Today is my one year anniversary of owning my Sony A7iii full frame mirrorless camera body. For me this camera has had significant plusses but also some big shortcomings. Just this week I added the Sony Vertical Grip and Battery holder. This has greatly improved the comfort for me when I hold this camera with medium to heavy lenses. Even with light lenses this grip gives you some extra good places to hold on and adjust the Sony. I bought the Sony brand grip even though it was more expensive that I felt appropriate. When I got it though I was glad I spent the extra money as the quality matched the Sony A7iii body, which I think is excellent.
The grip provides space for 2 of the larger Sony A7iii batteries and also has controls for shutter release, function 1 & 2, front and back control wheel, exposure meter setting, and a lock switch. I like this grip a lot but keep in mind it does add extra weight. Sony’s A7iii grip and the grip of this addition are only very slightly form fitting or curved so your hand is comfortable. It is very different to the Canon or Nikon bodies and grip which those companies contoured to be more comfortable to hold. I do find though that the addition of the Sony grip does improve the comfort of holding the camera body significantly.
For me this grip was worth every penny. I also liked the grip I used to have that went on my Nikon D750 to be quite helpful too. And of course you get the additional battery storage.
The second item I bought for my Sony in the last week is the Zeiss 35mm f2.8 lens. I have wanted this lens for quite a while and almost bought one when I originally got this camera. I wish I had done that a year ago. For me personally adding this lightweight (4.4 oz) lens to the A7iii changes the personality of this camera. It is so light with just the A7iii body that this becomes a good small travel camera and not a “brick”. The A7iii body + the 24-105 f4 lens (to me) is a brick with a heavy lens on it. (Of course now that I have the extra vertical grip that has space for ALL of my fingers that much improves this, but you still have a big heavy tool. ). The A7iii body and 35mm is just transformative. It does not seem like the same camera. The Zeiss 55mm that I have owned since buying the Sony is far lighter than the 24-105, but the 35mm just seems to make the Sony body balanced and easy to hold.
So far I have found the 35mm lens to be sharp and to produce good color rendition. It does seem though that when I have LightRoom Classic make adjustments for this lens the image does “pop” a lot.
At this point I can give a big thumbs up to both of these additions to my Sony kit.
Bob Nuttmann 