Industry News: Sony officially announces the α9 II

[SecureGSM]

It's not what is seen in its EVF, whose panning lag I could not distinguish from the panning lag of A9's EVF.

By the way, A9's IBIS goes haywire with slow or moderate panning, both horizontally and vertically. Hopefully they fixed that in A9II, otherwise for most sports its IBIS needs to be turned off.

hang on a minute... that's a serious limitation then

 

[vscd]

No need for Sony news on a canon rumors site. Only my humble opinion

 

[Traveler]

What if Sony just locked some of its features (like FPS) and it’s going to release them with a future FW update (possibly after canon releases their sports camera).
1) they don’t put too much stress on their competitors so they won’t develop anything too crazy
2) they can refresh their sales without releasing a new gear (which they’ve done before).

 

[AlanF]

No need for Sony news on a canon rumors site. Only my humble opinion

You are perfectly entitled to your opinion on a matter like this. However, it was started by the site owner and there have been five pages of discussion, suggesting there is some interest here in what Sony does and how it might impinge on our decisions on Canon and other gear.

 

[BillB]

You are perfectly entitled to your opinion on a matter like this. However, it was started by the site owner and there have been five pages of discussion, suggesting there is some interest here in what Sony does and how it might impinge on our decisions on Canon and other gear.

Besides, there does not seem to be all that much else to talk about at the moment.

 

[Kit.]

What if Sony just locked some of its features (like FPS) and it’s going to release them with a future FW update (possibly after canon releases their sports camera).

"What if Sony intentionally releases an inferior products to give up the market to the competitors."

 

[arbitrage]

How are you finding the A7RIV for AF?

I have only held it at the camera store so far. I wasn't going to order one as I was betting on the 36MP A9II rumour and that would have been enough pixels for me. I have now ordered an A7RIV and will have it in my hands next week. I'm not sure if I will end up keeping it or not. Depends on the AF, how disturbing the EVF blackout and lag is for tracking BIF (the Z7 was too distracting and A7RIV should be similar) and how the noise is as ISO climbs and I crop the files. I do want more than 24MPs for some of my shooting but often 24 is enough despite some level of cropping. What I don't need are final images of 40-60MP....I use these high MP cameras to crop and end up wi th 20-30 ideally.

 

[arbitrage]

It's not what is seen in its EVF, whose panning lag I could not distinguish from the panning lag of A9's EVF.

By the way, A9's IBIS goes haywire with slow or moderate panning, both horizontally and vertically. Hopefully they fixed that in A9II, otherwise for most sports its IBIS needs to be turned off.

I've never once turned off IBIS or OSS even for shooting tiny violet-green swallows in flight. You are the first I've ever seen mention this. Defective lens or IBIS unit maybe in the one you used?

 

[Kit.]

I've never once turned off IBIS or OSS even for shooting tiny violet-green swallows in flight. You are the first I've ever seen mention this. Defective lens or IBIS unit maybe in the one you used?

Zeiss 85/1.8 (no lens IS). I asked the Sony salesperson, they said that it's expected and IBIS should be turned off for such panning.

Maybe when you are using a lens with IS, the A9 silently turns IBIS off, and that's why you have not experienced it?

And really, how can the IBIS unit be such "defective" that it only shows on slow panning, with the EVF image jumping back and forth and the camera noticeably vibrating in hands, but when you don't pan it works nice?

 

[privatebydesign]

As far as new releases go the one camera I am thinking of that might make me change it all up system wise is the Fujifilm GFX 100. Talk about disrupting, it has destroyed so many previous medium format issues that it is now, seemingly, a usable daily camera and it would appear a better fit for the style of photography I enjoy the most.

I know storage and file size are often mentioned when talking about new cameras with more MP, for context the GFX 100 16 bit RAW files are over 200MB each.

 

[M. D. Vaden of Oregon]

Sony is really slowing down the innovation... price of success?

I think photographers slow down their thinking price

"What if Sony intentionally releases an inferior products to give up the market to the competitors."

Sony doesn't need to. Canon already took over 20% of their full frame market share in Japan's marketplace the last half of last year alone.

Now that Nikon and Canon are leaping beyond a hurdle that Sony never had too, because Sony didn't have the plethora to evolve, it will become a different playing field as half a dozen companies release bodies and lenses with similar features.

 

[M. D. Vaden of Oregon]

What Sony fail to mention is that its actually only 12 FPS in uncompressed RAW, 20 Compressed RAW is misleading, The 1DXII is actually faster. I dont like this misleading advertising as everywhere you read it says 20FPS RAW, not entirely true.

1DXii 14FPS RAW and 16FPS RAW Mirror lockout
A9 and A9II - 12FPS RAW (20 Compressed RAW) or 10FPS RAW with shutter.

Who the heck spends that much money to shoot at 20FPS compressed RAW file and lose dynamic range and other factors, I want the full RAW file all the time! I'd never shoot with anything less. The older Canon 1Dxii is still faster!

The Canon, and in some ways the NIkon too, are still better cameras than the Sony A9, and probably the A9 ii as well. There's still a lot of Canon pros enjoying their 1DX mk ii bodies and waiting for Canon's future releases.

 

[Neutral]

As far as new releases go the one camera I am thinking of that might make me change it all up system wise is the Fujifilm GFX 100. Talk about disrupting, it has destroyed so many previous medium format issues that it is now, seemingly, a usable daily camera and it would appear a better fit for the style of photography I enjoy the most.

I know storage and file size are often mentioned when talking about new cameras with more MP, for context the GFX 100 16 bit RAW files are over 200MB each.

GFX100 is a very good system upgrade from FF system. I was waiting such kind of camera for a long time (they did exactly what I wanted - many different things) and I also was considering a7rIV but decided to go with gfx100. After Sony announced a7rIV and seeing sensor tests results I decided to keep a9 and a7rIII, as well as my old 1DXmII and added GFX100 to my gear set.
So far no disappointments - focusing very quick, manual focus is much so more convinient and more precise then anything I tried before, face and eye AF works fine, image quality is excellent, per pixel SNR and DR is better that for the same pixel size of a7r4.
IBIS is very good, video quality is also very good, weight is less than 1DXm2.
Very easy and convinient to use.
Unless there are some new disruptive upgrades in FF sensors technology soon, in coming years GFX100 will be superior to any FF cameras.
My old 6 years laptop handles GFX100 RAW files quickly and easily when using C1 ver.12 , some problems with PS6, as when sending image from C1 to PS layer size is huge - around 300-400mb and PS PSD max file size is only 2Gb, that limits number of layers which is possible to have for intermediate edit work.

 

[privatebydesign]

GFX100 is a very good system upgrade from FF system. I was waiting such kind of camera for a long time (they did exactly what I wanted - many different things) and I also was considering a7rIV but decided to go with gfx100. After Sony announced a7rIV and seeing sensor tests results I decided to keep a9 and a7rIII, as well as my old 1DXmII and added GFX100 to my gear set.
So far no disappointments - focusing very quick, manual focus is much so more convinient and more precise then anything I tried before, face and eye AF works fine, image quality is excellent, per pixel SNR and DR is better that for the same pixel size of a7r4.
IBIS is very good, video quality is also very good, weight is less than 1DXm2.
Very easy and convinient to use.
Unless there are some new disruptive upgrades in FF sensors technology soon, in coming years GFX100 will be superior to any FF cameras.
My old 6 years laptop handles GFX100 RAW files quickly and easily when using C1 ver.12 , some problems with PS6, as when sending image from C1 to PS layer size is huge - around 300-400mb and PS PSD max file size is only 2Gb, that limits number of layers which is possible to have for intermediate edit work.

Many thanks for that, very nice to hear some hands on feedback, it is all disappointingly positive so my next couple of years purchasing plans might be rethought! 100MP and an extra 2 stops of DR sound pretty future proof to me, the fact that I get a weight saving over the 1DX MkII as well is a bonus!

As for your PS file size, why not save as a TIFF or PSB instead of the capped PSD?

 

[Neutral]

Many thanks for that, very nice to hear some hands on feedback, it is all disappointingly positive so my next couple of years purchasing plans might be rethought! 100MP and an extra 2 stops of DR sound pretty future proof to me, the fact that I get a weight saving over the 1DX MkII as well is a bonus!

As for your PS file size, why not save as a TIFF or PSB instead of the capped PSD?

So far Capture One does not support PSB when sending files for editing to PS, only PSD and TIFF, and I prefer native PSD, and keeping file size below 2Gb by merging layers when needed while editing. Whatever possible I am trying to do in C1 before sending to PS, C1 supporst up to 16 ayers, a lot of things that had to be done in PS before now could be done in C1.
In general C1 and PS are perfectly integrated now, no difference compared to LR+PS workflow.
I stopped using LR almost half a year ago and all is so much faster and easier now with C1.
One good thing is that C1 fully supports GFX100 film profiles, one which is selected in camera also used by C1 though there is a small caveat - C1 shows profile as auto instead of profile name wich is actually used, it is already reported by some other gfx user as bug to C1 support. In my first portrait photosession with GFX100 I had practically nothing to adjust in C1 - everyting was perfect just out of the camera.
JPEG files are excellent as well and could be easily transferred to the phone.
Some RAW editing and convertiong to JPEG also could be done in camera.
There are some other very handy features in the camera that make it pleasure to use.
‐-----
Some addition - DXO PhotoLab is planning to add support for GFX100 next month, will be interesting to to how that will further improve image quality, especially result of PrimeNR use for high ISO images.

 

[privatebydesign]

Coming from a film background I am very curious to see the film styles implementations, I shot with Portra, Velvia and PrOvid for years and it seems they have very good simulations.

We all need to freshen up every now and again, a change of scene, direction, gear, whatever. Maybe this is mine...

Thanks again for the feedback.

So far Capture One does not support PSB when sending files for editing to PS, only PSD and TIFF, and I prefer native PSD, and keeping file size below 2Gb by merging layers when needed while editing. Whatever possible I am trying to do in C1 before sending to PS, C1 supporst up to 16 ayers, a lot of things that had to be done in PS before now could be done in C1.
In general C1 and PS are perfectly integrated now, no difference compared to LR+PS workflow.
I stopped using LR almost half a year ago and all is so much faster and easier now with C1.
One good thing is that C1 fully supports GFX100 film profiles, one which is selected in camera also used by C1 so that it is small caveat- C1 shows profile as auto instead of profile name wich is actually used, it is already reported by some other gfx user as bug to C1 support. In my first portrait photosession with GFX100 I had practically nothing to adjust in C1 - everyting was perfect just out of the camera.
JPEG files are excellent as well and could be easily transferred to the phone.
Some RAW editing and convertiong to JPEG also could be done in camera.
There are some other very handy features in the camera that make it pleasure to use.

 

[albron00]

It is already fifth page of discussion about how sony's funboys are going to be disappointed...
I'd rather raised the question about Canon's handicapped line of mirrorless cameras.

 

[Kit.]

It is already fifth page of discussion about how sony's funboys are going to be disappointed...
I'd rather raised the question about Canon's handicapped line of mirrorless cameras.

Indeed. Why could not Canon make M6II as ergonomically good as 90D?

 

[AlanF]

It is already fifth page of discussion about how sony's funboys are going to be disappointed...
I'd rather raised the question about Canon's handicapped line of mirrorless cameras.

Given your previous posts, we know where you are coming from.

Already moved to Sony.

I use to have a lot of great moments with Canon: 500D, two 7Ds, 5Dm3, 760D..
Now I'm happy A7m3 user...
Sorry Canon.

 

[PerKr]

Sony did not slow down. This really is how R&D works. Incremental upgrades with the occasional jump in performance as new tech is available. This time around they did not have a new trick up their sleeve but needed to improve on what they did have.

Since the A9 was launched it puzzled me how they could put a 5fps mechanical shutter in that kind of body. And the limitations to their headline feature, the 20fps no-blackout shooting, when not using very specific lenses. Not having AF with all lenses at that speed is one thing, not having the feature at all even stopped down in MF mode is another.