The annual European Imaging and Sound Association awards were announced this week and Sony again emerged as the big winner, with three cameras and two lenses receiving awards in the photography category. Most notably the Sony α7 III scored the Camera of the Year award and the α7R III was named Best Professional Mirrorless Camera.
α7 III – Camera of the Year
“With the α7 III, Sony has set the standard for an all-round full-frame mirrorless camera capable of tackling many forms of photography. The new 24.2-megapixel back-illuminated Exmor R CMOS image sensor provides outstanding image quality in a wide range of lighting conditions. The autofocus system covers almost the entire frame, making it easy to focus on and track moving subjects that are not in the centre of the frame. With a burst speed of 10 frames per second and a 4K video mode, the α7 III is ready to capture fast action.”
α7R III – Best Professional Mirrorless Camera
“The third generation of Sony’s high-resolution mirrorless camera, the α7R III has a 42.4-megapixel back-illuminated Exmor R CMOS sensor that produces images with tremendous detail. At the same time it provides high shooting speeds of up to 10 frames per second with autofocus tracking, allowing it to keep moving subjects in sharp focus. The 5-axis in-body image stabilisation system has been fine-tuned to support the high-resolution shooting capacity, meaning you can use the camera handheld in a wide range of conditions.”
RX10 IV – Best Superzoom Camera
“Sony’s fourth-generation ultra-zoom camera, the RX10 IV combines a versatile 24-600mm equivalent f/2.4-4 ZEISS Vario-Sonnar T* lens with a large sensor: namely a 1in, 20.1-megapixel Exmor RS CMOS stacked image sensor. This combination allows the user to shoot sharp images across the entire zoom range from wide-angle to super-telephoto, without the need to change lenses. The Fast Hybrid autofocus system employs the same High-density Tracking technology as the Sony α series of cameras, which makes it easier to track fast-moving subjects such as birds in flight.”
FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 G Master OSS – Best Mirrorless Telezoom Lens
“This super-telephoto zoom lens is ideal for sports and nature photography, and offers great sharpness throughout the zoom range. Vignetting is insignificant while distortion is very low and is not an issue for the type of photography typically practised with this lens. The autofocus is very fast, precise and silent, while the optical stabilisation ensures sharp photos at slow shutter speeds. Built to be used under adverse weather conditions, it is a great lens that offers very high image quality.”
FE 16-35mm f/2.8 G Master – Best Mirrorless Wide-Angle Zoom Lens
“Part of Sony’s premium G Master series, this is a great wide-angle zoom that provides impressive sharpness across the entire image. The lens has weather sealing and is well built for professional use, but is lighter in weight compared to its competitors. Yet it outperforms most of them, not only in terms of sharpness, but also giving images with low vignetting and minimal distortion. It’s a perfect lens for landscape, architecture and cityscape photography.”
Read more on the 2018-2019 EISA awards here.
