Sony A9 Auto Focus Speed Test for Video (Video Demo)

June 13, 2017 follow ups, GEAR, Just for fun, Mirrorless, Sony, Video 10

Sony A9 Auto Focus Speed Test for Video (Video Demo)

By Steve Huff

Hey all! Just thought I would do this one for fun today, and to show others out there who may be curious about the AF speed with the Sony A9 for video work. The A7 series before it had slow AF for video, and I normally used manual focus with the A7RII for that reason (for video) but the A9 is FAST! Not only will the A9 be my go. to photo camera but also my go to video camera for my reviews, vlogging and even some production work. I do not need Slog for my needs so the A9 is fantastic. With its low light abilities as good as I could ever need (for video) and AF speed 2X as fast as the A7RII for video, this camera surprises me more and more by the day. Check out the video below for a demo of the AF speed with video using the 28mm f/2 lens:

 

BTW, one cool ting with the A9 is that you can control the way the AF speed works in video. If you want a slower more cinematic focus, you can set that up within the camera. Awesome.

 

I bought my A9 from B&H Photo HERE. 

I bought the display in the video at Amazon HERE

The Sony A9 Grip can be seen HERE

The Sony 28mm f.2 REVIEW can be seen here.

You can buy it at Amazon HERE. 

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10 Comments

  1. Hi Steve,

    Excuse me for this dumb question but I am wondering on the A9 in crop mode is a 50mm lens a 75mm with a 1.5x crop factor like on the A6500?

    Thanks,

    Wes

  2. Thanks Steve for doing this. Most informative. I had the Sony A7R II but sold it off as I had some issues with memory card failure. I am just too used to shooting with 2 memory cards in the camera. My current camera is the OM-D E-M1 Mark II. From the looks of it, the Sony A9 is faster at locking focus in video as opposed to the E-M1 II. Keep up the good work.

    • It is faster than the EM1 MKII with AF. Been using them both side by side for the last few days and it is quite noticeable. Thank you.

  3. Personally, I felt like the E-M1 II held up pretty well against the A9 from an AF standpoint. Might not track as well as the A9 but it locks focus like lighting.

  4. Nice video which shows us real time AF in almost layperson terms! Great job Steve. AF is very snappy and so responsive even while shooting various objects. Wondering though, does the A9 have a control option in video modernly so that while auto-focusing on an object a delay/slower transition can be selected so it would appear smoother and not so choppy. Perhaps allowing the shooter to chose the increments???

  5. Boy, that AF does seem to just pop or snap right back into focus. So fast…I’d almost like to see a smoother, if not slower, transition instead of that abrupt snap-lock. To my eyes, it seams very UN-cinematic like at least form your test viddy?
    Off topic: So now that you’ve had an opportunity to shoot extensively with both the A9 and the E-M1 II (full-frame advantages aside), which body do you find more appealing from a pure haptics / ergonomics standpoint. About the same or is one better than the other? Thank you.

    • You can set the speed of that within the camera. So you can make it slower if you desire. For me, and my needs I need it fast. But if you wanted a ore cinematic look you can do that as well. Thank you. As for the EM1 MKII vs the A9, tough one. For me the A9 is a superior camera in all ways but the feel? That goes to Olympus. I love the way the Olympus feels in m hand with the lenses I use (7-14, 25 1.2. 8mm 1.8). It too is fast and snappy but the A9 still beats it in that area. The A9 feels nicer than the 7 series before it for sure, but the Only feels a little better. Everything else though, Sony wins.

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