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Sony's new camera A9

Doc Wing

New member
Just being announced! EXMOR RS (Stacked CMOS) 24MP!!

Together with a 100-400 G zoom.
let's get some pics up. I live in Rochester, New York where we have had major rain this year. This past weekend, we went to Charlotte, the northern part of the City and the pier is almost submerged; the water is about 2-3 feet above its usual spot. Yikes!

Taken with a Sony a9

Here you go!_EJL0254 copy.jpg
 

Pradeep

Member
Just got back from a long trip to Namibia. Had taken two A9 bodies along with my A7R2 and Rx1R2 - told you I suffer from GAS ;)

Here is my summary that I just posted on another forum:

I took with me the Sony 70-200 2.8GM and the Canon 100-400 L MkII. Both mounted on separate A9 bodies, the latter via the Metabones V adapter with latest firmware.

The Sony lens has an amazing look especially in soft light. It is a tad soft at 2.8 (perfectly acceptable though). I find the images from this more interesting than I remember from my Canon version in the past. The AF is superb, esp for BIF and frantic action. I love the high frame rate of the camera as it allows capture of a single frame where two birds are fighting for the same piece of fish in the churning waves.

The down side of the A9 AF is that the center portion is much larger than on Canon, so if you enable AF via center point it could be on the bird or on the branch in front, it is too big. There are ?12 smaller AF points within the center block but you cannot pick any of them. This is a major issue since if you have an animal hiding in the bush and want its eye, it may focus instead on the foliage around its face.

With the Canon 100-400L, the AF is better than acceptable, it is miles ahead of what it used to be with my A7R2. Leaving it on the center point, it actually uses any of the 12 points to focus (cannot pick one). I used it extensively on this tour and was very happy with it. It does hunt a bit in low-light or poor contrast areas. Having said that, I got great shots of Genets running about in the tree under a floodlight at ISO6400 (it was pitch dark otherwise).

The great thing about Sony's manual focus is that the focus magnifier is really good. So when shooting the sand dunes in a very strong wind, even on a tripod the only way to get accurate focus at 400mm (with the Canon lens) was to go manual.

Will the A9 perform as well as the native body with third party lenses? Absolutely not, would be foolish to expect that. However, I was very pleasantly surprised at how well it did.

For me it is a no-brainer at this point. The Sony 100-400 is probably going to be shipped later this month or the next. It is said to be lighter than the Canon and if the IQ holds up will be a great lens.

As far as the superteles go, I gave up on those a while ago, sold my 600MkII two years ago, will never go there again. Too much weight, besides I don't need super close-ups of birds. As I said, I am not a pro.

Anybody sitting on the fence about the A9 should think strongly about it. At least that is my humble opinion.


Hope to post some images later this week. I tell you it was simply great not carrying all that heavy equipment everywhere. I could put ALL my camera bodies (four of them, five if you count the wife's RX100), the two big lenses and all the smaller lenses plus SD card holders and my small ext drives in one bag and lug it all on my back! Could never do that with Canon gear.
 

Pradeep

Member
Follow up to my post above. I stand corrected. After digging through the manual for the third time (and pointers by a gent on another forum), I have figured out how to enable a smaller central spot for AF on the Sony cameras. It is a feature also available on the A7R2 but since I only ever did landscapes with it, never looked into it.

You can pick 'Expand AF point' or 'Lock-on AF mode' and then move the big wheel button left or right to pick a medium or small spot. However, it is still not the smallest (as on my Canon 1DX2) and you cannot pick this in the 'Center AF' point mode. The manual is unfortunately not very clear on this either.

Anyway, much better than I thought, and is a big help, only wish I had discovered this on my trip instead of after!
 

iiiNelson

Well-known member
Follow up to my post above. I stand corrected. After digging through the manual for the third time (and pointers by a gent on another forum), I have figured out how to enable a smaller central spot for AF on the Sony cameras. It is a feature also available on the A7R2 but since I only ever did landscapes with it, never looked into it.

You can pick 'Expand AF point' or 'Lock-on AF mode' and then move the big wheel button left or right to pick a medium or small spot. However, it is still not the smallest (as on my Canon 1DX2) and you cannot pick this in the 'Center AF' point mode. The manual is unfortunately not very clear on this either.

Anyway, much better than I thought, and is a big help, only wish I had discovered this on my trip instead of after!
This works in flexible AF mode as well and you can put the AF point anywhere including the center point.
 

Pradeep

Member
This works in flexible AF mode as well and you can put the AF point anywhere including the center point.
Thanks, Tre. Yes, it does work in Flexible AF or Lock-in AF mode only and not 'expand AF'. Also does not work with just selection of the Center AF point.

Still, offers good possibilities. The next version or firmware update may indeed offer more.
 

iiiNelson

Well-known member
So I've been watching multiple A9 reviews over the last 2 months now that people have quite a bit more time with it. To summarize I believe that Sony has left few complaints except the request for long fast primes 300mm and above. That says a lot about how much mirrorless has advanced and matured beyond where people thought was possible just a few years ago. Even hardcore Canon/Nikon fanboys rave about the maturation of mirrorless with the A9 which says a lot about the camera. It's another one that'll secretly have a litany of closet fans like the A7RII did.

I personally am indifferent about the Sony menus and agree that they COULD be cleaner or organized differently. I think the biggest set of complaints come from people that are used to their other system. In reality the menus in the Alpha series haven't changed all that much since 2011 outside of a few added features. A lot of it comes with the territory when the camera is designed to be a true hybrid shooter that can go from photography to 4k video and back to photography seamlessly. Quite a few reviews all out states they should make the menu do this or that "like Canon/Nikon" but I guess the point is that potential users are worried about shortening their learning curve. One review mentioned they found Leica menus to be difficult to get used to as well so that piqued my interest as I found nothing about Leica menus to be hard to learn but I came to Leica from panasonic which has a similar menu system. I really don't think the menus in a Sony are any more difficult to pick up than an advanced Canon/Nikon/Fuji/Olympus... you just have to know there are added and more involved video features with the Sony cameras in most cases... and some Sony branded terminology is different i.e. Sony Steadyshot v. Nikon VR v. Canon IS.

Just my opinion though.
 

k-hawinkler

Well-known member
Thanks Tre.
The A9 = ILCE-9 is simply a marvelous tool.
I wish the wheel on the top left was less fiddly.

My preference would have been to leave the selection of focus modes and continuous shooting speeds where it was, namely in the two rows panel.

The Olympus E-M1II makes that very easy with the Super Control Panel.

What I find most amazing about the A9, even more so than about the E-M1II, is its focusing ability and that one can get useable images at ISO 25,600.
 

iiiNelson

Well-known member
Thanks Tre.
The A9 = ILCE-9 is simply a marvelous tool.
I wish the wheel on the top left was less fiddly.

My preference would have been to leave the selection of focus modes and continuous shooting speeds where it was, namely in the two rows panel.

The Olympus E-M1II makes that very easy with the Super Control Panel.

What I find most amazing about the A9, even more so than about the E-M1II, is its focusing ability and that one can get useable images at ISO 25,600.
I haven't tried the newest Olympus EM-1 but I have tested the original one so I'll take your word for it.

Regarding the Sony cameras though I find I rarely need anything more than the Function menu for anything other than formatting SD cards or turning off Live Settings Preview when shooting off camera flash photography. I assume with the A9 that they can both be assigned as a "My Menu" function further making the changes in settings occur more quickly. Also the 93% sensor coverage for autofocus points is revolutionary. At this point the next step is to have that work just as quickly for video and also limit the potential banding issues even further.

I expect the A9s (if it happens) to make the jump to 18-20MP and maybe become the first hybrid camera to output up to 6K maybe. A few cameras are already putting out 6K->4K and Panasonic has a camera slotted between the GH5 and the Varicam cameras that will output 5.7K. This will further highlight the video dominance Sony is doing in their cameras.
 

Pradeep

Member
I am mainly a stills shooter and don't much care for the video capabilities of my cameras. I am not able to do justice to video, simply put. I do occasionally shoot a segment but it sits on my computer, never going anywhere.

For me, the journey from Canon to Sony has been exciting - though not entirely a smooth ride. The A9 has been a revolutionary product and has performed very well for me in the field. I am still not entirely convinced my 70-200 2.8 is the best copy but am willing to live with it for now. The other lenses have been just perfect.

The menu system has improved greatly and it is my own inability to go through with it in detail that has led to some embarrassment :eek: I actually like the 'My Menu items' section and the 'custom keys' although frustratingly not all menu options are assignable and yet things like 'Eye AF' can only be accessed through a custom key assignment. There is hope for the future though which is the main thing.

I think the biggest difference in the Sony philosophy is that they seem to be listening to the user much more than Canon has.
 

iiiNelson

Well-known member
I am mainly a stills shooter and don't much care for the video capabilities of my cameras. I am not able to do justice to video, simply put. I do occasionally shoot a segment but it sits on my computer, never going anywhere.

For me, the journey from Canon to Sony has been exciting - though not entirely a smooth ride. The A9 has been a revolutionary product and has performed very well for me in the field. I am still not entirely convinced my 70-200 2.8 is the best copy but am willing to live with it for now. The other lenses have been just perfect.

The menu system has improved greatly and it is my own inability to go through with it in detail that has led to some embarrassment :eek: I actually like the 'My Menu items' section and the 'custom keys' although frustratingly not all menu options are assignable and yet things like 'Eye AF' can only be accessed through a custom key assignment. There is hope for the future though which is the main thing.

I think the biggest difference in the Sony philosophy is that they seem to be listening to the user much more than Canon has.
I agree and I primarily shoot stills as well. Ive been practicing on video editing in some of my spare time but I truthfully get somewhat stir crazy by sitting behind a desk for long periods of time when there's no goal or tangible end in sight.

Sony oistening to owners and users (current or potential) is one of the reasons that I keep sticking with Sony as of now. I've entertained some other makers over the last year or so but there's too much uncertainty in their innovative direction going forward for me.

When I mentioned the video that is mainly because the A9 is only about 4 frames off from movie frame rates at its fastest burst rate. As sensors gain more resolution, transfer speeds increase, and storage capacity continues to grow it's not out of the question to expect that the ability for cameras to be able to merge short 3-15 second videos for immediate consumption for both Photo and video purpose will be gained in time. Sure we can just hit the movie button but maybe we won't need to in the future. Perhaps you can just connect your camera through the app and it'll output at your preferred resolution of anywhere from 8k to 1080p at 24-60fps and you have the stills as well in camera for that "decisive moment" when needed.
 

Pradeep

Member
I agree and I primarily shoot stills as well. Ive been practicing on video editing in some of my spare time but I truthfully get somewhat stir crazy by sitting behind a desk for long periods of time when there's no goal or tangible end in sight.

Sony oistening to owners and users (current or potential) is one of the reasons that I keep sticking with Sony as of now. I've entertained some other makers over the last year or so but there's too much uncertainty in their innovative direction going forward for me.

When I mentioned the video that is mainly because the A9 is only about 4 frames off from movie frame rates at its fastest burst rate. As sensors gain more resolution, transfer speeds increase, and storage capacity continues to grow it's not out of the question to expect that the ability for cameras to be able to merge short 3-15 second videos for immediate consumption for both Photo and video purpose will be gained in time. Sure we can just hit the movie button but maybe we won't need to in the future. Perhaps you can just connect your camera through the app and it'll output at your preferred resolution of anywhere from 8k to 1080p at 24-60fps and you have the stills as well in camera for that "decisive moment" when needed.
Interesting you point that out Tre.

On my recent trip I accidentally had the camera on at the 'high' burst rate initially and wasn't aware of how many frames that means because I also had it on 'nearly silent' shooting. It was only when I was looking at the images in my room at the end of the day that I realized I had shot off almost 2000 frames in less than two hours!

However, what is even more interesting is that in Lightroom when you view the images in the 'fit screen' mode, all you have to do is to scroll up or down on the trackpad (I was on a Macbook Pro) and the program displays the successive frames in a movie-like mode. If you go forward with the arrow key it takes longer. This way, it is quite easy to see which frame has the animal looking at you with its ears forward etc. Quite fascinating to do this because as you point out, it is almost the same as watching a video clip.

I can see myself making a very short gif animation consisting of just a few frames with this.
 

Pradeep

Member
Finally managed to go through my photos. Posting a couple of images from Sossusvlei. The dunes were over a mile away from us and over a thousand feet high although they looked small from where we stood. There was a very strong wind blowing and I had to hold my rig down even though it was on a sturdy tripod. In the second photo you can see a 'sand lip' as it is called where the sand is blowing off the edge of the dune. Can only visualize it on full screen.

On the A9 with the Canon 100-400 at full tele, the wind was so strong and the edge so fuzzy that autofocus was difficult. Had to use manual focus which is such a breeze with the Sony.

PS. These are two different dunes (not the same one from a different angle as one would think).



 

iiiNelson

Well-known member
I'm assuming others have read this already but I had not. I'm sort of scratching my head at how DPReview has about as many cons as pros for the A9 and it retained a Gold rating (although it's rating is somehow lower than that of the A7RII despite being the better camera).

https://m.dpreview.com/reviews/sony-a9-full-review/12

On another note it seems that we can now map the live view settings effects menu as a function item in firmware 4.00. Maybe this was available in a previous version but I updated from 3.10 to 4.00 so it's new to me. At this point I literally only have to jump into the main menu to format SD cards or change video settings when necessary.
 

k-hawinkler

Well-known member
I'm assuming others have read this already but I had not. I'm sort of scratching my head at how DPReview has about as many cons as pros for the A9 and it retained a Gold rating (although it's rating is somehow lower than that of the A7RII despite being the better camera).

https://m.dpreview.com/reviews/sony-a9-full-review/12

On another note it seems that we can now map the live view settings effects menu as a function item in firmware 4.00. Maybe this was available in a previous version but I updated from 3.10 to 4.00 so it's new to me. At this point I literally only have to jump into the main menu to format SD cards or change video settings when necessary.
Oh no Tre.
Based on this review I should dump my currently favorite camera, the A9. :LOL:
But I won't, as almost all their Cons are irrelevant to my way of shooting. :clap:
 

Bugleone

Well-known member
.........'shooting uncompressed RAW drops burs speed to 12fps'

That slow eh?.....makes you wonder what DPreview thinks would be a respectable burst speed.......
 

iiiNelson

Well-known member
Yeah I didn't get why that was a con and quite frankly I rarely shoot anything in uncompressed RAW. Never had an issue with the lossy files myself. I really think certain cameras have to be exposed differently depending on the characteristics of the sensor. There's not really a One size fits all way of shooting. For Sony (and Leica) I've always slightly underexposed and chose to fix in post when necessary because shadow recovery was always excellent with Sony sensors and aesthetically pleasing to my eye with Kodak CCD. May not always be technically correct but it works for me.
 
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