A photographer in New York has filed a class-action complaint against Sony for alleged defects that cause unreasonable failures in the shutter of the wildly popular a7 III.
The lawsuit reads: “Unfortunately for many purchasers of the a7iii, mechanical problems with the shutter have rendered the cameras unusable provided they do not pay over $500 for repair to an authorized service center.” It explains that while the life expectancy on the a7 III is estimated by Sony at 200,000 actuations, “numerous users report shutter failures” that are far below this figure, sometimes as low as 50,000 or even 10,000 actuations.
The lawsuit emerges more than 18 months after a spate of rumors claimed that the a7 III’s shutter was potentially defective, with multiple owners reporting shutter failures in various Facebook groups. It remains unclear as to whether the a7 III genuinely has an issue or if the popularity of the camera combined with social media algorithms exaggerated a problem that is not unique to the a7 III.
As reported by Fstoppers in August 2019, there are often warning signs that the shutter on a mirrorless camera is about to fail. If you notice the phenomenon, you can at least continue shooting by switching to a completely electronic shutter until you can have your camera repaired. This avoids rendering your camera inoperable when the shutter fails completely.
Does this lawsuit have merit? Let us know in the comments below.