We now learned via first Sony A9 owners that in a very specific situation (shooting under direct sunlight) the A9 overheating indicator turns on after 20-40 minutes. What’s also very strange is that only a handful of people noticed this while most of the photographers seem to not have had any issue at all. Also to be noted: It doesn’t seem the camera ia actually shutting down neither. Here are a few new information:

1. On the video above you can watch an update on ThatCameraGuy A9 overheating report. I understand he is upset and I am glad he exposed the problem. A $4,500 camera should just work out of the box. Also a few more people reported the same annoying problem. So this is not just him having noted this!
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2. Jared Matthew Jarvis reported the same A9 overheating indicator issue on our A9 facebook group (there is a video too). But he also discovered more details: After he had the “indicator” warning when shooting under direct sunlight he remade the test indoor:
   

   “It’s warmer physically than it was ever when I had it outside yesterday when the heat indicator came on, yet there is no warning yet. Maybe the a9 just hates sunlight. I no longer want to call this an overheating “issue”. My camera has not yet at any point overheated and I’ve been putting it through its paces in scenarios far more stressful than most real world shooting. If anything I think Sony may have been a bit over zealous with their overheating warning considering the issues they’ve had with heat in the past

   He also noted this: “The warmest part on the camera is the base plate around the tripod mount.” So maybe keeping the A9 on a hot surface exposed previously by sunlight triggered the warning?

3. Many A9 owners also reported that they had no issues under similar conditions:
   – Andreas Bechthold wrote on the A9 group: “I had it in 92 degrees (Fahrenheit) yesterday with about 2000 shots. Worked nice, not Problem at all….”
   – Alin Popescu told me this: “I’ve shot in 33 degrees celsius for more than 2h. Then on streets of Bucharest, at an entire wedding, birds, etc.. Never saw that warning!”
   – Max Yuryev also commented on ThatCameraGuy video: “I shot a ton with it with not a single overheating icon“

If what Jared Matthew and others are reporting are true it seems like the “overheating indicator” is reaction wrong on direct sunlight and not on the real heat inside the camera. I invite A9 users to test the camera for a long time under direct sunlight (and please do record what happens). Let’s see if we can make some sense out fo this story. But to me this sounds more like a software problem or a problem related to a few “flawed” cameras.

In the meantime Sony will have for sure taken notice of that buzz on the web and I hope they will make some statement soon.

Photonstophotos posted the final Sony A9 Dynamic Range test. It’s very good news to see that there is nearly no trade-off between the A9 electronic shutter and mechanical shutter. The A9 is probably the first camera that gives you such impressive results in electronic shutter mode.

And another good news is that the A9 has no banding with LED light as tested by Skimmel (Click here).

I am sure Sony is right now working on the issues we mentioned yesterday:

1) Banding issue on the red channel of the images when shooting on electronic shutter mode (it’s not visible in normal conditions, you have to work on extreme settings in postprocessing to see this)
2) Indicator warning should activate only when it’s really super necessary.
3) Fix the star eating bug

So far no other bugs were found on the A9.

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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 accessories:
Sony A9 battery grip at Adorama, Bhphoto, Amazon. Wex UK. Jessops.
Sony A9 Glass screen protector at Adorama, BHphoto, Amazon.
NP-FZ100 battery for the A9 at Adorama, BHphoto, Amazon. Jessops.
GP-EX1 grip at Adorama, BHphoto, Amazon. Wex UK.
FDA-EP18 eye cup at Adorama, BHphoto.
MQZ1 multi battery charger at Adorama, BHphoto, Amazon. Wex UK.
BCQZ1 Z-series Battery Charger at Adorama, BHphoto, Amazon.

Join our new Sony A9 Facebook group!

ThatCameraGuy is testing the A9 and reports:

I take the Sony a9 out for a test run at a swim meet. The overheating indicator turned on within 20 minutes of use in 81 degree Fahrenheit temperature. Not exactly what I would call “Pro” like. There are a lot of positive things about this camera, but this is actually a big deal for what I do, considering Sony marketed this as an actual sports camera.

SAR note:
So far most of the early testers did not have the issue reported by ThatCameraGuy. The few who had this issue all did report about the “indicator warning” turning on while in ZERO cases the camera did actually shut down because of overheating. In the best scenario Sony’s “warning” system is simply turning on way too early (which is annoying anyway).

Star eating:
Jim Kasson confirms that the A9 is a “star eater” too (just like the A7 cameras with the latest firmware version). He tested the electronic shutter only, so maybe in mechanical shutter mode this is not going to happen. This is 100% a problem that can be fixed via firmware issue.

While all this is disappointing news I also do know that it is perfectly normal to find issues on newly released cameras. And I bet Sony will take note of those of these issues and fix them (or at least mitigate them) soon

To sum up: Dear Sony please do this on the next A9 firmware update:

1) Fix the banding issue on the red channel of your images when shooting on electronic shutter mode
2) Mitigate overheating (or delay the indicator warning to activate when it’s really super necessary).
3) Fix the star eating bug
4) Add S-Log

But still my suggestion to Sony remains the same: For the next A7rIII and A7sIII please do make a larger body for the following reasons:

1. Eliminate any overheating issue (particularly important for the A7sIII model which is mainly used for video purpose)
2. Better ergonomic for people with big Hands like Donald Trump…sorry for the bad joke :)
3. Better handling with bigger lenses (you should not be forced to buy a battery grip to fix this)

At the end I believe the Camera Size gets less important on pro cameras. Pro’s don’t really care about that…

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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 accessories:
Sony A9 battery grip at Adorama, Bhphoto, Amazon. Wex UK. Jessops.
Sony A9 Glass screen protector at Adorama, BHphoto, Amazon.
NP-FZ100 battery for the A9 at Adorama, BHphoto, Amazon. Jessops.
GP-EX1 grip at Adorama, BHphoto, Amazon. Wex UK.
FDA-EP18 eye cup at Adorama, BHphoto.
MQZ1 multi battery charger at Adorama, BHphoto, Amazon. Wex UK.
BCQZ1 Z-series Battery Charger at Adorama, BHphoto, Amazon.

Join our new Sony A9 Facebook group!