Sony introduces the a9

[bjornthun]

Sony is trying hard to dethrone Nikon as the number two in photo equipment and it does look like they are making steady progress.

What worries me is that Nikon has been trying to keep its D-series sensor manufacturing out of Sony since the D3 - first Renesas then Toshiba manufacturing the sensors. But both of these companies sensor divisions now belong to Sony. The biggest innovation in the A9 seems to be in its sensor technology ... it will be interesting to see what Nikon does about its sensor strategy.

Anyway, with regards to the Sony A9 announcement:

1) Will AF be as good as claimed with fast lenses such as 300mm f2.8 or 600mm f4? It is curious that Sony is only showing a relatively slow lens with the A9.
2) In 14-bit Uncompressed RAW mode the max fps is 12 I believe?

Wish there was someone like Rob Galbraith who could do a serious test of the AF capabilities of the Sony, and compare with Canon and Nikon.

Regards
Dibyendu

We won't know exactly how good the AF is with long lenses, until Sony actally make native 300/2.8 and 500/4 lenses. Currently there are only adapted A-mount or Canon EOS supertele primes to choose from. I certainly would not buy A-mount lenses, since that mount is virtually dead.

[bjornthun]

This all adds up to a luminance that is 2x higher than the XGA OLED Tru-Finder from the α7R II, creating a viewfinder image with a brightness level that is nearly identical to the actual scene being framed, ensuring the most natural shooting experience.

I'm not sure if it is a good news.  More luminance, more eye strain...

3.69 mp sounds very much like the Fuji GFX EVF. I think you would have to try it to actually know how it works for you. Could too much contrast be your problem, or what we in the film days called steep graduation of an emulsion?

Considering the future, your challenge with the EVF really would have to be solved.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

I'd say the opposite: the EVF technology needs to be massively improved in order to stop being a challenge for many users.

Users can rarely be relied upon to improve

[Ilkka Nissilä]

What worries me is that Nikon has been trying to keep its D-series sensor manufacturing out of Sony since the D3 - first Renesas then Toshiba manufacturing the sensors. But both of these companies sensor divisions now belong to Sony. The biggest innovation in the A9 seems to be in its sensor technology ... it will be interesting to see what Nikon does about its sensor strategy.

I don't think it's in Sony's best interest not to sell its sensor technology to third parties or not collaborate with Nikon and others on the topic of sensor design and manufacturing. Even in the best case Sony can probably make more money by selling sensors to camera manufacturers than from their own camera business. But of course they can try to change that. For Canon, making their own sensors worked well initially but in recent years they have been behind in some aspects of sensor performance (especially base ISO dynamic range). I think for Nikon and other manufacturers of cameras, it is beneficial to spread out sensor manufacturing to other companies so that they're less sensitive to the success of any one sensor manufacturer. Sony seems to be very ambitious now in their sensor business and acquired some other companies' facilities to expand production, but then camera sales has been on a decline so I don't know if they now need that capacity any more. Consolidation of sensor manufacturing to one place is a really bad idea IMO as then it makes everyone who use that facility more vulnerable to earthquakes, flooding etc.

1) Will AF be as good as claimed with fast lenses such as 300mm f2.8 or 600mm f4? It is curious that Sony is only showing a relatively slow lens with the A9.

It seems the camera isn't really designed for very large lenses, just looking at the size of the body and  geometry of the grip. I think if the mirrorless autofocus system allowed the practical use of 300/2.8, 500/4 for the typical applications of such lenses, including fast approaching or departing subjects, they would have introduced such lenses for the E mount instead of making the A mount body A99 II in 2016.

[Frode]

3.69 mp sounds very much like the Fuji GFX EVF. I think you would have to try it to actually know how it works for you. Could too much contrast be your problem, or what we in the film days called steep graduation of an emulsion?

Considering the future, your challenge with the EVF really would have to be solved.

What about a hybrid VF, both optical and video (EVF)? Until then....OVF for me.

[golunvolo]

The "silent shutter" is so tempting... It will be a great feature for stage shootting

[Frode]

Sony is trying hard to dethrone Nikon as the number two in photo equipment and it does look like they are making steady progress.

What worries me is that Nikon has been trying to keep its D-series sensor manufacturing out of Sony since the D3 - first Renesas then Toshiba manufacturing the sensors. But both of these companies sensor divisions now belong to Sony. The biggest innovation in the A9 seems to be in its sensor technology ... it will be interesting to see what Nikon does about its sensor strategy.

Anyway, with regards to the Sony A9 announcement:

1) Will AF be as good as claimed with fast lenses such as 300mm f2.8 or 600mm f4? It is curious that Sony is only showing a relatively slow lens with the A9.
2) In 14-bit Uncompressed RAW mode the max fps is 12 I believe?

Wish there was someone like Rob Galbraith who could do a serious test of the AF capabilities of the Sony, and compare with Canon and Nikon.

Regards
Dibyendu

As we all know, Nikon kept themselves a long time in "only" the DX- world and people got frustrated and thought it might be the "end" of Nikon........

Then, when Nikon was ready, they delivered the D3!

Folks, enjoy your Nikon- gear, and be certain that Nikon WILL deliver when due time (that is, when they can serve us with the best there is) ;-). Can`t wait until Nikon produces a silent, mirrorless camera with a hybrid viewfinder (real OVF and video). Hmmm, when I come to think of it; not sure I want the camera to all silent......:-)))

[tommiejeep]

The "silent shutter" is so tempting... It will be a great feature for stage shootting

Silent shutter is very useful.  Been using for Musical Events ever since FW 4 for the EM-1s.  One of the reasons I bought the a7rii (not the 42 MP) .  It is great on the Pen F and touch screen for candids/Street.   I think the guys that shoot the Nikon 1 know what I am taking about.  I can see it being very useful for some indoor sporting events and Golf .

[bjornthun]

I don't think Sony will cease selling sensors to Nikon, or to manufacture them on Nikon's behalf. Sony is well aware that a competitor would quickly step in and make sensors for Nikon.

[Ron Scubadiver]

Waiting for the D820 or whatever it will be called here.  I don't think an EVF is in my future, yet.

[bjornthun]

I'd say the opposite: the EVF technology needs to be massively improved in order to stop being a challenge for many users.

Users can rarely be relied upon to improve

Well, the OVF gives me eyestrain, and I can't reliably focus with it, but Nikon and Canon haven't given it an extreme makeover, so far.

Sometimes users stay the way they are.

[gryphon1911]

While the marketing published specs might look impressive (same as the way that Olympus made the EM1.2 look impressive), if you delve deeper into the specs, what most people would use, significantly decreases the "hero" specs from the press release.   It is no better than a Canikon flagship.

On top of that, without having an extensive test of the AF system, we don't know if they will still be suffering from C-AF performance behind Canikon.

I too, have a feeling that when Nikon is ready, we are going to get a killer FX mirrorless camera that will be backward compatible with the F-mount.  I feel they have learned a lot from the Nikon 1 series cameras and will translate some of the mirrorless stuff from that to a larger sensor camera....if they have not already done so.   Something nags my brain and I think that they already have something prototyped out.  The DSLR is still not dead for a very large demographic of users.

[Ethan]

What irks me a lot is the blurb about tech advancement in the camera gear field and specifically sensor.

Nobody bother to lift the hood and talk about the RAW capture in-camera after being exposed to the sensor. I am talkiing about the in-camera software which translates the captured image. This is where Nikon shines and Sony does not. The sad part is Nikon do not make much of a song and dance about how they are using the sensor to produce the images. And Sony is still working on it.
The analogy of American gaz guzzlers vs Europen muscle cars.

I am not even mentioning that both Canon and Nikon are camera systems and Sony is not for now.

If one cannot take a proper picture with any camera, then he/she definitely do not need the latest and greatest.

So there, Sony A9 to A999 Pffffffftttt. Add Hasselblad - Fuji - Olympus - Panasonic or whatever.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

---

Sometimes users stay the way they are.

That kind of snide remarks we could do well without. Is it so hard to accept that the EVF is not yet at perfection level?

To make myself even more clear, I certainly hope EVF-based systems eventually will function as well as they should do and be a step forward for all users.

[bjornthun]

That kind of snide remarks we could do well without. Is it so hard to accept that the EVF is not yet at perfection level?

To make myself even more clear, I certainly hope EVF-based systems eventually will function as well as they should do and be a step forward for all users.

I have made no snide remark.

EVF works much better than an OVF for me, and I'm not alone. Please accept that.

This was my last contribution to this thread.