What Profoto’s Expanded Sony a9 III Global Shutter Support Means for Photographers

The Sony a9 III‘s 24-megapixel global shutter image sensor has a wide range of benefits for both photographers, including exceptional swiftness and flash sync at any shutter speed. This latter benefit has gotten significantly more useful for professional photographers thanks to a firmware update for eight of Profoto’s lights.

The Profoto A10, A2, B20, B30, D30, Pro-D3, Pro-B3, and Pro-11 now all natively support flash synchronization with the Sony a9 III’s global shutter image sensor at speeds up to 1/80,000s.

While Profoto flashes and many cameras can already work with high-speed sync, as Profoto explains, this comes with tradeoffs, including reduced flash power output. The company describes the a9 III’s global shutter as the next big progression in flash.

“Sony’s global shutter on the a9 III, paired with Profoto flash technology, changes the conversation entirely,” Profoto explains. “With global shutter, we’re no longer working around limits. We get full-power flash at any shutter speed all the way up to 1/80,000th of a second. No compromises. No drop in output. Just complete control over motion, ambient light, and depth of field in any environment.”

Sony Europe Imaging Ambassador and portrait photographer Brendan De Clercq worked with Sony and Profoto on a video about the Profoto flash update, showcasing why the a9 III’s global shutter can matter so much when working with flash.

“I’m working with the Sony Alpha 9 Mark III with global shutter. And with global shutter, the sensor will be exposed all at once,” the photographer says. “Because of that, I can work with any kind of shutter speed, even a shutter speed of 1/80000th of a second.”

As De Clercq notes, many cameras, including the new Sony a7R VI, have a max flash sync of 1/250s. Some cameras are faster, like 1/320s or 1/400s. In any case, these are significantly slower than the a9 III. Being able to shoot with flash synchronization at faster shutter speeds enables photographers to use wider apertures in brighter ambient conditions, freeze action more effectively, and have greater creative freedom when working with flash.

“Why is this feature so important, even for portrait photography?” De Clercq asks. “Portrait photography is emotion. I want to capture also the emotion in the eyes. But also the light setup. I can daylight into night. And why do I want to do that? It’s about storytelling.”

What De Clercq is saying here is that since the a9 III can sync with flash at any shutter speed, he can control light in all new ways. Shooting with flash at 1/16,000s at f/1.2, for example, was not possible before.

Buy the Sony a9 III new on B&HBuy the Sony a9 III used on KEH.com
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“With this new feature, I can take shots I never thought were possible,” he says.

The new firmware updates for the Profoto A10, A2, B20, B30, D30, Pro-D3, Pro-B3, and Pro-11 are available now.

Image credits: Brendan De Clercq, Sony, and Profoto