Howard
Well-known member
Green Finch
A9lll 300mm 2.8
A9lll 300mm 2.8
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I did a thing….New Camera in the House Sony a9III
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Very nicely done!
Here are the conditions I was shooting this morning with the Indigo Bunting. The a9III held focus as the bunting was passing behind trees. This isn't a shot I would typically share and sure wouldn't print but a couple of key takeaways. First is it didn't lose the bird with all of the distractions and second that is ISO 8000! No crop, no photoshopping, just a slight exposure adjustment and file ran through DXO 3.
I contantly hear how people can't get close to subjects. That was 600mm with no crop. I typically would have had the 1.4X on but I had times they were twice as close so just stuck with the 600. In TX birds are very skittish but use of camo and or a blind makes all the difference in the world.
Today I was walking in the woods looking for migrants coming through in a current push up from South America and once I spotted one I simply went into the shade, next to a tree and taller grass and stood still. Slow movements and patience and the bird worked in the area and gave me some opportunities. No pop up blind today and I didn't even have camo on but natural colored clothing. It isn't that hard if you show some patience and allow your subject to move freely without having to pass you.
I for one have enjoyed having to work harder by shooting tighter and improving my skill vs easy path and crop. I have seen a big improvement in just the last month and when shooting the a1 for example it will also pay dividends. I am on a journey to capture new subjects, more flying and unique moments and tightening my skill level to deliver better results. It has been fun pushing myself to do better than rely on cropping.
I contantly hear how people can't get close to subjects. That was 600mm with no crop. I typically would have had the 1.4X on but I had times they were twice as close so just stuck with the 600. In TX birds are very skittish but use of camo and or a blind makes all the difference in the world.
Today I was walking in the woods looking for migrants coming through in a current push up from South America and once I spotted one I simply went into the shade, next to a tree and taller grass and stood still. Slow movements and patience and the bird worked in the area and gave me some opportunities. No pop up blind today and I didn't even have camo on but natural colored clothing. It isn't that hard if you show some patience and allow your subject to move freely without having to pass you.
I for one have enjoyed having to work harder by shooting tighter and improving my skill vs easy path and crop. I have seen a big improvement in just the last month and when shooting the a1 for example it will also pay dividends. I am on a journey to capture new subjects, more flying and unique moments and tightening my skill level to deliver better results. It has been fun pushing myself to do better than rely on cropping.
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I didn't get a clean shot of the Red-bellied Woodpecker flying because of all the sticks and leaves but I will be back for sure! I had 4 of them around me at one time! They sure are cute!
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Another interesting wing and position of the Indigo Bunting. These are just a couple of the hundreds of nice shots I got in about 30 minutes.
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arbitrage
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Some from yesterday and today...
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arbitrage
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Do you have any setting suggestions I can try and learn the camera better? I've been using every flagship Sony camera since they started making Sony flagship cameras with the A9. Maybe there are some settings in the A9III that I can tweak to get it to start significantly outperforming the A1 in AF . If so, I'd like to give it a try over my next couple weeks before I return the camera.
I'll keep looking for more subjects and situations to throw at it over the next few weeks. Maybe my opinion will change. So far, I've given it a fairly good variety of BIF: swallows, osprey, kingfishers, terns, blackbirds, killdeer, oystercatchers, herons, ducks, crows, pigeons, eagles, merlin, kestrels and of course all my songbirds in my yard.
Killer shots.
I have continued to tweak these as well. I’ve settled on .2 seconds for pre capture with Lossless L RAW. Seems to be a deep enough buffer but of course more is always better.
Not sure if everyone has noticed but when doing pre capture if you shoot a burst and don’t let the buffer clear and reengage pre capture it will pause writing the images you took to the card. This will shorten your buffer for the next capture.
For the AF settings as in anything it depends on the situation but I find a more responsive has been better for what I’ve been currently shooting. I’ve also noticed higher shutter speeds have made the af system more responsive to fast moving subjects using pre capture.
I wasn’t trying to imply you don’t know what your doing however to write off the camera based on your current subject requiring you to crop as shooting tighter is harder or impossible I think is a little short sited. There still is no camera that is perfect at everything. Not even the beloved a1. Everything has a compromise and a strength. It’s why I’ve said it’s a good companion to an a1 for example for an action photographer. If I could only have one body it would be the a1 currently because I do such a mix of photography. But if I was a sports photographer or focused mostly on BIF I’d pick the a9III. If all I did was landscape it would be an a7R4-5 or medium format. Just trying to point out that photographers have different needs and all of these cameras have their place.
I have been receiving many messages from some very talented pro wildlife photographers that have embraced the a9III and have been very pleased with the results. They also had reservations no different than I did but given a limited time to capture a shot the a9III sets the photographer up to get that decisive moment. Obviously the higher skill level you have at shooting fast subjects that mostly fill the frame will yield better results than those of us that are working at getting better at it.
End of the day the a9III has a lot of advantages over all other cameras for its main purpose which is action photography. If one wants to crop like crazy rather than using other tools and techniques than sure it’s probably not the best choice.
The shots you have posted have been outstanding. I’ve got to believe this camera has made it easier. If not than sure why spend the money.
arbitrage
Well-known member
Like you, I've been perfecting my field craft for years to get close to subjects a much as possible. I've been at this since 2008. Despite the high pixel density sensors I've had a my disposal for the past ~7 years (starting with D500, D850 and then onto R5 and A1 with my brief interludes with Z9 and Z8), I still spent the majority of my years using 18-24MP FF cameras (5D3, 1DX, 1DXII, A9, A9II, R3). I've been a strong proponent for years (over on FM forums) that these lower MP sensors are my preferred sensors and some of my favourite work has been from those cameras.
But field craft can only work for certain subjects. There are many amazing avian subjects where there is really no field craft that can get you closer. As I mentioned a lot of favourite spring subjects are over water. You get to the shoreline and that is the extent of the field craft. Now yes, I do kayak to get closer to some of my diving subjects....mostly for kingfishers which do tolerate the kayak and otherwise need a blind on land or luck that they hover and dive close to you on shore. I do sometimes improve my proximity to Osprey diving by kayak. But there is still a lot of shooting from shore and you just never know at what distance the action will happen. The best action can happen at any distance and the 50MPs will cast a bigger net than the 24MPs. So yes the A9III's improved AI AF, 60/120FPS and precapture can get me shots the A1 might miss, but the A1 can get me that unexpected action that requires a bigger crop than I'd be acceptable with from the A9III.
If I needed a second body right now it would be an A9III over a 2nd A1...no doubt...so many fun things you can do with this camera...I'm having a blast with precapture...and yes it is making getting certain shots that much easier. But so far what I'm finding is it is the higher FPS and the precapture that is getting me those shots. I'm not finding that the AI AF is getting me more shots. I'm just not seeing a significant increase in % of critically sharp shots per burst...more shots yes because of 2-4x FPS but not a higher %. Which is odd as when I shot the A7RV I did immediately get the impression that the % was improved over the A1 (but then the FPS is 1/3 the A1). I was expecting the A9III to give me that same impression I got from the A7RV but it just isn't doing it for me. I was expecting it to do better at the AI bird recognition but so far I'm not seeing it.
I do like the way you can limit the BEAF to body, head, eye. I found that for large birds like a GBH flying close that having it set to head/eye greatly improves the camera ignoring the wings and way more sharp on the head/eye in such a sequence over the A1 that does a lot of near wing focusing. I do like having the customizable zone sizes...I have some great uses for those.
I think that in the end, despite all the awesome improvements in the A9III over the A1, I still feel that I will miss more opportunities because of the lower MPs than I will by not having AI AF, 120FPS and precapture. If I was still into carrying multiple cameras (at one point I think I had 5 flagships in my kit at once...LOL), then I'd put the A9III to use when it would shine and I'd put the A1's pixels to use when I need them. But these days I just prefer to not juggle cameras or carry one over each shoulder...I do enough with juggling lenses. I prefer to have the camera that is the most well rounded as a single camera...the A1 is the first time I've ever done this in my 16 years shooting birds.
I know you like to run 2-3 bodies so of course having an A9III alongside your A1(s) is a good decision. I'm just happy to run a single body and wait another year when I can get all the A9III improvements (accepting probably 120FPS and GS) in a 50MP A1II. I don't think anyone is making a bad/wrong choice by adding an A9III to their kit for bird photography...even someone that replaces their A1 with an A9III isn't making a bad choice if the pixels are sufficient. I'm just not over the moon about this camera as some of you are and that's okay.
Anyways...enough about this....let's get back to what's important.....the results....
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I appreciate your comments and we see it the same way. If you are limited to one camera the a1 is likely the best single choice for everyone. Just as if limited to one lens your subject distance will direct you to which one lens you should have.
I’m going to sell one of my a1’s soon and keep one along with the a9III. The value of the a1 is going to drop significantly later this year. In fact Sony just did their first discount on the a1 via a trade in program this weekend so that’s telling.
Oh and once again killer shots!
How did the humming birds with water take place?
arbitrage
Well-known member
One of those cheap solar powered Amazon fountains that floats in my bird bath. Hummers, especially the fledglings, love it. There were two in it at once when I took that shot!! They are hilarious watch as the dance in and out of the spray.
Like this: https://a.co/d/bBXWZEQ
Howard
Well-known member
Long Tailed Tit and a mouthful of bugs
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Super cool!!!!!! Where do you live that all this is in your backyard?
arbitrage
Well-known member
I live near Victoria BC on Vancouver Island.
Ahhh aka heaven. If only it was in the US
arbitrage
Well-known member
Well out my window I'm staring at all the Washington State mountain peaks with San Juan Islands just off shore so I'm sure they have everything we have!!Ahhh aka heaven. If only it was in the US
Very good review and he nails what those of us who have shot the camera are saying.
arbitrage
Well-known member
I just came here to post that video as I just finished it. Jan and I are on the exact same page with this camera.
What he brings up at the 7:00min mark is exactly what I feel was a big regression in the AF logic compared to the A1. Which I noted in my mini-review earlier in this thread.
His thoughts about getting amazing action shots like his Azure KF but just not having the MPs to make a great final cropped image out of it is also what I was finding in many situations, similar to his where he can't magically get closer to the bird no matter what field craft he could dream up. As he notes, you can mitigate the MPs by going longer focal length like he mentions the 600GM/1.4TC but for subjects like that KF it just isn't productive as it is too hard to keep the bird in the VF. Again an instance where an A1 will get you a shot if you can manage it at 30FPS without pre-capture.....not as easy but I bet he would have got some after learning the behaviour as he pointed out in the video.
Bottom line, Jan sums up my experience with the camera to a tee. I will have one more 3 day weekend with the camera before I send it back and I will certainly miss it. Still not enough to spend the $8700 CAD (with tax) they want for it in Canada but has me saving the pennies for the A1II.
What he brings up at the 7:00min mark is exactly what I feel was a big regression in the AF logic compared to the A1. Which I noted in my mini-review earlier in this thread.
His thoughts about getting amazing action shots like his Azure KF but just not having the MPs to make a great final cropped image out of it is also what I was finding in many situations, similar to his where he can't magically get closer to the bird no matter what field craft he could dream up. As he notes, you can mitigate the MPs by going longer focal length like he mentions the 600GM/1.4TC but for subjects like that KF it just isn't productive as it is too hard to keep the bird in the VF. Again an instance where an A1 will get you a shot if you can manage it at 30FPS without pre-capture.....not as easy but I bet he would have got some after learning the behaviour as he pointed out in the video.
Bottom line, Jan sums up my experience with the camera to a tee. I will have one more 3 day weekend with the camera before I send it back and I will certainly miss it. Still not enough to spend the $8700 CAD (with tax) they want for it in Canada but has me saving the pennies for the A1II.
This thread generates a lot of GAS
BlackRockArt
Well-known member
Howard, this is mouth-wateringly beautiful.
I just want say "what a fabulous shot".
Oliver
Not sure about Canadian monies but greentoe you can buy one for around $5100 no tax and shipped. I wish I had known this I would have saved $1,400.
Wow! Now that’s a shot I’d love to have.
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