Sony aims for the pros with new a9 mirrorless camera

Sony Malaysia managing director Satoru Arai showing the different lenses available for the Sony a9 full frame mirrorless camera. — AZLINA ABDULLAH/The Star

Sony's new a9 full frame mirrorless camera which made its debut worldwide in April is finally available in Malaysia.

Aimed at professional photographers who are looking for top-notch speed and performance, the a9 is Sony's most advanced mirrorless camera to date.

Key to the a9 is Sony's new stacked 24.2-megapixel Exmor RS image sensor along with the BIONZ X processor and front end LSI.

The 35mm full-frame stacked Exmor RS CMOS sensor, the first of its kind in the world according to Sony, enables data speed processing at up to 20 times than previous Sony full frame mirrorless cameras.

Not only that, the sensor is back-illuminated, allowing it to capture more light and produce true-to-life image quality.

The sensor has an ISO range of 100-51,200, expandable to 50-204,800 for optimum image quality with minimum noise.

Sony says that the processing power from the new components used allow for faster AF/AE (auto-focus and auto-exposure) calculations at up to 60fps (frame per second) while also reducing EVF (electronic viewfinder) display latency.

In short, the camera shoots so fast, in fact, that it's one of the fastest full frame mirrorless camera you can get your hands on right now.

It's also capable of shooting blackout-free continuously at up to 20fps for up to 241 RAW or 362 JPEG images straight.

"The a9 offers a new shooting experience for professionals and hobbyist," said Sony Malaysia digital imaging marketing senior manager Chou Bing Han.

"Despite its a compact body that is less than 680g, the a9 packs heavyweight features such as 20fps continuous shooting, 60fps autofocus and autoexposure, blackout free and silent vibration-free shutter."

Speed is not its only forte. The a9 also features a focusing system that 693 phase detection AF (auto-focus) points. 

With coverage of approximately 93% of the frame, Sony says that the focusing system ensures that even the fastest moving subjects are reliably captured and tracked across the frame.

Sony also claims that a9's Fast Hybrid technology means that auto-focus performance is 25% faster compared to the previous a7R II model, making it easy to capture all fast-moving subjects.

Other new features include a 5-axis image stabilisation system, full-frame 4K video capture support, dual microSD card slot and a new larger battery with up to 2.2 times more capacity than previous models.

The Sony a9 is available now at RM21,799 (body only).

The super-telephoto Zoom Lens (SEL100400) is priced at RM12,699, while the premium wide angle zoom lens (SEL1635GM) and compact wide angle lens (SEL1224GM) are priced at RM10,899 and RM7,899 respectively.

Source: Sony aims for the pros with new a9 mirrorless camera