With so much speculation, bookmakers would be delighted over the ever-shifting odds regarding what Sony is going to announce next: will it be the much-delayed a7S III, or the greatly-anticipated a9 II? With the rumor mills in fine fettle after a short summer break, we may have an answer: in the next month, Sony will announce the a9 II. Allegedly.
In classic rumor-site style, Sony Alpha Rumors is reporting that the successor to the a9 will be announced in “late early October,” whatever that may mean. This theory is supported by the prospect of a Sony press conference that’s expected to take place in the next four to five weeks.
Details are scant but initial thoughts are that the a9 II will feature a 36-megapixel sensor (though others suggest 48.7 megapixels using Sony’s IMX311AQK stacked sensor) and no doubt offer blistering speed — potentially, I suspect, without any buffer limitations.
Those hoping for 10 bit 4:2:2 will most likely have to wait for the successor to the a7S II, and crowbarring this level of technology into its new video-centric body might be why Sony fans are having to wait so long for this camera to emerge. It seems unlikely that Sony intended to release the a7R IV ahead of it, so there may have been some hurdles, especially since video offerings from other manufacturers — the Panasonic S1H in particular — now offer stiff competition.
What are your expectations in terms of specifications, and what should we expect regarding price given Sony’s reputation for market aggression? Will Sony also release a batch of new lenses to make the a9 II more of a temptation to all of those sports photographers shooting on Canon and Nikon? Leave your thoughts below.