Donzo98 wrote:
Did Sony remove the 1/16/000 shutter speed limitation on lenses shooting under F2 on the A9III ??
Shooting the 50 at F1.2 with a base ISO of 250... 1/16,000 isn't fast enough sometimes outside in bright light.
Just wondering...
You of course can turn the camera down to ISO 125 and get another stop less of exposure and although that isn't a "real" ISO value there is little cost in doing so. That strategy might suffice when you have such bright light. You could always add an ND filter as well, but I doubt the max shutter speed can or will be increased beyond 1/16,000 which is already twice as fast as what was among the fastest mechanical shutters (i.e., 1/8000).
Steve Spencer wrote:
You of course can turn the camera down to ISO 125 and get another stop less of exposure and although that isn't a "real" ISO value there is little cost in doing so. That strategy might suffice when you have such bright light. You could always add an ND filter as well, but I doubt the max shutter speed can or will be increased beyond 1/16,000 which is already twice as fast as what was among the fastest mechanical shutters (i.e., 1/8000).
Yes…but the A9III has the capability of shooting at 1/80,000 using elrctronic shutter. The A1/II can shoot up to 1/32,000 at base ISO using electronic shutter. I have been at 1/16,000 at 1.2 before…and want to know if the A9III will be able to accomplish that without an ND.
There was talk about Sony changing the limitation.
Aug 02, 2025 at 10:42 AM
Steve Spencer Offline • • • • • • • Upload & Sell: On
Donzo98 wrote:
Yes…but the A9III has the capability of shooting at 1/80,000 using elrctronic shutter. The A1/II can shoot up to 1/32,000 at base ISO using electronic shutter. I have been at 1/16,000 at 1.2 before…and want to know if the A9III will be able to accomplish that without an ND.
There was talk about Sony changing the limitation.
Have you ever had an overexposed image at ISO 125 and 1/16,000 shutter speed? I never have had close to light bright enough for that even at f/1.2, but brightness of light does vary in different places. I doubt Sony will address this issue, but who knows maybe they will.
Steve Spencer wrote:
Have you ever had an overexposed image at ISO 125 and 1/16,000 shutter speed? I never have had close to light bright enough for that even at f/1.2, but brightness of light does vary in different places. I doubt Sony will address this issue, but who knows maybe they will.
You're right...it's tough to do. I have bumped up against 1/16,000 at 1.2, ISO 100 on the A1... VERY rarely.
If I used base ISO 250 on the A9III, it would happen more. I could always dial it down to 125... but was wondering at base ISO.
Aug 02, 2025 at 11:23 AM
Steve Spencer Offline • • • • • • • Upload & Sell: On
Donzo98 wrote:
You're right...it's tough to do. I have bumped up against 1/16,000 at 1.2, ISO 100 on the A1... VERY rarely.
If I used base ISO 250 on the A9III, it would happen more. I could always dial it down to 125... but was wondering at base ISO.
In your case with both the A1 and the A9III, I would use the A1 if at all possible in such bright light. You can still get 30 fps, a very fast electronic shutter, and you will have much better dynamic range at the low ISOs required for such bright light. As a bonus you can bump the shutter speed up to 1/32,000 if the light ever warranted it and still keep the ISO at 100 or even set it to 50. I doubt you would hardly ever need that exposure headroom, but if you needed it you would have it. That said having the DR would probably be more important in most instance as such bright light often comes with really high DR in the scene as well.
Steve Spencer wrote:
In your case with both the A1 and the A9III, I would use the A1 if at all possible in such bright light. You can still get 30 fps, a very fast electronic shutter, and you will have much better dynamic range at the low ISOs required for such bright light. As a bonus you can bump the shutter speed up to 1/32,000 if the light ever warranted it and still keep the ISO at 100 or even set it to 50. I doubt you would hardly ever need that exposure headroom, but if you needed it you would have it. That said having the DR would probably be more important in most instance as such bright light often comes with really high DR in the scene as well....Show more →
I don’t have an A9III, I wouldn’t have both for my needs. Was possibly thinking of swapping A1II for A9III.
j4nu wrote:
Yes, Sony did remove the limitation in fw 3.0:
Allows the use of shutter speeds up to 1/80000 seconds at all aperture values when Exp. Value Expand is set to On
It comes at a cost though, there's some color cast introduced AFAIR.
Also, using ISO values in the expanded range (below 250) will not give you any headroom regarding highlights clipping...
Thanks for the clarification and you are right expanded ISO won't give you any extra headroom regarding clipping, but if you need that fast of a shutter speed it will make the resulting photo when you open it less overexposed and ISO 125 won't give you any less DR than ISO 250. Basically you are baking in an adjustment that is the same as lowering the exposure post-processing a stop before you open the file. Some people will find that useful. Others won't.
I am glad they lifted the restriction. Just a few days ago, I encountered a bright sunny day that even with my 6-stop ND, I still overexposed the scene about one stop at f/1.2, 1/250s, and ISO 100.
