How I Accessorized (Pimped) my Sony A9.
By Steve Huff
G-CUP HUGE EYECUP – The Sony A9 and A7 series comes with s standard slim style eyepiece, not an eyecup. To shoot without any stray light coming in from the sides, a larger cup is needed. Enter the G CUP! This one is HUGE my friends, and borderline too big but I like it as when I look threw it, all stray light is blocked out and all I see and focus on is the subject in the EVF. You can see it in the video to see just how large it is. I love it though, and it comes in at $35 or so at AMAZON right HERE.
ROCK N ROLL Strap – I go back and forth with straps. Sometimes I love the nice braided leather feel and look and other times I like a basic thin leather strap. Right now I am using the black and red (to match the half case) Rock N Roll strap, which can be found HERE.
LEATHER HALF CASE – This black and red half case is VERY well made. IT has a metal bottom, a tripod mount and full access to the battery and side doors. Very attractive with a nice fit. No slop here at all. I bought it at AMAZON HERE.
SOFT RELEASE – I have a Lolumina soft release in GREEN. Why Green? Well, I like to be an oddball and throw in a color that doesn’t match anything else sometimes, so this is the time. This release comes in all colors though. RED would look stunning with this case! You can see them HERE.
HOT SHOE COVER – This one is from JB Designs who makes awesome grips and other accessories. See their offerings HERE.
Nice selections! Nice to show ’em to us!
It’s interesting that when the A7RII and lll are used in their APSc mode they’re 18 mp cameras, showing that their pixel density (in either crop or FF mode) is not as packed as today’s 24 mp APSc cropped chip cameras. No wonder the A7Rs are so good at high ISOs.
You did a fabulous job with this pimpage Steve 😉 The red stitching in the case matching the braided strap was a nice touch. Isn’t it wonderful to have found a small-ish very fast, very solidly built 40mm Voigt lens, with nice character, that you just don’t want to take off of the camera? Love that lens…
Sorry Steve,
If I am looking for a huge G-cup, it won’t be on a camera. But I like your website anyway.
that’s neat & classy Steve.. 🙂
I “pimped” my camera with duct tapes, so it would be seen like a semi-broken camera.. 😀
Hey Steve,
I really enjoy your blog and have purchased many of the cameras which you have tested for your audience. Much thanks for conducting the homework!
One of the things you might do to help me and other readers when you test out the a79 and the new a7RIII next week is to determine if these cameras produce comparable images to be enlarged – and to what size.
I love the speed and fast FPS of the a a9, but the compromise is that you get a 12 M pixel image in comparison to the 42 M pixel image on the a7R.
Can you blow up images shot with either of these cameras to, let’s say, 30 x 40 in full color without noticing any fall off, soft focus, etc. On the 12M pixel image?
For my work, I like to enlarge and print images so would like to know whether both cameras , which you are testing, can produce images to be printed as large as 30 x 40 without any fall off, soft focus, etc.
I already own an a7RII and the a7SII and am not likely to buy BOTH cameras which you are testing next week – so would love your feedback as to which you think makes a better all-around purchase for someone who plans to enlarge and print photos on luxury paper.
Keep up the good work! You are my go-to photo guru!
The A9 is 24 MP, not 12 and 24 is enough to print as large as you would ever need. Offers are resolution that film did, and I have huge prints from 4MP files, so 24 is plenty. The A7RIII will offer more cropping power but the main draw IMO is the $1300 lower price tag than the A9, so you lose a bit of AF speed, FPS and video AF speed. But you save $1300 and gain 18 more MP for those who love to pixel peep and view at 100% and some DR. But for prints, 18MP is enough, 24 is enough, etc.
42 v 24 MP – “for those who love to pixel peep” -I hear this phrase quite a bit and I’ll admit at one time I was guilty of it myself 😉 Another great aspect of having all of those pixels is the stunning 3D effect one can achieve with proper down-sampling technique. This skill-set is often overlooked especially by those that shoot mostly jpg or only use post processing for minor tweaks and resizing.
If you don’t care about video, there doesn’t seem to be any reason to buy the A9 over the A7Riii. Incidentally, I was considering a Leica Q but now I”m wondering why I wouldn’t just get the a7Riii and stick a 28 mm on it. Cheaper, more advanced, better low light performance, and practically the same size. And if I want the Leica look, I’ll just stick my 28mm cron on it.
There are reasons and that is that the A9 is faster with AF, and in operation in general, though it’s not HUGE. For me, I shoot all kinds of video and the A9 delivers. The A9 also has better control on the body (different body), better weather seals, and it feels nicer in my hand. I own the A9 and would not sell it to get an A7RIII BUT, if I were recommending to ANYONE about what Sony to buy, it would be the A7RIII. It’s fantastic and will do for 99.9% of those looking to get into Sony full frame. It’s the best in the lineup when you take price into consideration but the A9 is a technically better camera and does focus tracking better, without question. Even so, $1300 less for the higher res and somewhat slower Af and it also does not have the true “no blackout” EVF of the A9. So basically with the A9 you gain better build, faster AF and quite a bit faster/accurate tracking, no blackout EVF, and well, less resolution! The A7RIII will be Sony’s biggest seller IMO. But….I feel it! An A9R at 63MP coming next year ; ) (just a hunch, I have no inside info at all).