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.

Digglloyd shared a worrying finding on the Sony A9 he is testing:

I noticed some unexpected streaking in an image with a good exposure at ISO 100. The red channel is overlaid with horizontal lines/streaks in 12-pixel-high bands. Pattern noise is disturbing in any case, but to have it at ISO 100 with a good exposure is a huge negative for any camera, high speed shooter or not.
I’ve not seen noise this egregiously bad for years now. Possible diagnosis: the high-speed readout of the A9 sensor does not read out groups of rows evenly; there is some difference in gain between the rows. The pattern noise repeats in row groups that are 12 pixels high.

I have no way to verify his detailed test yet as you have to pay to read the full article. And I have to say I have found none such issue on the RAW files shared by DPreview and Imaging Resource.

I find it strange none of the reviewers so far has ever found any banding issue on the A9 at low ISO. My bet yet is that either he got a faulty production camera or he made some sort of setting error. I ask testers and readers to peer review this. Thanks!

If indeed his findings prove to be a general issue I am sure Sony will work to fix this very soon via the next firmware update. It’s very normal that new camera may have some issues that will be fixed quickly. Don’t panic yet ;)
By the way, that firmware update will likely bring S-LOG on the camera too. This is what Sony support wrote on the BHphoto Q&A page:

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.

Skip this post if you don’t like unboxing videos :)

Sony A9 Unboxing and First Look (TheDigitalDigest)
Sony a9 Unboxing & Size Comparison With Alpha A6500 & Alpha a7R II (Brandon Meek)
Quick Unboxing of Sony A9 (TagTheShooter Photography)
Sony a9 Unboxing (Mike’s Camera TV)
A9 unboxing (Jonathan Richards Photography)
A9 Unboxing (Eseven).
Plenty of owner experience sharing on our Sony A9 Facebook group.

Sony A9:
Sony A9 at BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon, BestBuy. FocusCamera. Calumet.de. Ringfoto Dockhorn. 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.

Note: Today the Sony A9 is in Stock for the first time at BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon, BestBuy. FocusCamera.
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How well does the $9,000 Canon 500mm f/4.0 lens work on the new Sony A9? Well, check out this video from Paul Bunyard (first posted on our A9 facebook group). Note that he used the Sigma MC-11 adapter which officially doesn’t even support the Canon lens!

This is an image captured straight via Camera Wifi

All credit goes to:
Paul Bunyard
Freelance Camera Operator
http://www.wildaboutimages.com/

Shaiful Baker‎ posted a very detailed Electronic shutter comparison between the A9 vs A7Rii vs A6500 in Tungsten Light on our A9 facebook group. He says:

my conclusion, A9 Electronic Shutter is on another level.

Indeed the A9 shows no banding at all. But we need to see how the A9 performs in even worse mixed Light conditions to be sure banding is no issue. Still, it really proves that so far the improvement over the A7rII is impressive and promising!

New tests: Manny Ortiz posted that Sony A9 Real World Testing, Portraiture, Sports, and low light video (watch below). While Jason Lanier posted an ISO test video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WFdlfNlZ9Y

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.

Image of the three cameras via Focus Numerique.

The French site Focus Numerique (translation here) compared the top three Sports Photography cameras (Nikon D5 vs Canon 1DX Mark II vs Sony A9). On their site you can download all the JPG and RAW ISO test images to make your own testing. Focus Numerique conclusion is that the Sony A9 wins this test:

The additional 4 Mpx of the A9 and a less aggressive noise reduction allow the Sony to better render details at all ISO sensitivities.

UPDATE: After Angry Photographer criticized me I remade the comparisons between the A9 and D5. So here are some comparison crops between the two cameras. But really, I do invite you to download the images for yourself and do your own testings. I even saw some comments on SAR with people saying the D5 image is better and then people realized they switched the images. This is just to say you have to be careful when reading comments of people or following the rant of Angry Photographer ;)

This is the comparison at 12800 ISO

This is the comparison at 25800 ISO

Focus Numerique wrote about the 25.800 ISO result:

At this sensitivity, the Sony A9 clearly takes the advantage over its two competitors: the overall level of detail is superior thanks to smoothing less pronounced, while the granulation remains rather fine is aesthetic.

ISO 204800 comparison with 200% enlargement (this is the image criticized by AngryMan). Here I did note something strange. In the center of the image the D5 shows the numbers on the money bill more clearly while at the same time the A9 shows more detail on the Lion and on the face (see the beard on top of the mouth):

This is again the 204800 ISO image with the Canon (This is the image I posted yesterday):

And if you move towards the corners of the image the A9 is clearly sharper on the numbers (see the vertical 1 to 6 sequence on the right):

So my impression at 204800 ISO is the following:
1) Sony image has more detail (lion image, orange strip above the lion, beard of the face on the money bill…)
2) Nikon does a better job sharpening the details in low contrast situation (see numbers on bill). While Sony sharpening does a good job when contrast is high (see Black numbers on the white background)

To answer Angry Photographer: I don’t agree with him claiming the D5 wins just because of the numbers on the bill being better displayed at ISO 204800 ISO. Because he is cherry picking one specific detail of the numbers on the bill and the logo on the book. At the same time he missed to acknowledge that on the very same image the A9 shows more detail on the face and the lion and also shows the numbers and details better when there is clear contrast (see the Black numbers on white board). So yes, the A9 has one weakness: Sharpening applied on low contrast situation at 204800 ISO. But at all other lower (and useable) ISO settings the A9 wins.

UPDATE: Angry Photographer is also misleading you with that:

Link:  “https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5481743472449b6395f2363169cadd4d66ecf96c924cd49e1fa8deed4a579648.jpg“. This is not 12.800 ISO image from Focus Numerique! This is the 204800 ISO comparison!
Of course he likely just made a mistake. But he would kill me if I would have done this mistake :) Also because at 12.800 ISo the A9 beats the D5 and that’s way more important than ISO 204800 which no one will EVER use for sports photography use.

And if you read me Angry Photographer, I am no fanboy, I do agree with you Sony service sucks in USA :)

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.