BlackRockArt
Well-known member
Oh @arbitrage , just when I think I have seen the best, you have outdone yourself again.
The first photo of sparrows in fight is my favorite genre, simply incredible!
Oliver
I did a thing….New Camera in the House Sony a9III
- Thread starter DavidT
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The first photo of sparrows in fight is my favorite genre, simply incredible!
Oliver
PhD69
Well-known member
To users of the A9III...
During a shooting session yesterday, I had the following behaviour of the A9III, while I was using the Pre-Capture mode: at times, just after using this mode to take a sequence of photographs or while I was waiting to take one (AF-ON button pressed), the capture mode became unavailable and the icon below was displayed (see screen copy).
To recover the capture mode, I had to skip the recording from slot 1 to 2 (or vice versa) or stop the A9III, eject and reinsert the CF Express A cards (not confortable as I was on a pond in a floating hide).
Just stopping/ restarting the A9III was not enough.
Has anyone ever had this problem please ? Thank you.
A9III firmware: 2.0
Lens: 600mm GM
CF Express A: Angelbird 1To in both slots
During a shooting session yesterday, I had the following behaviour of the A9III, while I was using the Pre-Capture mode: at times, just after using this mode to take a sequence of photographs or while I was waiting to take one (AF-ON button pressed), the capture mode became unavailable and the icon below was displayed (see screen copy).
To recover the capture mode, I had to skip the recording from slot 1 to 2 (or vice versa) or stop the A9III, eject and reinsert the CF Express A cards (not confortable as I was on a pond in a floating hide).
Just stopping/ restarting the A9III was not enough.
Has anyone ever had this problem please ? Thank you.
A9III firmware: 2.0
Lens: 600mm GM
CF Express A: Angelbird 1To in both slots
arbitrage
Well-known member
I haven't run into that yet. I think it is either a heat issue (as Sony warns about in the manual) or could be a card issue where it is having trouble writing to the card (bad sectors?). We also know CFe-A cards run very hot so if you are holding down the pre-capture a long time I'd expect to eventually have it shut down.
From the A9III online guide:
- When the continuous shooting speed is high, the temperature of the camera tends to rise. Therefore, depending on the temperature of the shooting environment, pre-capturing may be stopped to protect the camera.
Interesting. No I haven’t had this issue. In TX it’s already in the 80-90’s and I’ve used pre capture a lot without issue.
PhD69
Well-known member
Thank you for your feedback.
This is my guess as well : high temperature of the body.
Yet the temperature was not very high in the floating blind.
The CF Express A can act as a heat accumulator, this although the A9III does not write on the cards in pre-capture mode (while waiting for triggering).
@arbitrage and @DavidT : when you use pre-capture, do you use it during seconds or minutes before triggering please ?
And do you use it in a repetitive way, I mean that you chain successive sequences of use of the pre-capture mode (without delay between two successive sequences) ?
arbitrage
Well-known member
My last couple days of shooting I left it activated all the time but probably only had it active for 5-10s at a time. And often had long periods between raising the camera and activating AF/precapture.
I’ve done both depending on the action and subjects but I’ve had moments where a bird was moving from tree to tree and I was using pre capture non stop looking for that perfect flight shot.
Since I bought into Sony and the A1 I haven't needed a 2nd body (I've been taking my M43 gear when traveling since Covid) but for this summer's trip (S Africa) I'm taking my Sony gear and will need a 2nd body. I've been going back and forth between the A1 and A9 III and I'm leaning towards the A9 III since it has additional capabilities. I figure my longer lens can stay on my A1 and the shorter lens on the A9 III where I won't be worried about cropping as much.
From a cost perspective I really wish Sony had something like the Z8. Anyway since I need it I'll have to decide soon which way to go. I did look into renting it would be ~$800 for the time I'm gone so I could may be able find a used A1 or A9 III and flip it for little loss if I decide to.
From a cost perspective I really wish Sony had something like the Z8
. Anyway since I need it I'll have to decide soon which way to go. I did look into renting it would be ~$800 for the time I'm gone so I could may be able find a used A1 or A9 III and flip it for little loss if I decide to.
I believe Steve has an a9III in Africa. Will be interesting what he comes back with. I just got home from shooting a professional Rugby match with the a9III and 600GM. What a camera!!!!!Since I bought into Sony and the A1 I haven't needed a 2nd body (I've been taking my M43 gear when traveling since Covid) but for this summer's trip (S Africa) I'm taking my Sony gear and will need a 2nd body. I've been going back and forth between the A1 and A9 III and I'm leaning towards the A9 III since it has additional capabilities. I figure my longer lens can stay on my A1 and the shorter lens on the A9 III where I won't be worried about cropping as much.
From a cost perspective I really wish Sony had something like the Z8
I saw that Steve was bringing it. I’m looking forward to his report!
Keeping with the theme of reviewing this camera and it's capabilities here are some non wildlife shots, I hope Steve is ok with it, if not I will delete.
I know these aren't wildlife however I shot a MLR Rugby game with the a9III and 600GM last night as my primary lens/body. It is my first time shooting Rugby and my first time using the a9III for sports. My secondary camera was an a1 with 70-200 but the a9III and 600GM took 90% of my shots. Here are a few I have had a chance to edit. Most are no crop or little for composition. Something to pay attention to are the iso levels, I had hit 10K on a few occasions and even 16,000! but the files clean up very nicely. Feedback from the client is they like them. Shockingly they didn't ask how many MP the camera had LOL.
I have to say this camera is absolutely amazing for action! I suspect they will be all over the place at the Olympics. If I was a full-time sports photographer I would change all my cameras to the a9III. Did I mention it is magnificent?
Here are just a few, I will limit to just one post since there isn't wildlife in the shots.
I know these aren't wildlife however I shot a MLR Rugby game with the a9III and 600GM last night as my primary lens/body. It is my first time shooting Rugby and my first time using the a9III for sports. My secondary camera was an a1 with 70-200 but the a9III and 600GM took 90% of my shots. Here are a few I have had a chance to edit. Most are no crop or little for composition. Something to pay attention to are the iso levels, I had hit 10K on a few occasions and even 16,000! but the files clean up very nicely. Feedback from the client is they like them. Shockingly they didn't ask how many MP the camera had LOL.
I have to say this camera is absolutely amazing for action! I suspect they will be all over the place at the Olympics. If I was a full-time sports photographer I would change all my cameras to the a9III. Did I mention it is magnificent?
Here are just a few, I will limit to just one post since there isn't wildlife in the shots.
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To follow up on this I shot a Rugby match last night which is 80 min long. Between pregame events and the game I had the a9III on for about 2.5-3 hours. I used pre-capture at 60FPS .3 second buffer the entire match. I shot just short of 10K images and the temp was 92 Deg F. I had no issues at all. I use 1TB cards as my primary and the a9III has a Pergear which has been fantastic! I have wrote about 130K files to that card without issue. I also have the Angelbird which I would have bought a third one for the a9III but they stopped making them. Maybe your card is an issue. I haven't tried the Angelbird in the a9III but have them in both a1's.
I picked up one this week and I'm just setting it up. I was wondering if people are using lossless compressed instead of the default compressed RAW file type? I'm leaning towards lossless compress since the only disadvantage I can think of is buffer depth but curious to hear what other people are using.
John Navitsky
Well-known member
thermal issues with cards can vary by card, witness the big pains z9 folks had with old cards like the sandisk and old lexars that were prone to overheating
I’m using lossless L
Dawallace99
Member
I really appreciate you taking the time to discuss your views on a1 vs a9iii. I'm right now trying to decide on a 2nd camera body between the a1 vs a9iii
Dawallace99
Member
OK, you've sold me on the a9iii!! Going to buy the a9iii today! Thanks for all the great information. I feel kind of guilty, though, to bring a new toy into the house; the a1 isn't gonna like it!! LOLHere are my first pics from using the camera. It was a slow day but a couple of shots that would have been pretty difficult with the a1. The Eastern Blue Bird shots are from leaving the nest at 120fps. I am not to sure I would have gotten these wing poses without the extra FPS. The burst was a fraction of a second. Oh handheld if that matters to anyone
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Dawallace99
Member
Steve, I'm already sold!! I've been vacillating between a 2nd a1 and the a9iii. David has me thoroughly convinced that the a9iii is the way to go. Would love to hear how you did in Botswana with the a9iii!!This is stating to seal the deal for me. I might get one for my Botswana trip and see what it can do
I’m glad it’s helped! More than a few a1 bird photographers I’ve talked to have picked up an a9III as a companion to the a1. It’s a solid choice for a second camera as it brings capabilities the a1 doesn’t have.
Ive had two a1’s for 3.5 years and it’s nice to have more than one body but I never gained any additional capabilities. The newer cameras like the a7r5 never fit for me because it’s to slow. I do more action photography (I shoot sports for a college as well as birds) so the a1 was the best I could get. Now that the a9III ups the game in af, fps, and pre capture it’s worth having. I’m keeping at least one a1 (currently have all 3 bodies) but it’s nice to have cameras that excel at different things that open up a new world to what I can capture.
I think you’ll love it!
Dawallace99
Member
You have definitely made a believer out of me. I was a bit concerned about the lower MP on the a9iii, but I honestly don't think that's going to be an issue, especially if you don't crop the hell out of an image....LOL
Nikon!!! Where is my A9iii??
You have RED*, let’s go! RAW pre capture and fps speed boost.
Require a M.2 drive to handle the speed, I don’t care, do whatever it takes!
*which is useless as per Nimi.
You have RED*, let’s go! RAW pre capture and fps speed boost.
Require a M.2 drive to handle the speed, I don’t care, do whatever it takes!
*which is useless as per Nimi.
Bingo. Not relying on cropping is key but that’s making me a better photographer so it’s a win win.
That's a nice wish, but in reality, it isn't always possible when dealing with nests or raptors that you cannot get closer to.
Dawallace99
Member
so true...but I definitely try to crop at a minimum if at all
Dawallace99
Member
BTW, what type of SD card do you use? I'm sure the ones I use with the Sony a1 won't suffice for a possible 120FPS