Sony A1 Sony A1 Questions & Discussion

[Tim Mayo]

Please use this thread for all questions and discussion around the new Sony A1. If you are curious how the a1 compares to the a9II, then please take a look at my comparison article over on the blog:

Sony A1 vs A9 II – The Key Differences - Alpha Shooters

I take a look at the key differences between the new Sony A1 and Sony's previous flagship camera, the A9II.

www.alphashooters.com

The Alpha 1 will be available in Europe in mid Feb for £6,500. In the US it will be available around the beginning of March for $6,500.

 

[WeeMalky]

Lol. Sure, a free A1 for 12 months for all pro members here

Now your talking Tim

 

[Jane]

Why do people keep comparing the Sony a1 with Canon R5? The Megapixel count is similar but that's it. Compare it to the Canon R1. Oh that's right, there isn't one yet. But the good news is that with two big companies competing hard there will be lots of innovation and that will trickle down to the prosumer cameras.

DPReview did a comparison of high megapixel mirrorless cameras. Sony a7RIV beat Canon R5 on IQ, cost, battery life and AF performance. So happy I left Canon year ago.

For those saying the a9 series and others are dead, why has Sony registered 5 more bodies?

 

[garuda]

I'm waiting to see if Sony applied their magic wand to the a1''s Real time AF function to the same extent they used it on the 30fps, 9M 240fps OLED EVF, Bionz XR, etc technology. As was mentioned above, some features tend toward overkill --- all of which would be nice to have in some situations, but not so much in exchange for its hefty price point. So for that reason I hope the AF track/lock has also improved and especially for low-contrast targets and lock-on in a crowd.

The high-end pros and the wealthy likely won't flinch much at the price tag. But us poor free lancers and hobbyists are now severely saddled with a tragically cruel decision, whether to sell one of the kids on the human trafficking market, or get a third mortgage on the house.

 

[Paul stuart]

The sony A1 one camera to rule them all ,this really is a halo product 8k and 30fps maybe overkill for some ,new menus ,less lag in operation will be welcome ,50mp sweet spot for most well at least in the summer in uk ,bird eye af nice update hope this comes to other sony cameras ,af will be excellent nice to be able to use flash in e/s ,less banding indoors with e/s ,excellent control of rolling shutter,4k 120 very nice ,excellent view finder very large .9 mag with excellent res, the only sore point drops res whilst shooting ,the lcd that shows its age should be 2 miilion dot ,low light performance may be disappointing jury will be out on this, and the the fact the canon r5 still does 95% of the a1 with costing half the price ,pros and rich will not care ,amateurs and hobbyist will.

 

[Paul stuart]

Why do people keep comparing the Sony a1 with Canon R5? The Megapixel count is similar but that's it. Compare it to the Canon R1. Oh that's right, there isn't one yet. But the good news is that with two big companies competing hard there will be lots of innovation and that will trickle down to the prosumer cameras.

DPReview did a comparison of high megapixel mirrorless cameras. Sony a7RIV beat Canon R5 on IQ, cost, battery life and AF performance. So happy I left Canon year ago.

But the r5 won hi res camera dpr review comp ,and to be honest the af test was on human eye af where all sonys shine above the rest. but yes those winning points are very important that nz1000 is one hell of a battery ,the iq of a7r4 is wonderful although limiting to select lenses.

For those saying the a9 series and others are dead, why has Sony registered 5 more bodies?

sure a a93 would be great imagine a dual bionz x processor running think you could then claim 60fps c-af ,to be honest a new view finder would be enough for some with the new improved menu and touch screen and bird eye af .It may be to early for the a93 but i do expect to see a a74 in the mix with 30-32 mp sensor .

 

[Tim Driman]

Hi Tim. It's been a while, but I am still hanging in here....

I can see that the EVF refresh rates is 120x per second, but do you know what the sensor refresh rate is please?

 

[Tim Mayo]

Hi Tim. It's been a while, but I am still hanging in here....

I can see that the EVF refresh rates is 120x per second, but do you know what the sensor refresh rate is please?

Glad that you are still here Tim!

With the EVF you have a 120 fps (2048 x 1536 px) and a 240 fps (1600 x 1200 px) mode. The new sensor and processor performs 120 AE and AF calculations every second, so that’s twice as many as the a9 and a9II are able to manage.

 

[Jeff A]

Lol. Sure, a free A1 for 12 months for all pro members here

Thank you Timothy. I knew you'd Step UP!

 

[garuda]

If you're interested in examining up close at full res (50M) the a1 pics seen in Sony's teaser video , you can download at link below. Scroll to bottom of article to download.

a1 sample pics from Sony

 

[pointreyes]

Based on what WEX released on ISO test this camera might be a good one for low light work.

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

www.youtube.com

For now I will continue to use the gear (A9, A73, A7R3, A7R2 IR) I have and probably risk lower trade in value waiting to see what else Sony is releasing this year.
Especially hoping there is a RX10v with some of the A1 tech in it. My RX10iv is all I require for video but that 30 minute limit and weak battery is something I'm looking forward to replace.

 

[Xeropaga81]

I pre-ordered mine the same the when the online presentation was ;-) Have the A9ii and the A7RIV and they both did never disappoint, so that was an absolute no brainer to me. Maybe I will sell the A9ii or keep them all three, I am often in Africa on Safari so lens changes are a NO GO. So actually I can't have enough bodies with me Can't wait for my copy, should arrive in Switzerland by the beginning of March.

 

[Jeff A]

I pre-ordered mine the same the when the online presentation was ;-) Have the A9ii and the A7RIV and they both did never disappoint, so that was an absolute no brainer to me. Maybe I will sell the A9ii or keep them all three, I am often in Africa on Safari so lens changes are a NO GO. So actually I can't have enough bodies with me Can't wait for my copy, should arrive in Switzerland by the beginning of March.

Sweet!

 

[Xeropaga81]

Sweet!

Indeed, haha ...

Can't wait for holding it in my own hands testing it out Will let you guys know as soon as it's here and I could test 2-3 things.

 

[NightBreed]

Here is the link for Mark Galer's review. It is over an hour long and I would recommend it. A fair and balanced review by someone that understands these cameras.

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Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

www.youtube.com

 

[Tim Mayo]

Here is the link for Mark Galer's review. It is over an hour long and I would recommend it. A fair and balanced review by someone that understands these cameras.

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

www.youtube.com

Great review as always from Mark. Disappointing that it sounds like the 200-600 could potential have some issues with the high resolution sensor again. Would definitely like to see a few more tests and comparisons with this lens.

 

[NightBreed]

It is disappointing that the 200-600might have some potential issues and I will wait and see how it performs with more tests/comparisons. Interesting to see how it performs with the 100-400 plus 1.4x tele converter? I will wait to see what the people on here and the face book page thinks when they get theirs. I am not In a rush to order one but equally don't want to wait too long!

 

[dragonsdreams]

Yes, I also saw Mark Galer's review and noted his 'reservations' around the 200-600mm combo. I find that rather worrying given how many people on the forum have also had problems with the A7r4 same combo (not me, I may add).

Might have considered an A1 down the road some time but unless they sort bird eye AF (still doesn't look as good/ work as well as Canon's R5) and the 200-600mm , then no way!
Mark Galer's reviews are always pretty straight down the line so if he's 'concerned' about something like AF performance with the 200-600mm then that is red flashing alarms bells to us who were thinking the A1 was the new super-duper A9/A7r4 hybrid for bird photography.

 

[NightBreed]

Well I have decided to buy the A1 and will put an order in once funds are available after reading all the reviews (youtube etc) from Alex Phan, Mark Galer, Pierre T. Lambert, Lizzie Peirce etc The 200-600mm soft focus doesn't seem to be a problem now that Mark & Alex have had a time to take more photos with the A1 and that lens. I am completely new to Sony Alpha series (apart from my camera hire of the A7Riii) so I will be purchasing lenses as well. It is not going to be cheap is it! I do think the memory cards are over expensive from Sony though. I actually like the smaller body of the Sony cameras and I'm not fussed about a flip out screen as I always use the view finder anyway on any camera. The rest of the camera speaks for itself.

 

[Reciprocum]

One Q I have not found a definite answer for in any review, spec list or manual: are the 30fps RAW 12 bit deep or 14bit deep? ( I know they are lossy compressed, that is not my Q)

 

[Reciprocum]

If it just didn't have all those stupid video specs Now I'm hoping the A9 isn't a dead line. Makes you wonder if they will drop A9 and bump the 7IV up into A9 territory and release a replacement for entry level FF, A5 or A6? I can't see them making an A9III that will do stills as well as A1, it will have to be someplace in between A9II and A1. I'd love to see 30-40 MP, 20-25 FPS, better EVF, faster AF, and faster processing. Keep the video specs in the 4K arena. Keep price under $5K US. They may have just put themselves in a position that killed the A9. Anything better than A9II, but less than A1 will hurt A1 sales (pro sports does not need 50MP or 8K, they shoot JPG for fast uploads and instant publishing, hardly anything is cropped so 24MP is fine with all that huge glass). I can see all the transfer updates, even the 50MP "maybe" but not the 8K being useful to anyone right now outside of video geeks.

I see Sony replacing the A9 series with A1, replacing A7R series with new curved sensor MF to compete with Fuji in that area.

 

[Tim Mayo]

Well I have decided to buy the A1 and will put an order in once funds are available after reading all the reviews (youtube etc) from Alex Phan, Mark Galer, Pierre T. Lambert, Lizzie Peirce etc The 200-600mm soft focus doesn't seem to be a problem now that Mark & Alex have had a time to take more photos with the A1 and that lens. I am completely new to Sony Alpha series (apart from my camera hire of the A7Riii) so I will be purchasing lenses as well. It is not going to be cheap is it! I do think the memory cards are over expensive from Sony though. I actually like the smaller body of the Sony cameras and I'm not fussed about a flip out screen as I always use the view finder anyway on any camera. The rest of the camera speaks for itself.

Congrats on the decision Ian! Definitely a little more reassuring to see some more images from the 200-600. Those CFexpress Type A cards are definitely a tad overpriced! But then with the amount you will be spending on the camera + lenses the memory cards are probably the least of your worries

 

[dragonsdreams]

Congrats on the decision Ian! Definitely a little more reassuring to see some more images from the 200-600. Those CFexpress Type A cards are definitely a tad overpriced! But then with the amount you will be spending on the camera + lenses the memory cards are probably the least of your worries

Yes agreed Tim. A round of applause for Alex Phan who had been posting A1+ 200-600mmG bird eye AF photos including dull (almost UK) conditions. My piggy bank is looking worried....

 

[Ziggy]

One Q I have not found a definite answer for in any review, spec list or manual: are the 30fps RAW 12 bit deep or 14bit deep? ( I know they are lossy compressed, that is not my Q)

FWIW I believe the A9 drops to 12 bit in CAF. The A1 has much more processing power which may obviate that.

It costs you a bit of detail in the shadows which is no biggie. Photography Life has a comparo and the tog who did it said he couldn't see any difference in the wash up.

 

[Xeropaga81]

Sooo, my copy has finally arrived about 30min ago. What A camera

 

[Tim Mayo]

Sooo, my copy has finally arrived about 30min ago. What A camera

Congratulations! Just a little jealous!

 

[Xeropaga81]

Congratulations! Just a little jealous!

HaHa, thanks man, but that's not necessary ......it's just a camera, dit not win in lottery

 

[NightBreed]

Sooo, my copy has finally arrived about 30min ago. What A camera

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Congrats on your new A1. It will be very interesting to see the photos from those that have/will be receiving theirs shortly. Especially as I am sure many different lenses and style of photography will be used.

 

[Xeropaga81]

Congrats on your new A1. It will be very interesting to see the photos from those that have/will be receiving theirs shortly. Especially as I am sure many different lenses and style of photography will be used.

Absolutely, but before I show pictures I will wait for Adobe Lightroom to be able to handle the A1 files. Comparing JPEG's ist not what I want to do ..

 

[dragonsdreams]

Eeeeeek at the price

Eeek at the exchange rate 1£=1$??

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

Eeek at the exchange rate 1£=1$??

Yeah, we get royally ripped off. Hence Grey Imports for me.