Sony a9 Full Frame Mirrorless Interchangeable-Lens Camera (Body Only) (ILCE9/B),Black

This year I just got back into photography after a long hiatus and decided to do go big time with it. I already purchased a Sony A7R III camera that I love for doing high resolution photography, but I wanted a camera that would be good for birds in flight. When I saw Sony knocked off a $1000 the price of the Sony A9 the temptation was too much, so I pulled the trigger and bought the Sony A9 as well. I haven't used it all that much and I am just getting accustomed to menus in order to setup the camera the way I want it.Here are the the pros and cons of the camera that I have found so far.Pros1. I love the silent electronic shutter especially when you get close to 20 fps.2. Love the auto focusing of the camera and I like it better than the Sony A7R III. Though the A7R III is more for landscape and/or things that don't move very fast.3. I like the size and weight of the camera body, but that can be negated by putting a big old honking lens on it.4. I like the EVF and the knowing before you snap the picture that it's going to turn out right. Though this doesn't replace knowing the fundamentals of photography, so I suggest anyone starting off in photography to learn the basics of photography. I also know a lot of old timers in the DSLR camp belittle mirrorless cameras, but I'm a tech geek and I think full frame mirrorless cameras are here to stay.Cons.1. Nothing perfect with any cameras and mirrorless cameras are no exception. The number one grip on any Sony camera included the Sony A9 is lack of full support of the touchscreen. It would be nice and easier in my opinion to navigate the menus on the A9 if you could use the touchscreen to navigate. I know you can use the touchscreen to focus, but I personally find using the joystick easier to navigate to location in the scene and pressing the back-focus button that I had setup.2. While the size and weight is nice, I can see where the size factor would matter for people with large hands. Fortunately I have small hands and I do have the Sony VGC3EM Vertical Grip for α9 (You can also use it on the A7R III camera) that extends the camera body. Sony's vertical grip is expensive, but I personally would not trust a 3rd party's vertical to go on the camera body. In my opinion it isn't worth trying to save a few bucks by by a cheap grip that might ruin an expensive camera body, plus it's just one more thing Sony could argue with you at the time of a warranty repair, if you didn't use the Sony's vertical grip.3. Banding and Overheating issue on the Sony A9. I really shouldn't have put this a con, for the limited time that I have had this camera I haven't notice it. I just wanted to mention it, so that I don't get a reply "Hey, you never said anything about banding and/or overheating!".As with any camera it's not the camera, but the person behind the camera that determines if the photograph will be any good or not.

I like to shoot wedding/landscape/infant/night/etc.. I think i am good with this for sure. YouTube reviews are out there for each little details.. this reivew one just for someone like me... "turning pro photographer" category! (Pros. can ignore and move further )So far so good for me being casual photographer. I have been testing this with range of conditions and for Native and Sigma/Rokinon lenses (prime/zoom).. its the performer! I have been using Sony since NEX7 with their native lenses and CZ lenses! This is by far a great release.Always expect to have dual slot, better focusing for video shots and faster enough to capture all baby movements or sports to get the perfect shot! 20fps indeed exist !!!! Way way faster on auto focus for native lens while shooting 4K and SlowMo! Buffer is a kind of small issue but not for me.. sports photographers might want to consider that. Also its actually performing well with its battery life with newly design. I had 450 shots with RAW+JPEG and got 27% utilized (indoors). I am not heavy concerned with buffer so I don't see any other issues.The menu and navigation has been improved quite well and responsive, loved the new buttons and dials. It has almost all features I have been looking for (THE 20fps, super fast Electronic shutter speed, improved focusing, ISO range enough not to explode noise all over, dual slot, bigger & better design, Ethernet/wifi/Bluetooth, looks durable too).. so look for what you actually may be hunting around for, but this one is overall camera with almost every spec available...I kept hearing about overheating problems, but it seems Sony recently released firmware update so no comments on that until I actually test it. (But guys, they are listening, don't you think! :) )Thanks & good luck

Upgrading this from 1 star to four star(due to overheating warning). After many firmware upgrades Sony has fixed the overheat warning issue and has improved the focusing speed, added the amazing eye autofocus, improved the menu system and much more. This camera now has very few if any flaws unless you really want to knit pick. It is a great camera, especially for sports. The focusing capabilities are amazing and the frame rate of 20 FPS make it amazing for sports. If you are doing portraits I would definitely go for the A7R3 as the A9 doesn’t have the resolution or dynamic range the A7R3 has. And I do miss that for portraits.