As I promised , this blog is looking at and comparing the Nikon D5 and Sony a9 under real life harsh Sports Photography conditions.
March first 2019 Conquer Boxing Michigan Shores Clubs Wilmette, Illinois
Notes -Pro’s and con’s;
1-Pro Sony a9 : Great advantage of the EVF (Electronic Viewfinder) over the OVF ( Nikon Optical Viewfinder) under these very DARK conditions is there was a high number of frames that the Nikon D5 autofocus would not “fire”. When trying to manual focus , if the fighters stepped into the dark corners I couldn’t see to focus. Where the a9 EVF was always bright and I could see the image and the camera to focus.
2-Both camera’s handled the extremely high ISO of 20,000 and 25,600 very well . Of course ,there was noise and chances are there no 120” x 60” prints in my future from this event but web and smaller prints aftered Lightroom no real issue. I belong to a few Sports Photography sites where members feel ISO 1600 is high, they better stay away from local Boxing and MMA events. So you know ISO 1600 to 25,600 is four stops….Given the oportunity my shutter speed for Action Sports normally be 1/800 to 1/1000 …Using a prime lens with f1.4 requires the fighters to be on the same plane of field to have them both in focus
Nikon D5 f2.8 @ 1/400 ISO 20,000 24/70 Nikon Lens @ 40MM 4550K 59.1 M 5568 x 3712 pixels
Sony a9 f2.8 @ 1/400 ISO 25,600 24/70 Sony lens @ 55MM 4000K 68.7M 6000 x 4000
Below are files edited in Lightroom- couple of stops exposure and noise reduction -plus
3- Frames per second; It’s probably me being comfortable with the years of using the Nikon D3’s and D5’s but tho I never did many bursts in the past (spray and pray) . I have been doing some bursts in order to capture some Gif’s . Its probably my fault and not the Sony a9 but I need to control the bursts other wise at the end of a event I rack up way to many files. Bursts with the Nikon D5 is far more comfortable for me—-I’m sure its a learning curve.
4-When doing a weigh-In portrait sesson which is having a couple of minutes per fighter to capture 1/2 dozen to 12 images of upwards to 20 plus fighters , I believe I will be grabbing the Nikon D5 as ny camera of choice for that type work for quite of while. There again , it probably years of using D3’s and D5’s ,
5-When doing Action Sports Photography of Boxing and MMA I will be grabbing the Sony a9 due to the Auto focus system of AF-C Lock on Flexible spot ….But still learning and testing .
Best regards,
Tomba www.tomba-images.com