Sony A9III Deep Dive Specific to Still Photography by Patrick Murphy-Racey

Now that we've all had a chance to watch the launch and digest some of the specs that Sony finally published, here are some expanded thoughts about the brand new body from Sony. There is a lot of information that I have extrapolated from the specs and I have also had an opportunity to talk to friends of mine that were present at the launch in NYC this week. One thing to remember though, this camera is not finished yet. At the time of this writing, the A9III has firmware .8. This is a first. they will be updating it all the way to when it starts shipping next year. This is the earliest we have ever been shown a camera in the past.
Here is the Bedfords link for the camera: www.bedfords.com/27242927803
Use the code PMR at checkout.
Sony a9III from Sony: tinyurl.com/bdd68rdf
Battery Grip for A9III (VG-C5): tinyurl.com/3kv5ss3x
From my buddy and Sony Pro Rep David Snyder who has a bigger brain than mine:
"The dust protective curtain closes when the camera turns off, not when a lens is removed. The playback as a group is on all the cameras inc A1, not an Xperia feature. It’s not on by default in other cameras. What’s new is that it will play that burst/group as a quick video/sequential view.
You can auto focus fine at 1/80000 today. You can not shoot continuously at 1/80,000 only single frame.
1/16000 for continuous shooting. The note was firmware would likely raise the maximum continuous shutter speed.
PocketWizard may not work at the high speeds for triggering and timing maybe off.
Pre capture can be set for much less than a half second minimum. The timing goes below .1 sec to .09-.01 as well. Pre capture can be set to begin with shutter half press, or af on, or both. So users can control when pre capture starts while still using AF separately (WOW!!!)
ISO range will not change in firmware Exposure compensation dial is also on the grip, and there is a lug for a camera strap on the grip to carry the camera vertically and more accessible."

[@hitthestreetsphoto1253]

The absence of banding & flicker is such a huge accomplishment. I can’t wait to try this in dark surroundings from night/evening arena (rodeo) sports to even street photography in low light. You can minimize noise in post, but banding is impossible. I guess the new strobes will include a shutter speed dial now too. 🤣

[@PMRTV]

Elinchrom... Shortest duration of anything out there...

[@msmarji]

Patrick, please do a dedicated video on global shutter for both stills & video. It could only help folks to understand what a technical evolution has occurred. It’s as significant as the move from film to digital.

[@Secondcropcreative]

That burst group in playback is in the A1 as well but you need to turn it on. But couldn’t agree more. Love that feature!

[@PMRTV]

agreed!!!

[@robertgaylord8263]

Thanks Patrick. I always enjoy your reviews. They are clear, concise and informative.I've often gone back to your videos to clarify my understanding about a point or pick up tips.

[@PMRTV]

Awesome, thank you!

[@JgHobley]

Love your attention to the details sports snappers are interested in. Loving your channel!

[@PMRTV]

thanks so much! pm-r

[@spitfire1962]

Great info Patrick. Not a camera I will be getting but interesting to see what innovations Sony have come up with, that will surely flow through to the next A1 and beyond.

[@PMRTV]

agreed!

[@robwasnj]

Excited to see this new tech, as someone that shoots tons of frames under LED lights oftentimes needing to use silent electronic shutter I look forward to higher resolution versions of this camera hopefully coming soon. A1 deals with it quite well but this is surely next level. I think a lot of us would have jumped on this camera if it were only a bit higher res.

[@PMRTV]

yep

[@6gwilliams]

Thanks so much PM-R. As I was told, with the firmware update you will be able to shoot the A9III in burst mode up to 120 fps raw at 1/80,000 sec. with full AE/AF-C. Cheers

[@PMRTV]

yes, I have the same info...

[@hitthestreetsphoto1253]

Dear Lord how many bullets can you stop? I’m not sure what kind of photography one would create with 1/80K of a second with 120 fps. It’s like Einstein was a photographer and was furious he missed the “decisive moment” so he came up with the solution.

[@TW-iu9zy]

… great video, thx Patrick! 👍🏻

[@PMRTV]

Glad you liked it!

[@SlotCarNewsOfficial]

Great presentation of facts. By a real photographer.

[@PMRTV]

thanks!!!

[@RonK]

amazing !

[@PMRTV]

Glad you think so!

[@longrider9551]

Patrick I know this is a great camera, but some of us are hobbyist and we need a fast 40 something megapixel camera in the 3-4k price range Sony is outpricing us at 6k. Even a stacked sensor crop camera would be welcome please fight for us 💖💖

[@PMRTV]

a7IV is that great camera, IMO...

[@hitthestreetsphoto1253]

I think too many of those who are on a budget also feel they need the latest, A1-A9iii technology to produce great images. I have the A1 and love it, but my a7iii body still produces some of my best images as does my a7C. Unless you’re printing, on a regular basis, some very large photographs, you definitely do not need 40 plus MP. You may like it but it’s definitely not necessary.

[@longrider9551]

@@hitthestreetsphoto1253 I have OG A9 , 600F4 and most good Sony glass, A74 and A7R5 are not ideal for Birding. Both Canon and Nikon have good cameras in 45 megapxl rez, both do 20 fps for between 3 to 4k , Sony has no competitor and they will lose customers for those 2 cameras. I have 2 friends who already went Z8. Sony also has no R7 competitor which does 30fps, we get a vlogging 6700 (great camera) but side view is NO GO for long tele lenses, throws perspective off.

[@hitthestreetsphoto1253]

@@longrider9551 Well I guess I was a bit confused because you mentioned both Hobbyist and were concerned about cost. If a $13K 600mm f4 is in your budget why not invest the $2K extra for the 50mp and the 30fps both of which Neither competitor is currently able to deliver? It seems like such a smarter choice than selling all your lenses and the bodies to get a $1,500ish discount from the body that still can not compete with the Sony A1 specifications. Now that the elusive unicorn of a global shutter is a reality, you can be sure it will definitely be a part of most every Sony body in the near years to come. Best of luck and I’m quite jealous of your 600 f4. It really is a fantastic piece of gear! 👍

[@aliendroneservices6621]

​@@longrider9551Buy a used a1 for $4,500.

[@jaybeckerich]

Never need an nd because of shutter speeds. Excellent video!

[@PMRTV]

Glad it was helpful!

[@OldPirateECU]

Obviously a great camera, but I owned the 9ii and the 24 megapixels kept frustrating me since my hobby is often small birds and having a huge area to crop from just suits me better. I have both the 7rv and the A1 and for the foreseeable future I'm good. The 300mm lens is considered a sports lens and it makes sense that they introduced a sports centric camera to go with it from day one.

[@Bo_Hazem]

I'm very happy that Sony doesn't go with the stupid grip body and makes it optional. I'm planning to get this state of the art camera and having it a form factor of Canon R3 or Nikon Z9 would've killed the deal to me. I would still need my A7S III for extreme low light and maybe add A1 II down the line for my small production company. It's the perfect hybrid camera right now whether you're photographing or filmmaking.

[@PMRTV]

agreed 100%

[@TW-iu9zy]

… interesting, Jake von CVP seems to find a second Base in slog3 at ISO 6400 with the same noise like Base ISO 2000. Also the pictures Fro takes looks really good - so the IQ is maybe pretty good for a gs sensor.

[@leventebandi]

VG C5 is named as Because there were 4 vertical grip modelgenerations before it, nothing to do with the C5 button (The VGC4 is used with the A7 IV, RV, A1, 9II)

[@PMRTV]

I like my version of the story better... ;)

[@aliendroneservices6621]

12:26 It's 3.15 megapixels, which is about 2.2k wide.

[@alyousuf]

I thought it was 120fps at full resolution and then drops resolution when using 240fps on the EVF that is.

[@daleconnolly398]

Thanks Patrick, really love the body design and the pre-capture for wildlife (which I am sure they could put it into my A1 through firmware). Anyhow if they can put the current A1 sensor into this body with say 50FPS as an A1II or A1A, I would buy it tomorrow.

[@PMRTV]

That would be cool! but I don't think you'd like the price!!!!!

[@chrisflight6436]

I have read that pre capture is coming to the A1 early next year via an update.

[@aquarioamico6604]

I am wondering why folks keep going on about the A9III not having a higher megapixel sensor. Am I wrong in understanding that a higher megapixel density would negatively impact the lowlight ability of the camera? Thus that high megapixel sports camera would be a less effective tool for indoor sports lit only by the available ambient light, or for outdoor fast action sports under a heavy overcast sky. My A9II (love it!) has a much higher success rate when shooting motocross under a cloudy sky than my A1. Thanks for the video.

[@PMRTV]

It's a fair question but I think part of the answer is, "not with Sony." When they launched the A1 with 50MP and 30 fps, the low light capabilities of the camera were really solid--within a stop or so of the A9II which I think is still the best of the sports cameras in low light.

[@lcambilargiu]

Iso throttling may be a sensor limitation more than a firmware issue.

[@PMRTV]

could be....

[@youuuuuuuuuuutube]

I don't think they can change the ISO ranges in a firmware update.

[@PMRTV]

because it's hardware based in the sensor... yes, I agree. I believe this camera is based on 2000 ISO

[@TW-iu9zy]

@@PMRTV … wasn’t it ISO 250 and ISO 2.000 in s-log?

[@bsmrodeo]

Could you do a video about tuning the A1 for the best color? Thanks you must be a blogger your staring at a monitor!! lol

[@PMRTV]

I've always considered myself 90% shooter and 10% vlogger... but, guilty as charged for the 10%...

[@denizahmet2299]

Is there anything the A1 does (apart from 50mp and 8K video and better image quality DR/Noise) that remains better than the A9III ?

[@PMRTV]

yeah, you can buy one right now! LOL.

[@allenkurth430]

Are the number of shots for a fully charged battery going to be similar to an a1 using electronic shutter?

[@PMRTV]

good question. I think it will depend on how efficient the global shutter is. We are in new territory here!

[@aliendroneservices6621]

Global shutters burn through batteries, and from what I've heard the a9iii is no exception.

[@networm64]

Nice notes Patrick! This is a groundbreaking camera indeed! Though honestly it's an overkill to the majority of customers, many amateurs an enthusiasts specially in wildlife needed something like a Canon R5 or Nikon Z8, finger crossed Sony understand this sooner than later. Even a 40mp crop body with stacked sensor will suits the needs of many wildlife shooters. My A7iv is a great camera but I had more than 10fps with my old SLT cameras! Let's hope Sony brings faster electronic fps through a firmware update, nope it's not day dreaming as other brands do such a thing for real. The fact that A7iv doesn't have an artificial shutter sound for electronic mode really bothers me! Precapture is so welcome addition but Didn't expect Sony to be the last to add it indeed!

[@6gwilliams]

networm64 ,the 50mp Sony A1 with 30fps stacked sensor is that camera to compete with the Z8 or Canon R5. It has been out since March 2021. How did you miss it. Cheers

[@networm64]

@@6gwilliams Yeah and is $2500 more! Price of a proper lens or body! Even if Sony decides to use same A1 sensor and crop it to apsc it can make a beast of a 21mp crop camera for under $2500. The video specs of it could be so amazing too. Not sure why Sony doesn't bother to make more budget wildlife bodies and left it for both Canon and Nikon. Canon has too many options which are great for wildlife for under $1.5k! All have more than 20fps! First Sony camera to give you only 20fps is the $4.5k A9ii!

[@6gwilliams]

lol @@networm64 Wildlife pros love the A1, and they dont need the Z8 or R5. Feel free to switch to them and be happier if Sony is not giving you what you need at your price range . Cheers

[@networm64]

@@6gwilliams Why am I wasting my time with a troll like you? Did you really read my comments? Where did I talk about "pros"? I'm speaking to my own brand company artisan what my and many other "not-pro" photographers need is, you be happy with your A1 and more happy with your pockets!

[@BelarusianInUk]

How many sony lenses would be able to keep up with 120fps? Even 20 fps not supported by all sony lenses

[@PMRTV]

support.d-imaging.sony.co.jp/support/ilc/products/ilce9m3/continuousshooting/ja/index.php

[@joshsloth]

Will the global shutter or other enhancements of the A9iii produce a higher image or video quality than the A7RV? New features aside, will image quality be any sharper or better for the extra $2k?

[@waynerm002]

The A7R V can shoot 8K, the A9 III will do oversampled 6K for a 4K output. The A7R V will have major rolling shutter while the A9 III eliminates that. If you shoot more action based photos and videos, the A9 III is the better of the 2, is it worth $2K more? That will depend on your use case and if you need this technology now. I traded my A7R V for the Nikon Z8 as it’s a more rounded camera, with a stacked sensor which excels in the photo and video space and can be used for a variety of applications. Nikon markets the Z9/8 as the ultimate hybrid and compact hybrid camera and they offer a lot and are constantly being improved. For me, today, if they offered that camera with a 50 MP sensor and that 120 fps RAW performance at the same 24 MP, plus video performance 8K60 RAW as the Z8, it would be more palatable at $6K.

[@joshsloth]

@@waynerm002 Thanks for the feedback... I'll check out the Nikon Z8 too!

[@waynerm002]

@@joshsloth You are welcome. You can check my channel for 8K videos from both the Sony A7R V and the Nikon Z8. The Sony was recorded at 10 bit 4:2:0 (best you can get on that camera), the Z8 video was shot at 8.3K RAW 12 bit.

[@PMRTV]

just do one quick-pan on the Z8 and compare to the a9III and you will be buying the Sony...

[@waynerm002]

@@PMRTV Certainly the A9 III's Global Shutter sensor trumps every other hybrid camera out today when it comes to rolling shutter and will be a fantastic camera for sports and events with fast action. As far as image quality, which the question was based, both cameras mentioned are quite competent.

[@ktcool4660]

there should be a hybrid mode to shoot with both scanning shutter & global shutter

[@PMRTV]

there is no scanning sensor in the a9III. Only global shutter. it would be useful if you wanted to shoot banding and flicker though ;)

[@ktcool4660]

​@@PMRTV A9III is a stacked cmos sensor, Sony definitely can implement a super fast rolling stutter. Global shutter is about all solving higher band width with low latency. New generations of Stacked sensors solves most of the latency & bandwidth width issues. Sony definitely did not have enough band width for 50mpx & they sacrificed IQ to solve low latency. That's why there should be a rolling shutter option for higher IQ mode. Not sure about cannon, Nikon definitely has enough bandwidth with low latency to create a 24mpx global shutter camera.

[@evenhandedcommentor6102]

I would very much like to see this camera used with strobes...so please do that video. And I'm talking typical flash units like Sony's own hotshoe camera flash. I want to see how it shoots in daylight at moving objects, not static models. I wouldn't plan to use it at 1/80,000, but say 1/8,000. And with lots of DOF, so aperture stopped down to f/8 or f/11. That is limited by flash power. Still, it's got to be better than HSS.

[@PMRTV]

I still haven't had access to the camera but I hope to in early December when I can strobe a basketball arena and do that video exactly. I will compare the difference between shooting a1 at 1/400th and then the a9III at whatever SS I want ;)

[@evenhandedcommentor6102]

@@PMRTV That sounds perfect. Can't wait to see that video.

[@Biosynchro]

Just out of curiosity, have you ever used an ISO of over 12K? I dont remember that you did. So even if 50K was the limit, it's plenty.

[@PMRTV]

I have in the past but not often.

[@designsbydm1519]

I use 12800 all the time at my son's school for football. Lights are horrible, but I do switch from A1 to my A9ii due to iso performance so yeah I agree on that 👍

[@DonaldHawk]

Didn’t see Bedford link

[@PMRTV]

I just added it in the description. thanks for the heads up!

[@shang-hsienyang1284]

I hate the PSAM lock mechanism. I've finally had the lock removed from my A1 and A9, never had an accidental rotation in almost 2 years. I don't know if Sony would ever remove it, so I will remove the mechanism in every generation of Sony cameras that I buy.

[@---us7qf]

And a few more questions: we will need good (unbiased) tests and review of the video capabilities. Will it overheat, for example? Will the 8K be cropped and by how much?

[@PMRTV]

good points for sure. We will just have to wait and see.

[@Deak787]

There is no 8K on the A9iii

[@---us7qf]

Muahahahahaha! I am not a sports photographer; I like birds and do a little video. Even with the 2 Zeiss Batis lenses I have, to get this as an accompanying camera for video and birds capture, I'd have to wait until 4 years from now, when it goes on sales somewhere and / or buy second hand. Hahahahahahahahaha. This is way out of my budget Patrick. But thanks for the review.

[@PMRTV]

Fair enough!

[@mikezupancic2182]

The ISO performance is the biggest question, followed closely by the non AF past 1/16000. I need to see ISO performance at 12000 and 24000. They can make any claim they want about future firmware but until it's proven, it's all non existent. Also on the expanding low ISO, why would you need to do that in the menu unless it somehow didn't work as well as it did at 250? Last, people have been asking for internal memory in a camera for years now. We have terabytes of M2 hard drive capability now. One of these sticks would easily fit inside a pro size body now.

[@PMRTV]

interesting idea for sure...

[@BelarusianInUk]

How many sony lenses would be able to keep up with 120fps? Even 20 fps not supported by all sony lenses

[@PMRTV]

support.d-imaging.sony.co.jp/support/ilc/products/ilce9m3/continuousshooting/ja/index.php

[@BelarusianInUk]

How many sony lenses would be able to keep up with 120fps? Even 20 fps not supported by all sony lenses

[@PMRTV]

support.d-imaging.sony.co.jp/support/ilc/products/ilce9m3/continuousshooting/ja/index.php