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Sony's new camera A9

Pradeep

Member
I agree and this is telling/relevant review to firsthand accounts of using the A9 for actual action based work.
I sat through this 47 minute video very patiently last night. It has convinced me to give it a shot. Only one way to find out if this camera will work for me.

I love my Canon system, but the whole darned thing becomes so heavy and cumbersome. Have to carry separate batteries for the 7D2 and for the 1DX2, separate chargers, separate cards and readers (cannot read the c-fast card on regular readers). Considering you have to take the lithium batteries in carry-on baggage, I have half a bag full of just batteries between the two Canon bodies and my two Sony's (A7R2 and Rx1R2). This will be a huge weight (and probably cost) saving for me.

The only thing is I am not sure if the Sony 100-400 is going to be as good as the Canon 100-400MkII which is superb. Given that the 24-70GM is so sharp (I found it sharper than my Batis 25), I expect it to be.
 

iiiNelson

Well-known member
I sat through this 47 minute video very patiently last night. It has convinced me to give it a shot. Only one way to find out if this camera will work for me.

I love my Canon system, but the whole darned thing becomes so heavy and cumbersome. Have to carry separate batteries for the 7D2 and for the 1DX2, separate chargers, separate cards and readers (cannot read the c-fast card on regular readers). Considering you have to take the lithium batteries in carry-on baggage, I have half a bag full of just batteries between the two Canon bodies and my two Sony's (A7R2 and Rx1R2). This will be a huge weight (and probably cost) saving for me.

The only thing is I am not sure if the Sony 100-400 is going to be as good as the Canon 100-400MkII which is superb. Given that the 24-70GM is so sharp (I found it sharper than my Batis 25), I expect it to be.
I watched it too and it really is a highly objective account of the development and philosophy of the camera as it applies to photographing action IMO. The thing that I've come to respect most about Sony, beyond the innovation, is listening to the photographic community AND making changes to improve products based upon how people would like to shoot their cameras.

There re aren't many companies beyond Fuji right now that seem to be following and embracing this change in how and what to market to potential customers.
 
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iiiNelson

Well-known member
I myself am kind of split soul since that A9 announcement.

While I was not paying much attention to Sony for their A7 line because of either too less resolution (12MP) or too high resolution (42MP) for my type of shooting and all the issues with not so great EVF and very poor battery life, the A9 has changed that completely for me.

It just meets a few requirements that are important for my work, like 24MP (and NOT MORE), very fast (finally electronic shutter fully useable), high res EVF with improved brightness and NO more blackout and much longer battery life, great IBIS and finally the lens I was always asking for (100-400) I am very intrigued to get one. My problem is I would need to get rid of all my trusted Fuji and very likely also Olympus gear to finance a complete A9 setup including some lenses I need.

This hit me completely unexpected as I was no longer expecting such a great match for what I want and need. Finally that switch would also allow me to work again fully FF and also start using my Leica M glass again on a body that allows also to connect the most modern Zeiss and G-Master EF mount lenses. I am pretty confident that most of my M lenses will work sufficiently nice on the A9, as they already did so on the A72.

This is becoming a tough time for me :cool::p:D
If I'm to be honest, the Leica SL might be a better choice if you plan to keep and use your M lenses. While the body costs significantly more than the A9, you'll get the benefit of recording EXIF metadata and will have embedded lens corrections. The two SL zooms are really good optically and you can add R/Canon/Nikon lenses for longer focal lengths but you'll lose IBIS.

If it were me and I was intent on going Sony, I'd sell the M lenses and replace them with Zeiss Loxia lenses which are comparable to Leica M lenses in performance and add the benefit of allowing closer focus. My most used lenses on my M9 and M9-P was the Zeiss Planar 50/2 (even with a Leica 50/1.4 Summilux in the bag) along with the Leica 35/2 Summicron (though I began using the Voigtlander 35/1.2 Nokton II more towards the end if I was photographing street/candid/people) so I can say confidently that the Loxia lenses probably won't disappoint you in any meaningful way.

Just my opinion though as a former M owner/user that converted to Sony.
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
In the 21st century cameras offered by Sony, switching to APS-C makes the action happen in the whole of the view finder.

Forget the mirror slap and dumb OVFs.

Also, there is a revolutionary no black out view finder unlike the dslrs.
Yup, shooting with crop is much better with a mirrorless. Unfortunately, the A9 and all other mirrorless cameras except the A7R/II would offer just over 10MP in crop mode. In today's world, that doesn't really cut it. I get away with 12MP because I shoot on an amateur basis now, but I wouldn't offer that to a commercial customer except as microstock.
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
The A6500 may possibly be a cropped option for some but again instandby that cropped sensor doesn't apply in an apples to apples comparison. It's just isn't the same look.
If you need 800mm reach, that "look" isn't available to A9 users in any case. You can of course use the 500mm with a TC, but what you in reality get then is the APS-C "look" with uglier bokeh. Nikon users are luckier. They can just cough up $16,000 and buy the 800mm f/5.6. Or they can spend $2,000 on a D500 and get a 750mm f/5.6 equivalent with the 500mm f/4 lens. Guess what is the most profitable.

While the A6500 is a fine camera, it's tiny with a small grip, and I doubt that it's comfortable to carry all day with heavy lenses, but I haven't tried. It's similar in size to my GX8 I believe, and I wouldn't use that with heavy lenses either. Is it weather sealed? The A9 seems only to be "splash and dust proof". I don't know what that means, but all my Nikon bodies have survived hours in pouring rain. They don't cancel races if the weather is bad, and "Sorry, you can't get any photos. Me and my camera could get wet." doesn't cut it.
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
I clicked on the link posted by K-H and I find Jorgen spinning the same in that FM thread as well.
But obviously, Vivek. It's always fun to discuss with Sony users, and many of them get so sore when someone criticizes their camera, Sony marketing or any product that Sony ever made. Yes, I know I'm bad :ROTFL:

To be honest, I'm sure that the A9 is a great camera, and I'm actually quite excited by it. What sucks is the marketing. It tells a story that isn't reality yet, and might not be reality in at least a couple of years. It will work great for a lot of indoor sports with the 70-200 f/2.8, it will, if it can take the beating, work very well for photo journalists, and it's an obvious choice for weddings and other events. But what Sony shows on the website is almost exclusively outdoor sports, and the lenses for that aren't available yet. An amateur photographer can wait for more lenses and use the 100-400mm while he's waiting, but a professional sports photographer doesn't buy a $4,500 camera today unless he can use it tomorrow for all or most of his needs. That's like buying a car in November with scheduled delivery of the winter tires in April. You don't do that. Nobody does that unless he can afford to have the new car parked in the garage until spring.
 

iiiNelson

Well-known member
If you need 800mm reach, that "look" isn't available to A9 users in any case. You can of course use the 500mm with a TC, but what you in reality get then is the APS-C "look" with uglier bokeh. Nikon users are luckier. They can just cough up $16,000 and buy the 800mm f/5.6. Or they can spend $2,000 on a D500 and get a 750mm f/5.6 equivalent with the 500mm f/4 lens. Guess what is the most profitable.

While the A6500 is a fine camera, it's tiny with a small grip, and I doubt that it's comfortable to carry all day with heavy lenses, but I haven't tried. It's similar in size to my GX8 I believe, and I wouldn't use that with heavy lenses either. Is it weather sealed? The A9 seems only to be "splash and dust proof". I don't know what that means, but all my Nikon bodies have survived hours in pouring rain. They don't cancel races if the weather is bad, and "Sorry, you can't get any photos. Me and my camera could get wet." doesn't cut it.
Canon EF lenses can be used with autofocus as can Sony A-mount. Again you're assuming that auto racing, which is what you do, is the only type of sports shooting. There have been pro sports photographers and photojournalists using this camera in real world testing/development. We sort of went over this a year or two ago with the A7RII where Chad Wadsworth showed real pictures taken at the Austin F1 Grand Prix (along with his usual stable of great concert/event photography). I don't think racing gets much faster than F1 (superbike may be the exception) and he didn't have any issues using a camera that isn't spec'd as high. As Vivek mentioned, one could crop the A7RII in APS-C mode and have 18mp still. In full frame mode it covers 45% of the sensor. In crop mode I'd assume about ~80% of the sensor is covered by AF points.

Again no no one is arguing whether or not Canon and Nikon currently have a larger stable of lenses. They do. The EF mount is 30+ years old and the F mount has beeen around for 40-50 years I believe. Full frame E mount is 3.5 years old at this point. I expect more sport specific lenses to be released in the next 6 months to 2 years in time for Winter Olympics 2018, World Cup 2018, and the Summer Olympics 2020.

The question is is what Sony offers adequate for you. If not then why question further? If so click the pre-order button or save the money for it.
 

iiiNelson

Well-known member
But obviously, Vivek. It's always fun to discuss with Sony users, and many of them get so sore when someone criticizes their camera, Sony marketing or any product that Sony ever made. Yes, I know I'm bad :ROTFL:

To be honest, I'm sure that the A9 is a great camera, and I'm actually quite excited by it. What sucks is the marketing. It tells a story that isn't reality yet, and might not be reality in at least a couple of years. It will work great for a lot of indoor sports with the 70-200 f/2.8, it will, if it can take the beating, work very well for photo journalists, and it's an obvious choice for weddings and other events. But what Sony shows on the website is almost exclusively outdoor sports, and the lenses for that aren't available yet. An amateur photographer can wait for more lenses and use the 100-400mm while he's waiting, but a professional sports photographer doesn't buy a $4,500 camera today unless he can use it tomorrow for all or most of his needs. That's like buying a car in November with scheduled delivery of the winter tires in April. You don't do that. Nobody does that unless he can afford to have the new car parked in the garage until spring.
I don't think that it's the criticism that people mind. Some criticism is valid for some and some expectation is irrational IMO. I don't know one Sony shooter that is 1000% happy or doesn't believe there's not any room for improvement. I think we all have a wish list of features that would be beneficial for us. Many of us choose Sony because it ticks the most boxes for us.

I don't really disparage Canon, Leica, or Panasonic systems (this is what I owned and shot in the past outside a couple of old film Vivitars) because they're all good systems but for me the Sony was/is a much better system for what I do and want in a camera. Doesn't mean it'll work for the next person and I generally steered people towards Canon or Nikon when getting into digital photography if they are novices that don't know what they want... now I feel quite comfortable recommending Sony to most as the system has matured greatly in a short period of time provided they can afford the costs of entry. No doubt Nikon and Canon have lower costs of entry and there are more used options to drive the prices down further. I generally buy everything new unless I'm looking for an older "character lens."

Also you can't legitimately suggest the marketing isn't real if the pictures are taken with this camera and whatever lens combination that was used to make the image. It's just not logical when there are people that are actual professionals that have and continue to use this camera in their daily work over the last 3+ months. You also can't suggest that the marketing sucks when every time a Sony camera is introduced every Sony hater, skeptic, and "fanboy" alike all gather to discuss the merits and where it can potentially fit into their gear vaults. Clearly the marketing is driving some press and YouTube stars to switch on the webcams and the live social media streams.
 

stephengilbert

Active member
There must be something wrong with me: not being in the market for a camera like the A9, I don't compulsively watch and analyze Sony's "marketing."

This thread is an example of where we've come, from a friendly group of internet friends, to a site that's often little better than LuLa.

If you don't like Sony (or other brand) products, how about limiting your griping to a dozen or so posts and then moving on to something else?
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
Canon EF lenses can be used with autofocus as can Sony A-mount. Again you're assuming that auto racing, which is what you do, is the only type of sports shooting. There have been pro sports photographers and photojournalists using this camera in real world testing/development. We sort of went over this a year or two ago with the A7RII where Chad Wadsworth showed real pictures taken at the Austin F1 Grand Prix (along with his usual stable of great concert/event photography). I don't think racing gets much faster than F1 (superbike may be the exception) and he didn't have any issues using a camera that isn't spec'd as high. As Vivek mentioned, one could crop the A7RII in APS-C mode and have 18mp still. In full frame mode it covers 45% of the sensor. In crop mode I'd assume about ~80% of the sensor is covered by AF points.

Again no no one is arguing whether or not Canon and Nikon currently have a larger stable of lenses. They do. The EF mount is 30+ years old and the F mount has beeen around for 40-50 years I believe. Full frame E mount is 3.5 years old at this point. I expect more sport specific lenses to be released in the next 6 months to 2 years in time for Winter Olympics 2018, World Cup 2018, and the Summer Olympics 2020.

The question is is what Sony offers adequate for you. If not then why question further? If so click the pre-order button or save the money for it.
No, I don't think that motor sports is the only kind of sports, and I've stated clearly that I see this as a great camera for some kinds of sport, particularly indoor with the 70-200mm f/2.8. However, and I've said this before too, Sony's A9 page shows almost exclusively outdoor sports, men of which typically require long, large aperture lenses. That gives the impression that a system is in place that isn't. I doubt that Sony had adapted Canon lenses in mind, and I know that sports shooters shy away from third party adapters like the plague. They always fail at the most inconvenient time, and no one is responsible.

Many will buy this camera even if the price is silly. Many will be happy with it too. I'm sure I would if I needed it and decided to buy it. But I doubt that those sports shooters that are targeted in the marketing will.

This btw. isn't the first time Sony uses sports photography in their marketing without having their arse covered. They did it with the original A7 (motor sports photos in the catalogue), which made me borrow one to try it out. Not suitable to say the least. Then hey did it again with the original A99 (video showing gymnastics).

The problem with older mirrorless cameras and motor sports isn't about speed, it's the viewfinder delay during bursts. If you do a pan shot and the car you follow changes speed, you don't notice until it's too late and the car is out of the frame already. F1 isn't more problematic than other cars. The relative speed of F1 (speed of the car divided by distance from photographer to car) is actually quite low compared to bicycles, water craft and other sports where you get closer to the action. The trickiest part is pan shots during overtaking, where the speed can vary a lot within fractions of a second. Unfortunately, those are also among the most important shots, since they show what happened when the winner took the lead. The A9 will be great for that and the 100-400mm is probably perfect for those shots, at least at some of the smaller tracks. If can do it on a rainy day too. However, my D2Xs does that just fine too. I have thousands of images to prove it. It's cheap too, and the battery lasts forever.
 

iiiNelson

Well-known member
There must be something wrong with me: not being in the market for a camera like the A9, I don't compulsively watch and analyze Sony's "marketing."

This thread is an example of where we've come, from a friendly group of internet friends, to a site that's often little better than LuLa.

If you don't like Sony (or other brand) products, how about limiting your griping to a dozen or so posts and then moving on to something else?
In this day and age I've come to find since owning both Leica and now Sony that there are many closet fans and wishful owners on the internet that disparage ANYTHING they do to justify the superiority of the system they have. This always begs one to question why they hang out in forums or boards for which that state they have little interest in. Maybe it's me but I tend to not have that much time in my daily life.
 

Pradeep

Member
Yup, shooting with crop is much better with a mirrorless. Unfortunately, the A9 and all other mirrorless cameras except the A7R/II would offer just over 10MP in crop mode. In today's world, that doesn't really cut it. I get away with 12MP because I shoot on an amateur basis now, but I wouldn't offer that to a commercial customer except as microstock.
To me what is most important is getting the focus right and carrying as little in terms of weight as I can. Many small planes in Africa have a serious weight restriction. Plus I am getting older and no longer happy to lug heavy lenses and bodies if I can help it.

To some extent the laws of physics dictate that long teles have to be heavy although Canon had managed to shave off quite a bit in its Mark-II renderings. However, Sony's 100-400GM is a bit lighter (1400g) vs Canon (1600g).

Thus the camera makes a big difference. THe 1DXII is 1530gm vs A9 at 630gm

As for the crop factor, I could of course use my A7R2 and crop the middle out, will still give me better results than the 7D2 with its noisy sensor, will also still get more Mpx out of it. Only problem is the poor AF and slow frame rate (relatively speaking).

In terms of resolution and commercial quality, it does not matter to me at all since I am strictly speaking an amateur, have never made a penny from my photography, and at least for now do not intend to. So if my images can make it to my office/home walls, I am quite content. I have a beautiful pano from my 40D of the wildebeest crossing in Kenya that is 8 ft wide and hangs behind my desk.

That's the other thing one can do to make up for lack of resolution to some extent, stitch images, although I admit would not be applicable in an action situation.

There is always going to be some trade-off. For me, the A9 checks a lot of boxes though.
 

iiiNelson

Well-known member
No, I don't think that motor sports is the only kind of sports, and I've stated clearly that I see this as a great camera for some kinds of sport, particularly indoor with the 70-200mm f/2.8. However, and I've said this before too, Sony's A9 page shows almost exclusively outdoor sports, men of which typically require long, large aperture lenses. That gives the impression that a system is in place that isn't. I doubt that Sony had adapted Canon lenses in mind, and I know that sports shooters shy away from third party adapters like the plague. They always fail at the most inconvenient time, and no one is responsible.

Many will buy this camera even if the price is silly. Many will be happy with it too. I'm sure I would if I needed it and decided to buy it. But I doubt that those sports shooters that are targeted in the marketing will.

This btw. isn't the first time Sony uses sports photography in their marketing without having their arse covered. They did it with the original A7 (motor sports photos in the catalogue), which made me borrow one to try it out. Not suitable to say the least. Then hey did it again with the original A99 (video showing gymnastics).

The problem with older mirrorless cameras and motor sports isn't about speed, it's the viewfinder delay during bursts. If you do a pan shot and the car you follow changes speed, you don't notice until it's too late and the car is out of the frame already. F1 isn't more problematic than other cars. The relative speed of F1 (speed of the car divided by distance from photographer to car) is actually quite low compared to bicycles, water craft and other sports where you get closer to the action. The trickiest part is pan shots during overtaking, where the speed can vary a lot within fractions of a second. Unfortunately, those are also among the most important shots, since they show what happened when the winner took the lead. The A9 will be great for that and the 100-400mm is probably perfect for those shots, at least at some of the smaller tracks. If can do it on a rainy day too. However, my D2Xs does that just fine too. I have thousands of images to prove it. It's cheap too, and the battery lasts forever.
The original A7 is not in the same class as the second generation cameras much less the A9. That being said I have no doubt that it's possible to manually shoot action because several have. Same with the A99.

There's a video above this that ptomsu posted of a photojournalist and professional sports photographer involved in the development of the A9 explaining the performance of... nevermind f*** it. You're right every Sony camera is a piece of s*** and they should just cash in the stock value and close down.

For the rest of the Sony owners we will keep taking those impossible shots that Sony's marketing team is clearly falsifying. :wtf:
 

iiiNelson

Well-known member
To me what is most important is getting the focus right and carrying as little in terms of weight as I can. Many small planes in Africa have a serious weight restriction. Plus I am getting older and no longer happy to lug heavy lenses and bodies if I can help it.

To some extent the laws of physics dictate that long teles have to be heavy although Canon had managed to shave off quite a bit in its Mark-II renderings. However, Sony's 100-400GM is a bit lighter (1400g) vs Canon (1600g).

Thus the camera makes a big difference. THe 1DXII is 1530gm vs A9 at 630gm

As for the crop factor, I could of course use my A7R2 and crop the middle out, will still give me better results than the 7D2 with its noisy sensor, will also still get more Mpx out of it. Only problem is the poor AF and slow frame rate (relatively speaking).

In terms of resolution and commercial quality, it does not matter to me at all since I am strictly speaking an amateur, have never made a penny from my photography, and at least for now do not intend to. So if my images can make it to my office/home walls, I am quite content. I have a beautiful pano from my 40D of the wildebeest crossing in Kenya that is 8 ft wide and hangs behind my desk.

That's the other thing one can do to make up for lack of resolution to some extent, stitch images, although I admit would not be applicable in an action situation.

There is always going to be some trade-off. For me, the A9 checks a lot of boxes though.
I agree and I've taken my A7/A7R/A7RII throughout Europe and Africa. As you know many smaller regional carriers that are necessary to use to get to remote areas have a 32kg luggage weight limit without having to pay extra. These cameras work great for travel when you don't want to compromise on IQ, have to haul your own bags along with luggage (I usually pack a body or two and a wide, normal, telephoto option if needed, and power reserves), or want to have the most flexible camera option available.
 

pegelli

Well-known member
There must be something wrong with me: not being in the market for a camera like the A9, I don't compulsively watch and analyze Sony's "marketing."

This thread is an example of where we've come, from a friendly group of internet friends, to a site that's often little better than LuLa.

If you don't like Sony (or other brand) products, how about limiting your griping to a dozen or so posts and then moving on to something else?
+1



Only one remark, it's probably true for both sides ;)
 

iiiNelson

Well-known member
Another sports related video using the Sony A99II and the Sony 300/2.8 with 1.4x converter. Interesting to see results the possible with the combo. I think the A9 might help move some A-mount glass and it's possible that those getting into Sony could choose to use the A99II for the backup body. There are still some gaps in the FE mount that the A mount can fill today.

https://youtu.be/YqZWuygcTlQ
 

Pradeep

Member
The A9 is being marketed as a sports camera for professionals. I think Sony is aiming at the 2020 Olympics in a big way, they are bound to release some big tele lenses soon.

However, wildlife photography in low-light situations in Africa is not much different from sports photography and if I may, sometimes harder. The animals could spring into action suddenly and the light is often dismal, before sunrise or after sunset. There are obstacles between you and the animal who behaves completely unpredictably, running or leaping in random fashion, birds are even harder. Which is why critical focus lock, high frame rate, and excellent low-light capability of the sensor are very important. The weight becomes an issue after you've held the camera for hours on a bean bag, lifting it repeatedly and then putting it down again. No tripods in the vehicles, so a lot of the actual shooting is done hand-held. For me that becomes tiresome very quickly.

So the only thing that is uncertain about the A9 as far as I am concerned is the AF capability. There is no way to find out without trying it out myself and I have just placed an order for mine a few minutes ago. It would be months before field reports from people come out and even then, who do you trust? I am traveling to Namibia in two months, hopefully will be able to get it by then.
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
Not just another review - this one telly a lot of important background information ....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQnj4Pt8F6k

Puts the A9 very nicely into context with Nikon and Canon!
Saw the video. It was long. He could have said all that in ten minutes, but since he kept repeating the advantages of the amazing new back button focus, just like on a real DSLR and on most of my Panasonics, and the sensational new control wheel on the top left, which I think I've seen before somewhere also. Might be on a Panasonic, or was it a Nikon or Pentax maybe? The A7 video button that was perfect a couple of years ago (yes, I mentioned that on this forum then and I got some replies :) ) was now terrible and has been moved to a better place on the A9. Then there was the shutter speed and frames per second that is even on par with the E-M1 II. Sensational that too.

Yes, it's a nice camera, but he talked about it as if Sony just invented all that stuff.

Now I'll make you all happy by going to bed. Goodnight :)
 
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