First time trying out the A9III for auto racing. I did end up having to use the drop in circular polarizer on my 300mm f2.8 to cut the exposure by 1 stop. And a two stop ND on my 70-200mm f2.8 to keep my aperture in a more desirable range given the base ISO of the A9III
I also tried out the Car recognition AF. Which was actually pretty impressive. It even automatically switched from the front of the car to the driver's helmet on open wheeled cars.
I also noticed something when the camera detects multiple faces in the frame. Up until now, the face closest to the center was focused on. But now, an orange bar appears under the box of the face the camera is tracking. And you can now quickly switch faces by clicking left or right on the joystick.
This is more in line with what Canon and Nikon have doing for a while. I thought perhaps the latest firmware added this to the A1. But alas no. Only the A9III. Not sure if the A7RV has this
robert614 wrote:
Here's some recent pics from Laguna Seca Raceway
First time trying out the A9III for auto racing. I did end up having to use the drop in circular polarizer on my 300mm f2.8 to cut the exposure by 1 stop. And a two stop ND on my 70-200mm f2.8 to keep my aperture in a more desirable range given the base ISO of the A9III
I also tried out the Car recognition AF. Which was actually pretty impressive. It even automatically switched from the front of the car to the driver's helmet on open wheeled cars.
I also noticed something when the camera detects multiple faces in the frame. Up until now, the face closest to the center was focused on. But now, an orange bar appears under the box of the face the camera is tracking. And you can now quickly switch faces by clicking left or right on the joystick.
This is more in line with what Canon and Nikon have doing for a while. I thought perhaps the latest firmware added this to the A1. But alas no. Only the A9III. Not sure if the A7RV has this
robert614 wrote:
I also noticed something when the camera detects multiple faces in the frame. Up until now, the face closest to the center was focused on. But now, an orange bar appears under the box of the face the camera is tracking. And you can now quickly switch faces by clicking left or right on the joystick.
This is more in line with what Canon and Nikon have doing for a while. I thought perhaps the latest firmware added this to the A1. But alas no. Only the A9III. Not sure if the A7RV has this
Great shots!
I'm glad I'm not the only one waiting for face select via joystick on A1 (A7RV already has it) ...
robert614 wrote:
Here's some recent pics from Laguna Seca Raceway
First time trying out the A9III for auto racing. I did end up having to use the drop in circular polarizer on my 300mm f2.8 to cut the exposure by 1 stop. And a two stop ND on my 70-200mm f2.8 to keep my aperture in a more desirable range given the base ISO of the A9III
I also tried out the Car recognition AF. Which was actually pretty impressive. It even automatically switched from the front of the car to the driver's helmet on open wheeled cars.
I also noticed something when the camera detects multiple faces in the frame. Up until now, the face closest to the center was focused on. But now, an orange bar appears under the box of the face the camera is tracking. And you can now quickly switch faces by clicking left or right on the joystick.
This is more in line with what Canon and Nikon have doing for a while. I thought perhaps the latest firmware added this to the A1. But alas no. Only the A9III. Not sure if the A7RV has this
First time out with the camera, crappy conditions (misty, rainy, cloudy) so not much chance to catch things in motion. My initial impressions is that the bird detection is far superior to the A1 (not real surprise there) and the AF did feel snappier to me (used it it with the 600 F4 with and without the 1.4x TC).
Last photo of the Wilson's Warbler was a good test of the Eye AF (using the XS focus point)
Found a Barred Owl nest but also found one chick that had fallen out of the nest. Did out best to place it back in the same tree in hopes of keeping a coyote for getting it. It put on a bit of a show after placing it back in the tree.
ILCE-9M3FE 600mm F4 GM OSS lens600mmf/4.01/640s5000 ISO0.0 EV
ILCE-9M3FE 600mm F4 GM OSS lens600mmf/4.01/500s6400 ISO0.0 EV
ILCE-9M3FE 600mm F4 GM OSS lens600mmf/4.01/500s10000 ISO0.0 EV
ILCE-9M3FE 600mm F4 GM OSS lens600mmf/4.01/640s5000 ISO0.0 EV
palmor wrote:
First time out with the camera, crappy conditions (misty, rainy, cloudy) so not much chance to catch things in motion. My initial impressions is that the bird detection is far superior to the A1 (not real surprise there) and the AF did feel snappier to me (used it it with the 600 F4 with and without the 1.4x TC).
Last photo of the Wilson's Warbler was a good test of the Eye AF (using the XS focus point)
IMO, the 24megapixel sensor seems to be outperforming what i'd initially expect just comparing stats on paper. From 50 or 61 megapixel to 24, you'd expect a lot less detail, but in reality, it's not much different at all. Any chance you could share an uncropped version of one of the Warbler shots? I'd like to see how much detail can be retained from cropping.
trippalhealick wrote:
IMO, the 24megapixel sensor seems to be outperforming what i'd initially expect just comparing stats on paper. From 50 or 61 megapixel to 24, you'd expect a lot less detail, but in reality, it's not much different at all. Any chance you could share an uncropped version of one of the Warbler shots? I'd like to see how much detail can be retained from cropping.
Here is one of the Yellow Warbler (RAW file). Hopefully that helps!
It does, thank you! That was the exact image I had in mind, as well. So, you were fairly close to the bird, apparently. Thank you so much for the example file!
trippalhealick wrote:
IMO, the 24megapixel sensor seems to be outperforming what i'd initially expect just comparing stats on paper. From 50 or 61 megapixel to 24, you'd expect a lot less detail, but in reality, it's not much different at all. Any chance you could share an uncropped version of one of the Warbler shots? I'd like to see how much detail can be retained from cropping.
It does pretty good but if you have to do intensive cropping it won't hold up. That to me was the beauty of the A1 when it launched--51 megapixels is a really sweet spot. You can crop quite a bit and still get a 6K or 4K resolution file.
trippalhealick wrote:
IMO, the 24megapixel sensor seems to be outperforming what i'd initially expect just comparing stats on paper. From 50 or 61 megapixel to 24, you'd expect a lot less detail, but in reality, it's not much different at all. Any chance you could share an uncropped version of one of the Warbler shots? I'd like to see how much detail can be retained from cropping.
There is nothing magical about the 24MP of the A9III. It has the resolution of 24MP. It performs the way you would expect with any previous 20-odd MP sensor. I shot 1DX (18), 1DXII (20), A9/A9II (24) and have used R3 (24). If you fill enough of the frame you will have a razor sharp, beautiful image. If you have to crop big you will get a way nicer image out of an A1. The reason I didn't add an A9III to my bag after having my 3 weeks with it is I lost too many cool images due to lack of resolution. I'm typically a one camera at a time shooter so the A1 gets me more shots in the end of the day than an A9III. I'd have to be very selective with what I was shooting and going to use an A9III with and accept that anything random happening further away could be a lost opportunity. With the A1 the only thing I can't pull off is great launching pre-capture shots. Really the only place I was happy to have the A9III as my only camera was my backyard as I have everything controlled at reasonable distances so the A9III was perfect and great for passerines in flight.
It should also be noted that with those past 18-24MP cameras they all had a bit of an advantage because their high-ISO performance would make up for some of the lack of MP compared to a high-MP sensor. But because of the GS limitations the A9III has given up that advantage so now it only excels if you get close enough.
arbitrage wrote:
There is nothing magical about the 24MP of the A9III. It has the resolution of 24MP. It performs the way you would expect with any previous 20-odd MP sensor. I shot 1DX (18), 1DXII (20), A9/A9II (24) and have used R3 (24). If you fill enough of the frame you will have a razor sharp, beautiful image. If you have to crop big you will get a way nicer image out of an A1. The reason I didn't add an A9III to my bag after having my 3 weeks with it is I lost too many cool images due to lack of resolution. I'm typically a one camera at a time shooter so the A1 gets me more shots in the end of the day than an A9III. I'd have to be very selective with what I was shooting and going to use an A9III with and accept that anything random happening further away could be a lost opportunity. With the A1 the only thing I can't pull off is great launching pre-capture shots. Really the only place I was happy to have the A9III as my only camera was my backyard as I have everything controlled at reasonable distances so the A9III was perfect and great for passerines in flight.
It should also be noted that with those past 18-24MP cameras they all had a bit of an advantage because their high-ISO performance would make up for some of the lack of MP compared to a high-MP sensor. But because of the GS limitations the A9III has given up that advantage so now it only excels if you get close enough....Show more →
I haven't shot any wildlife with smaller sensors, which is why your feedback and everyone's image examples here are very helpful to me. I'm going to have to wait until the A1mk2. For the birds I shoot in my most common scenario (currently), I need to do a lot of cropping (very small birds), and more importantly, lighting conditions are not always great. LOTS of shade being provided by tons of trees.
trippalhealick wrote:
I haven't shot any wildlife with smaller sensors, which is why your feedback and everyone's image examples here are very helpful to me. I'm going to have to wait until the A1mk2. For the birds I shoot in my most common scenario (currently), I need to do a lot of cropping, and more importantly, lighting conditions are not always great. LOTS of shade being provided by tons of trees.
I think that is a good plan, as others have said for wildlife in situations where you need to crop the A1 is the way to go. The reason I added the A9 III to my bag was a need for a 2nd body and I wanted something different than another A1. I also plan on using it in situations where I won’t have to crop. If the A1 II had been out I would’ve gotten that for sure but for now the A9 III will work great.
trippalhealick wrote:
I haven't shot any wildlife with smaller sensors, which is why your feedback and everyone's image examples here are very helpful to me. I'm going to have to wait until the A1mk2. For the birds I shoot in my most common scenario (currently), I need to do a lot of cropping, and more importantly, lighting conditions are not always great. LOTS of shade being provided by tons of trees.
The ISO isn't a huge limitation in all use cases. Unlike @arbitrage I don't shoot a lot of BIF. For me the speed of the A9III is great for rapidly locking focus and shooting a big enough number of shots that I get a few where the bird's motion is frozen. That lets me shoot at a slower shutter speed to keep the ISO lower. But there is about a 1-stop penalty and I feel like on the DR the blacks block up a tiny bit faster (more so than the highlights).
I have a mixed bag of shooting, and usually try to get as close as possible when shooting, even with the A1. The issue is those times where you can't. I found its a trade-off in "keepers" where the number I lose because of low resolution on cropping is offset by the number I get from better AF (faster, and much more accurate on getting the eye nailed) and precapture. If I am going somewhere where I know I'll 100% be shooting small birds and likely will need a lot of cropping I will use the A1. Otherwise I lean to the A9III.
100% can't wait for an A1II with the precapture and AI AF.
palmor wrote:
I think that is a good plan, as others have said for wildlife in situations where you need to crop the A1 is the way to go. The reason I added the A9 III to my bag was a need for a 2nd body and I wanted something different than another A1. I also plan on using it in situations where I won’t have to crop. If the A1 II had been out I would’ve gotten that for sure but for now the A9 III will work great.
This is the exact same reason I have one. I don't know if you read my report on my A9III on my trip to Colombia in late March but I found that I used is way more than I realized. Back here now for warbler migration it's been a mixed bag, as you can't count on them getting close at feeders, etc. so the A1 has been out more often.
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