Cameraderie

I'm currently fighting a severe case of X100 lust, but I did a quick camera stocktake last night and my camera tally currently stands at 3 x DSLRs, 1 x CSC, 1 x serious compact and 2 x P&S cameras. I probably don't need another camera, do I? Do I? How many cameras do other people currently own?

So rather than bog down the GAS thread, I thought I'd post here my thoughts on it thus far. The Sony A9 is my first modern full frame camera that I've bought having used the Sony A7S briefly (for MF lenses only) and the Canon 5D Classic. Main reason I bought the A9 was for its AF and continuous autofocus tracking abilities for capturing my dog Billie running and other general photography and to obtain more of a 'Full Frame' look to my images and lower noise compared to my m43 cameras. Also in the running was a Canon R6 but was discounted due to lack of lenses so it would have proven extremely expensive unless I stuck with the older EF lenses but then they tend to be big and heavy and I wanted the option of lighter lenses. I really wanted a Lumix S5 but I knew that its AF system would have frustrated me and I wasn't convinced that performance would have been muxh better in the S5ii. This led me onto A9 which was a similar price to the R6 and the S5ii here in the UK used, as its capabilities tick a lot of boxes and the lens selection is vast. At present I only have the 85mm f1.8 as it was cheap used, it could achieve 20fps on the A9 and its AF was fast and my research led me to believe it would be a solid choice for dog running photograph; this seems to be correct so far. My main cameras before this was the m43 Olympus E-M1 Mark 1 and 2. I had reasonable success in capturing my dog running with these cameras but the problem with the m43 system I find is that the noise in the image quickly creeps up and the hit rate was a little inconsistent. Yes you can use AI denoise but sometimes it made the images look a little too soft. What I like about the A9 after 1 week: AF Performance - With my olympus cameras it took time to see what images in a burst were in focus, then to decide which one to keep. As I know with the A9 that most are going to be in focus (it almost feels like cheating...), its much quicker to just cull the images in a burst and just focus on the compositions that I like if that make sense. I still need to work on my technique a little more in determining which focus areas works best for my dog but I'm sure I will get there to improve the hit rate further (and my technique). It also helps out in the field as in theory I just need to concentrate on composition as I know most of the images will be in focus. Burst Mode - I quite like being able to select from single point to how many images I want to capture in a burst. I know I list this as a slight negative below, but there are benefits to having this selection on a dial. Colours - Compared to the old Sony A7S I have, the colours are much much better SOOC from the A9, much more natural IMO and less of a green bias which helps a lot when editing even if you shoot RAW I find. Image Quality - When you get what you want in focus, the image quality is very good and sharp. EVF - Is nice and big, it would have been nice to be able to change the magnification of the view or shrink the picture a little so those of us who wear glasses could see more of the composition but no other complaints so far although it would be nice to customise what you see on the EVF/LCD a little more and the histogram is a little too small. Tilting LCD - I generally prefer these to fully articulating screens as they are better IMO for photography. The one on the A9 is a little fiddly to pull out but its so small and compact. I originally bought the Sigma MC-11 for the A7S and immediately sold it because it was so slow to aquire focus lock and it couldn't do it on the 50mm EF Macro lens I have; they almost feel like native glass on the A9 albeit C-AF tracking doesn't work that well with them but this is to be expected and I'm just happy that they work as well as they do. What I don't like so far: Even though its relatively light and compact compared to other FF cameras I looked at, it still feels very chunky and solid in the hand (I'm coming from m43....); I'm not sure whether I like the feel of it. It feels sterile to use and I just don't like using it yet, maybe when I get some really good results and start using my vintage lenses with it, I will feel a bit more connected to the camera. The menus and settings are a little chaotic and don't make much sense but hopefully with time I will get more accustomed to them. Switching between different custom modes isn't as seemless as Olympus's Custom mode implementation as you still need to remember to switch to the correct focus mode and burst rate. Animal/Human Detect - Its a little frustrating the need to select whether I'm shooting animals or humans; its a shame that there isn't an 'auto' selection for general use. So on to pictures, according to the filename numbers, I've captued mainly using the electronic shutter 450 photos so far and have only 'kept' 24 images. A lot of bursts though trying out the different focus areas and AF settings which are still a work in progress. Here are a few of my favourites so far (I wanted the Lumix for the 'xpan' mode but I can still achieve that aspect ratio is post with the Sony when the composition to suit that format arises). So I'm quite happy with the results so far, I obviously need to play with it a little more and tweak the settings. Im also contemplating what my next lens choices are going to be; I've never had wider than 24mm so maybe an ultra wide angle zoom would open up some opportunities. A fast 35mm/40mm prime is also on the cards as well as a nice modern MF lens with electronic contacts. I'll update this thread with any of my other thoughts as time marches on.

As the title suggests.