Fill in the last gap in Sony’s professional body and lock in the Sony A9 for sports focus tracking

After Sony launched the A7 and the A7R, which emphasized high image quality, it branched out into the 35mm format interchangeable lens system. Later, it expanded its product front and launched the A7s for video recording, and then all three product lines were also developed. The updated, compact body design and easy adapters have also attracted many photography players to buy. However, after having mainstream models, high-definition models and video-specific models, Sony has once again launched a new model for professional sports photography needs. A9.

Since there were not many opportunities to shoot the subject during this experience, I only describe this camera based on my general work needs and holiday shooting; the camera I chose to match this time The lenses are FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM, FE 70-200mm F4 G, and FE 12-24 F4 G.

In terms of Sony's product positioning, the A9 is not positioned above the A7 series, but a model specialized for special needs. Although the appearance is similar to the previous A7II series, it is made internally Significant design changes, especially for the previously criticized battery life, introduced a new large-capacity battery, and also introduced a touch screen and dual memory card slots for the first time, as well as the addition of a navigation control lever in the right thumb area, and a top-mounted Independent film advance and focus mode dials.

In addition, the A9 is also Sony’s second interchangeable lens body equipped with a touch display. You can choose to turn on or off touch in the system. As for the system I used this time, because Due to the weight of the lens, there is little opportunity to use the touch screen for focus selection, and because the A9 body is relatively compact, it is easy for the author to accidentally touch the screen during operation, causing the focus to shift, so in the end I still prefer to turn off the touch screen when shooting.

However, for the author, the A9’s compact body does not have too many advantages when paired with high-quality lenses. After all, even if the body size can continue to shrink, it is still subject to Due to limited optical principles, it is still difficult to reduce the size and weight of high-quality lenses, which makes the miniaturized body more likely to be top-heavy. For example, this time I paired it with FE 24-70MM F2.8 GM and FE 70-200MM F4 G. It is easy to put a burden on the right hand to hold the fuselage.

Fortunately, although the vertical handle was not borrowed this time, Sony provided the GP-X1EM extended grip kit. Although I felt that this kit was a bit redundant at first, However, after actual use, I found that the size of my hand can be fully grasped with this kit. It does not lack a force point for my little finger like the original one. It can slightly alleviate the discomfort of using a large lens. However, it is still a bit troublesome to unscrew when replacing the battery. Point, based on my opinion, Sony could actually consider directly integrating the vertical handle design on this type of body.

The most critical thing about A9 is the 20MP Exmor sensor introduced this time. This sensor integrates the signal circuit, temporary memory, and processor directly on the sensor through a stacking mechanism, and is equipped with a cover The new 693-point autofocus point configuration achieves 93% of the field of view, emphasizing that it can continuously shoot 20 frames per second in mat shutter mode, while performing 60 autofocus and auto-tracking calculations for sports photography.

For users of traditional single-lens cameras, this is a very attractive factor. Due to limitations of the focusing system, traditional single-lens cameras require a mirror to operate the focusing system. Therefore, when using focus-tracking continuous shooting The performance will be limited by the speed of the mechanical shutter and mirror. Secondly, due to the light intake design problem of the traditional single-lens camera focusing system, the focus point configuration is wider, which also increases the flexibility of use.

In addition, in order to enable the electronic viewfinder to meet the needs of sports photography and observation, the A9's electronic viewfinder not only has low-latency features, but can also turn on 120fps mode, allowing for a higher refresh rate. Electronic viewing windows are smoother; however, some users still prefer the natural characteristics of optical viewing windows and are not adaptable to the characteristics of electronic viewing windows. Secondly, in environments where light and shadow change instantaneously (such as high light instantly turning into low light), sometimes There will be a momentary delay in the response of the electronic viewport.

Although the A9 is a camera that emphasizes high-speed focus tracking performance, the most common mode used by the author is to manually select the focus with a flexible single point. At this time, you will find that the A9 has new navigation control keys. It is more convenient to operate than the A7 series. After all, the focus points of the A9 can be set to a very precise level, and the distribution is wider than that of the general FF body. Using independent navigation control keys as a flexible single-point focus selection will It's more intuitive than previous models, and you can return to the center point by pressing the navigation control. I personally hope that this design can be used in future models.

During the actual shooting, the author believes that the FE70-200mm F4 lens is not very capable of bringing out the performance of the A9. After all, this lens was designed for less time. When shooting with the A9, under normal light conditions The focusing speed is okay, but it will be difficult to focus in low-light environments. According to friends who have used the FE70-200mm F2.8 GM, the GM series is more reliable in low-light focusing.

The A9 is indeed refreshing for focusing in good light. Compared with previous models, the focusing system equipped with the A9 not only has a wider range, but also has higher speed and accuracy for continuous focusing. Good performance. However, if you are shooting a less predictable dynamic target, it will still be difficult to achieve focus quickly when the target suddenly breaks away from regular movement. However, it is not sure whether this is caused by the logic of the focus system or the lens drive speed.

As for 20fps, what does it look like? Based on the author's needs, well... it should be very troublesome, right? But this is related to the author's general shooting themes. After all, I rarely need to shoot high-speed dynamic themes. On weekdays, even switching to M or L film advance speed is unlikely to take failed photos, and 20fps produces A large number of photos will cause trouble in selecting photos in the future. However, if you are a professional photographer who pursues a momentary scene (for example: the momentary expression of the Legislative Yuan smashing a water balloon, etc...), 20fps will be a powerful tool.

In addition, since after high-speed continuous shooting, the body still needs some time to process a large number of photos, there will be a period of time after releasing the shutter after continuous shooting, and the body's computing resources will be diverted to photo processing. At this time The camera body will be temporarily unable to operate, so if you want to shoot continuously, it is best to be mentally prepared to not be able to shoot again in an instant; however, compared to the author's impression of the first-generation A7R with the first version of commercially available firmware, The A9's fuselage dead time has been reduced a lot.

In addition, if you switch to the electronic shutter mode, it will be very convenient for focus chasing or indoor shooting, because although the mirrorless system does not have the vibration of the mirror bounce, the mechanical shutter curtain still operates. It will produce a certain degree of vibration, which still has some impact on the need for stable shooting; secondly, in some extremely quiet situations, such as performance venues, etc., turning off the beep sound and shooting with a purely electronic shutter can also prevent the shutter operation from affecting the performer and the audience. who.

In addition, the A9 will also be a very good shooting tool for professional photographers who need high-speed shutter speeds to shoot dynamic subjects. Due to the writing characteristics of the sensor elements of traditional digital SLR cameras, high-speed shutter speeds are often used. However, because the A9's photosensitive element integrates high-speed front-end processing circuits and buffer memory, the writing speed of the photosensitive element exceeds that of traditional photosensitive elements, and there is almost no distortion of the image.

However, if you need to use flash, the A9 will encounter a more troublesome situation: the electronic shutter of the A9 cannot be linked to the flash, and the shutter must be triggered under the mechanical shutter, but this also means that including Features such as silent and ultra-high-speed continuous shooting cannot coexist with flash. Especially when some subjects require the use of flash to produce a freezing effect, you can only resort to using a mechanical shutter.

Among the three lenses I borrowed this time, the brand-new FE 12-24mm F4 G impressed me deeply. This ultra-wide-angle lens not only has an exaggerated viewing angle, but more importantly, has excellent deformation control. Reasonable, even when shooting at the 12-end, the deformed lines are almost straight towards the center point, and there is no serious arc distortion. For players who like to shoot big scenes, it can provide reasonable size and good image quality, and the weight is also quite moderate. , has good maneuverability.

It can be felt that after the launch of the A7 series, Sony gradually adjusted its strategy due to the needs of user groups. From the original policy of pursuing miniaturization of the entire system and focusing on daily and still shooting, it had to In response to the demand for high-quality, professional photography, it began to provide a group of lenses with large aperture and high resolution to attract professional users to jump ship; and the A9 can also be said to be a crazy experiment, intended to subvert the stereotype that mirrorless systems are not conducive to sports photography Impressive, but, was it successful?

The author believes that the A9 is still a very experimental product. Sony body designers still want to maintain the original intention of miniaturizing the A7 series body and squeeze more powerful functions into the micro mechanism. Among them, the author believes that Sony can actually be more conservative. After all, professional-level bodies are originally equipped with large lenses, and the pursuit of operational balance is far more important than blind miniaturization. Of course, it can be regarded that the Sony design team has already prepared Professional photographers will buy it together with the vertical handle.

Although the focus tracking performance is already quite amazing, and the flexibility of the focus range is unmatched by traditional single-lens cameras, the reliability of the focus tracking ability for irregular movements is still a bit poor. Will there be an opportunity in the future? Improvement through firmware upgrades is still unknown. After all, many new cameras in recent years will improve their focus performance again after firmware upgrades, but I have to say that the A9 is a good start for sports mirrorless cameras.

If you are a player of non-sports photography or flying feather photography, choosing A9 will feel like killing a chicken with a sledgehammer. Of course, in terms of focusing system, A9 is still improved compared to the A7 II series models. However, it is almost twice the price of the A7 II and 1.5 times the price of the A7R II. It would be a pity not to use it for shooting dynamic themes. However, I have to say that the A9’s larger battery and richer operating interface are more intuitive than the A7R II. The A7 II series has improved a lot, and I personally hope that these designs can be carried over to the next new phones.