rocky Mountain Elk.  On this day, however, there were no elk to be found.   Not only were there no elk to be found, but no turkeys either.  Both, are usually common here.  After some head scratching moments, I found myself photographing Cataloochee Creek. That is the great thing about the smokies. There are always opportunities and sometimes you just have to switch to Plan B when you are at a location.

As the testing continued, I noticed I was becoming fairly familiar with the Sony, so finding the right settings was not difficult at all.  I have to say though, I missed having the top LCD that I have gotten so used to using on the Canon DSLR cameras.  It is nice to just glance down on it and make quick changes.  However, you can pop out the back viewfinder on the Sony and kind of accomplish the same task by using the various display options.

I put my Sony A7 III on my tripod, changed to uncompressed RAW and made several images from 20 to 30 seconds of the water.  Some images were made using a polarizing filter and some were not.  For a lens, I chose the Canon EF 24mm f2.8 set at f22. My ISO was set to 100.  Really there was too much diffraction at f22. I would have been better off using f11 and focus stacking.  

I thought that overall, the image quality was amazing.  It is easy to see why Sony cameras are used so heavily by landscape photographers.  I particularly thought the greens were well represented, but I thought the dynamic range could have been a little better.  Below is an example of the shots at Cataloochee Creek.

Cataloochee Creek - Sony A7 III, 30 Seconds, 24mm, f22, ISO 100
My day was certainly not over at this point, so I loaded everything back in the car and headed over a couple mountains to Cherokee, NC to see if there were any elk near there.  I arrived maybe 40 minutes later at this location, but again, found no elk.  Such is the life of a wildlife photographer.

So, at this point, I had a choice.  I could wait here and see if the elk would make an appearance, or I could make a  two hour run over to Cades Cove in Tennessee.  Being in a fairly adventurous mood, I headed for Cades Cove.  At the same time, the clouds began to move in.  This was actually a blessing and would allow me to shoot all day long.

Two hours later, I arrived at Cades Cove and entered the car touring loop.  The first pass was quiet, but on the second pass, I found a few whitetail does to try my hand at.  I was using the expand flexible spot with lock-on mode for all of the doe shots and my ISO was 1600 plus.  Below are two images from that fairly short shoot.

Cades Cove, TN - Whitetail Deer (ISO 1600, 1/800, Sigma 150-600, 347mm)


I spent another couple hours here and also photographed some turkeys.  I didn't think they were really good enough to put in this blog, I left them out.  At this point in the game, it was getting to be later in the afternoon.  Knowing that I was now close to five hours from home, I decided it was best to head back up over the mountains.

As I came back into the Cherokee, NC area, I was met with a good surprise.  The herd of elk were making their way toward the main road to cross.  I quickly made a u-turn and pulled off the side of the road.  I knew I wouldn't have much time, so I quickly got my gear together and headed over to the open fields they were crossing.

Almost as soon as I started shooting I noticed an elk calf running to catch up with the herd.  I switched on the camera and started shooting.  This would be a good test for the camera's tracking.  Later, I determined the burst only got about 1 frame sharp out of the series.  This was a bit of a disappointment for me.  I should also note that I had a good lock on the elk's head, so there was no user error here.  Below is the best image and even it is not super tack sharp.  It is acceptable sharpness.

Cherokee, NC - Elk Calf Catching up with the Herd, Sigma 150-600, f6.3, 600 mm, ISO 500, 1/2000

I continued to monitor the herd, but it was getting harder as they tried to make the crossing across the road.  I managed to get this shot below of one of the bull elk heading for the road.

Cherokee, NC - Bull Elk in Velvet, Sigma 150-600, f6.3, 421 mm, ISO 1250, 1/2000

At this point it was quickly getting late and I really needed to head home.  That is, if I wanted to get home before midnight.  So, I reluctantly gathered my gear and off I went.

On this second outing with the camera, I certainly became much more acquainted with how it works and felt like I was becoming much more proficient.  However, there are still several more tests to come, before I am ready to put my seal of approval on it.  Here are the pros and cons from photographing mammals in the Smokies.

PROS

  • The buffer is really great when using compressed raw.  I never ran out of buffer when shooting these animals.
  • Being able to see the camera lock and follow the animal, even when using the expansion modes was awesome.  I call it the dancing green AF points.
  • Great image quality when photographing at higher ISOs.  By higher, I mean anything between 1600 and 6400.
  • Flip up screen was very useful when photographing low level flowers and fungi.
  • MC-11 loved my Canon 100mm Macro.  It drove the autofocus without issue.
  • Great looking greens in the landscape shots.


CONS

  • Unable to switch to silent mode because of the potential for distortion from running Elk.  That is a big bummer!
  • Autofocus seemed to struggle a bit on the running elk, even though it showed locked on.  Two of the best poses were missed. This is most likely and MC-11/150-600 issue.
  • Single point shooting not as effective as expansion modes with lock-on.  This causes focus to grab the noses and not the eyes.
  • Animal eye detect is not available at the time of this writing for the MC-11. I put a request in for Sigma to introduce it, but who knows.  That would have prevented the issue above.
  • It would be nice to be able to shoot uncompressed RAW with a deep buffer. 







In essence this is the first of several entries to discuss the Sony A7 III.  Particularly, I will be writing about the A7 III with the Sigma 150-600 C lens attached via the Sigma MC-11 adapter.

For those who follow my blog, podcast and YouTube channel, you will know that I have been interested in Sony's line of mirrorless cameras for some time.  I have watched as each new camera launch ushered in a new age of mirrorless  technical features.




Having said all that, I am a Canon photographer.  I have a great deal of money tied up in lenses, flashes, bodies and other accessories.  For me to move to another system like Nikon would mean that I would have to replace everything.  However, that is not true when moving to Sony from Canon.  All I needed was a Sigma MC-11 converter and my Sigma lens could be used.  But, would it be that simple in reality?  That is what I am going to explore of the next several blog entries.

Initial Setup of the Sony A7 III

As with any new camera there are always configurations to perform.  I followed Sony's recommendations for wildlife photography.  They are pretty much as follows:
  • Set Focusing Mode to AF-C (Continuous AF)
  • Set Focus Area set to Flexible Spot 
  • Set Drive Mode to Continuous Hi (8 fps)
  • Set Image to Compressed Raw (uncompressed RAW will fill the buffer up too rapidly) 
  • Make sure the MC-11 Adapter Has the Latest Firmware
  • Make sure the 150-600 has the Latest Firmware
I saved these settings as "1."

Specifications

  • Megapixels: 24.2
  • Body Style: Magnesium Alloy
  • Autofocus:  Fast Hybrid AF (phase-detection/contrast-detection AF)
  • ISO: 100-51,200
  • Shutter Speed:  30 seconds to 1/8000
  • Viewfinder Coverage: 100%
  • LCD: 2.95 inch with 921,600 dots
  • Drive Modes:  Single, Continuous Hi/Hi+
  • Burst:  8 to 10 FPS depending on drive mode and compression
  • Battery: NP-FZ100 (610 shots)
  • Battery Charging:  Internal with USB cable / External charging available via a charger sold separately


Build Quality and Feel

Right away I noticed how much smaller the A7 III is when comparing it to my Canon EOS 7D Mark II.  My pinky actually dangles off the bottom of the grip. I did not find it uncomfortable though, and both 3rd party grips and a Sony grip can be purchased to make moving to a vertical easier.  The grip will also extend the battery life as it allows me to put two batteries in it.

I found the buttons, for the most part, to be well positioned.  I ended up making the AE-lock button into a back button focus button, since I always shoot with back button focus.  The one button I found hard to get to was the AF-On button.  It is positioned up against the right side of the viewfinder.  By the way, I should also mention that there are numerous buttons the body that can be programmed to whatever the photographer needs. One button I actually think I like better on the Sony is the shutter button, but I am not sure yet. 


Test #1 - Songbird Photography (Day 1)

The first test that any kit has to be able to do for me is to be able to quickly snap into focus when photographing songbirds in a setup studio environment.  I spend a lot of time photographing birds in this scenario and it is an absolute must for me.

In this test, the conditions were quite rough.  It was stormy and heavy cloud cover.  However, it turned out to be a good place to test low light conditions both from a focusing and high ISO perspective.  My ISO ranged from 1000 to 12,800. 


Cottontail Rabbit - High ISO at 12,800!!   The equivalent noise on my 7D Mark II in these conditions would have been 3200 or 6400.

During this test, the focusing of the camera seemed to be hit or miss.  At times it seemed to lock on fine and then suddenly would hunt all the way to infinity and back in a very very slow manner.  It was as if it was switching from phase detect AF to contrast AF and back again.  This was very frustrating to say the least.  On a scale of 1 to 10, one being the worst AF I have ever used and 10 being the best, I would place it at about a 5.  Had it not hunted on many occasions, I would have given it a 7 or better.  It is possible that the "Lock-on" feature will work better.  I have seen some thoughts to that effect online.  I will try that out on day two.


What I did find absolutely amazing was how great the image was at higher ISOs.  That is honestly something I am looking for in my next camera body.  When I am shooting a lens with a minimum aperture of 6.3, I need to have clean shots at 2000 ISO. Right now, with my 7D Mark II that is not possible.  So, I would give it a clear 10 here.  Sony is second to none in image quality.  Below are two test images I took on day one.  I did not have any bird images I thought passed the test on noise and quality.


Sony A7 III - Sigma 150-600 C - MC-11 Converter - f 6.3, ISO 1000, 600 mm, 1/1250, Some cropping done


Roughly 100% Crop of  Original without Additional Sharpening Applied (600mm)

I should also note that the menu system of the Sony is not nearly as complicated as people say it is. Maybe I am just good at navigating menus, but I thought it was quite intuitive and easy to use.  It is just like anything new.  You have to get used to it.

Test #2 - Songbird Photography Day 2 (A MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH)

With somewhat disappointing auto-focus results on day one, I changed my Focus Area strategy to use the Single Point Expand with Lock-on for day 2.  It turned out to be a huge boost to the AF performance.  Sony engineers, it would appear, spent a great deal of time perfecting Lock-on.  For this second day,  it was like shooting with a new camera.  I had increased my keeper rate easily by 75%, and it was actually fun to watch the focusing system stay with the bird.  I could lock on and recompose my images with the confidence that the focusing system would stay right where I locked on (in most cases).


Eastern Bluebird - Lock-on Engaged (this is the secret to using the Sigma 150-600 C) Focus and recompose was easy with Lock-on mode.

However,  the AF was not without issue.  I did notice that it wanted to grab the background on occasion and not let go.  In order to fix this, I had to manually focus back to the general area I wanted to focus in.  This was a disturbing problem, but with such a high keeper rate, it was hard blame the camera too much. After all, this is an adapted lens.  With a Sony native lens, I do not think this would be a problem.

Taking the images back for post processing, I was amazed at the detail of the images with standard AA sharpening applied.  They were sharper, for the most part, than anything out of my Canon 7D Mark II at 600 mm.  It should be noted that some of this was perceived sharpness due to being farther away from the subject and gaining more depth of field.  But, even so, it was a clear winner on sharpness.  Was it better than any other Canon product?  I can't say that for sure.  I think Canon has some amazing full frame sensors out there.  The win might go to Sony on this front as well.  The EOS R has a great sensor though.



100% Crop - Sony A7 III - Sigma 150-600 C - MC-11 Converter - ISO 1000



Common Grackle - Sony A7 III, Sigma 150-600 C, f6.3, 421 mm, ISO 2000, 1/1600

Day 1 and 2 Pros and Cons

PROS

  • Amazing image detail and sharpness even with higher ISOs
  • Single point expand with Lock-on blew my mind. 
  • Single point expand made it easy to focus and recompose even in AF-C (continuous tracking)
  • Shutter button was always easy to find and shoot with
  • Built in five way image stabilization
  • Great AF tracking when following birds from branch to branch
  • Easy to "clean up" images in post

CONS

  • Unable to use silent shooting due to distortion possible with moving subjects
  • To get good write speeds to the SD card, I had to use compressed RAW.  This gives up data such as high dynamic range.
  • Would like to see a 30 mp sensor size on such a new camera.
  • Seemed to focus much slower when using Non-lock on modes (with MC-11 converter).
  • Limited cropping in post due to 24 mp sensor size
  • AF would grab and hold the background and not let go on several occasions on each day





There are primarily two camera companies who have been embedded in the greater NYC area since practically I was born.  They are B&H and Adorama.  The latter company being the topic of this discussion.

I have used Adorama from time to time over the years, and really haven't had any issues to speak.  This experience or review is not really about how bad Adorama is, it is about its business model and customer service. That is why I choose not to use them anymore.  It is a personal decision based solely on my demanding needs as a professional.

Recently, I acquired a Sony A7 III to act as a test camera, which will help me decide if I want to give Sony a second look or just stick with Canon.  Realizing I would need a Sigma MC-11 adapter, I ordered one from Adorama.. They seemed to be the only one who had one in stock at the time.  Upon placing the order, I immediately realized that it was shipping USPS.  That was strike one.  Shipping sensitive electronics through USPS to a professional is risky at best.

On July 5, I received a notification from USPS that they could not find my address.  I called the local USPS office and they said they already sent it back to Adorama.  So, I immediately contacted Adorama to see if they could send me another one out. They could clearly see what happened when viewing the tracking number.  They could see it was a "no-fault" kind of situation.  No, they simply could not bend the policy.  I would have to wait for them to receive it back and then wait two more days for the refund to be issued.  

Again, I am looking at this from a professional's perspective and not from someone who has a ton of time to burn.  I had scheduled a shoot for the weekend, which would now have to be cancelled.  Of course, I turned around and ordered one through Amazon with hopes of getting it quicker.  

So, now it is a waiting game, my shoot cancelled and a weekend ruined because of the USPS and Adorama.  

Understand, I am not saying that Adorama is terrible, but for a professionals needs, you better plan way ahead just in case something goes amiss.  For me, I just can't use a company that can't bend the rules to make a customer happy.  If they had just sent that other one out immediately, they would have made a friend for life and the risk to them would have been minimal. 

That really only leaves B&H, Amazon and KEH with which to do business.  By the way, I really love the customer service at KEH.  It is by far the best customer service for a working pro I have ever used.  KEH doesn't always have the equipment in stock, but when they do, I will always go with them.