Sony has announced the Alpha 9 II. It’s an Alpha full-frame interchangeable lens camera that’s improving on where the Alpha 9 left off.
The camera targets professionals working in sports photography and photojournalism. Why is that? Sony claims the Alpha 9 II is fast —with ”groundbreaking” speed performance. The camera supports continuous shooting at up to 20 frames per second with Auto Focus and Auto Exposure tracking at 60 calculations per second.
Alpha 9 II improvements
So, what has the Alpha 9 II improved on its predecessor? It now offers “significantly” enhanced connectivity and file delivery, according to Sony.
But when it comes to video shooting, there seems there aren’t any significant improvements over the original. It retains a lot of the same specs as the Alpha 9. For instance, it has the same image sensor.
Shooting
The Alpha 9 II has the same 35mm full-frame stacked 24.2 MP Exmor RS CMOS image sensor as its predecessor. When shooting, the camera can shoot continuously at 20 fps for up to 361 JPEG images or 239 compressed RAW images. For the times you want to use mechanical shutter, the camera can shoot at up to 10 fps. That is about 2x the speed of the Alpha 9.
Also, for those shooting at sports events, the Alpha 9 II features an anti-flicker shooting mode. This mode can automatically detect and adjust if there’s fluorescent or artificial lighting.
Auto Focus
The Fast Hybrid Auto Focus System includes 693 focal-plane phase-detection AF points, covering 93 percent of the image area. Additionally, there are 435 contrast AF points. The system includes Real-time Eye AF that allows you to select either the right or left eye. There’s also Real-time Eye AF for animals augmented with a new algorithm, Real-Time Eye AF for movie, Real-time Tracking, selectable focus frame color and Touch Pad focus point control while using the viewfinder.
Better built-in connectivity
The Alpha 9 II has a built-in 1000BASE-T Ethernet terminal. Sony says this will enable “gigabit communication for high-speed, stable data transfer operations.” Also, the camera supports File Transfer over SSL or TLS encryption for more data security.
Overview
- Upgraded BIONZ X image processing engine
- Upgraded dust and moisture resistant design
- Image-processing algorithm reduces noise in the medium-to-high sensitivity range
- 5-axis optical in-body image stabilization system
- Improved grip configuration
- Improved button design
- Redesigned shutter mechanism to suppress image blur
- USB Type-C connector that supports USB 3.2 Gen 1 data transfer
- Dual media slots that are both compatible with UHS-I and UHS-II SD cards
- Digital audio interface has been added to the camera’s Multi Interface Shoe
Pricing and availability
The Alpha 9 II will be out in November 2019 and will be priced for $4.500. If you want to learn more about the camera, go here.
