SONY A9 II
The basic A9 recipe stays the same for the A9 II, but Sony has spiced it up a whole lot more to deliver a much hotter – and more desirable – pro-level sports camera.
Launched in 2017, the original A9 set a number of standards for a sports/ action camera and it’s taken all this time for the competition to catch up. Sony is determined to stay in front, so the Mark II has numerous refinements and upgrades, including better weather sealing, improved ergonomics and a more durable focal plane shutter.
It’s been three years since Sony caused a stir with the launch of its original A9 mirrorless camera speedster. It set a number of specification targets for sports/action-orientated cameras and it’s taken all this time for the competition to get close.
The A9 showed just how seriously Sony was working at being taken seriously in the professional camera market and, subsequently, it’s been the mirrorless brand making the most inroads into the stronghold of DSLR. It’s certainly been helped in this endeavour by a frenetic program of lens system building so the FE mount lineup is now not far off 40 models. Significant among the recent Sony lens arrivals are the 600mm f/4.0 and 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 which are, obviously, also aimed at sports photographers, joining the existing 400mm f/2.8 supertelephoto.
These give Sony’s mirrorless camera system even more appeal so, just to make the point even more strongly, the A9 has been given a major upgrade to keep the competition on its toes.
Clearly, Sony is primarily targeting DSLR users here, and it’s a big challenge because the optical viewfinder still has a strong following among sports photographers. It’s the main reason Canon has built the EOS-1D X Mark III, although it will also have the EOS R5 competing in the same sector, with specs that look specifically designed to take on the A9 II.
Where Sony has possible advantages is in its telephoto lens range that don't require a mount adaptor and the fact that it builds the some of the most compact full-frame mirrorless cameras compared to some rivals.
The A9 II has a redesigned body, but it’s still roughly the same size as a midrange DSLR and only marginally bigger than Fujifilm’s APS-C format X-T3 and
X-T4 (but actually smaller than the X-H1). The external covers are still magnesium alloy with a chassis of the same material beneath, but the weather sealing has been upgraded which is obviously important to anybody shooting outdoors a lot. This includes a more substantial gasket around the lens mount and a new cover arrangement for the memory card compartment which now has a doublesealed opening. The handgrip has been resized and reshaped, making it more comfortable while also improving the camera’s manoeuvrability when using longer and heavier lenses. It also makes the camera more comfortable when it’s being used for long periods of time, which is often the case with sports photography.
New And Improved
On the inside, the A9 II has the same backside-illuminated (BSI) and stacked CMOS sensor as its predecessor (more about this shortly), but it’s now mated with a newer version of Sony’s Bionz X processor which, among other things, delivers improved noise reduction processing and better colour reproduction. It also packs new control algorithms for autofocusing – this now includes all the A7 series upgrades that Sony has been introducing since 2017.
There’s also a new mechanical shutter assembly that's both faster – twice as fast as the A9’s – and more durable with an assured lifespan of 500,000 cycles. This may seem like a lot, but if you’re regularly blazing away at 10fps – the top speed with the mechanical shutter – the total actuations soon start to mount up.
The new shutter employs a coreless motor – which has less inertia – and special dampening screws to minimise the transmission of vibrations to the camera body. Additionally, the mechanism is also much quieter, but obviously you can have silent shooting by switching to the sensor-based electronic shutter. This also allows continuous shooting at up to 20fps. It’s worth noting here that at either of the top shooting speeds, the A9 II still has continuous AF and AE adjustment, with both sampled at 60fps.
There are also new algorithms to control in-body image stabilisation, extending the correction for camera shake to 5.5 stops for both stills and video. As before, there are dual memory card slots, but as is the case with the most recent A7 series models, Sony has deleted support for its MemoryStick format so both are exclusively for SD cards. Both are UHS-II speed compliant too, which makes life a lot more convenient in terms of file management in the field. Better still, the top slot is now labelled ‘Slot 1’ and the bottom one ‘Slot 2’, ending a good few years of confusion.
Also similar to the latest A7 bodies, the A9 II has both USB Type C and
USB micro-B connectors; the former provides more speed and the option of in-camera battery recharging. Actually, the A9 II’s connection bay looks pretty impressive as it also has ports for HDMI Type D, stereo audio in and out (both 3.5mm minijacks), PC flash and Ethernet with 1000BASE-T Gigabit support for
FTP data transfers. The built-in Wi-Fi now supports both the 2.4GHz and
5GHz bands, and there’s also Bluetooth LE always-on connectivity.
The key new features are an intervalometer – programmable for up to 9,999 frames – automatic flicker detection and correction, and voice memo recording; all clearly with appeal for sports and action photographers. Flicker correction is useful when shooting in indoor sports venues which have gas-ignition lighting such as high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps.
These actually switch on and off at high frequencies – based on the mains power frequency – which can affect both the exposure and colour balance when shooting at faster shutter speeds. The anti-flicker feature detects the frequency of a light source’s switching, then times the shutter release to minimise any underexposure and associated variations in colour balance.
Uninterrupted Views
The stacked Exmor RS sensor’s design is the key to a number of the A9 II’s party tricks, including 20fps continuous shooting with full AF/AE adjustment. It incorporates a second silicon chip or layer behind the sensor chip into which Sony has incorporated an integral memory (DRAM) and some signal processing capabilities.
The integral memory is the key here, as it’s used to very temporarily store image data from the sensor, allowing for a much faster read-out speed. It also eliminates any EVF lag or, more conveniently for sports shooters, any between-the-frames blackout when using the sensor. Additionally, it eliminates rolling distortion with fast-moving objects and enables 4K video shooting using the full sensor width with no pixel binning (so it’s actually recording 6K video at 6000x3376 pixels that's subsequently downsampled to 4K). For the rest of the A9 II’s video story, head to the Making Movies panel.
The total pixel count is 28.3 million, with an effective count of 24.2 million and a maximum image size of 6000x4000 pixels. JPEGs can be captured in one of three sizes and at three compression levels – extra-fine, fine and standard – plus there’s now an expanded choice of aspect ratios with 4:3 and 1:1 available in addition to 3:2 and 16:9. There’s the option of switching to the APS-C format – when the maximum image size becomes 3936x2624 pixels – and, in fact, this happens automatically when Sony E mount lenses are attached. RAW+JPEG capture is configured to the existing JPEG quality settings.
Even with continuous shooting at 20fps, the A9 II still has continuous AF and AE adjustment, both sampled at 60 frames per second.
As before, RAW images are processed by the Bionz X engine at 16-bits per
RGB channel before being output as either 14-bit uncompressed or losslessly compressed files.
The native sensitivity range is equivalent to ISO 100 to 51,200 when using the mechanica shutter, with extensions down to ISO 50 or all the way up to ISO 204,800. When using the electronic shutter, the maximum ISO available is 25,600. The upper and lower ends of the ISO range can be limited with both manual selection and auto ISO control. The in-camera image processing options for JPEGs are largely unchanged from the A9 and start with 13 Creative Style picture presets with adjustable parameters for contrast, sharpness and saturation.
The Monochrome B&W and Sepia presets simply omit the saturation control, but it isn’t replaced with either contrast filters or toning effects.
The six main Creative Style presets are repeated as numbered ‘Style Boxes’ which means that adjustments can saved as customised Creative Styles. There’s a choice of eight Picture Effect special effects, including the ‘staples’ of Toy Camera, Retro Photo, Miniature, Partial Colour and Soft Focus.
As before, the A9 II has both long exposure and high ISO noise reduction processing, Dynamic Range Optimiser (DRO) processing and a selection of multi-shot HDR modes. The DRO options comprise auto correction – based on the contrast range of the scene – or five levels of preset correction. The HDR options also include an auto mode – when the camera captures a sequence of three frames with the correction applied automatically (based on the contrast range in the scene) – and a selection of manually set exposure adjustments from +/-1.0 EV to +/-6.0 EV.
In-camera lens corrections are provided for vignetting, chromatic aberrations and distortion. Auto bracketing is available for the dynamic range expansion processing as well as exposure and white balance control, but still not focus. The other notable omission is a multiple exposure facility.
Fast Tracked
The A9 II starts out with the same 693point on-sensor phase-difference detection autofocusing system as the A9 but, as noted earlier, there are some significant upgrades to functionality, particularly in terms of AI-based subject recognition. This drives the camera’s Real Time Tracking using a recognition algorithm that processes colour, pattern, distance, face and eye data in real time. Additionally, Real Time Eye AF can be switched between people and animals, with the option of manual right/left eye selection with the former. It’s able to stay on-track even if there’s an interruption by another subject passing in front.
Additionally, tracking sensitivity can be varied over five levels from Locked On to Responsive. There’s also the choice of focus or speed priority (or a balance of both), set independently for the singleshot and continuous modes. Switching between single-shot and continuous modes can be done manually or left to the camera when it’s set to AF-A.
Low-light sensitivity extends down to -3.0 EV (at ISO 100 and f/2.0) and there’s a built-in LED illuminator for low light/ contrast assist. New is a Focus Priority In Aperture Drive setting that maintains an open aperture during autofocusing in order not to degrade the viewfinder image. Normally, you wouldn’t notice anything, but with the Sony’s no-black-out EVF, there would be an annoying flickering as the lens continually tries to focus.
The 693 measuring points provide 93 percent frame coverage, with manual or automatic selection via one of five area modes called Wide, Zone, Centre, Flexible Spot and Expand Flexible Spot. The Flexible Spot options allow the focusing zone to be set to one of three sizes – small, medium or large – to adjust selectivity. In the Expand mode, surrounding points are automatically selected if the subject subsequently moves.
Resolution also remains consistent as the ISO increases so, at
ISO 1600, for example, it’s still at 90 percent.
Continuous AF is supplemented by a Lock-On function which works with any of the area modes to provide more reliable tracking. A focus point or area can be registered for instant recall – useful when shooting the same scene or subject on a regular basis. Additionally, it can be set to switch position automatically when the camera is turned to the vertical position. As on the A7R IV, the AF frame can be switched between red or white to enhance visibility. Another new function is called Circulation Of Focus Point and enables the focus area to be rotated through the upper, lower, left, and right edges of the frame – designed for situations where a subject often moves through the frame.
The manual focus assists comprise a magnified view (up to 9.4x) and a focus peaking display that can be set to red, yellow or white with high, mid or low intensity.
The focus magnifier can be set to operate continuously or for timed durations of two or five seconds. Handily, it’s also available with autofocusing to help confirm focus.
The exposure control options are standard Sony Alpha fare, based on 1,200 points on-sensor metering with the choice of multi-segment, centre-weighted average, fully averaged, highlight-biased or spot measurements. The spot meter’s size can be switched between standard or large, and either locked to the frame’s centre or linked to the active focus point(s). The auto control mode overrides comprise an AE lock, exposure compensation of up to +/-5.0 EV (although the dial is only marked to +/-3.0
EV, so going further requires a trip to the necessary menu) and auto bracketing over sequences of three, five or nine frames. For the first two, the maximum adjustment per frame is +/-3.0 EV while over nine frames, it’s up to +/-1.0 EV. In the fully-automatic iAuto mode the camera is capable of analysing scenes to fine-tune the aperture and shutter speed settings to suit specific subject types.
The A9 II’s electronic shutter not only enables continuous shooting at 20fps with silent operation, it also delivers a faster top speed of 1/32,000 second and ranges down to 30 seconds. The camera’s mechanical shutter has a speed range of 30-1/8000 second with flash sync up to 1/250 second. Both shutter types have a ‘B’ setting for exposures longer than 30 seconds. There’s also the hybrid “electronic front curtain shutter” which starts the exposure with the electronic shutter and finishes it with the conventional shutter.
The main benefit is some reduction in vibration and noise while still allowing the use of electronic flash.
The auto white balance control offers the choice of three modes – Standard, White-Priority or AmbiencePriority. Alternatively, there are ten presets – including four for different types of fluoro lighting and one for shooting underwater – fine-tuning over the blue-to-amber and green-tomagenta colour ranges manual colour temperature setting over a range of 2500 to 9900 Kelvin. Up to three custom WB settings can be created and stored plus white balance bracketing is available over a sequence of three frames.
In The Hand
The A9 II’s control layout largely rivals that of Fujifilm’s X mount cameras for traditionalism with dials for mode selection, drive options (including bracketing and self-timer) and exposure compensation. This last control now gains a locking feature which you can push on or off. The drive dial has a selector for focusing modes set at its base, while the reshaped handgrip really does enhance handling comfort.
Another small change is that the rear input wheel now sits fully on the top plate (rather than being partially inset) so it’s easier to access in a hurry. There’s been a general tidying up of the ergonomics so everything is a bit chunkier with better grips that will certainly help if you’re wearing gloves. This includes the joystick-type multi-selector designed to enable more efficient focus point selection, but also performs a range of navigational duties. The A9 II’s rear panel is also home to a four-way multi-selector that also incorporates a control ring. Four buttons – marked C1 to C4 – and are customisable, but just about all the other external controls also have this capability, including the rear control wheel. Additionally, they can be assigned different functions for either stills or video, or for playback. As on the A7R IV, there’s a My Dials customisation option for the input and control wheels, and two on-screen Function Menus – one each for stills and video – comprising 12 function settings.
The My Menu accommodates up to 30 items, and up to four banks of basic camera setups – assigned as M1 to
M4 – can be stored, with three of them assigned to the 1, 2 and 3 positions marked on the main mode dial.
Compared to what’s on offer elsewhere in mirrorless cameras, the Sony A series continues to have quite limited touchscreen functionality. In fact, touch controls are limited exclusively to autofocusing functions, namely selection or moving of a focusing point, with a Touchpad option that allows this to be done when using the EVF. Additionally, Touch Tracking allows you to tap on a subject to start the process. During playback, the touch screen is limited to image magnification and subsequent scrolling for checking focus.
The A9 II’s monitor is adjustable for tilt and has a resolution of 1.44 million dots. It’s adjustable for brightness with the option of a Sunny Weather mode for improved viewing in bright conditions. A Quick Navi status display is unique to the main monitor screen and includes a big selection of readouts and function settings, plus an exposure compensation scale, a realtime histogram and a dual-axis level indicator. The total of 12 function tiles are directly accessible – via the traditional navigation method – for changing settings (and, as just mentioned, are customisable).
The EVF is a 0.5-inch (1.3cm) OLED panel with a resolution of 3.686 million dots and magnification of 0.78x (35mm equivalent). It’s adjustable for brightness and colour balance, plus there’s the choice of Standard (60fps) or High (120fps) refresh rates so the display can
Sony may not have a long history in ILCs, but it’s been a fast learner if the handling, ergonomics and efficiencies of the A9 II are anything to go by.
be optimised for either increased detailing or faster framing. To complement the camera’s overall weather-proofing, the eyepiece has a fluorine coating to help better repel moisture or grease, and also enable easier cleaning. It’s a little detail but an important one.
Both the EVF and monitor displays can be configured with a guide grid (selected from a choice of three), either a dual-axis level display or a real-time histogram, the frame for the phase-detection AF’s coverage and zebra patterns
(with adjustable levels set between 70 and 100+) to indicate areas of overexposure. Incidentally, 100+ is the minimum level setting and primarily only shows areas likely to cause some flare, and then the threshold for blown-out highlights is steadily decreased with the lower settings. The viewfinder displays cover the exposure settings, battery level (including a percentage remaining read-out) and the basic file settings (size and aspect ratio). The monitor’s read-out display includes a much more comprehensive set of status indicators or, alternatively, you can have the image alone.
The image playback modes include nine or 25 thumbnail pages, zooming at up to 19.9x with JPEG/large files and a slideshow function for auto playback with adjustable display times. The image review screens include a thumbnail with both highlight and shadow warnings, a full set of RGB and luminance histograms, and all the key capture info, including the Creative Style preset and the DRO/HDR settings.
The battery is Sony’s high-capacity 2,280 mAh NP-FZ100 lithium-ion pack. It's already a bit of a long-distance runner with a claimed shot count of 690 when using only the monitor screen and 500 with the EVF, but you can go a lot further with the VG-C4EM battery grip (which also fits the A7R IV).
It holds two NP-FZ100 packs and essentially doubles the range. Moreover the batteries can be recharged in-situ via the camera’s USB-C connection.
Speed And Performance
Loaded with a Panasonic 64GB SDXC UHS-II V90 speed memory card, the A9 II captured a burst of 154 JPEG/large/ extra-fine files in 8.025 seconds (using the sensor shutter), giving a shooting speed of 19.2 ps. These test files were typically 17.5MB in size.
Autofocusing performance is a key element of a good sports/action camera and the A9 II’s upgraded capabilities result in significant improvements to the responsiveness and the tracking reliability especially when shooting people with Real-Time Eye AF. It’s virtually impossible to trip up, regardless of the subject’s, speed or erratic movements and it’ll stay resolutely locked on even with quite significant blockages. Overall, the AF is lightning fast and unerringly accurate, snapping into focusing even in low-light/contrast situations with no hesitation or hunting. With many A9 II users likely to be using long lenses and/or large maximum apertures that result in a shallow depth-of-field, the improved autofocusing accuracy is a big plus.
While the stacked sensor is the same as the A9’s, the processor is packed with all of Sony’s latest know-how and it shows in several areas of the image performance – notably a wider dynamic range and noise reduction processing at very high ISOs.