Mirrorless Camera News

A Gamer
Sony has gotten in the game with its super speedy new A9 full-frame mirrorless camera. Designed for sports and action photography, the Sony A9 can shoot blackout-free bursts of photos at up to 20 frames per second (fps) for up to 241 Raw or 362 JPEG images. The A9 features what Sony is calling the “world’s first” full-frame stacked CMOS sensor with 24.2MP of resolution and can shoot full-frame 4K video capture and Full HD at 120 fps for slow-motion playback. We got a chance to shoot with an A9 when it was unveiled and the most striking thing about it is how quiet it is. In fact, it’s nearly silent even when shooting 20 fps bursts of images, which is a distinct contrast with pro DSLRs and the noisy clatter of their mirrors flipping up and down. Other highlights of the A9 include 693 focal plane phase detection autofocus points with 60 AF/AE tracking calculations per second; five-axis in-body image stabilization with a purported five-stop shutter speed advantage; dual SD card slots; and a (much needed) 2.2x boost in battery capacity.

See Shutterbug's full review of the new Sony A9 here.

Sony A9
$4,499
sony.com

Baby Brother
The Nikon D7500 has many of the same features as its big brother, the flagship DX-format Nikon D500, but at a fraction of the price. In fact, the photo enthusiast-aimed D7500 will retail for $700 less than the pro-level D500 when it goes on sale this summer. Otherwise, it has the same 20.9MP DX-format (APS-C) CMOS sensor with no low-pass filter as the D500, the same EXPEED 5 processor, and the same wide ISO range (100-51,200 and expanded up to 1.64 million ISO equivalent). While it’s not quite as fast as its older sibling, the D7500 can shoot up to 8 fps bursts of images with full AF/AE and has an expanded buffer of up to 50 Raw/NEF (14-bit lossless compressed) or 100 JPEG images along with a 51-point AF system that covers a large portion of the frame. It also shoots 4K UHD video and has a tilting 3.2-inch, 922K-dot touchscreen LCD on back. Unlike the D500, the D7500 has only one SD card slot and it doesn’t have as much weather sealing. It is, however, more compact and 16 percent lighter than the D500.

Nikon D7500
$1,249
nikonusa.com

Bright Eye
Here’s a neat idea: instead of having to put a ringlight on your lens, why not build the ringlight right into the lens? That’s what Canon has done with the EF-S 35mm f/2.8 Macro IS STM lens, which features a built-in ring of LED lights on the front that lets you create dramatic shadows on either side of the subject, or adjust the intensity of the light to add dimension to close-up shots. This new lens for DSLRs from Canon lets you shoot as close as 30mm from the subject so you can capture macro shots of fruit, flowers, or insects with eye-catching background blur. It also has Hybrid IS (Image Stabilization) that offers up to four stops of shake correction; Smooth Movie Servo AF with lead screw-type STM for quiet AF operation; and full-time manual focus when you need it.

Canon EF-S 35mm f/2.8 Macro IS STM
$349
usa.canon.com

Pocket Pal
It’s amazing how small and fast storage devices have become. Take WD’s Lilliputian My Passport SSD, which is so small it can slide into a pair of skinny jeans while providing up to 1TB of storage. It also offers blazing-fast transfer speeds of up to 515 megabytes per second, which makes it a breeze to back up images from your laptop. The My Passport SSD is designed for computers with USB Type-C ports but is also USB 3.1 Gen 2 ready with a USB Type-C to Type-C cable and adapter so you can use it with the USB Type-A ports found on many computers. It’s built for PCs but compatible with Macs and features 256-bit AES hardware encryption and password protection. It’s also durable and shock-resistant, with the ability to withstand up to 6.5-foot drops and 1500G of force.

WD My Passport SSD
$399 (1TB), $199 (512GB), $99 (256GB)
wdc.com

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