Some concerning news about Sony’s popular a7 III is hitting the web and, if it is true, it could be a pretty big deal.
Outlets such as FStoppers report that users are telling tales of failing shutters that stop working randomly. What evidence does the publication have of this? None other than the a7 III and a7R III’s very own Facebook groups.
And this isn’t some recent phenomenon either as these stories of woe have cropped up on the user forums for the past several months. Of course, everything mechanical wears out eventually and shutters on a camera are no exception to this rule.
Yet, for a company known for its quality, these issues seems to indicate some kind of component part or design flaw problem – at least that’s what people are speculating.
As with any tale of mechanical problems, some of us are skeptical that everything was perfect until it wasn’t.
Everyone has different standards for how they care for their equipment and some Internet users have speculated that maybe people are being a little too rough with their cameras.
In their defense, many people reporting issues with the sony a7 III and a7R III say they have kept their units in good condition and that the problem comes out of nowhere.
What makes matters even more vexing for some Sony customers is that their cameras are out of warranty.
That means any repair performed costs a ton of money and FStoppers indicates that it costs some $USD 400 to repair the shutter on the a7 III and a7R III. Additionally, and thanks again to FStoppers, the website reports you can repair it yourself if you have the skills for a component cost of $USD 87.
You can check out the Facebook group mentioned by clicking here.
Do you own a Sony a7 III or a7R III? Have you had any issues with your camera? Let us know your story in the comments below.
Also don’t forget to check out our other photography news on Light Stalking articles by clicking here.
20 Comments
My Sony A7 111 had dust on the lens straight out of the box. I was told this sometimes happens during assembly. The screen has now stopped working. Only possible to take and view photos through the viewfinder. This is month 2.
I hate to hear that Marilyn – be sure to update us if anything changes!
Since the launch of the A7III until now we have had 6 bodies and taken around 300k images and have had no issues as yet. With a camera as popular as this one there is always going to be some issues. I would as a percentage though that these issues are tiny in comparison to how many unites are sold. Any camera’s shutter can fail at any given point.
Thank you for sharing Pure Photo!
Had the same issue a few weeks ago with my RIII. Was using a tripod to create a stop motion and the shutter curtain just locked up on me. Luckily I still had time on the warranty. I don’t have issues with Sony as an innovator and with the RIV about to make its way into my bag I hope they’ve taken care in testing.
I keep a Canon 5DMIII as a backup camera and all my lenses are Canon mount Sigma. I think if it as always having a phone you can plug into a jack, modern tech is great but nothing beats the caveman tech that got us here.
Thanks for your comment Justin! 🙂
I’ve had my a7riii since march of 2018, and have about 30,000 photos on the shutter. I mostly do video which is why the shutter count is still pretty low, but I’ve used it for photo and video in some pretty taxing environments, most often sweaty sold out venues for concert/nightlife work. The thing gets gross/drenched in sweat, banged up, and beat to hell but still works fine. None of my friends have had any issues either.
I realize that’s only a few anecdotes, but in my very limited sample size there have been only functioning models so far. Hopefully if it is something on the production end they can nail it down to a specific run of shipments or something. I feel bad for anyone who hasn’t had the experience I and my friends have with our 3rd gen bodies, they are really refined machines.
Thanks for your comment Adam!
I purchased an a7iii in spring of 2018 and within a month I had to return it because the stabilizer would just shake the camera constantly as soon as I turned the power on. I had only taken a few hundred shots before this began to happen. It is a rare defect, but I did find others online that experienced this with early a7iiis.
The guy at Sammys tried to deny responsibility, saying this happened because I used a tripod without disabling the stabilization. I informed him that it was within the 30 day return period so they had to replace it anyway.
The replacement hasn’t given me any issues in a year of shooting now. That said, I had to clean dust off the sensor even though I have only used one lens…usually it would take years for that much dust to get in there. Makes me wonder if I experienced the same thing as Marilyn.
Thanks Andrew! Good to hear that things are working out for you.
I own 7m3 for 18 months and no problems with shutter after over 30 000 shots.
Thank you for your story Robert :)!
I think this is being said to stir things up in the favor of other recent mirrorless camera manufacturers. Let’s talk about failed shutters on recent Canon or Nikon bodies shall we?
Thanks for your comment – do you have any reports to share?
111000 photos so far.
My shutter broke two times since April 2018.
Thanks for sharing Alex!
My shutter just failed on me today. I have a shutter count of 13000. My a7iii is just less than 7 months old. Im calling sony and hoping they repair it for free.
Let us know how that goes Omar! Thank you for your comment!
Bought my Sony a7R III in August 2019 and a week ago I started to see a strange light appearing on the left side of the image. I did check the mechanical shutter and has a whole producing this fault. I live in Tahiti and also during this world crisis I don’t know what I can do.. very frustrating.
My Sony a7iii shutter failed. Just turned on the camera and camera had an error.