Sony Announces A9 "Sports" Camera

Good point about "instinctive" operation. That comes with practice and some degree of customization, in a Nikon or Sony camera. In the end, it's a matter of compose, focus and shoot. To that end, the ergonomics are very similar. The size is not an impediment. I am able to operate either camera wearing gloves (thin, tactical gloves) during cold weather. I'm comfortable that I can concentrate on the shot, not the mechanics.

 

Both the Nikon and Sony have long menus with often obtuse meanings. You have to read the manual and sometimes just try things to see what works. Ultimately you use the menu less and less once you have selected options that meet your day to day needs. The Sony has many more ways to customize the camera than Nikon (7 buttons v one). Things I use often are delegated to a programmable button. For things which have multiple choices, like focus area, I delegate to a simplified menu which can be called with a single button (Fn) and displayed on the back or in the viewfinder. Some of these options are available on the top and back panel of the Nikon. To Sony's credit, they have done the same thing with the Sony A9, via a knob on the upper deck.

 

I find it very useful to shoot bracketed exposures for landscapes, which requires use of the programmable menu. It's somewhat easier on the Nikon, holding a button on the top panel while turning the thumb wheel, and changing the shutter to continuous mode using the knob on the top left. In either camera, the sequence of 3 to 9 shots is executed with a single press of the shutter release. The time it takes to set up is about the same for Sony and Nikon.

 

The A9 will geotag images through a Bluetooth connection to a smart phone. There is a dongle for the Nikon through the 10 pin connector to do the same thing. With the A7, you can only do it in post, Lightroom, referring to a data file generated by a stand-alone GPS unit. Obviously neither bracketed shots nor geotagging has much application in action photography, much less with a film camera. If Sony were to provide the protocol, it would be easy to use a Raspberry Pie processor to geotag images.

 

The A9 (and A7xxx) will shoot video at any time, using a dedicated release button, without any other selection. That has enormous potential for action photography. Since 4K produces 10 MP images at 30 fps (or more), stills can be selected from the video with ample quality for publication.

Ed, good point (RE last paragraph). Stills and motion are slowly merging. Phillip Greenspun talked about that almost 20 years ago. It's inevitable, given what digital sensors can do.

 

And 20fps in RAW with a 240 frame buffer is coming close to RED territory - imagine an A7SIII that does 24fps with a 500 frame buffer. That's not too shabby, if the data can get passed to the SD card quickly enough. Otherwise you're limited to 20 seconds of shooting, which is not quite enough for most applications.

I can shoot 4K for up to 30 minutes per clip, with an A7Rii using SDXC UH3 cards. In camera data rate for video is 50 Mb/s, 100 Mb/s with an external recorder. 20 seconds would be more than enough to span most sports plays. The little red button is hard to use, but there are levers which clip into the flash shoe to make it easier. You don't need flash for outdoor sports, and the A9 has a PC jack for remote flash or radio triggers (the United Center in Chicago has flash units in the ceiling which can be used by official photographers). Auto focus, auto exposure and image stabilization are available in video mode.

Ed, good point (RE last paragraph). Stills and motion are slowly merging. Phillip Greenspun talked about that almost 20 years ago. It's inevitable, given what digital sensors can do.

 

And 20fps in RAW with a 240 frame buffer is coming close to RED territory - imagine an A7SIII that does 24fps with a 500 frame buffer. That's not too shabby, if the data can get passed to the SD card quickly enough. Otherwise you're limited to 20 seconds of shooting, which is not quite enough for most applications.

 

Consider the 8mm movie camera only shoots at 18fps and the pro 35mm movie camera only at 24fps. At 20fps it's almost a 12K video camera.

Bebu, I don't understand your point. Can you clarify?

Bebu, I don't understand your point. Can you clarify?

 

As I read it, the A9 has close to cinematic video frame rate (20 fps v 24 fps), but is full frame, 24 MP. Karim missed the fact that 35 mm movies are only half-frame, that the original Leica was marketed as a double-frame format. The A9 will only sustain that rate for 25 seconds and about the same time to recover, which would require a highly disjointed shooting schedule.

Body looks nice, but what sports shooter or PJ type will abandon their CaNik cams for an immature system with a sparse lens catalog and no fast super teles? No glass, no sale.

Pro sports shooters have a much greater influence on the market than their minuscule headcount would imply. On PNET, one is led to believe that's the only important application for cameras, everything else is gear-envy ;).

 

Here's how much it would actually cost a pro to switch from Canon to Sony

 

This article in DPReview gives a lot of insight in to the issue of sports shooting. Two factors stand out - weather resistance and long lenses, Even more fundamental is the cost of trading existing equipment for an entirely new system. Many pro shooters and PJ's don't own their gear, but are issued it from a pool.

 

A PJ needs nothing fancy. A couple of bodies, three lenses - e.g., 16-35/4, 24-70/2.8 and 70-200/4 (or 2.8) from the Sony lineup. Even that's a lot to lug around in a shoulder bag. You need speed and high ISO, but resolution little better than postcard quality.

 

The A9 will be popular among wedding and event photographers. I think too, contract school photographers will be interested, primarily for the high ISO and completely silent shutter. The video button is very conveniently located, and there is a backside focus button - essential for continuous shooting. The A9 (and A7Rii) have Eye Focus, which works great for groups, kids and concerts.

Ed, I don't think that anyone is going to dump the D5 they just bought. But those who are upgrading from a D3 (yes some people are still happy with that model) might think differently. New systems rarely take off with a bang. The A9 (and E-M1 II) is primarily intended at new photographers, IMHO.

 

I also think that press photographers will eventually bypass system cameras and go straight for models like the RX10 and RX100.

 

But I think you're right that wedding and event photographers (e.g concerts, conferences, live theatre, film sets, parties) will have no problem flocking to the FE mount, as they are already doing.