Last Updated on 11/08/2023 by Chris Gampat
The staff here at the Phoblographer have expressed deep dislike of Sony’s ergonomics for years. Indeed, I even made a joke at the recent press event for the Sony a9 III that they could add in some vibrations similar to the rumble pack in Playstation controllers. In some ways, that statement isn’t a joke. But in so many other ways, the Sony A9 III has the potential to become the perfect camera for the photojournalist community that doesn’t need 50 Megapixels that the Sony A1 has. That’s to say that the pre-production version that I and other journalists tested of the Sony a9 III isn’t finalized.
Some images in this review were shot while on an all-expenses-paid press junket to Sony Creative Space. Sony paid for Uber transportation for us from our base in NYC to and from the location. We declined to stay at a hotel or anything else beyond some refreshments during the testing period. But, the majority of the images in this review were shot on our own bill. Phoblographer’s editors are trained to resist temptation in the industry, and as such, the opinions in this review are our own. We stand by our words, and transparency is the key here. You can read more about our transparency here.
Table of Contents
Tech Specs
The following tech specs are taken from our previous coverage:
- 24.6-megapixel full-frame stacked sensor
- Global shutter at up to 120 fps
- No flash sync speed limits, even while using third-party flashes
- Global shutter also eliminates banding caused by flickering lights
- Shutter speed up to 1/80,000 in single shot, burst up to 1/16,000
- Shortcut button to quickly go from 20 fps to 120 fps
- In-camera star rating to quickly sort through those 120 fps bursts
- Pre-Capture for up to 1 second before the shutter is released
- Real-time eye autofocus, even with 120 fps
- 759 autofocus points covering 95.6 percent of the frame
- Low light autofocus down to -5 EV at f1.8
- Tilting LCD touchscreen
- 9.44 million dot OLED EVF with 120 fps refresh rate at highest quality or 240 fps with reduced quality
- Dust and weather-resistant
- Shipping Spring 2024 for $5,999
Ergonomics
The Sony a9 III has a few big updates to it that have made it a much better camera for those of us who constantly complain about Sony’s ergonomics. To back this statement up, I’ve only ever heard newer photographers and paid ambassadors talk about how they like Sony’s ergonomics. The exception is the very few who’ve shot with Minolta — and even they were a smaller player back in the film days.
But this? Wow. The little slope on the shutter button makes a huge difference and is a major call-back to the company’s older Minolta cameras. The camera sports dials that you’ve got for control with optional locks — and they all feel very standard. Personally, I still like Nikon’s dials more as the tactile feeling of them really lets you know that the settings are being changed. The buttons don’t feel like cheap afterthoughts, either. In fact, these are some of the best buttons I’ve ever felt on a Sony camera. They’re reminiscent of something along the lines of an Apple keyboard, though with a bit more give.
Gripping the camera in your hand and walking around with a lens attached is also a pleasant experience overall. I truly can’t complain about the improvements here from an ergonomics standpoint.
As far as I go, Sony knocked this one out of the park, and we can’t find the ball at all.
Build Quality
The Sony a9 III is said to be weather-resistant with dust protection. During our time with the camera, we didn’t take it out into the rain because there was none. Sony set up a station with rain and a dancer — but the cameras aren’t getting wet at all. The ruggedness of this camera is something that we’re really going to have to test later on.
With all this said, there is also no shutter in this camera because it’s got a Global Shutter unit. That means that there is no mechanical shutter at all. However, the camera has a shutter shield similar to what the Nikon z9 and z8 have. In some ways, this saddens me. While the Sony a9 III’s electronic shutter sounds much better than Nikon’s, I truly miss the tactile feel of a shutter because it’s an extra indication that you’ve taken the shot. Sometimes, when I shoot, I also shoot from the hip or don’t even have time to look through the viewfinder. So, the tactile feeling will let me know that I shot the images.
In this case, a little bit of vibration around the shutter button or through the grip might make the difference. With 8 stops of image stabilization, I think we can sacrifice a little. If you truly need 8 stops of image stabilization consistently, you probably need to learn better shooting methods. And we’ve got several articles on how to do this, but you can check this one out.
Ease of Use
If you’ve used Sony cameras for a while, then you’ll be right at home with the Sony a9 III. I’ve previously heard never photographers say that they’d never want a camera higher end than the a7 series because it’s so good for one-handed operation. You can set the a9 III up to work either way.
In real-life use, switching from one drive mode to the other is as easy as it gets for the moment across various camera systems, the exception being a few Panasonic cameras. But I truly wish that sometimes it were even faster.
I found myself wanting to also switch the ISO setting even faster a times — and that can be programmed to the lockable dial on the top right of the camera. You could also set it to the back dial if you wish.
Peering through the viewfinder is also a great experience, even if you’re legally blind the way that I am. It’s nice, bright, and well-detailed. While this is indeed the case, it can also mislead you.
Then there’s the whole thing about 120 frames a second. It’s something to be praised for Sony. But people don’t really think about the reality here. What if the 120 frames a second are all out of focus? It’s nice that Sony put that special custom function button in to drive it up to 120 frames a second when shooting. And trust me, it’s a problem.
Sony set up an experiential for photographers and journalists to try. And I took a few photos, but after a while, it felt way too clinical. You’ll see around the web that there are lots of images of boxers and all. But trust me, boxing rings aren’t lit like that at all. Everything was lit for the cinematic success of their product launch.
In reality, the Sony a9 III has a similar autofocus performance to the Sony a1. And while it can do a good job, it usually isn’t in some of the most fast-paced scenarios.
Oh, and about flash: the global shutter should eliminate the need for high-speed sync. Yet with Profoto off-camera lights and Godox flashes, the camera still went to HSS mode. Flash manufacturers will need to do firmware updates for sure.
Focusing
With Sony’s staged areas, the lighting was set up to make the camera just work perfectly. But most people don’t shoot in situations like that. Below are some photos from Sony’s staged setups.
What’s sometimes misleading about the Sony a9 III is that the viewfinder is so good that it leads you to believe that sometimes a subject is in focus. Working in conjunction with the autofocus confirmation box, it does a great job of truly misleading you at times when subjects are moving very fast.
And trust me, this isn’t just a firmware issue with the a9 III. We’ve seen this happen more recently with Sony G Master lenses, Tamron’s higher-end lenses (Sony owns part of Tamron), and more.
I took the Sony a9 III down Roosevelt Ave in Queens, NY, along where I live. It’s the most diverse part of the world. At night, the a9 III couldn’t focus on a single person of color with considerable amounts of melanin in their skin when both they and I were moving. Sony and Canon have this issue, and it’s only Nikon’s recent z9 updates that have really been able to make a difference.
If you’re a person reading this that says, “I’d never run into a situation like that,” then you probably don’t live or socialize with a lot of people of color. But in America, people of color make up so much of the minority group that we are indeed the majority.
And thus far, the Sony a9 III is continuing the industry-related autofocus racism-woes that I always preach about.
Further, I also expected the Sony a9 III to be better about finding birds amongst branches and leaves. But even then, it still needed some sort of assistance to get it done. This assistance came from touching up the focus on the lens or using a different focusing point.
I hope that these updates are fixed with the launch in Spring. But truly, I don’t think that they will. As both a person of color and a journalist who’s been testing cameras for a decade and a half, I feel really disappointed in Sony.
Image Quality
At 24MP, this camera has fewer than the a7 IV. The a9 series of cameras has always had weird colors and less dynamic range. But with the a9 III, the color issues seem to be fixed a bit. Sony still isn’t touching Canon, Fujifilm, or Leica on color quality — but it surely is better than it was. You have to think about shooting with the a9 III, like shooting with slide film. Your exposure has to be perfect, or else you probably won’t get anywhere otherwise.
Thus far, we’re only allowed to show JPEGs from the camera. So here they are.
Something very worthy to note: the base ISO is only 250. This, along with so many other things about this camera, is going to encourage very slopping shooting in photographers. And it might look kind of bleak.
First Impressions
Before the launch, there are a bunch of things that need to be fixed and updated :
- High-Speed Sync and flash issues fixed: Shutter speeds tend to lock when shooting faster than f1.8 and using a flash. And this camera has no need for high-speed sync at all, but it still happens. This needs a fix.
- Multiple exposure mode: Sony’s presentation video led me to believe that multiple exposure mode could be added into this camera. It’s arguably the perfect one for it. Sony also had the feature as an option many years ago. So why not equip photographers with a tool like this?
- Better autofocus performance for people of color: Nikon did it. Why can’t you, Sony?
- More shutter sound options: I actually really want them. The Sony a9 III is capable of getting the shot in many situations. But Sony still has more work to do with the tactile experience and the other overall experiences.
It’s still not the perfect camera, but it surely has improved over previous ones.