Shooting With Sony's Killer A9 Almost Feels Like Cheating. If you’ve ever wondered how a photographer managed to capture the exact moment of an incredible end zone reception or the instant a bird takes flight, the answer, in part, is that the photographer’s camera also captured the garbage moments directly before and after that golden frame, with a very expensive camera rattling off photos at tommy gun speeds. For these professional sports and nature photographers there are two widely accepted options: The tippy top cameras from Canon and Nikon, with their big bulky bodies, incredible power, and the most advanced image sensors. Well, Sony finally has an answer to the incumbents in its A9. Not only is this full- frame, mirrorless camera smaller, lighter, and cheaper than the Nikon and Canon competition, it absolutely blows their doors off when it comes to speed. What is it? The fastest mirrorless camera Sony's made yet.
Like. So fast you'll forget about Nikon and Canon. No Like. That price means this is a pro camera.
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For those not entirely up on the high- end camera scene these days, here’s a quick catch- up. In an arena that has been dominated by Canon and Nikon since pretty much forever, Sony’s star has been on the rise. It had been making solid mirrorless cameras for a while, but when its A7 series came out a few years ago, that’s when professionals really started to take notice.
These were compact mirrorless cameras with sharp electronic viewfinders good enough to rival the optical eyepieces in DSLRs. They also had very sensitive full- frame image sensors that could capture beautiful photos.
When we say full- frame, what we meanis a 3. Basically, the bigger the sensor, the more light it can gather. But while the A7 models and their successors could get professional results, they didn’t quite have the power the most demanding photographers require. The A9 changes that. It’s like the A7’s track- star big brother—an undeniably pro- level shooter with a $4,5.
The first thing to know is that the A9 is real small. At roughly 4 inches by 5 inches by 2.
A9 is only slightly bulkier than Sony’s very svelte A7 series cameras. Canon’s high- end sports shooter, the 1.
D X Mark II is 6. Hell, even Canon’s mid- range professional DSLR, the 5. D Mark IV is substantially bigger and heavier than the A9, and the same can be said of Nikon’s entries. It’s amazing how much Sony has crammed into that little frame. And of course, this thing is absurdly fast. It’s capable of firing off full- resolution 2.
JPEGs at a blistering 2. It sounds like a Gatling gun, unless you turn the sound off, in which case it is literally silent thanks to the electronic shutter (more on that in a second).
Even when shooting in RAW + JPEG mode, I was able to fire off an 8 second burst at 1. The A9 is equipped with a wide autofocus system that covers more than 9. It is lightning fast and extremely accurate, even when shooting at its blistering top speeds.
I tested it with running dogs and with people on a zip- line flying right at me. Even at a shallow depth- of- field (f/2. Nothing else on the market comes close to this kind of performance. It’s bananas. But let me try to explain what it’s like to shoot with this camera. Not to get hyperbolic here, but it almost feels like you can’t miss.
An example: I was walking by a creek with the camera dangling off my neck, powered off. I saw a golden retriever emerge from the water and start to shake itself off.
It has already started shaking before I’d hit the power button to turn the camera back on, and yet I was still able to fire off a burst of 1. My A7. S (which is by no means slow) wouldn’t have even gotten a single shot off in that time.
Using the A9 almost feels like cheating. I loved shooting long- exposures with it, too. Unfortunately, there was always too much moon and too much haze for me to try a nice, clear shot of the Milky Way, but I’m confident it would excel there. I did get a handful of shots while driving down Highway 5.
Nevada (the so- called “Loneliest Road In America”) that I was really happy with. The above shot was a single exposure taken with the electronic shutter around midnight. I was side- lit by the moon and backlit by an oncoming truck (relax, it was very far away). It was a 2. 0 second exposure at ISO 8.
Obviously, I did plenty of tweaking in Lightroom, but I use this to show you just how much dynamic range is captured in the RAW photos. In terms of low- light I find myself shocked to say it’s nearly as good as the Sony A7. S (which has been my main camera for the last two years). The low- light focused A7.
S is a hair brighter, but noise levels are nearly identical, and the A9 has twice as many megapixels to play with (2. MP vs 1. 2MP). Sony’s image sensor does a great job of sucking up any available light even when you turn up the sensitivity that would ordinarily turn light into garbage. At ISO 6,4. 00 there is almost no noise at all. Even ISO 2. 5,6. 00 is extremely usable, though you’ll probably want to use some noise reduction in Lightroom.
ISO 5. 1,2. 00 could maybe do in a pinch, but at that point things are starting to get fairly chunky. ISO 1. 02,4. 00 isn’t the worst thing I’ve ever seen, but you’re better off avoiding it unless you’ve got a rare shot at Sasquatch or something. The A9 has mechanical and electric shutter options. You can manually select either, but I’d recommend leaving it in auto. When shooting a single shot or a low- speed burst (5 fps maximum) it will default to mechanical shutter, which gives you a bit more depth in your RAW images (1.
You’ll also want to use the mechanical shutter if you’re using an external flash (the A9 doesn’t have one built in). If you’re shooting medium or high speed bursts, the camera switches over to electronic shutter, which is also better for fast moving objects. When using the electronic shutter you can also shoot completely silently, which is almost eerie, but awesome. The A9 does a solid job with video. It can shoot 4. K at speeds of up to 3. I will say, my least favorite thing about the camera’s design is that Sony put the video start/stop record button right next to the viewfinder.
I mean, it’s practically touching it. If you use your left eye in the viewfinder (as I was taught to do) your nose will absolutely, 1.
It’s just about the worst imaginable place for that very important button to be. There are some other annoyances, too. The A9 has two SD card slots, which is great, except for some reason only one of those slots supports UHS- II SD cards (i. The other one is stuck at UHS- I. Other grievances?
Sony’s menu system is still extremely intimidating, to say the least. The menu is a whopping thirty- six (3. Also, after shooting about 1. K 2. 4fps video spread out over 4.
I noticed that I was getting an overheating warning on the screen. That’s not good. It still allowed me to snap photos, but I’m not sure what would have happened if I kept pushing it. Other users have been complaining about this issue, and it’s definitely something Sony needs to address.
Update: Sony claims this issue has been fixed in a firmware update, though we have already returned our review unit, and were not able to test it for ourselves.)So, all that being said, should you buy it? Well, do you have the need? The need for speed? If so, then you’re not going to find a faster camera out there.
The A9 costs $4,5. While that’s cheaper than the Canon 1. DX or the Nikon D5, unless you really, really need to be able to shoot fast- moving objects, then you’re probably better off with one of Sony’s A7 series cameras (get the mark II versions). These are also full- frame, mirrorless cameras that take excellent pics, they just aren’t as fast.
But if you’re a budding sports photographer and you aren’t already heavily invested in glass from another manufacturer, the Sony A9 is incredible in so many ways. I had so much fun walking around with this little camera (and the G- lenses… oh, the G- lenses) that represented about ten grand worth of the most advanced photographic equipment that I totally cannot afford. My old A7. S is feeling so slow now. Siiiigh…README: Unbelievable speed both in shooting and in focus. No blackouts between shots for continuous subject tracking.
Pretty ‘spensive and probably overkill for non- professionals. Great for low- light and fast- moving subjects. Some design annoyances. Correction: The original version of this review stated that the A9 does not ship with an external battery charger. It does. We regret the error.
Here's The Full 1. Page Anti- Diversity Screed Circulating Internally at Google [Updated]Update 8/5/1. ET: Google’s new Vice President of Diversity, Integrity & Governance Danielle Brown has issued her own memo to Google employees in response to the now- viral memo, “Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber.” Brown’s statement, obtained by Motherboard, can be found in full at the end of this article. A software engineer’s 1. Google’s diversity initiatives is going viral inside the company, being shared on an internal meme network and Google+.
The document’s existence was first reported by Motherboard, and Gizmodo has obtained it in full. In the memo, which is the personal opinion of a male Google employee and is titled “Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber,” the author argues that women are underrepresented in tech not because they face bias and discrimination in the workplace, but because of inherent psychological differences between men and women.
We need to stop assuming that gender gaps imply sexism,” he writes, going on to argue that Google’s educational programs for young women may be misguided. The post comes as Google battles a wage discrimination investigation by the US Department of Labor, which has found that Google routinely pays women less than men in comparable roles. Gizmodo has reached out to Google for comment on the memo and how the company is addressing employee concerns regarding its content. We will update this article if we hear back. The text of the post is reproduced in full below, with some minor formatting modifications. Two charts and several hyperlinks are also omitted. Reply to public response and misrepresentation.
I value diversity and inclusion, am not denying that sexism exists, and don’t endorse using stereotypes. When addressing the gap in representation in the population, we need to look at population level differences in distributions. If we can’t have an honest discussion about this, then we can never truly solve the problem.
Psychological safety is built on mutual respect and acceptance, but unfortunately our culture of shaming and misrepresentation is disrespectful and unaccepting of anyone outside its echo chamber. Despite what the public response seems to have been, I’ve gotten many personal messages from fellow Googlers expressing their gratitude for bringing up these very important issues which they agree with but would never have the courage to say or defend because of our shaming culture and the possibility of being fired. This needs to change. TL: DRGoogle’s political bias has equated the freedom from offense with psychological safety, but shaming into silence is the antithesis of psychological safety.
This silencing has created an ideological echo chamber where some ideas are too sacred to be honestly discussed. The lack of discussion fosters the most extreme and authoritarian elements of this ideology. Extreme: all disparities in representation are due to oppression. Authoritarian: we should discriminate to correct for this oppression. Differences in distributions of traits between men and women may in part explain why we don’t have 5. Discrimination to reach equal representation is unfair, divisive, and bad for business.
Background [1]People generally have good intentions, but we all have biases which are invisible to us. Thankfully, open and honest discussion with those who disagree can highlight our blind spots and help us grow, which is why I wrote this document.[2] Google has several biases and honest discussion about these biases is being silenced by the dominant ideology. What follows is by no means the complete story, but it’s a perspective that desperately needs to be told at Google. Google’s biases. At Google, we talk so much about unconscious bias as it applies to race and gender, but we rarely discuss our moral biases. Political orientation is actually a result of deep moral preferences and thus biases.
Considering that the overwhelming majority of the social sciences, media, and Google lean left, we should critically examine these prejudices. Left Biases. Compassion for the weak. Disparities are due to injustices. Humans are inherently cooperative. Change is good (unstable) Open.
Idealist. Right Biases. Respect for the strong/authority. Disparities are natural and just. Humans are inherently competitive. Change is dangerous (stable)Closed. Pragmatic. Neither side is 1. A company too far to the right may be slow to react, overly hierarchical, and untrusting of others.
In contrast, a company too far to the left will constantly be changing (deprecating much loved services), over diversify its interests (ignoring or being ashamed of its core business), and overly trust its employees and competitors. Only facts and reason can shed light on these biases, but when it comes to diversity and inclusion, Google’s left bias has created a politically correct monoculture that maintains its hold by shaming dissenters into silence.
This silence removes any checks against encroaching extremist and authoritarian policies. For the rest of this document, I’ll concentrate on the extreme stance that all differences in outcome are due to differential treatment and the authoritarian element that’s required to actually discriminate to create equal representation. Possible non- bias causes of the gender gap in tech [3]At Google, we’re regularly told that implicit (unconscious) and explicit biases are holding women back in tech and leadership. Of course, men and women experience bias, tech, and the workplace differently and we should be cognizant of this, but it’s far from the whole story.
On average, men and women biologically differ in many ways. These differences aren’t just socially constructed because: They’re universal across human cultures.
They often have clear biological causes and links to prenatal testosterone. Biological males that were castrated at birth and raised as females often still identify and act like males. The underlying traits are highly heritable. They’re exactly what we would predict from an evolutionary psychology perspective.
Note, I’m not saying that all men differ from women in the following ways or that these differences are “just.” I’m simply stating that the distribution of preferences and abilities of men and women differ in part due to biological causes and that these differences may explain why we don’t see equal representation of women in tech and leadership. Many of these differences are small and there’s significant overlap between men and women, so you can’t say anything about an individual given these population level distributions.
Personality differences. Women, on average, have more: Openness directed towards feelings and aesthetics rather than ideas. Women generally also have a stronger interest in people rather than things, relative to men (also interpreted as empathizing vs.
These two differences in part explain why women relatively prefer jobs in social or artistic areas. More men may like coding because it requires systemizing and even within SWEs, comparatively more women work on front end, which deals with both people and aesthetics. Extraversion expressed as gregariousness rather than assertiveness.
Also, higher agreeableness. This leads to women generally having a harder time negotiating salary, asking for raises, speaking up, and leading. Note that these are just average differences and there’s overlap between men and women, but this is seen solely as a women’s issue.
This leads to exclusory programs like Stretch and swaths of men without support. Neuroticism (higher anxiety, lower stress tolerance). This may contribute to the higher levels of anxiety women report on Googlegeist and to the lower number of women in high stress jobs. Note that contrary to what a social constructionist would argue, research suggests that “greater nation- level gender equality leads to psychological dissimilarity in men’s and women’s personality traits.” Because as “society becomes more prosperous and more egalitarian, innate dispositional differences between men and women have more space to develop and the gap that exists between men and women in their personality becomes wider.” We need to stop assuming that gender gaps imply sexism. Men’s higher drive for status. We always ask why we don’t see women in top leadership positions, but we never ask why we see so many men in these jobs. These positions often require long, stressful hours that may not be worth it if you want a balanced and fulfilling life.