In April, Sony shocked the photography community by announcing the rumored Sony a9 to the world. The camera attacked all the critics by improving on most of the aspects that many believed to be holding Sony back from being a true “professional” camera. Dual SD card slots, 20 frames per second burst with autofocus, and improved battery life all made it seem that the a9 would be the camera to battle the Canon 1DX and Nikon D5 for the top sports camera in the industry. While on paper this camera seemed to be perfect but recent events have come to light showing Sony’s true Achilles heel is still reliability.
In his latest video, photographer and videographer Danny Eusebio aka “That1cameraguy” cited his latest experience with his newly shipped a9. At a typical outdoor shoot in direct sunlight the a9’s overheating warning started displaying on the screen in just 20 minutes of shooting photos. Eusebio goes on explaining the event and how this was a pretty typical usage scenario and he wasn’t pushing the camera’s limits by any means. Now even though this was just the warning indicator coming on, I don’t think this is going to inspire confidence in people to go out and spend $4,500 on the Sony a9.
While I am personally invested and believe in the Sony ecosystem, it’s really disheartening to see the newest addition to the Sony lineup still being plagued by the reliability issues we’ve seen over and over again in these cameras. I hope for Sony’s sake that a simple firmware update can resolve most of the overheating issues. For now, I have a bad feeling that similar cases of this are going to keep popping up as people start to use the a9 regularly. Sony is still pushing the boundaries of what you can fit into small mirrorless body and I will remain hopeful that issues like these are just growing pains for the company driving the hybrid photography and videography community.
You are awfully quick to pass judgement on a new camera that you have never used, based on one YouTube video.
Clickbait?
Well granted I haven't personally used the A9, I use my A7RII almost daily and there are a lot of situations where the camera overheats. I also did a quick good search and these issues are popping up everywhere from the same type of usage scenarios. Im not passing judgement, I'm just personally worried that the passive cooling in Sony cameras are still not caught up to the technology.
It's probably very difficult to provide all the features we've come to expect from Sony *and* make sure it cools properly in the world's smallest full-frame camera. Shooting 24.2MP on a 5-axis stabilized full-frame sensor, with 4K video, and 693 focusing points all packed right next to a hot CPU, inside a dust- and weather-sealed little magnesium box cannot be an easy feat for their engineers. I agree it would be nice if it didn't overheat, but something's gotta give and I think the power the camera packs is still a good enough reason for most photographers (who need what an a9 offers) to buy it. It's not like it's dangerous to use like an exploding smartphone, just a downside to all the positives the camera offers. Hopefully another fix will come out like the recent one for the a6500 issue.
I completely agree. I accept the overheating and work around it because I believe in the technology.
I have to disagree. You can excuse that on an A6xxx, there's no excusing it on a flagship model you're charging an exorbitant amount of money that you're targeting professionals with. Considering the fact that Sony has gone through this issue before, and considering the fact that this is aimed at professionals that NEED their gear to be bullet-proof, this is completely inexcusable.
Canon manages it pretty well with the 1Dx II and more importantly keeps the stability/ruggedness/support that Pro's expect. So what's Sony's excuse?
I think that's a pretty simple answer, the Canon 1Dx II is: nearly double the size, more than double the weight, shoots 30% fewer frames per second, costs $1,500 more, has 632 fewer auto-focus points, does not have to shoot in live-view at all times, and is also constructed with much more space to dissipate the heat because of its mirror box. The Sony a9 is a worst-case-scenario for getting rid of all the heat it generates, like turning on an oven in a studio apartment instead of a 2-bedroom house.
Um, no. Canon does it by relying on experience in building bullet-proof cameras designed by and for professionals that need equipment to work perfectly, day in, and day out, in professional production conditions, with no excuses.
I agree with you, Canon does have decades more experience, but are you saying Sony does not "design" their cameras "by and for professionals?" I'm pretty sure both companies have great engineers, and professionals using their equipment.
However, your comment is 'full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.' You haven't really said anything but opinion here. How does one measure "bullet-proofness" of cameras? DxO mark? And neither Canon nor Sony have cameras that always "work perfectly." I at least provided Daris Fox's question with seven different facts and figures. How does one simply "Um, no" those numbers? Denial?
"How does one measure "bullet-proofness" of cameras?"
Um, it's called track record. Both Canon and Nikon have decades of experience in knowing how to make a top of line camera perform exactly as professionals expect them to.
"And neither Canon nor Sony have cameras that always "work perfectly.""
While lower-end models usually do have issues, rarely do flagship models do, and if one is discovered it's fixed rapidly. Canon and Nikon both makes mistakes, but they learn from them and evolve. That's what makes their flagship models bulletproof, applying what hey learn from their mistakes and from the field and strengthening their product. The A9 is now Sony's 3rd or 4th camera (I've lost track) with overheating issues, and it's also their flagship model, and Sony is STILL manufacturing products with the same defect. Sorry dude, but this is entirely inexcusable, even on the consumer level, and especially so on a product they are market on the top end, and charging an exorbitant price for.
https://www.slrlounge.com/the-sony-a9-is-gonna-overheat-in-20-minutes-pr...
Thanks Jeffrey, that's a much more sobering review than the YouTuber looking to pick a fight with Sony. If it is a legitimate problem, Sony will have to deal with it, but if people are merely looking for reasons to trash Sony they will find themselves more and more in the minority. Like film shooters who still hate digital, or painters who hate photography.
Every camera is a compromise.
A compromise in weight, bulk, price or other issues. A similar Canon or Nikon camera won't overheat but is heavy,cumbersome and much more expensive and less versatile.
The Sony is smallish, packs an enormous amount of features and sometimes overheat.
There is always a price to pay, not matter what you buy.
That being said, if this turn out to be a real problem (which maybe it won't be), Sony will need to address it.
But your title was somewhat clickbaity.
From a camera company that has a very public history of overheating, who is quick here?
There's more than one video and more than one report of it overheating, but this is classic Sony here, and for only FOUR THOUSAND, FIVE HUNDRED dollars, you too can be the proud owner of the hottest new camera in the industry...
I see what you did there, and it made me laugh quite a bit.
Fanboys gonna fan...
They better fan hard on the A9 if they want to keep going...
I've honestly never heard of overheating on a camera before. Is this something relatively new, or does it just happen on mirrorless? Does Nikon even have an overheating warning (light or noise)? Because in almost 10 years of shooting Nikon, I've never had this happen, and I shoot in Florida...
It's a Sony feature, not a bug. It's the future of photography...
Rofl...
Just search YouTube for "sony overheat" and you'll find plenty.
One of the advantages of an optical viewfinder is not having to deal with this for stills. Videos and a lot of Live View usage might be a different story.
Did you actually watch the entire video before you wrote this article? Because he also said that only the warning light came up, and the camera never shut off.
The camera doesn't have to shut off to be overheating...
Of course it depends on the definition of overheating.
:Operating at a temperature that was not intended and may be damaging to the device.
There is a reason why that warning pops up and pretending that it's not happening won't make it so. Sony is infamous for overheating. Face the fact that the A9 is not what they promised and has some major quality issues for a $5k camera.
Did you actually read my article?
"Now even though this was just the warning indicator coming on, I don’t think this is going to inspire confidence in people to go out and spend $4,500 on the Sony a9."
Wow! Sounds like there's a ton of processing going on with no way of properly venting all that heat. Reminds me of my phone, LOL!
True!
This reminds me of the light leak issues people complained about before when someone intentionally shot directly into the sun, with a wide-open aperture, at a 30 second shutter speed. At that point you're just looking for a problem, and the vast majority of shooter's don't experience that because they aren't designing the worst-case-scenarios to make it happen.
I do believe that in direct sunlight--probably shooting on continuous mode?--the warning light may, of course, show up (I can't watch the video from work so I know you guys will correct me if I'm wrong :D). But that doesn't seem like much of a surprise to me. If a camera is expected to be weather sealed, shoot 20 fps, and shoot 4K video you're building a handheld oven--something's gotta give there. So of course it has a warning light, and may even shut off to save itself.
Though, even if it was a problem I imagine Sony would take care of it under their warranty if it was explained (and especially if proven on video). It seems everyone tries to find a problem with every new camera coming out and sometimes the experiences of a few can go viral and force these huge companies to scrap and re-brand entire products (looking at you Nikon D600/D610). Which is not the same as the very legitimate problem of the Samsun Note 7 phones, I would say that's a legitimate problem, and things like Sony overheating or Nikon D600's getting "oil on the sensor" are less so, and very situational.
Delusions won't fix the problems Sony has.
Well that's wholly unhelpful and a waste of a comment. Care to elaborate?
Sony's doin' just fine, I'd worry more about other companies who are losing money and market share quarter after quarter like Nikon. I don't own either of them, before you go that route, and don't care about brand names like they're my favorite sports team. But it seems this thread is enjoying the Sony-bashing without much to go on yet. Would love to be proven wrong, but you'd actually have to say something substantive to do that. I'm probably in the wrong place for that.
Red lines in images, documented and proven they are occurring...
Overheating issues, documented and proven they are occurring...
Dropping focus while the Eshutter and burst firing..proven and occurring...
Sony cameras overheating has been a problem for a very long time...It's not a new issue for this company.
All while you want to blame the user for the issues the camera has. You are delusional and not "helpful" at all. Maybe it's time you stop ignoring facts and blaming the user instead of the maker that created the issues. Sony should be bashed for the camera they rushed to market for $5k while having issues of a $100 point and shoot.
You're fighting an outraged war by yourself here, I'm not blaming anybody, it's Sony's problem, but people have been known to look for problems with every new camera release. I never claimed those things weren't happening I merely said it makes sense that it's overheating because of everything Sony (and the camera) is trying to do.
What do we expect? Shooting 24.2MP on a 5-axis stabilized full-frame sensor, with 4K video, and 693 focusing points all packed right next to a hot CPU, inside a dust- and weather-sealed little magnesium box sounds like a digital oven to me. It sucks for photographers who this affects, but I don't think it's a deal-breaking issue for most people that should turn them away.
If I buy a two-door car that also has the horsepower and torque to tow a boat, with a trunk full of groceries and the A/C running on full-blast should I be surprised that the car gets hot and its temperature warning light turns on but continues to run? Something should probably be done about it, but I don't think I should blame the car or manufacturer.
I'm sure another fix will come out like they did with the a6500, but for now we've learned that packing all these features into the smallest full-frame camera leads to overheating.
Is this the part where I start hurling insults? Damn I forgot.
I shot with the Sony a9 this weekend at the Dean and Deluca Invitational in Fort Worth, Texas where temperatures reached as high as 94 degrees. The heating indicator constantly displayed on the camera, but I continued to shoot because the camera body itself did not feel hot. While the heat indicator was a concern the camera itself never shut off.
Maybe someone needs to invent a refrigeration unit to attach to the Sony battery grip, to make Sony FF mirrorless cameras reliable? 😂
He has a very valid point, no serious sports photographer would enter an arena would the heat warning on. I've shot motor sports and air shows in tropical countries for years with much higher temperatures than he is talking about, and heat warnings... never heard about it, but then I used DSLR cameras.