The Camera That Will Change Photography Forever 

The latest $6,000 camera that will change photography forever....until the next fabulous $6,000 camera comes around.

You know how you make a good video, when people watch it who aren’t even interested in photography and thoroughly enjoy it… Great show… Keep on rocking

2 more generations and this will be standard in all cameras

This is the properly the best explanation of shutters I’ve ever seen! Well done!🔥

No bias just pure facts, great video

Your initial premise is incorrect The very first digital cameras did not have this problem because the first digital cameras used a CCD which captures the entire image plane all at once not line by line It was the shift in digital photography to significantly cheaper and easier to make CMOS sensors that created this problem A CMOS sensor reads line by line We have been stuck with this problem for many years because of how much more expensive CCD sensors are instead of working on making CCD sensors cheaper they have simply worked on improving CMOS sensors for most people the capabilities of a CMOS sensor were good enough it was as weirdos doing really interesting high-speed stuff that encountered this problem shooting a model rocket launch at 60 frames per second for example and getting a skewed image because of this line-by-line read nature of a CMOS sensor It's important to realize however this is not the nature of digital photography this is the nature of CMOS sensor digital photography CCD sensor technology does not have this problem

Loved this review. Straight to the point and packed with lots of useful info. I've been watching camera reviews on RU-vid since forever, and this was the first one to give an easy to understand explanation of rolling shutter. Also, I appreciate the lack the down-to-earth "wait, don't buy now" advice.

@7:23 This frame rate is extremely useful for allowing this camera to be used for computational photography. Imagine the processing tricks that smartphones use to capture multiple photos each time you press the shutter, combining them for expanded dynamic range and significantly less noise. That trick works so well on smartphones because of their fast capture speed, but this camera allows us to benefit from those software tricks whilst having better hardware as well (bigger sensor, better lenses) Sony built a new mode into their desktop software for doing photo stacks with this camera, but seemingly no reviewer has even looked at it. There are also free third party tools that use the same algorithms as Google's Pixel camera software.

This is one of the best technical descriptions I've ever seen from any photography publication!

Hats off to photographers who can tell the difference with such high-end cameras. I can't. But I have an eye for photography I've been told. My best work was done with a disposable analog film camera. When you cannot just delete and repeat a shot, you really need to have good timing and choose your shots carefully.

This is just the beginning. Too many people probably don't realize the camera is a computer. It's not a mechanical device that uses the shutter to expose film to light. So, enjoy the ride and we will see many more great things from our photo computers.

At the end of the day a photographer paints with light. Adding light discretely as fill, overpowering for POV, subtleness for redirection and humbleness for emotion. The global shutter will remove the current constraints. I do currently shoot with a Fujifilm X100F as it gives me much more ability to control the field strobes I use for fashion spreads. This is Nirvana in that respect. Looking to what I can sell to get the 6K for this. Game changer indeed.

That was a super-informative recap of the rolling shutter effect caused by recording of one line at a time, I was not previously clear as to what caused the effect. Your in-depth discussion of the benefits and detriments of this new digital camera technology was also excellent. I had not previously seen any of your videos, but I will definitely check out more of them. Thank you.

I was working for Sony when the original A7 came out and I remember thinking this one product could save the company along with cutting the fat and this along with the censor business has really helped solidify Sonys place in pro photography.

As with so many tech advances like this, it is interesting not because we are planning to buy a $6k camera today, but because we are likely to buy a $1k camera 5 years from now.

Great video, thanks. The high frame rate is a game changer for engineers btw, we use high speed cameras to watch fast moving mechanisms. Keep up the good work, Oliver

I had a global sensor 30 years ago in a Hasselblad 500cm. 😊

How does it compare to a Nikon Z8? The Nikon doesn't have a global shutter but the readout speed is fast, it shoots 20fps full raw with AF, no mechanical shutter, no moving parts, silent.

At 11:13 min.: When the movement of the flying bird stops, there is an annoying grid visible in the unsharp background. Is that a flaw of this camera?

at 6:25: there are at least 2 cameras on the market allowing to do this without an ND filter: the Fuji X100 series and the Hasselblad X series. The trick? A leaf shutter. The best of both worlds as far as flash sync is concerned. You get the full dynamic range, full ISO performance of « older/cheaper » sensors AND a flash sync up to (depending on lens) 1/2000 or 1/4000. Apart from that, great video, thanks for sharing! :)

Agreed my problem with my old camera isn't the 4 fps shutter, the problem is the buffer. 6 fps is really enough if you don't get stopped by the buffer.

keep these coming! and make em longer please

My mom just gave me her A7 III with a few lenses I could've only dreamed of and I'm struggling hard from the switch. This at present literally looks like my worst nightmare. Also surreal watching Open AI Sora coverage today, this future isn't what I'd anticipated. 😂

As a landscape and wildlife photographer, this camera would represent a massive step backwards in noise, dynamic range and added post processing i dont need to do now.

@1:30 If that was true we wouldn’t have issues with rolling shutter, as read time for each row of pixels could be offset to compensate for being out of sync with the action. Rolling shutter occurs because each line of pixels aren’t exposed/read at the exact same point in time, vertical lines are slanted in panning shots since the pan is further along in time as the last row of pixels are exposed, thereby shifting the vertical line gradually left or right depending on the direction of the pan, in turn causing the vertical line (such as the fence in example above) to appear slanted.

a9iii is absolutely an amazing second camera. I would only get this with a primary camera fit for my primary genre of jobs. a9iii + FX3 = awesome video kit, a9iii + a7iv = awesome wedding kit, a9iii + a7Rv = awesome studio kit. I think the a9iii is a killer photojournalism camera and if you are one of those rich hobbyists the a9iii is probably the best camera for creativity. I hope they make an a7Siv that's global shutter. Even if it was 16MP, it would be so awesome to have the global shutter perks with the low light perks.

I'm not a pro photographer, but I like sport's photography. For fast-paced sports like volleyball, 5 fps can be slow... I really enjoy the 11 fps my camera can shoot at, it increases my chance of taking that perfect photograph when the player's pose is just right! A potential use I see for global shutter and this high fps is maybe photography of helicopters in flight, propellers, etc.

There certainly ate some cases where one needs a frame rate much faster than the 20 fps that previous A9’s shot, such as wanting to catch a baseball bat or golf club the moment it strikes the ball or catch a balloon the moment it bursts or a drop the moment it hits water. They are niche cases to be sure, but they are out there.

I had a Minolta film camera in the 1990's that could flash sync at all speeds up to 1/8000 sec, the 700si, as I recall the flash guns were the 3500XI and 5400HS. It was very very useful for bright Sunlit wedding shots to fill in the harsh shadows, fine tuned it was a great look.

I can wait and it might show up as the Sony e10 mk3...I still shoot with everything else because I do not fall for the YT SCAMS that when a new idea come it 'kills' the others.I still shoot film,and use DSLRs,and the Sony here is a niche item for those who NEED those features..When it's cheaper and more mature, I will have another look..

Great idea for portrait photography where you want very high sync speed and also sports photography where you have fast moving bats and clubs etc...

1:42 "every camera with a shutter has a maximum sync speed". That statement makes the assumption that every camera has a curtain shutter which is not true. Most, possibly all SLR cameras have a curtain shutter but that's not "every camera".

Isn't 120 frames useful for doing slow-mo in post-production? Red cameras do high frame rates for that reason.

Sober, realistic, excellent review. As an ex-pro, I agree with all of your points 100%.

Bought one the moment it arrived at my country. 120fps is really usefull specially with the pre capture to capture sports/animals/insects in the moment of action

Great facts and explanations about the a9iii and global shutter. The a9iii have definitely changed photography again with its Global Shutter. I went back to watching the old 2017 a9 review videos again and its amazing that the a9 revolutionized mirrorless cameras too. Now the a9iii is doing it again. Being able to sync any shutter speed with a flash is huge. At the highest i need is 1/4,000 for flash. 120 fps, yes not every needs this burst, but if it can be done, then might as well have it in the camera as well. It shows that camera tech is evolving at a great rate. If A9iii is not for you or in your budget, then wait for Sony's future cameras. Global Shutter is their roadmap now and for sure it will be coming to the other cameras too. But do expect a price increase of at least $500 usd more.

Translating the fps to family photos. This could be the cure for my wife blinking in all the photos 😢🎉

Best video on the subject. Kudos.

Leaf shutter is pretty cool look into it

Amazing that it’s taken this long. I always thought it was crazy the we still needed a physical mechanical shutting in front of a digital sensor!

Nice explanation. But 24mp is plenty. I have an R7 which is 30 and I still use my old 6D with much fewer pixels (20 I think) when doing macro or portrait work. I like the speed of my workflow and IQ suffers anyway when you pixel peep too much. And 120 fps raw is great for wildlife. Birds move insanely fast and capturing that perfect shot is hard even with 30 fps with my R7 set to pre-burst mode. Sometimes I wish I could show it as a slow motion movie but to do that I need to switch to lower bit rate and resolution which, if you aren't nailing the exposure and getting great colours, you can't post process too much.

A very worthy option for anyone considering a higher end camera, especially when one does video. But also consider that, the replacement for the Sony a1 will also most likely have a global shutter - but also adding in that extra one thousand dollar cost.

This is huge! Being able to shoot at f/1.2 or f/0.95 in daylight without an ND Filter ... wow. I went from an NEX-3n to a Sony a7 mark I to a Sony a7CR ... to me, the changes were already huge! For others who upgrade their cameras more frequently, the changes may just seem small and disappointing. As for me, the a7CR was the camera I've dreamt about since the release of the Sony NEX-7. The a9III is not for me but I like how it's features will trickle down to cheaper cameras eventually.

@fstoppers try turning off your phone’s Bluetooth when you want to connect to the camera. Changes my A73 remote view from 1 fps to basically the same update speed as the back screen.

I have a Polaroid instant and it’s fantastic Takes phenomenal pictures and cost is incredible 24.99 and I have plenty of film

1:10 The video talks about combating rolling shutter distortion and then shows a mechanical rolling shutter in front of the rolling shutter sensor. This is how most SLR's are made with their 2 curtain rolling shutters but they don't combat rolling shutter distortion. To do that you would need a global, mechanical shutter (leaf shutter) not a curtain shutter.

Man, I hope in the future this technology will be available in medium format cameras.

I’ve been using sleep and dslr cameras for 4 decades. And I love a big body. Not to mention I have big hands. I hate that they went with small body cameras! Get back to full size cameras and we get the room on the screen to touch the icons as well as making it a better fit for an (adult) sized hand!

Sony made a CCD Broadcast video camera, the PMW500 and PXWX500...they charge a premium for those 90's tech sensors!

ok, this time, the clickbait title is justified. Really impressed by the content and the way you shared it

The best explanation of digital capture I’ve heard to date

Yep, 120 fps is just what every hobbyist and landscape photographer needs!!

Could you talk about what the price of your camera should be? As a professional photographer, it would seem like 6k for your main camera wouldn't be too expensive. Or is it that it's not the right fit? What camera do you use and price?

This might be the most legit review and explanation ive ever seen.

Ccd cell with flourescent pixel on third layer can transfer to led screen then go back to ram to buffer then to memory then enscryp from memory goes back to mrmory

Your explanation of how a rolling shutter works is 100% INCORRECT. The sensor is exposed line by line, and that's what causes the Jello effect.

Yea I have been waiting for you to review this

Good, honest, unbiased review. Great job!

I agree on UI usability , it’s getting crowded in there. This is great news, bring more quality at full frame without distortion. For those who invested into other vendors lens systems, did Nikon for instance confirm they will adopt Sony’s new sensor?

when digital cameras first appeared, i already thought this was how they worked

Where the lines between stills and motion blur like the ink of a worn paperback, I mention STMicroelectronics Big Sky 316 to get a perspective on the scale of sensor development, along with the Achtel 9x7 cine camera, exceeding 70mm IMAX, both are custom designed. At around the 65Mp range, these global shutter sensors have capture rates up to 60GB/s. As you profoundly mentioned, the manufacturing technology will filter down to the cameras we use every day.

The video was over when I saw the black speck on his hand. Drove me bananas crazy.

First still digital camera with a global shutter.... except the Nikon D70, D70s, D40 and probably a couple of other of their 6 MPix APSC cameras (not D100). Mine works fine up to 1/4000s with a basic manual flash,. You can get one second hand for 1/100 of the price of a A9III. You get 3fps instead of 120fps and it sucks at low light/high shutter rates without a flash, but what do you expect from an early DSLR.

@8:30 After using Vision Pro, I think we have reached the peak of the "built-in camera display." The future is clearly in head-mounted displays for production. If camera manufacturers work on this, we'll see an incredibly compelling virtual display feature in a few years.

I bet this is gonna become standard in like 5 years and then people will become nostalgic for rolling shutter…

Great content no boring rambling thanks!

Super clear explanation, thank you!

Only the photo taker who can shoot true color photo or video like this video CAN CALL THEMSELVE A PHOTOGRAPHER. Otherwise, they are liars. Love this video!

For a high end video podcast camera primarily, and yes also for some photos, is there a better option than the Sony A9 III, from Sony or not, but also especially from Sony and thus in the Sony lens ecosystem, as I think I would buy a Sony A1 successor if that was out today.

I hope that 120fps video will eventually become a standard. I think it would greatly improve the quality of sports and dance videos.

You can explain the GS much better as it really works. First non-GS do not stop exposure without a mechanical shutter. Fast reading do not stop exposure. Only electrical reset will do it but destroy the exposure result too. So GS transfer from exposure to a storage close to the pixel and then read serial. The local storage is the compromize which give you the reduce performance.

AT last, I hate the fact you have to read the T&C to find how many actuations before your camera is useless or need a service (Trying to find someone to service time was difficult). I used to shoot over 10,000 every week and the cameras kept on getting shutter lag to a freeze. For Astro photography you want to stack a lot of frames. I used to use my iPad to connect to my cameras, loved the QX100 even though it was a paperweight until the brought out a software update. 120fps is great for Ice Hockey, that used to cost me a lot in cameras, storage, and especially lenses, I am a Sony person (Straight from Minolta), so I am glad it is a sony that answers this question "Why are Shutters still a thing in 2020s"

I foresee a future were shutter speed is completely different. I’d imagine that what you would do is set a maximum shutter time then the images that would be produced rather than being a single image would have a time axis. This would enable you to re adjust your shutter speed in post and even find the best start and end time of the shutter. Of course this is likely many years off as this would use an insane amount of compute and storage.

I wish there was a camera like a box with just a full touchscreen on back. Like a point and shoot with no viewfinder. But if you put it up to your eye a viewfinder will appear in the touchscreen,

I didn't realize that this was still an issue. I knew that less expensive video cameras still had issues with the rolling shutter. If I recall correctly, back when flash bulbs and flash cubes were in use (late 1960's - 1980's) a lot of inexpensive film cameras would use a 1/125-second shutter to capture the entire duration of flash. Something like 1/250 was the standard, I think. A trick in lower-light situations was to install a used flash cube to fool the camera into using the slower shutter setting. Yes, I am an Old Fart.

Blackmagic have the camera screen UI down pretty well. And there is BRAW. So a Blackmagic camera with this sensor would be nice!

So, a first in the technology. As other companies emulate this advancement, there will be incremental improvements. Very exciting. Thanks for the content.

The shutterless design should capture unparalleled imagery of ultrafast UAPs.

Tbf there's HSS to use flash at higher shutter speed for conventional cameras. But hss it's mainly present in higher-end flash units and it's hard on the batteries.

It was called Blackmagic Production Camera i guess? Back in 2012 or something - it had global shutter and it was pretty cool and unique at that time. Nic that after 10 years somebody bring this basic function back and even for photo use!

One thing to think about is that this is the worst the consumer global shutter will be. Give it a couple years, and they'll make a version of this sensor that has the low light performance as good or better than the A7S3

The only problem I have with this technology, is it makes photographers, and the creative process like giving everybody a camcorder! Eventually, you’ll just take 1000 shots to get one?

Thank you, I wonder if there‘s a way to connect the camera through a usb-c cable to an iphone 15

So no 8K support? I use my Sony A7VR for still mostly, will the A9 III make for a good low light video camera?

Cost is what 'changes everything' and that revolution came with CMOS. As a professional full time photographer who couldn easily justify almost any cost for a new camera I can say I don't have any need or want for this camera, in fact, I prefer the increased dymanic range and better colours of my 7R5 and A1. Some VERY niche togs may prefer this for some very niche scenarios.

I have only 1 question: Where can I find that exact blue Apple Watch band, maybe provide a link or brand name. Great video too

Good coverage. Great explanation of flash and exposure considerations. Agreed that user interfaces are important. My Canon R3 has the swipe screen interface you said was lacking on Sony. Don't know about the R5. Since we program these things so much, those extra unassigned buttons are a good idea.

11:50 "Just wait a year or two", lol maybe you mean 10 years. Even stacked sensors are still not in sub 2.9k FF cameras, and the first A9 was released in 2017, so, 7 years ago.

Flash duration of speedlights are like nanoseconds at lower power - incredible for stopping motion.

Wait for this tech to "trickle down"

So, there are a number of shooting scenarios for wgich this camera is optimal: 1) You really need 120fps (sports?) 2) You like to shoot portraits in mid sun outside wide open f1.2 at 1/80.000th (darken the sun at noon) and use a simple 200ws flash in a big softbox to achieve this 3) You are constantly shooting inside with crappy ambient LEDs formerly having caused banding in your images I would like to do 2+3 but I am not really sure this make sense from a business perspective. At the moment, I do not get extra clients or lose existing clients because I am working my A9II cameras a bit harder (doing a bit of high-flash sync outside and messing with finding an appropriate shutter speed to reduce banding in these ugly-light venues)

To all…..nice and “if you wait the price will drop” (I heard Ray Kurzweil say this live at MIT……just to verify my statement and source). I agree with the wait to buy in the video. Question: can you use a digital pen on the screen? I know, on more piece of equipment but I am using one regularly and my iPad case has a carry spot for it. It has made a significant difference for me.

Actually, the first (maybe, i didn't research on that) Still-Camera (Sony) with a CMOS-Sensor with Global Shutter. CCD Sensors have a global Shutter. And BMD, RED and some other Brands already use a global shutter in some models. And to be honest. The Rolling Shutter issue in Sony Cameras, is really strong. So they needed this. Good Job Sony. Let's see where this will lead.

Do you think we might see the Alpha 9iii sensor in a camcorder?

This truly is a game-changer, and this (the complexity of flash sync) is why I stopped using flash, and use the Panasonic 6K/4K PHOTO modes for portraits, sports, etc. but they were discontinued (GH5 being the last camera with it, maybe some of the early full frame Pannys too) probably because the result was JPEG (not RAW) and not everyone enjoys using SOOC settings to perfect their images😆

my sony's eye-AF on my a7iii has been locking to the gravel when shooting with a 14mm lens and shooting full body. It finds the subject's eye but then locks on the gravel in the foreground. Makes me hesitant to shoot without checking.

6:11 This picture is wild! Its so uniquely lit that it seems almost unreal or fake. Would never have been able to figure it out had it not been for your explanation. What an interesting feature (if I may call it that) to find!

Interesting video, thank you. I'm glad we are over this limitation. Seems like when Digital cameras came out originally, good film cameras were still way better, it just takes time.

The problem with global shutter is always noisy readout due to the higher voltages required to pull all the data off at once. Another drawback is dynamic range. For video they're ok if you're trying to show regularly shaped objects moving fast. For stills I don't see the point really.

I have heard that resolve is working on a routine that will correct the rolling shutter problem completely.