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I did a thing….New Camera in the House Sony a9III
- Thread starter DavidT
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foxysport
Active member
You're totally on a roll. I am wondering why there are so many of those being sold as new used in the UK: five today in mpb UK. Are there some quality control issues or unsuitable for some use cases. Maybe people are using inferior glass or wrong technique and walk away dissatisfied. I am puzzled.
Rene
Well-known member
They are sold near new prices. My guess is refurbished from Sony. Cameras used at exhibitions etc
Rene de Heer
www.naturepics.co.uk
foxysport
Active member
Absolutely no Sony A1's though in contrast, I'd seen one in the last three weeks maybe, snapped up immediately.
Well....daaannnggg ya all! DavidT, Howard and Arbitrage! I was determined not to want this camera. And now, it's also the 300mm on the list.
You’d love it!
Howard
Well-known member
I took the a1 out tonight as I’ve hardly shot it since getting the a9III. First impressions the a9III is so much more comfortable in the hand. The af is quicker for sure and after missing a handful of shots with the a1 I went back to my truck and got the a9III.
Bottom line for me is bird in flight work the a9III is my tool moving forward.
In a couple of weeks I’m shooting a pro rugby match for the first time and the a9III will be my main body on the 400 or 600GM.
Bottom line for me is bird in flight work the a9III is my tool moving forward.
In a couple of weeks I’m shooting a pro rugby match for the first time and the a9III will be my main body on the 400 or 600GM.
Howard
Well-known member
Long Tailed Tit
A9lll 600mm f4
A9lll 600mm f4
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How many frames are you trashing in post to get that one perfect shot?
Who’s the question to?
To you,
Sorry I wasn’t specific.
No worries didn’t want to assume. I guess it just depends but I’ve been keeping the camera at 60FPS and using the boost of 120 on specific subjects. Reason is for unique subject moments, wing positions etc. so sure to get the perfect moment it might be one frame out of say 100. But when using photo mechanic sorting and picking the perfect shot is fast and easy. I personally don’t tag or sort in the field. That’s just setting you up to miss something.
Ra
I also have a ton of frames that I need to trash, which got me thinking, maybe I could stitch them all in a timeline as video…
So your ratio is one out of hundred.
I also have a ton of frames that I need to trash, which got me thinking, maybe I could stitch them all in a timeline as video…
Also have times I get 20 killer shots in a nice pan. Just depends but I’m rather picky.
Rene
Well-known member
Fighting Siskin photographed in Norway. From hide with pre capture engaged and Sony GM 300mm.
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arbitrage
Well-known member
Playing around with 60FPS precapture in the back yard....
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Rene
Well-known member
Very nice images .
Killer. What’s your thoughts on the camera?
arbitrage
Well-known member
Thanks
Quick summary....really like a lot of things about it but I am missing the MPs and I'm not finding AF to be significantly better than the A1.
More details:
Things I'm really liking are the precapture, improved body (grip, LCD) and button design (more prominent, better feeling) and 60/120FPS options.
I find precapture best used at 30 or 60FPS. 120FPS can get you some shots you might have missed with a lower FPS but you have to be very selective because you only get one chance and then the buffer can cause you to miss shots. I've been using 120FPS precapture to try and get the perfect entry shots of terns, kingfishers and osprey and it of course increases my chances of success over trying with 30FPS no precapture on the A1. But most of the time it is too risky to miss subsequent shots due to the buffer limitations. 30 and 60FPS with precapture as needed are my preferred setup.
I also like the customizable Zones and the super small flex spot. Great options to have and customize to certain subjects. Using a long, thin rectangle for ducks on the water is great.
I am missing the A1's MPs. At least at this time of year a lot of my shooting is at water's edge shooting Osprey, kingfishers and terns diving. I can't get closer and I've had cool shots from the A9III that just don't have enough pixels on target for an acceptable final image after cropping. Therefore I have been adding TCs more than I do with A1. That works but for fast diving birds, shooting at a narrower FOV is much more difficult to pan with the dives. Also losing a stop of SS at a given ISO. Similar to shooting swallows IF, easier to shoot wider and crop with an A1 than use TC on the A9III.
Finally the AF......the AF is very, very good....BUT....I'm not finding it to be significantly better than the A1. I tried to do a "controlled" test by shooting back to back to back on swallows IF. 15mins on the A9III, 15mins on the A1, rinse and repeat. The A1 was holding, acquiring and giving me a comparable final hit rate when back at the computer compared to the A9III. Maybe the A9III is a bit more consistent but I can't swear by it.
Also I'm finding the A9III AF programming is prioritizing nearest object much more than the A1. Many may say that is a plus and sometimes it can be but I've always found on A9/A9II and A1 that the thing I could count on with the AF is it would prioritize centre of the AF Area in Wide and Zone. With the A9III the AF seems to be jumping to bottom of the AF Area to grab a nearer blade of grass or water ripple even in smaller Custom Zone sizes when the bird is dead centre and not giving me a great pose to allow it recognize a subject and activate bird AF. If it does find the subject then it won't jump to nearest object. I'm not liking this change. I just find the AF jumping off the subject way more than the previous Sony bodies (not just A1).
Bottom line, at the price point, the A9III doesn't give me enough over the A1 to consider buying one. But I'm looking forward to the A1II to get pre-capture and other improvements...although a bit trepidatious as I am a bit worried about the changes to AF behaviour I'm seeing in the A9III.
PS....here is my little rant to Sony....and I knew this feature was broken going in as I've used the A7RV before.
Cameras starting with the A7IV where they stopped using a fixed numbered EC dial and went to the generic customizable dial broke one of my favourite customized buttons that helped my shooting workflow. I shoot in full M mode....no Auto nothing....I keep my main settings ready for action given the light levels. But in cloudier conditions I like to have a button to instantly drop SS and therefore drop ISO to shoot more static subjects without messing with my action settings. My way to do this was use my AE-L button as a Recall Custom Shoot Set....I'd have this at a 1/400 (or sometimes slower) SS, have AF Area switch to Small Flex Spot:Tracking and turn on AUTO ISO (basically the only time I use any Auto setting). This worked well as I could use the dedicated EC dial to refine the exposure depending on the background. Whatever the dedicated EC dial was at the Recall Set honoured. With the generic custom dial set to be EC, the camera always sets EC to Zero when you Recall the Shoot Set, therefore I get over and underexposures. Only by having your main settings using Auto ISO already will it honour the EC dial setting. I don't want to use Auto-ISO in my normal shooting...it is a stupid setting to use for action and BIF. Anyone doing so is doing themselves a huge disservice. So as a sort of workaround I've edited my Custom Set to have a fixed negative EC setting....erring on the side of an underexposure that I can brighten in post. This is working but AF can suffer as the camera likes a proper exposure to have AF work at its best.
Rene
Well-known member
I do think 25 mio pxl is enough under certain circumstances that’s due to the fact that here in Europe we work a lot from hides so I can get closer to my target with less cropping while in the USA a lot of photography is done on the fly (if that’s the right word) which means a lot of cropping and in that case the A9III will have its limitations. For me the combination A1/A9III is ideal.
LTK
Well-known member
Thank you Geoff this answers a lot a questions , I was was beginning to think the A1's AF was almost broken in comparison against the A9iii . Unfortunately wildlife is one of the most demanding types of photography out there . The A9ii was a great camera and nailed most stuff I wanted but I was struggling with a lot subjects you just couldn't get close enough to. You could crop the A9ii quite well for what it was but going to the A1 made hell of a difference for me .
The A9iii still looks a fantastic bit of kit and fun to use , Pre capture and higher FPS sounds extremely useful but something I can live without for now, since I've mainly sorted my A1 subject detect issue it'll do me for now. I'll just buy more batteries
Might be worth a lot of us emailing Sony about the custom EC setting ?
Autoxave
New member
@arbitrage @LTK @DavidT My experience is that the AF in A9III is superior to that on A1. No doubts at all. A9III has incorporated AI tech in AF which is lacking in A1. And then there is a whole new game with precapture where you can get images which is hard to get on the A1. The images are also sharper on the A9III in handheld shooting due to much better IBIS and less MP compared to A1.
I also feel the same way. I’ve gone back and forth and for what I’m shooting right now the a9III finds and locks onto the subject (birds and insects currently) better than the a1. I like it has more than just eye but head and body and you can turn them on or off and give priority to different aspects of subject detection.
I appreciate everyone’s opinion who uses the camera however one week with a beast like this is rather short to really learn a camera and use it in a variety of situations.
End of the day it’s a great companion to the a1 and for BIF and other faster action I chose the a9III. Bottom line is better af, more fps and pre capture make it the most capable camera on the market.
I for one have gotten shots I either wouldn’t have with the a1 or would have had to spend significantly more time trying to capture it. I only get so much time in the field so nailing the shot is important to me.
I used to get BIF with the D850 but also would have a ton of missed shots from poor AF. The odds are simply higher with the a9III over any other camera.
Reading people comments like “I haven’t seen a shot yet my a1, Z9,Z8,R5 can’t get”. Well sure but can you get that shot each and every time it’s in front of you? The Sony a9III can deliver on it. I’ve never shot a camera that can not only nail it each time but at 120fps I typically have several to choose from.
To me that’s worth having it in my tool box and worth the money. I fully plan on upgrading my a1’s when the new one comes out but no way are you going to get the fps from that higher MP camera than the a9III has. So long term it has home in my bag.
Indigo Bunting from this morning.
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