Sony A9 III rumour pitches global shutter on new 24 MP full-frame sensor ahead of expected November 7 launch ^↺

Previous rumours and leaks indicated that Sony will be launching the Alpha 9 III (A9 III) at a special event planned for November 7, also suggesting that the camera would be equipped with a 33-MP sensor instead of its predecessor's 24-MP unit.

Now, a new rumour from SonyAlphaRumors claims that the updated camera will not get a bump in sensor resolution, instead getting an all-new sensor with the same resolution, but with global shutter capabilities. In short, a global shutter allows the camera to pull data from the whole sensor all at once, instead of line-by-line, as is common in most digital camera sensors.

While most digital camera sensors read out fast enough that a rolling shutter isn't a problem, fast-moving objects — common in sports and wildlife photography — often result in a warped motion, as if the frame has been stretched diagonally from corner to corner. This is because, with a rolling shutter, each successive line of pixels slightly lags the previous one.

Thus, moving to a global shutter would eliminate warped images of fast-moving subjects and would help resolve banding issues common when filming with artificial light.

Sony is expected to retain the same 24-MP resolution to be able to achieve the high readout speeds necessary to include global shutter capabilities without compromising on burst speeds or video frame rates. Pushing the resolution much higher would likely result in too much information to process quickly enough to achieve the targetted specifications.

This would put it ahead of other popular sports and wildlife photography cameras, like the Nikon Z 9 and Canon EOS R3, which both feature rolling shutters. Although these very high readout speeds that cut down on distortion and warping typical of rolling shutters, these effects are still notable.

It's unclear how much water these rumours hold, but SonyAlphaRumors has made some accurate predictions in the past. Sony is also known for pushing the full-frame sensor market forward, especially with stacked sensors that went on to become common in the full-frame world.

Watch the November 7 livestreamed launch below.

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