I did a thing….New Camera in the House Sony a9III

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Icee said:
Just catching up on this thread as I've been away.

As a ex pro sports photographer you have created the perfect nightmare, 10K images to go through and dead line in 30mins!!! :ROFLMAO:
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Actually not really. I have them set as groups and tagging is super easy. You can play back the groups as a video, hit pause, adjust to the frame you want and tag it. Then when importing into photomechanic sort by just the tagged images and boom! 10k can drop to 100 that easily.
 
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I didn't make use of the camera's grouping and tagging functions as I hate doing any culling in camera but it sounds like a really good workflow.
Regardless, I found culling 10K A9III images sometimes faster than culling 3K out of my A1. Mostly because using software like PhotoMechanic (or what I use is my friend's program he wrote called Winnow) you can literally hold down the right arrow and watch the frames fly by like a video, quick pause for a great frame (perfect head, wing position or dynamic pose or whatever) hit the key to select as a keeper and then continue on. You are getting a lot of extra frames but you know you are only looking for a few good ones in any burst and it is so fast to go through them. I found that because of the smaller 24MP files vs 50MP files, the frame advance (using the embedded jpegs) was so smooth that it was just like watching a slowed down video and culling was a breeze.
 
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Male Pied Flycatcher and a greedy Woodpecker :)


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Here are a few shots from today. Bird action was slow but the insect AF of this camera continues to blow me away.


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Few bird shots from today.
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@DavidT
New forum member here. I found you and your content and forum posts by searching for a9III users and their opinions on wildlife photography with the camera. I received mine on Thursday of this week, and holy cow do I love it. I'm considering selling my A1 and A7RV to cover the cost. I am not a paid pro, just a hobbyist with a good enough income for the nice toys. I honestly don't mind the resolution loss. The details are still there. You're definitely able to get shots you normally couldn't with any less camera. Are you still shooting with yours? Going to keep it in your arsenal? :cool:
 
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trippalhealicks said:
@DavidT
New forum member here. I found you and your content and forum posts by searching for a9III users and their opinions on wildlife photography with the camera. I received mine on Thursday of this week, and holy cow do I love it. I'm considering selling my A1 and A7RV to cover the cost. I am not a paid pro, just a hobbyist with a good enough income for the nice toys. I honestly don't mind the resolution loss. The details are still there. You're definitely able to get shots you normally couldn't with any less camera. Are you still shooting with yours? Going to keep it in your arsenal? :cool:
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Welcome and I’m glad you found this thread! I still have both a1’s. I’ve been shooting the a9III currently as I’ve been spending time learning the camera. It’s also a season I shoot a lot of sports and it’s by far the best sports camera I’ve ever shot!
I do plan on selling one a1 likely by mid October. My spouse also shoots so it’s nice to have three bodies but I do plan on upgrading both to the new a1 when it comes out likely next year. I’d rather sell one before the market falls on used a1’s.
I do believe the a9III is a good companion to the a1 and unless I was only a sports photographer I think the a1 and a9III make good partners. I could see selling the a7 or a1 but I personally wouldn’t sell both as having diversity in my kit is always welcomed. If you shoot action I’d keep the a1 and sell the a7.
Just my 2 cents.
 
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DavidT said:
Welcome and I’m glad you found this thread! I still have both a1’s. I’ve been shooting the a9III currently as I’ve been spending time learning the camera. It’s also a season I shoot a lot of sports and it’s by far the best sports camera I’ve ever shot!
I do plan on selling one a1 likely by mid October. My spouse also shoots so it’s nice to have three bodies but I do plan on upgrading both to the new a1 when it comes out likely next year. I’d rather sell one before the market falls on used a1’s.
I do believe the a9III is a good companion to the a1 and unless I was only a sports photographer I think the a1 and a9III make good partners. I could see selling the a7 or a1 but I personally wouldn’t sell both as having diversity in my kit is always welcomed. If you shoot action I’d keep the a1 and sell the a7.
Just my 2 cents.
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That's probably the best idea. Once you go blackout-free shooting, it's hard to use non-stacked sensor cameras for anything that's moving. I just can't give up the a9III's ability to grab subjects even in visually complicated scenarios. I have some video and sequences of shots at 120fps where the camera just completely disregards branches and other obstructions and just stays LOCKED onto birds' eyes. I even had a Cardinal repeatedly hiding and peeking his eyes out from behind a leaf, and even when he was hidden, the camera moved to body focus to keep the bird in-focus. It's a pretty significant step forward from the A1's focusing system.

Although, for less busy shots where the subject is better isolated from obstructions as well as filling the frame for the most part, I don't find that it's all that much better than the A1 at grabbing focus on birds. Maybe a little, but nothing as significant as the A9III's ability to grab focus on partially-obstructed birds.

Thanks for the input, @DavidT !
 
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@DavidT and the rest of all ya'all.....I wasn't going to and am still haven't added an A9III (yet)...but fell to the 300 f2.8. It is just stupid sharp. And it is perfect travel companion to the 600 f4 and 70-200 f2.8 II if I need a zoom. I appreciate everyone's photos and feedback. I learn so much and am grateful!
 
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KimM said:
@DavidT and the rest of all ya'all.....I wasn't going to and am still haven't added an A9III (yet)...but fell to the 300 f2.8. It is just stupid sharp. And it is perfect travel companion to the 600 f4 and 70-200 f2.8 II if I need a zoom. I appreciate everyone's photos and feedback. I learn so much and am grateful!
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You’re welcome :cool: I haven’t bought the 300 yet but probably will since I have issues lol. If I do I have been telling myself something has to go but I don’t know what I’d want to part with. I have the 70-200, 100-400, 200-600, 400 and 600.

I haven’t used the 200-600 in a couple of years but my spouse loves the lens so can’t get rid of it. The 100-400 is mostly my bug lens. The 400GM I use mostly for sports so it’s got to stay as a 300 is often to short and the 600 will never leave.
The 70-200 is my least used lens so maybe but when you need a 70-200 you need a 70-200. I’ve got some short stuff I don’t really need so maybe but I’ve got so much long glass I’m having a hard time justifying the 300GM just for its size. Ugh first world problems.
 
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DavidT said:
You’re welcome :cool: I haven’t bought the 300 yet but probably will since I have issues lol. If I do I have been telling myself something has to go but I don’t know what I’d want to part with. I have the 70-200, 100-400, 200-600, 400 and 600.

I haven’t used the 200-600 in a couple of years but my spouse loves the lens so can’t get rid of it. The 100-400 is mostly my bug lens. The 400GM I use mostly for sports so it’s got to stay as a 300 is often to short and the 600 will never leave.
The 70-200 is my least used lens so maybe but when you need a 70-200 you need a 70-200. I’ve got some short stuff I don’t really need so maybe but I’ve got so much long glass I’m having a hard time justifying the 300GM just for its size. Ugh first world problems.
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:ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:
I sold my 200-600. Just didn't use it unless light was really good. Spouse won't touch my gear...."it's too fancy and my cell phone works just fine when I need to take a pic" I did just get a Sigma 105mm macro lens.....so, there's that.
You do, indeed, have issues....like the rest of us.
 
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KimM said:
:ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:
I sold my 200-600. Just didn't use it unless light was really good. Spouse won't touch my gear...."it's too fancy and my cell phone works just fine when I need to take a pic" I did just get a Sigma 105mm macro lens.....so, there's that.
You do, indeed, have issues....like the rest of us.
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If I didn’t shoot sports I could see selling the 400 for the 300 and keep the 600. It’s funny I still shoot the 600 about 90% of the time. If I limited my focus on photography I could probably have the 100-400, 600 and TC and be just fine.
 
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The more I shoot the a9III the more I love this camera! Visiting CA last week I took a whale watching boat ride but with less than 100 yard visibility it was a bust! I had the a9III and Sony 100-400 with me and out of no where this sea lion jumps out. The a9III af speed is so damn fast I got two frames off. Not a great pic but one of only two I took on a 2 hour boat ride.


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