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.

 

[lombardi99]

What is holding me back from ordering an A1 (and previously an A7R4) is the low-light performance above iso800 (photography side, don’t care about video) most YouTube reviewers avoid discussing this issue. The few RAWs that I was able to preview with CaptureOne did not impressed me to much.
I am used to use highlight exposure on my A7M3 and then pulling shadows in post, and that method is OKish only up to iso800.
would much appreciate some non-ambassador, real-life use feedback regarding this topic.

Not sure if this helps, but this week I shot about 2000 images at ISO 800 to 3200. I normally use DxO for RAW processing and DeepPrime arguably does a better job at noise reduction, but DxO doesn't support the A1 until around June ... so I did some processing with CaptureOne. Here's one ... a significant crop at ISO 3200. Compared to the a7rIII and a9 I was shooting previously, I'd say it's at least as good.

• ILCE-1
• Sony FE 200–600 mm F5.6–6.3 G OSS (SEL200600G) + 1.4X Teleconverter (SEL14TC)
• 840.0 mm
• ƒ/9
• 1/1000 sec
• ISO 3200

 

[Reciprocum]

Not sure if this helps, but this week I shot about 2000 images at ISO 800 to 3200. I normally use DxO for RAW processing and DeepPrime arguably does a better job at noise reduction, but DxO doesn't support the A1 until around June ... so I did some processing with CaptureOne. Here's one ... a significant crop at ISO 3200. Compared to the a7rIII and a9 I was shooting previously, I'd say it's at least as good.View attachment 8051

Especially valuable feedback since you can compare to your previous R3 and A9 bodies.
Since I plan to keep my A7M3 as backup anyway, and only 10% of all pictures I took in the past 3y were above iso800, I think I will eventually end up with an A1 as primary camera. With my current A7M3’s 8 FPS m-shutter (I don’t even go 10fps because files become 12 bit deep) I am missing too much action moments, e-shutter is unusable with action shots because of high rolling shutter, blacked out bursts, slugish AF performance, no AF tracking, EVF is quite bad when I need to manual focus, m-shutter lifespan/wearout, thin grip, old style menus... too many flaws begging for an upgrade.

 

[NightBreed]

I would go with card reader solution, but having a PC without an usb-C port is enough indication that it will be way underspeced to do the necessary processing of A1 data deluge.

I will go with the card reader option now. My pc & laptop could cope with A7Riii Raw files so hopefully either one will cope until Apple brings out the new 14"+ 16" M1 Macbook Pro's which hopefully is later this year.

 

[lombardi99]

Especially valuable feedback since you can compare to your previous R3 and A9 bodies.
Since I plan to keep my A7M3 as backup anyway, and only 10% of all pictures I took in the past 3y were above iso800, I think I will eventually end up with an A1 as primary camera. With my current A7M3’s 8 FPS m-shutter (I don’t even go 10fps because files become 12 bit deep) I am missing too much action moments, e-shutter is unusable with action shots because of high rolling shutter, blacked out bursts, slugish AF performance, no AF tracking, EVF is quite bad when I need to manual focus, m-shutter lifespan/wearout, thin grip, old style menus... too many flaws begging for an upgrade.

I had decided to keep the a9 and sell the a7rIII. I have used both for BIF and always used electronic shutter, etc ... but the a9 clearly did the better job. I shoot with ISO over 1000 nearly all the time for birds, and often 3200 or 6400. Many times I've done (non-wildlife) interior or night shots hand-held as high as ISO 12800, and also astrophotography with ISO up to 10000. I used the a7rIIII for those. So I had an opportunity to sell both bodies and get a second A1. I'm confident at this point it was a good choice. But DxO Photolab's new DeepPrime noise reduction definitely takes it up a notch, allowing for better noise reduction and no loss of detail, I expect the A1 will surpass the other bodies once I have DxO support.

 

[dragonsdreams]

I will go with the card reader option now. My pc & laptop could cope with A7Riii Raw files so hopefully either one will cope until Apple brings out the new 14"+ 16" M1 Macbook Pro's which hopefully is later this year.

I think using the USB-C port from camera to my tablet 'out in the field' for backups would be great but not sure how fast this data transfer would be. With my A7r4 I use a high speed USB3 SD card reader into the tablet but it really takes some time to copy of a days shooting when on a wildlife holiday (once back in the lodge etc in the evening).

 

[Tim Driman]

Hi Tim: Greetings from Ballito - KwaZulu Nata ( South Africa)

I have an A1 on order and believe I should have it in a week or so.... Woopwoopwoop!

I have only used either Sony or SanDisk 128 Gig SDXC UHS ii cards ( 300MB's / 299 MB's), and already have a bunch of them.

However there has been discussion as to the performance of the A1 using SDXC UHSii and/or CF Express Cards, but I need some clarity please.

While I understand that we can still continue to use the SDXC UHSii cards, but you ONLY need CF Express cards if you want to shoot 8K 120fps? ... *I will be shooting video, but will not go above 4K, and my main work will be stills.
QUESTION: If I use SDXC UHSii cards, and want to achieve 30 fps frame rate:
1) Set the camera to RAW (Compressed - Do I choose Lossy or lossless?)
2) Set AFC / Set Focus Priority: Release

As I understand things, SDXC UHS have a reasonable read/write speed (300MB's/299MB's), and the buffer clearing will be slower with these cards than the CF Express cards? How noticeable will the difference be?
The download rate from the special CCF Express card reader needs to has a USB-C port in your computer to use this reader? But that download speed is much faster if you have CF Express cards....

As these cards are no cheap, I need to know what I will lose out on by sticking to SDXC UHSii cards please?

Do you have any links to any text articles, or UTube videos which explain all this please?

Many thanks

Best regards
timdriman@iafrica.com

 

[Reciprocum]

Hi Tim: Greetings from Ballito - KwaZulu Nata ( South Africa)

I have an A1 on order and believe I should have it in a week or so.... Woopwoopwoop!

I have only used either Sony or SanDisk 128 Gig SDXC UHS ii cards ( 300MB's / 299 MB's), and already have a bunch of them.

However there has been discussion as to the performance of the A1 using SDXC UHSii and/or CF Express Cards, but I need some clarity please.

While I understand that we can still continue to use the SDXC UHSii cards, but you ONLY need CF Express cards if you want to shoot 8K 120fps? ... *I will be shooting video, but will not go above 4K, and my main work will be stills.
QUESTION: If I use SDXC UHSii cards, and want to achieve 30 fps frame rate:
1) Set the camera to RAW (Compressed - Do I choose Lossy or lossless?)
2) Set AFC / Set Focus Priority: Release

As I understand things, SDXC UHS have a reasonable read/write speed (300MB's/299MB's), and the buffer clearing will be slower with these cards than the CF Express cards? How noticeable will the difference be?
The download rate from the special CCF Express card reader needs to has a USB-C port in your computer to use this reader? But that download speed is much faster if you have CF Express cards....

As these cards are no cheap, I need to know what I will lose out on by sticking to SDXC UHSii cards please?

Do you have any links to any text articles, or UTube videos which explain all this please?

Many thanks

Best regards
timdriman@iafrica.com

1) A1 does not do 8K 120fps, only 8K 30fps
2) You only need CF-A (for video) if you do 4K 120fps 400mbps all-I
3) 30 fps stills only with lossy compressed RAWs, or no RAWs at all (just JPEG/HEIF). In pro-sports tendency is to shoot JEPG only downsampled to 21mpx, to be able to ftp offload them (wirelessly or via ethernet cable) asap to win that race to the blog/web page update (run by someone else that is culing/picking the image stream as they land on the shared FTP server).
4) With SDXC UHS-II cards (R300/W299) you will still be able to achieve same 30fps stills, but if the buffer saturates it will take 700/299=2.3x longer to clear the buffer out. Unless you do many long bursts with small interval between them that will not become an issue, you will even be able to operate the menus and change mode/settings before the buffer clears completely, You will not be able to start a video recording until the buffer fully clears.
I am using SDXC UHS-II cards (R300/W299) on slot-1 to record uncompressed RAWs (20fps) and it has not been an issue for me so far, yet... 128gb cards will fill-up incredibly fast (15 minutes max) if you keep doing 30fps 2s long bursts (˜5gb per burst, 24 such bursts - 2 per minute - and your 128gb card is full in 12 minutes).
I have done a few 5 minute long action sessions at 20fps, some 10-20 1/2s-long bursts during the session and quickly ended up with ˜20gb of RAW files to transfer and cull.
5) If you do setup RAW to lossless compressed (as I much want to do all the time...) you will be forced to use Sony's RAW editor as CaptureOne latest version only supports lossy and uncompressed RAWs (not sure about Adobe suite)

 

[keithinmelbourne]

I shoot basketball, astrophotography and landscapes. I am hoping that the A1 will be “the one”. My A9 is good for basketball and my A7III is good for low light, but neither are great as landscape cameras. I had ordered the A7rIV, but they are as scarce as hen’s teeth here in Australia, so I changed my order to the A1. It is excessive, especially the price, but I am hoping it is future proof to some extent. The idea of shooting in Indoor stadiums without flicker is especially appealing. I hope it works.

 

[Jeff A]

I shoot basketball, astrophotography and landscapes. I am hoping that the A1 will be “the one”. My A9 is good for basketball and my A7III is good for low light, but neither are great as landscape cameras. I had ordered the A7rIV, but they are as scarce as hen’s teeth here in Australia, so I changed my order to the A1. It is excessive, especially the price, but I am hoping it is future proof to some extent. The idea of shooting in Indoor stadiums without flicker is especially appealing. I hope it works.

As a novice owner of an A73, I must ask why it would not be a good Landscape camera. Looking to learn something here, not trying to start a controversy.

 

[keithinmelbourne]

As a novice owner of an A73, I must ask why it would not be a good Landscape cammera. Looking to learn something here, not trying to start a controversy.

It’s not controversial. I remember when the Canon 1DsIII came out with a 24mp sensor the world raved about how you could almost swim around an image looking at detail. It was the most impressive DSLR around. So 24mp became kind of standard. I owned a Canon 1DIII that only had 10mp and it was good enough. My current two bodies, an A9 and A7III, produce lovely images. However, I am finding that there are times when I could do with more resolution, especially in situations where I have to crop.

If 24mp was the only game in town I would have to continue working with it, but I don’t because there are other options. I am doing much more landscape photography nowadays and I guess there are times when I would like to squeeze out more detail than I am getting right now. There. I am not sure if I sold that to myself or not. I also like new cameras.

 

[Jeff A]

Fair enough. Thanks.

You like new cameras, eh? I'm glad that those kinds of things don't interest me. If I lie, will I really go to Hell?

 

[NightBreed]

I think using the USB-C port from camera to my tablet 'out in the field' for backups would be great but not sure how fast this data transfer would be. With my A7r4 I use a high speed USB3 SD card reader into the tablet but it really takes some time to copy of a days shooting when on a wildlife holiday (once back in the lodge etc in the evening).

I would have normally used just use the apple reader to plug into the ipad to read cards directly which I can do to back up Jpeg's on any camera that uses UHS cards. So for the A1 if I used one CF Express A card (for Raw files) and one UHS II for jpegs as I don't think think this slows down the A1 unless you run out of room on the A card. I could of course download from the camera to USB C on the latest Ipad which is what I might do by the time we are allowed to travel in the UK or abroad (probably 2022) so not really so much of an issue now until we are allowed to travel.

Still waiting for the A1, initially I was told the end of March/start of April so lets see if it turns up soon!

 

[Reciprocum]

I would have normally used just use the apple reader to plug into the ipad to read cards directly which I can do to back up Jpeg's on any camera that uses UHS cards. So for the A1 if I used one CF Express A card (for Raw files) and one UHS II for jpegs as I don't think think this slows down the A1 unless you run out of room on the A card. I could of course download from the camera to USB C on the latest Ipad which is what I might do by the time we are allowed to travel in the UK or abroad (probably 2022) so not really so much of an issue now until we are allowed to travel.

Still waiting for the A1, initially I was told the end of March/start of April so lets see if it turns up soon!

I have latest iPad-pro and it does connect to Sony bodies via usb-c, but transfer rates are miserable, connection not that reliable (when data volumes are large), and you surely will fill up the iPad storage very very fast, especially if you get the A1.
I only use this iPad method if I wish to show/preview just a few/select of the pictures to a large group (family gathering) as it is much more convenient to pass around an iPad than the camera itself.
Best backup-on-the-go IMO is one of those large capacity HDD/SDD battery operated units with UHS card readers built-in, but that does not solve the reading of CF-A cards.

 

[keithinmelbourne]

has anyone received their a1 yet? i'm waiting to hear if i'll get it next week or mid april.

Finally got mine a week ago. It’s a beautiful machine.

 

[AlphaWorld]

It’s not controversial. I remember when the Canon 1DsIII came out with a 24mp sensor the world raved about how you could almost swim around an image looking at detail. It was the most impressive DSLR around. So 24mp became kind of standard. I owned a Canon 1DIII that only had 10mp and it was good enough. My current two bodies, an A9 and A7III, produce lovely images. However, I am finding that there are times when I could do with more resolution, especially in situations where I have to crop.

If 24mp was the only game in town I would have to continue working with it, but I don’t because there are other options. I am doing much more landscape photography nowadays and I guess there are times when I would like to squeeze out more detail than I am getting right now. There. I am not sure if I sold that to myself or not. I also like new cameras.

Sorry, Keith, but I pre-ordered a 1Ds III, and it was “only“ 21 megapixels; still, the most common resolution at that time was 8 megapixels. When it arrived, the second highest resolution was the 1Ds II at 16Mp - things have changed a lot since then.

I have been spoiled by the A7R IV, and cropping 60Mp down to just 10, or even 6. I could not get enough pixels with the A9, so when I pre-ordered the A1 I traded in the A9 and kept the A7R IV.

 

[AlphaWorld]

I fully expect there to be an A7R V, and probably an A9 III, too. They will be more focussed models, sacrificing some of the versatility of the A1 for a lower price.

I think someone in Sony Marketing messed up with the A1. Yes, it is called an A1, but that’s because it is the top of the Alpha range, like Canon’s 1D line. Pushing it as “the ONLY one” was not smart, precisely because it raised confusion about whether the A9 line and the A7R line would continue.

All that said, though, I have no regrets about getting one, even though it’s the second most expensive body I’ve bought.

 

[keithinmelbourne]

Sorry, Keith, but I pre-ordered a 1Ds III, and it was “only“ 21 megapixels; still, the most common resolution at that time was 8 megapixels. When it arrived, the second highest resolution was the 1Ds II at 16Mp - things have changed a lot since then.

I have been spoiled by the A7R IV, and cropping 60Mp down to just 10, or even 6. I could not get enough pixels with the A9, so when I pre-ordered the A1 I traded in the A9 and kept the A7R IV.

Yes. I received my A1 last week.

 

[NightBreed]

I've been told there is a delay to the deliveries. Mine should have been here this week but now I have no idea. Anyone else in the UK know when theirs will arrive now?

 

[dragonsdreams]

Sorry to hear.
I went with Panamoz in the end. My local camera shop said it would be until mid to late April so I took the plunge with Panamoz. It arrived last week and took 6 days remarkable
All good and recommended.

 

[AlphaWorld]

It's entirely possible that there is a real delay, but it's also possible that the people working in the camera shops are telling us fibs to discourage us from asking every day ("Is it here yet?" sounds a lot like "Are we there yet?").

The first shipments in the US were supposedly late because of seriously bad weather. I've heard of people being told that a certain ship in the Suez Canal was holding up every shipment into Europe.

 

[NightBreed]

It would be better if someone somewhere could say how long. I don't mind waiting it is the lack of info that is frustrating and actually not fair on these smaller camera shops in lockdown. I also don't mind buying it from the smaller camera shop to help support them during this time or actually anytime. They have been very good to me recently.

I wondered how Panamoz gets theirs when they supply imports yet there is meant to be a global shortage of these?

 

[AlphaWorld]

It would be better if someone somewhere could say how long. I don't mind waiting it is the lack of info that is frustrating and actually not fair on these smaller camera shops in lockdown. I also don't mind buying it from the smaller camera shop to help support them during this time or actually anytime. They have been very good to me recently.

I wondered how Panamoz gets theirs when they supply imports yet there is meant to be a global shortage of these?

I don't think anyone can tell you exactly when.

I don't think there is a single hold-up anywhere, just a limited supply which is being sent out around the world. So the Sony company in each country gets shipments when they can, and they choose to send those out within their country. They get a shipment of 20 and send 2 to camera store A, 15 to camera store B, 3 to camera store C, and camera store D keeps telling their customers "we're expecting them any day now!". In some countries (USA, for example), Sony chose to prioritise members of their Professional Services; in other countries (mine, for example) they did not. Then the shipment to camera store C gets delayed, and all the customers at B get their cameras.

Sony won't publish their numbers on how many cameras have gone to which countries - that's company confidential information which would be valuable to their competitors.

On the other hand, cameras are arriving, and if you preordered early, you are likely to get your camera soon.

 

[NightBreed]

I don't think anyone can tell you exactly when.

I don't think there is a single hold-up anywhere, just a limited supply which is being sent out around the world. So the Sony company in each country gets shipments when they can, and they choose to send those out within their country. They get a shipment of 20 and send 2 to camera store A, 15 to camera store B, 3 to camera store C, and camera store D keeps telling their customers "we're expecting them any day now!". In some countries (USA, for example), Sony chose to prioritise members of their Professional Services; in other countries (mine, for example) they did not. Then the shipment to camera store C gets delayed, and all the customers at B get their cameras.

Sony won't publish their numbers on how many cameras have gone to which countries - that's company confidential information which would be valuable to their competitors.

On the other hand, cameras are arriving, and if you preordered early, you are likely to get your camera soon.

Thank for the detailed reply.

 

[nokk]

Finally got mine a week ago. It’s a beautiful machine.

congrats! amazon delayed my order again. so i cancelled and cold called camera stores until i found one. it'll be here thursday.

 

[AlphaWorld]

I did have an A7RIV on order in January. There was no ETA from Sony, so I have decided to skip that and have ordered an A1 instead. I am really hoping that it meets the hype and that it may get delivered in the coming months.

I wonder if you would have received the shiny new A7R4A model if you had persisted?

Still, the A1 is awesome!

 

[AlphaWorld]

congrats! amazon delayed my order again. so i cancelled and cold called camera stores until i found one. it'll be here thursday.

Good to hear you got one. Sounds like it might be an approach others might try if they are tired of waiting.

 

[Spiderx1]

Just finished my first indoor sports event. Regional Volleyball Championship. Typically Shooting 1/1000, ISO8000, f2.8-3.5. Previous I was using a A7RIV. And of course I super crop in post. Target images are tight action or individual close up action. The High+ mode is awesome, it allows me to pic the near perfect action frame. Before sometimes I had it, sometimes not, often it was I wish I had it just before or after. The difference between a good shot and and awesome shot. I find the AF-C smoking fast. But PP time is a little longer with all the extra frames, but that goes quick. The biggest issue for me was shooting in electronic shutter, I really had no feed back as to how much I was shooting. I had the sound turned on full, but just to much background noise to hear it. No blackout in EVF. But after a few days I got the hang of it. Back to cull 2,000+ photos.

 

[Reciprocum]

Just finished my first indoor sports event. Regional Volleyball Championship. Typically Shooting 1/1000, ISO8000, f2.8-3.5. Previous I was using a A7RIV. And of course I super crop in post. Target images are tight action or individual close up action. The High+ mode is awesome, it allows me to pic the near perfect action frame. Before sometimes I had it, sometimes not, often it was I wish I had it just before or after. The difference between a good shot and and awesome shot. I find the AF-C smoking fast. But PP time is a little longer with all the extra frames, but that goes quick. The biggest issue for me was shooting in electronic shutter, I really had no feed back as to how much I was shooting. I had the sound turned on full, but just to much background noise to hear it. No blackout in EVF. But after a few days I got the hang of it. Back to cull 2,000+ photos.

What lens you used? Handheld? APS-C mode or FF ? Did you had to fine-tune the anti-flickering frequency?
maybe if you plug some in-ear headphones you can get some sound feedback, will try that on mine today.

 

[Spiderx1]

I used a Sony 85mm GM Prime and a Sigma 24-70 2.8 ART lens. I am still trying to figure out the best way to check number of frames per sec. I used the shoot information but that only goes to 1 sec intervals. That I can find anyway. Suggestions are welcome. I got accustom to hearing or seeing in the EVF the flicker. FF mode compressed RAW. You get used to it quickly.

 

[Spiderx1]

I am very pleased with initial results in PP. First impression were the colors were more true. The EVF presented red as orangish but the actual file was red. File size on A1 was 52MB on RIV 59MB compressed RAW. I suspect my frame rate was not the full 30fps as I was in continuous AF. Noise lvl at high ISO seemed to be better in dark areas. Similar in the subject area. Oddly enough it responded better to noise reduction setting in LRClassic. Jury is still out. Just first hack. The extra frames really helped get "The Shot"