A9 vs. A7rIV - My Head Has Cleared

[JonathanF2]

I'll probably get an A1 in 5-10 years once I can easily pick up 50 TB drives for $50 USD off Amazon and the new Mac architecture and software are fully mature.

It's already a PITA to cull through 24mp raw files when using the A9 at full burst. I've also shot against 1DXm3 and Fuji GFX100S shooters and clients are more than pleased from images produced from my 24mp camera bodies (D750 and A73/A9). Shooting 30fps at 50fps just sounds like self flagellation to me!

 

[christilou]

I'll probably get an A1 in 5-10 years once I can easily pick up 50 TB drives for $50 USD off Amazon and the new Mac architecture and software are fully mature.

It's already a PITA to cull through 24mp raw files when using the A9 at full burst. I've also shot against 1DXm3 and Fuji GFX100S shooters and clients are more than pleased from images produced from my 24mp camera bodies (D750 and A73/A9). Shooting 30fps at 50fps just sounds like self flagellation to me!

I took about 500 pics this afternoon on the A9 using the Low continuous setting ...... just spent about an hour culling down to 20, most of which are also rubbish Starting to have a rethink about my equipment as a whole, particularly as I'm not travelling and won't be for the forseeable future.

 

[Biro]

I took about 500 pics this afternoon on the A9 using the Low continuous setting ...... just spent about an hour culling down to 20, most of which are also rubbish Starting to have a rethink about my equipment as a whole, particularly as I'm not travelling and won't be for the forseeable future.

What are you thinking about doing? I'm already slowly paring down my kit.

 

[christilou]

What are you thinking about doing? I'm already slowly paring down my kit.

I'm not sure yet. I enjoy the Leica M10, don't get many keepers generally but it's great for general walkabout photography. Lucy is older now and it's a bit easier to catch her in her quieter moments, not that we've seen all that much of her inside the house this year. Mostly taking doorstep pics that are most unsatisfactory. Always have the wrong lens on or the wrong settings plus it's a very limiting space! I bought an RX1RII as we were going on a trip to France in September but of course we couldn't go and I find that it's not the best with my shaky hands as it has no image stabilisation. So .....

 

[AlwaysOnAuto]

That is my reasoning to get the A1. With two little guys coming, I know I'll need faster focusing than the A7iii has. And I'm not getting any steadier as I get older either.

 

[Biro]

Yeah, I've gone back and forth on a lot of this. While I am, in fact, paring down my kit I am also modernizing it with an eye toward keeping whatever I end up with for 5-7 years. After that, who knows where we'll be? Both the original A9 and the A7rIV have tempted me at their current sale price.

But I'm back where I was when I made the original post in this thread: I'm going to wait to see exactly what the A7 IV is. Perhaps it'll pick up some of the most important features (at least to me) of the A9 II and A7rIV. And perhaps the A9 II will go on sale after the A1 starts shipping. But I imagine I'll have a lot less photo gear than I have now when I'm done.

 

[Tipton]

Further thoughts on the A7R4:

• So many new functions, and except for adding a customizable one, they haven't improved the menus
• Fortunately, you have a lot of customizable buttons. I always wanted an extra button on my R4, well I have it and more besides
• You can't change any useful settings while the camera is writing the buffer to the card. And with 61 mp files, it buffers frequently. I've read you can buffer 60 shots (10 fps x 6 seconds), but I'm skeptical
• I have my Fuji X-H1 for wildlife photography, and it looks like this isn't going to replace it

 

[Biro]

Further thoughts on the A7R4:

• I have my Fuji X-H1 for wildlife photography, and it looks like this isn't going to replace it

Most of your observations I have read from other people. But this item is particularly informing. I understand many wildlife photographers like shooting with a high-resolution camera and then cropping to APS-C to get closer to the subject. I was thinking in these terms myself. But - then again - why not just shoot with an APS-C camera? If you have a 300mm or 400mm lens on it, you can shoot at 24-26mp at full optical zoom and crop a bit more if necessary.

 

[JonathanF2]

I took about 500 pics this afternoon on the A9 using the Low continuous setting ...... just spent about an hour culling down to 20, most of which are also rubbish Starting to have a rethink about my equipment as a whole, particularly as I'm not travelling and won't be for the forseeable future.

Same here, I still have a Nikon DSLR kit, but I'm now thinking of selling it off since most my event shooting has slowed down due to the pandemic. I'd be fine with just my Sony kit and maybe add a telephoto lens.

 

[JonathanF2]

That is my reasoning to get the A1. With two little guys coming, I know I'll need faster focusing than the A7iii has. And I'm not getting any steadier as I get older either.

If you're talking about babies in the oven, you'll have a long wait before needing that 30fps and high speeds AF tracking!

Your A7III will be more than fast enough for like the first 6-8 years!

 

[Dan Euritt]

The a9 is $3k at all the major retailers right now, but the real bargain is with used a9 bodies, they have low shutter counts because most people don't use the mechanical shutter. The market will be flooded with used a9/a9ii gear when the a1 hits the streets. It's probably already started, once you've owned a blackout-free evf and xlnt af, there just isn't any going back The a1 feeds that addiction with a huge evf and 2x MP count, based on a stacked sensor that has major improvements over our ancient 2017-era a9/a9ii sensors.

Not sure if this has been posted out here yet? http://image-sensors-world.blogspot.com/2021/02/isscc-2021-sony-501mp-full-frame-sensor.html

Back to reality... The a9 is a 3rd-gen camera, and as such it has xlnt weather sealing. I've beat my a9 hard on the beach and when shooting fast sandrails in huge clouds of dusty fine-grained sand, it's held up well. If there is a failure mode it might be with the half-press shutter point, which is weak to begin with on all of the older Sony bodies. I use BBAF, so it's not a concern for me.

 

[WNG]

Actually, the A9/A9II sensor is a stacked BSI sensor. The predecessor to the A1's. It was unique among full-frame cameras until the A1.

 

[JonathanF2]

The original A9 has to be the best bargain in mirrorless cameras right now. The stacked BSI sensor is still unique amongst all mirrorless camera manufacturers and so far exclusive to Sony. I shoot my A9 silent all the time and rarely if ever go into mechanical shutter mode. The only time you'll need to do so is to shoot flash or you're shooting in the most funkiest of lighting conditions.

The only time my camera waste actual mechanical shutter clicks is when it goes into cleaning/remap mode. I've verified that each cleaning/remapping counts as a click. In fact, I rarely touch my backup A7III at all and only keep it around for backup purposes!

 

[Biro]

Just an FYI to anyone still thinking about it... the original A9 and the A7rIV are still available brand new at $3,000 U.S. The Sony sale was supposed to end on February 28th but is clearly running longer.

 

[SpecFoto]

Most of your observations I have read from other people. But this item is particularly informing. I understand many wildlife photographers like shooting with a high-resolution camera and then cropping to APS-C to get closer to the subject. I was thinking in these terms myself. But - then again - why not just shoot with an APS-C camera? If you have a 300mm or 400mm lens on it, you can shoot at 24-26mp at full optical zoom and crop a bit more if necessary.

I just upgraded to a very lightly used A7RIV for this reason. I have the Sony 100-400 f4.5-5.6 GM lens and I find it is excellent. But I wanted more reach and rather than buy the Sony 200-600mm at $2,000, I found an A7RIV in excellent shape for $2,400. The APS-C mode in the A7RIV is 26.2MP and not only does my lens becomes a 150-600mm with no f stop loss, it eliminates any buffer problems, writing the smaller files much faster and being able to shoot about 200 uncompressed raw files (if needed, but not by me) before filling it up. Add on the 1.4x TC and now it is a 840mm lens at F8. Plus the 100-400mm GM has had zero problems with the A7RIV, where there are known AF issues with the A7RIV and the 200-600mm G lens.

I looked at the A6xxx series of APS-C bodies, my friend has the A6400 I borrowed for a day, but no way I want to shoot a with a 100-400mm on one of those, let alone the 200-600mm. The body is just too small and a grip would be sorely needed. The improved grip on the A7RIV is better than the previous A7 bodies and with my 100-400mm, I don't need the add-on grip at all. Plus the lack of a front dial on the A6xxx would just kill it for me as I usually shoot in manual and use the F&R dials for aperture and ss to make instant changes as needed.

And by buying the A7RIV, I have all the other benefits it brings, such as better dials and controls, the AF-On is a huge improvement as I use this for BBAF, the better RT tracking and AF, highly improved EVF, better weather sealing, dual UHS-II card slots, USB charging, plus the 61MP which is just amazing. I considered the A9 but the only real advantage to me is for very fast continuous shooting with the electronic shutter, which I don't need as I am happy with the 8FPS I get with no blackout on the A7RIV. However as the A9 lacks all the other ergonomic and body benefits the A7RIV brings, for my style of shooting the A7RIV was the clear choice.

 

[Tipton]

More random thoughts on the A7Riv:

• Objectively, it's the best camera I've ever had
• More camera than an enthusiast needs, really
• Dust specks really show up when you've stopped down past f/11
• Subjective, but color isn't as good as my Fuji cameras
  • but I'm getting better at that in lightroom, and starting to accept that my sony pics will look different from my fuji pics
• I keep hitting the joystick accidentally and moving the focus point. I can move it back to center with one push, but it's annoying
• this camera kind of satiates my desire for a medium format digital camera.
• The time to clear the buffer is a minor problem you have to learn to deal with
• Comparing pics to those from my Fuji X-H1, which I paid less than $1000 for, the pictures aren't 3x better. In fact, objectively, they aren't any better at all. Until I have to do a massive crop, or make a huge print, both of which I do.
• EDIT: I forgot to mention. The Z batteries are a game changer. I really can shoot all day on one battery.

 

[Biro]

this camera kind of satiates my desire for a medium format digital camera

At least you won't be tempted to pick up the Fuji GFX50R that's currently on sale for $3500. It has less resolution than the A7rIV and a contrast-detect autofocus system that's not even in the same ballpark with the A7rIV. And did I mention the cheapest lens (a prime) for the 50R will run a grand? You've done yourself a favor with this camera!

 

[Tipton]

At least you won't be tempted to pick up the Fuji GFX50R that's currently on sale for $3500.

Funny thing is, Sony probably makes the sensor for that camera.

 

[Ziggy99]

I keep hitting the joystick accidentally and moving the focus point. I can move it back to center with one push, but it's annoying

Try this...

https://helpguide.sony.net/ilc/1930/v1/en/contents/TP0002725195.html

 

[Richard Crowe]

Working with large files...
I shoot with the A7iii and a few APSC format cameras (one f them converted to full-time infrared) so I am not really overtaxing my computer power...
However, I did notice an increase in computer speed when I switched to a computer with two hard drives - one of them an SSD for my programs and the other for my files...
That is definitely the way that I would go from now on to max out computer speed.