Nikon z9 vs Sony A1---Which one

[NorthernFocus]

Fortunately for you also, it sounds like the Z9 will work well with F glass

True. Though I've sold most of it now. With the uncertain future I tried to position myself to have options.

That was my plan until I saw the size & weight of the Z9. From what I can tell the Z9's performance will be very comparable to the a1 in most respects (both have relatively small advantages over the other aside from the size & weight). I was hoping for a lightweight hiking/backpacking camera but the Z9 + existing 500 PF offers no weight advantage over the a1 + 200-600. I'll keep watching Nikon Z body and Sony alpha lens developments.

I was a little bit concerned about strapping a big body like the Z9 onto small PF glass. Historically I've liked shooting BIF with the 500 f4 with a pro body on a tripod/gimbal. The overall mass makes for smooth tracking. But I just finished shooting for five days with a D5/500PF combo. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the large body on the little 500 PF handled. I tried it on the tripod one day then ended up shooting handheld. Tracking wasn't a problem and it was much quicker when things got busy. Ironically I had intended to rent an A1/200-600 from our local shop to take on this shoot. But I was too busy and didn't have a chance to get into town to pick it up. So rather than test out the Sony I eliminated one of my worries about the Z9. Go figure.

Speaking of the A1, yesterday for a while I was surrounded by a group of 8-10 people all of whom were shooting MILC rigs. Compared to their quiet little high frequency clicks every time I fired a burst it sounded like I was chopping wood. Even worse when I broke out the gripped D850. I was almost getting self conscious about it. Almost...

 

[John Navitsky]

Speaking of the A1, yesterday for a while I was surrounded by a group of 8-10 people all of whom were shooting MILC rigs. Compared to their quiet little high frequency clicks every time I fired a burst it sounded like I was chopping wood. I was almost getting self conscious about it. Almost...

Show 'em who's boss!

 

[Wanderer]

Two Sony batteries in the grip is 4,560 MAH which is more than the Z9 battery so again the one bigger battery with less capacity isn’t an advantage.

Very old thread, but this information is wrong, since you forgot voltages out of the equation. Nikon's EN-EL18D is a 10.8V battery with 36Wh power capacity, which is higher than Sony's 7.2V batteries with 16.4Wh capacity. So technically two NP-FZ100 batteries still have lower capacity than one EN-EL18D.

 

[DavidT]

Very old thread, but this information is wrong, since you forget voltages out of the equation. Nikon's EN-EL18D is a 10.8V battery with 36Wh power capacity, which is higher than Sony's 7.2V batteries with 16.4Wh capacity. So technically two NP-FZ100 batteries still have lower capacity than one EN-EL18D.

That is debatable. One spec is Wh and the other is MAH. Voltage doesn't matter and frankly the more important part is how the device in this case a camera utilizes its power. Two batteries in an a1 with view finder set to never sleep I can easily get over 8 hours of shooting.

 

[Wanderer]

That is debatable. One spec is Wh and the other is MAH. Voltage doesn't matter and frankly the more important part is how the device in this case a camera utilizes its power. Two batteries in an a1 with view finder set to never sleep I can easily get over 8 hours of shooting.

Well, not really, since voltage does matter. Power capacity is measured in watts, so W=A*v. Keep in mind that smaller Nikon bodies like the Z8 use 7.0V batteries which have capacity similar to Sony's batteries.

 

[DavidT]

Well, not really, since voltage does matter. Power capacity is measured in watts, so W=A*v. Keep in mind that smaller Nikon bodies like the Z8 use 7.0V batteries which have capacity similar to Sony's batteries.

Amp hours (Ah) and watt hours (Wh) are different units of measurement that describe the capacity of a battery or electrical device:

• Amp hours
  A measurement of a battery's capacity to hold a charge over time. One amp hour is the amount of charge transferred by a current of one ampere over one hour. Amp hours are constant regardless of voltage.
• Watt hours
  A measurement of a battery's total energy capacity over time. Watt hours are calculated by multiplying the voltage by the amp hours. Watt hours are influenced by voltage changes.

 

[Wanderer]

Watt hours is what matters for the total energy capacity of a battery. This is quite basic, and f.e. BEV battery capacities are listed as kWhs, not just by amperage. Z8 and Z9 have very similar tech (same CPU, same sensor etc), but the latter has more than twice the capacity in its battery which shows in maximum achievable video recording times per battery, for example.

 

[Calson]

For me it comes down to the available lenses. I switched from Nikon and the D2x to the Canon MK II to get far better high ISO performance but switched back with the arrival of the D3 accompanied by the 14-24mm f/2.8, 24-70mm f/2.8, and 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses which were all significantly sharper and had more accurate autofocus than the Canon lenses I had been using. Without these three lenses I would have stayed with Canon.

 

[DavidT]

Watt hours is what matters for the total energy capacity of a battery. This is quite basic, and f.e. BEV battery capacities are listed as kWhs, not just by amperage. Z8 and Z9 have very similar tech (same CPU, same sensor etc), but the latter has more than twice the capacity in its battery which shows in maximum achievable video recording times per battery, for example.

Sure but you continue to leave a key factor out. The a1 and the z9 don’t consume the same amount of energy. The a1 has the ability to use two batteries and since we are speaking in more modern times since this thread launched the new a1 drains both batteries as a pair just as the a9III does. I can say without a doubt the new a9III battery consumption is even less than the original a1 so I’d expect this improvement as well. Really a pointless debate since it’s not even the same brand of cameras.

 

[Copernicron]

For me it comes down to the available lenses. I switched from Nikon and the D2x to the Canon MK II to get far better high ISO performance but switched back with the arrival of the D3 accompanied by the 14-24mm f/2.8, 24-70mm f/2.8, and 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses which were all significantly sharper and had more accurate autofocus than the Canon lenses I had been using. Without these three lenses I would have stayed with Canon.

Absolutely! I would recommend Nikon to anyone looking to get into wildlife because of the lenses. There is no significant difference between the top end bodies, although there are some pretty big differences in the mid range ones, but i personally think Nikon has the best telephoto lineup in the indistry right now.

 

[Wanderer]

Sure but you continue to leave a key factor out. The a1 and the z9 don’t consume the same amount of energy. The a1 has the ability to use two batteries and since we are speaking in more modern times since this thread launched the new a1 drains both batteries as a pair just as the a9III does. I can say without a doubt the new a9III battery consumption is even less than the original a1 so I’d expect this improvement as well. Really a pointless debate since it’s not even the same brand of cameras.

That is true, but in the original quote it was indicated that the EN-EL19D has less capacity than two Sony batteries, which is false.
"Two Sony batteries in the grip is 4,560 MAH which is more than the Z9 battery so again the one bigger battery with less capacity isn’t an advantage."

 

[Calson]

What matters is the focus drive motors of the camera and the attached lens. The D5 focused a great deal faster than the D850 and both cameras using the EN-0EL18 batteries. A lot of shots with the D5 that I would have missed with the D850 camera when photographing rapidly approaching birds. Sports shooters are usually the photographers to notice when this autofocus situation causes problems with a camera's autofocus system.

Nikon used to specify the autofocus system provided with its flagship cameras as it often changed with each new body. But the D5 and D850 supposedly use the same Multi-CAM 20K autofocus module however my first hand experience was that autofocus was much slower with the D850 in certain situations, as with a rapidly approaching subject.

 

[Wrogu]

That is true, but in the original quote it was indicated that the EN-EL19D has less capacity than two Sony batteries, which is false.
"Two Sony batteries in the grip is 4,560 MAH which is more than the Z9 battery so again the one bigger battery with less capacity isn’t an advantage."

This !

Sure but you continue to leave a key factor out. The a1 and the z9 don’t consume the same amount of energy. The a1 has the ability to use two batteries and since we are speaking in more modern times since this thread launched the new a1 drains both batteries as a pair just as the a9III does. I can say without a doubt the new a9III battery consumption is even less than the original a1 so I’d expect this improvement as well. Really a pointless debate since it’s not even the same brand of cameras.

Of course Nikons battery has more energy capacity. mAh or Ah just gives an indication of how many amps during one hour can a device draw at a given rated voltage. And the voltage changes as the cell is drained! Usually the rated voltage is 3.7 V*. But fully charged battery has a voltage of ~4,2 V and fully drained ... well it goes low on voltage below 20% nominal charge and you should not discharge it that deep. This is why there are ICs designed to stabilise voltage. Or many devices use DC/DC buck-boost converters. So voltage does matter! Thats why - "W*h" so charge (amper ~ charge per second, times second ~ charge) times voltage. And W*h is a unit of energy [(J/s)*s].

We do not know how (or at least I do not know) how energy is managed inside the camera. Both by the camera and lens. But I assume there should be DC/DC converters inside and thus making both mAh/voltage of a battery kind of missleading. Thats why 'Wh' matters.
One camera can actually use less power than the other. But that is hard to compare without knowing few more facts. And one cannot make assumptions based on a battery. Battery is a battery and a load is a load. That is why there are CIPA ratings .

Check your powerbanks - all powerbanks have their 'capacity' rated in mAh but @3.7 V.
Usually mAh is a good indicator for charging thime tho

*this applies to lithium battery, single cell, not stacked in series.