Best Sony Alpha 9 Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals & Sales 2020:

Sony’s 24 x 36 mm sensor hybrids have had a fourth family since the end of April, each with a well-defined role: at the Alpha 7 range opening, at Alpha 7s high sensitivity, at Alpha 7R high definition and, now, at the Alpha 9, sports photography with a particular focus on responsiveness. First of its kind, the Alpha 9 (all short) of 2017 is therefore the first of its kind. Not the last, hopefully, as this hybrid is so convincing!

Presentation

24.2 MP ExmorR CMOS BSI sensor with its own DRAM memory, 4D AF module with 693 points with 93% coverage, new viewfinder, new touch screen, new chassis, new physical ergonomics, new 2280 mAh battery, etc. Sony has over-equipped its new flagship with a single goal: to tickle the Canon EOS-1D X II and Nikon D5 SLRs on their own ground, that of sports photography.

Best Sony Alpha 9 Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals & Sales 2020

1. Sony a9 II Mirrorless Camera: 24.2MP Full Frame Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Digital Camera. Continuous AF/AE, 4K Video and Built-in Connectivity – Sony Alpha ILCE9M2/B Body – Black

2. Sony a9 Full Frame Mirrorless Interchangeable-Lens Camera (Body Only) (ILCE9/B),Black

3. Sony Alpha a9 II Mirrorless Digital Camera Body, 24.2MP Full Frame ILCE9M2/B Bundle. Battery Grip, 64GB SD Card, Bag, Battery, Smart Charger and Accessories

4. Sony Alpha a9 Mirrorless Digital Camera, Full Frame – Bundle with FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM (G Master) Lens. FE 16-35mm f/2.8 GM (G Master), FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM (G Master) OSS, and Free Accessory Bundle

5. Sony a9 Full Frame Mirrorless Interchangeable-Lens Camera w/ Telephoto Lens & Grip

Reactivity

If at first we had announced a maximum burst rate at 16.7 frames per second, additional tests have established that Sony was indeed keeping its promise of a burst of 20 fps, even exceeding it slightly since the case catches the 21 fps.

In terms of responsiveness, the Alpha 9 keeps all its promises: very fast at start-up, precise AF and swift in all circumstances, formidable eye tracking, continuous AF with tracking of the subject difficult to take in default, it really has everything for seduce sports photographers. It is even possible, for those in a hurry, to switch to any electronic shutter to gain a few hundredths of a second between two images.

The burst announced at 20 fps is held, whether in JPEG or RAW + JPEG, but only in electronic shutter. Be careful however: it should not be abused, on the one hand under penalty of quickly filling the memory card. This is trivial -, on the other hand because the case heats up easily. Note however a positive point: during the recording, which can take some time despite the use of UHS-II cards. It is always possible to access the main settings and the quick menu, which is not the case on Alpha 7. On the other hand, the main menu remains completely inaccessible.

Image quality

The Alpha 9 is one of the too few interchangeable lens cameras to use a BSI CMOS sensor, that is to say backlit, since the only other representative of the genre is the Alpha 7R II , the late Samsung NX1 having been withdrawn of the market. The images remain perfectly usable up to ISO 6400 and, as long as your pictures are intended for press printing or online distribution in a newspaper, you can even risk it at ISO 25 600. Higher sensitivities will be used sparingly but, why not, maybe one day you will have the opportunity to photograph an antelope hopping at dusk at 16.7 fps, in which case the fluffy images at 204 800 ISO will always be better than no images at all

Some colleagues have echoed concerns about dynamics compared to the Alpha 7R II and competitors, especially the Canon. For our part, in real situation, we did not notice anything abnormal, whether in JPEG or RAW. Or it is because we have not tested under sufficiently extreme conditions

Video

Even if it is not thought for the video, the Alpha 9 does not forget to prove to be excellent in the matter. Of course, it films in 4K / UHD 25p at 100 Mb / s, without cropping, with perfect finesse of the rendering. In Full HD, sports enthusiasts will appreciate the S&Q modes (“Slow & Quick”) directly accessible via the mode dial, which allow filming up to 100 fps, ie 4x slow motion. However, we would have liked – history to push the vice to the end and taking into account the presence of DRAM on the ExmorR sensor – to have the possibility of filming in Full HD 1000 fps, as is possible on the RX100 V or even the Experia Premium XZ smartphone. 

The engineers told us, however, that the limitation was not technical and that thefirmware if the demand from users is strong enough. For the rest, the sound is very good. But you would prefer to go through the microphone jack for more ambitious recording. The precise autofocus but pumps slightly with our 24-70 mm f / 2.8 G Master test. You’ll prefer to work in manual focus – and the touchscreen remains hopelessly useless. Note the absence of the S-Log, it seems for technical reasons.

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