The Sony α9 had already earned DPReview’s Gold Award when they completed their extended review in 2017. Now with the Sony α9’s latest update, DPReview has boosted the score making it the top scoring camera in its class.

“We’ve spent some time shooting with the updated α9 in a variety of situations, and have previously written an in-depth look into what the new AF system brings. After further testing, we’ve re-scored the a9 with the boosted autofocus in mind, and it brings the score up to 90% (from 89%). This makes the α9 the highest-scoring camera in its class, out-ranking the Nikon D5 and Canon EOS-1D X II. The increased score reflects the precision of the updated α9's subject tracking system, as well as its ease-of-use that makes it valuable for nearly all types of photography.”

They found the real time tracking reliable enough to be useful for portrait, event, candid and landscape photography, with the system especially standing out for sports and burst shooting.

“In practice, the system excels. While many professional sports photographers that know their sport, and can anticipate the action, have successfully used Single Point or Zone AF for years, real-time tracking can help both the amateur and the pro achieve potentially better results. First, it frees up the photographer to compose freely, as composition is no longer constrained by having to keep an AF point over the subject. But perhaps more importantly, not having to keep a fixed AF point or zone over a fast moving subject is a boon when it comes to fast, erratic subjects shot using long telephoto lenses, where framing is increasingly difficult.“

See the full DPReview article here.