Well howy you everyone and today you get To join me as I go on my first ever Sony Press event I don't get to these things Very often because I live in West Wales Which is pretty far away from the action But something big is about to go down Because s are hosting simultaneous press Event in New York and here in southern Turkey to make some kind of huge Announcement I have no idea what it is They're being really tight lipped about Why they brought us all out here maybe It's a new SD card maybe it's a new Printer hopefully something even bigger Well let's go and find Out first on the agenda a new 300 mm F2.8 G Master lens which nicely plugs a Small hole in Sony's ount lens lineup at 1.5 kg this is the smallest and lightest Lens of its type and some sports and Wildlife photographers have been begging Sony to put one out apparently because 300 mm Sports lenses can be smaller Lighter and less expensive than their 400 MM Bigger Brothers they're easier to Use in a big crowd and easier when Mounted on a monopod and this thing is Small enough to go in your hand luggage On a plane it'll be compatible with Telecon converters and its MTF charts Indicate that it's going to be so Ridiculously sharp that you won't really See image degradation in doing so oh and It features dual XD autofocus Motors to
Keep up with whatever subject you might Be pointing it at the lens will be $6,000 or about £ 5,800 here in the UK which is of course A lot in absolute terms but not really Any more than a competition but all of Us journalists knew that this new lens Probably wasn't the main event we were Waiting For so we are being ushered right now Into the Glorious Port Arena where Turkish athletes are busily preparing For the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris I Guess we're here to spine them and see What us sprits are up against next year But I reckon we'll also get a chance to Do some sports photography too and it Was in that Arena that we were finally Introduced at exactly the same moment as Other announcements around the world to The star of the show a brand new Sony Minis player I mean the a93 camera and The key feature that Sony had been so Excited about here was Global shutter Global shutter Global shutter something Sports and other photog have been Dreaming about for years and Sony got Their first the a93 is a sport Photography camera featuring a new 24 Map Global shutter sensor which captures Every pixel of the image across the Shutter at the same instant instead of Going row by row down the sensor Global Shutter allows for images free of
Movement Distortion and flicker with no Banding issues in tricky lighting no Rolling shutter in video and offering FL FL sync speeds of up to an astonishing 180,000 of a second which is absolutely Crazy and yes I did say 180,000 of a Second which is this camera's amazing Fastest shutter speed and it can do all Of this at a ridiculously fast maximum Burst rate of 120 frames per second Although unsurprisingly its buffer only Lasts a little over 1 second at speeds Like that even if Sony hadn't treated me To a press trip to Turkey I'd still be Saying the same thing that this camera If you understand what it can do feels Like it's basically fallen from a Spaceship until now no other mainstream Camera has been powerful enough to Achieve Global shutter readout Especially when shooting at up to 120 Frames per second and with a blackout Free viewfinder but somehow Sony have Found a way to do it and it's very Exciting the camera features two tfx Press a or SD card slot very useful the Camera's base ISO is a slightly unusual ISO 250 and it'll cost €7,000 or £ 6,100 here in the UK or about $6,000 before sales tax body only and it Will be available at the end of January 2024 you'd better get your order in now If you're interested because a lot of
Sports photographers and some video Makers also will be waiting for this One so here we are on the track and I Hope these athletes aren't camera shy Because they've got about 30 Photographers with the new A9 Mark II And 300 mm f2.8 lenses all taking Picture of them it's been a blast you Would not believe just how fast the Autofocus is on this camera and how Reliable it is and the 12 120 frames per Second well you have to hold down a Special button while you're shooting in Order to access that but the speed uh is Just incredible my poor SD card that's Crammed in there it's a very fast SD Card but it takes quite a while to Upload all my pictures I can't wait to Get on my computer and take a look and See what they look like I got to shoot With the a93 for a couple of hours with A selection of Sony's best lenses and Here's a Lowdown of how shooting the Camera felt for me firstly its bigger Grip felt really natural in my hand and The grip EX tension underneath was Nicely ergonomically designed also the Camera has some weight to it but not to The point of being tiring and shooting It with a new 300 mm f2.8 lens was Really quite comfortable you have to Hold down an extra button while shooting To shoot at 120 frames per second which I thought was absolutely fine a good
Idea which worked well for me although Not all the other journalists there Agreed remember 120 frames per second is Kind of Overkill and you won't want to Be shooting at that speed until the Perfect moment comes something I really Want to note is that Sony's skin tone Colors really have improved enormously Over the years especially recently Looking way less yellow than they used To and even at high isos they look very Natural now the auto white balance was Fine although when shooting outside in Artificial light I noticed it getting Thrown off a bit by the difficult Lighting with some rather strong green Tones emerging nothing too serious Though and under easier lighting Conditions the camera nailed those Colors real good the autofocus was Absolutely incredible as expected pretty Much the best you can get today on any System although it still wasn't totally Foolproof as you can see here it would Occasionally lose its track and Occasionally focus on body instead of Face but there again I hadn't spent much Time setting it up so with with a bit More adjustment it would probably be a Little bit happier on the whole it was Fine even when I was shooting these Images at f1.4 with a Sony 35 mm lens I Was impressed overall with the camera's Image quality I had thought that the
Power needed from its processors to Enable global shutter would really have An impact on image quality but my shots Only looked a little bit noisier than Usual for a 24 map camera the jpeg Engine favored detail reproduction over Low noise levels here but I was still Impressed with my final images taken out ISO 2000 and even ISO 4000 I mean look At this image here looks perfectly fine To me for such a high ISO it is a shame To be only working at 24 megapixels here But many sports photographers will find That to be enough and will be more than Happy to make a resolution sacrifice in Return for the benefits of global Shutter everything else is just designed So well for sports photographers it's Easy to browse your images and quick and To delete unneeded ones and you'll have Plenty of them shooting at such a high Speed and there are very useful Indicators as well for buffer usage and Remaining battery life and card space Just look at them all there the camera Is of course hideously expensive but if You really understand what it can do as All competent Sports photographers will Then it's worth saving up for as it's a Bit of a revolutionary product ever Since I tested out the neon zed99 in London last year I've been saying that Super fast sensor routs are the future Of Photography well it doesn't get any
Faster than instantaneous Global shutter Does It Sony congratulations and I can't wait To properly test one of these bad boys Out at home to analyze more closely Exactly what it can do
