Sony has long been the revolution brand in the camera world. While they lacked the market share of Canon and Nikon, the Sony company has typically played the role of disrupter by constantly innovating and bringing new features to the market. Canon and Nikon have been the more conservative, established brands, and their development cycles have been longer but typically they bring fairly mature products to market by the time of release (though there will often be some internet drama over them that turns out to be fairly inconsequential in the long run!). Sony’s third generation of full frame mirrorless cameras started with the release of the Sony a9, a flagship sports camera that broke all kinds of new ground. It’s 20 frame per second burst rate with no blackout and deep buffers made it a seriously revolutionary camera, and timely firmware updates added significant improvements to the camera that have kept it feeling very current in many ways. This was followed by the exceptional Sony a7RIII and then a7III bodies, which were both extremely innovative at their respective price points and seriously disrupted the camera market. It was on the strength of these three cameras that propelled Sony past Nikon into second place behind Canon for market share. But the release the a9 Mark II – (the a9M2 (ILCE-9M2) flagship) – (and, to a lesser extent, the a7RIV) have been met with far less excitement.

Both the a7RIII and the a9 remain highly competent cameras, and firmware updates have helped them remain such. Sony’s challenge with this generation is that it has come time for them to do a more “Canon” kind of upgrade, which is more about maturing existing technology than it is massively innovating with exciting new (but underdeveloped) features. Put simply, I think that Sony is improving a lot of the areas that were lacking, but an evolutionary upgrade is harder to market and get people excited about than a platform with all kinds of exciting new tech.

The question remains if this is a necessary upgrade for everyone, or even if one shouldn’t consider the $1000 USD savings by opting for the first generation a9. It’s not my job to sell you on any option, but I do view it my job to provide you the unbiased information and observations that will help to inform your decisions. You can read my full written review here, or watch one of the video review options below…or just enjoy some photos!

Photos of the Sony ILCE-9M2

Photos taken with the Sony ILCE-9M2

Gear Used:

Purchase a Sony a9M2 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay

Sony a9 Camera: B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay
Sony a7RIV Camera: B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay
Sony a7R III Camera: B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon.ca | Amazon UK | Ebay
Peak Design Slide Lite: Peak Design Store | B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK
Sony a6500: B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon.ca | Amazon UK | Ebay
Peak Design Leash Strap: Peak Design Store | B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK
BenQ SW271 4K Photo Editing Monitor – B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon.ca | Amazon UK
Adobe Photoshop Creative Cloud 1-Year Subscription
Exposure Software X5 (Use Code “dustinabbott” to get 10% anything and everything)
Visit Dustin’s Amazon Storefront and see his favorite gear

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Keywords: Sony a9 II, Sony Alpha 9II, Sony a9 Mark II, Sony a9M2, Alpha, 9, M2, ii, Sony a9II Review, Sony Alpha 9 II review, Sony a7riv, Sony a7r4, Sony, Review, Mark II, Hands On, Dustin Abbott, Real World, Comparison, Handling, Battery Life, Tracking, Focus, Burst Rate, Tracking, Sports, Portraits, Resolution, High ISO, Image Quality, Sample Images, Photography, Dogs, Ergonomics, Sigma MC-11, Metabones, Vello, Sony a9

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