In this video, the creator of Howdy Media reviews the Sony A7III to determine if it remains a worthwhile purchase in 2024. Drawing on three years of personal use across real estate photography, wedding shoots, event coverage, YouTube content, and podcast production, the presenter highlights the camera’s reliability, especially its lack of overheating, robust metal construction, lightweight form factor, dual SD card slots, full‑frame image quality, and broad lens compatibility. Strengths also include 4K video up to 30 fps and good ergonomics for hybrid shooters on a budget. Weaknesses are noted: 4K is limited to 30 fps, only 8‑bit color depth, slow‑motion limited to 1080 p at 60 fps, a non‑fully‑articulating screen unsuitable for vlogging, and a 30‑minute recording limit. The reviewer compares the A7III’s current price (≈ $1,300 body on Amazon) to its original cost (~$3,000) and recommends it for photographers and hybrid shooters who need a single, affordable, reliable tool. For heavy video work, he suggests the Sony FX30 or the newer A7IV, which offer 10‑bit color and longer recording times. The video also promotes the Howdy Media Insiders Facebook group and offers podcast‑setup services. The overall conclusion is that the A7III is still relevant in 2024 for budget‑conscious hybrid creators, provided its video limitations align with the user’s needs.
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Today we're going to be talking about, is the Sony A7III worth it in 2024? Let's find out. People often forget about the Sony A7III when they're talking about hybrid cameras, when they're talking about video cameras and photography cameras. Now, being that it's 6 years old, that doesn't mean it's completely irrelevant. And if you're here to figure out if you should buy this camera in 2024, Well, it depends. So the Sony a7III was my first personal camera that I used whenever I first started my media company, How to Media, and we mainly started off doing real estate videos, doing real estate photos, and I loved this camera because it could do the 3 different brackets for you, takes pictures at 3 different exposure levels, and you can put them together in post and make gorgeous HDR photos. The autofocus was something that I was also really attracted to. Then again, I also had no idea what I was doing when whenever I first started. So I got on YouTube and searched up best cameras for photography real estate, and the Sony A7III was one of the top ones to show up. So at the time, I ended up paying around like $3,000 to get this thing and the first lens that I had to shoot real estate, which is the 16-35mm Zeiss f/4 lens. Let's just say the Sony A7III has never ever let me down in any situation. I've done real estate shoots, I've done wedding photography, wedding videography, event coverage, YouTube videos like this one. I've produced multiple podcasts with it, which there's a downfall with the podcast, so stick around and you'll find out why. So there were times where I would buy a B camera and I would discover that overheating was a massive issue with some of the cameras that I was using, including the Sony a6300i. Prior to this experience had no practice, had no real-world test with the Sony a6300. With its body size, with the type of battery, it overheated in about 5 minutes whenever I was shooting a wedding and the temperature outside was about 105 degrees because we are in Texas. The Sony a7III, on the other hand, this guy has never shown any signs of overheating and there's no fan or anything. It just keeps going, which is why a lot of people love to shoot with this thing. And so it's been 2.5 years since the time I started my business, since the time I started using this camera, and it's been absolutely phenomenal. That is my personal experience. Some people may have had different experiences, but overall this camera is the most dependable thing that I own. This camera is from 2018, so you can get it at quite a bit of a discount now. And I think right now it sits around $1,300. Body only on Amazon. So I'm going to go ahead and break down a few of the core strengths and the core weaknesses. Let's start with the strengths. The strengths on this camera are, like I mentioned earlier, the overheating. There's no signs of overheating ever. It is made of a metal-like material, which means it's not going to fall apart on you. I dropped this thing on concrete multiple times and there is very little sign of wear and tear. So this thing is built to last. So another strength that it has is that it does shoot 4K video up to 30 frames per second, which can be used for most things. And I'll get into why the frame rate is kind of an issue in the weaknesses of this camera. Stick around and you'll find out how to say bless you. Don't listen to him. This little backpack champ, just like the tripod champ. Oh my gosh. There you go. All right, what are some of the other strengths about this camera? A couple more strengths about this thing is the actual weight. It is not very heavy considering other cameras that can record at 4K, and especially compared to some of its competitors like some of the Canon cameras. It fits on a gimbal with ease and you never have to really get tired from holding it. I think for a lot of people, this being a hybrid camera and you only need one camera if you're a photographer, videographer, and you don't necessarily need multiple cameras, this is going to be a great bet. Or even better, get the Sony A7IV, which is a little bit newer, has some more features. But if you're on a budget, this is fantastic. It'll get the job done. Another thing is the dual SD card slot. You can record simultaneously on this thing. So when it comes to corporate jobs, when it comes to big projects that you're working on and you only have one chance, for example, on wedding days, You can shoot to 2 SD cards at the same time, so if one gets corrupt, if you lose one, if you break one, you're good to go. Many people wouldn't consider this a professional camera if it had one SD card slot. And going along with the weight of this thing, the size is overall pretty small. This is how it looks in my hand, and you can carry this thing around no problem for a long period of time. It fits in basically any bag If you have a camera bag, you can put it in it. You can put it in a backpack. You can put it— you can fit it in the side pocket of a backpack, or you can leave it around your wrist or your neck and it's not going to bog you down. The image quality out of this thing is phenomenal. I still only use this camera for all of our portrait work and majority of— I tried to hold it. Sorry. Bless you. I still use this camera for all of our portrait work, all of our real estate work, and we even do some sports photography. And as long as you have a great lens, this camera is going to perform very well. And the last one is the lens compatibility. There are tons of third-party options that you can choose whenever it comes to picking a great lens. Some of the lenses include Tamron, you can do Sigma lens. They're all great options that are probably half or even a third of the price of the Sony G Master series. And all of Sony's cameras have the E-mount. So if you upgrade in the future, you'll be able to use the same lens and stay in the same ecosystem. This camera is also a full sensor mirrorless frame, which means you get more area on the sensor to let light in, and you can use full frame lenses even though they're making APS-C sensor cameras phenomenal nowadays. And if Mike doesn't break anything in the back, we'll be all right. Since it is a full frame sensor, you're not going to have to crop in on any of the lenses. If you have an APS-C sensor camera, it would usually crop 1.5 times to what lens actually is. So if it's 20mm, it would actually be 35mm. The frame rate limit, it only goes 4K up to 30 frames per second, which if you're wanting to get any kind of slow motion shot, you're not going to have as much flexibility because this only goes to 30 frames. And all of our other cameras, we shoot in 60 frames per second whenever we need to slow something down. It does shoot in 60 frames per second, but it is only in 1080p. Another con on the video side is it only shoots in 8-bit color, which means you don't have as much flexibility, especially whenever you're shooting in LOG. So if you don't expose correct, like exactly right, it's going to be very grainy, very hard to color grade compared to 10-bit footage. Another con would be the screen, the LCD screen on the camera. It pivots up and down. But it doesn't pivot out to the side where you can see yourself. So if vlogging is going to be something you're wanting to do, then this might not be the camera for you. But if you're behind the camera most of the time and you're just doing client work, this is gonna work fantastic. So quick message from Howdy Media. We've actually started a Howdy Media Insiders group on Facebook where you can join completely free. In this group, you'll have exclusive access to the Howdy Media team education resources, behind-the-scenes footage, and conversations with people who are like-minded. And a bunch of them are small business owners and creatives just like you. Hit the link in the description to join the group. So to wrap things up, is it going to be worth it if you buy this camera in 2024? I think if you're a hybrid shooter, then yes, you can get away with it. Absolutely. If you only need one camera and you're going to be doing photos and videos on this one camera, then 100%, it's still worth it. It's still going to be relevant for the next few years, in my opinion, until 6K and 8K come out with more streamlined options. This 4K will be plenty for majority of people. Now, if you're needing multiple cameras or you're going to be doing mainly video work, I would recommend the Sony FX30 over this one or even the Sony A7IV. Just because it has the 10-bit color and you can shoot in S-Log3 without it kind of breaking down. The last con is going to be the record limit. So there's only a 30-minute record limit for this thing. So if you're wanting to film any type of longer podcast over 30 minutes, you're going to have to get up and hit record after it hits 30 minutes again, which is really annoying, which is why I bought the FX30s. They have a 13-hour limit and I run everything into a Blackmagic Switcher. If you want to know more about our podcast setup back there, I made a setup tour a few weeks ago that you can check out right here if you want to learn more about that. Oh, and before I forget, if y'all need any help setting up this podcast, feel free to reach out to me. That's actually one of the services we include. If you have a space that you're wanting to transform or podcast you're wanting to start at home or at your office, we can come and help you set it up. Just reach out to me in the link below, send me an email, send me a DM, we'll make it happen. Now if you're a video production company or you do lots of high-end client work, I would not recommend the Sony a7 III. If you're getting into real estate photography and videography, this thing is going to be a beast. If you don't have a ton of budget, this thing is going to be absolutely perfect for you. So like I said, I paid about $3,000 at the time, but now on Amazon it's sitting at about $1,300 for just the body. And my favorite lenses are going to be linked in the description below. So do I think the Sony A7III is still relevant in 2024? Absolutely. Just depends what you're shooting, depends how much data you need, how much you need to change the color, and how long your videos are going to be. So if this video helped, feel free to leave a comment down below. Have you used the A7III before? 4? If so, how long have you had it? I've had it for about 3 years now and I love it. I still use it every single day and I run a full-scale like multimedia company. And so if that says anything, hope that helps. If you like what you watch, leave a like, don't forget to subscribe, and we'll see you next one.
