Sony A9 II Hands-on Review

The Sony A9 II is a full-frame camera designed for sports and action photography. Dave and Evelyn from The Camera Store tested it at the Olympic Oval in Calgary during Canada Cup #2 with special guest Dave Holland.
Sony A9 II: www.thecamerastore.com/15647-...
Dave Holland: www.daveholland.ca/
Special thanks to Jamie Seguin & Robyn Wilson for providing us access to the Olympic Oval at the University of Calgary. oval.ucalgary.ca/speed-skatin...
Music provided by:
www.beatsuite.com
Videography by Brendan Schmidt
www.brendan-schmidt.com
Instagram:
Evelyn Drake: @tcstvev
Dave Paul: @tcstvdave
Main: @thecamerastore

[@armandot9137]

“Feels like cheating” is what comes in my mind every time I use my A9. Even after more than 2 years of ownership.

[@chryseass.5143]

Wow, what a great, solid review! You made me excited for this camera - and for speed skating!

[@TheCameraStoreTV]

Thank you! Us too. It gave us the need for speed. Once you have it, it's hard to go backwards. 😉

[@tominfhl]

Please do an apples to apples speed skating comparison with the 1dx m3 when you get it. Can’t wait.

[@SilatShooter]

Nice review, thanks! As an A9 shooter, I was eagerly anticipating this body. I can see there have been some nice evolutionary updates and key adds for the sports and journalism shooters. My shooting is a little broader, and I was hoping for a little bump in resolution primarily for a little more 'cropability'. I would have liked to see the bump in viewfinder resolution as well. I still may pick one up as shooting with no viewfinder blackout is really a gamechanger. Once you experience it, hard to go back.

[@AdrianChoPhotography]

I just love way you guys do reviews. No over the top fake energy or yelling at the camera or overhyping anything. Just the facts and your opinions with a bit of fun and some great footage. Very Canadian! I’m a wildlife shooter (in Ottawa) and shoot mostly with the A7RIV but I did upgrade my A9 to the A9II and while the connectivity improvements don’t matter as much to me, the snappier AF and the improved ergonomics are worthwhile upgrades IMO.

[@71Enno]

I own this camera since two months beside my A7RIV, A7III, A6400 and RX100VA...and I can commit your opinion 100%...this camera is insane! 👍💯 I love this camera!

[@HenryPiffpaff]

Hi! How would you compare the AF performance on the A9II vs the A7III vs a prosumer DSLR like a Nikon D750?

[@71Enno]

Kai E. Hello Kai, the A9II has the tracking option, which is implemented in the A7RIV and the A6400 as well but not in the A7III. Even with the tracking option the A9II is still faster and better in comparison to the other models. The keeper rate is fantastic and sometimes it feels like magic how good and fast this reliable AF works in the A9II! It is still the best AF on the market in a mirrorless camera. I had the D750 couple years ago and concerning the AF...you can't compare to the A9 or A9II...😉the gap is so huge...

[@HenryPiffpaff]

@@71Enno Thank you for your answer! One final question: How would you rank the A7III in there? I means it is known that its AF is pretty good already. But if you'd say that the A9II's AF is a perfect 10, where would the other two cameras fall (from 0-10)?

[@bioliv1]

@@HenryPiffpaff I don't find my a7III good in tracking. A little dark or cluttered, and the focus fells off all the time. Would never shoot a wedding or event with my a7III, but for low light nature photography in Norway the a7III is the best option.

[@davetv8171]

Øyvind Holmstad I agree and previously owning the A7iii, it wouldn’t stick on the face/eye as long. The A7RIV has improved on this but will lose focus on the eye if something comes between the eye and camera. The A9/II has perfected the AF tracking so and the reason why it costs so much for a 24mp camera. I used to despise Sony but the A9 and their G master lenses changed that. As my FF option, it’s my weapon of choice. It’s nice not having to work so hard for the images I want. I think I first felt some love for the Sony when I had the A7Riii with the 85 GM. Although not very fast, the eye AF was revolutionary and a game changer from shooting with anything else. It didn’t hold me back like I thought it would.

[@chandrakiranraju]

11:43 is the best moment ever on KZbin! That laughter by the lady was so spontaneous and beautiful.

[@LexTNeville]

Will be cool to see some more mirrorless cameras appearing at events like the Olympics. There were some spotted last time, Olympus and some others I believe, but this time, hopefully see more diversity.

[@michaelrobbins1758]

You guys are getting into your stride now, v useful review, good presentation.

[@jessneufeld]

Hey that’s me @13:53

[@curtiskhan7657]

You were gifted one hell of a picture there!

[@jessneufeld]

Agreed, an amazing shot !

[@DMSparky]

Epic dab!

[@TheCameraStoreTV]

Send us your info, we'll give you full sized files. Email me at [e-mail]

[@forest4283]

Well sir, you look like a badass.

[@lawaynekimbro8179]

My A9ii is arriving today woohoo

[@corrbox2]

I watched your review over a couple of evenings. Thank you for the details and information. It looks like this camera will focus as fast as available for sports and wildlife. It will be an interesting year. What do you think the capabilirties of this camerea for shooting birds in flight, with a long zoom lens? I appreeciatre your information.

[@peterlemke3468]

You guys nailed it, another top review. We all know Sony leads with its AF good to see they are improving the ergonomics and usability of their cameras. Look forward to reviews of the 1DX lll and D6. Evelyn two questions: 1/ How did you judge the skin tones l've seen more flesh in a convent? 2/ Does Dave have OCD is that why he was freaking out about how a card loads in a slot?

[@TheCameraStoreTV]

Mostly on faces of the athletes. We ran some other portrait tests outside of the arena too that looked good to us. -Evelyn

[@andreashberglund]

The A9 II is a very interesting camera for Nature photographers as well not just sports and action, It would be great of you could review it from that perspective as well, it is a big market, when you count the lenses that we buy to be able to use it for this purpose

[@TheLDunn1]

Informative & entertaining video. Thank you. It seems to me that Sony really could do with sitting down and rethinking the whole approach to their menu system. Then roll out new firmware to update their current and prior generation cameras. It’s the one remaining major weak point on Sony’s now. Personally, I’d like Sony to introduce a dual axis tilt LCD (for use in portrait & landscape mode), and I’d like to see Sony offer more, &/or customisable aspect ratios. I’d like to see 65:24 for example (xpan panoramic), but maybe having electricity mic black blinds that can be moved in from the sides, and from top & bottom, would permit a user to create whatever aspect ratio they wanted. I know you can crop in post, but being able to ‘see’ in camera your chosen aspect ratio would aid composition considerably. The big question for some may be the huge cost delta between A9 & A9ii.....& if the improvements are worth it to the individual. I’ve owned an A7Riii since launch, I’m a general hobby shooter, so at the time I felt it suited me more than the A9. I’ve been shooting manual focus lenses increasingly which has made me question my camera choice - an optimal set up now might be one camera that’s more suited to manual focus, manual exposure - a slower shooting setup, and then to have a second camera that has the best possible AF. Tailor & optimise the two cameras to different types of shooting I do.

[@forest4283]

Great job!

[@desertoo23]

Finally a great video on the Sony a9II thank you guys!

[@patrickjones6059]

Patrick Murphy- Racey Is actually a true PRO Sports photographer who actually used the A9II before it was released to the general public. He was on assignment and used it at 6 games, for 2 portraits, over the course of 9 days. He logged over two thousand miles in four states to get the photos in his video ( youtube) He states in his video 18 reasons to upgrade over the A9 which he has owned for over two years now. He also has nine pain points he wants Sony to address that the A9Ii doesn't have. By watching his video, you learn a lot of information. I highly recommend!

[@trantienlan]

It’s a great camera...thanks..

[@MorningCoffeeDaily]

I need a Sony Alpha to use in architecture photography....I was thinking in getting the Sigma Adaptor and Canon TS 17mm with ND filters......Am I thinking right?

[@recklessthor4]

I'm thinking about getting this as a used general purpose hybrid shooter

[@Classiq21]

I would like the ability to save and load all of my camera settings as a standard feature on all cameras.

[@JoshKeatonFan]

You guys are peaking my interest in photography.

[@venom5809]

It's piquing not peaking. LOL

[@evenaicantfigurethisout]

@@venom5809 if it's in focus, i'd say that that would be equivalent to piquing. ba dam tss.

[@magnusandersson3291]

Best Camera for sports so far.. Recently tried the 1DX III .. Sadly not on par yet, despite higher pricetag.

[@roryhill717]

Very nice review. I have been shooting the A9 II for a couple of months now. I assume your comments regarding image quality improvements at higher ISO are for the in-camera generated JPG. If so you should clarify that. If you are referring to the raw files then I'd like to see some evidence. I tested the A9 / A9 II side by side and could not see any difference. Subject tracking is somewhat subjective, but I'm not seeing any difference there either. I hope you are doing your own tests before making these kind of observations. I do have another question regarding eye auto-focus. I've seen a lot of videos showing how the green square tracks the eyes perfectly, but how many of the images have perfectly focused eyes? I'm a nature photographer and don't shoot people often, but so far, I'm not getting a very high hit rate on eyes. BIF, no problem. I'd like to compliment you on the high quality, low key approach of your productions. Keep up the great work. The Camera Store rocks.

[@njrtech]

A9ii tracking is a touch sticker than on my A9. I can certainly see it but it's subtle.

[@kailherc]

Great review.

[@Alan-Zorro]

Nice review!

[@RJ-wy6cx]

Love speed skating and the canadiens

[@L.E.Santo02]

Excellent review, thank you for that.

[@jimmyqballs]

Still lousy no settings can be changed while it's buffering to the cards. If you're writing to both slots with raw+jpeg you're in the buffer a lot during fast paced sports with little downtime. Also, WHY can't the A9 I make individual iso stops for auto iso, the a7 iii, a9 ii and a7r iv all do that! Would be nice to get a specific auto minimum shutter speed option too :(

[@Lofote]

14:00 i don't get what you are saying there. Both nikon and canon do it the same way. D5 and 1dx are lower res fast fps while d850 and 5dsr are high res but lower speed. Just like Sony

[@kaak4737]

No RAW files to peak .. so , AF lot of fps looks great, but is it what i am use to? is it in quality on par with the D850 + NX-D software , a camera is a system, not a just a camera.. 45.7 Mp using the right (brand)software , and you can bump up the ISO.. We tried the A9 + 400 f2.8 once on birds in flight, it was more noisy, wilt LR , far better with Capture One 12.. EOS R (street photograpy) far better with DPP in noise and fine details the LR who seems to create a grain like structure that was not even in the original. What is tested here? was it pushed to its limits? on my screen, it seems to be great in focus, but does not look that good, Is the A9ii far better the we can see in this footage . I need the ARW RAW files.. and not happy faces.

[@coreybrooks3493]

Dave 'never stops staring at the camera' Paul

[@patrickjones6059]

"TheCameraStoreTV" check out Patrick Murphy-Racey's video "Sony A9II Camera Review by an actual Sports Photographer" published on youtube on October 14, 2019.

[@curtiskhan7657]

I'm sorry. This was an absolutely fantastic review. I Loved the content. I loved the balance between speech and images. I loved your delivery. Quite frankly, I prefer you guys more than "the former hosts"

[@jonasjung7501]

Curtis Khan one of the former hosts is Eve’s husband so I’d be careful. Lol

[@nickbaltsavias6059]

With which camera did you shoot the talking in this video? It looks very good

[@TheCameraStoreTV]

Panasonic GH5

[@attilahardy3448]

Does anyone know the maximum write to speed for the A9II to UHS-II SD V90 cards? I am trying to choose between ProGrade 256GB V90 and the Sony 128GB SF-G V90 Tough Series cards

[@TheCameraStoreTV]

Good question Attila. We have not tested the ProGrade 256GB V90 cards yet... But, we are leaning towards setting up a card and reader review in the near future since the memory card market is changing so rapidly.

[@photographerjonathan]

The A9ll focusing system is second to none. And even though it might not have the ultimate video camera specs. Having eye auto focus in video is an amazing feature. I know Canon has the new 1Dx and Nikon will have a new D6 but Personally i would never buy one of them. They are trying to incorporate mirrorless technology into them. Only Canon and Nikons mirrorless tech is way behind Sony with there focusing for fast moving object like sports or birds. And the DSLR is yesterday. And mirrorless used to be the future. But now it is today. And now the big boys who used to laugh at Sony. Are now working there asses off to try to catch up. And neither company has pro sports glass for there mirrorless systems. So i guess Sony is the one laughing now. But as someone who started with Nikon. And then moved to Canon. And now Sony. I am rooting for Nikon and Canon to get there act together. And catch up.

[@vijaychitte6921]

Sir , how do you do ? As I have seen this video completely ... thank you so much . As I have brought new A9 ii recently on 1st of jan 2020 in India . A# I am wedding photographer . Moments I brought this camera I realised that my preview display screen is flickering while I am shooting against or in LED . Light ambiance situation . Am I am not concentrating before I click or press shutter . It’s really ridiculous for me being Sony use since last 3 years ... can you able to tell me as didi you notice as such things during your review for A9 ii ? Please confirm ... thank you so much .

[@TheCameraStoreTV]

Hey Vijay, thanks for watching. If you are seeing flickering through the viewfinder, take a few test shots to confirm whether or not it is affecting the images. If it is, then you will need to switch to a mechanical shutter. Unfortunately, some LED lights and screens will cause flicker even though the scan rate on the A9II sensor is very fast. (the best of any full-frame camera currently available) I hope this helps.

[@vijaychitte6921]

TheCameraStoreTV thank you so much my point is not with final images recordings it’s very impossible to concentrate on screen or EVF while compositing farms ... that issue is only occurring while viewing on back led viewfinder screen and EVF ... even my my A7 Iii has better performance and has no flickering issue on lcd and EVF previews ... for me I am not happy with this . I am talking to my local Sony customer care but , they are not responding as non sense ... thank you so much for your reply .

[@vijaychitte6921]

And what you taking about voice memo feature is already available in 2008 on my Nikon D3 ...

[@TheCameraStoreTV]

@@vijaychitte6921 Because this is the first time Sony has properly implemented it. It's something that pros said was a must-have.

[@TheCameraStoreTV]

@@vijaychitte6921 Unfortunately, that is due to the refresh rate of the screen and evf. You can check to see that you are using the highest screen refresh rate in the settings. But, you will likely still see it in some lighting scenarios even at the highest refresh rate.

[@hawg427]

Please do a review of the new Leica SL2 :-)

[@TheCameraStoreTV]

Stay tuned!

[@gerthurman1]

I am going to

[@DANNY40379]

If the A9 drives down the price of D4s and D5s it's a good thing

[@Vantage1987]

what camera You use to record this hands on review episode ? slow motion quality looks amazing

[@TheCameraStoreTV]

Panasonic GH5

[@mikede2464]

In 2024, the question became "who in their right mind needs 120 FPS".

[@Loopsrainforest]

say "amazing" one more time Dave. I dare you.

[@808islandlife_HI]

Do a collab with DPReview so you can compare with 1dx Mk III. I'm sure you have the connections 😜

[@TheCameraStoreTV]

Stay tuned!

[@808islandlife_HI]

@@TheCameraStoreTV Definitely! Can you please test both camera's "crying eye" auto focus? Someone push @thatjordandrake down the rink while he's crying in fetal position and see which camera catches that in glorious 20 fps.

[@Lofote]

Why would they need to collab with dpreview for that?

[@808islandlife_HI]

@@Lofote New to the channel, huh?

[@Lofote]

@@808islandlife_HI nope

[@teridzard1776]

I certainly will never buy a Sony camera, but I still enjoyed watching your video. Thx!

[@iemranjuffri4827]

You should start with the top specs first. It captures attention like nothing else would. Your briefing should end the clip.

[@johnhjic2]

Nice review, still do not like the menu.

[@sadenb]

The camera should have been called A9 Olympic edition. It is definitely not the A9 II.

[@danieljohansson8401]

20 FRAMES PER SECOND? WOW! *sarcasm*

[@mirahgirl01]

Shooting 3500 pics in one go you're gonna burn that camera out in no time. Sheeshy

[@markwildphotography]

There’s no wear and tear with the electronic shutter.

[@martinpickard5818]

Oh yeh great camera,made better by the £10,000 400mm f2.8,which we mortals can’t afford.Hey Sony where’s the damn 300mm f2.8???

[@tomhughes5123]

get a decent chunky pentaprism , its too toy blocky looking , and it matters , loose the poncy arty farty look and get chunky .. its the mirrorless style really grates on dslr users /// unless your new to it all /// watching your hand placement on the camera . doesnt look comfortable ,

[@teddyabraham3289]

Love to see the front, not the back.....OMG 🤣🤣🤣

[@photomorti]

Jesus christ this autofocus is insane

[@bzboii]

Everything about this camera is amazing and insane, but it just doesn't look good imho. Maybe it's just me, but Sony colors make me want to pass away - whereas Nikon and Canon colors are beaut.

[@stevepa999]

Why does this review sound like a Sony commercial?

[@telemaq76]

Because camera store is a shop. They won t say : hey Don t buy this camera it s bad ! But is it a bad camera ?

[@stevepa999]

@@telemaq76 I am not saying it is a bad camera. But when you read in forums people saying how frustrated they are with the A9II buffer, and they say plenty of times how good the buffer is, something is not right. Then she makes excuses as to why there is no functioning touch screen. Do you think it is a coincidence that the other sports photographer was there?

[@TheCameraStoreTV]

We had no issues with the buffer in this scenario and really enjoyed the camera for this purpose. Since the A9II now has 2 UHS-II slots it clears much faster than the original A9. If you're shooting professional sports, the A9 II is awesome in our opinion. We're not going to bash something if it works well for us.

[@stevepa999]

@@TheCameraStoreTV You brought in and paid a person to tell us why he switched from Canon to Sony. That is not a review, that is a sales pitch. BTW, I am not saying that this is not a great camera and that people should not buy it.

[@javypc]

I was thinking exactly the same when I read your comment. Tell a photographer that is covering 200m at Olympics that you’re not gonna need too much buffer....Mmmhhh... it’s a great camera, but still not the best option for pro photographers.

[@josephdoesathing]

that canon shooter, probably going to go back to the canon 1dxmark3

[@armandot9137]

And why exactly? Because feeling like cheating is wrongdoing i guess ahaha

[@briansquibb2127]

You are English - why 60knm speed? Last time I looked UK still uses mph - like the US

[@nixxxn69]

Not English, Canadian. Canada went to metric road signs in 1977.

[@Makta972]

"feels like cheating" in other words photographers are mostly useless these days. I think we will see A.I photographers really soon ( basically cameras in strategic spots taking pictures without human operators).

[@shaolin95]

This channel has gotten so bad

[@scry1888]

just cause they didnt say what you wanted to hear doesnt mean they're bad. lol.

[@shaolin95]

@@scry1888 is not what I wanted to hear is about actual useful and accurate information but hey if you are happy to accept any crap someone says on KZbin then be my guest lol