A9iii - suitability for task?

[MattPointZero]

I'll try and summarise succinctly.

For fun, I shoot portraits indoors and outdoors, and landscapes. For this I have an A7Rv.

For a side hustle, (paid work) on and off over the years I have shot in the studio pole dancers (as in Pole fitness) and aerial hoop - so slow/medium speed movement under strobes.

Link here, but it is in part NSFW

Matt Point Zero Photography (@matt_point_zero) • Instagram photos and videos

I blow hot and cold on paid work, but am about to book a load of paid studio days for the upcoming year, which will necessitate buying a second camera - for redundancy, but also I will get something to use for the pole shots and keep my A7Rv for personal work.

I have shot pole with most sony bodies, they are all fine for the task - however I rack up a lot of clicks over a group day, and something where I can use electronic shutter is slightly preferable. So my choices are a disposable cheap A7iv and let the mech shutter rack up numbers, an A1 where I can shoot at 1/200 in electronic shutter - but now there is the expensive option of the A9iii. (in fact, I can get an A1 or a9iii at fairly similar prices, so cost isn't the big issue between them)

A9iii is overkill in many ways - but it would also be very capable. I get it primarily is for sports shooters and jpegs on the face of it, but I am intrigued by the possibility for portraits outside in bright sun with a strobe and no ND filter issues - I have seen some portrait shooters use it to good effect, but I use fairly low cost godox lighting kit, and I am unsure how valuable the speeds will be in real world use, whether the flash timing and durations will make it less useful than I hope.

I get the DR limitations and base iso peculiarities, but I won't be shooting landscapes with it, that's what the 61mp sensor will be for.

I know only I can ultimately answer the question - but I'd still appreciate views - is it just stupendous waste of the camera's ability? I know I don't NEED it, but that in itself doesn't make it a bad purchase. The A9 series has never really been on my radar before.

Is anyone using them for strobe portraiture on the board, or with third party lighting and could offer real world experience? Anything else I might be missing? The cost isn't the big deal - my first couple of shoots will essentially buy the camera body. The A1 is probably the better all rounder, and if I just had one camera to cover it all, it would be that one - but armed with the A7Rv, I wonder if the pairing with the A9iii would be a fantastic option, so anyone with an A9iii that could share their experience would be really appreciated.

 

[markintosh13]

will it make you more money?

will it capture what you cannot capture with something else?

will it be that much more useful / enjoyable?

Sounds like GAS. Save the money.

nice photos

 

[Adam-T]

i`d just use the A7RV - it`s ideal for the task and at least it`ll have earned you a pile of cash to spend on a A7RVI (or an A1-II) which will likely land next year .. if you have to have a second cam for the job, yeah get an A7-IV as cheap as possible , thrash it in the studio and punt it to MPB .

 

[MattPointZero]

Yeah, thanks both. You both make good points.

The GAS is real. :-D

I will need a second camera of course - and I hate spending all that money on the exact same thing I already have for redundancy / failure purposes, so that is probably driving the GAS aspect.

 

[Robert Salton]

If the job can be done with an A7IV, get one, replace the shutter when its done and carry the A7RV as backup. Shutter replacements are cheap compared to a whole new A9III. For a business that wouldn't benefit greatly by a more expensive tool, I wouldn't get it but instead the most economically viable one. How much your business will benefit from its global shutter providing an advantage when expanding to outdoor shootings with flash under strong sunlight is something only you can judge.

For people moving at moderate speeds in a studio under controlled lighting I couldn't justify an A9III as most of its potential over an A7IV will not be made use of in that scenario.

On the other hand, if you want an A9III for personal use and can afford it, by all means, get one. Its an amazing camera and a great joy to use.

Is anyone using them for strobe portraiture on the board, or with third party lighting and could offer real world experience?

I use it with third party lighting but not portraiture. In general, there are no issues except its maximum framerate dropping to 30fps whenever any kind of flash synchronization is used.

Other than that, it syncs with various studio strobes and off-brand speedlights just fine. Some need more offset than others for maximum efficiency at short shutter speeds but so far I've gotten every flash to work nicely.

 

[Mr_Win]

it's your business, if the camera gives you joy, then have at it.

for my business, I simply buy what I want because it's a side hustle, and it makes more than enough to pay for any camera I want. I also enjoy gear to a certain extent, granted, it's not at the level of some forum users, but it's still a bit high.

I would NOT touch the A1 personally, that old gen body and controls.... I'm good. A9iii feels more usable by a long shot.

 

[MattPointZero]

If the job can be done with an A7IV, get one, replace the shutter when its done and carry the A7RV as backup. Shutter replacements are cheap compared to a whole new A9III. For a business that wouldn't benefit greatly by a more expensive tool, I wouldn't get it but instead the most economically viable one. How much your business will benefit from its global shutter providing an advantage when expanding to outdoor shootings with flash under strong sunlight is something only you can judge.

For people moving at moderate speeds in a studio under controlled lighting I couldn't justify an A9III as most of its potential over an A7IV will not be made use of in that scenario.

On the other hand, if you want an A9III for personal use and can afford it, by all means, get one. Its an amazing camera and a great joy to use.

Is anyone using them for strobe portraiture on the board, or with third party lighting and could offer real world experience?

I use it with third party lighting but not portraiture. In general, there are no issues except its maximum framerate dropping to 30fps whenever any kind of flash synchronization is used.

Other than that, it syncs with various studio strobes and off-brand speedlights just fine. Some need more offset than others for maximum efficiency at short shutter speeds but so far I've gotten every flash to work nicely.

Thanks - you are right, this won't affect income or business one bit...it's a luxury spend not a necessity one if I chose that route

 

[MattPointZero]

it's your business, if the camera gives you joy, then have at it.

for my business, I simply buy what I want because it's a side hustle, and it makes more than enough to pay for any camera I want. I also enjoy gear to a certain extent, granted, it's not at the level of some forum users, but it's still a bit high.

I would NOT touch the A1 personally, that old gen body and controls.... I'm good. A9iii feels more usable by a long shot.

Similar here - my side hustle is really how I fund my kit and it allows me to buy camera kit without my wife shouting at me. It's how I have always funded my cameras. And the A1 point is a good one - I hate buying kit towards the end of its life cycle

 

[MattPointZero]

The other thing I considered was giving the A7Rv over to the studio work and making my second camera an A7CR

Great as a landscape camera or emergency backup - and I'd appreciate the small size for hiking. I am just slightly nervous of the lower spec EVF, screen and the lack of full mechanical shutter.

Too many options with no clear and obvious answer...

 

[AlephNull]

If the job can be done with an A7IV, get one, replace the shutter when its done and carry the A7RV as backup. Shutter replacements are cheap compared to a whole new A9III. For a business that wouldn't benefit greatly by a more expensive tool, I wouldn't get it but instead the most economically viable one. How much your business will benefit from its global shutter providing an advantage when expanding to outdoor shootings with flash under strong sunlight is something only you can judge.

For people moving at moderate speeds in a studio under controlled lighting I couldn't justify an A9III as most of its potential over an A7IV will not be made use of in that scenario.

On the other hand, if you want an A9III for personal use and can afford it, by all means, get one. Its an amazing camera and a great joy to use.

Is anyone using them for strobe portraiture on the board, or with third party lighting and could offer real world experience?

I use it with third party lighting but not portraiture. In general, there are no issues except its maximum framerate dropping to 30fps whenever any kind of flash synchronization is used.

Other than that, it syncs with various studio strobes and off-brand speedlights just fine. Some need more offset than others for maximum efficiency at short shutter speeds but so far I've gotten every flash to work nicely.

You have more experience that I have with studio strobes!

For the OP:

So far I have had no problems at all using the A9 III with Godox studio strobes (QT series and DP series) using a Godox trigger (the Sony-specific X Pro II - I don't have an X3 yet).

Without changing anything it synced at 1/500 (already faster than any previous camera I've used), but it would not go higher.

I have been able to sync at faster shutter speeds, but you have to enable a setting in the camera. Depending on the shutter speed you choose, you have to choose a time in microseconds to get the flash and the shutter to line up - the faster the shutter speed, the more critical the timing. You can get 1/80000 to sync, but it is a bit fiddly!

I'd love it if the trigger makers and Sony got together to make the synchronising of really high shutter speeds with strobes easier, but what we have today can be made to work - it's just a bit fussy (do it before the model arrives!)

To be honest, next shoot I may just settle for 1/500 I'm working indoors, anyway - I don't need an ultra-fast shutter to dim down the sun.

If you do want to try it - the setting you need is Pink menu (Exposure/Color), menu 4 (Flash), second page: Flash Timing Setting. Set it to ON, then choose your timing from 0 to 1000 microseconds in units of 20 us, I believe Sony on-camera flashes do not require you to set this.

I think the problem for studio strobe triggers is going to be a lot bigger than the problem for on-camera flashes. The catch is going to be that the trigger probably has to know the characteristics of the strobe/s it is fining, and that is going to be complicated. Moreover, the exact setting required probably varies with the intensity of the strobe (the QT series show the t0.1 for the current intensity, and it runs from 1/29000 down to something like 1/300). Add in the fact that you might be firing multiple strobes of different models at different intensities.

Maybe what we need is for the trigger to have a "magic setup mode" that fires each strobe separately, measures the timing and comes up with a compromise setting - might take a couple of minutes, and it might have to display "Set your camera to 1/32000" or something like that.

I think I can see why Sony gave us a simple timing setting

 

[MattPointZero]

Thank you for that, exactly the user experience I was hoping someone would have in the discussion

I use QT series in the studio, but as you say, that’s not where I’d be looking for the higher speeds - that would be with an AD 600pro or 300pro, which have slower durations

was the flash sync a big part of why you bought one, or do you shoot other fast action work with it?

 

[bkkish84]

it's your business, if the camera gives you joy, then have at it.

for my business, I simply buy what I want because it's a side hustle, and it makes more than enough to pay for any camera I want. I also enjoy gear to a certain extent, granted, it's not at the level of some forum users, but it's still a bit high.

I would NOT touch the A1 personally, that old gen body and controls.... I'm good. A9iii feels more usable by a long shot.

Similar here - my side hustle is really how I fund my kit and it allows me to buy camera kit without my wife shouting at me. It's how I have always funded my cameras. And the A1 point is a good one - I hate buying kit towards the end of its life cycle

What reviewers miss is just how much the features and user experience has been improved in the A9iii. A couple of things off the top of my head:

When using flash you can select an option to see the image with the flash firing (not simulated exposure) in the viewfinder as you are shooting. This is not image review - it’s real time view. I don’t think any other camera can do that.

Playback has been improved greatly now giving you a different configurable Fn menu as well as ability to toggle group playback with a custom button.

 

[MattPointZero]

it's your business, if the camera gives you joy, then have at it.

for my business, I simply buy what I want because it's a side hustle, and it makes more than enough to pay for any camera I want. I also enjoy gear to a certain extent, granted, it's not at the level of some forum users, but it's still a bit high.

I would NOT touch the A1 personally, that old gen body and controls.... I'm good. A9iii feels more usable by a long shot.

Similar here - my side hustle is really how I fund my kit and it allows me to buy camera kit without my wife shouting at me. It's how I have always funded my cameras. And the A1 point is a good one - I hate buying kit towards the end of its life cycle

What reviewers miss is just how much the features and user experience has been improved in the A9iii. A couple of things off the top of my head:

When using flash you can select an option to see the image with the flash firing (not simulated exposure) in the viewfinder as you are shooting. This is not image review - it’s real time view. I don’t think any other camera can do that.

Playback has been improved greatly now giving you a different configurable Fn menu as well as ability to toggle group playback with a custom button.

Agreed - and GAS aside, I think this is part of my interest - it just looks like a really good camera with lots to offer outside of sports (and accepting it isn't a landscape camera with the DR issues). That said, I keep reading that the DR is comparable to modern APSC sensors, and plenty of people produce stunning work with those...

 

[bkkish84]

it's your business, if the camera gives you joy, then have at it.

for my business, I simply buy what I want because it's a side hustle, and it makes more than enough to pay for any camera I want. I also enjoy gear to a certain extent, granted, it's not at the level of some forum users, but it's still a bit high.

I would NOT touch the A1 personally, that old gen body and controls.... I'm good. A9iii feels more usable by a long shot.

Similar here - my side hustle is really how I fund my kit and it allows me to buy camera kit without my wife shouting at me. It's how I have always funded my cameras. And the A1 point is a good one - I hate buying kit towards the end of its life cycle

What reviewers miss is just how much the features and user experience has been improved in the A9iii. A couple of things off the top of my head:

When using flash you can select an option to see the image with the flash firing (not simulated exposure) in the viewfinder as you are shooting. This is not image review - it’s real time view. I don’t think any other camera can do that.

Playback has been improved greatly now giving you a different configurable Fn menu as well as ability to toggle group playback with a custom button.

Agreed - and GAS aside, I think this is part of my interest - it just looks like a really good camera with lots to offer outside of sports (and accepting it isn't a landscape camera with the DR issues). That said, I keep reading that the DR is comparable to modern APSC sensors, and plenty of people produce stunning work with those...

 

[goactive]

I am doing all this with my A9 III. I got it for our portrait business for shooting out in the sun as we shoot beach portraits for a living and beach weddings everything out doors.

First off the DR limitations are over rated I am not seeing any problems at all on this.

Also you can shoot at lower iso then 250 I have shot at 125 with no problem at all.

I only use one Godox AD200 flash on our jobs and now with the A9 III I have had to turn the flash power down so much it's amazing.
I am using less flash power now then I ever have in over 25 years of doing this. Most of the time i am in the 1/64 flash output range now vs 1/2 to full at times before out in the sun.

Before the A9 III I would be at F8 to F11 when we start our session one hour before sunset as it is still very bright out on the beach. Now I am at a F4 to 5.6 or even F 2.8 based on the group size cutting my flash output that is needed by a lot so instant flash recycle times. On smaller groups like two people or one I can shoot at F 1.4 or 1.8 now with flash at super low flash settings. Even at the lowest setting I may have to now move the flash more far away as its still to bright when at F 1.4

It is taking me some time to get to this as I keep needing to lower the flash output and the changes are more smaller now. It's amazing what I can do now knocking down the sun and getting a much deeper color in the sky and water on the beach. I have 5 jobs in the next 6 days I will be doing this on as we move into our session.

Even as it gets darker out being able to use the higher shutter speeds is a joy to use I just need to keep change settings and lowering the flash even more. I shoot all manual flash off camera.

I am using a 85mm 1.4 lens now as I can for the first time now with the A9 III outdoors like this with flash. I shoot fast on jobs so a Flash HSS setting I could never use in the past as the recycle times could not keep up.

I just got in some new filters to put on my flash as the flash tends to get a more blur color I see more of now shooting at the higher shutter speeds. So I will be using a mild orange Gell starting today. I have done this many times in the past to give skin tones a better look. It changes a bit at different times of the year for this here..

Then the other side of it is shooting natural light and no ND filter needed wide open.

Here is two from yesterday at 85mm at F 1.4 no ND needed, When its super bright you can only go to F1.8 and it is limited to hitting the much higher shutter speed to F1.8 but when not to bad out as for brightness you can hit the F1.4 or a F1.2. Or you can shoot at F1.4 and be over exposed some and shooting raw pull it back done that works to or change the iso from the base 250 down to 125. I have yet to see any difference in the image quality from 250 to 125 doing this.

I do have another Godox on camera manual flash I am thinking now I could start using it in place of the AD200 as I need so much less flash power now and run it off camera on a stand. But I still need to bring the off camera stand so bringing the AD200 is not that much more to bring vs the smaller flash.

I will have a video out on the Samyang 85mm 1.4 VS the Viltrox 75mm 1.2 in a day or so from this shoot as I shot them both by side to compare cropped a6700 VS full frame A9 III for background bokeh look.

Here is two natural shot light at F1.4 no ND filter and one from a small beach wedding from a few days ago with flash at F2.5.

The info may say A9II as I change the camera name to A9II from 3 so I can edit the raw files in DXO Photolab. This works so I can edit them till they get full raw support out for it.

--
Started shooting digital back with the first 2MP cameras. Over 20 cameras later still going. I shoot for a living - family and people portraits, weddings, Sports and a little of everything.

 

[MattPointZero]

I am doing all this with my A9 III. I got it for our portrait business for shooting out in the sun as we shoot beach portraits for a living and beach weddings everything out doors.

First off the DR limitations are over rated I am not seeing any problems at all on this.

Also you can shoot at lower iso then 250 I have shot at 125 with no problem at all.

I only use one Godox AD200 flash on our jobs and now with the A9 III I have had to turn the flash power down so much it's amazing.
I am using less flash power now then I ever have in over 25 years of doing this. Most of the time i am in the 1/64 flash output range now vs 1/2 to full at times before out in the sun.

Before the A9 III I would be at F8 to F11 when we start our session one hour before sunset as it is still very bright out on the beach. Now I am at a F4 to 5.6 or even F 2.8 based on the group size cutting my flash output that is needed by a lot so instant flash recycle times. On smaller groups like two people or one I can shoot at F 1.4 or 1.8 now with flash at super low flash settings. Even at the lowest setting I may have to now move the flash more far away as its still to bright when at F 1.4

It is taking me some time to get to this as I keep needing to lower the flash output and the changes are more smaller now. It's amazing what I can do now knocking down the sun and getting a much deeper color in the sky and water on the beach. I have 5 jobs in the next 6 days I will be doing this on as we move into our session.

Even as it gets darker out being able to use the higher shutter speeds is a joy to use I just need to keep change settings and lowering the flash even more. I shoot all manual flash off camera.

I am using a 85mm 1.4 lens now as I can for the first time now with the A9 III outdoors like this with flash. I shoot fast on jobs so a Flash HSS setting I could never use in the past as the recycle times could not keep up.

I just got in some new filters to put on my flash as the flash tends to get a more blur color I see more of now shooting at the higher shutter speeds. So I will be using a mild orange Gell starting today. I have done this many times in the past to give skin tones a better look. It changes a bit at different times of the year for this here..

Then the other side of it is shooting natural light and no ND filter needed wide open.

Here is two from yesterday at 85mm at F 1.4 no ND needed, When its super bright you can only go to F1.8 and it is limited to hitting the much higher shutter speed to F1.8 but when not to bad out as for brightness you can hit the F1.4 or a F1.2. Or you can shoot at F1.4 and be over exposed some and shooting raw pull it back done that works to or change the iso from the base 250 down to 125. I have yet to see any difference in the image quality from 250 to 125 doing this.

I do have another Godox on camera manual flash I am thinking now I could start using it in place of the AD200 as I need so much less flash power now and run it off camera on a stand. But I still need to bring the off camera stand so bringing the AD200 is not that much more to bring vs the smaller flash.

I will have a video out on the Samyang 85mm 1.4 VS the Viltrox 75mm 1.2 in a day or so from this shoot as I shot them both by side to compare cropped a6700 VS full frame A9 III for background bokeh look.

Here is two natural shot light at F1.4 no ND filter and one from a small beach wedding from a few days ago with flash at F2.5.

The info may say A9II as I change the camera name to A9II from 3 so I can edit the raw files in DXO Photolab. This works so I can edit them till they get full raw support out for it.

More great user experience, thank you, nice shots. Great to hear the DR issues are as overblown (no pun intended) as I am reading in other reports!

 

[MattPointZero]

The early posters are right - I don't NEED one, it won't affect my income at all, and a semi-disposal A7iv probably makes better fiscal sense.

But I have been intrigued enough to decide to spend the extra money, and I ordered one today - thanks for everyone's input, all of which was valid!

I'll report back as to if I chose wisely or poorly...

 

[Impulses]

Yeah, thanks both. You both make good points.

The GAS is real. :-D

I will need a second camera of course - and I hate spending all that money on the exact same thing I already have for redundancy / failure purposes, so that is probably driving the GAS aspect.

I hear used A9 can be had for $1,500... The readout rate won't be as fast as the A1's, but the AF should still be really good and it won't get trashed as quickly, just another option to splurging on a high end body. That's what I'd do if I needed a second body for a side job like that.

OTOH that means going back to the old style menus, and that might be more of a drag that it's worth for your work. Between the A1 and A9 III I'd definitely go with the latter to complement an A7R V. Edit: Oops, hadn't seen the very last reply, sorry!

 

[A74Me]

I am doing all this with my A9 III. I got it for our portrait business for shooting out in the sun as we shoot beach portraits for a living and beach weddings everything out doors.

First off the DR limitations are over rated I am not seeing any problems at all on this.

Also you can shoot at lower iso then 250 I have shot at 125 with no problem at all.

I only use one Godox AD200 flash on our jobs and now with the A9 III I have had to turn the flash power down so much it's amazing.
I am using less flash power now then I ever have in over 25 years of doing this. Most of the time i am in the 1/64 flash output range now vs 1/2 to full at times before out in the sun.

Before the A9 III I would be at F8 to F11 when we start our session one hour before sunset as it is still very bright out on the beach. Now I am at a F4 to 5.6 or even F 2.8 based on the group size cutting my flash output that is needed by a lot so instant flash recycle times. On smaller groups like two people or one I can shoot at F 1.4 or 1.8 now with flash at super low flash settings. Even at the lowest setting I may have to now move the flash more far away as its still to bright when at F 1.4

It is taking me some time to get to this as I keep needing to lower the flash output and the changes are more smaller now. It's amazing what I can do now knocking down the sun and getting a much deeper color in the sky and water on the beach. I have 5 jobs in the next 6 days I will be doing this on as we move into our session.

Even as it gets darker out being able to use the higher shutter speeds is a joy to use I just need to keep change settings and lowering the flash even more. I shoot all manual flash off camera.

I am using a 85mm 1.4 lens now as I can for the first time now with the A9 III outdoors like this with flash. I shoot fast on jobs so a Flash HSS setting I could never use in the past as the recycle times could not keep up.

I just got in some new filters to put on my flash as the flash tends to get a more blur color I see more of now shooting at the higher shutter speeds. So I will be using a mild orange Gell starting today. I have done this many times in the past to give skin tones a better look. It changes a bit at different times of the year for this here..

Then the other side of it is shooting natural light and no ND filter needed wide open.

Here is two from yesterday at 85mm at F 1.4 no ND needed, When its super bright you can only go to F1.8 and it is limited to hitting the much higher shutter speed to F1.8 but when not to bad out as for brightness you can hit the F1.4 or a F1.2. Or you can shoot at F1.4 and be over exposed some and shooting raw pull it back done that works to or change the iso from the base 250 down to 125. I have yet to see any difference in the image quality from 250 to 125 doing this.

I do have another Godox on camera manual flash I am thinking now I could start using it in place of the AD200 as I need so much less flash power now and run it off camera on a stand. But I still need to bring the off camera stand so bringing the AD200 is not that much more to bring vs the smaller flash.

I will have a video out on the Samyang 85mm 1.4 VS the Viltrox 75mm 1.2 in a day or so from this shoot as I shot them both by side to compare cropped a6700 VS full frame A9 III for background bokeh look.

Here is two natural shot light at F1.4 no ND filter and one from a small beach wedding from a few days ago with flash at F2.5.

The info may say A9II as I change the camera name to A9II from 3 so I can edit the raw files in DXO Photolab. This works so I can edit them till they get full raw support out for it.

More great user experience, thank you, nice shots. Great to hear the DR issues are as overblown (no pun intended) as I am reading in other reports!

there is very limited DR in the posted images.

this is when you need class leading DR no fill flash. fill just ruines the look.

this is an example of how much fill should be used shooting with miday sun behind the subject. very little , and from memory its a godox 685 shooting through a 900mm umbrella. the images have to look natural. fill flash is to fill the shadows not create new ones.

another example of fill flash. the images are to look natural and just fill/add some highlight to the subject, not over power the scene.

 

[MattPointZero]

Yeah, thanks both. You both make good points.

The GAS is real. :-D

I will need a second camera of course - and I hate spending all that money on the exact same thing I already have for redundancy / failure purposes, so that is probably driving the GAS aspect.

I hear used A9 can be had for $1,500... The readout rate won't be as fast as the A1's, but the AF should still be really good and it won't get trashed as quickly, just another option to splurging on a high end body. That's what I'd do if I needed a second body for a side job like that.

OTOH that means going back to the old style menus, and that might be more of a drag that it's worth for your work. Between the A1 and A9 III I'd definitely go with the latter to complement an A7R V. Edit: Oops, hadn't seen the very last reply, sorry!

No problem, just making sure my wife doesn't see this very fair argument you make, as I insisted to her it wasn't an option...

:-D