Sony A9

The Sony A9 is now shipping.

Sony's new flagship should be considered the second wave in an attack by mirrorless makers on the fortresses of the best, fastest, most full-featured DSLRs. The first was the "overdeveloped" Olympus E-M1 Mark II.

Sony's A9 is an attempt to match the speed of professional DSLRs. Its stacked CMOS full-frame sensor offers 20 FPS, no image blackout when shooting, fast AF in extremely low light, and, using electronic shutter, a totally silent shutter release. PetaPixel immediately did a comparo with the Nikon D5, and concluded that "the a9 was able to match the D5 in tracking AF and high ISO performance."

Call it the Civic Type R of cameras, if you will. An engineering-driven marvel, the Type R is a modest "hot hatch" based on an economy car that just set the record at the Nürburgring for a lap by a FWD car.

The A9's cost is reasonable for professionals, although for the rest of us it's also clearly another instance of the new order wherein the makers are going to give us a lot but ask a lot in return. (Like the E-M1 Mark II and Panasonic GH5.) Sony is going after professionals now, it's clear. If it wasn't already clear from all the premium, quality-no-object lens introductions lately. It's getting to be a dust-up for sure.

Mike

Original contents copyright 2017 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

emptyspaces: "My video team uses the A7R II and A7S II for shooting 4K video. The A7R II has a crop mode which can come in handy, while the A7S II is optimized for video in many ways. Both cameras are superb, and the A7S II especially shines in the video realm. We've cranked the ISO up over 100,000 before and been able to use the footage. I believe the native ISO of that sensor is 3200. The A7S II does something unique for video—it uses the entire sensor. Most other cams just grab an 8MP or 2MP patch from the center. By using the whole sensor, and keeping it to only 12MP, it gathers the extra light often needed for 4K video. The audio preamps in both cameras are surprisingly good. We often shoot with a Sennheiser wireless transmitter minijacked straight in. Nice cameras all.

"That A9 is probably a cracker, but nothing our video program will need."

Comments

[Herb Cunningham]

I think the cameras have vastly outrun the abilities of 95% of the photographers already.
When I get sooo good the AR7II or the Pen F are insufficient, I will let you know (there will be a statue of me in front of the white house then also).

[Mike Walsh]

Hi Mike

Makes the Em1 & Gh5 look fantastic value for money, and before people say "....oh, but full frame!" Maybe they should check your previous post - a cellphone getting a magazine cover !

All the best

[JG]

You forgot to mention that the Civic Type R is so fugly that even if I was given one, I would still have to get rid of it.

[Richard Howe]

You left out the second "n" in "Nürnberg"; also it's "berg" not "burg" …

[Stan B.]

I'll always be amazed not by what photographers can do with the latest, but what they can achieve with the basics.

[Ken]

For the curious, about the car testing track at Nurburgring:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nürburgring

[PC Nilssen]

Richard, Nürnberg is a city in Bavaria, Germany. Nürburgring, however, is correctly spelled and is a motor sport track in the state of Rheinland-Pfalz in Germany.

[Jim]

The type R took the record for the fastest STOCK fwd vehicle at the ring. There's plenty of non-stock fwd cars that are faster. And the real deciding factor in this type of test is really who they pick as a driver.