Image Focus

In a world that seems to be shrinking daily, the chances of achieving something truly unique can also seem smaller and smaller. That’s what extreme sports photographers look to achieve daily, and along with the athletes they shoot, they create ever more amazing images in strange and exotic places. To help, they need groundbreaking cameras to support them. Say hello to two of those trailblazers, Stefan Voitl and the Sony Alpha 9 III.

On a sweltering day in the rugged Jazan province of Saudi Arabia, this extreme sports specialist was on hand to chronicle Red Bull cliff divers Catalin Preda and David Colturi in their attempts to plunge into new and remote pools. “With their waterfalls and fresh-water pools, these wadis – canyons and deep valleys – are very beautiful,” Stefan explains, “but we weren’t there just to enjoy the scenery. It was all about finding spots where the athletes can do something incredible, and I can record them doing it.”

For Stefan and the athletes alike, this process begins by sussing out the location. After all, whether you're doing the diving or shooting it, it’s important to explore all the angles. “It was a pretty nerve-wracking experience, especially at the second location,” he explains, “where divers were leaping from 22 metres up into a small ‘sweet spot’ with very little margin for error.”

So, while Catalin and David scoured the cliff faces looking for take-off points, Stefan considered backgrounds, depth, contrast, and the small details that would show off their feats in all the glory they deserved, placing remote cameras in the location which could be triggered simultaneously with his main body and ensuring comprehensive coverage from various perspectives.

To test the global shutter and small light setup he planned to use for the shoot, Stefan took a test shot, showcasing shallow depth of field in bright daylight with an open aperture. “In the past, I had to carry big flashes to overpower the sun for this,” he says. “Now, I can use my two small flashes, which fit in my backpack, and create the same shots with this compact setup.”

For one of his favourite shots from the project, Stefan had been planning weeks in advance. “The shot that I was most proud of from that project was based around shooting with a flash mounted on a drone above the divers,” he explains.

This innovative shot was made possible not only by Stefan’s imagination and the divers’ bravery, but also the capabilities of the new camera. “The Alpha 9 III significantly enhances my work using flash,” he explains “and that’s down to its pioneering global shutter. It can sync with the flash at much faster speeds than a camera with a regular shutter and without any loss of power.”

Regular shutters max out at flash sync speeds like 1/250sec, meaning they can be difficult to use along with wide apertures in daylight, and even when using regular high-speed flash, the level of illumination drops as the shutter speed increases. But the Alpha 9 III has no such problems, shooting up to 1/80,000sec with flash sync.

This opens a world of possibilities for action photographers like Stefan, “because I can use those fast shutter speeds – like 1/1000sec for the shot with the drone lighting – and place small flashes in creative ways without worrying about flash sync limits. This level of control over light all adds drama and sharpness to my action shots,” he says, but he’s keen to stress that the advantages don’t end there.

“The Alpha 9 III also lets me shoot black-out free at up to 120fps with full autofocus, and auto exposure,” he explains, “so I can keep up with athletes no matter what they’re doing, and never miss a moment when a world-first trick or dive is unfolding before me. We all know how amazing the AF is on these cameras, too. For images like these, I shoot in continuous AF and there’s no need for pre-focusing. It just stays perfectly on the athlete, even shooting with the aperture wide open as I normally do with lenses like the FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM and the FE 12-24mm f/2.8 GM.”

“Sony changed my way of working in an impressive way when the first Alpha 9 came on the market,” Stefan says. “I was one of the first sports photographers to use the camera. Now, they're unlocking new creative possibilities with the global shutter. I can't wait to do more creative sports work with the Alpha 9 III.”