Report: It Costs a Sports Photog Over $11,000 to Switch from Canon to Sony

The groundbreaking new Sony a9 is one heck of a sports camera, and it’s cheaper than both the Canon 1DX Mark II and the Nikon D5. That must mean it’s financially smart to switch, right? Not so fast…

Photographer Dan Bracaglia over at DPReview did an actual cost breakdown that reveals what it would actually cost a pro sports photographer to make the switch from Canon to Sony, and the totals are not encouraging.

Bracaglia’s estimate involved a lot of … well … estimating. But it all breaks down to three basic steps. Step 1: Dan compiled the ‘ideal kit’ for a sports photographer based on feedback from photojournalists; Step 2: He created a matching kit using all Sony gear; and Step 3: He estimated how much money the hypothetical photog would make selling her Canon gear, and subtracted it from the cost of buying all of the equivalent Sony gear.

You can read the full, item-by-item cost breakdown at DPReview, but the conclusion is straightforward: even if you buy as much of your Sony gear as possible used, a professional sports photographer would have to spend approximately $11,050 out of pocket to switch. Even JUST switching bodies and picking up adapters would cost over $5,000 by DPR’s estimate.

Bracaglia’s conclusion? “Switching systems is a headache and sports photography gear is crazy expensive.” Preach.

Check out the full article on DPReview, where Dan goes into much more detail about each ‘ideal’ kit, talks a bit about the economics of buying and selling photo gear, and more. It’s worth a look, and some hard thought, before you decide to sell and switch… no matter how tempting the a9’s specs might look.