Trade-offs of Upgrading from A77 to A9

Hi All, I've been with the Sony A-Mount system since the mid 00s. First with an old A300, then A700, and since launch day in 2012, an A77. That old A77 has served me well and been around the world with me, but it's getting a bit long in the tooth and I'm thinking of jumping up a few generations into a used A9.

My biggest concern is that I have little interest in abandoning my collection of A-mount lenses and am not looking to buy any e-mounts anytime soon. I've heard mixed reviews of the LA-EA5 and some of the limitations it can bring. I'm aware I'll also have to purchase a new flash as Sony finally abandoned the old Minolta/Sony proprietary hotshoe.

For context, I shoot mostly nature/wildlife, landscape, and insect macros. My primary worry is that some of the lenses I have will be handicapped by the LA-EA5 and perform worse in terms of AF and continuous shooting on the A9 than my current A77. I've read that FPS is limited with the LA-EA5, so I'd be going backwards in that regards and some lenses hunt for focus to the point of being unusable.

My current lenses are:
Sony 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 G SSM
Sony DT 16-50mm F2.8 SSM (I realize this will be cropped on FF)
Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro
Sigma 50mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro
Sigma 150-500mm f5-6.3 DG HSM APO

Can anyone with experience making the leap from A to E mounts chime in on the limitations I would face using the LA-EA5 with those lenses and an A9? I've especially read conflicting reports of how well AF works and what the continuous FPS shooting limit would be on the long lenses.

Basically I'm wondering if it would even make sense to upgrade at the moment.

I can’t speak about the LAEA5 either, but the LAEA4 on my A7ii works just fine for what I need with all of my A mount lenses. I haven’t felt hobbled by them yet. Been thinking about the Monster Adapter for using the on sensor focus points and avoiding the MFA.

Thanks for the feedback. I suppose my biggest concern is that the Sigma 150-600 and the Sigma 105mm Macro will continue to AF well and that the 150-600 will still get a reasonable FPS in continuous shooting. I've seen some documentation buried on Sony's site that the LA-EA3 or 5 will do up to 10FPS on the A9. If that's true, I'm fine with that as it's barely off the 12FPS the A77 does.

The other lenses are cheap enough to replace if I need with e-mount and don't use nearly as much as these two. But the long Sigma I really want to avoid having to buy again.

From the sound of it, I won't get 100% of the AF speed and FPS of the A9 with the adapter, but overall the experience will probably as good or better than the A77 and I can transition to e-mount over time.

LAbernethy wrote: I never made the switch and have an a99Mk2, which for all intent and purposes is an A77 with a 42MP full frame sensor in it that I usually run at 18MP.

And a better AF system. I feel it is a great step-up from the A77.

If you want to go mirrorless, did you consider the A7IV? Might be a better compromise.

addy landzaat wrote: LAbernethy wrote: I never made the switch and have an a99Mk2, which for all intent and purposes is an A77 with a 42MP full frame sensor in it that I usually run at 18MP. And a better AF system. I feel it is a great step-up from the A77. If you want to go mirrorless, did you consider the A7IV? Might be a better compromise.

My thoughts too. The A9 shines with E mount glass, I can't see it being much of a step up wit A mount. Whereas the A7iv gives you 30mp and LA-EA5 compatibility. I chose the A7Riv/LA-EA5 as my upgrade path from the A99ii and found that most lenses work as well as, or better than on the A99ii, but a few still seem better on the old body.