Sony has announced that the third-generation Alpha 9 full-frame mirrorless camera will be shipping earlier than planned. The new schedule will put the A9 III in the photographer’s hands weeks ahead of schedule.
Dubbed a “significant milestone in digital imaging,” the Sony a9 III will be the world’s first mirrorless camera with a global shutter and can capture 4K video at up to 120 frames per second.
It has a 24.6 full-frame Exmor RS CMOS image sensor and uses Sony’s latest BIONZ XR Image processor with real-time subject recognition and tracking.
The a9 III also relies on 5-axis in-body image stabilization for camera shake reduction of up to 8 stops and focal plane phase detection autofocus which can identify and track a variety of subjects from animals to vehicles, and of course, people.
The a9 III autofocus scheme uses artificial intelligence to identify and track subjects and will focus on the eyes of living subjects and capture them with a maximum shutter speed of 1/80,000 of a second.
There is also a new high-frequency flicker feature that can compensate for LED lights by fine-tuning the shutter speeds to match the flickering frequency.
The camera also has a large memory buffer that can pre-capture images by continuously recording one second before the shutter is snapped and can store up to 390 fine JPG images at up to 30 frames per second.
On the video side, the a9 III records 10-bit 4K video at up to 120 frames per second without crop, or 4k60p video through oversampling of the 6K image sensor. It can also capture 16-bit raw through the full-size HDMI port to a supporting external recorder.
The camera also uses the S-Cinetone color science found in the VENICE cinema camera for better cinematic video and camera matching. Users can also choose Sony’s SLog3 and apply a custom LUT loaded as a preset.
Other features include high-speed data transfer via 5 GH z wifi and file upload using FTP. Images are also written to the camera’s CF Express Type A slot or the UHS-II SD card slot, or through a USB 3.2 Type-C connection to an SSD, making the a9 III an archival beast.
Pricing and availability
We now know that Sony will begin shipping in the US the a9 III beginning Thursday, February 8th, and is available now for preorder for a retail price of $5998, body only. It is available now in Europe and Asia.
[source: Sony]
Order Links:
Sony a9 III Mirrorless Camera, Body only (B&H, Adorama)
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