If you are just another photography enthusiast, you probably don’t need the new Sony a9 (ILCE-9) Full-frame Interchangeable Lens Camera. However, if you are pro photographer who make a living out of capturing beautiful images, then the a9 is what you want in your arsenal. Billed as the world’s first full-frame stacked CMOS sensor, this 24.2MP resolution digital camera promised unmatched speed, versatility and usability. Sony claims that the a9 offers capabilities not possible even a modern DSLR and that, it said, includes high-speed, blackout-free continuous shooting at up to 20fps, a maximum shutter speed of up to 1/32,000 second, and 693 point focal plane phase detection AF points with 60 AF/AE tracking calculations per second.
And then there are pro shooters must-haves like Exmor RS image sensor (naturally) paired to BIONZ X processor, a high-luminance Quad-VGA OLED Tru-Finder (the highest resolution Sony has to offer to date), 5-axis in-body image stabilization with a 5.0 step shutter speed advantage, Ethernet port for file transfer, Dual SD card slots (including one for UHS-II), and extended battery life that’s 2.2x the capacity of previous Sony full-frame models. Being on the top of the food chain, it is naturally, 4K capable and it does it across the full with of the full-frame image sensor to boot.
In addition, it is totally capable of recording in FHD at a cool 120fps at up to 100 Mbps, which will allow the footage to be edited into 4x or 5x slow motion video files. Without questioning Sony’s claims and not being a real pro photographer ourselves, we’d say that’s one hack of a digital camera money can buy. But only, like I said, if you make a living our of shooting pictures because $4,500 (or there about) is not a sticker regular photography enthusiasts can swallow. Look out the Sony a9 (ILCE-9) Full-frame Interchangeable Lens Camera with a puffy bank account this May.
Images: Sony.
