Fifty One East and Sony MEA present professional photography’s game changing α9 camera

Fifty One East, Qatar’s Favorite Department Store, and Sony Middle East and Africa (MEA) presented the latest revolutionary digital camera, the α9 (model ILCE-9), at an exclusive event at Four Seasons Hotel Doha. The most technologically advanced, innovative digital camera that Sony has ever created, the α9 offers a level of imaging performance that is simply unmatched by any camera either mirrorless or SLR.

The α9 offers many impressive capabilities that are simply not possible with a modern digital SLR camera including high-speed, blackout-free continuous shooting³ at up to 20fps⁴, 60 AF/AE tracking calculations per second[1], a maximum shutter speed of up to 1/32,000 second⁸ and much more. The α9 (model ILCE-9) will be available at Fifty One East store located in Al Maha Center on Salwa Road in addition to FNAC and all branches of Virgin Megastore from mid-June 2017 onwards at QAR 17,499. Meanwhile, the new FE 100-400mm GM Super Telephoto Zoom Lens will be available at QAR 10,999.

These are made possible thanks to its 35mm full-frame stacked Exmor RS™ CMOS sensor - the world’s first of its kind – which enables data speed processing at up to 20x faster than previous Sony full-frame mirrorless cameras[2]. This unique sensor is paired with a brand new, upgraded BIONZ X processing engine and front-end LSI that maximises overall performance. This industry-leading speed and innovative silent shooting⁷ is combined with a focusing system that features an incredible 693 phase detection AF points. Covering approximately 93% of the frame, the focusing system ensures that even the fastest moving subjects are reliably captured and tracked across the frame. 

The α9 also features a vibration free, fully electronic, completely silent anti-distortion shutter⁷ with absolutely no mechanical mirror or shutter noise, making it an extremely powerful photographic tool for any shooting situation that demands quiet operation. To ensure maximum usability and reliability, the camera features a Z battery with approximately 2.2x the capacity of W batteries, as well as dual SD media card slots, including one that supports UHS-II cards. An Ethernet port (wired LAN terminal) is available as well, and there is a wide variety of settings, controls and customisability options that are essential for working professionals.

“The α9 breaks through all barriers and limitations of today’s professional digital cameras, with an overall feature set that simply cannot be matched considering the restrictions of mechanical SLR cameras.  It is a fresh look at what a camera is and what a camera should be and really enhances how a professional camera person does his or her job”  said Taro Kimura, Managing Director, Sony MEA. “Sony is a worldwide leader in digital imaging and the world’s largest image sensor manufacturer. The α9 is a welcome addition to our line-up of industry leading Interchangeable Lens Cameras that include the much acclaimed α7 Series and α6000 series. This year, we are aiming to achieve a 52 per cent sales growth in the Interchangeable Lens Camera business and expect the Full Frame Camera segment to grow by 108%,” Kimura added.

Sony Flagship G Master™ 100-400mm Super Telephoto E-Mount Zoom takes centre stage at Photography Live 2017

Sony MEA is also unveiling its furthest reaching E-mount lens, the FE 100-400mm F4.5–5.6 GM OSS Super Telephoto Zoom (model SEL100400GM), at Photography Live. The full-frame lens maintains the high standard of resolution that is the hallmark of Sony’s flagship line-up of G Master™ lenses, while also offering incredibly fast, precise AF capabilities, a lightweight, portable design and a variety of professional functions and customisability. It’s an exceptionally powerful photographic tool for a variety of enthusiast and professional shooters, particularly those that are commonly shooting sports or wildlife.

The FE 100-400mm GM model produces outstanding corner-to-corner sharpness throughout the lens’ zoom and focus ranges and beautiful rendered ‘bokeh’ or background defocus, ensuring the finest details are brought out in every subject and scene. The complex design features 22 lens elements configured in 16 different groups, including one Super ED (Extra-low Dispersion) and two ED glass elements, all of which are working together to minimise chromatic aberration and ensure the ultimate resolution is captured. The lens also has Sony’s original Nano AR coating, which is particularly useful for shooting sports scenes or wildlife, as it reduces unwanted reflections.

In order to keep up with fast-moving action, the FE 100-400mm GM super telephoto zoom lens features the combination of a double linear motor and a Direct Drive SSM actuator, which also ensures precise, quiet operation. The double motor system allows rapid focus lens drive acceleration to capture the sudden motion that is common with sports and wildlife photography, while high precision positioning control and a newly optimised AF algorithm ensure the subject is quickly found and focused on. This ensures that the maximum AF performance of a camera like the α9 is realised.

A variety of exclusive stories and exciting new content shot with the new α9 camera and other Sony α products can be found here, a site built to educate and inspire all fans and customers of the Sony α brand.  The new content will also be posted directly at the Sony Photo Gallery and the Sony Camera Channel on YouTube.

1 As of 19 April, 2017

2 Approximate effective megapixels

3 Electronic shutter mode. At apertures smaller than F11 (F-numbers higher than F11), focus will not track the subject and focus points will be fixed from the first frame. Display updating will be slower at slow shutter speeds.

4 “Hi” continuous shooting mode. The maximum frame rate will depend on the shooting mode and lens used. Visit Sony’s support web page for lens compatibility information.

5 “Hi” continuous shooting mode, compressed RAW, UHS-II memory card. Sony tests.

6 “Hi” continuous shooting mode, UHS-II memory card. Sony tests.

7 Silent shooting is possible when Shutter Type is set to “Electronic” and Audio signals is set to “Off.”

8 1/32000 shutter speed is available only in the S and M modes. The highest shutter speed in all other modes is 1/16000

9 CIPA standards. Pitch/yaw stabilisation only. Planar T* FE 50mm F1.4 ZA lens. Long exposure NR off.