The new Sony A9 - What are your thoughts

The A9 is in a bit of a no mans land at the moment. It's being targeted at the 1DX MkII and D5 but lacks the long lens line up, which will come I'm sure. It doesn't have a huge sensor advantage over the other two, gains a bit here and loses a bit there so it's all down to having demonstrably better AF etc than those cameras.

Obviously people are buying it but I'd be interested to know what they are buying it for?
 
Gaz J said:
The A9 is in a bit of a no mans land at the moment. It's being targeted at the 1DX MkII and D5 but lacks the long lens line up, which will come I'm sure. It doesn't have a huge sensor advantage over the other two, gains a bit here and loses a bit there so it's all down to having demonstrably better AF etc than those cameras.

Obviously people are buying it but I'd be interested to know what they are buying it for?
Click to expand...

Sony are marketing The A9 for sports, that's probably the most demanding of applications for any camera, meaning that its good enough for other events like weddings, portrait shoots etc if 24mp is a adequate resolution.
I don't agree its in a no mans land as there have already been professionals using it for weddings.

The longer lenses are coming so those options will be available for key events like the Olympics which Sony is supposed to be targeting. As the saying goes, all good things come to those who wait... it wont happen overnight.
 
Last edited:
Gaz J said:
The A9 is in a bit of a no mans land at the moment. It's being targeted at the 1DX MkII and D5 but lacks the long lens line up, which will come I'm sure. It doesn't have a huge sensor advantage over the other two, gains a bit here and loses a bit there so it's all down to having demonstrably better AF etc than those cameras.

Obviously people are buying it but I'd be interested to know what they are buying it for?
Click to expand...
Loses on what?

The sensor is amazing and better then the 1dx2 and d5.

its a fast action camera. The lenses will come dont worry.

This time last year the g master lenses where announced and there was no f2.8 zooms at all. Now there is f2.8 zooms from 16 all the way to 200mm! Now its time for the 400 f2.8(that hardly anyone will buy lol) that will come out.

The A9 can shoot landscape, portrait and street as well u know?

Its not just about sports! infact wedding toggers will LOVE THIS CAMERA
 
jonneymendoza said:
Loses on what?

The sensor is amazing and better then the 1dx2 and d5.

its a fast action camera. The lenses will come dont worry.

This time last year the g master lenses where announced and there was no f2.8 zooms at all. Now there is f2.8 zooms from 16 all the way to 200mm! Now its time for the 400 f2.8(that hardly anyone will buy lol) that will come out.

The A9 can shoot landscape, portrait and street as well u know?

Its not just about sports! infact wedding toggers will LOVE THIS CAMERA
Click to expand...

The 1DX MkII has better dynamic range overall up to ISO 1600 to start with. There are better sensors out there in cheaper bodies for wedding photographers that will deliver just as well. Of course for some people the latest has to be the greatest even when it's not the case.
 
Gaz J said:
The 1DX MkII has better dynamic range overall up to ISO 1600 to start with. There are better sensors out there in cheaper bodies for wedding photographers that will deliver just as well. Of course for some people the latest has to be the greatest even when it's not the case.
Click to expand...
Not on the charts I've seen. Which ones show that?
 
Can't believe you guys still dont know how to use dxo properly.

The Canon does have more DR up to iso 1600.
 
dancook said:
10k for a couple of A9s which will be outdated in a year :D how will they ever make any money?
Click to expand...
2 years ;) not all photographers will want 2x Sony A9's, some may use 1x A9 as a primary body with a backup body if it had a problem, say a A7II or something.... every individual has different thoughts on risk management and what tools the need for the job.
 
Riz_Guru said:
Its good enough for other events like weddings, portrait shoots etc if 24mp is a adequate resolution.
Click to expand...

Of course 24mp is 'adequate' for portraits/weddings. Maybe I've just been lucky but I haven't had a bride ask me to print her album onto the side of a double decker bus yet ;0)

If you think about it, most customers will want some sort of wedding album/book and a selection of prints up to say 36"x24". Any modern APS-C system could deliver that resolution (ignoring the actual output differences between crop/FF etc) so I'd be pretty upset if I dropped £4.5k on an A9 and it couldn't do that.
 
stevelmx5 said:
Of course 24mp is 'adequate' for portraits/weddings. Maybe I've just been lucky but I haven't had a bride ask me to print her album onto the side of a double decker bus yet ;0)

If you think about it, most customers will want some sort of wedding album/book and a selection of prints up to say 36"x24". Any modern APS-C system could deliver that resolution (ignoring the actual output differences between crop/FF etc) so I'd be pretty upset if I dropped £4.5k on an A9 and it couldn't do that.
Click to expand...
I've delivered prints on a7s. Wedding ones too and the married couple loved it.
 
jonneymendoza said:
You can fit a battery grip if you really want same size as a dslr to hold your large lenses
Click to expand...

Good point but I was thinking of the lens mount and chassis - are these strong/rigid enough? For example, when using my 7D2 and large lenses I am careful to grab the lens not the camera when I lift it. With my 1DX I just grab the nearest bit I can get hold of, swing it up and shoot - this is normally the landscape grip.

A little while back I did look into the A7 series as I thought the A7R2 as it makes a great landscape camera - well it certainly does! My two concerns were that I would have to use adapted lenses, just fine for landscape but not very good as a wildlife backup. Also the camera did not feel like it was designed to cope with heavy lenses and published internal diagrams seemed to support this. Of course I could be completely wrong but would I take the chance when this is likely to be on the front?

http://www.wexphotographic.com/canon-ef-800mm-f56-l-is-usm-lens-1024502/

To me the A7R2 was simply an excellent camera that did everything I wanted - but only for one aspect of my photography. This is in no way denigrating the camera, it is just not designed with me in mind. The A9 is being touted as a high speed action camera, perhaps it is, but we won't find out until we have high speed (response) lenses of suitable focal lengths to find out. I hope they will come because Sony are shaking up the market and the more they do that then the more users of all brands will benefit!
 
stevelmx5 said:
...and that photo on the wall is 4 foot by 3 foot that I took on a Canon 40D...



My point is that it's not really voodoo from Sony for a FF sensor to deliver the quality of shots required!
Click to expand...

Nice!
One of the best/nicest/most evocative large prints I have yet seen was at a photographer's shop in Llangollen some years ago. It was a portrait orientation shot of Bantry Bay in mono. The print size was the same as a domestic door (that was what it was mounted on!) and it was taken with a Nikon D70 6mp - looked very nice to me!
 
johnf3f said:
Good point but I was thinking of the lens mount and chassis - are these strong/rigid enough? For example, when using my 7D2 and large lenses I am careful to grab the lens not the camera when I lift it. With my 1DX I just grab the nearest bit I can get hold of, swing it up and shoot - this is normally the landscape grip.

A little while back I did look into the A7 series as I thought the A7R2 as it makes a great landscape camera - well it certainly does! My two concerns were that I would have to use adapted lenses, just fine for landscape but not very good as a wildlife backup. Also the camera did not feel like it was designed to cope with heavy lenses and published internal diagrams seemed to support this. Of course I could be completely wrong but would I take the chance when this is likely to be on the front?

http://www.wexphotographic.com/canon-ef-800mm-f56-l-is-usm-lens-1024502/

To me the A7R2 was simply an excellent camera that did everything I wanted - but only for one aspect of my photography. This is in no way denigrating the camera, it is just not designed with me in mind. The A9 is being touted as a high speed action camera, perhaps it is, but we won't find out until we have high speed (response) lenses of suitable focal lengths to find out. I hope they will come because Sony are shaking up the market and the more they do that then the more users of all brands will benefit!
Click to expand...
Yes the Lens mount on the A9 is better then my 5d4 nevermind my A7r2. im not kidding it takes a bit of effort securing a lens on my A9!!
 
jonneymendoza said:
Yes the Lens mount on the A9 is better then my 5d4 nevermind my A7r2. im not kidding it takes a bit of effort securing a lens on my A9!!
Click to expand...

The mount may/may not be very strong but what about the chassis it is bolted to? As I said I simply don't know yet but given the type of lenses that I use I would have to be convinced before considering a purchase (if Sony made the lenses).

This is just a concern for me, with the current range of suitable lenses it is irrelevant - I am sure it is more than up to the job. However if/when they expand their lens range - will it be? I don't know if the A9 was designed with these things in mind. If Sony state in the press that they are then I will take their word for it and knock that one off - it is simply a case of I don't know. For now it is a non issue as there are no lenses to worry about but, hopefully, there will be in the future.
 
Looks pretty robust in terms of the magnesium chassis.
IMG_2306.JPG
 
Sony have added two extra screws to hold the lens mount to the body on the A9, so they have definitely improved that and listened to suggestions.
 
Riz_Guru said:
Looks pretty robust in terms of the magnesium chassis.
View attachment 104896
Click to expand...

That doesn't look too beefy to me - however it is only a picture so we don't know the thickness of the metal and the specifics of the allow used so it may be the strongest body going, or it might not?

The bottom line is that I do not, yet, have the confidence to hang a £10k + SuperTele off the front of it. If Sony clearly stated that it was designed to work with these sorts of things then I would have no worries for reasonable use, but given that they don't make anything like a SuperTele to fit it I have to question whether it was designed with these lenses in mind. The small grip and tiny battery suggest that it is not intended for big lenses - but who really knows?
 
johnf3f said:
That doesn't look too beefy to me - however it is only a picture so we don't know the thickness of the metal and the specifics of the allow used so it may be the strongest body going, or it might not?

The bottom line is that I do not, yet, have the confidence to hang a £10k + SuperTele off the front of it. If Sony clearly stated that it was designed to work with these sorts of things then I would have no worries for reasonable use, but given that they don't make anything like a SuperTele to fit it I have to question whether it was designed with these lenses in mind. The small grip and tiny battery suggest that it is not intended for big lenses - but who really knows?
Click to expand...

I'd imagine a £10k super tele would be mounted to a tripod and the camera would be mounted to the lens.
 
johnf3f said:
That doesn't look too beefy to me - however it is only a picture so we don't know the thickness of the metal and the specifics of the allow used so it may be the strongest body going, or it might not?

The bottom line is that I do not, yet, have the confidence to hang a £10k + SuperTele off the front of it. If Sony clearly stated that it was designed to work with these sorts of things then I would have no worries for reasonable use, but given that they don't make anything like a SuperTele to fit it I have to question whether it was designed with these lenses in mind. The small grip and tiny battery suggest that it is not intended for big lenses - but who really knows?
Click to expand...
You can already mount a super tele canon or Sony a mount lens on it to see
 
johnf3f said:
One of the best/nicest/most evocative large prints I have yet seen was at a photographer's shop in Llangollen some years ago. It was a portrait orientation shot of Bantry Bay in mono. The print size was the same as a domestic door (that was what it was mounted on!) and it was taken with a Nikon D70 6mp - looked very nice to me!
Click to expand...
Don't tell anyone, but you can print as large as you like with only 6 megapixels and the prints will always look good (i.e. no visible pixellation) when viewed from a distance which is appropriate to the size of the print.
 
addicknchips said:
I'd imagine a £10k super tele would be mounted to a tripod and the camera would be mounted to the lens.
Click to expand...

As often as possible but I use my Canon 800mm hand held about a third of the time and often have to grab it quickly to catch a subject. Hence my concerns regarding body/mount strength. Properly set up on a tripod the camera could be made very flimsily and it wouldn't matter but if you need to grab it quick and lift/steer a big lens then...........
 
jonneymendoza said:
You can already mount a super tele canon or Sony a mount lens on it to see
Click to expand...

The Sony mount system confuses me - sorry! So you can put an A mount longish lens (300 F2.8/500 F4) on an A7/A9? I thought an adapter would be needed for that? Also, having tried, the Sony 500 F4 I was not impressed. True it has no stabiliser, at least they got that right (!), but I found it slow responding and AF was far from great, images didn't blow my socks off either - then there is the price...........

Unfortunately I don't know of an owner/retailer that would let me manhandle £15k + worth of gear to see if it falls apart. If you do then let me know I would be interested to try and see, but not at my expense.;)

Let me know if the A mount lenses fit and work when directly connected to an A9/A7 etc - I thought the register distance would require an adapter.
 
Last edited:
johnf3f said:
The Sony mount system confuses me - sorry! So you can put an A mount longish lens (300 F2.8/500 F4) on an A7/A9? I thought an adapter would be needed for that? Also, having tried, the Sony 500 F4 I was not impressed. True it has no stabiliser, at least they got that right (!), but I found it slow responding and AF was far from great, images didn't blow my socks off either - then there is the price...........

Let me know if the A mount lenses fit and work when directly connected to an A9/A7 etc - I thought the register distance would require an adapter.
Click to expand...

They don't work. A and E mount are completely different. You need an adapter with mixed results.
 
twist said:
They don't work. A and E mount are completely different. You need an adapter with mixed results.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I thought that may be the case but I wasn't certain, but it seemed logical.

I have tried a couple of my short lenses, with an adapter, on the A7R2 and was quite impressed for landscape use. Unfortunately the AF was too slow for other uses - though it was accurate.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top