Sony A9 vs Nikon D5 (CameraSize).

Max Yuryev and Paul Nelson made the first A9 vs D5 Real World Comparison. Max sent me this comment on that test:

“The a9 really surprised us and performed better than the d5. This is the first mirrorless camera that can perform better than a DSLR while zooming and in super low light, such a huge step for mirrorless.”

Great to see the A9 perform that well. That said…I am no sports photographer and am patiently waiting to get a new A7rIII (rumors coming soon).

UPDATE: because of my screaming kids I did publish (instead of saving in draft) this article unfinished with wrong name and missing video link. Sorry folks! Shit happens when you have two small kids being annoying all day long :)

Sony A9:
Sony A9 at BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon, BestBuy. FocusCamera. Calumet.de. Park UK. Wex UK. Jessops.
Sony A9 with Grip Extension Kit at BHphoto, Adorama and Amazon.
Note: US readers preordering the A9 at BHphoto or Adorama using our links (and our affiliated links only!) have a chance to win a Sony A9.

And the fastest SD cards are now in Stock:
Sony SF-G 128GB: BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon. In EU: AmazonDE, AmazonUK, AmazonFR, AmazonIT, AmazonES.
Sony SF-G 64GB: BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon. In EU: AmazonDE, AmazonUK, AmazonFR, AmazonIT, AmazonES.
Sony SF-G 32GB: BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon.

The new Sony FE lenses preorders:
16-35mm GM at Bhphoto, Adorama, BestBuy, Focus and Amazon. In EU at Calumet DE, WexUK, Jessops.
12-24mm G at Bhphoto, Adorama, BestBuy, Focus and Amazon. In EU at Calumet DE, WexUK, Jessops.
Sony 100-400mm GM at BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama, BestBuy. Calumet.de. Park UK. Wex UK. Jessops.

Sport Photographer Sean King is testing the A9 and noticed this:

I used a 32 gig slower card on Slot 2 instead of the 64 gig sony 95 meg per sec card in Slot 1. Guess what happened? I was able to get the heat warning. I got it in both of my A9’s. Now it did not effect my shooting. I worked one Soccer Match with the warning on both my A9’s using the slower card in slot 2. During the second match, I switched back to using the Sony 64 gig cards in slot 1 and no more heat warnings. Interesting…

Rueben commented on this:

It could be a filled buffer (ram) waiting to write to flash memory that’s causing the heat

It sounds possible that using non-Sony and/or too slow cards is actually causing the overheating when you are using the A9 in hot conditions. It would also explain why the early A9 reviewers had no such issue even when shooting under direct hot sunlight in California. They all had the new fast Sony SD cards!

I ask A9 owners to do this kind of testing. Because this really sounds like it could be the right path to solve the mystery!

And the fastest SD cards are now in Stock:
Sony SF-G 128GB: BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon. In EU: AmazonDE, AmazonUK, AmazonFR, AmazonIT, AmazonES.
Sony SF-G 64GB: BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon. In EU: AmazonDE, AmazonUK, AmazonFR, AmazonIT, AmazonES.
Sony SF-G 32GB: BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon.

–

Sony A9:
Sony A9 at BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon, BestBuy. FocusCamera. Calumet.de. Park UK. Wex UK. Jessops.
Sony A9 with Grip Extension Kit at BHphoto, Adorama and Amazon.
Note: US readers preordering the A9 at BHphoto or Adorama using our links (and our affiliated links only!) have a chance to win a Sony A9.

The new Sony FE lenses preorders:
16-35mm GM at Bhphoto, Adorama, BestBuy, Focus and Amazon. In EU at Calumet DE, WexUK, Jessops.
12-24mm G at Bhphoto, Adorama, BestBuy, Focus and Amazon. In EU at Calumet DE, WexUK, Jessops.
Sony 100-400mm GM at BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama, BestBuy. Calumet.de. Park UK. Wex UK. Jessops.

Sony A9 SD Card Speed Test – RAW+RAW, RAW+JPEG & More – How fast is the A9 (Dan Watson).

Tom Beynon shot a wedding on the A9:

All in all I’m delighted with this camera. I can’t imagine using anything else and I’ve only had it a week. I just need Sigma to hurry up with that 35mm prime and my camera bag will be complete.

Shooting Golf with the Sony A9 by Admirinlight. On extremely fast objects like a golf ball he saw some banding and rolling shutter (banding can be eliminated via subtle blurring):

Still, the subtle warping seen above is light years ahead of any other electronic shutter, and really only shows up in specific circumstances. On the whole, the A9 was a joy to shoot with for golf. The silent shutter meant I could shoot whenever I wanted to, and the high-speed framerate gave me great choice in final images. Also, the big, clear viewfinder shows absolutely zero blackout and no lag when shooting, providing a continuous view throughout. I have a feeling you’ll be seeing a lot of Sony A9’s on the fairways in the next year or two.

Pulling still photos out of 4K video footage from the Sony A9 (video by Patrick Murphy-Racey).
My First Wedding with the Sony A9- No Overheating, No Warnings, Just an Amazing Camera (video by Jason Lanier).
The Sony a9: Expectation vs. Reality (MoveToMirrorless).
The Sony A9 – First Impressions from a Leica Perspective (StreetSilhouttes).

Sony A9:
Sony A9 at BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon, BestBuy. FocusCamera. Calumet.de. Park UK. Wex UK. Jessops.
Sony A9 with Grip Extension Kit at BHphoto, Adorama and Amazon.
Note: US readers preordering the A9 at BHphoto or Adorama using our links (and our affiliated links only!) have a chance to win a Sony A9.

And the fastest SD cards are now in Stock:
Sony SF-G 128GB: BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon. In EU: AmazonDE, AmazonUK, AmazonFR, AmazonIT, AmazonES.
Sony SF-G 64GB: BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon. In EU: AmazonDE, AmazonUK, AmazonFR, AmazonIT, AmazonES.
Sony SF-G 32GB: BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon.

The new Sony FE lenses preorders:
16-35mm GM at Bhphoto, Adorama, BestBuy, Focus and Amazon. In EU at Calumet DE, WexUK, Jessops.
12-24mm G at Bhphoto, Adorama, BestBuy, Focus and Amazon. In EU at Calumet DE, WexUK, Jessops.
Sony 100-400mm GM at BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama, BestBuy. Calumet.de. Park UK. Wex UK. Jessops.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6U3MJtxMv30

In case you need one more proof that the A9 does not shut down under direct sunlight check out the new video from Manny Ortiz. He got the warning indicator but kept shooting. And the camera never did shut down.

Sony A9:
Sony A9 at BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon, BestBuy. FocusCamera. Calumet.de. Park UK. Wex UK. Jessops.
Sony A9 with Grip Extension Kit at BHphoto, Adorama and Amazon.
Note: US readers preordering the A9 at BHphoto or Adorama using our links (and our affiliated links only!) have a chance to win a Sony A9.

And the fastest SD cards are now in Stock:
Sony SF-G 128GB: BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon. In EU: AmazonDE, AmazonUK, AmazonFR, AmazonIT, AmazonES.
Sony SF-G 64GB: BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon. In EU: AmazonDE, AmazonUK, AmazonFR, AmazonIT, AmazonES.
Sony SF-G 32GB: BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon.

The new Sony FE lenses preorders:
16-35mm GM at Bhphoto, Adorama, BestBuy, Focus and Amazon. In EU at Calumet DE, WexUK, Jessops.
12-24mm G at Bhphoto, Adorama, BestBuy, Focus and Amazon. In EU at Calumet DE, WexUK, Jessops.
Sony 100-400mm GM at BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama, BestBuy. Calumet.de. Park UK. Wex UK. Jessops.

After some initial worrying reports it seems like overheating issue is only an issue on a limited batch of cameras (SAR article here) and Banding issue is nearly a no problem (Jared Matthew Jarvis test). This means we can focus back on what’s so exciting about the A9…Focus! :)

Our reader Sibuzaru (Thanks!) shared this video which shows how good the EyeAF works on the A9. It nearly works flawlessly in very dim light conditions. From minute 1.13 towards you can see the same EyeAF function on the A7rII and A7:

Sony A9:
Sony A9 at BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon, BestBuy. FocusCamera. Calumet.de. Park UK. Wex UK. Jessops.
Sony A9 with Grip Extension Kit at BHphoto, Adorama and Amazon.
Note: US readers preordering the A9 at BHphoto or Adorama using our links (and our affiliated links only!) have a chance to win a Sony A9.

And the fastest SD cards are now in Stock:
Sony SF-G 128GB: BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon. In EU: AmazonDE, AmazonUK, AmazonFR, AmazonIT, AmazonES.
Sony SF-G 64GB: BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon. In EU: AmazonDE, AmazonUK, AmazonFR, AmazonIT, AmazonES.
Sony SF-G 32GB: BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon.

The new Sony FE lenses preorders:
16-35mm GM at Bhphoto, Adorama, BestBuy, Focus and Amazon. In EU at Calumet DE, WexUK, Jessops.
12-24mm G at Bhphoto, Adorama, BestBuy, Focus and Amazon. In EU at Calumet DE, WexUK, Jessops.
Sony 100-400mm GM at BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama, BestBuy. Calumet.de. Park UK. Wex UK. Jessops.

Photo credit: Christophe Ena / AP

Roland Garros:
Christopher Eno from the Associated Press used the new Sony A9 for his Roland Garros shooting. He got interviewed at Focus-numerique (Google translation here) And these are some of his comments on using the camera:

• The main issue he found using the A9 is that Wifi connection doesn’t stay on. And also that once the link is activated, it is no longer possible to zoom in the images to check the quality. Moreover Nikon and Canon do background transfer. SAR note: This is surely something Sony can fix and add via firmware.
• With the grip Christopher did shoot a full day and never needed to change battery.
• He found the adjustment wheels a bit small (Note: His hands are big). The joystick worked perfectly for him. Overall he also like the small size of the camera.
• He finds optical viewfinder more pleasant but the electronic viewfinder is really useful.
• He was surprised by the lack of noise (silent shutter).
• Autofocus is a delight
• Having 20fps is very useful because you are more likely to get the right momenta
• He liked the default rendering of the A9 images. It’s less shiny than the Canon images.

A9 sensor performance:
Jim Kasson tested the sensor quality of the A9 and concluded: “The numbers are higher than I’ve seen for 24 MP full frame cameras, indicating that Sony continues to make better sensors.”

Videos:
First weekend SONY A9 Camera highlights by NYC Wedding Photographer – Susan Shek Photography
Sony A9 vs. Sony A7SII Real World 4k Video Comparison by Ryan Douthit
Sony A9 vs A6500 by TheDigitalDigest
A9 tracking an Airplane (Sony Satouchi).

Banding test:
Jared Matthew Jarvis tested the Sony A9 for banding and find none. This is one of his test pics shot with 1/12800 electronic shutter, f2.8, 100 ISO (Click on it to enlarge)

Note: I saw some Sony haters posting photos and videos of the A9 showing what they call is “banding”…but it was actually normal light flickering!!! you see on all kind of cameras and in both mechanical and electronic shutter mode!!! Please do watch tests from pros and not from amateurs!

Sony A9:
Sony A9 at BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon, BestBuy. FocusCamera. Calumet.de. Park UK. Wex UK. Jessops.
Sony A9 with Grip Extension Kit at BHphoto, Adorama and Amazon.
Note: US readers preordering the A9 at BHphoto or Adorama using our links (and our affiliated links only!) have a chance to win a Sony A9.

The new Sony FE lenses preorders:
16-35mm GM at Bhphoto, Adorama, BestBuy, Focus and Amazon. In EU at Calumet DE, WexUK, Jessops.
12-24mm G at Bhphoto, Adorama, BestBuy, Focus and Amazon. In EU at Calumet DE, WexUK, Jessops.
Sony 100-400mm GM at BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama, BestBuy. Calumet.de. Park UK. Wex UK. Jessops.

Sony world’s fastest SD cards:
Sony SF-G 128GB: BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon. In EU: AmazonDE, AmazonUK, AmazonFR, AmazonIT, AmazonES.
Sony SF-G 64GB: BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon. In EU: AmazonDE, AmazonUK, AmazonFR, AmazonIT, AmazonES.
Sony SF-G 32GB: BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon.