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Shake, rattle, and repair: Sony offers free fix for loose hot shoe on a9 camera

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The Sony a9 is trying to shake up the camera industry with an impressive 20 frames-per-second burst speed, but on some models, that shake comes with a bit of a rattle too. Sony is now offering free repairs for Sony a9 users on the Multi Interface or hot shoe slot that can create rattling noises when used with some larger flash units.

“In rare cases the Multi Interface Shoe on some ILCE-9 (a9) interchangeable lens digital cameras may rattle when an optional large flash unit is attached and high pressure is applied to it,” Sony said recently on an alert from the a9 product page.

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Sony is offering free repairs for owners of models that fall within a set of serial numbers experiencing the problems — Sony a9 units that are between 3370001 and 3381733 are included in the repairs. (Sony owners can find the serial number listed on the bottom of the camera.) The company is giving user until March 31, 2020, to get that free repair.

Outside of the rattle, Sony hasn’t said if the issue causes any performance issues with the camera or attached flash. Users in a forum dating as far back as June 2017 have mentioned the rattle issue, and handful reported loose hot shoe slots and one user even claims in the forum that after being lose the hot shoe slot came off the camera.

With the issue now recognized by Sony, users can send any a9 bodies that fall within the serial number range for free repairs. Photographers are asked to contact Sony’s product support team to set up a repair.

Sony announced the a9 last April, using a full-frame stacked sensor to deliver speeds the company hadn’t previously been able to achieve in their full frame mirrorless line. That speed is paired with a no-blackout viewfinder that allows photographers to easily follow the action while shooting. The camera also improved on some of the complaints on previous models by doubling the battery life over earlier a7 series cameras. Sony has since enhanced the camera with a handful of firmware updates, bringing enhanced performance as well as some minor bug fixes.

The Sony a9 body retails for $4,500.

Hillary K. Grigonis
Hillary K. Grigonis
Former Contributor
Hillary never planned on becoming a photographer—and then she was handed a camera at her first writing job and she's been…
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