The A9 is the latest addition to the Sony professional mirrorless lineup. It doesn’t even matter why they skipped a figure when they named it. What matters are the features it incorporates and if it is a worthwhile investment for pros, especially those who are consider changing systems.
Hands down the highlight of this camera is its insane burst speed. The Sony A9 can shoot at a crazy 20fps with no viewfinder blackout. Just thinking about it is outrageous and indeed the camera delivers not just on a spec sheet.
It really feels like you’re shooting a video, but you’re actually taking 24.2MP stills. The image quality is nothing short of impressive thanks to the CMOS sensor and the BIONZ X image processing engine.
The in-body 5 axis stabilization system makes shooting handheld at low speeds easy and reliable and the overall construction of the camera is in line with the quality we’re used to seeing from Sony in this category.
It can also record 4K video with full-pixel readout without pixel binning and that means it can condense as much data as a 6K format camera would.
Yes, the A9 is insanely expensive. At $4.5k there is a big question mark over its head and there probably will be one for some time. It is definitely not a camera for amateurs and enthusiasts, but rather for hard working pros of the sports industry. However, after investing hefty sums into other systems, switching for a lighter and faster camera can still seem attractive, although Sony has yet to earn its pedigree in the professional sports photography market. The A9 could be their first serious solution for competing with cameras like the Nikon D5 and the Canon EOS 1Dx II.
