Doug Herr
Well-known member
New a1 firmware expected in the spring. It's toward the end of the video.
Sony a9iii and 300 GM Announced - Official Discussion Thread
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Alistair
Well-known member
I believe you will be able to get pictures with this camera that would impossible, or at least unlikely, with any other camera.
Well, it’s taken them long enough.
Are you thinking as in BIF?
John Navitsky
Well-known member
it may be that the a1 design isn't conducive to fw updates (1) or that it has hardware attributes that would not allow that work to be used on newer models (2). or it could just be a business decision.
(1) it could be a number of the tasks in the a1 are basically "baked into hardware" and not easily subject to change via firmware
(2) it's possible there were changes in hardware that would make them do special coding just for the existing model a1. consider m1 macs vs intel macs. they've probably done a bunch of coding specific to m1 that might not work on the intel platform. as a result, they'd have to do new coding to bring those features back to their old platform, and since it's only used on the old platform, that kind of work is typically considered "throwaway"
or of course, they might just want you to buy a new model
John Navitsky
Well-known member
i assumed he meant the rather short list of features listed, but yah, maybe he didn't see that
JustinGriggs
Well-known member
I was pretty amazed by the specs when I woke up this morning and saw them. That camera is an absolute beast. I'm a nikon guy through and through, but if I was a full time sports shooter those specs would have me seriously reconsidering. And that's what this camera really is, a sports camera being released ahead of Paris 2024. 24mp is absolutely fine for the intended market of this camera, same with base ISO of 250 - the only time I've ever shot sports below 250 was a noon rugby game with a 400 2.8. I think I was around ISO 100, F2.8, 1/6400th - with a base ISO of 250 I would've had to stop down the lens on my D850 to get a proper exposure, but on the a9III you'd just go to like 1/20,000th or whatever and keep going.
For wildlife, all these features are going to absolutely killer for BIF especially, and the 24mp wouldn't really bother me, but on the whole I don't really consider this as a wildlife camera. It's clearly intended to absolutely dominate one thing only, and that's sports, and it seems like it'll accomplish that.
Also, as far as price goes, 6k doesn't seem outrageous for this feature set - the people buying these are going to mainly be agencies and full time sporting pros, not hobbyists. Now, when it comes to an eventual A1II if it has a 50mp global shutter sensor, I feel for all of you Sony wildlife shooters because I can't imagine that will come in under 8-10k
For wildlife, all these features are going to absolutely killer for BIF especially, and the 24mp wouldn't really bother me, but on the whole I don't really consider this as a wildlife camera. It's clearly intended to absolutely dominate one thing only, and that's sports, and it seems like it'll accomplish that.
Also, as far as price goes, 6k doesn't seem outrageous for this feature set - the people buying these are going to mainly be agencies and full time sporting pros, not hobbyists. Now, when it comes to an eventual A1II if it has a 50mp global shutter sensor, I feel for all of you Sony wildlife shooters because I can't imagine that will come in under 8-10k
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Alistair
Well-known member
Certainly BIF and also the critical moments in sports and other things we probably can't images right now. I don't know what the flash sync speed is but if it is very high then this adds another dimension of possibilities on top.
JustinGriggs
Well-known member
There is no flash sync speed with GS, you could shoot 1/80,000th. At that point you're shutter speed is faster than a lot of flash durations from most common available strobes besides some of the most expensive studio packs like the Profoto Pro-11 (which can produce 1/80,000th flash duration). Some very powerful potential for stopping motion
EricKlees
Well-known member
It looks good. Though as strictly a wildlife shooter, I'd never consider a 24mp or lower full frame sensor. No real room for cropping. Low MP full frame sensors are sports buddies really. For when your set up knowing where you subject will be and can generally fill the frame.
I think with the 120fps they are chasing Nikon. The global shutter is great but again it's 24mp, not 45, 50 or 60mp.
I think with the 120fps they are chasing Nikon. The global shutter is great but again it's 24mp, not 45, 50 or 60mp.
$6,000 might sound like a lot to those who want more than 24MP, but look at the features that absolutely no other camera on the market has and I think that a price tag $500 LESS than the A1 is a pretty good deal in today's market.Easy for me to say, though, as I'll never spend that kind of money, myself. Other priorities in life and I'm happy with my ancient equipment.
I haven't seen any specs on the buffer capacity yet. Has anyone seen numbers on that? 120 fps is going to require quite the buffer.
I haven't seen any specs on the buffer capacity yet. Has anyone seen numbers on that? 120 fps is going to require quite the buffer.
ajrmd
Well-known member
In November 2023 you're right, but soon (within a year or two) we will have high MP sensors with global shutters. What a time it is to be a photographer.
I was thinking the same thing. It is indeed a great time to be a photographer. Really bad time to be a poor photographer though.
This time in photography reminds me of the tech industry in the early 1990's. One can drive themselves absolutely insane (and to the poor house) trying to keep up with all the latest tech.
Global shutter seems like quite the new tech and I believe it will be part of all cameras in the next 3-5 years.
Jeff
Global shutter… 
wake me up when they figure out how to improve close focusing on an OOF subject and prevent AF from sticking to the background when it misses.
wake me up when they figure out how to improve close focusing on an OOF subject and prevent AF from sticking to the background when it misses.
arbitrage
Well-known member
Sony said at 120FPS it can only shoot 1.5s and get to 180 shots.$6,000 might sound like a lot to those who want more than 24MP, but look at the features that absolutely no other camera on the market has and I think that a price tag $500 LESS than the A1 is a pretty good deal in today's market.Easy for me to say, though, as I'll never spend that kind of money, myself. Other priorities in life and I'm happy with my ancient equipment.
I haven't seen any specs on the buffer capacity yet. Has anyone seen numbers on that? 120 fps is going to require quite the buffer.
It is actually a bit disappointing that Sony hasn't improved the internal buffer to allow longer shooting at 120FPS. Then again, Northrup said he was shooting 3-4s before the FPS dropped but that guy is usually clueless so I doubt it.
John Navitsky
Well-known member
internal buffer memory adds cost to what is already a fairly expensive camera.
the other approach is what nikon is doing by making a faster pipeline to the storage and selecting faster storage.
i’m pretty certain the z9s or z9ii will use the new v4 version of cfe.
Cameron T
Well-known member
Yep. Canon and Nikon are taking the (imo better) route of faster cards. But even canon has some weird quirks with their buffer, based on Duade Paton's comments about it in some of his videos. On the other hand, Nikon just keeps chugging along with no issues, only throttled by the card speed and the speed at which the camera can offload data.
The 2x worked wonderfully well on the 70-200 f2.8, at least with close subjects. Samples I've seen for this lens look like it will be good. I'm excited about this lens and will pre-order it.
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John Navitsky
Well-known member
to be fair, building a pipeline that can sustain high speeds is a bit tricky because the pipeline is only as fast as the weakest link. i think it’s the right approach, but the buffer approach does simplify things and enables you to use slower and cheaper media
ajrmd
Well-known member
It's difficult to know where the bottlenecks are, onboard memory, CPU cycles, writing to cards, etc. Again, it's a really interesting time to be part of these technological innovations. To think a couple of years ago we were still using "fast" CF cards which wrote at 90-120 MB/sec and now we have high capacity CFExpress 4.0 with theoretical maximums of 4 GB/sec. Improvements keep coming...
EricKlees
Well-known member
Possible. We'll see if it's that soon. I would say certain by the time the Z9II is announced/released the end of 2025 or 2026.
But I'm talking about FF 24mp sensors. They just aren't a real option for wildlife with today's offerings of 45, 50 61mp FF sensors
EricKlees
Well-known member
I'm no longer having that issue with the new Bird SD mode, animal can still happen but it's nowhere near as bad as it was prior to FW 4.0 on the Z9Global shutter…
John Navitsky
Well-known member
i’m warming up to the idea we’ll see a z9s “soon” with the same sensor but a beefed up expeed(8?) that is faster and enables cfe-b v4 and gives us a fps boost snd af boost (and yes, i’d buy that
)
EricKlees
Well-known member
Personally I find that highly unlikely since Nikon has been on a 4 year cycle with their flagships. Only the D6 was less then 4 years but the D6 was more like a D5s and was out of due to pressure of Sony and Canon. I don't see Nikon feeling any pressure anymore with the Z9 and Z8 currently and the line of lenses is the envy of all users not using Nikon currently.i’m warming up to the idea we’ll see a z9s “soon” with the same sensor but a beefed up expeed(8?) that is faster and enables cfe-b v4 and gives us a fps boost snd af boost (and yes, i’d buy that
The Z9 has had so many next level FW updates, FW 2.0 was like a Z9II and FW 4.10 was like a Z9III in regards to the AF with Bird SD.
raptor photo
Well-known member
6,000 is ridiculous, not sure that this will be a popular camera. For just 500$ more you can get the A1, or for $2000 less you can get the Z8 which is likely a better wildlife camera anyways.
Not a lot of people want 120 fps anyway, that's too many files to go through. I'm honestly not sure how much better cameras get from here: We have enough pixels, enough FPS, incredible AF, great color in all of the top bodies. Price will likely be the main factor in camera choice for me. Another massive development might ruin action/BIF photography in general because it's just too easy.
Not a lot of people want 120 fps anyway, that's too many files to go through. I'm honestly not sure how much better cameras get from here: We have enough pixels, enough FPS, incredible AF, great color in all of the top bodies. Price will likely be the main factor in camera choice for me. Another massive development might ruin action/BIF photography in general because it's just too easy.