Sony A7 iii EVF AF-C mode shimmer

[Cat99]

Apologies I posted this originally on the Newbies forum by mistake. I’m finding this issue a real conundrum. Any advice would be gratefully accepted. This is a sincere query. I want to buy a Sony full frame camera and the A7 iii looks the goods at a great price.

I currently own an older Nikon D7100, Sony RX10 iv and a RX100 v. I love my Sony gear. I’ve heard so many great things about the A7 iii that I was very keen to buy one.

The first one I picked up in store exhibited some odd behaviour through the EVF but I put that down to the lighting in the store. I purchased mine, picked it up, took it home and attached a brand new Tamron 28-75. I pointed it at the chamferboard house across the road in AF-C mode, half pressed and the horizontal boards appeared jagged. The trees and grass also looked shimmery. Lots of things looked not as I would expect.

Putting the A7 iii in AFS mode improved things considerably and was I think certainly ok and usable. I have no issue with the EVF in AFS mode.

I’d been looking through the viewfinder of Sony RX series cameras for the last few years and have taken thousands of photos, from snow to deserts, cities, forests in AF-S , AF-C, DMF and manual and never ever gave a thought to the EVF being electronic. Seriously. They worked fine.

I returned the camera and the staff tried a lot of things including a reset  and adjusting the screen quality. We tried some GM glass to no avail.

I returned the camera and after three weeks received a refund. They advised that the EVF and screen looked the same.

Undeterred the following week went to another store and tried an A7R iii and a Nikon Z6 outside on the footpath. Both EVFs looked fine. 

I decided to have another go and went to another store with my credit card. I thought I’d better check out another A7 iii in store  by standing on the footpath and pointing at some buildings and the seats outside. There was moire on some of the buildings surfaces and the seat shimmered in AF-C mode. I decided not to proceed with the purchase.

Help. Am I doing something wrong? Are my expectations too high? There are thousands of glowing reviews out there but I am beginning to think I’m the only person who finds the A7 iii EVF problematic. Maybe it’s me. Maybe I’m super sensitive to the refresh rate and it some eye brain flicker thing going on. It is possible. Or I’ve just become so used to the RX10 EVF that any degradation is obvious.

I’ve noted only a few other people online with the same issue but largely it’s been hey the evf/screen is not as good as the A7R but it’s ok / not a problem. Some sales staff when I’ve pointed out the issue said oh I’ve never noticed that. Maybe the cameras are set by default in AF-S mode.

I really don’t want to spend $$$$ more for the A7R which is overkill for me just to get an acceptable EVF. I’ve read hundreds of words on the differences between the EVFs and understand that the A7 iii is a lower resolution and quality / construction than some of the others (but higher magnification than A7 ii).

I tried a lot of combinations of various settings. Focal lengths. Aperture settings. Focus modes. Quality setting. Flicker. Read the manual and various books (Friedman etc). I’m at my wits end trying to determine what’s going on here. 

I’m thinking I should make contact with an A7 iii user at my local camera club and view one that is deemed to be set up correctly. Any polite suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Cat99]

PS I do appreciate the issues with the difficulty in focusing on horizontal rather than vertical lines even for a camera with such great coverage as the A7 iii.

[LiveShots]

I think there were issues introduced with v2 of the firmware that caused problems for IBIS on this camera, especially with 3rd party lens.

IBIS moves the sensor, so if you see issues in EVF and the monitor then it is likely a sensor issue.

My advice would be to reach out to the person with an a7iii that you mentioned and see if he has the same issue, or wait until the new firmware comes out and then test it out again.

 

[Cat99]

1 hour ago, LiveShots said:

I think there were issues introduced with v2 of the firmware that caused problems for IBIS on this camera, especially with 3rd party lens.

IBIS moves the sensor, so if you see issues in EVF and the monitor then it is likely a sensor issue.

My advice would be to reach out to the person with an a7iii that you mentioned and see if he has the same issue, or wait until the new firmware comes out and then test it out again.

 

Thanks for your feedback and suggestions.  It is much appreciated.

I will say that I experienced the same issue with the camera when some Sony GM lenses were used in store.  No change. I checked that the firmware on my camera that I purchased was the latest available as at the end of January. Given the demand I don’t imagine any of these cameras sit around gathering dust. I tried changing the screen quality and it made little difference. If anything the standard setting was slightly better in one sense because the shimmering wasn’t  as sharpened presumably.

I did a have a suspicion myself that the firmware does have something to do with it.  It just seems very odd. It was perhaps instructive that Sony Support in Australia effectively said take it back for a replacement or refund.

I think reaching out to another user is a good idea. I’m going to return to my local camera club (whose membership I’d let lapse because all their meetings were on the wrong days) and ask. 

[DJ72]

This isnt going to resolve your issue but why not consider the A7Rii ? 

[Cat99]

Thanks for your thoughts. 

After using another out of the box A7 iii in store and having the same quibbles with the EVF using AF-C  (which they grudgingly acknowledged were there but thought were nonetheless acceptable) I had a long think about my actual requirements and that I was primarily getting the A7 iii as a landscape camera to exploit the wider dynamic range, higher ISO’s and lower noise than is possible with my RX10. This would mean that I would be using AF-S a lot of the time (although the Eye AF is obviously a boon for portraits).

I have now purchased an A7 iii and have tried it for a day or so. I still note the jitters are present in AF-C half pressed (or using back button focus) no matter what display quality or other setting is used even when viewed via PlayMemories app on my iPad or Samsung Galaxy. I’ve even captured the screen.

I’ll get used to it in time I expect. I think my issue was largely that my RX10 iv has exhibited none of this behaviour.

I look forward to capturing some great images.

PS The video straight out of the box’s looks good both during capture and in playback.