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Sony A9

MSRP

$4499.00

Score details

DT Editors' Choice

Advantages

Continuous shooting at 20 fps

Viewfinder without black

693-point AF system

Excellent image quality

Strong 4K video quality

Disadvantages

Impenetrable menu system

Battery life is still inferior to DSLRs

With an MSRP of $4,500, the

A9

is Sony's most expensive mirrorless camera, and also the best for those who want to capture the fast action. Featuring a 24.2-megapixel full-frame sensor, the A9 captures up to 20 frames per second (fps) and has a world-class autofocus system to track moving subjects. Added to this high-quality base is blackout-free shooting, which means you can effortlessly follow your subject through the viewfinder while the electronic shutter moves away (silently), a feat you can't get enough of. 'no other camera can achieve.

This is of course a specialist camera, designed to appeal to professional sports photographers such as the

Canon EOS-1D X Mark II

and

Nikon D5

. But where those DSLRs took on bulk in the form of an integrated vertical battery grip, the A9 retains the svelte profile of Sony's Alpha mirrorless camera line, with essentially the same dimensions as the level basic

A7 III< /p>

which costs less than half. A battery grip is optional for those who need extra battery life or better ergonomics. That means you get pro-level power (and price), but in a form factor that can scale to meet your needs.

But no camera is complete without lenses, and Sony's E-mount didn't always have a good selection of long lenses, favored by sports and wildlife photographers. Thankfully, that's starting to change, and Sony now even offers a 400mm f/2.8 lens, a

giant of a $12,000 lens

it is a must-have focal length for many sporting events. It all adds up to a mirrorless system that's become very competent for pro sports and action shooters.

Design and usability

The Sony A9 looks quite familiar to anyone who has seen, read about, or handled an Alpha-series mirrorless camera. With the lens off, the blackbody interchangeable lens camera is a compact 5 x 4 x 2.5 inch device and weighs 24 ounces including battery. The body has built-in 5-axis image stabilization, which helps keep photos and videos steady.

Daven Mathies/Digital Trends

The A9 offers a noticeable exterior difference from the A7 cameras: a layered dial on the left shoulder for adjusting drive mode and focus mode. This is a welcome addition, addressing one of our persistent complaints with the Alpha series regarding the lack of direct access control. You'll also find four custom keys - two on the top, two on the back - so setting this camera up to work the way you want shouldn't be too difficult.

The main features on the rear are the 3-inch tilting LCD touchscreen with a decent 1.44 million pixels and a 0.5-inch OLED electronic viewfinder (EVF) with 3.7 million pixels. There are better quality screens, but the EVF is excellent. The movie record button is awkwardly tucked away just to the bottom right of the EVF. If you find it hard to reach, you can always reassign the function to a custom key.

Related

Best Mirrorless Cameras

Best DSLR Cameras

Nikon D5 review

Sony A7 III review

Sports photographers in stadiums will be delighted to find an integrated Ethernet socket, in addition to USB and HDMI connections. Two SD card slots live on the opposite side, which you might need if you plan on actually using that 20fps burst rate. For best performance, use the fastest speed and largest capacity SD cards you can afford. Wireless connectivity options include Wi-Fi, NFC and Bluetooth (for location, date and time when paired with a phone) are available for sharing images.

Battery life has taken a leap forward for Sony (although now surpassed by the newer

A7 III

) and is rated for 480 shots with the EVF or 650 with the LCD. While high for mirrorless, those numbers are still a far cry from what a professional DSLR can do with its low-power optical viewfinder. Sony's dual battery grip triples the battery life, so serious shooters might want to consider investing in it.

Performance

When the A9 launched we were treated to pre-production of a unit in a special press even and really enjoyed using the camera for a variety of sports. Now, a year later, armed with a final production model, we're happy to report that the shine hasn't faded. The A9 is as captivating and entertaining as ever, and remains one of the most impressive cameras we've ever used.

Since one of the A9's claim to fame is its high speed, we headed out to a local race track to see how well the camera could keep up with the thoroughbreds. Unfortunately,

Sony's 400mm f/2.8

was not available for this exam. Always wishing to be as close as possible to the action, we have associated the lens

70-200mm f/2.8 G Master

to a 2x teleconverter and voila!

—

we had our 400mm (albeit with a slower effective aperture of f/5.6).

Daven Mathies/Digital Trends

Along with that zoom - which we think is one of Sony's best lenses - we had an 85mm f/1.4 lens, 1.4x teleconverter and the dual battery grip.

The A9's sensor achieves its high speed through a "stacked" design, a technology first introduced in Cyber-shot cameras

RX100 IV

and RX10 II. The A9 marks the first time a stacked sensor has appeared in a full-frame sensor. With the new Bionz X image processor, the A9 delivers performance we've never seen before in mirrorless and DSLR cameras.

Working with the new Bionz X image processor, the stacked sensor can produce 20 fps RAW continuously – up to a staggering 362 shots before slowing down. By comparison, Canon's 1D-X Mark II can handle up to 14 fps and

the Nikon D5

goes up to 12 fps. The A9's fast clip is thanks in part to an electronic shutter, which means there's no physical shutter curtain - let alone a DSLR's mirror - to stray between the pictures. The electronic shutter can also achieve shutter speeds of 1/32000, four times faster than the fastest mechanical shutters.

The stacked sensor can produce 20fps continuously, up to a staggering 362 RAW photos.

Of course, keeping up with that speed requires a powerful autofocus system. The A9 has 693 phase detection AF points as well as 25 contrast detection points. The phase detection dots cover 93% of the frame, and this wide coverage and increased density should translate to more accurate results. And yes, continuous autofocus is available at 20 fps.

In January 2019, Sony unveiled a major update to the A9's AF system with the addition of Real-time Eye-AF and Real-time Tracking via firmware. . Real-time Eye-AF refines the already excellent Eye-AF found in many Sony cameras. It can now automatically detect a subject's eyes without the user having to press a button, and users can choose between the right, left, or nearest eye. Real-time monitoring, a feature integrated into the new

A6400

, uses a novel algorithm based on deep learning for object recognition. It also processes color, subject distance (depth), pattern (brightness), as well as spatial information (distance) to deliver significantly improved AF tracking performance. Combined, these two new features will maintain focus on a human subject even if the person turns away from the camera.

We briefly used a beta version of the new firmware, version 5.0, and can attest to improved capabilities. It made a great camera even better. Firmware 5.0 will be available in March 2019, while firmware 6.0, which expands Eye-AF to include support for non-human eyes, will arrive later this summer.

During our first hands-on session with the A9, one standout feature was the blackout-free display. With every camera made before the A9, even mirrorless cameras operating in electronic shutter mode, the screen momentarily goes black when the photo is taken. So as your subject moved, you had to predict where it would go. Now, high-end cameras have always minimized viewfinder obscuration to make this process easier, but the A9 has absolutely no blackouts. You can blitz at 20 fps while tracking your target like watching a movie. It was great even with relatively predictable moves, like in our horse racing scenario.

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Of course, you won't always need 20 frames per second, even for sports. The A9 includes low, medium, and high (5, 10, and 20 fps, respectively) continuous shooting options so you can choose the speed you need. Wanting to test its limits, we naturally shot on the High setting, although we limited ourselves to Extra Fine JPEGs, fearing that shooting lots of RAWs would take up too much space on our memory cards.

At the word of horses, the A9 did a great job capturing them on the hoof. Although we're hardly race track photographers, setting the camera to AF-C and burst to High we got a ton of keepers. The biggest challenge is browsing hundreds of photos later on the computer. Scrolling through them on the monitor is like watching a 24MP slow motion movie. Very cool, yes, but also a bit intimidating.

As we zoomed in on many of the images, we were impressed by the rich colors and the focus on the clumps of dirt kicked up by the thundering horses. Between races, we visited the paddock to take close-ups of the horses and their handlers. Overall image quality was great, but if you're looking for the greatest resolution or dynamic range, you can always go for the 42-megapixel.

A7R III

.

A7R III

.

A7R III

p>

David Elrich/Digital Trends

The A9 has a native ISO of 100-51200 but can be expanded up to 50 and up to 204800. In our tests, images were solid up to ISO 16000, with artifacts becoming more noticeable at as we make upward adjustments. Surprisingly, 204800 is actually usable if you're doing some post-process cleanup and don't mind losing resolution.

Another cool feature is silent shooting. When DSLRs shoot quickly, there's a noticeable click-clack-clack from the mirror and shutter. With the A9, the electronic shutter sound is fake - you can just turn it off if you want. Press the shutter button and you can't even tell if it's working, but a virtual gray frame flashes continuously to let you know you're taking pictures.

User interface and video

Since it's a Sony camera, it's time for the obligatory rant about the menu system. Call it inscrutable, being charitable. It becomes tedious to complain about this menu layout and terminology. We strongly recommend that any purchaser of an A9 or other sophisticated A-series model from Sony read the full printed manual available on Sony's website. We hope to live long enough to see a complete overhaul of this menu system, but that's starting to become less and less likely.

But also, since it's a Sony, the A9 comes with a dose of powerful video features. 4K video with full pixel readout is possible in both full-frame and Super35 crop modes, again thanks to stacked sensor technology. This helps limit artifacts like moire while providing sharper video quality. With a fast card and Sony's high-bitrate XAVCS format, you can record 4K/30p at 100Mbps.

What's missing are advanced video color profiles, like S-Log and HLG. Apparently Sony doesn't see videographers gravitating towards the A9, but it's a bit odd that these features are available in the $2,000 A7 III, but not in a $4,500 flagship. That said, video quality is still very good, and with photographers having to double as videographers these days, cameras like the A9 offer the versatility they need. We can't imagine any wedding photographer or their clients being disappointed with the colors and sharpness of the A9.

Guarantee

The camera is covered by a one-year parts and labor warranty. .

Our opinion

Even with our shouts about the menu system, the Sony Alpha A9 is very special. For $4,500 it should be exceptional and we're happy to say. At this price, and with features like built-in Ethernet, it's aimed at professional sports photographers, but anyone who needs a super-fast camera will appreciate it. And while the 20fps spec is a headline feature, the A9 also does a terrific job with still subjects, delivering rich, accurate colors and more than enough detail for most situations.

The A9 is also more than just a camera. It's an example of what mirrorless cameras are capable of and proof that they can do everything a DSLR can do, and more. The A9 is an avant-garde product which, even after a year of life, continues to impress us. Future photographers and tech enthusiasts will no doubt consider it a turning point in the industry.

Are there better alternatives?

Not really, but you'd be hard pressed to take the

Canon EOS-1D X Mark II DSLR

far from the many sports photographers on the fringes of the country. This 20.2MP full-frame workhorse costs $5,499 and has a maximum burst speed of 14fps, so the A9 is a bargain by comparison. For the record, the circuit photographer used a 1D X.

When it comes to mirrorless cameras, there's really nothing that rivals the A9.

How long will it last?

The Sony Alpha A9 was released in May 2017 and went through firmware and software upgrades. Huge improvements are planned for 2019. In January 2019,

Sony announced major upgrades

coming in firmware versions 5.0 and 6.0; the first, which we tested in beta, is scheduled for March and the second will arrive in the summer of 2019.

In addition to autofocus improvements, the new firmware will introduce a host of quality of life improvements.

Should you buy it?

Most of us don't need this camera, but if sports photography is your

reason for

'< /p>

to be=

,

by all means buy it. We really enjoyed shooting with it and we're sure you will too, but please read this manual from cover to cover to get the most out of it.

Updated with information on upcoming firmware releases and our impressions of using a 5.0 beta firmware.

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