jhapeman wrote:
Speaking of firmware updates I just looked at the Sony support page and there's a couple of lens firmware updates that need to be applied to enable full support for this lens. This is going to be a major PITA given how lousy Sony's firmware update process is. While it's better on the new cameras, I don't see any way to make updating lenses easier.
A quick poke around on Sony's site and I can see that at a minimum the following lenses have firmware updates for the A9III to allow the 120fps:
1) 200-600
2) 100-400
3) 70-200 GM2
4) 24-70 GM2
Those are the ones I found so far. And who knows if other updates will be released. Unless I'm missing something there doesn't seem to be an easy way to get notified of firmware updates on lenses. ...Show more →
Thanks for the tip! Looks like I have to update all those lenses.
Does anyone have a full list of lenses that need to be updated to be fully compatible with the A9III?
I spent three hours yesterday at the Conowingo Dam and they were the deadest three hours of birding I've ever had there. Of course it was, I was there to try out a new camera.
I did mess around with some distant birds and I got one eagle fly over but not close enough for decent shots. I was able to learn a few things about it though from this outing. The tracking is even better than the A1, surprise, surprise. Even when tracking a bird through a foreground tree, it stayed locked tight. The AI is great at picking out birds, even when they are tiny in the frame and low contrast. It found a rock pigeon in a sea of black rocks almost half a mile across the river. Even with the 600mm w/ the 1.4x TC the bird was relatively tiny in the FOV.
Speaking of the TC, the AF was definitely faster with the TC's on. I couldn't really sense any difference in the AF speed with the 1.4x TC on and with the 2x on it's definitely better and faster at AF than the same combination on the A1.
You can really full your buffer FAST even with just 60fps. You have to be very judicious with your shutter button presses. Pre-capture will logically make you hit your buffer even faster.
In longer use the improved ergonomics are even more noticeable. It's just more comfortable to hold. The slight button position difference will take a little to adjust to as my finger/muscle memory is trained for my A1's.
I still really, really wish they could have made this even 33Mpx. It is hard to go back to just 24 megapixels!
I can't wait to use this for my intended purchases--actual real action. I have a trip to Colombia coming up next month and this should be killer for hummingbird photos. But I do see it as much more of a niche camera than the A1, which makes sense. If you are 100% a sports photographer this is going to be a way better camera than an A1. But I like to mix it up as do a lot of people. For us the upcoming updated A1II will be the king again. I really can't wait to see all of the improvements moved to that camera.
The C5 button is perfect for turning burst on and off vs. hold to burst.
One last observation re: the grip: It now drains both batteries simultaneously vs. draining one 100% and then switching to the other.
jhapeman wrote:
I spent three hours yesterday at the Conowingo Dam and they were the deadest three hours of birding I've ever had there. Of course it was, I was there to try out a new camera.
I did mess around with some distant birds and I got one eagle fly over but not close enough for decent shots. I was able to learn a few things about it though from this outing. The tracking is even better than the A1, surprise, surprise. Even when tracking a bird through a foreground tree, it stayed locked tight. The AI is great at picking out birds, even when they are tiny in the frame and low contrast. It found a rock pigeon in a sea of black rocks almost half a mile across the river. Even with the 600mm w/ the 1.4x TC the bird was relatively tiny in the FOV.
Speaking of the TC, the AF was definitely faster with the TC's on. I couldn't really sense any difference in the AF speed with the 1.4x TC on and with the 2x on it's definitely better and faster at AF than the same combination on the A1.
You can really full your buffer FAST even with just 60fps. You have to be very judicious with your shutter button presses. Pre-capture will logically make you hit your buffer even faster.
In longer use the improved ergonomics are even more noticeable. It's just more comfortable to hold. The slight button position difference will take a little to adjust to as my finger/muscle memory is trained for my A1's.
I still really, really wish they could have made this even 33Mpx. It is hard to go back to just 24 megapixels!
I can't wait to use this for my intended purchases--actual real action. I have a trip to Colombia coming up next month and this should be killer for hummingbird photos. But I do see it as much more of a niche camera than the A1, which makes sense. If you are 100% a sports photographer this is going to be a way better camera than an A1. But I like to mix it up as do a lot of people. For us the upcoming updated A1II will be the king again. I really can't wait to see all of the improvements moved to that camera.
The C5 button is perfect for turning burst on and off vs. hold to burst.
One last observation re: the grip: It now drains both batteries simultaneously vs. draining one 100% and then switching to the other.
LiveShots wrote:
Would the TC's make the AF better only because the subject will be larger in the frame ?
They didn't make it better. On other cameras you can see a slowdown in AF performance with a TC on, the 2x in particular. My point is that with the A9III I don't see any performance difference with the 1.4x TC on my 600GM and with the 2x TC on it's better than the 2x + 600GM + A1 combo, where you can see a noticeable slowdown in AF performance.
robert614 wrote:
Does anyone have a full list of lenses that need to be updated to be fully compatible with the A9III?
I think this page might have the list, there's a separate button for Lens Breathing compatibility, but I think this page is for the A9iii control which is the hi speed stuff
LiveShots wrote:
I think this page might have the list, there's a separate button for Lens Breathing compatibility, but I think this page is for the A9iii control which is the hi speed stuff
