Sony A9 III vs A9 II - High ISO Noise Comparison

It's time for the first video on Sony A9 III and literally the first thing I wanted to test - high ISO noise performance compared to Sony A9 II. Both cameras share the same number of megapixels - 24mp, but there's different sensor technology and lack of physical shutter on A9 III, so the results are going to be different. Let me know your thoughts and stay tuned for more A9 III videos.

🌟 Also check the comparison samples and download jpg samples below:

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[AlbertPalmer]

I’d be interested to see what it does to skin tones in a very dark building - whether it’s roughly the same or not. Looking forward to the rest of your findings!

I had saved for the A9iii and could afford it but think I’m gonna go A1 because it’s so much cheaper (and the A9iii won’t make me any more money.)

[aaronholmes]

Excellent comparison, particularly thankful you chose to compare the a9iii with its predecessor to keep the resolution consistent. Great work.

[adam_kozlowski]

It looks very promising! Can’t wait for another video ❤

[Erik_Grosse]

Thank you for your comparison test! Two comments: Your images show no color noise at all. I own the Sony A9I and can confirm, that it has color noise like every camera 🙂. Either the camera or lightroom already did a strong color denoising on the images. As a second note - I don't know the details of Lightroom, but I expect, that it has profiles for each camera model. When Capture One for example does not know the specific model, it uses a Sony generic profile. So it may happen, that lightroom uses another profile for the A9III and the A9II and the colors may look different, even if the RAW data is identical.

[rafaelfranco]

I think there's more difference in contrast between the two cameras than noise difference.

[Benjamin_Jehne]

Thx for the test. From my persperctive, this is remarkable. I thought we would see some real problems, but this is neglectable. I don't use ISOs above 16.000 that often, so it wouldn't regard to me. Impressive performance.

[youuuuuuuuuuutube]

The anti-aliasing filter on the A9iii appears less aggressive too, resulting in sharper images (meaning sharper noise too), but the differences are extremely minimal up until ISO 25, 600.
I'd say that from ISO 250 to 12, 800, there's maybe a 0.1 to 0.3 stop less DR on the A9iii, and then it drops to maybe 0.5 stop less DR. Certainly not like the "1 stop less DR" many of us expected.
Considering it's a global shutter ... WOW!

[mrraghan]

Thanks your video .still worth to buy Sony A9II?i have Sony A7iv , Thanks

[pompobresciani]

GREAT comparison! Finally someone doing a head to head test, this is exactly what I have been waiting for! Subscribed!

[DrZeeple]

@10:00 Yes, the A9ii ISO drops DR at 250; I usually go from 100 straight to 640 and skip that in-between.

[masterprintmaker]

any pointers as to why the A9II EVF would show so many artifacts ( purple blue moire ) and has so little resolution especially while half pressing the shutter during focusing?

[sandb]

Thanks for doing this test. According to Photons to Photos, A9II has 0.5 stops less dynamic range than the A7III at ISO 250, which means that the A9III's DR may be ~0.75 stops less than the A7III (now a US$1300 5-year old camera) at base ISO. It's DR will even be worse at the higher ISOs. For sports, this is a reasonable but expensive trade-off.

[ziglet]

So, are you saying it's just a fancier version of a lesser A9ii?

[danmiddle]

this is a really useful comparison, thank you!

[lattesweden]

The A9/A9II sensor is not ISO-invariant under about ISO 800 according to DPreview, I guess that is why it looses a little in the 3 stops push from ISO 250. If you redo the 3 stops push test above ISO 800 where the A9II sensor is getting more ISO invariant you might get an another result.

[fionngorilla]

thanks a lot! promising! Since I take most photos on set/documentary style, the noise performance isnt that important since its almost exclusively used/distributed on the web/instagram/etc. Im really looking forward to this new swivel screen, awesome viewfinder, ergonomics and high framerates and "low" megapixel count (the a1 50MP ist way too much)

[minusinfinity]

For the normal Sony sensors with dual gain, you never push exposure at ISO's below 640. So on A9II it's better to tqke photo at ISO 800 than push ISO 100 3 stops. So this may be why the pushed A9II at ISO 250 looks worse. The A9III is not a dual gain sensor, so it doesn't really matter if you push it at base ISO.

[georgetran]

It could be the Sony Global Shutter Readout affect the Base ISO in terms of circuitry. Thank you so much for sharing.

[harryvuemedia]

Thank you for the comparison! I don't nick pick the iso. I always shoot photographs with any iso up to 6, 400. I try not to go past iso 4, 000 but if i must, then 6, 400 is my limit. I want to go entirely E-shutter now so I would love to see how great the a9iii will do with flash photography.

[heathwirt]

Excellent work, the results look very good. Thank you.