TECHnalysis Research Blog Extra

April 21, 2017
Sony Debuts New Pro Camera

By Bob O'Donnell

At a launch event in New York City filled with professional photographers and digital imaging enthusiasts, Sony took the wraps off their new high-end mirror-less camera, the alpha 9. Positioned against the professional DSLRs offered by Nikon and Canon, Sony’s new entry offers a compact, lightweight body that offers a number of impressive capabilities.

Leveraging Sony’s own imaging sensor—the company’s camera sensors are used in everything from smartphones to competitors’ digital cameras—the alpha 9 captures photos at a resolution of 24 megapixels, but does so at an extremely fast rate. Thanks to the world’s first full-frame stacked CMOS sensor, the new camera can continuously shoot up to 20 frames at full resolution per second, and can buffer up to 240+ raw images and 360+ JPEGs. The alpha9 also includes an impressive 963-point autofocus system that makes up to 60 autofocus calculations per second. For video applications, the camera is also capable of shooting4K video at 30 fps and HD video at up to 120 fps.

As part of the new design, Sony made the alpha 9 camera completely silent (though you can turn on an artificial shutter sound if you prefer). Another key new feature is that the screen and high-resolution OLED-based electronic viewfinder never blacken as the shutter closes, as DSLRs and most other cameras do. As a result, photographers can always see exactly what they’re capturing and never need to worry about potentially missing the right shot.

To address some concerns with previous generation alpha 7 cameras, Sony more than doubled the battery capacity and built in two SD card slots for storage. In addition, for time-sensitive network applications, the alpha 9 includes an Ethernet port, which can be used to immediately transmit high-resolution photos to a network or cloud-based storage service.

Along with the new camera body—which is expected to be available next month for a price of $4,500—Sony also unveiled a new 100—400mm f4.5 lens (priced at $2,499 and available in a similar time frame). The compact new lens will work with all Sony E-mount compatible detachable lens mirror-less cameras, but it was particularly optimized to work with the alpha 9. It features two different focusing motors and Sony’s Optical SteadyShot (OSS) technology.
Because of its high price point and the fact that it’s being targeted towards prosumers and professional photographers, a camera like the alpha 9 will never sell in large numbers.

Nevertheless, it’s good to see Sony leveraging its own image-sensor component technology to bring them into a very competitive spot in the influential high-end digital camera market.

Here's a link to the column: https://techpinions.com/friday-roundup/unpacked-this-weeks-news-april-21st-2017

Bob O’Donnell is the president and chief analyst of TECHnalysis Research, LLC a market research firm that provides strategic consulting and market research services to the technology industry and professional financial community. You can follow him on Twitter @bobodtech.