Is selling a7iii to buy a9 a good idea at this point of time?

[lukx]

So...for quite some time im struggling with idea if its wise to sell my a7iii and get a9. Cost for switching for me would be 2000$ (im from Europe so prices are higher than in US).
I want best body for weddings, landscapes, street photography quite a bit of studio work a bit of birds. No extreme speed sports etc. But also the rumors of new a9ii make me hesitate if switch now is good idea. But the realyime autofocus tracking in a9 really makes me wonder if its not a good idea to switch.
Whats your take on this?

[Pieter]

Sounds to me like a typical case of GAS. For your use cases your photo's will likely gain nothing from switching to the a9. Where do you feel your a7III is lacking?

[lukx]

Yes I admit it is probably GAS and I'm trying to fight it as hard as possible and make rational decision  
To be honest the thing that scares me the most is more and more shutter fail cases surfacing all over the facebook a7iii groups.
But what I'm curious the most is if AF in a9 is much much better than in a7iii? The real time tracking  AF option especially makes me curious if it could help tremendously in wedding scenario?

[Pieter]

I highly doubt it. Do you find the AF of your a7III lacking?

Honestly for weddings (and event shooting in general) I'm pretty sure you'd be better off spending that $2000 on a second a7III. Gives you more lens options without having to switch lenses and you'll have a backup cam in the extremely rare case of a failing shutter.

[Chrissie]

2 hours ago, lukx said:

a bit of birds. No extreme speed sports etc.

I have experienced the shooting of birds in flight to be one of the most demanding benchmarks for shooting at all. Looks like you are underestimating its requirements in terms of long focal reach (which in turn requires short exposure times), erratic, i.e. unpredictable movements of the birds, along with advanced continuous AF capabilities (forget manual focus with birds).

In very broad terms, selling used equipments rarely gets you an adequate return on the initial investment. Therefore I would keep the A7iii and buy a used a9, to turn that bad ROI for the supplier into an advantage for you. ? 

Edited May 8, 2019 by Chrissie

[crysmeth]

I am with the guys. Keep your a73. The AF is not gonna be that much difference. 

I much rather wait for the a9ii, THEN buy a used a9 as a second body. 

Well, that’s actually my plan now   

[Iansky]

They are both superb cameras and the A7iii is very much a "Mini A9".  I do know that a lot of photographers shooting weddings with Sony are using both cameras with the A9 covering the silent shooting church element and the A7iii for flash needs.

The shutter on the A9 is stated as a life in excess of 500,000 actuations but I cannot see anything quoted for the A7iii.

Flash use with the A7iii with mechanical shutter still gives you 10fps (if the flash keeps up) but in the A9 with mechanical shutter it drops to 5fps (more than enough for most).

I have shot both of my cameras at 12800ISO without issue and with very little noise that is easily reduced in LR so more than enough for low light shooting.

Currently in the UK the A9 has a new price of £3400 so a big saving on original price and I am sure that when the A9ii launches in time for the Olympics, the A9 price will fall even more but suspect that will be much later this year so a case of balancing need over want.

A difficult decision to make and I have recently added the A9 to my A7iii (traded in some unused Nikon F lenses and the Sony 70-300mm so ended up paying £2000 for the A9 after some serious saving) I do shoot a mix of subject matter to include airshows, car & bike racing as well as events so mix and match the cameras depending on speed of subject matter and both compliment each other very well - my images can be seen here if you are interested: http://571photography.blogspot.com/

The swans and signets as well as the re-enactment event were taken with the A7iii and the airshow/car& bike racing as well as much of the nature are with the A9.

Both are superb cameras however if I had to choose just one it would be the A9.

Apologies for the long winded response and good luck with the decision.

[tinplater]

I purchased my A9 lightly used for $2800 on Craigs List (prices have plummeted past month)  After keeping both bodies, I ultimately sold the A7III.  The autofocus live view tracking is amazing and was the deal sealer.  The only current advantage for me of the A7III was animal eye AF but that is coming to the A9 later this summer.  For most users, the 20fps silent shutter, and no blackout will be the compelling feature.

Note however:  I do not like the double wheel dial that must be used to chose drive and focus mode.  It can be convenient but you no longer can memorialize those settings to a memory niche but physically must select what you want for the memory stations.