Women's World Cup Skiing
Life at 20 Frames Per Second
It’s December and its cold, -11c cold. I am sitting in the snow on the side of the FIS World Cup Alpine Skiing course in Lake Louise, Alberta. I am here waiting for American Lindsay Vonn to make her run. With over an hour until race time, I have time to reflect on the year past. It is my twenty-third assignment with Sony a9 cameras, and I am still amazed at what these little cameras can do.
On the side of the Lake Louise Alpine Course
I have never wanted to be a “switcher” of brands, and in fact, I am suspect of most people that do switch camera brands. But the a9 wasn’t just better; it was significantly better than any DSLR I have ever used. With features like silent shooting at 20 FPS, and Eye Tracking AF over 90% of the frame.
This change came about an email on March 20th. It asked if I would come to Sony’s US Headquarters to consult on a new project they were working on. I was to present on why Photojournalists and Sports Photographers hadn’t adopted Sony cameras in any significant way. At the end of my presentation, I signed an NDA and was briefed on the then-secret Sony a9. I am no stranger to new photo technology or mirrorless cameras. I realized that the a9 they were showing me answered most of the drawbacks I had covered in my PowerPoint.
The a9 wasn’t a game changer; it was the next evolution in photography.
On that day in March, I decided to switch to Sony cameras from another major DSLR brand. It was a significant and emotional decision for me, and I worked behind the scenes with my new Sony colleagues and kept the a9 a secret until its launch on April 19th in New York.
My first shoot was less than two weeks later at the Kentucky Derby, and it has been a blur of action since then. I like to tell people I am living life at 20fps and seeing the world of Sports and Photojournalism in a new way, making images I have rarely seen before.
Now when I pick up a DSLR, it works and feels like old, tired technology. I have to smile as I thought the same way about Film Photography, when in 1994 when I switched from Film to Digital Photography.
The a9 like any camera I have used isn’t perfect, and I do not doubt that DSLR’s will be around for a few more years to come. But like film, dial-up modems, and SCSI computer interface, the a9 signals that the DSLR days are coming to an end.
Today, I am standing on the ski hill in a place I have positioned myself many times in years past. I remember I was lucky to get 1-2 frames in tack sharp focus using DSLRs in years past.
I know the camera I am carrying today will do better.
As I review the images of Vonn’s run in the EVF counting the pictures that are in focus, I have to yell out at my other photo colleagues covering the race…. 22 Frames Sharp!
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