Overall it’s a fun video amongst friends and it contains a lot of relevant info but at times I also find it not as factual and to me it has a few glaring gaps. Now that I’ve held all three I can share some initial impressions (but take that with tons of salt, I had the R3 for an hour and the Z9 for a morning so nowhere near enough to have more than first impressions).
‘And for context, I shoot nikon, Sony, Fuji and I used to shoot canon for my first 20+ years in photography. Today, if I have any bias it is to get back to just Nikon because that’s where I have the most glass.
First ergonomics should not be a rating factor, it’s too personal and there are rarely right or wrong solutions. With that caveat in mind the Z9 is my least favorite. it misses a wheel on the back panel that I use for iso control, it misses a second bbf and overall everything goes through double button presses that I don’t find very comfortable. Because the z9 has far less customization than the others, I can’t set it the way I like to shoot.
‘The A1 and R3 are a tie for me. The R3 feels absolutely right and lighter than the other 2 (I shoot a1 with grip and 2 batteries) with enough customization to meet my needs. It has a back wheel and 2 bbf options. Unfortunately canon insists on putting the front wheel behind the shutter which is awkward, and that eye-piloted AF doesn’t work for me (remember, only 1 hr so maybe it would work with multiple calibratiions).
‘The A1 customization is almost overwhelming but you can form the camera to you instead of your forming yourself to the camera like with the z9. I just wish that back wheel for iso could be reached when shooting vertical with grip. It’s just too small.
‘’’EVF : my least favorite is again the Z9 but that said, the Z9 is very good. I like that the EVF experience never changes, it is smooth, jitter free but you can see that you are looking at the world through a lower resolution panel. The A1 is amazing one second but it can drop frame rate or resolution based on the situation so it gives a less consistent experience and it can have the jitters on occasion. The best evf experience is actually at 240hz where it drops resolution and magnification but is very consistent and fluid - I just don’t like to lose the bright high magnification evf and it chews through batteries much faster.
‘The R3 evf for me is the best, resolution is in between Nikon and Sony, it’s stable, never jitters, it’s bright and contrasty - it’s just the best evf I have looked through so far. And the HDR “ovf“ mode is something else again - but it’s useless because you can’t display any info on it. What’s the point of an evf if you can display info? But even in its normal mode, the canon R3 evf wins for me.
On video Jordan nailed it, the A1 is the weakest and I’ll add another nail to it. Handheld video with the A1 is hardly useable when the other 2 have much better stabilization - it’s not even close. Sony is lagging on ibis and ibis + in lens stabilization integration and it shows painfully in hand held videos. The Z9 footage for me is simply the best I have seen in 4K and 8k. Better than the R5 even, just superb tonal gradation.
Now some of the gaps in the video.
Zebras for stills - the one killer Sony feature that you can’t get in canon or Nikon. Sony even let’s you set the zebra above 100% to account for raw exposure flexibility and match the sensor true blown-out limit. You cannot blow out the white plumage of a bird in front of green foliage anymore - it is foolproof and I don’t know why the other 2 don’t have that option. Losing that feature would be a huge step back for how I shoot.
Mechanical shutter - they mention it in passing but the shutter of the A1 is a masterpiece and if you shoot in mixed artificial lighting, this is the A1’s single most critical advantage. Flash synch at 1/400s is not something you can get from any other camera and if you need that feature, you’ll put up with all the other foibles of the A1.
AF performance I think is more nuanced than they made it look. Time will tell, and things may change as I suspect all 3 will provide at least one new generation firmware with major AF gains (I could be wrong). Right now, those 3 bodies are so much better than anything else that you can pick any and be happy. I really didn’t have enough time with Z9 and R3 to form an educated opinion so I’ll leave it at that.
i wish they had covered some of the other features in that video though - A1 has pixel shift but no focus stacking, Z9 is the opposite and canon I don’t know… maybe not a big deal but if you are into macro and micro photography, focus stacking can be a big deal and even for landscape, I’d much prefer to have stacking than those huge unruly files from pixel shift….
In the end, i really loved the feel and experience of the R3 but resolution is too low, and no zebras is a killer - but otherwise it is truly under appreciated.
‘I confirmed the Z9 won’t work well for me - I just don’t like the ergonomics, multiple button presses, no back wheel and no zebras - their ergonomics are goinginto a direction that fits me less and less. And no zebras makes it even less desirable. It’s a bummer because I have all that glass I don’t want to sell And seeing how amazing the 500pf performs on the Z9 really makes me envious.
‘So for now, A1 it remains; its few weaknesses being less of an issue to me and how I shoot but the one thing the video got absolutely right is that they are all pretty amazing cameras. Pretty lucky times indeed.
