Just wanted to quickly share some further explorations with the Sony A7III and Sigma 35mm F1.4 Art lens. As I explained in my previous post, I love the ability of a full-frame setup like this to isolate the subject from the background (and foreground, in some cases). The subject sometimes just seems to float over the background because of the strong but smooth sharpness fall-off. The samples below are from a recent trip to Zeeland, a beautiful coastal province in the Netherlands. They were shot under different lighting conditions. The black-and-white photos were shot in the late afternoon, when the sky was partly cloudy and the sun started to set, casting a dramatic pattern of light and shadow on the beach and dunes. The color photos were shot earlier that afternoon, when the sky was completely overcast, but the sun was still able to shed some warm stray light on the scene. This resulted in more serene lighting, which I further emphasized by strongly overexposing my shots (+1.7 and +2 EV) and giving them a desaturated look in Capture One.
What also came in handy while taking these photos of my daughters was the super swift continuous autofocus of the A7III, with spot-on face and eye detection.* This is ideal for casual photography with kids, where split-second reactions are often crucial to catch those unique moments. Not sure about the new Fuji X-Pro3, but my X-Pro2 definitely can’t touch the top-notch AF abilities of the A7III. Would be great if Fuji could catch up soon.
Bottom line of this post is that — no matter how much more I like my X-Pro2 in terms of usability and design — I am really enjoying the results from the A7III. As long as Fuji doesn’t go full frame or their GFX medium-format system doesn’t get more affordable,** I am perfectly happy with the A7III complementing my Fuji X system.
Sony A7III and Sigma 35mm F1.4 Art at the Dutch coast (Nieuwvliet-Bad, Zeeland, the Netherlands). Needless to say that all of these shots were taken wide open.
*Although AF occasionally struggled locking on a face in backlit or low-contrast situations.
**I am aware that both things are probably not going to happen, at least not any time soon. I am also aware that the GFX system is affordable by medium-format standards. However, if Fuji sees the GFX Series as a step-up from their X Series and as a viable alternative to full frame, they either need to do something about the huge price gap between these systems, or accept that certain customers are going elsewhere. It is somewhat sad that Sony (or any other brand providing affordable full frame) is currently filling up the void that Fuji has created between their X and GFX Series cameras.