Sony | Fixation

Jonny Helm Review June 1, 2017October 3, 2023

Bob Martin tests the Sony A9

Bob Martin is a multi-award winning sports photographer specialising in shooting sports and action pictures for advertising, corporate and editorial clients.

During a career spanning thirty years, Bob has photographed every major sporting event; from the last fifteen Summer and Winter Olympics, to Elephant Polo and Horse Racing on ice. His work has taken him to the farthest corners of the world and his photographs have been published in numerous publications including Sports Illustrated, Time, Newsweek, Life Magazine, Stern, Paris Match, Bunte, L’Équipe, The Sunday Times and the New York Times to mention a few.

During the London 2012 Olympics he was appointed as Photo Chief. He was a consultant on photographic issues to the Rio 2016 Olympic organising committee and is currently consulting for the IOC looking at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.

Bob’s photography has been recognised by more than 60 national and international awards.

He is a three times winner of the prestigious British Sports Photographer of the Year also having won the World Press Photo Sports Picture in 2005. In 2017 Bob was awarded the coveted “Sports Photojournalist of the Year” in the NPPA Best of Photojournalism Awards in the USA.

In 2016 Bob published a book of his Photography “1-1000th” which won the Sportel International Sports Book Award and also the Illustrated Book of the Year in the UK Cross Sports Book Awards.

Bob is Director of Photography and a co-founder of the Silverhub Media agency.

Bob had the opportunity to test A9, along with a set of G Master lenses, including the new 16-35mm and 100-400mm.

Sony ILCE-9 + FE 100-400mm ƒ/4.5-5.6 GM OSS | © Bob Martin

You’re usually a Nikon user. What made you want to try the A9?

The silent shutter was a big deciding factor in me trying the camera. With my sports photography, being able to shoot unnoticed was a huge advantage, especially in situations like golf tournaments. Funnily enough though, when shooting portraits, I found that the lack of shutter noise caused a problem with some subjects; they didn’t know if I’d taken the shot and were unsure if they needed to try another pose! It’s easy enough to turn the sound back on, so this was soon remedied.

Sony ILCE-9 + FE 70-200mm ƒ/2.8 GM OSS w/ 1.4x Teleconverter | © Bob Martin

Are there any particular features of the A9 that stood out as beneficial

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting to like the electronic viewfinder as much as I did. Being able to preview the shot, especially in mixed lighting conditions was a big bonus and the detail through the finder is unbelievable. As I mentioned before, the silent shutter is amazing, especially when you can fire off 20 fps without anyone realising. I also liked the weight of the camera – much lighter than my Nikons, although I found the camera a bit front heavy when using longer lenses. Once I put the battery grip on, the balance improved dramatically.

Sony ILCE-9 + FE 24-70mm ƒ/2.8 GM | © Bob Martin

Was there anything you particularly didn’t like about the camera?

I was very pleased too see Sony had included an ethernet port on the A9, but at present you can’t shoot and send files at the same time. Hopefully something that can be rectified with a firmware update?

How did the Sony lenses stack up against your Nikkors?

The G Master lens series are as good as they get. I couldn’t really see any difference between these and my Nikon glass.

Sony ILCE-9 + FE 85mm ƒ/1.4 GM | © Bob Martin

Do you think this camera is a game changer for sports photographers?

Definitely. The ability to shoot quickly and silently, especially in short lens situations offers a massive advantage.

Sony ILCE-9 + FE 16-35mm ƒ/2.8 GM | © Bob Martin

You’ve been a customer and friend of Fixation’s for a long time. How much do you rely on us for your work?

Fixation is the only camera dealer in London as far as I am concerned. The level of professionalism in the sales people is unique and the combination of Sales or Repair gives me a one stop shop.

Sony ILCE-9 + FE 24-70mm ƒ/2.8 GM | NB. This shot was taken through glass | © Bob Martin

Bob was speaking to Tim Stavrinou. You can see more of Bob’s work on his website www.bobmartin.com and follow him on Instagram @bubblesontour

Jonny Helm Review June 1, 2017October 4, 2023

Jack Terry tests the Sony A9

Fixation ambassador Jack Terry is a successful lifestyle and advertising photographer and works with high profile brands such as Audi, Nintendo and Lenovo. Despite his busy workload, Jack shoots a lot of personal projects – to try new concepts and explore ideas that he’ll incorporate into his commercial work.

When Sony announced the A9 earlier this year, we approached Jack and asked him to try the camera alongside his usual Canons. As luck would have it, he was planning to shoot a couple of athletes for his latest fitness portfolio – something the A9 would be perfect for.

Using a new camera – let alone a new camera system – can be a daunting task, trying to find familiar settings and customising the camera so Jack had the camera for a couple of days before the shoot.

Apart from the obvious differences between the A9 and your usual Canons, how easy was it to get to grips with the Sony?

“To be honest, within 10 minutes of handling the A9, I felt pretty comfortable with the camera. A lot of the controls I’m used to such back button focus and command dials were in a similar place to my Canon Cameras, so it didn’t feel too different to use. I spent some time going through the various AF settings, as I was planning on shooting a couple of sprinters, and the menus were fairly self-explanatory.”

Armed with a G Master 70-200mm ƒ/2.8 and a Zeiss ZA 24-70mm ƒ/4, but never having shot on a Sony before, Jack wasn’t sure how the lenses would stack up against his L Series glass.

“The first shot I set up was a runner sprinting alongside a plain wall” explains Jack, “and being familiar with Canon, I tested the shot with a 1DX Mk II first.

“Reviewing the images in Capture One, I noticed the focus kept slipping to the wall, so I thought it would be a good time to test the tracking focus of the Sony”.

“When I was happy we had the first shot, I reviewed both sets of images side by side and was amazed to see that every single shot on the Sony was pin sharp. Even at 20fps, the AF had stayed on the subject and not once drifted. Reviewing frames shot at 20fps is crazy, its like watching a video then pausing when you get to the frame you like.

I switched to the 24-70mm Zeiss and had both runners sprint along the wall, and again, once the focus locked it didn’t shift.”

Not having used a mirrorless camera before, how did you find the EVF?

“I loved it! I often shoot outdoors on location and it’s generally difficult to review images in any great detail unless I’m tethered to my MacBook Pro. On fast moving shoots with multiple locations, to be able to review images in the viewfinder as they appear on a computer was a massive plus. I got so used to using it I even tried doing it on the 1D X by accident! Being able to go through menus when the sun is out was really helpful too.”

How did you feel the Sony glass compared to your Canon lenses in terms of sharpness?

“I honestly couldn’t see any difference between the lenses. I shot the same focal lengths on both cameras and when I was editing the images, I couldn’t tell them apart. Interestingly enough though, I borrowed a Metabones adapter so I could try my Canon lenses on the A9. I’d heard that the AF could be a bit hit and miss, but all my Canon L Series lenses (50mm ƒ/1.2, 100mm ƒ/2.8 Macro, 24-70mm ƒ/2.8 Mk II & 70-200mm ƒ/2.8 Mk II) worked like a dream. I couldn’t even see any noticeable difference in AF speed between the Sony and Canon lenses using the adapter.”

With the Sony being much smaller than a conventional DSLR, did you find the size harder to handle?

“The camera is a lot smaller than a DSLR like the 1D X, but I really liked that. At one point during the day I wanted to get a high angle shot of the runners and decided to climb a rather precarious bridge, which was a lot easier with the A9 than with my 1D X. I would have liked to try the battery grip as I’ve heard the balance is a bit better, especially with the longer lenses, but there wasn’t one available at the time.”

Would you use the A9 for your commercial work?

“Without a doubt. I shoot at a fast pace and usually with moving subjects. I felt the Sony gave me a clear edge compared to the Canon with focus. The ridiculously fast 20fps was also a massive plus point, especially when I could rely on every shot being sharp. I really think this camera is going to shake up the industry a bit and it’ll be interesting to see how Canon and Nikon react.”

Jack was speaking to Tim Stavrinou. You can see more of Jack’s work on his website www.jackterry.co.uk and follow him on Instagram @jackterryphoto

Thank you to Forte Model Management for supplying the athletes

Jon Stapley News June 21, 2016October 5, 2023

Close-up: Sony A7S II Video Options

We take a closer look at the video functionality on the Sony A7S II

Sony’s A7S II has fast become one of the most attractive options for the videographer from all current mainstream camera systems. In this article, we take a closer look at the wealth of functionality it offers for video users.

First – what is it?

The α7S II is the successor to the α7S compact system camera announced in 2014. It currently joins the α7 II and the α7R II in Sony’s full-frame mirrorless lineup, the former being a relatively affordable all-round option with a 24MP sensor and the latter camera’s 42MP sensor making resolution its priority (hence the ‘R’).

The α7S II, meanwhile offers the same 12.2MP pixel count as the model it updates, although Sony is said to have revised the circuitry and processing to enable better noise control.

Video resolution

The camera records 4K footage in the 4K UHD format (3840×2160) in contrast to the DCI 4K resolution of 4096×2160. The fact that the camera records 4K video footage is not in itself that special. After all, aside from pro-grade video cameras, this is now being offered by many other interchangeable-lens models, as well as compacts, GoPro action cameras and a growing number of smartphones. What sets the Sony’s α7S II apart from more mainstream models are two things: the way this is captured and the tools the videographer has at their disposal at every stage of the shoot.Sony states that the camera records video with full-pixel readout to improve quality and suppress aliasing artefacts such as moire, and this is the case whether you’re recording video in 4K or Full HD. This process means the sensor takes information from every pixel before the image processor downsamples it to 4K (or HD) resolution. This is in contrast to binning, where the values of multiple pixels are combined into one at the sensor level to boost the signal-to-noise ratio, and line skipping, where certain rows or columns are ignored.

Sensitivity

The ‘S’ in α7S II stands for sensitivity, and it’s this that made most of the headlines upon the camera’s announcement. When capturing videos, the camera’s sensitivity stretches over a respectable range of ISO 100-102,400, although this can be boosted to an option equivalent to ISO 409,600 when required.

Codecs

The AVCHD codec that Sony has previously used for video is maintained on the α7S II, although this is joined by the more recent XAVC S codec. Based on the MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 format, the XAVC S codec is used to record 4K footage at 25fps, at either 60Mbps or a higher-quality 100Mbps, and stores this as an MP4 file.

The camera can also record Full HD footage where the higher resolution of 4K is not required, at frame rates between 25fps (50Mbps) to 120fps (up 100Mbps) for slow-motion-video recording, using the XAVC S codec. When shooting at the 120fps setting (or 100fps in PAL), the frame is cropped by a factor of 2.2x.

Recording internal and externally

Unlike the previous α7S, which required an external recorder to actually record 4K footage, the α7S II follows the α7R II in being able to do this internally. You can, however, use the Dual Video REC option to output clean (uncompressed) 4K video through the HDMI-out to an external recorder, while recording 4K footage to a memory card inside the camera. You can also use this to record XAVC-S and MP4 or AVCHD and MP4 video to the memory card.

There is another benefit to recording through the HDMI output through to an external recorder, namely 4:2:2 chroma subsampling. When recording 4K or Full HD video internally, chroma subsampling happens at 4:2:0. However, one caveat is that, when outputting 4K footage to a recorder, the rear display goes dark.

You can record video continuously for around 29 minutes at a time, although this varies with temperature, with higher temperature shortening this. Should the sensor get too hot while recording video, a warning will appear on the display to indicate that it should be stopped.

Gamma and Picture Profiles

The α7S offered the S-Log2 option for recording video, this is joined by the S-Gamut3.Cine/S-Log-3 and S-Gamut3/S-Log3 alternatives on the α7S II.

Sony states that these options offer better tonal reproduction in shadows to mid greys, with 14EV stops of dynamic range. This latitude potentially makes it better when it comes to editing footage.

Ordinarily, this footage would appear flat and lacking in contrast on the rear display, making it hard to accurately assess focus and exposure. This is where the Gamma Display Assist option steps in; this uses the Rec.709 standard to provide the user with a more natural rendition of recorded footage when the camera is set to either the S-Log2 and S-Log3 settings.

Sony has also revised the previously seen Zebra function to make it easier to gauge correct exposure, whether or not you’re shooting in one of the Log settings.

Sony’s Picture Profiles allow you to specify how footage is recorded with respect to the colour, gradation and so on. This gives you the control to either get the footage right in camera for immediate use or to create the most appropriate file for grading.

Audio

As we’d expect from a camera targeted towards professional video use, the α7S II has both built-in stereo microphones and the option of attaching an external one through a 3.5mm port at its side.

There’s also a port for attaching headphones so that you can monitor audio while recording. A separate control allows you to choose whether to have audio levels displayed on the monitor.

You can disable audio recording where not required and there is also the option of a wind noise filter, which is effective with the in-built microphones (ie not external ones).

Other advantages

One of the other major advantages of the α7S II over other models is its 5-axis image stabilisation system, which works over pitch, yaw and roll, as well as shifting in vertical and horizontal directions. The fact that this is located at the sensor gives it the benefit of being compatible with all mounted lenses, which is just as well as the camera can accept a range of lenses from other manufacturers via adapters.

Focus peaking is also on hand for those wanting to use manual focus. This gives you the option to change colour between red, yellow and white (which you may want to change depending on what it is you’re recording), as well as the peaking level, which can be set to high, mid and low settings.

The camera also offers an Auto Slow Shutter option. When this is enabled, shutter speed is reduced when the camera deems necessary in order to better balance the exposure during video recording. Time coding support is also provided should you wish to use it.

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