Global Shutter—A First for Mirrorless

NathanDrake

NathanDrake

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Global Shutter—A First for Mirrorless​


Sony has delivered the world's first full-frame global shutter mirrorless camera with the a9 III. The use of a global shutter provides a leap in performance over the rolling shutter technology used for decades. A global shutter provides a near instantaneous and simultaneous readout of all 24.6MP, eliminating skew and other artifacts that plagued rolling shutters. It also far surpasses mechanical shutter technology is every way, making the physical shutter unnecessary in the a9 III.Global shutters help ensure consistent and uniform exposure across the entire frame in all lighting conditions. Flash sync is possible at any shutter speed-even the maximum of 1/80,000 second. The simultaneous readout also prevents banding from certain light sources, such as fluorescent lighting. In a gym, outside, or with mixed artificial lighting the a9 III will handle it with ease.


Pre-Capture & Speed Boost—Never Miss a Moment​


Along with the key technology delivered by the sensor, the a9 III offers features new features to unlock the camera's full potential.


  • Pre-Capture: The a9 III can be configured to begin recording images to the buffer when the shutter button is half-pressed. Users can set this between 0.05-1.0 second. Upon pressing the shutter these images will be saved to the memory card.
  • Speed Boost: Not every shoot calls for the a9 III's impressive max speed of 120 fps. With Speed Boost and the C5 button, which is conveniently placed near the grip on the front of the camera, users can instantly switch their camera from their usual continuous shooting frame rate to a faster one to make sure their next shot is just right. Photographers will be able to select various frame rates up to 120 fps.

Pro-Quality 4K Video​


While video benefits greatly from the use of global shutter technology-rolling shutter and banding artifacts are completely eliminated-the a9 III boasts plenty of other video improvements over its predecessor worth talking about.


  • The a9 III captures and downsamples the full 6K image area to produce high-quality UHD 4K video up to 60 fps. It can also record 4K up to 120 fps with no crop.
  • Record 10-bit 4:2:2 internally using All-I encoding for maximum quality.
  • Output 16-bit raw via the full-size HDMI port to a compatible external recorder.
  • S-Log3, S-Cinetone, and other Picture Profiles are available for optimizing the image for your workflow and production environment.

Refined Body Design​


With a new generation of Alpha-series cameras comes some slight tweaks and modifications designed to make the operation of the system more ergonomic. The a9 III features a handful of updates:


  • Addition of C5 custom button to front of camera body.
  • Continuous shooting mode dial can now be disabled and shooting speed can be adjusted in the menu.
  • Enhanced grip and the shutter button has been slightly moved to provide a more ergonomic experience.
  • Dual CFexpress Type A/SD card slots provide versatility, allowing users to use existing media or pick up the faster CFexpress options to take full advantage of the a9 III's increased speed.
  • USB-C port now offers faster USB 3.2 Gen 2 speeds of up to 10 Gb/s.

  • 3.2" 2.1m-dot 4-axis multi-angle touchscreen LCD-first seen on the a7R V. This screen has a wide color gamut covering the DCI-P3 space.
  • 9.44m-dot 0.90x OLED electronic viewfinder with maximum refresh rate of 240 fps. The a9 III benefits from maximum quality viewing at up to 120 fps.
  • Ethernet port for advanced networking and data transfer workflows.
  • The optional VG-C5EM Vertical Grip is designed to match the updated ergonomics of the a9 III, including the new C5 button.

Future Firmware Updates​


The Sony a9 III is going to get better with time and there are some details on what to expect in future firmware updates:


  • The ability to shooting continuously at up to 120 fps when using the maximum shutter speed of 1/80,000 second.
  • Workflow enhancements for IPTC metadata and FTP functions.
  • Addition of C2PA technology from the Content Authenticity Initiative.
Click to expand...

fstoppers.com

Sony Just Changed Photography Forever

Sony just changed photography forever by releasing the Sony a9 III, the world's first global shutter camera. Global Shutter—A First for Mirrorless Sony has delivered the world's first full-frame global shutter mirrorless camera with the a9 III. The use of a global shutter provides a leap in...
fstoppers.com fstoppers.com
 
Harmonic said:
Sony have always been the leaders. Every other brand is just following along for the ride.

Shots fired. @bwana plz dnt ban me Sir :p
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Shots? I might be a canon user but I'm generally brand agnostic when it comes to photography.

Also this is more to do with video. I figure I've got plenty of time before I move over to videography, unless I suffer something like a traumatic brain injury and need to make the switch sooner.
 
Very impressive, what tech advancement is driving that crazy(parallel?) sensor readout speeds?
 
had 2 of sony alpha cameras ,allways seemed to grab my nikon or canon so sold them, only used them because all my minolta lenses fitted as stock ,werent bad cameras .
 
As with everything photography it's a trade-off rather than an advancement
expertphotography.com

Rolling Shutter vs Global Shutter (What's the Difference?)

Which is better, rolling shutter vs global shutter? Rolling shutter exposes pixels to light line-by-line, while global shutter exposes all the sensor pixels at the same time.
expertphotography.com expertphotography.com

Global shutters generally have lower frame rates, dynamic range and sensitivity and more noise. Their biggest drawback though is that they are harder to manufacture in higher resolutions so are also more costly. It's not something you really want for normal still photography so it's baffling why Sony is including it in a consumer camera rather than a video camera like other manufacturers.
 
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bwana said:
Shots? I might be a canon user but I'm generally brand agnostic when it comes to photography.

Also this is more to do with video. I figure I've got plenty of time before I move over to videography, unless I suffer something like a traumatic brain injury and need to make the switch sooner.
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Fair enough but rolling shutter can manifest in still images too. Although something tasty in there for flash users as well. That said, my A1 goes to 1/32000 and I've literally never used it. Not nearly enough light in usual circumstances
 
Harmonic said:
Fair enough but rolling shutter can manifest in still images too. Although something tasty in there for flash users as well. That said, my A1 goes to 1/32000 and I've literally never used it. Not nearly enough light in usual circumstances
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Why do you want it in a still camera though? The positives seem to relate mainly to video where with still you only get the negatives. Even with that Blackmagic replaced the global shutter in one of its models as it wasn't of any real world benefit. The benefits wrt flash seem to relate mostly to strobe where the world is moving to LED lighting where you can have longer exposures.

We'll see with the upcoming EOS R1 though. Maybe it'll be a game changer with a winner emerging. Maybe it ends up being another gimmick with only a niche utility.
 
Swa said:
Why do you want it in a still camera though? The positives seem to relate mainly to video where with still you only get the negatives. Even with that Blackmagic replaced the global shutter in one of its models as it wasn't of any real world benefit. The benefits wrt flash seem to relate mostly to strobe where the world is moving to LED lighting where you can have longer exposures.

We'll see with the upcoming EOS R1 though. Maybe it'll be a game changer with a winner emerging. Maybe it ends up being another gimmick with only a niche utility.
Click to expand...
Anything that moves very fast can still become warped in a still image if the sensor isn't read fast enough
 
Global shutter (which can take over 9000 photos in an instant) might lead to something else, computational photography in cameras. Think what an iPhone does, but with a much larger sensor.
 
Harmonic said:
Anything that moves very fast can still become warped in a still image if the sensor isn't read fast enough
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Not saying it doesn't have a place but you'd need to know when to use it if given that option. Seems better to just retake or delete the few shots. Statements like "Sony just changed photography forever" that are popping up is a bit overblown.
 
Swa said:
Why do you want it in a still camera though? The positives seem to relate mainly to video where with still you only get the negatives. Even with that Blackmagic replaced the global shutter in one of its models as it wasn't of any real world benefit. The benefits wrt flash seem to relate mostly to strobe where the world is moving to LED lighting where you can have longer exposures.

We'll see with the upcoming EOS R1 though. Maybe it'll be a game changer with a winner emerging. Maybe it ends up being another gimmick with only a niche utility.
Click to expand...
WTF are you talking about, it’s a stills camera and strobe is going no where in that regard, for most purposes continuous lighting which is where LED is taking over is only useful when shooting video.

If you can’t see the enormous benefits from having a Global shutter in a stills camera then read the article in the OP. It’s revolutionary and will surely be adopted by all stills camera manufacturers at some point in the future, especially now that it appears to have become a mature technology and the glitches have been ironed out. Nevermind that most stills cameras these days are “hybrid” and also excel at video which also benefits from a global shutter.
 
Swa said:
We'll see with the upcoming EOS R1 though. Maybe it'll be a game changer with a winner emerging. Maybe it ends up being another gimmick with only a niche utility.
Click to expand...
The R1 is 100% going to be niche.
 
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