Sony α9 Specs, Sensor Size & Crop Factor

Q: What is the crop factor of the Sony α9?

The Sony α9 has a crop factor of 1.01× relative to 35 mm full frame (diagonal 42.8 mm vs 43.3 mm).

1.01×

Crop factor

35.6×23.8 mm

Sensor size

847 mm²

Area · 98% of full frame

24.2 MP

Resolution

5.93 µm

Pixel pitch

f/8.8

Diffraction-limited aperture

Specifications#

Brand: Sony
Model: α9
Also known as: ILCE-9
Camera type: Mirrorless
Lens mount: Sony E-mount
Sensor size: 35.6 × 23.8 mm (Full frame (35 mm))
Crop factor: 1.01×
Resolution: 24.2 MP (6,000 × 4,000 px)
Continuous shooting: 20 fps
Weight: 673 g (23.7 oz)
Sensor: 35.6×23.8 mm Exmor full-frame RS CMOS Sensor
Viewfinder: Built-in 3.68 Million dot Quad-VGA OLED Electronic viewfinder
Metering: Multi-segment, Center-weighted, Spot, Spot Standard/Large, Entire Screen Avg., Highlight
Shutter: Electronically-controlled, vertical-traverse, focal-plane shutter
Battery: NP-FZ100 Lithium-Ion rechargeable battery
Dimensions: 126.9 x
Successor: Sony α9 II
Made in: Thailand
Launch price: 4,500 USD
Drive: 20 frame/s electronic (12bit), 5 frame/s mechanical

Specifications merged from Wikipedia, Wikidata and Lensfun. Spot an error? Tell us.

Sensor size compared#

The Sony α9 sensor (highlighted) drawn to scale against common formats. Its area is 98% of a full-frame sensor.

Focal length equivalents & field of view#

Multiply any focal length by 1.01 to get the full-frame field of view. Angles are for a rectilinear lens focused at infinity.

Lens on this camera	Full-frame equivalent	Horizontal	Vertical	Diagonal
10 mm	10 mm	121.3°	99.9°	129.9°
12 mm	12 mm	112.0°	89.5°	121.5°
14 mm	14 mm	103.6°	80.7°	113.6°
16 mm	16 mm	96.1°	73.3°	106.5°
18 mm	18 mm	89.4°	66.9°	99.9°
20 mm	20 mm	83.3°	61.5°	93.9°
24 mm	24 mm	73.1°	52.7°	83.5°
28 mm	28 mm	64.9°	46.1°	74.8°
35 mm	35 mm	53.9°	37.6°	62.9°
40 mm	40 mm	48.0°	33.1°	56.3°
50 mm	51 mm	39.2°	26.8°	46.4°
56 mm	57 mm	35.3°	24.0°	41.8°
70 mm	71 mm	28.5°	19.3°	34.0°
85 mm	86 mm	23.7°	15.9°	28.3°
100 mm	101 mm	20.2°	13.6°	24.2°
135 mm	136 mm	15.0°	10.1°	18.0°
200 mm	202 mm	10.2°	6.8°	12.2°
300 mm	303 mm	6.8°	4.5°	8.2°
400 mm	404 mm	5.1°	3.4°	6.1°
600 mm	606 mm	3.4°	2.3°	4.1°
800 mm	808 mm	2.5°	1.7°	3.1°

Depth of field table#

Total depth of field at each subject distance, using a circle of confusion of 29.7 µm (the 0.030 mm full-frame standard scaled by the crop factor). Detailed tables: 24 mm f/1.8, 24 mm f/2.8, 35 mm f/1.8, 35 mm f/2.8, 50 mm f/1.8, 50 mm f/2.8.

Focal	Aperture	50.0 cm	1.00 m	2.00 m	3.00 m	5.00 m	10.0 m	Hyperfocal
22 mm	f/1.8	5.3 cm	21.9 cm	91.7 cm	2.21 m	7.88 m	∞	9.08 m
22 mm	f/2.8	8.3 cm	34.6 cm	1.54 m	4.16 m	31.8 m	∞	5.84 m
22 mm	f/4	11.9 cm	50.9 cm	2.54 m	9.41 m	∞	∞	4.10 m
22 mm	f/8	24.8 cm	1.25 m	67.4 m	∞	∞	∞	2.06 m
43 mm	f/1.8	1.3 cm	5.5 cm	22.7 cm	51.7 cm	1.46 m	6.28 m	34.6 m
43 mm	f/2.8	2.1 cm	8.6 cm	35.5 cm	81.2 cm	2.35 m	11.2 m	22.3 m
43 mm	f/4	2.9 cm	12.3 cm	51.1 cm	1.18 m	3.54 m	21.6 m	15.6 m
43 mm	f/8	5.9 cm	25.0 cm	1.07 m	2.66 m	10.7 m	∞	7.83 m
73 mm	f/1.8	0.4 cm	1.9 cm	7.7 cm	17.6 cm	49.5 cm	2.01 m	99.8 m
73 mm	f/2.8	0.7 cm	2.9 cm	12.0 cm	27.5 cm	77.3 cm	3.17 m	64.2 m
73 mm	f/4	1.0 cm	4.1 cm	17.2 cm	39.3 cm	1.11 m	4.65 m	44.9 m
73 mm	f/8	1.9 cm	8.3 cm	34.6 cm	79.6 cm	2.31 m	11.0 m	22.5 m
120 mm	f/1.8	0.1 cm	0.7 cm	2.8 cm	6.4 cm	18.1 cm	73.4 cm	270 m
120 mm	f/2.8	0.2 cm	1.0 cm	4.3 cm	10.0 cm	28.2 cm	1.14 m	173 m
120 mm	f/4	0.3 cm	1.5 cm	6.2 cm	14.3 cm	40.3 cm	1.64 m	121 m
120 mm	f/8	0.6 cm	2.9 cm	12.4 cm	28.6 cm	81.0 cm	3.35 m	60.7 m

Equivalent aperture#

Exposure is identical at the same f-number on any format; equivalence only describes depth of field and total light.

Aperture on this camera	Full-frame equivalent (depth of field)	Hyperfocal at 43 mm
f/1.2	f/1.2	51.9 m
f/1.4	f/1.4	44.5 m
f/1.8	f/1.8	34.6 m
f/2	f/2.0	31.2 m
f/2.8	f/2.8	22.3 m
f/4	f/4.0	15.6 m
f/5.6	f/5.7	11.2 m
f/8	f/8.1	7.83 m

Diffraction & pixel pitch#

With 5.93 µm pixels, diffraction starts to soften pixel-level detail around f/8.8. For maximum sharpness keep landscapes between f/4.9 and f/9; stopping down further trades detail for depth of field.

Aperture	Airy disk diameter	Spread over	At 100% view
f/2.8	3.8 µm	0.6 px	sharp
f/4	5.4 µm	0.9 px	sharp
f/5.6	7.5 µm	1.3 px	sharp
f/8	10.7 µm	1.8 px	sharp
f/11	14.8 µm	2.5 px	slight softening
f/16	21.5 µm	3.6 px	visibly soft
f/22	29.5 µm	5.0 px	visibly soft

Maximum print sizes#

At 24.2 MP the Sony α9 produces 6,000 × 4,000 pixel images. See the 24 megapixel guide or the print size calculator.

Resolution	Typical use	Inches	Centimetres
300 DPI	Photo-lab quality	20.0 × 13.3 in	51 × 34 cm
240 DPI	Fine-art inkjet	25.0 × 16.7 in	64 × 42 cm
200 DPI	Wall print	30.0 × 20.0 in	76 × 51 cm
150 DPI	Poster, viewed from 1 m+	40.0 × 26.7 in	102 × 68 cm

Night-sky exposure limits#

Longest exposure before stars trail. The NPF rule accounts for pixel pitch and is stricter than the classic 500 rule — use it for pin-sharp stars on high-resolution sensors.

Focal length	500 rule	NPF f/1.8	NPF f/2.8	NPF f/4
14 mm (14 mm eq.)	35.3 s	17.2 s	19.7 s	22.7 s
20 mm (20 mm eq.)	24.7 s	12.1 s	13.8 s	15.9 s
24 mm (24 mm eq.)	20.6 s	10.0 s	11.5 s	13.2 s
35 mm (35 mm eq.)	14.1 s	6.9 s	7.9 s	9.1 s
49 mm (50 mm eq.)	10.1 s	4.9 s	5.6 s	6.5 s

Open the NPF / 500 rule calculator →

Handheld shutter speed guide#

The reciprocal rule uses the equivalent focal length. High-resolution sensors may need one stop faster than this for pixel-sharp results.

Focal length	No stabilisation (1/equiv. focal)	With 3-stop IS	With 5-stop IBIS
24 mm	1/25 s	0.3 s	1.3 s
49 mm	1/50 s	1/6 s	0.6 s
99 mm	1/100 s	1/13 s	0.3 s
198 mm	1/200 s	1/25 s	1/6 s

Lenses for the Sony α9#

Native Sony E-mount lenses in our database (174 total). Also adaptable: T-mount (T2), M39 / LTM (Leica thread), M42 screw mount, Deckel (DKL).

Sony FE 12-24mm f/4 G 12–24 mm
Sony FE 20-70mm f/4 G 20–70 mm
Sony FE 20mm f/1.8 G 20 mm
Sony FE 24-105mm f/4 G OSS 24–105 mm
Sony FE 28-60mm f/4-5.6 28–60 mm
Sony FE 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS 28–70 mm
Sony FE 50mm f/1.2 GM 50 mm
Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS 70–200 mm
Sony FE 70-200mm f/4 G OSS 70–200 mm
Sony FE 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G OSS 70–300 mm
Sony FE 85mm f/1.4 GM 85 mm
Sony FE 85mm f/1.8 85 mm
Sony FE 90mm f/2.8 Macro G OSS 90 mm
Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS 200–600 mm
Samyang 8mm f/2.8 UMC Fish-eye 8 mm
Samyang 8mm f/3.5 Fish-Eye CS 8 mm
Laowa 9mm f/2.8 Zero-D 9 mm
Laowa 9mm f/5.6 FF RL 9 mm
Viltrox AF 9mm f/2.8 Z/E/XF 9 mm
Laowa 10mm f/2.8 Zero-D FF 10 mm
Samyang 10mm f/2.8 ED AS NCS CS 10 mm
Sigma 10-18mm F2.8 DC DN | Contemporary 023 10–18 mm
Sony E 10-18mm f/4 OSS 10–18 mm
Voigtländer Heliar-Hyper Wide 10mm F5.6 10 mm
Sony E 11mm f/1.8 11 mm
Tamron 11-20mm f/2.8 Di III-A RXD (B060) 11–20 mm
Laowa 12mm f/2.8 Zero-D 12 mm
Samyang 12mm f/2.0 NCS CS 12 mm
Samyang 12mm f/2.8 Fish-Eye ED AS NCS 12 mm
Samyang AF 12mm f/2.0 12 mm
Zeiss Touit 2.8/12 12 mm
Viltrox AF 13mm F1.4 13 mm
Samyang 14mm f/2.8 AE ED AS IF UMC 14 mm
Samyang AF 14mm f/2.8 14 mm
Sigma 14-24mm F2.8 DG DN | Art 019 14–24 mm
Sigma 14mm f/1.8 DG HSM | A 14 mm

Similar cameras#

Other Full frame (35 mm) cameras from around the same time.

Frequently asked questions#

What is the crop factor of the Sony α9?

The Sony α9 has a crop factor of 1.01× relative to 35 mm full frame (diagonal 42.8 mm vs 43.3 mm).

What size is the Sony α9 sensor?

35.6 × 23.8 mm (Full frame (35 mm)), an area of 847 mm² — 98% of full frame.

Is the Sony α9 full frame?

Yes — its sensor is the same 36 × 24 mm size as 35 mm film.

How many megapixels does the Sony α9 have?

24.2 megapixels (6,000 × 4,000 pixels), enough for a 20 × 13 inch print at 300 DPI.

What lens mount does the Sony α9 use?

The Sony α9 uses the Sony E-mount (flange distance 18.00 mm).

How long can I expose the night sky with the Sony α9?

With a 20 mm lens (20 mm equivalent) the 500 rule gives 25 s and the stricter NPF rule at f/2.8 gives 14 s.

Sources & licences#

Wikipedia: Sony %CE%B19 — CC BY-SA 4.0
Wikidata Q29513438 — CC0
Lensfun camera database — CC BY-SA 3.0

Last updated October 03, 2026 · How we calculate · Sources