The highend comparison ;-)

[Dylan777]

I like also:
* reviewing image in the viewfinder
* zebra/histogram in the viewfinder before image is captured
* Eye AF - recomposing from left 1/3 to right 1/3 can be done only by moving camera and eye is still in the focus

My number #1 favorite feature as mirrorless shooter, especially, shooting with f1.4 primes.

A9 addressed many-many minor issues from A7 plus new improvements: battery life, colors, buffers, etc....A9 has everything I ever wanted from mirrorless system. It will stay in bag for many years to come

How many times have you thought that Dylan? ;D

As long they get it right, I'm ok with it Scott

 

[Dylan777]

I like also:
* reviewing image in the viewfinder
* zebra/histogram in the viewfinder before image is captured
* Eye AF - recomposing from left 1/3 to right 1/3 can be done only by moving camera and eye is still in the focus

My number #1 favorite feature as mirrorless shooter, especially, shooting with f1.4 primes.

A9 addressed many-many minor issues from A7 plus new improvements: battery life, colors, buffers, etc....A9 has everything I ever wanted from mirrorless system. It will stay in bag for many years to come

Maybe you will switch to canon, when they build an FF MLS too... ;D
http://www.*********.com/canon-full-frame-mirrorless-camera-eventually-coming-2018-sensor-30mp/

I'm open to any good FF mirrorless. But I doubt Canon would have better mirrorless over Sony & Fuji anytime soon

 

[Dylan777]

Skimmed through the video. Seems pretty much of a joke. Particularly amused by the "sports" test which consisted of a single person jogging back and forth. A situation no sports photographer ever encounters. The more common challenge for autofocus is to keep the camera focused on the correct subject when you've got a field full of other players moving in and out of the frame.

Anyway, not sure what the point here is supposed to be. Buyers of the Canon and Nikon flagships are already heavily invested in the brand and have made their decision based on past experience. Sure, if one company consistently lagged behind on key features, it might have an impact, but that's not the case. There simply isn't that much difference between the two flagships and candidly, Sony isn't even in the game yet.

A9 has lock-on af = you pick target by half press shutter then cams will cont. to track it.

 

[Dylan777]

A7rii: I really like being able to see the exposure compensation in the viewfinder. It eliminates the guesswork. I also like how the focus peaking and viewfinder magnification work with manual focus lenses.I don't like the freeze frame effect you get in continuous shooting mode. I haven't used the a9 but it seems that is not a problem with it.

Sony is steadily whittling away at the criticisms of their mirrorless cameras and making them compare very favorably and even better than dslr's in many ways. There are still drawbacks but the list is getting shorter.

Besides that, playing with DOF through EVF is help with those creative shots


I have 2 friends(pro wedding for 20yrs plus) they just dumped all their 1dx II, 5D4 and all their "L" lenses. They now carry four A9 + two a7r II.

 

[Talys]

I´m still not satisfied with the AF, when birds come directly toward to you. A lot of these shots are unsharp. Laterally passing birds and birds that fly away are no problem.

Even the best AF in the world relies on the photographer to keep the AF point on the bird for enough time to lock on, even when you have things like iTR or Nikon's 3D focussing.
But birds coming hard at you, especially with aerial acrobatics, is still a huge challenge with any camera. If you can say with certainty that the main focus point was locked onto the bird for every frame of the sequence then it maybe the AF cannot keep up, if the AF point wavers by any amount I will always wonder if it is the user. In challenging situations like that you need to be hypercritical before you commit to changing cameras.

Software wise, capturing and locking on to one of the birds is likely quite possible. In the current state of the art, ability to run really heavy duty software comes up against hardware limitations, starting with the relatively underpowered processor they must use in cameras to make a battery last longer than 5 seconds. If we did have the power to run a capable processor, then cooling the camera would also be neigh impossible, its a challenge even now.

There would need to be a "bird mode" -- it's tough when the birds start in the trees, or are flying not against blue sky (or other homogenous background), because the camera just doesn't know whether you're trying to catch the bird, the flower, the leaf, the squirrel.... or the other bird.

How could Sony win my money with an EVF? I would buy an A9II if it had Bird Mode, and through the EVF, highlighted boxes around everything it thought was a bird in the viewfinder, let me pick one, and then automatically tracked it. Extra points if it had motion detection, and took a series of photos every time it moved.

I would pay huge, huge bucks it could be attached to a motorized gimbal that would automatically pan and track the bird as it moved

And then 1 year later, I would sell that $25,000 rig and because birding will have become a boring, pointless exercise, LOL.

 

[Jopa]

A7rii: I really like being able to see the exposure compensation in the viewfinder. It eliminates the guesswork. I also like how the focus peaking and viewfinder magnification work with manual focus lenses.I don't like the freeze frame effect you get in continuous shooting mode. I haven't used the a9 but it seems that is not a problem with it.

Sony is steadily whittling away at the criticisms of their mirrorless cameras and making them compare very favorably and even better than dslr's in many ways. There are still drawbacks but the list is getting shorter.

Besides that, playing with DOF through EVF is help with those creative shots


I have 2 friends(pro wedding for 20yrs plus) they just dumped all their 1dx II, 5D4 and all their "L" lenses. They now carry four A9 + two a7r II.

Hope they also carry some lenses, otherwise they must be super PRO if they can take pictures without lenses

 

[SecureGSM]

Had a play with A9 yesterday. Man, the thing is tiny. My hands are about an averag size but I struggled to grip the camera properly. There is no way I could be Shooting with A9 and a telephoto lens attached for 8 hours and avoid damaged joints mid to long term.
Sigma 120-300 F2.8 Sports with m11 adapter attached to A9 is a rediculous combination handheld.

A7rii: I really like being able to see the exposure compensation in the viewfinder. It eliminates the guesswork. I also like how the focus peaking and viewfinder magnification work with manual focus lenses.I don't like the freeze frame effect you get in continuous shooting mode. I haven't used the a9 but it seems that is not a problem with it.

Sony is steadily whittling away at the criticisms of their mirrorless cameras and making them compare very favorably and even better than dslr's in many ways. There are still drawbacks but the list is getting shorter.

Besides that, playing with DOF through EVF is help with those creative shots


I have 2 friends(pro wedding for 20yrs plus) they just dumped all their 1dx II, 5D4 and all their "L" lenses. They now carry four A9 + two a7r II.

Hope they also carry some lenses, otherwise they must be super PRO if they can take pictures without lenses

 

[PavelR]

I own all 3 pieces of gear you mention (+ battery grip) and I do not have any problem with weight distribution comparing to Canon 1Ds3. I have long fingers & relatively slim thus I do not have any problem using 85 GM, 70-200 GM. I have only one problem with small size of all buttons - I do not think that I'll be able to shoot with gloves. Native lenses AF I like far better than on Canon (AF speed is the same, but frame coverage and Eye AF are huge advantages). Adopted lenses works pretty good on AF-S mode.

Had a play with A9 yesterday. Man, the thing is tiny. My hands are about an averag size but I struggled to grip the camera properly. There is no way I could be Shooting with A9 and a telephoto lens attached for 8 hours and avoid damaged joints mid to long term.
Sigma 120-300 F2.8 Sports with m11 adapter attached to A9 is a rediculous combination handheld.

 

[Don Haines]

I´m still not satisfied with the AF, when birds come directly toward to you. A lot of these shots are unsharp. Laterally passing birds and birds that fly away are no problem.

Even the best AF in the world relies on the photographer to keep the AF point on the bird for enough time to lock on, even when you have things like iTR or Nikon's 3D focussing.
But birds coming hard at you, especially with aerial acrobatics, is still a huge challenge with any camera. If you can say with certainty that the main focus point was locked onto the bird for every frame of the sequence then it maybe the AF cannot keep up, if the AF point wavers by any amount I will always wonder if it is the user. In challenging situations like that you need to be hypercritical before you commit to changing cameras.

Software wise, capturing and locking on to one of the birds is likely quite possible. In the current state of the art, ability to run really heavy duty software comes up against hardware limitations, starting with the relatively underpowered processor they must use in cameras to make a battery last longer than 5 seconds. If we did have the power to run a capable processor, then cooling the camera would also be neigh impossible, its a challenge even now.

Actually........

I have a p/s camera that does facial recognition, plus it has "cat mode" and "dog mode" where the AF will track the pet....

 

[Dylan777]

A7rii: I really like being able to see the exposure compensation in the viewfinder. It eliminates the guesswork. I also like how the focus peaking and viewfinder magnification work with manual focus lenses.I don't like the freeze frame effect you get in continuous shooting mode. I haven't used the a9 but it seems that is not a problem with it.

Sony is steadily whittling away at the criticisms of their mirrorless cameras and making them compare very favorably and even better than dslr's in many ways. There are still drawbacks but the list is getting shorter.

Besides that, playing with DOF through EVF is help with those creative shots


I have 2 friends(pro wedding for 20yrs plus) they just dumped all their 1dx II, 5D4 and all their "L" lenses. They now carry four A9 + two a7r II.

Hope they also carry some lenses, otherwise they must be super PRO if they can take pictures without lenses

Sony is missing few bazookas in their mirrorless: 400mf2.8, 600mmf4 etc...However, not every A9 owners would need these big lenses. From everyday large primes to f2.8 zooms Sony covered. I don't see reason we keep mention Sony has issue with lens selection.

Visit your site, very cute model.Great shots

 

[Talys]

A7rii: I really like being able to see the exposure compensation in the viewfinder. It eliminates the guesswork. I also like how the focus peaking and viewfinder magnification work with manual focus lenses.I don't like the freeze frame effect you get in continuous shooting mode. I haven't used the a9 but it seems that is not a problem with it.

Sony is steadily whittling away at the criticisms of their mirrorless cameras and making them compare very favorably and even better than dslr's in many ways. There are still drawbacks but the list is getting shorter.

Besides that, playing with DOF through EVF is help with those creative shots


I have 2 friends(pro wedding for 20yrs plus) they just dumped all their 1dx II, 5D4 and all their "L" lenses. They now carry four A9 + two a7r II.

Hope they also carry some lenses, otherwise they must be super PRO if they can take pictures without lenses

Sony is missing few bazookas in their mirrorless: 400mf2.8, 600mmf4 etc...However, not every A9 owners would need these big lenses. From everyday large primes to f2.8 zooms Sony covered. I don't see reason we keep mention Sony has issue with lens selection.

Visit your site, very cute model.Great shots

I don't think it was a dig at Sony lenses. More that before, they were lugging around all these Canon bodies and L lenses, and now they're carrying Sony bodies (without mention of lenses ).

On the subject of Sony lenses, though, my friend with an A7RII spends a lot more for his lens purchases than I do for Canon lenses. I don't watch Sony prices that closely, but itseems that street prices have a pretty big gap.

I think a lot of people who go aren't professionals and who get into a high end body like an A9 are really unprepared for how puny the improvement is when they use their compatible, but relatively low-end lens. Then, they're equally unprepared for how puny the improvement is again, when they use their new top-of-the-line lens, and are frustrated by how their portraits, wildlife shots, sunsets, and landscapes just don't look anything like professional photography.

 

[Mikehit]

Sony is missing few bazookas in their mirrorless: 400mf2.8, 600mmf4 etc...However, not every A9 owners would need these big lenses. From everyday large primes to f2.8 zooms Sony covered. I don't see reason we keep mention Sony has issue with lens selection.

Visit your site, very cute model.Great shots

IMO the criticism comes because the A9 was clearly aimed at sports and wildlife and anyone who does those regularly will want want 400mm+ with f4 or faster.
If you use a CaNikon tele (or even their own A-mount tele!) with adapter all those AF/drive features vaporise in a cloud of footnotes on their spec sheet.

And if you don't need their fancy AF and functionality, the case for buying the A9 becomes weaker.

 

[padam]

Sony is missing few bazookas in their mirrorless: 400mf2.8, 600mmf4 etc...However, not every A9 owners would need these big lenses. From everyday large primes to f2.8 zooms Sony covered. I don't see reason we keep mention Sony has issue with lens selection.

Visit your site, very cute model.Great shots

IMO the criticism comes because the A9 was clearly aimed at sports and wildlife and anyone who does those regularly will want want 400mm+ with f4 or faster.
If you use a CaNikon tele (or even their own A-mount tele!) with adapter all those AF/drive features vaporise in a cloud of footnotes on their spec sheet.

And if you don't need their fancy AF and functionality, the case for buying the A9 becomes weaker.

It has a lot more going for it at the moment, it is the most powerful small camera that can be used completely silently with almost no penalty on image quality. It has tracking eye-AF with the whole sensor area that can be used with a very good EVF.
It has full sensor readout 4k recording with built in image stabilization (pity about S-Log but not much different to Canon, still has more features)
And it does not have the usual drawbacks with mirrorless like the battery or the single card slot or the general lack of responsiveness.

Yes it is very expensive, one pays a lot for the technology (the production cost is probably not that high) but we probably won't see a camera like this with a stacked full-frame sensor in the foreseeable future (more resolution will compromise other features, same with less resolution)

 

[Dylan777]

Sony is missing few bazookas in their mirrorless: 400mf2.8, 600mmf4 etc...However, not every A9 owners would need these big lenses. From everyday large primes to f2.8 zooms Sony covered. I don't see reason we keep mention Sony has issue with lens selection.

Visit your site, very cute model.Great shots

IMO the criticism comes because the A9 was clearly aimed at sports and wildlife and anyone who does those regularly will want want 400mm+ with f4 or faster.
If you use a CaNikon tele (or even their own A-mount tele!) with adapter all those AF/drive features vaporise in a cloud of footnotes on their spec sheet.

And if you don't need their fancy AF and functionality, the case for buying the A9 becomes weaker.

Faster frame rate and more adv. AF are huge benefits in photography, regardless, type of photography you in. Sure wildlife and sports shooters would enjoy more....what about wedding pros? You think they would benefit lugging that 400f2.8 and 600f4 around their neck with A9???

Wedding group shots, to have camera recognizes(face recognition AF) on the groom + bride and stays in focus while compose the shots....that just one of many features wedding pros could benefit. About completely "silent shooting mode" in the church???

 

[privatebydesign]

Sony is missing few bazookas in their mirrorless: 400mf2.8, 600mmf4 etc...However, not every A9 owners would need these big lenses. From everyday large primes to f2.8 zooms Sony covered. I don't see reason we keep mention Sony has issue with lens selection.

Visit your site, very cute model.Great shots

IMO the criticism comes because the A9 was clearly aimed at sports and wildlife and anyone who does those regularly will want want 400mm+ with f4 or faster.
If you use a CaNikon tele (or even their own A-mount tele!) with adapter all those AF/drive features vaporise in a cloud of footnotes on their spec sheet.

And if you don't need their fancy AF and functionality, the case for buying the A9 becomes weaker.

Faster frame rate and more adv. AF are huge benefits in photography, regardless, type of photography you in. Sure wildlife and sports shooters would enjoy more....what about wedding pros? You think they would benefit lugging that 400f2.8 and 600f4 around their neck with A9???

I've shot a fair number of weddings and I have never found either frame rate or af limiting, what I would kill for is the truly silent camera. If I were a minister (actually I am but that is a different story) I'd ban anything but truly silent cameras from the service.

I really like some of the features in the A9, also the D850, and just like the rest of us if I could pick and choose features I'd take a bit from each. However, there is one thing I, as a professional image maker, can't do my job without, lenses. Canon are not only ahead but are pushing ever further ahead with specialist lenses, if that is something you need Canon really don't have any serious competition.

I have used the TS-E 17 extensively since not long after release, it has earned me more than just about every other lens I own, the 11-24 is catching up with it fast, the new TS-E's elevate that specialist area even more. Of course that is pretty irrelevant if you mainly work a 24-70 f2.8 or a faster 35 and/or 85 primes. I had thought the zenith of photography had been a half dozen years ago with many competing brands, I now think we have a double bump, let the big three push each other, we can only benefit whichever brand ultimately suits our uses best.

 

[Mikehit]

Sony is missing few bazookas in their mirrorless: 400mf2.8, 600mmf4 etc...However, not every A9 owners would need these big lenses. From everyday large primes to f2.8 zooms Sony covered. I don't see reason we keep mention Sony has issue with lens selection.

Visit your site, very cute model.Great shots

IMO the criticism comes because the A9 was clearly aimed at sports and wildlife and anyone who does those regularly will want want 400mm+ with f4 or faster.
If you use a CaNikon tele (or even their own A-mount tele!) with adapter all those AF/drive features vaporise in a cloud of footnotes on their spec sheet.

And if you don't need their fancy AF and functionality, the case for buying the A9 becomes weaker.

Faster frame rate and more adv. AF are huge benefits in photography, regardless, type of photography you in. Sure wildlife and sports shooters would enjoy more....what about wedding pros? You think they would benefit lugging that 400f2.8 and 600f4 around their neck with A9???

Wedding group shots, to have camera recognizes(face recognition AF) on the groom + bride and stays in focus while compose the shots....that just one of many features wedding pros could benefit. About completely "silent shooting mode" in the church???

Please re-read my post. Carefully. And you will see I don't actually disagree with you.