Hey, everyone!
On the back of their success of gaining top spot in the full-frame market in Malaysia, Sony held their much anticipated local launch of the newly introduced Sony a9 yesterday at Sunway Pyramid Ice.
Mr. Satoru Arai giving his welcoming speech and proudly declaring Sony's grasp on Number 1 full-frame camera market share in Malaysia
Southeast Asia full frame market brand share - shown are Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia
Even among traditional DSLRs, Sony has risen to the top in the full-frame market
More stats for geeks
Evidently, Sony's undying passion in providing constant innovation and revolution whilst pushing the boundaries of mirrorless cameras has paid off immensely. More consumers not only trust the brand even more as a camera manufacturer, but professionals have begun to jump ship by the dozens.
If the stats weren't enough, Sony had invited Sony Artisan Ben Lowy to share his experiences and feedback regarding using the Sony system for his work, including tours in Iraq and shooting the Olympics
Ever since the introduction of the a7 series, Sony has never stopped challenging traditions of old brands that refuse to step their game up by refreshing their line-up every year with major upgrades. Previously, Sony had released the Mark II iteration of their highly acclaimed a7 series, which included the resolution monster a7R II (42MP) and the low-light king a7s II (ISO up to 409,600). This time around, Sony aims for the wildlife and sports genre of photography, with the speed demon a9.
Built to tame even the fastest of subjects
When Sony first announced the a9, I was immediately blown away:
- World’s first full-frame stacked CMOS sensor, 24.2 MP resolution
- Blackout-Free Continuous Shooting at up to 20fps for up to 241 RAW / 362 JPEG images
- Silent , Vibration-free shooting at speeds up to 1/32,000 sec
- 693 point focal plane phase detection AF points with 60 AF/AE tracking calculations per second
- Extensive professional features including Ethernet port for file transfer
- Dual SD card slots (one UHS-II compatible) and extended battery life (double capacity)
- 5-axis in-body image stabilisation with a 5.0 step shutter speed advantage
Even so, I did have my reservations in spite of such marvellous specs. My doubts were finally answered yesterday when I got to try it out. My initial thoughts of the camera are summarized as follows:
- The blackout-free feature needs much getting used to. Coming from a DSLR-shooter, the fact that I see absolutely everything I'm shooting makes it seem like I'm not shooting at all. Intuitively, Sony have implemented a flickering frame within the EVF so that the photographer knows that the camera is actually taking photos.
"Previously, you don't see the frame you want to capture. You anticipate it. You miss it because the mirror is opened so that the camera can take the photo. Now, you actually see what you're capturing."
- Ben Lowy
- 20 fps + 241 RAW buffer = all the decisive moments. It's simply crazy how far we've come in burst-fire technology. From the modest 3.5 fps of early film cameras to the insane 60 fps of the Olympus E-M1 MkII in single AF mode. The a9 continues to push the envelope by featuring 20 fps in continuous AF, with super sonic focusing speed. Gone are the days where one would "spray and pray". Now, it's just spray and hooray!
95 frames at 20fps makes this GIF so smooth
- Fast AF AF. Out of the 3,000 frames I shot (not exaggerating), only one or two were out of focus. Now that is an amazing stat. The out of focus photos were either when I neglected to focus before starting my burst or the camera failing to distinguish between layers of subjects. Although I didn't have enough time for a full test, there are some issues with identifying which subject to focus on. Also, because of time constraints, I couldn't find the settings so that the camera knew what I wanted to focus on.
The subject is out of focus as I couldn't find the Eye AF function
- The menu is still cluttered. I guess it's just me who feels this way but I really dislike Sony's way of having multiple pages of one type of option. It's a hassle to quickly change settings or to even format my memory card.
- Another great sensor. With the a9, Sony introduced the world's first stacked CMOS sensor, which essentially means that the image sensor, processor and memory are stacked into three separate layers unlike conventional sensors where the memory and image sensor are together. This makes for a bigger buffer and retains the beautiful image quality. At 24.2MP, professionals will now be able to get the money shot at an even higher resolution.
Excuse my poor figure skating photography skills
The detail in her eye is stunning
Many thanks to @carmencarmentan for posing for some shots
Well, that's all I have to say for now regarding the brand new Sony a9. Using the camera for that short amount of time along with the epic G Master lenses instilled a great confidence in me when thinking about Sony's future and the future of cameras as a whole. I've waited a long time for companies and manufacturers to get off their asses and revolutionize the photography world and now my patience is finally being rewarded.
Any step forwards is progress, even if it means some mistakes are made a long the way. My final thoughts on the Sony a9 are yet to be decided, but I'm already happy that someone has got Canon and Nikon a run for their money.
Huge appreciation goes to the great people at Sony Malaysia for inviting me to the Sony a9 launch.
Till next time, take care!
DISCLAIMER: I do not represent Sony, Sunway Pyramid or any other brand that might be showcased/mentioned in this first impressions. This first impressions is written for THE FEAR and is delivered with utmost honesty and sincerity.
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