There are a lot of great Best Buy Black Friday deals going on right now, and whether you’re looking for TVs, laptops, or even headphones, there’s a little something for everybody. Of course, many folks may not realize that Best Buy has some fantastic deals on high-end photography gear, such as this Sony Alpha a7 III mirrorless camera. While it usually goes for a whopping $2,200, Best Buy had brought it down to $1,900, and while that relatively doesn’t seem like much, you could always spend the $300 savings on a new lens.
Why you should buy the Sony Alpha a7 III
The Sony Alpha a7 III is a camera with so much tech that it might as well be three different cameras. It has excellent dynamic range, low-light performance, and high-speed performance, and the full-frame sensors make the images look absolutely stunning. Interestingly, the a7 III manages to do an excellent job at both low and high ISOs, the latter of which can go as high as 51,200 non-boosted, which, granted, adds a lot of noise, but noise reduction helps with that. As for the video, well, sadly, it’s not as impressive, at least in terms of advancements in image quality, and while it can do 8-bit 4K at 30 frames per second, it’s no longer ahead of the pack in that regard, like the Panasonic Lumix GH5 is with its 400Mbps 10-bit codec and 60-fps 4K.
Similarly, the user experience leaves a lot to be desired — for example, the lack of controls on the left shoulder that would have made life a bit easier. The menus are a bit convoluted too, and while it’s not too bad, if you’ve been around pro-level cameras and like to dig through menus, it could be better. There are a couple of custom buttons at the top that you can set to what you want, but we would have liked to see some dedicated buttons for things like white balance and autofocus area.
Don’t get us wrong, the Sony Alpha a7 III is a fantastic camera, and while it does have some user experience issues, they aren’t necessarily deal-breaking enough not to pick one up. If you do, the deal from Best Buy brings it down to $1,900, but we’d encourage you to look at our breakdown of the Canon EOS RP vs. Sony A7 III; the Canon is a bit cheaper and might work for a smaller budget.