Sony A9: Is Canon doomed ?

joedlh wrote in post #18334795
So, I'm asking: how often did you look at an 16x20 print from a Canon camera and think to yourself, "Damn! If I had that unicorn magical camera, this shot would have been sooooo much better. This is garbage!"? The level of excellence in every large sensor camera today and a lot of small sensor ones in smart phones is such that if one's photos su... um... suffer from recognizable deficiencies, it's not the fault of the camera. I'm just sayin.

I've seen an instant improvement in my images and large prints when I went from my 5d2 to the A7R. Like with anything, a skilled technician will get the most out of their gear...if gear have more to give, they'll be able to extract it. Your post assumes one is limited by their skill, not their gear. This is often the case, but not always and assuming so you could be dead wrong.

Hogloff wrote in post #18334641
You do realize those numbers are for single shot mode right. In high burst mode due to reduced display on LCD and viewfinder, those numbers go up into the thousands

So if I buy an A9, are you saying that my best technique would be to pray and spray in order to get the best, most numerous photos from it? I'm just asking.

joedlh wrote in post #18334795
So, I'm asking: how often did you look at an 16x20 print from a Canon camera and think to yourself, "Damn! If I had that unicorn magical camera, this shot would have been sooooo much better. This is garbage!"? The level of excellence in every large sensor camera today and a lot of small sensor ones in smart phones is such that if one's photos su... um... suffer from recognizable deficiencies, it's not the fault of the camera. I'm just sayin.

I do have 20x30's that I sure wish I did things differently. I even have large prints from sony that could have been more pin sharp, but I used a lower megapixel 24mp vs 36mp because I was testing it out. They're not garbage, but when you make time to shoot, and an epic scene comes your way, you'de regret it for sure if you only had your cell phone.

people grow with their gear, and while you may be happy with the point you're at, that's fine, others have different opinions.

Hogloff wrote in post #18334797
I've seen an instant improvement in my images and large prints when I went from my 5d2 to the A7R. Like with anything, a skilled technician will get the most out of their gear...if gear have more to give, they'll be able to extract it. Your post assumes one is limited by their skill, not their gear. This is often the case, but not always and assuming so you could be dead wrong.

Taking you at your word, I thought that I might look at some of the photos in your forum gallery that would convince me that there was an astounding watershed moment -- the instant improvement, as you say -- when you switched to Sony.

Is there a word for camera owners who wax eloquently about gear, but don't take pictures? Or at lest don't show them?

I should stay out of gear threads. But they're just so darn entertaining.

Luckless wrote in post #18334700
Yes, because every time you use a camera with a fast burst rate, you need to shoot 20 images at a time, and at the end of the day you have to come home with at least a thousand frames...

I own a pair of 7D cameras, carry one daily, use it at least every other day on average, and literally go months between bothering to charge the battery. Why? Because many times I take the camera out, frame the subject study it, and then don't take a photo... (There is after all little sense in taking a photo once you already know you don't like it and won't use it.) Other times I'm only taking a handful, but I'm often framing photos up for long periods of time without actively capturing images.

And in the original post you quoted me in was also comparing the 1Dx series and its massive battery, and not the smaller one found in the 7D.

I don't have faith in the A9's ability to be ready to take a photo at any time during the day when I grab my camera and lift it to my eye. I've sat for hours with my 7D and a telephoto trained on a target point waiting for the shot (Critters coming out of a den), all the while watching through the view finder, and not put a dent in the battery usage, because the camera can be fully functional while in a mode that uses nearly zero power while allowing you to frame your image and still have no delay on your shutter.


This thread is about whether or not a product like the Sony A9 can doom Canon. Given that the Sony A9 fails to meet use-case needs of many photographers, and Sony does not have nearly as strong level of customer trust as Canon does, it would then suggest that the 'doom' of Canon is rather unlikely based on this one camera.

if you can go months on a 7d battery you should easily be able to go a good long time on a a9 or a7r2

joedlh wrote in post #18334795
So, I'm asking: how often did you look at an 16x20 print from a Canon camera and think to yourself, "Damn! If I had that unicorn magical camera, this shot would have been sooooo much better. This is garbage!"? The level of excellence in every large sensor camera today and a lot of small sensor ones in smart phones is such that if one's photos su... um... suffer from recognizable deficiencies, it's not the fault of the camera. I'm just sayin.

everytime when I left my oversized 5dIII at home because I got bored of carrying a brick around, when I could interact with my kid.

with a7rII and 55mm lens, or the super light batis25, I can still chase after my kid, interact with them better and half the time I don't even know the camera is there.

another thing I never have to worry about micro-adjustments, even the worse back or front focusing sigma lenses, autofocus perfectly on Sony.

with Eye-AF my kid photos always focus exactly where I want them.

Luckless wrote in post #18334656
Well, you do realize that those numbers are the ones provided in official documentation presented for promotion of the camera, and even when the numbers go up in burst mode they're still a fraction of what users get out of the 1DX cameras.

I can go months of birding and photo walks on the batteries in my 7D without needing to charge them or think about them. I've actually gotten caught once or twice with a surprise near dead battery because I'm so used to using so little power out of them. I really can't image switching to a camera system that will start sucking down the battery just to look through the viewfinder.

How many photos worth of energy does the A9 eat up when you lift it to your eye to decide whether or not the frame is actually worth snapping the photo of, even if you don't take the photo?

I had 7D, and I have 7DII, it doesn't last months... battery lasted one eagle shooting outing yes, but not months.

joedlh wrote in post #18334806
So if I buy an A9, are you saying that my best technique would be to pray and spray in order to get the best, most numerous photos from it? I'm just asking.

Nope, not really interested in the fps but that totally silent shutter is great for concerts and plays. Why you so fast to put down people?

Hogloff wrote in post #18334866
Nope, not really interested in the fps but that totally silent shutter is great for concerts and plays. Why you so fast to put down people?

+1, I'm just around for the trickle down

double battery capacity and a slew of features for only 50g penalty? I dont need the bandwidth of 20fps, but a lot of interesting stuff in this camera I would LOVE to have. Just say I havent read anything about GPS

Trickle down a little faster buffer, 0 blackouts, and all the body features, I want a decent second camera, which my a7rii can be, with an a7riii as primary. In all honesty, I can live with the A7rii for several years, it's really good even if not perfect.

joedlh wrote in post #18334823
Taking you at your word, I thought that I might look at some of the photos in your forum gallery that would convince me that there was an astounding watershed moment -- the instant improvement, as you say -- when you switched to Sony.

Is there a word for camera owners who wax eloquently about gear, but don't take pictures? Or at lest don't show them?

I should stay out of gear threads. But they're just so darn entertaining.

joedlh wrote in post #18334823
Taking you at your word, I thought that I might look at some of the photos in your forum gallery that would convince me that there was an astounding watershed moment -- the instant improvement, as you say -- when you switched to Sony.

Is there a word for camera owners who wax eloquently about gear, but don't take pictures? Or at lest don't show them?

I should stay out of gear threads. But they're just so darn entertaining.

Man you are really something aren't you. Balls up the rear and all.

I'm away from home shooting on the West Coast of Vancouver Island, but if you really want I'll put some of my photos into my gallery...just don't trip over your tongue while viewing them.

Charlie wrote in post #18334882
+1, I'm just around for the trickle down

double battery capacity and a slew of features for only 50g penalty? I dont need the bandwidth of 20fps, but a lot of interesting stuff in this camera I would LOVE to have. Just say I havent read anything about GPS

Trickle down a little faster buffer, 0 blackouts, and all the body features, I want a decent second camera, which my a7rii can be, with an a7riii as primary. In all honesty, I can live with the A7rii for several years, it's really good even if not perfect.

It has Bluetooth now... And I read somewhere that the Bluetooth can be used to communicate with your smartphone to add GPS tags to photos.

Left Handed Brisket wrote in post #18334723
But Microsoft coming into the phone game with so little hardware experience and honestly a pretty horrible GUI history is nothing like a perrenial dominant player like canon in the SLR/DSLR.

Remember that Microsoft was dominating the smartphone market with Windows CE devices long before the iPhone came out.
These devices were unreliable beyond frustration. My HP smartphone used to reboot for no reason almost once a day, but the worst was when only the phone subsystem crashed without any symptom, and incoming calls were simply not detected. It is not hard to imagine which kind of problems this could cause, especially with girlfriend/wife

Hogloff wrote in post #18334883
...just don't trip over your tongue while viewing them.

Much modesty.

That said, I wouldn't mind more DR on my canon cameras. I do they that Canon and Nikon still have better landscape lens choices though.

Hogloff wrote in post #18334755
As a side note...wonder what customer research lead Canon to have a print button on their cameras for so many years?

That's no marketing research, that is just marketing monkeys.
It goes like this:
- Guys, the CEO says we are not selling as much printers as we should ! Perhaps we should ask for more innovative features ?
- No, engineering will take forever. We have a better idea: just put "Print" buttons everywhere so people will need to buy a printer to use it !
- F*** yeah !!! You guys are the best !

That's more or less what happened

CheshireCat wrote in post #18334917
That's no marketing research, that is just marketing monkeys.
It goes like this:
- Guys, the CEO says we are not selling as much printers as we should ! Perhaps we should ask for more innovative features ?
- No, engineering will take forever. We have a better idea: just put "Print" buttons everywhere so people will need to buy a printer to use it !
- F*** yeah !!! You guys are the best !

That's more or less what happened

What cameras have print buttons? Older cameras? Consumer cameras?