p.32 #1 · "Nikon Z9 vs Sony A1 – The 10 main differences"
The findings are “both the A1 and Z9 are fantastic and 99.9% of FM posters won’t be limited by them in any meaningful way”. The only difference seems to be if you care about BIF wing flapping cadence
I’ve seen exactly 0 shots from either camera that I’m convinced the other camera can’t take. Maybe that’s an indictment of the people behind them, but who can tell, and more importantly, who cares.
multibit wrote:
Would have been more useful to read peoples findings on the strengths and weaknesses that's actually used both cameras with various lenses.
When I first got the A1 the idea was to use it with the 200-600 until Nikon released their flagship mirrorless . I still have my Nikon D850 and a few lenses , I was going to get the Z9 + 500mm PF (I like the 500mm PF) but after owning the A1 for almost a year I must admit I enjoy using it . With the 200-600 its not perfect but really appreciate the customisation and EVF .
Threads like this could have been useful for us thinking of going from one system to the other. ...Show more →
p.32 #5 · "Nikon Z9 vs Sony A1 – The 10 main differences"
tester_V wrote:
Nikon is a professional camera, Sony is a very nice impressive but still a toy...
Amazing that the biggest professional news organizations in the World sold their Nikon relics, and switched to the new Sony toys for all of their staff.
p.32 #6 · "Nikon Z9 vs Sony A1 – The 10 main differences"
If you don’t give trolls oxygen, they die, you know.
1bwana1 wrote:
Amazing that the biggest professional news organizations in the World sold their Nikon relics, and switched to the new Sony toys for all of their staff.
p.32 #8 · "Nikon Z9 vs Sony A1 – The 10 main differences"
tester_V wrote:
Nikon is a professional camera, Sony is a very nice impressive but still a toy...
Oh, you know that's a silly statement, so I don't get why you even bothered posting it.
The A1 did a thoroughly professional job at the Olympics, including surviving the luge run. I switched from a Nikon D5 to a Sony A1 for wildlife work because it was increasingly difficult to travel internationally with a kit the size of a pro DSLR rig during COVID, and I didn't miss the Nikon at all (I also had a D3, D800e, D2x, and a range of primes and zooms).
A professional camera is one that will get the shot you need at the moment it becomes available, and Sony has found new and innovative ways to get that done.
Feb 26, 2022 at 05:57 PM
duncang Offline • • • [X]
p.32 #9 · "Nikon Z9 vs Sony A1 – The 10 main differences"
RoamingScott wrote:
The findings are “both the A1 and Z9 are fantastic and 99.9% of FM posters won’t be limited by them in any meaningful way”. The only difference seems to be if you care about BIF wing flapping cadence
I’ve seen exactly 0 shots from either camera that I’m convinced the other camera can’t take. Maybe that’s an indictment of the people behind them, but who can tell, and more importantly, who cares.
Sure but you also think you can capture flying swallows with a mobile phone
p.32 #11 · "Nikon Z9 vs Sony A1 – The 10 main differences"
arbitrage wrote:
Yeah, I've been holding back on posting my full opinion. I usually just respond to PMs about it on a daily basis. I'll give it a little more time before posting a more in depth review/opinion.
We have to speak up for what we belive
I sold my z7 and did not log into Fred forum for over a year.
I do not want to make the same mistake again when I bought the Z7 by listening to the wrong people.
The only reason I came back to the forum is to hear your views on the Z9
p.32 #12 · "Nikon Z9 vs Sony A1 – The 10 main differences"
mczuman wrote:
Oh, you know that's a silly statement, so I don't get why you even bothered posting it.
The A1 did a thoroughly professional job at the Olympics, including surviving the luge run. I switched from a Nikon D5 to a Sony A1 for wildlife work because it was increasingly difficult to travel internationally with a kit the size of a pro DSLR rig during COVID, and I didn't miss the Nikon at all (I also had a D3, D800e, D2x, and a range of primes and zooms).
A professional camera is one that will get the shot you need at the moment it becomes available, and Sony has found new and innovative ways to get that done....Show more →
Tester_V is a well know troll on FM forums...just ignore every post he makes . Simple
p.32 #15 · "Nikon Z9 vs Sony A1 – The 10 main differences"
I don‘t own any and zero stake in which is better or worse…
I just read a teardown report of A1 from Kolari Vision where they have said that internal materials inside the mount are now plastic in A1, as against some of the earlier bodies…
Will you consider this of any practical significance in terms of build quality?
p.32 #16 · "Nikon Z9 vs Sony A1 – The 10 main differences"
6683 wrote:
I don‘t own any and zero stake in which is better or worse…
I just read a teardown report of A1 from Kolari Vision where they have said that internal materials inside the mount are now plastic in A1, as against some of the earlier bodies…
Will you consider this of any practical significance in terms of build quality?
Whatever reason for plastic material inside the mount, you can dismiss cost savings. Sony developed and incorporated the best of about everything on this camera, except the rear lcd display, which is sub standard. But e.g. the EVF and the carbon fibre mechanical second curtain shutter are truly state of the art.
So I would guess that Sony used plastic to avoid serious damage when the camera is accidentally dropped with a heavy lens on. The mount shearing will always be better than bending/warping the metal body of lens or camera due to excess force.
p.32 #17 · "Nikon Z9 vs Sony A1 – The 10 main differences"
Never understood the aversion to plastics outside of the obvious environmental impacts. Plastics have been able to be significantly stronger and lighter than metal for years. Even steel. There is plastic that is over twice the tensile strength of steel and can be made lighter, cheaper, more malleable, etc.
Obviously that isn't what is used in the camera but still. The word plastic no longer means weak in my eyes. Hasn't for a long time.
Mar 11, 2022 at 09:33 AM
osv2 Offline • • • • [X]
p.32 #18 · "Nikon Z9 vs Sony A1 – The 10 main differences"
yes, engineered plastics can be incredibly strong, for instance:
p.32 #19 · "Nikon Z9 vs Sony A1 – The 10 main differences"
RoamingScott wrote:
I do what now? Also I dare you to make a post about anything but swallows. You can do it. I believe in you.
Well I just had a fun afternoon out with the Z9(500PF+1.4TC) last week - sadly not a single swallow image to show for it - and there were plenty about, flying relatively close in a predicable pattern just above the water.
As a reference here is one from the A1. I just grabbed it for a few quick shots to double check there wasn’t something strange going on with the weather(!) - maybe a solar flare affecting electronics.
Not sure w*f is wrong with the Z9 af but it sure does not like swallows.
In fact I was stunned at how it point blank refused to pick them up - that is super disappointing.
I tried every af mode and even with pre-focus where the bird is clearly in focus in the view finder the cameras af just hops off into the ether somewhere. Strange.
It also seemed to really struggle with small terns - its like they were invisible to the camera despite being brightly lit against a dark cloudy sky - you would think it couldn't be easier. See pics at the end taken with the A1.
And for bigger birds really one has to use Wide Area S for best results or it is quite slow to pick them up. Wide Area L is like Wide Area Medium on the Sony but noticeably slower at detecting and acquiring the birds.
I found Auto AF (full frame mode) did not pick anything up so not useful for birds in flight.
And the EVF was dismal for the small birds imo. The typical jerky motion that one sees with slow refresh rates. No noticeable lag though.
All up gets an epic fail from me for my kind of fast action with small subjects - it is just hopeless at fast subject detection and locking on focus - and I mean hopeless - worse than my a6400.
Oh well hopefully they are working hard on some improvements or I find out it was user error. Sadly I doubt it was the latter given there are many others who reported the weird OOF issue.
In my experience it is nothing like the oof issue experienced with other mirrorless camera. This is more like autofocus is just turning off completely or so confused it just stops in its tracks - it was not even hunting - weird.
If anyone has any suggestions as to settings to improve the ability of the camera to even see the small well contrasted birds in the sky (against blue sky, white clouds, dark cloud with sunlit swallows) let me know as it is possible there is some basic setting I missed.
I tried all the AF modes and Wide Area S seemed to be the quickest and most reliable for detecting and locking focus on the bigger birds but even then it will not track them all over the frame.
3D tracking was too small a box to put on a flying swallow.
I was using animal detect only and tried with swallows at various distances. Usually one has to acquire them a bit of a distance off in order to track then as they come closer but I had no success ever of the camera detecting them except the one time only where the bird was directly overhead. That is ONE TIME - I kid you not.
For now I would stick with the A9/A1, R6/R5/R3 for small fast action subjects or even any of the non-stacked Sony's like the a6400, a7riv, a7iv as they at least manage fast acquisition and tracking which is the critical part.
Other than that it is a tank of a camera for sure. The grip lock is not quite up to standard, pretty useless actually and kept getting bumped and unlocked with the resulting unwanted shots from the grip shutter button. Duct tape will solve that though.
Some pics of the lit up terns that also seemed to be somewhat challenging for the focus acquisition.
Pretty harsh comments but there you go. Certainly the exact opposite to my first experiences of picking up the A9 or the R5 where they latch on to anything and everything immediately.
In fact I am pretty sure even my Z6 would have at least acquired the birds even if the lag when shooting made following near impossible.
p.32 #20 · "Nikon Z9 vs Sony A1 – The 10 main differences"
Did you also try without the TC? duncang wrote:
Well I just had a fun afternoon out with the Z9(500PF+1.4TC) last week - sadly not a single swallow image to show for it - and there were plenty about, flying relatively close in a predicable pattern just above the water.
As a reference here is one from the A1. I just grabbed it for a few quick shots to double check there wasn’t something strange going on with the weather(!) - maybe a solar flare affecting electronics.
Not sure w*f is wrong with the Z9 af but it sure does not like swallows.
In fact I was stunned at how it point blank refused to pick them up - that is super disappointing.
I tried every af mode and even with pre-focus where the bird is clearly in focus in the view finder the cameras af just hops off into the ether somewhere. Strange.
It also seemed to really struggle with small terns - its like they were invisible to the camera despite being brightly lit against a dark cloudy sky - you would think it couldn't be easier. See pics at the end taken with the A1.
And for bigger birds really one has to use Wide Area S for best results or it is quite slow to pick them up. Wide Area L is like Wide Area Medium on the Sony but noticeably slower at detecting and acquiring the birds.
I found Auto AF (full frame mode) did not pick anything up so not useful for birds in flight.
And the EVF was dismal for the small birds imo. The typical jerky motion that one sees with slow refresh rates. No noticeable lag though.
All up gets an epic fail from me for my kind of fast action with small subjects - it is just hopeless at fast subject detection and locking on focus - and I mean hopeless - worse than my a6400.
Oh well hopefully they are working hard on some improvements or I find out it was user error. Sadly I doubt it was the latter given there are many others who reported the weird OOF issue.
In my experience it is nothing like the oof issue experienced with other mirrorless camera. This is more like autofocus is just turning off completely or so confused it just stops in its tracks - it was not even hunting - weird.
If anyone has any suggestions as to settings to improve the ability of the camera to even see the small well contrasted birds in the sky (against blue sky, white clouds, dark cloud with sunlit swallows) let me know as it is possible there is some basic setting I missed.
I tried all the AF modes and Wide Area S seemed to be the quickest and most reliable for detecting and locking focus on the bigger birds but even then it will not track them all over the frame.
3D tracking was too small a box to put on a flying swallow.
I was using animal detect only and tried with swallows at various distances. Usually one has to acquire them a bit of a distance off in order to track then as they come closer but I had no success ever of the camera detecting them except the one time only where the bird was directly overhead. That is ONE TIME - I kid you not.
For now I would stick with the A9/A1, R6/R5/R3 for small fast action subjects or even any of the non-stacked Sony's like the a6400, a7riv, a7iv as they at least manage fast acquisition and tracking which is the critical part.
Other than that it is a tank of a camera for sure. The grip lock is not quite up to standard, pretty useless actually and kept getting bumped and unlocked with the resulting unwanted shots from the grip shutter button. Duct tape will solve that though.
Some pics of the lit up terns that also seemed to be somewhat challenging for the focus acquisition.
Pretty harsh comments but there you go. Certainly the exact opposite to my first experiences of picking up the A9 or the R5 where they latch on to anything and everything immediately.
In fact I am pretty sure even my Z6 would have at least acquired the birds even if the lag when shooting made following near impossible. ...Show more →
