New A9 tests roundup:

Jim Kasson analyzed the Noise Behaviour:

I want to emphasize that the absolute noise level is low in the a9, but the periodic nature of the read noise and the PRNU will cause visible noise to be more objectionable that it would be if it were random.

So the problem with the A9 “banding” seems to be the noise pattern on the red channel. It’s not random enough to avoid it. I do hope Sony will work on this to fix it via firmware upgrade.

Alin Popescu posted his one week review and Bird shooting experience:

I tell you, as long as I locked focus on the bird (Expanded Flexible Spot Lock-on AF), then the A9 did it’s magic tracking the absolutely erratic flight of these magnificent creatures.

Sony A9 wedding photography by Aga Tomaszek:

Bear in mind I’ve only shot one wedding with the A9 so far, it’s hard not to jump to conclusions. Sod it, I’m going to jump to a conclusion. MIND BLOWING. A7RII focusing is acceptably fast, impressively accurate, and tracking is good enough for most wedding situations. The A9 is quite simply another league, another stratosphere! Focusing feels effortless and the hit-rate destroys my D4s.

Also Mariano Friginal tested the A9 for wedding. Ryan Armbrust did an Event Photography with the A9. And there is a sports Photography report by Qamera: They tested both Canon and Nikon lenses on the A9. At the end the conclusion is simple…we need fast native E-mount tele lenses :)

Three small updates on the overheating saga:

1) Sony reached out ThatCameraGuy to find out more about the Over the issue. Glad to see Sony taking a promopt response on this. I am confident this will be solved positively
2) Jared Matthew Jarvis did some more testing and had no issues whatssoever.
3) Similar report by Edde Burgess:

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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.
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.

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.

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!
   –
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!

Nikon photographer Lars Ronbog tested the new Sony A9 on a soccer field and the conclusion is:

The AF worked fine – better or worse than my Nikon? Not better, but it was acceptable for a first time use – more games and photographing other kind of sports would be needed to draw the final conclusion.

Is the A9 a game changer?
No – but it is probably the beginning of a game changer. Within 5 years a pro-sportsshooter could very well be working with mirrorless cameras.

Would I change my Nikon for this camera?
No!

Three reasons to why not:
– Not enough pro-lenses
– No IPTC in the camera ( this could be solved with a firmware-update)
– Not enough accessories 

We also got a new A9 tests video from Wex:

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!

This is a Guest Post from Hamza Küçükgöl:

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For all SAR readers how I experienced shooting the UEFA CUP Final with the [shoplink 59286]Sony A6500[/shoplink] and [shoplink 59287]a7RII[/shoplink], I just want to invite them to 2 things.

Focusing with AF from side to side (sideways) will find Sony’s camera 100% focus. But the big nakedness, yes, felt where the player ran toward me or away from me. Then I tested with both [shoplink 59289]Sigma MC-11[/shoplink], [shoplink 59288]Sigma art 135mm F/1.8[/shoplink] on the Sony a6500. And with the [shoplink 59290]Sony G Master 85mm F / 1.4[/shoplink]

Then the first 2-3 pics took good while all the other pictures that were in series (11b / s) dropped that focus or did not hang out. Certainly these two lenses are NOT a sports lens so it should not be wrong at the camera houses, there are many people thinking about my recension. But then I would like to answer with all SAR readers that I have photographed the Sony 70-200mm F / 2.8G Master also at a previous football match and experienced the same sad thing there with. That it fits perfectly sideways but when the players bounce towards me, it did not hang out.

I occasionally let my finger out of the trigger and do interval printing instead and see if it helped and certainly it was a bit better but not that they made a big difference.

 But in conclusion, I was still pleased with what I got for results from the match with both sharpness and depth, and the colors and noise levels were perfect.

You who want to see EXIF from these pictures can visit my, https://www.flickr.com/photos/93738709@N06/albums/72157684173971206

Many of the pictures are cropped to get close to the pictures. So there are no 1: 1 pictures.

I can, despite the lack of telephoto lens, recommend the A6500 and A7RII to sports photography with the right eye-catcher

SINCERELY
Hamza Küçükgöl
Freelance Press photographer
www.hkfoto82.wix.com/hkfoto

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZTV_64VPKU

If you watch from minute 5 on this video you can see how well the A9 autofocus tracking works. I can see sports photographer being excited to see such results. But we need Sony to release that 400mm FE lens soon ;)

New reviews:
The α9 is Fast, But Is It A Fashion Camera? (Philip Edsel).
A9 video review by TheSlantedLens.
Review by RoseAndCharles.
Bend Oregon in 4K! Completely ungraded SOOC footage from the Sony A9 using 5 different lenses (Jason Lanier).
Dutch review by KameraExpress.
Plenty of A9 user reports on our official Sony A9 facebook group.

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.
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.

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.