The Sony A73/A7R3/A7S3/A9 Thread

voidshatter · 21 Apr 2017 at 20:37

D.P. said:
Do you have a link for the A9 sensor using a 16nm process, would seem to be absurdly expensive

I don't have a link yet - this was informed by a friend who is an engineer in Sony's sensor department. He correctly gave information about IMX251, IMX411 and IMX461 before such information was publicly available at various rumour sites, so I think his information is quite foretelling (at least to me).

We might need to wait for a tear-down by Chipworks (now techinsights).

Jase · 21 Apr 2017 at 21:13

I don't think you're going to see any honest opinions on this camera, most of the people talking about the camera are Sony fanboys invited to the event who are only going to report the good stuff.

It's about time they had 2 card slots, but why only have one that supports a fast card and the other just your standard card?

Main problem I can see is it aimed at sports/actions photographers but Sony don't have the lenses to back it up, the 100-400 they announced at the same time does not cut it.

Having said all that I'm looking forward to seeing some proper reviews. I wish Nikon would hurry up with their announcment of the 810 replacement as I want to make a decision on my next camera purchase.

voidshatter · 21 Apr 2017 at 21:38

Watch from 3:39 to see how the Canon 1DX-II got crushed in focus tracking: https://youtu.be/gcIpuo_mJl8?t=3m39s

An Exception · 21 Apr 2017 at 21:49

I need a wide angle. a 35mm & 85mm. That's it. Give me an a9 already.

An Exception · 21 Apr 2017 at 21:51

voidshatter said:
Watch from 3:39 to see how the Canon 1DX-II got crushed in focus tracking:

Very impressive. Would be interesting to see low light AF acquisition.

Raymond Lin · 21 Apr 2017 at 23:06

An Exception said:
I need a wide angle. a 35mm & 85mm. That's it. Give me an a9 already.

Essentially that's all I need but for some variety, it is nice to have options.

Jase · 21 Apr 2017 at 23:06

An Exception said:
Very impressive. Would be interesting to see low light AF acquisition.

and low light performance compared to something like the D5 or 1DX II

Raymond Lin · 21 Apr 2017 at 23:09

Jase said:
and low light performance compared to something like the D5 or 1DX II

Sony has Low light and DR in the bag, even if they made no improvement in the current design it's not an area where i have a problem with.

Jase · 21 Apr 2017 at 23:27

Raymond Lin said:
Sony has Low light and DR in the bag, even if they made no improvement in the current design it's not an area where i have a problem with.

You're probably right there but still I'd like to see how it compares.

Again though I think their biggest issue is the lens selection for the target market of action/sports etc they need the 300 f2.8, 500/600 f4 and they don't have them unless you use an adaptor and sacrifice half the speed.

Raymond Lin · 21 Apr 2017 at 23:31

Jase said:
You're probably right there but still I'd like to see how it compares.

Again though I think their biggest issue is the lens selection for the target market of action/sports etc they need the 300 f2.8, 500/600 f4 and they don't have them unless you use an adaptor and sacrifice half the speed.

I also just read that the elimination in rolling shutter is by software correction as it is not a global shutter. If you want to use the mechanical shutter then you are restricted to 5fps. So it would be interesting to see real world samples of how well this software correction is when it gets into people's hands.

The lack of lenses though is their biggest failings. Imagine you are a Premier League shooter, you have a Canon 300, 400, 500 and 600mm. You just would love to put it on the Sony, do you do that and get 10fps or you stick to the Canon and get 14 fps?

An Exception · 22 Apr 2017 at 14:42

^^^
The software correction only needs to be minimal. The sensor readout speed is plenty fast enough for most use cases.

englishpremier · 22 Apr 2017 at 16:37

D.P. said:
EDIT; As Raymond says
If they really wanted to take market share form the Canon & nikon pros it would need a built in vertical grip anyway in order to balance bigger lenses and work optimally in portrait mode. At the curreent price I doubt even the biggest Sony fans will take a bite

The A9 is cheaper than it's target competitors the 1DXII and the D5. It also has a grip available to it.

Raymond Lin · 22 Apr 2017 at 19:23

englishpremier said:
The A9 is cheaper than it's target competitors the 1DXII and the D5. It also has a grip available to it.

How much is it with the grip?

But what are the lenses these professional 1Dx or D5 shooters have? Massive fast primes.

The A9 would be a doorstop for them as there are no native lenses, with an adaptor it goes down to 10fps which is slower than the canon and Nikon so there is no reason to get the A9 to shoot with an adaptor and lower FPS, it makes no sense for these sports or wild life shooters.

If you are a canon shooter that lives on the 300-600mm range, what logic is there to get the A9 and shoot at 10fps?

D.P. · 22 Apr 2017 at 23:22

englishpremier said:
The A9 is cheaper than it's target competitors the 1DXII and the D5. It also has a grip available to it.

The simple fact that the grip is not built-in is basically a deal breaker for pros. And for.pros the cost is not that important compared to reliability under all conditions, dependability, lens availability, professional service. For example, at the next Olympics how many 400nm f/2.8 will be available for back-ups, loans and replacements? The answer at the moment is precisely zero because they don't even make such a lens.

englishpremier · 22 Apr 2017 at 23:29

Forgive my ignorance but what difference does it make whether the grip is built in or not? Attach and forget.

I understand about the lenses. They don't have anything as wide as 2.8. Length isn't really an issue though unless you want to go over 400mm but then you have aps-c mode, which again raises the point about the aperture.

Raymond Lin · 22 Apr 2017 at 23:53

BTW, by grip do you mean this thing? What purpose does that serve? It adds no button function, it does not extend battery life. 20fps, good enough for 400-500 shots. You might need about a dozen before half time, 2 second bursts will be like 10% of your juice?

p.s. it looks like this thing is blocking the battery door. Who the hell designed this thing???

An Exception · 23 Apr 2017 at 00:02

Raymond Lin · 23 Apr 2017 at 00:03

That makes more sense.

Jase · 23 Apr 2017 at 00:06

Raymond Lin said:
BTW, by grip do you mean this thing? What purpose does that serve? It adds no button function, it does not extend battery life. 20fps, good enough for 400-500 shots. You might need about a dozen before half time, 2 second bursts will be like 10% of your juice?

p.s. it looks like this thing is blocking the battery door. Who the hell designed this thing???

He probably means the Battery Grip, but as for that i can't imagine anyone wanting one, specs for it :

Provides better finger positioning grip

mmm

voidshatter · 23 Apr 2017 at 01:25