On October 3, 2019 Sony announced the second iteration of their flagship full frame camera – A9II. Looking at the specifications we get the impression that it is just an incremental upgrade over the A9. Or is it?
What is the SAME
- Sensor: 24.2 effective megapixels
- Resolution: 6000x4000px
- ISO Sensitivity: 100 to 51200 (Extended: 50 to 204800)
- Metering Range: from -3 to 20 EV
- Shutter Speed (electronic shutter): up to 20 fps at 24.2 MP
- Internal Recording: UHD 4K (3840 x 2160) XAVC-S at 24p/25p/29.97p (up to 100 Mb/s)
- External Recording: 4:2:2 8-Bit – UHD 4K (3840 x 2160) at 24p/25p/29.97p
- Phase Detection Autofocus Points: 693
- Viewfinder Resolution: 3,686,400 Dot
- Monitor Size: 3″
- Monitor Resolution: 1,440,000 Dots
- Tilting Touchscreen LCD
- Viewfinder Magnification: 0.78x
- Maximum Sync Speed: 1/250 Second
- No GPS
What is NEW or UPDATED
- Improved body design and ergonomics, including deeper grip, buttons and weather sealing
- New Mechanical shutter with dampening for low vibrations
- Aspect Ratio: added 1:1 and 4:3
- Added interval recording
- Shutter Speed (mechanical shutter): up to 10 fps at 24.2 MP
- Contrast Detection Autofocus Points: 425
- Dual Memory Card Slot: SD/SDHC/SDXC, both UHS-II (1xUHS-I and 1xUHS-II on A9)
- Battery Life: Approx. 500 shots (Viewfinder) and 690 shots (LCD monitor) by CIPA standard
- Weight: 678g
- Selectable focus frame color between white and red
- Improved Processing and Speed: new BIONZ X and front-end LSI
- Improved connectivity: 1Gigabit Ethernet port
- Wireless data transfer: added 5GHz band
- Ability to move the frame while the shutter is half-pressed in AF-C mode
- AF tracking when shooting at f/16 in Focus Priority mode
- Option to focus with open aperture just before exposure (for improved performance in low-light conditions)
- Supports the latest Real-time AF Tracking mode
- Real-time Eye AF during video
- Full-sensor readout for sharper images
- Anti-flicker detection
- Shutter Life: 500,000 exposures
- In-body stabilization: up to 5.5 stops
- EVF: 120 fps refresh rate
- USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C connector
- Voice Memos
- Multi Interface Shoe that supports digital audio transmission
- Separate Fn button customization for Stills and Movie settings
- Ability to store camera settings on SD card
With BOLD I marked the features that are appealing to me and I can get real improvement of my workflow… or I just simply want to have. Although we have already seen many of these features in the recently released A7RIV, they were not presenting in the previous A9, so they have to be mentioned here. The lack of Anti-flickering detection for example was one of the reasons I wanted to skip the first generation of A9.
I am going to follow up with another article about the most important features for me of the new A9II. But let’s see what I miss or need to see updated in the A9III (this list may be upgraded in the future and moved to our WISH LIST page).
What do I want to see in v.III
- Newer sensor – Sony has already patented 30Mpx stacked BSI sensor, which could be a good replacement of the current 24Mpx one.
- Improved Menu system
- Lit buttons
- Adding 4k 60p video
What do you like to see in the future A9III or in a firmware update for the A9II?