The Sony A9III Review: Real World Testing in Alaska
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 มิ.ย. 2024
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The Sony A9III is a full frame global shutter power house cinema camera with insane performance, but how does the dynamic range and lowlight hold up?
To review the Sony A9III I took it out into Alaska to film and photograph birds and wildlife, helicopters and heli skiing, and much more. Testing the new 120 photo per second shooting speeds, the 4k 120fps slow motion, the AI Autofocus system and the 8 stops of dynamic active stabilization for incredible handheld shots. This camera is easily one of the fastest hybrid cameras on the market. Is the Sony A9III a cinema camera, maybe can it film incredible shots and take amazing photos? How does the A9III handle low light and high iso? Let's put the Sony A9III to the ultimate test in every way we can in the real world alaskan wilderness and see how it performs.
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00:00 Intro
00:41 Photo Quality
01:07 120 Photos per Second examples
02:08 AI Auto Focus
02:37 8 Stops of Stabilization
02:54 Photo Examples
03:26 Global Shutter Examples
04:00 Dynamic Range Examples
04:44 High ISO Noise Examples
05:08 Video Quality
05:30 4k 120fps Slow Motion
06:13 Testing Low Light video and high ISO
06:40 Zv-e1/A7sIII ISO Comparison
07:16 A9III High ISO Low Light Performance
08:19 Dynamic Active Stabilization in Video Modes
08:50 AI Auto Focus testing
10:05 Ergonomics and New Body Design
10:30 The 2 best user experience features
11:24 Battery life
12:01 Pricing: Is the Sony A9III worth it?
12:30 Will this replace my Sony A1?
13:36 Outro - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
Thanks to @JevenDovey for bringing the A9II up to Alaska and for braving the cold and dark to test this thing out!
What do you think of the A9III. It's definitely not the camera for everyone but for professionals who cannot afford to miss a shot I think it's just about the perfect camera!
Absolutely incredible!!!! I don’t know what else to say. It’s a beast of a camera, I hope to update my camera soon from the A6600… Keep it coming Jake thank you!!
I also would like to see much improved high ISO noise for our dark season and the ability to talk to the camera to change settings to spare my fingers from becoming so numb I can't feel what I'm pressing. I'll give $6k away for that. Great review.
awesome! These are probably the best photos I’ve seen in with such a high quality camera, you’re great at this!
Thanks so much 😊
Very objective, in-depth and well-produced, thank you!
You're very welcome!
Learned a lot. Thanks!
Glad to hear it!
Great review Jake, congrats on 100K!
Thanks a ton!
You put it through its paces. 120fps 👍 the dynamic range looked good.
Nice video Jake.
Thanks Bob! Pretty cool camera for sure
Great review on the Sony A9III, Jake! Wow, the Global shutter is quite amazing, really see it with the helicopter blades spinning!
The detail on the eagles was cool! And yes, the dynamic range I thought impressive too!
Thanks Mark! I agree the dynamic range was better than I expected
Excellent review! Beautiful place too...
Thanks
Thank you, Jake..GREAT review!!
Thanks
I am looking forward to the comparison to the A1. Are you ok going from 50 to 24 mpxl? THank you again. Want a beautiful location you were at@@JakeSloan
I am for the most part, while I do re-crop in post I usually don't do anything super drastic so 24 will be fine for me
THANK YOU for taking the time to reply..VERY APPRECIATED!@@JakeSloan
Great review. For cold weather shooting I keep a pair of fingerless gloves with my camera. I like the newer style with a finger tip cover that turns them into a mitten. The cover folds over the the top of the hand with a Velcro tab to hold the cover.
that's exactly why I started using gloves from Vallerret, they are fantastic for being able to flip a finger tip or thumb off make the change you need and then quickly put it back on
Thanks a lot for your great and realistic review. As a sports and concert photographer, using the A1 and A9, it gave me good impression about the DR and noise capabilities of the A9III. Living in Switzerland, l can also relate to your photography and filming under harsh conditions in Alaska.
I’m glad to hear it was helpful! I don’t do any concert stuff but I can attest to the A9III working well in the cold and harsh weather lol.
Thank you, Jake, for your in-depth review of the new Sony A9III. Wow, this is one incredible camera. This is an excellent camera for someone like you and Jeven, whose work depends on shooting that right shot every time. But, as you stated, this is different from the camera for the everyday hobbyist. Thanks again!
Absolutely spot on Steve. Thanks for the kind words
Sooo you don't need the a1 but you need the a93 ok? Cause the only thing the a93 has over the a1 is 120 fps. I've been shooting sport and wildlife for 50 starting with film never once did I wake up from my sleep an say I need to shoot 120 fps are I can't get that eagle gliding
side note: I love the way you use the pd tripod as a monopod at 4:00, a testament to it's sturdiness and a great tip people should know before considering a separate monopod to any tripod
Agreed!!
Great video with @JevenDovey. What size CF A card did you use on this project?
Thank you. We were both using 1tb cf express A cards. Mine is from Angelbird and his was a Sony one
I preordered the A9iii on day one. I haven't seen anything to change my mind. I'm primarily a sports shooter. For everything else, I'm keeping my A1.
Agreed. Together they are incredible
Thank you, Jake, for the balanced review. I appreciated all your observations based on real life situations you used the A9III in including the low light performance, battery life, and its AF performance. The comparison to the A1 will also be helpful as suggested in the video as the potential buyers of this camera will be those already in possession of the A1.
I agree and because I'm in the same boat I need the comparison too lol
@@JakeSloan I'm slightly in a worse situation than you, Jake. I use the A9II. I am still happy with it for high speed stills in general but need a better video capabilities. The A1 lacks the up-to-date video AF and subject tracking, so the A9III sounds like a sensible upgrade path but with lots of negative impression on DR and high ISO noise, I'm not convinced this is the one. Part of me thinks that I should get the A7sIII purely for video but again, it lacks bird tracking in video. Although I truly admire Sony for pushing the technology envelope all the time, but as one user, I'm kind of left in limbo as there doesn't seem to be all-in-one body that suits all my needs.
I would wait on the A7sIII, chances are we will get an updated version of that this year and who knows what sort of features Sony will pack into it
That's so true, Jake. It's a bit like Mazda where products get constantly updated consecutively, so one wouldn't know when to pull the trigger and buy one for fear of being usurped immediately! 😆😆 @@JakeSloan
Jeez, what an awesome, awesome camera 🤤
agreed!!
Great camera and excellent video show casing it. I will keep my outdated A1 😅.
Good choice lol. Still an amazing camera.
I pre-ordered the A9-III last year. Delivery should be at the beginning of February
Fantastic! I’m hoping to get mine around then as well
Nice I envy you man...I can't afford it. Hoping the A9 III tech will transfer to the next A7 iterations that I might be able to afford...I just have my A7 III as workhorse.
Thanks for the great videos!
I'm shooting videos in northern Sweden, actually at the Arctic Circle, so it's lots of low-light filming. Can you tell us more about this software that works in post-production with the noise? Maybe you get a bad weather day and want to record indoors one day...
;-)
/ Matti in Jokkmokk
hahahah you know the pain of working in the far north! I will try and do a video about neat video and topaz de noise when I don't want to go outside
Comprehensive hands on. There are 2 other areas where this camera excels and is a game changer: 1) indoor photography (no banding), ex: at concerts, ballet, or just normal events, and 2) flash. But other people will no doubt be covering those areas.
Definitely those will be covered more (and better) by people who do more of that type of work
Thanks for this review. For a pro sports shooter (mostly field sports at night) looking to jump to Sony, would you recommend this or the A1? I’m not too concerned about the 120fps rate but more about dynamic range, auto focus, ISO/noise.
I would definitely look at the A1 then, it does have a fair bit better low light performance and dynamic range
Great review Jake! The Global Shutter offers a lot for my needs as a wedding and event photographer. I am mostly using E-shutter now and rarely go to M-shutter unless I have no choice. I do use M-shutter for flash photography but its only like 15% of my workflow. The dynamic range isn't a huge problem with me as I am used to shooting between iso 500 - 2000 at F/2.8. Venues tend to have poor lighting so I'm always turning up that ISO. Even though I won't be getting an A9iii since its out of my budget, I am looking forward to Sony bringing their GS to the other cameras like the future A7RVI, A7V, FX3-ii and so on. Hopefully one day i can get my hands on an a9iii just so i can play with it. Thanks Jake!
The global shutter future is exciting especially for someone like you who probably deals with light flicker all the time in venues!
Would you recommend this for Wildlife and Landscape ? I normally shoot photos and low light and I am currently Canon R5 user but this camera is tempting to switch to sony but I have two concerns...Iso performance for Photos and bit low megapixel as I do crop . Thanks for the video.
for wildlife yes but not so much for landscapes, I'd look at the A7rV for that or the A1 even for both wildlife and landscapes
You must rate as one of the highest quality camera reviewers out there. With the most ridiculous low numbers. Is there really a magical You Tube algorithm? 🎉 I have a theory. 🎉 Your audience may be older and more discerning. Spending money wisely. Less prone to an impulse buy. 🎉 Its the only thing i can come up with. Im sure youre not losing sleep, but as someone who deleted their 33,000 subscriber channel sick to death of You Tube whackiness....your work is appreciated and looked forward too.
Thank you so much for the kind words! It definitely gets frustrating at times but I love doing what I do and showing it to others so I don’t put too much weight (or self worth) on how my videos do. It’s probably what has kept me sane lol
In the video from 2:00 to about 2:10, the eagle sometimes has a bright halo, like from oversharpening, or using a large-radius unsharp mask. My old-timey Nikon D60 would produce this on a dark subject with a bright (sky) background when Nikon's "Active D-Lighting" was on high. This is a series of photos, right? Is this something inherent in the camera, a setting, or a result of post-processing?
Quite a good review.
it was likely due to some of the settings we had going at the time Sony has a setting that I usually turn off but didn't at the time of this review called dynamic range optimizer.
Hi Jake. In your opinion, do you believe that DJI will be releasing a new version of the Air3 anytime soon, or do you think that is unlikely?
considering they just released the Air 3 I doubt it but with DJI who knows lol
hi Jake, can I warmly suggest you wait before upgrading to see if the A1 firmware upgrade in March is of use to you. My understanding it's going to be a lot more than they announced. Also, like you I have the A1 and disappointed lesser cameras have better software features. What I do like this is shooting in 8k because I can reframe and crop x4 and still get 4K' ish. Like you tempted but I'll wait to see.
Oh I am definitely waiting to see what that firmware update holds! That is one thing I would miss from the A1 is the ability to crop and reframe in both video and photo. The A1 has so much resolution to work with.
@@JakeSloan give me a videos. I also think you have a far stronger user case than I do. :-)
Were you getting distorted helicopter blades with the a1?
the main rotor blades not too much since they spin at a relatively slow RPM the tail rotors yes, but especially on panning shots (like with the eagles) the sign posts and building edges would have been warped
Didn't they mention that the playback on 60/120 FPS photos would be a video basically or is that just manually scrolling through them that produces that?
You can setup a playback speed etc
I'm planning on getting the A9III for my wildlife photography. I want pre-shot buffering. When the subject moves, I want to capture that. With my current A9, it's hit the shutter button and hope I got something. But it will only capture the moment after movement...and it doesn't have AI to lock on, so it will also lose the subject. Basically...the subject needs to move parallel to the original plane of focus. If it moves closer or farther away, it will be out of focus quickly. I shoot in good light, so that is not an issue. In an attempt to get something close to in-focus, I shoot with high apertures such as f/8 or even f/11. When I'm shooting hummingbirds, the wings will distort wildly with my other cameras. Only the A9 is close to okay. I generally am close enough not to need cropping. That is why I have not been interested enough in the A1 to cover the cost.
You don't mention flash. I've done some in the past with high speed sync. I'm interested in hauling out my flashes and seeing how they do at say 1/8000 without the need for HSS. I don't see a need for 1/80k shutter speed, so I'm not concerned with how well my flashes would work with that. However, I am interested in finding out which standard hot shoe flash puts out the most light at 1/8k shutter. My understanding is some flashes have a shorter more intense burst, while others put out a longer, less intense burst. I want a powerful burst within the 1/8k shutter time limit. What's best for that? Hoping someone will test a bunch of flashes and let us all know.
yeah I didn't mention flash because I never shoot with flashes, so I can't give good informed information in that regard. I can say you will see a massive improvement in the autofocus and the pre-capture is incredibly useful for wildlife!
If you have a1 sitting there with a93 and headed to shoot eagles which one do you pick up?
depends on how long of a lens I have 😂. If I had a good 600mm then the a9III because the AF is so good. if I only had a 200 or so probably the A1 to give me more room to crop. I may end up keep the A1 and adding the A9III to my kit instead of selling the A1 but we will see
7:09 Super ZV-E1 great. This is the horizontal of emotional scene.
yup
Is the new A9 ||| better or not i am not sure after watching this video but i am very mich sure that SONY ZV E10 is a very very good camera considering the fact that you compare it to A9 ||| and considering the price difference between those 2 so for 90% of the people it will be good to go
it was compared to the ZV-E1 not the E10 which are very different cameras but yet for most people they would not need the A9III
Super interesting, i agree at super high ISOs the IQ actually looks better on the a9iii. Wonder if thats a silver lining of global shutters?
could be... I was certainly surprised by it
I find it strange that Sony cannot put in internal storage just as Hasselblad has on their H2D camera? That should fix most buffer issues you would run into
That is something I would love to see in future cameras. As it is with the current buffer being able to store about 230-240 raw photos means there is about 6.5gb of buffer storage (if I did my math right lol)
Just need support for CFE-a x4. That doubles the speed.
that would be amazing!!
Jake, were you taking photos or 120p Videos?
The eagles were all photos. Some of the helicopter stuff was photos but most was 120 video. I put a title in the lower left corner with the settings on almost all the shots I think
@@JakeSloan i do not shoot wildlife. But, I now wonder whether stills from 4K 120p A9 III is good enough for up to 8x10 prints. Love to hear your thinking. Thanks again.
I would probably not print them out that big, On twitter today I posted some frame grabs from the video of the A9III if you want to see for yourself
Fantastic video. I can’t wait to add this to my portfolio with A1, A7R5, & Inspire 3
How did the 300 f2.8 fare with a 2x teleconverter on?
almost all the eagle shots were shot with the 300 and 2x converter and it did amazing, almost no difference in hit/miss rate. That seems crazy because other lenses I have used (100-400 or 200-600) with the 2x converter definitely suffer a bit when it comes to focus
@@JakeSloan Thats great to hear! Was looking to pick up the 300 with a9iii. It seems to be such a good combo for sports/wildlife. Anyway great video! Was looking for a hype-free review of this camera with some dynamic range & low light testing. Subbed!
@@JakeSloan A 300 + 2x vs 200-600 review would be very interesting. The 300 + 2x sounds very tempting, but is it that much better that the premium price could be defended. Sony definitely needs something in between the super expensive 400 2.8/600 4 and the 200-600
Thanks @russelsohwj I appreciate that!!
agreed, the 300 f2.8 seems to fit that at 6,000 vs 12,000 and with the 2x you are at f5.6 which is pretty decent still!
JAKE THE GOAT
Thank you!
10 years+ from I'll get one if it's affordable by then.
probably will have robot AI cameras that do everything for us by then 😂
Remember my friend the sony a1 and a9iii still does well in low light , but because the a7siii does so much better i feel the low light performance from every other camera is going to seem like a let down.
true, the A1 definitely does a little better than the A9III but it was surprising how well the A9III handles noise, did you watch the low light part of the video?
@@JakeSloan yes
Stills: For most of the shots shown I wouldn't have even pressed the shutter (bird in flight, from behind).
120 fps is nice to have, but not really deciding for daily use. IQ is worse. Noise and dynamic range is worse.
A game changer nevertheless. Superior AF.
A really poor choice and an important design error: cf express type A. Type B is superior and far cheaper.
those were the shots I was able to get in the 2.5hours of daylight we had for that day. Definitely not what I was hoping for. The Autofocus is ridiculously fast and accurate. CF Express a vs CF Express B: it makes sense from Sony's POV, they created A to sell cards lol
There is always that one hater that comes in to complain about everything. Lumberjack3008 is this one hater that always have something to complain about. 5 years from now, GS is going to dominate the Mirrorless market so cannot wait for Sony to prove you haters wrong again over and over and over.
Selling your A1?
not sure yet lol, I am working on a direct comparison between the A1 and A9III now!
@@JakeSloan Please let me know if you decide to sell it. I’m thinking about upgrading our A7iv. We volunteer covering youth sports under Ak Storm on FB and Ig.
Probably because he is a professional?
possibly
6 large for this jawn?!!!??! Impressive camera, but hard pass, my man.
as I say in the video it's definitely not the right camera for everyone