Sony A9III Has Changed Wildlife Photography Forever!
I field test the Sony A9III showcasing its incredible new features including the Global Shutter, 120fps, Precapture and more. I talk about its pros and cons and share lots of interesting photos. I hope you enjoy. Cheers, Duade
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Chapters
00:00 Sony A9III
00:46 Global Shutter
04:19 Precapture
09:14 120fps
15:59 Suitable Lenses
16:26 Image Quality
19:51 Autofocus
20:49 Ergonomics
21:30 EVF
22:15 Conclusion
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I think we all need reality checks every now and then. It’s so easy to concentrate our minds on the few shortcomings of these newer cameras, that we can lose sight of how much of a leap they are when compared to just five years ago. For most of us amateurs, many of the shortcomings just do not matter. We need to look at all those positives, and understand that our own photography will benefit hugely from them. The future of photography is very bright indeed.
Well said. Its so easy to concentrate on the shortcomings. Very relatable in regards to my own camera even. While often the shortcomings arent a big problem for hobbyists or amateurs. And even so understanding your camera and the shortcomings make you a better photographer and probably make you appriciate a new camera even more (when you eventually buy one).
Thanks Tony, well said and totally agree, the leaps forward are staggering really considering where we came from. And with AI and mirrorless it seems to be progressing at a rapid pace. Cheers, Duade
@@Duade Off to my local RSPB location nice and early tomorrow with my R3 and 100-500 and 1.4x. Boy oh boy is it all way better than me! So much fun learning a little bit each time.
Have fun out there, Cheers, Duade@@tonylockhart1963
For me the reality check as a wildlife photographer that includes birds, it seams birds have now become wildlife criteria, is that on a recent visit to Botswana and India, where the affluence and wealth is no where near the USA or Europe, I came across some photographers using "outdated" DSLR's with 3rd party lenses that creates mind blowing photographs, their ability to see the picture and the compositions, exposure and action shots, again reminded my that technology and advancement is fantastic, but nothing replaces skill and pasion. The biggest challenge for photography is to still produce quality equipment at an affordable price. The advances of the A9iii over the A9ii for many does not justify the massive price hike, in many parts of the world wildlife photographers do not shoot BIF as their main subject, where 30fps global shutter etc gives you the correct wing position. I am by no means against the advancements, for those who chase that split second image, it is great and well needed. For many others and there is a massive market that would greatly benefit the photography and bigger wildlife photography populations. Young upcoming photographers and the retired or less well-off non professionals with a passion for photography needs to be drawn in for photography to grow, if not IA will reduce photography to a reach person's hobby. Professionals already struggle.
Thank you very much for the review. Great job!
thanks for sharing the raws alongside the finals - really interesting and feel like I learned something.
FANTASTIC VIDEO!!!!THANKS FOR SHARING!!! WE LOVE U!!!!!
So happy to see your blue dot, Duade. Really, really happy. Hopefully this is why the R5II is being delayed. Global shutter and Pre-capture would make for awesome birding... we've been waiting and waiting. All our lenses are Canon or Sigma.
Definitely not Sigma RF mount.
Thanks Joan, I have been struck down with illness the past week so struggled to get content out. The R5II will likely be a stacked sensor which will be very fast. Maybe the R1 will be global shutter but we just don't know yet. Cheers, Duade
Really great review, thank you!
Excellent review. Very good explanations followed by examples on the advantages of pre-capture and 120 FPS.
Great in-depth review Duade! It really is a beast of a camera.
Rare instance... 100% agree with reviewer's view! Great sports camera with some drawbacks as a wildlife camera.
Thanks mate, good to hear, Cheers, Duade
Fantastic review... I am always impressed by the thoroughness and honesty of your gear reviews especially with regards to the unique needs of bird photography.
Thanks Mark, you are too kind and I appreciate the feedback, Cheers, Duade
Excellent review Duade.
Great review and inputs Duade! Love the speed boost implementation quite a lot. It is also nice that it allows you to do pretty much anything while camera is writing to card and/or clear the buffer. Last but not least, lots of lovely images! Cheers.
Thanks mate, yes, I was very impressed with that, I like that the user can choose the two FPS they want. Cheers, Duade
Great take on this beast. Z9 owner here, the pre capture is a feature I use a lot but limited to raw. I'd never switch from Nikon for several reasons, but I can see why you would buy this body.
Thanks Lenny, yes the Z9 is fantastic, hopefully they allow RAW in precapture with a firmware update. Cheers, Duade
Excellent review thanks Duade
Seems like every one is appreciating the feature brought about by Olympus, four cameras ago ... the E-M1 Mk II introduced the Pro Cap feature which came out with 60 fps and quite tailorable too, so I've been using this for years now, it's not something new.... it was also in my E-M1 Mark III and has been more refined in the OM-1 and OM-1 Mk II down to where you don't need to grab a ton of images @ 120 fps although it is available at that frame rate, it is available at lower rates and much more flexible in how many shots can be setup as pre and post shutter..... it's a shame when such a toy camera as the Oly ones, are not getting the credit for what they have inspired all the others to try and keep up with - Innovation starts somewhere but if it's not the biggest player in the game, nobody want to say where the concept came from....... c'mon now, give credit where it's due........
Good on ya Ken, yes Olympus and Om Systems were the first out the gate and left all the big names behind, they all only just catching up. The R5 has it but its a bit of a crock on an expensive camera !!
I think the reason it went overlooked is because It's not full-frame. The olympus bodies are really good for macro though so I've been following them for a while despite never getting one, really works well for focus stacking and with the cropped sensor you get in nice 'n close to the bugs.
YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY CORRECT!! The group think continues… as Apple used to say…think differently… maybe they should have just simplified it to…THINK!
I think the problem with the way Olympus implemented it was, that it was kinda hard to use. I was thrilled to use it when I got the OM-1 and immeditealy tested it with birds only to find out that the autofocus was much too slow to make this feature useful. With the a9III, that is a lot better. Not perfect, but better. If Olympus would have managed to make it useful right from the start, I think they would have gotten much more interest. But yes, credit goes to the people who invented it - but I'm not really sure if that was Olympus or someone unknown in the background.
Olympus had pro-capture 4 cameras ago? Don't be silly; my Olympus E-100RS had pro-capture back in the year 2000. That was more than 4 cameras ago for sure.
Canon R5 shooter here. Awesome review, Duade. I felt it was totally unbiased. You really pointed out the pros and cons for a wildlife/bird shooter. This review really made me think about whether I would want the R5 II. There's so much great new technology out there now. Depending on what Canon has to offer, it might be a good idea for me to wait a few more years for an R5 III. Thanks, Duade!
Wow really nice review again Duade, I'm still rocking and enjoying my 7Dmkii but holy cow have cameras changed as I've not looked at them in years, the first video I've watched in years about cameras or lenses was your Rf200-800 review which I must say was also a very good, balanced review.
Mate I’m so happy for you on your continued success ,coming from all the hard work you have put in 👍
Much appreciated!
Finally got the finish watching the review. Great work and very honest, I appreciate that alot. I'v replied to one of your community posts regarding the MP of the camera and I agree. Waiting until a Sony A1M2 drops is probably the best for most of us Sony wildlife shooters. For me personally I just hope the regular a1 will get a tad bit cheaper so I can justify buying one. Cheers for the video!
Thank you for this fantastic review! And hopefully you'll get your hands on an Fuji X-h2s an test it out. Greetings from Germany
I really wish they'd bring pre-capture to the A1, would be super useful for many situations.
Yes, that would be a great firmware update as it is very handy. Cheers, Duade
Great stuff!
Hey Daude, hopefuly you're doing great. This global shutter thing is revolutionary for sure. In not so far future and I'm super excited about this technology being refined in a couple of years and also appear in mid range pro-sumer bodies from other brands as well. Another great video! Cheers!
Excellent review, detailed and honest as usual; but I really miss the wildlife shooting aficionado that first attracted me to your channel!
Great video and great camera. I really hope I can someday be able to buy one.
wow that pre capture feature is a game changer especially with that dragon fly footage
Its not a game changer if its late to the market.... but maybe the additional of the time you can pre-capture is... That's cool...
Sometimes the things that change the game can make the game less enjoyable. Pre-capture is interesting but I am not sure this particular iteration has got it to the point that is ideal. The Z9 version is not RAW despite lots of requests for it. This version is much closer to being an excellent option but has buffer issues. Good to see Sony releasing a new camera which pushes the limits of what is possible. I wonder how Canon and Nikon will respond.
@@user-ec7dc7hh9o There is no better implementation of pre-capture on the market. You don't always need to use max fps and max pre-capture time. Most people's reaction should be fast enough that 0.5s will get you the start of the action and 60 fps would be plenty enough fps for most subjects. So 0.5s pre to get the start of the action and 3.5-4s of follow trough sounds like enough for almost any situation (even more at low fps, if needed, since it doesn't stop shooting when buffer is full). And for subjects where you need the max fps and pre-capture time (like the dragonfly), the buffer after pre-capture doesn't really matter, since you can't possibly accelerate your camera quickly enough from a stand-still to follow such a subject. You can get a better buffer on other brands, but you have to give up max fps, or shoot jpeg, or not have a FF sensor... that's why I say this is the best implementation. PS: I think I read somewhere that not the actual buffer memory is the bottleneck, but the processing power. May be true, or not... but it is a shltload of data to process in a very short time, it's like recording 6k 120fps raw video, which no consumer/hybrid camera can do.
Great review Duade, thanks and boy what a camera. Certainly a major milestone in the evolution of digital photography. I'm sure Global shutter is the way forward - eventually, but how long is eventually, just a year or two or maybe longer. I think I'm with you for the moment - 'conventional' fast read out, back illuminated, stacked sensor like Z9/Z9/R3 and hopefully R52 is going to be more than enough for me, especially with that 45 Mp full frame sensor size. Still - great see Sony pushing things forward, good on them. Must have been a great trip to Sydney. Thanks again.
Thanks John, totally agree with you, always fun to try the latest kit but like you the R5II will be more than enough for me I suggest. Cheers, Duade
Great video as always mate. This looks like an amazing camera i have to say. Looking forward to see if Canon manage to come with a similar, but with a bit higher mp. And as always, a lot of amazing photos from you. Cheers, Bjoern
Thanks mate, I appreciate it, Cheers, Duade
Thanks for the good pre-capture explanation!
My pleasure, Cheers, Duade
Hey Duade, thank you so much for this video. I hope you will make a review on Fuji XH2S. I love watching all your videos because they are unbiased..
Thanks Shane, I would love to but I don't have a contacgt at Fuji at the moment. Cheers, Duade
I tasted your exitement in this excellent review! I felt the same when I got my Z8 this week, after using my D850 the past 5 years. Cheers from Europe.
Congrats two wonderful cameras, Cheers, Duade
Yaaaay new video!!!!❤❤❤❤
Sorry, I have been sick all week so struggling to to create anything new. Cheers, Duade
Very good review. Global Shutter does sound wonderful. As you say, sports shooters should really love it especially with the precapture. Olympus shooters have been raving about that for a long time. It being compatible with the 600 f4 will really help sales. I remember a great photographer I'm acquainted with wishing there was an "orphanage" for great shots that aren't your best shots. It would be hard to throw away all those extra frames but a person would need a Server to save them all and would spend all his time on the computer.
Good to see you. I was wondering that when you would upload a video. 😊
Sorry, I have been sick all week so struggled to get this video finished. Cheers, Duade
@@Duade Take care of your health ❤️
Advances in camera technology are happening so fast. This camera is a nice glimpse into what is coming and what is possible going forward. Thanks for a thorough review. I'm a canon shooter myself but I love seeing and learning about all the other brands as well! Sony has some awesome features!
Thanks Jessie, yes, I agree, always good to see what is coming and I was happy to try it out. Cheers, Duade
Thank you for your unbiased and well balanced short review of that body /lens combination in regard to bird photography, maybe I had wished a bit more on the image quality subject. Yes, denoising software is great, but still… 😏 I struggle with the 24MP, just like you I would have wished for more but I am acknowledging Sonys problems considering the global shutter with more megapixels. Thank you again, great to watch, as always!
Thanks for the comment and sorry I did not have more about the IQ, overall my impressions are that it is still very good but 24mp for me is always a bit of a comprimise for birds. But I think this is sign of things to come in the future that is for sure. Cheers, Duade
I'd be curious to see this tested against the OM-1. They have similar features. The A9iii is 4MP more, but that's not significant enough to make a major difference. The global shutter lowers dynamic range. So that may close the gap with MFT. The OM-1 has 50fps with AFC, but 120 AFS. I'm curious how this compares with the AF of the AIiii. I believe it is AFC at 120fps, though I've yet to see the need for more than 50fps when taking photos. Even then, it feels excessive. Maybe I just don't like having so many photos to sort through. :-P
The recapture sounds extremely exciting. 120fps wouldn't be bad but it's also a lot. The sensor size is definitely a dealbreaker for me.
OH MAN , what a joy it is to see my fav youtuber try out this camera . I was looking for it. finally happened. thanks for doing it. I wish you could've tested the A7RV and the 200-600 with 1.4 tc to check out the performance with Mechanical shutter. thanks again.
My pleasure!
❤❤❤@@Duade
I know the R7's pre-capture is supposedly not the best, but now I am inspired to give it a try! Also, kudos to you Duade for not scaring the dragonfly off his perch to get the shot quickly--very admirable ethics. Even though it's 'just a bug,' I think disturbing nature as little as possible is important.
Thanks, precapture is great but the R7 is a little painful to use with the special file type and having to wait for the buffer to clear. Good for specific scenarios but I just found it frustrating to use. Good luck, Cheers, Duade
@@DuadeThe Sony method, of just having an ever-clearing buffer holding the last half second, or whatever the user designates, is definitely the way to go. I'm holding out slim hope that Canon can work out a firmware solution like that. If Canon precapture is writing images before the shot, I don't see why they can't overwrite them... but maybe the processing load is too much.
I think it has to do with the special file type it uses, it needs to save all the precapture into that special file and write it to the memory card. It is just an odd implementation. Cheers, Duade
The competition is strong now High end bodies are expensive, let alone their lenses to complement Your really locked into to a system unless mega rich & able to switch, hence why I enjoy trying to capture with what I have, Thanks for your time & I appreciate your viewpoint
Totally agree, they are always leapfrogging each other, Canon will be next, then Nikon etc. Cheers, Duade
Congratulations pretty good and interesting vidéo on A9III I can’t afford this camera but you were very clear and well presented all advantages and disavantages of this camera. A photographer from France 🇫🇷.
Great review. Thanks! Any chance you’ll review the Fuji XH2s?
Wonderful ❤❤❤
G'day Duade, I'm mostly impressed with your Dotterel at 18:18, what a lighting !! The a9iii indeed seems awesome, and IQ (noise & dynamic range) may even be better than many expected. But the price tag (in combination with the 600/4 it goes beyond 20k euros) is just eye watering and far beyond my reach. Of course, we'd love to see these precapture and speed boost features in the upcoming R5ii & R1.
Thanks mate, yes I too liked that Dotterel image, yes, the price is eye watering that is for sure. Fingers crossed Canon update their precapture. Cheers, Duade
G,day Duade, I always like seeing reviews of different manufacturers and you explained this so even I understood what it is all about. I think like you and even if I shot on Sony after shooting with a 50mp camera I don't really want to go back down the MP count. I hope the R5 ii has some of these features though. I'm not sure that the average guy in the street will ever need 120fps and I get this isn't aimed at that person, but wow what a thing to have in the back pocket if you need it, I do agree that the buffer needs to be a lot bigger. I dread to think the cost of memory cards to keep up with this speed.
Thanks mate, yes, a lot of fun and a sign of things to come, I think the R5II will be more than enough for most people. Yep, I hope they come up with a cheaper bigger memory card solution. Cheers, Duade
I say bring on a pro R7 apsc sensor with global shutter. I've been following a channel Duncan Groenewald for a little while he does some great wildlife testing with this camera. A bit expensive and as you say prefer more pixels actually the R7 32mp APSC is enough but great M4/3 pixel density. I think Nikon will give us a pro APSC stacked soon I will switch over to that.
yes...a R7 BSI stacked 24mp APS-C sensor (equivalent to ~62mp FF, more than enough imho) in a R3 body/shell, same screen and EVF as the R3, QPAF debut for Canon, same if not better buffer as the R3, and dual CFexpress card slots and full HDMI port.
Nikons not bringing a pro level APSC anytime soon. Though rumors periodically circulate about a mythical Z90. Doesn't seem to match the R7 though and supposedly the R7 MKii is on the not too distant horizon.
@@num1hendrickfan I think it's more likely Nikon will make the APSC pro than Canon. Nikon do listen and there's a lot of D500 lovers waiting for it. It's a fine camera way better than my old 7DMKII that was the last time Canon thought of APSC as pro. Actually a more preferred size is APSH for me (1.3x) I loved it in the 1d series Canon would treat that as pro grade. This stacked and global shutter tech might have overwhelmed Canon dev. Nikon's use of Sony dev has kept them ahead. Nikon is also making amazing lenses for wildlife. If an apsc Nikon doesn't show up I think I'm getting the Z8.
@@davepastern"stacked 24mp APS-C sensor (equivalent to ~62mp FF" could you explain this in detail please?
Yes, eventually I am sure we will see something but I suspect at the lower end we will hopefully see a stacked sensor in the R7II to compete with the XH2S. I also hope that Nikon release a D500 mirrorless, they are lacking eye tracking on more affordable bodies at present. Cheers, Duade
Thanks!
Thank you for the support, I really apprecaite it, Cheers, Duade
Excellent review of a great camera that'll never buy (too expensive for my budget). Having said this, it's always nice to hear about the latest and greatest because, as you mentioned more and more cameras will be coming out with global shutters eventually. The advantage of global shutters is, of course, the elimination of the rolling shutter effect. On that topic, I'm not a golfer, but it would seem to me that whereas the golf club at 3:53 is perfectly straight the one at 4:10 looks to have a slight arc or bend to it ( if the the golf club were to bend upon initial contact with the ball I would expect the bend to be the other direction). I dont have the original photo, maybe its an artifact of the KZhead compression, maybe I'm just imaging this? Anyway, great review as always, love you detailed explanations. Cheers
Another superb review! As a Canon shooter, I can't wait to see what Canon has to offer in upcoming R5 and R7 updates. Exciting times for sure. Many thanks, Duade!
Thanks Ray, yes, me too, hopefully they update their precapture as currently it is very hard to use. Cheers, Duade
Nice review of a dream camera. I'd like to see a review of the compact Sony RX10 IV. Thanks.
Great video. Love the tone and too long since previous. Never gonna buy that camera but happy to dream and wait for the tech to work down to an affordable canon over the next few years. Start with buffer and pre capture canon. If R5 ii works out that could be a good second hand buy in 5 years or so.
I use Pre-Capture all the time on the OM-1, it's something that when you use it once, you will never stop using it. Duarde, I have a request if I may :) , would you be able to get hold of a M.zuiko 150-400mm f4.5 tc1.25x is pro and review it for us? I know you've reviewed the 300mm f/4, which is an amazing lenses, however the 150-400mm is something out of this world when pared with the OM-1, and I would love to hear your thoughts and opinion on it. Once again, thanks for the brilliant work you do.
Thanks mate, good to hear, I will try and reach out to OM-Systems again, I have not had any luck so far. Cheers, Duade
I’ve a few friends who own that lens and they’ve all told me the 300mm is on par picture quality wise , it’s just not got that extra reach. So for me I’m sticking with my 300mm
@@lynnewarner7619 Yeah, I have the 300mm and it's just superb, the IQ on that lens is just ridiculously sharp.
@@mazaribeiro yes I love it. So for me I’ll not buy the big white. I’ll wait for a 400 prime 🙂 . The weight and size of the 300 is great too.
I like that you included the RAWs. I'm still rocking my A7iii. Disappointing they are still limiting third party lenses to 15fps.
As always a very interesting video, I wonder how much longer a photographer's knowledge will be needed for photography.
Thanks, you have to put yourself in the right place at the right time, not sure the camera can do that for us yet, but yes these cameras are getting very smart. Cheers, Duade
As a Sony A1 user I initially hesitated getting the A9iii for having only 24mp, but after seeing an incredible demonstration of the ability of Pre-capture I took the plunge and sold my A7Rv for an A9iii, keeping the A1. I am amazed how much I love the A9iii, I mostly still shoot at 30fps, but the pre-capture gets me shots I would have previously missed most times out. Image quality is not noticeably less than the A1 and when I want to heavily crop, I just Upscale in Topaz AI with great results. In the month since I got the A9iii I have come to use it exclusively for bird photography - the A1 just comes out for shooting mammals, such I have just come back from safari using both bodies.
Another great video duade, did you attend the recent Birdlife photography conference by any chance?
G'day, unfortuantely I had to pull out for personal reasons. I believe it was a great success. Cheers, Duade
Great Review.. never really considered the A9iii since i already have the A1.. So it's kind of a surprise that a review from a Canon fanboy has me considering purchasing it.. lol.. Thanks for the well rounded, concise Review!
Thanks Billy, glad you enjoyed it, I wonder how far away the A1II will be, should be interesting to see where they go with it. The combination of Precapture, Global Shutter and upto 120fps is pretty special. Cheers, Duade
@@Duade Absolutely Will Purchase the A1ii if it has Pre-Capture!! Can't wait.. Lol.. Thanks Again for The Great Review!
Thanks
Thank you so much for the support, I really appreciate it, Cheers, Duade
Duane, that was a very good and fair review. I could not afford to carry that expensive camera as an enthusiast photographer, but I could see someone like you making it pay for itself. I left Sony because of their company policy on third parties who only gave slight differences between them on fundamental functionality. Canon was my choice, but the decided to lock out third party equipment for their own purposes was my choice to leave. I still prefer the Canon80D with 100-400mm lens for animal and birds.😊
Thanks for sharing your thoughts Stuart, it was a fun camera to use, Cheers, Duade
Thanx Duade for this: extremely clear explanation of how this new technique may be used in the field of action (sport, but mostly wildlife) photography. At around 16:00 you show a list of Sony lenses, explaining that if you have one of these, Sony can guaratee you can take 120 fps: however, some of those lenses in that list are highligted in yellow, others in blue, others simply feature on a white background. Does that mean all those lenses - careless of the colour background - support the high speed shoot, or not? Thanx again.
Very good review as always. Those specifics are mad! But made me think a lot... I go on the field with my 400 2,8 mark 1 no IS, attached to an R7... but my best shots come when I use my 80D... Challenge is what brings me joy in Bird photography... but, where is the challenge when anyone with no clue but with 7K $$ can take shots as "professionals do"? When every picture is sharp and "at the right moment" because of shooting at 120 fps and you can crop the heck out of them to get your composition... 🤔... when you really "nailed it" after 200 unsharp pics and you have that feeling of satisfaction... that's what makes me personally stand up early in the morning and go out looking for that special bird that is still missing in my files... is bird photography becoming more like a "point and shoot" stuff? Where gear is more important than skills? hmm... I like gear review videos, but I must admit I liked it more when you go out and show your skills and technique to approach birds and nail the composition, exposure etc.... My rig weights like 7 Kg and I still can get good shots even handheld... maybe when I get 85 and can't hold a rig properly I can think about getting a camera like this one with a 800mm so I can shoot from my porch 😂😂 or maybe we'll have Robots that go out and do the stuff for us... or make a picture with AI and call it a day... Anyway... i'ts just a thought...
Notes exception is R8 and r6ii which have readout speed of 14 which is even better than R5. So R8 is remarkable is that it is the cheapest body with such fast readout speed and that’s why I love R8 for birds in flight
Great review, and we know you're not going to be swayed. Self-evidently, a global shutter has always been the way to go, as it overcomes so many problems. I'm unlikely to ever even consider this camera, unless I win the lottery. I'll just have to wait until this technology trickles down, and hope I'm not too old, by time it does. My dream camera, would be a crop sensor camera, with a global shutter, big buffer, all the wrinkles ironed out. Once we get to a certain level, then yes it would be possible for even more features, but the Sony AIII shows we're already close to that technological sweet spot, where it would be good enough, and we'd never be limited by our cameras. Talking about the annoying tendency of even modern AF to get stuck on branches. For about 6-7 years, I've been trying to get a photo, of one of the worst skulkers, the Ceitti's Warbler. Notorious for sitting in the middle of dense scrub, and rarely perching in the open. When it does, it does so for a fraction of a second, and it's impossible to anticipate it. I saw this one, occasionally perching in the open for a fraction of a second. Then a rival turned up, and for a short time they had an intense song battle, chasing each other around. The first time one perched in the clear for a few seconds, I just kept my finger down on my Canon R7, and everyone was focused on this branch behind it. Luckily it happened again, and this time it locked on the eye. Stoked to get a decent photo, even if a branch in the way covered the feet. So that's one wrinkle, that definitely needs ironing out with all AF systems, until we reach this good enough sweet spot.
Meanwhile I'm shooting with a borrowed T3i. It doesn't have precapture, but it does have postcapture at 3fps, with a buffer of 7 frames 😂. Unlike the A93, it does work at full speed with all Canon and 3rd party lenses, so kudos to Canon.
On that drone shot with the A74/mechanical shutter, what was the shutter speed. If you shot with a Nikon F2 or FE2 (with a faster shutter), what would the blades look like? It's been a long time since I shot my Nikon around aircraft with their spinning blades like on the C-130.
The precapture feature is incredibly intriguing. In wildlife and sports I'm so often a half second too late, and this compensates for reaction time. Amazing. I am going to start saving money in a secret Sony fund, waiting till there's an A9 with 60 mp or an A1 with global shutter and precapture.
News just surfaced - sony are releasing an A9III Mk 2 before Christmas !! It will have more buffer memory to increase the shots you can take at 120fps. Just need a 10TB hard disk in the desktop to put all the pictures on.......Great review as usual.
We would welcome you onto the Sony team one day Duade...................we have plenty of room on the bandwagon!
would you do a review of the Sony 600 f4? would love to see it
Could you check whether the ruler may have clipped? It looks much brighter.
Nice job. Can''t wait for the tech to trickle down to less expensive cameras eventually (my max is 2k). My upgrade in about 5 years?
I’m happy to see Sony and others slowly adopting useful technologies that micro43 system had for years but everybody dismissed as gimmicks.
so true 👍
Yes, I don't know why it has taken them so long to implment the feature, and as of now Nikon don't have RAW and Canons it not really usable in the field. This Sony is very good but I also like the option with OM Systems of selecting the exact number of frames you want. Cheers, Duade
It sounds terrific! But at $6K, I simply can't afford this camera, and that makes me sad. I've been using Sony cameras for years, and I love them. Thanks for a great review that left me with yearning in my heart. ;)
I have the 7rv and the a9iii I do wish the iii had a bet more rez but the af and recapture make up for it. One thing I find my self doing is thinking I am shooting fast enough ie 2000 sec and 4000sec the iii can shoot a 80,000sec. I am going to try some smaller birds with 10 or 20 k and see what I get. Good video thank you for the info.
Really curious how it holds against the r3 or z9/8
Competition is nice [sport & wildlife only]...I was Nikon APSC, I'm Canon APSC, what will be my next FF HR camera ? Am I aiming for the best of two world, lens wise ? ;)
I'm sure it's great but I don't personally need 120 fps or a lower DR 24mp sensor for a huge some of money. I will invest in better glass. Interesting tech, thanks for uploading.
Hi Duade! Thank you for another wonderful review! Once again I’m really thinking to switch to sony from canon r5, but yet have to wait what canon will have with r1. But at the moment I’m feeling they will loose this round and will not be able to beat sony for wildlife and sports, but we will see.
It is always a see saw with one out doing the other, the R1 and R52 I believe will be great cameras, we will wait and see. Cheers, Duade
Is the camera with pre-capture constantly running recording at 120fps in a circular buffer including IBIS and the focus motor? Doesn't it burn the battery quickly?
120fps is an eye watering amount of photos to go through. I get bothered looking through bursts at 10fps on my old 7dii 😂 Looks an awesome camera though. I would be interested to know Duade how you store all these photos. Do you have some kind of raid hdd system? Im rapidly running out especially when pure raw almost doubles the file size of my raws.
G'day Jonathan, great question, I am pretty ruthless with deleting photos keeping around 5% of photos I take. I then yes have them on a raid system. But I must admit its getting a little tedius deleting so many these days. Cheers, Duade
I'd certainly buy one of these if I had the funds. I wouldn't switch from Canon, just have the A9 iii alongside...
I'm confused about why some lenses aren't compatible with the 120fps. Why does the lens matter? The shutter's not in the lens. Please explain. 🙂
Is there any chance i can buy used camera and lens from you sir for wildlife photography
I love that camera, as a wildlife photographer if I can live with 24mp I could sell my canon set up
Great and detailed review! This camera is not for me though, this will not be a sensible expense for me.
Wow. Just incredible. I'd say canon will put a global shutter in the R3ii eventually, but not for a few years.
What a monster setup. Looks like the tech is at the stage of refinement. Sony appear to do A better job with their implementation of new features. Pre capture and pixel shift come to mind.
I'm looking to upgrade my canon d350 to a mirrorless, I'm looking at the old r6 model but I'm not sure
what seems the easy option for all Sports/wildlife based cameras like this is for the camera manufacturer to fit a M.2 2230 NVME these are small and go in devices like handheld games consoles and small laptops. a branded 1TB drive is under £/$100, when you are dropping £6K+ on a camera it really does not add much to the bill of materials. And with Write speeds above 4000 MB/s it's much faster than a CF Express Type B card, if you need fault tolerance add a single Type B slot and sacrifice some performance.
I tried to make a chart like that for rolling shutter speeds, but mine are quite different to yours. Did you also scour the internet for them like me? :). They're so difficult to find officially stated figures for! I now own a Sony A1 which I am very happy with and probably don't need more, but those speeds are not used when shooting video. At least the A9III actually utilizes the global shutter for video as well. I know you you said your figures are rough, but I am curious about the stated 3ms for mechanical shutter. I don't know of many that can go that high. The Sony A7III's mech is rated at 4ms, but using flash people seem to be stuck at 5ms. The Sony A1's shutter is rated at 2.5ms, but that doesn't work with flash because it's an EFCS only one and thus doesn't count. I know the Nikon D1 and D70 had a 2ms mech shutter, but that seems to be pretty rare, even with CCD cameras.
Lots of excellent engineering, kudos to Sony for so much. This level of accomplishment and overall well-balanced speed makes the commitment to cf-A all the more baffling ... since it has only half the data lanes as cf-B, cf-A will *never* be as fast as the same gen cf-B. It can *only* be half as fast. Ever.
4:48 is there a way to prevent the small squares from showing? It blocks the view of the head and thus we can't see where the bird is HEADING, we can't anticipate the direction to pan. its the ONLY gripe I have with SONY.
I'm trying to keep the current equipment I have and dismiss new cameras, but this is too good. Those new features are game changer.
Duade, how does the AF accuracy and speed compare to the R5 and R6II?
G'day Dave, they are very similar to be honest, in theory the Sony should have more AF calculations with the faster sensor and processor but they are all very good. Cheers, Duade
@@Duade that makes me feel rather comfortable with the R3 :-)
Can you upload a video on batteries? How many do I need and what kind
G'day Jeremy, It depends how often you shoot really, I think two is a minimum but more the better. Having some way to charge your batteries during the day is helplful inside your car etc. Cheers, Duade
Every new toy changes everything, doesn't it!🤔
Out of all the features I hope that Raw pre capture comes to other bodies in the future.
I am currently using 2x SONY A9 III and 1x SONY A1, and I have to admit since I have my A9's, the A1 most of the time stays in my backpack. I am rarely using it and I have actually decided to sell it and stick with my A9 III's until der A1 mk II is coming early next year. For me the only real downsides of the A9 III compared to the A1 is the pixel count, but which is not a show stopper for me and the small buffer in combination with the old CF Express Type A's. I hoped that SONY would implement the compatibility to make use of the next generation CFExpress Type A which are twice as fast, but as it seems that's not the case. So the real bottleneck for me and the only real downer, is the combination of a slightly too small buffer and that next gen. CFExpress is not working with full speed on the A9 III - that's a real bummer. But the rest ist just amazing, so much better than in any other fast camera on the market today. Especially the implementation of pre-capture is just perfect and works flawlessly ....
I do know Canon have made global shutter sensors, but they have some shortcomings compared to their rolling shutter sensors. Specifically, worse dynamic range.
and worse high ISO performance too...the R3 equals the A9III in nearly every aspect...having used the R3 for ~15 months, and shooting a LOT of BIFs, I am yet to see any rolling shutter...not a single image with rolling shutter...