Hello from London (or Brazil right now! )

[Floridaplym]

Hi, been really enjoying using Sony a7r3 last 3 years with 70-200 and more recently 100-400, mainly love wildlife photography from big cats to birds, and we like to travel a fair bit to try and find rare animals to watch and photograph.
Now considering trading 70-200 and a7r3 in part-ex for a1 to get the speed (was flirting with a9 but don't want to lose the resolution for the small bird shots) but it's a big financial jump and I'm a bit torn.
My partner uses an a6000 with 16-70 f4 for walkaround as she hates big lenses, but we're considering getting her an rx10m4 she can use as a backup when we're desperate not to miss a rare animal.
Nice to meet you all, looking forward to exchanging tips

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

From one Chris to another, Welcome!

 

[Tim Mayo]

Welcome Chris and thank you for joining up here! There isn't a lot I can say to convince you not to get the a1 I'm afraid, it's a cracking camera. I've only had mine for a few months and still haven't really pushed its limits yet. If you aren't in a rush it might be worth holding out to see if Sony does finally announce the a7R V before the year is out, that will be an interesting camera although it won't have the AF speed of the a1.

 

[Floridaplym]

Hi Tim, I'd pretty much decided to take the plunge on a1 since it has 500 quid trade in bonus currently, but now the A7R5 is out and I'm struggling to see where the extra cost of the a1 comes from. I suspect its still going to be better for wildlife with extra speed, not sure if it's enough difference to justify the extra cost though. Not seen anything practical about a7r5 yet, but the new autofocus actually sounds better - so confusing!

 

[Tim Mayo]

Hi Tim, I'd pretty much decided to take the plunge on a1 since it has 500 quid trade in bonus currently, but now the A7R5 is out and I'm struggling to see where the extra cost of the a1 comes from. I suspect its still going to be better for wildlife with extra speed, not sure if it's enough difference to justify the extra cost though. Not seen anything practical about a7r5 yet, but the new autofocus actually sounds better - so confusing!

From what I've seen so far the new a7R V does look like a very good camera and there are some nice AF improvements over the a7R IV along with the much larger buffer and CFexpress Type-A cards. If you were shooting small and very fast subjects then the a1 will still have the advantage. It's also got the stacked sensor so there's virtually no rolling shutter when using the e-shutter. With the a7R V you'll be wanting to use the mechanical shutter for anything that moves otherwise you'll risk distortions from the rolling shutter when using the e-shutter. You are also limited to 10 fps with the a7R V and this is not blackout free like with the a1, but I've never found it to be an issue and 10fps is fast enough 95% of the time. Not an easy choice I know, but you'll definitely have a nice chunk of change left over if you go with the a7R V. It might be worth hiring one to try out, hireacamera normally have some good offers on over the holiday period but they don't have the a7R V in stock yet.

 

[Floridaplym]

Thanks for your reply - that was really helpful

In the end I saw a flash sale the other night and grabbed an A1 while it had £600 off, so I've plumped for that - very excited about it arriving now. Would you say you need a CFExpress card if using A1 in a high burst mode?

My partner is getting an RX10 mk iv as she doesnt want to carry a large lens - does anyone have a recommendation for spec of SD cards for that?

 

[Tim Mayo]

Thanks for your reply - that was really helpful

In the end I saw a flash sale the other night and grabbed an A1 while it had £600 off, so I've plumped for that - very excited about it arriving now. Would you say you need a CFExpress card if using A1 in a high burst mode?

My partner is getting an RX10 mk iv as she doesnt want to carry a large lens - does anyone have a recommendation for spec of SD cards for that?

£600 off is definitely a nice saving! I don't think I've seen it discounted before. The CFexpress Type-A cards will definitely clear the buffer a lot faster than using a UHS-II card. A CFexpress card will let you take around 150 compressed RAWs before hitting the buffer and clear in around 10 seconds, with one of the fast UHS-II cards like the Kingston this will shoot 150 compressed RAW's but take around 26 seconds to clear the buffer. You might find my following guide helpful: https://www.alphashooters.com/cameras/a1/memory-cards/