OMGoodness what have I done!
We head into the city today to get David a new lens. He had been busy in the weeks prior selling a bunch of stuff, including his old A-Mount lenses and an older laptop to afford his new lens.
As usual we hit all of the camera stores along Elizabeth Street in the city before arriving back at the JB Hi-Fi camera store. It really is our go-to store, I’m not sure how they do the prices they do, and maybe they only give those prices to us because we’ve been there so many times, but we have “saved” a bunch of money shopping there over the years and we’re usually served by the same guy. As an example: not long after the Canon 5DMKIII came out, while it was still shelf price of $4,200 I walked into the JB Hi-Fi store and got a price of $3,000, of course, I spent my money very quickly.
On this occasion, they not only gave us a great price on the Sony 70-200 G-Master lens we were after, they also (at David’s request) gave us a fantastic price on a Sony A9… the bastards! I couldn’t walk away from the price they gave us.
Of course, I’m not one to maintain multiple systems, and because I had to recoup my purchase if I wanted to eat, all my Canon gear is now on sale! I’m a switcher, not a hoarder.
Fortunately I’ve sold a couple of items already, and have a few interested parties in other items, so I’m well on the way to recouping my costs.
I’ve been a Canon shooter since I was 18, well more than half my life, and I’ve gathered a few things in that time, to change is a crazy expensive venture after already spending a small fortune on a multitude of lenses. Thankfully, David is a Sony shooter, so we already have a lot of the lenses I’m getting offloading, so I’m not having to replace my whole kit at once.
Why am I switching… well in part because as per the last paragraph, there’s a lower cost for me to do it, but also because the Sony A9 provides a bunch of features that the Canon doesn’t and won’t be providing any time soon. The big ones for me are:
- The focus points
On the Sony A9 there are over 690 focus points that push right to the edge of the frame, with my Canon I’m very restricted to how far to the edge I can focus, and those about midway out from the centre are not awesome for focussing. The Sony is amazingly fast to focus, even on the edge points. - Eye Focus and Follow Focus
In addition to the amazing number of focus points, the A9 has incredible focus following. I haven’t tried it out too much myself yet, I was looking for some sport that might be on today to have a go, but nothing is on today in Melbourne, but I have seen many, many videos showing it’s ability to do this and I’m keen to give it a go. It even shows great promise with subjects that move towards you, something every other camera I have ever had has had issue with. - What you see is what you get.
On my A9 it has an electronic viewfinder. I’ve never liked them much, mostly because they suck the battery dry. Sadly the A9 is not immune to this issue, but I have grown to love the WYSIWYG nature of the shooting. Sure on my Canon I could literally for days shooting, but I also had to use the review button a lot to make sure I got the shot, now I know I’ve gotten the shot when I push the buttons, I don’t need to “chimp” it to see before making my next shot. So I’ll need to get myself another battery or two. - It’s lighter
Not a lot, but every little bit counts when it’s something you’re lugging around all day. I also hope it will handle well when on my Ronin M. Something I’m hoping to try out in the coming days. - 4K Video 100fps
I haven’t had a camera that will do 4K that will slide in nicely with the footage from my Phantom 4. Looking forward to give this a go and finally mixing my footage.
Well that’s just 5, I’m sure more will come along… let’s see.
Selling off and handing over my Canon gear has been hard, very hard, I had a little meltdown the day I bought the A9, but I’m getting used to it and learning to love it.