by Matt

Sony A7iii Surf Photography

The Sony A7iii is the ultimate bang-for-buck camera you can buy in 2018.

Well, that’s pretty much all you need to know, but I guess you might want to know why I think this.

 

The A7iii offers a full frame sensor, high frames per second shooting, and 4K video all at a relatively affordable price, all packed into a compact & lightweight camera body. This puts it high on the list of surf photography suitable cameras.

 

Features

  • Compact body. Compared with traditional DSLR cameras (like the Canon 5D) the A7iii is tiny! This is great for shooting in the water when coupled with a compact housing.
  • Battery life. The A7iii uses the new NP-FZ100 batteries. The battery life of the A6X00 and A7ii was one of the biggest let-down of these cameras. The new batteries offer approximately 2.2x the battery life compared with the A6X00/A7ii. More than enough for a solid swim, or a couple of sessions shooting from the beach.
  • Full-frame. The full-frame ‘look’. Better low-light performance, more depth of view, wider field of view, when compared with a crop sensor camera.
  • 10fps shooting. You might fill up a card quickly, but you will have plenty of choices picking the best shot when capturing the fast paced action.

 

A7iii Housings

The A7iii shares the same basic camera body as the A9 and A7Riii, so works perfectly in our A9 housing.

As such, we have decided to rename this housing to our ‘ɑ-PRO’ housing.

 

We have two options for housings:

 

The standard housing is super compact, and amazingly light!

 

The BOOSTED housing offers a crazy amount of battery power in the water, probably more than you could swim in one session. However, I personally shoot with the BOOSTED housing for a few reasons:

  • Add a 128GB card and you can shoot multiple sessions without removing the camera from the housing.
  • The ODI Vans side handle, offers added stability (and looks bad-ass!).
  • Better balanced with larger lenses. Using Sony GM lenses means larger ports that often overshadow the standard housing. The larger BOOSTED housing offers a more balanced setup, yet is still compact compared with other manufacturers housing offerings.

What makes our housings different to other manufacturers?

  • Compact, form fitting design – not a ‘one size fits all’ approach
  • On/Off switch
  • Custom paint options
  • Multiple port options, including ports for 12-24mm, 16-35mm and 70-200mm
  • 20m depth rating

Here is a photo, sent to us by one of our customers.

This shows our ɑ-PRO BOOSTED housing (right) next to another manufacturer’s standard A9 housing (left)

 

Camera Alternatives

If you have more cash to splash around, you might consider the A9 or the A7Riii.

The A7Riii offers an insane 42MP, whilst the A9 provides 20fps and blackout free EVF shooting.

If the budget does not stretch to the A7iii, consider an A6500 (or the even cheaper A6000 or A6300).

 

Conclusion

The Sony A7iii is a relatively affordable camera, that has professional level features suitable for surf photography.

If you are looking to take your shooting to the next level, or simply want to downsize from a DSLR, the A7iii is one of your best options on the market today.

There’s a variety of housings on the market available for the A7iii, of which will all also suit the A7Riii or A9 should you ever want to upgrade in the future.

 

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