Sony A9 Fails Autofocus Test with Long Telephoto Lenses

In a disappointing test by Dan Watson, the Sony A9 looks like it may not be the ideal camera for wildlife photographers after all. Many of you have probably had your eye on this camera, thinking that it could be the next best thing. But with no Sony lenses available for it over 200mm, options are limited.

In this test, the Canon 300mm and 400mm f/2.8 telephotos are attached via the Metabones and Sigma adaptors, but results are disappointing for the autofocus performance.

Focus points far off-centre fail to work, and if you want to continuously focus whilst shooting then you can only do this in low drive mode (about 3 fps). In medium and high fps modes, the autofocus fails miserably. Furthermore, Dan fails to get the Sony A9 to even focus at all during video shooting.

Damn. Maybe it’s wise to wait for Sony to release their own native long telephotos before jumping ship.