Sony Announces a9 III, World’s First Global Sensor Full-Frame Camera. How would you use its industry-exclusive features if you owned one?? (Page 13): Yes both the CF Express Type A...

gwilliams6

AutoISO wrote:

Certainly a quantum jump in photographic capabilities. Not arguing against that at all. But 120 fps? Who really needs that? And are there any cards out there that can handle that kind of flow? And are there any photographers who actually have the time to edit that kind of output?

Yes both the CF Express Type A cards and UHS-II V90 cards that the A9III takes (both) can handle 120fps.

If you do the research you will see that the 120fps is being welcomed, and will be used by news, sports and fast wildlife shooters in brief short bursts to get the exact moment, a game changer for these pros. Watch it being used extensively for March Madness Basketball, and at the Summer Olympics next year in Paris.

Again if you did the research, you would know the A9III will make any 120fps burst into a short video that the photographer can play back on the A9III and quickly allow the photographer to select the images they need from any burst. The A9III also shoots in 60fps, 30fps, 20fps, 15fps, 10fps, 5fps, and single frame .

This was all thought out by the Sony engineers working in conjunction with input from staff photographers at Top Worldwide News Services like Associated Press, all Gannet Media including USA Today, Canadian Press, and the top UK News Service which all exclusively use Sony gear for all their staff photographers and staff videographers Worldwide, no worries.

Cheers and best to you.

AutoISO

Good to know the background on Sony’s planning and that cards are available that can handle 120 fps. As I said, I have no problem with the ground breaking technology and I’m sure many pros will have no troublewith the $6000 plus needed to use it. It’s a new fantastic capability but not necessarily for the average photographer until it shows up in less expensive models. Cheers to you also.

gwilliams6

AutoISO wrote:

Good to know the background on Sony’s planning and that cards are available that can handle 120 fps. As I said, I have no problem with the ground breaking technology and I’m sure many pros will have no troublewith the $6000 plus needed to use it. It’s a new fantastic capability but not necessarily for the average photographer until it shows up in less expensive models. Cheers to you also.

gwilliams6

The Art of Photography:
Sony A9 III :: Global Shutter is REAL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9XI0KdTGCs

Cheers

gwilliams6

Deep dive into the A9III for video shooters: by Patrick Murphy-Racey:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5ad6Kw9mFQ

Cheers

(Download)

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

gwilliams6 wrote:

The Art of Photography:
Sony A9 III :: Global Shutter is REAL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9XI0KdTGCs

Cheers

Good presentation. But he is a little mixed up on the term CMOS. Yes, all the other sensors being produced now except for a few remaining CCD specialty designs, are made with CMOS transistors, CMOS being the construction process for the transistors, and they are being called CMOS sensors. But the Global Shutter can also be made with the same CMOS transistors, but with additional circuitry around them to capture the charge on each pixel simultaneously and to hold that charge value until the camera can grab that information.

Yes, the global sensor captures all pixels in parallel. But the camera can't read all that data in parallel, so it reads it in successive reads until all the data has been presented to the camera. This happens very rapidly, but this part is not parallel. And this can still be designed with CMOS transistors. And it has to happen very quickly for the camera to capture at 120 fps. In fact, at 120 fps, the sensor has to be ready to capture the next image in 8.33 ms. So, capture in parallel, and hand off all that data within 8.33 ms which has to also include the time to reset the sensor to make it ready for another capture. And also, to be included is the fact that the camera has to be able to process all that data to be ready for the next capture. Of course, they get around this by buffering up the information where a buffer is filled and once full, it can't collect any more until space is made available. Which makes me wonder what fps rate can the camera run at that the buffer empties at the same speed it is filling with so that the buffer is never filled to capacity?

I personally have no pressing need for a camera this fast. But I do appreciate what a game changer this is, and read and watch everything that is made available for this new camera. Eventually, we will get the actual spec's, and down the road farther, the costs will come down, and the design perfected to correct the current deficiencies. But it sure is fun to see the progress.

A parallel story to this is non-volatile memory. I remember in the early 80's, we used EPROMs and I remember they came in 2K x 8, and then 4K x 8, and bigger and bigger as time went on. They had that little window on the top of the package to erase them under UV light! Then came Flash memory, which at the time we used EPROM, it was thought that maybe Flash memory was too difficult to manufacture! But they figured it out, and it went through the same growing process. I was involved with both NOR and NAND type memories. NOR was smaller, but could be randomly accessed and was popular for BIOS memory in PCs. NAND was read a page at a time, first ones were only 512 bytes, and was popular in most other designs. The first ones were slow and didn't hold much data. But they got much faster and got much bigger as time went on. Having been retired for 7 years now, I can only guess what they are now! The growth of memory is one of the developments that unlocked the growth of everything that used the memory.

gwilliams6

First Impression by Professional Photographers | Alpha 9 III | Sony | α

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-sFlodlcAE

Cheers

gwilliams6

*

gwilliams6

Discussing The Sony a9 III & The Flash Sync Situation: with Miguel Quiles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnZlfnxecIA

Cheers

gwilliams6

JimH123 wrote:

Good presentation. But he is a little mixed up on the term CMOS. Yes, all the other sensors being produced now except for a few remaining CCD specialty designs, are made with CMOS transistors, CMOS being the construction process for the transistors, and they are being called CMOS sensors. But the Global Shutter can also be made with the same CMOS transistors, but with additional circuitry around them to capture the charge on each pixel simultaneously and to hold that charge value until the camera can grab that information.

Yes, the global sensor captures all pixels in parallel. But the camera can't read all that data in parallel, so it reads it in successive reads until all the data has been presented to the camera. This happens very rapidly, but this part is not parallel. And this can still be designed with CMOS transistors. And it has to happen very quickly for the camera to capture at 120 fps. In fact, at 120 fps, the sensor has to be ready to capture the next image in 8.33 ms. So, capture in parallel, and hand off all that data within 8.33 ms which has to also include the time to reset the sensor to make it ready for another capture. And also, to be included is the fact that the camera has to be able to process all that data to be ready for the next capture. Of course, they get around this by buffering up the information where a buffer is filled and once full, it can't collect any more until space is made available. Which makes me wonder what fps rate can the camera run at that the buffer empties at the same speed it is filling with so that the buffer is never filled to capacity?

I personally have no pressing need for a camera this fast. But I do appreciate what a game changer this is, and read and watch everything that is made available for this new camera. Eventually, we will get the actual spec's, and down the road farther, the costs will come down, and the design perfected to correct the current deficiencies. But it sure is fun to see the progress.

A parallel story to this is non-volatile memory. I remember in the early 80's, we used EPROMs and I remember they came in 2K x 8, and then 4K x 8, and bigger and bigger as time went on. They had that little window on the top of the package to erase them under UV light! Then came Flash memory, which at the time we used EPROM, it was thought that maybe Flash memory was too difficult to manufacture! But they figured it out, and it went through the same growing process. I was involved with both NOR and NAND type memories. NOR was smaller, but could be randomly accessed and was popular for BIOS memory in PCs. NAND was read a page at a time, first ones were only 512 bytes, and was popular in most other designs. The first ones were slow and didn't hold much data. But they got much faster and got much bigger as time went on. Having been retired for 7 years now, I can only guess what they are now! The growth of memory is one of the developments that unlocked the growth of everything that used the memory.

Good presentation. But he is a little mixed up on... (show quote)

Hey I dont doubt your scientific knowledge. But unless you have inside access to Sony's patents and Sony's detailed engineering on this A9III and its global shutter, you really are only taking a best educated guess at how Sony has accomplished all this really.

You, and I and everyone else outside Sony just dont know that what you are saying is accurate and the whole story with this A9III global shutter sensor and its camera processor and how they are working.

Cheers and best to you.

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

gwilliams6 wrote:

Hey I dont doubt your scientific knowledge. But un... (show quote)

No, I don't have any insider access. But the term CMOS, Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor, is used in just about every digital design these days, including ASICs and Custom ICs, etc. And people have been calling the Camera Sensors as CMOS Sensors. But the name CMOS is hardly limited to sensors. In fact, I would be surprised if the new global shutter uses any technology other than CMOS. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CMOS

We will eventually find out more about these new global sensors.

One CMOS advantage that is advantageous to cameras is that CMOS circuitry, with its complementary FETs, is also low power in which it only draws current during the switching state.

The name CMOS Sensor was created as a name to call it as it was replacing the CCD sensor. It used CMOS type technology, so the name CMOS Sensor was created even though CMOS was used for just about all digital designs. It looks like the name Global Shutter Sensor is what is sticking right now, but who knows, perhaps some other name will come along further down the road. But there is a very good chance that this new sensor is also a CMOS sensor.

It will be interesting to see how the design is implemented. But I suspect that Sony is going to hide that as long as they can so as not to give Canon some hints to help them with their own design. The real secret sauce to be discovered in the Global Shutter Sensor is how they have implemented a way to preserve dynamic range and to limit noise. Any competent electrical engineer ought to be able to design something that can capture all pixels in parallel. But preserving Dynamic Range and reducing noise and preserving IQ - these are the areas a competitor would most want to know how Sony did what they did. And I am sure that they used some very ingenious tricks.

gwilliams6

JimH123 wrote:

No, I don't have any insider access. But the term... (show quote)

Yes we wont know what exactly Sony has done until production A9III models are being sold, and testers and other makers tear them down to examine them inside, as they all always do. What has Sony patented and what is available for all to copy? LOL

As I have said before , back in 2020 when I was at WPPI in Las Vegas, I started up a friendship with a top Sony Manager and back in 2020 he told me that noise and dynamic range were the issues Sony was working on before they would release any consumer fullframe global shutter sensor camera . It had to be good enough to be acceptable to professional photographers.

As you know, the staff photographers and staff videographers worldwide of Top News Services including Associated Press, all Gannett Media including USA Today, Canadian Press, and UK's Top News Service all exclusively use Sony gear. Sony does listen to what we pros want, and I would not be surprised at the least, that Associated Press folks had some input beforehand, and had first prototype looks at this A9III, and signed off on it being good enough in those two important areas of noise and dynamic range.

What we all have to understand is that not all cameras will now have global shutter sensors. So yes this A9III is a game-changer and revolutionary, but we will still see fast stacked sensor and BSI rolling shutter sensor cameras being made.

Latest info points heavily that the upcoming Canon "flagship" R1 will not have a global shutter sensor, but instead will have a very fast high megapixel stacked sensor with improved fps and better autofocus. Canon, Panasonic have of course been working hard to introduce their own fullframe global shutter sensor models. Expect some similarities and some differences with Sony as they all have their own approach to making their global shutter sensor fullframe cameras viable for consumers.

Will Canon rush to have its own global shutter sensor camera out before the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, or will it just focus on its R1 for the Olympics ? Either way, expect loads of news service staffers and freelance photographers and videographers to be pushing new creative boundaries with this global shutter sensor A9III covering the Olympics.

I cant wait to see the results. Wish I was going in 2024.

Cheers and best to you.

gwilliams6

"Sony Changed the Future of Cameras... Now what?"

Tony and Chelsea Northrup:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acR_kcy_27c

Cheers

Blenheim Orange Loc: Michigan

MDI Mainer wrote:

To which I would add, lest we forget, that the A6000 really pioneered the acceptance of mirrorless technology for pro and serious amateur photographers, with its faster AF and frame rate.

Not only that, "Sony" only needs four letters while the other major brands need five to get the job done! That's 20% fewer letters. That means less typing and more time for photography!

gwilliams6

From Gordon Laing:
Sony A9 III review: hype-free part 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dJ4xSKwUqE&t=1211s

Cheers