I apologize in advance for this Saturday morning rant
Is it me or it feels like everyone is freaking out about the new Sony A7III?
As the former owner of an A7II and a current user of a Sony a6500, I was really interested in seeing what they'd come up with for this new generation of cameras. I'm overwhelmed about the reaction to this camera and underwhelmed about the camera itself.
Don't get me wrong, that thing is a superb camera. Almost every camera is nowadays.
I appreciate what Sony is doing: pushing the current technology and providing amazing tools for people who need them.
However, we shouldn't overlook other things that are happening as well: more and more, we treat our cameras as if they were disposable after just 1 or 2 years due to their fast development cycle; they release the same camera with a couple of new features that could perfectly qualify as "niche" (who needs 20+fps when shooting?); and their cameras haven't improved much in terms of usability in the last 3-4 years.
This rant comes from my frustration after buying the a6500. No doubt, it's an excellent camera. But when I look at it next to my "old" a6000, I don't see where the extra $1,000 I paid went to. They added 4k (somewhat very limited due to the terrible rolling shutter, I now shoot only 1080p), a touch screen that is completely useless, some extra memory for a bigger buffer... and called it a day.
I look at the A7III and I see the same: a "slightly-better-at-everything" camera than its predecessors. And all of a sudden we all need to throw away our 1-year-old cameras and buy this one.
This industry is in big trouble when the signature features for the masses are an autofocus system capable of tracking a bullet, and to be able to shoot as many frames as a roll of 35mm used to have in just under 2 seconds.
Later this year, Canon and Nikon will release their own FF mirrorless cameras. And then Sony will release the A7SIII. And the a6700. And the RX100VI. Fuji will release another 3 cameras. Olympus and Panasonic will ask you to pay a million dollars for their new micro thirds cameras.
YouTube and the Internet will go crazy again. So will I.