Sony A1 body

Sony Alpha a1 body

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The Sony a9 Mark II used to be the best the manufacturer had available. Sony is already the only device used by some photo agencies. Development has progressed a lot and now Sony is boldly entering the technological race and challenging new mirrorless competitors (such as the Canon EOS R5) and more traditional top cameras such as the Nikon D6 and Canon EOS 1D X series. The Sony a1 is here!

• 50 megapixels and 30 frames per second , high resolution and speed at the same time
• Zero Blackout - the image is always visible in the viewfinder, even when shooting in series
• 9.44 million dot high-precision viewfinder, 120-240 FPS refresh rate
• Real-time Eye AF - continuous eye-detection focusing for people, animals and birds
• 5.5 f-stop effective image stabilization + Active Mode for video recording
• 199MP high-resolution recording in Pixel Shift mode, even with flash photography
• 8K 30P and 4K 60P video for up to 30 minutes!
• 4K 120P 5x slow motion videos
• 1/400 flash sync

Everything new: sensor, processor, viewfinder

Now you don't have to choose between speed and resolution. Sony's new sensor technology and faster processor enable 50-megapixel photos, without cropping or fiddling with color depth, at up to 30FPS. The only thing to note is that the fastest bursts use the compressive RAW file format. At 20FPS, there are uncompressed and lossless compressed recording options.

The sensor offers great dynamics and the manufacturer promises a tonal range of 15 aperture values. The sensor's sensitivity range is ISO 100-32000 at the basic setting and ISO 50-102400 at the extended setting.

High resolution and continuous shooting also place very different demands on autofocus. The image must track even a fast-moving subject accurately, or 50 megapixel files will mercilessly reveal errors.

The Sony A1 performs autofocus and exposure calculations 120 times per second, regardless of the burst speed (i.e. twice as many as the A9 II) . This ensures that exposure and focus are as good as possible at all times during the exposure of the image.

Like Sony's a9 and a9 Mark II models, the viewfinder image is also visible during shooting, meaning that subject tracking is possible continuously. The viewfinder, like the Sony A7S Mark III, is on a new level compared to its competitors: the resolution is a whopping 9.44 million dots. The viewfinder image updates 120 times per second. In addition, there is an even faster 240FPS Higher mode available, which should be enough for even the fastest subjects (although this slightly reduces the viewfinder image resolution to 5.67M).

In addition, the viewfinder image is lag-free even in low light, for example when tracking a subject (i.e. if the shutter speed is less than 1/60, the camera still shows a 60FPS viewfinder image). This is a welcome feature if you have tried to pan a fast subject with other cameras.

The viewfinder has a 0.9x magnification and a viewing distance of 25mm. A Zoom out setting, useful for some eyeglass wearers, reduces the viewing angle to 33mm.

A new level in electronic shutter

An electronic shutter, or silent shutter, is always a great feature on paper, but in demanding shooting, the feature is often of little use due to image distortion and banding problems. Sony has been a pioneer in this regard and despite the high resolution, the sensor's readout speed is 1.5 times better than in the A9 II model! The entire sensor area is read in less than 1/200 of a second.

The Sony alpha 1 includes the world's first Flicker free shutter that eliminates the problems of artificial light. If the image has shown artificial light sources such as sports field lights or household lamps, the images easily have a very disturbing wave-like banding pattern, but now this problem is gone. This means silent shooting on film sets or electronic continuous shooting indoors is possible!

The feature is also combined with technology that automatically selects the exposure time based on the brightest moment. And shooting with the most difficult LED lights can also be achieved by fine-tuning the camera's exposure time when taking photos and recording videos.

Autofocus - now even better

• 759 focus points
• Covers 92% of the image
• Real-time Eye AF for birds too
• Continuous shooting with continuous focus even at an aperture of F22, meaning it also works in low light or while panning

When it comes to improving the Sony A9's focus, the starting point is challenging. However, the Sony Alpha 1 has received improvements in terms of technology, algorithms, and new features, and the whole thing now rises to another level.

The big new feature is Canon and Olympus-style real-time continuous focus on birds' eyes. Previously, the feature has worked on humans and dogs, but now winged birds have also joined in. The development work has paid particular attention to demanding special situations, such as take-offs and rapid movements during flight.

Sony's technology demonstration video also features footage of foxes and bears, meaning that the technology can be put to the real-life test in the hideout tests!

Video recording tool

• 8K 30P video recording (oversampling from 8.6K footage!)
• 8K video is recorded as a 10bit H.265 400Mbps file to the card, via HDMI in 8bit format
• 4K 120P video (10bit 4:2:2 All-I)
• 4K video from the entire sensor area
• Super35 cropping 4K video oversampling from 5.8K footage
• EyeAF features also work in 8K shooting
• S-Cinetone color scheme
• 10bit S-Log2, 3 and HLG recording to card
• 4.3K 16bit RAW video to external recorder (probably ProResRAW for Atomos Ninja)
• Digital audio connection and full-size HDMI

A big list of features! In other words, in addition to being a first-class still camera, the Sony A1 is also suitable for demanding video productions. Now Sony has also joined the numbers game started by the EOS R5: it includes 8K 30P video recording. You can get up to 5x slow motion from 4K video material.

Like the Sony A7S III model, thermal management has been taken into account in the design. Monster resolutions for video shooting are of no use if they cannot be used reliably and for a long enough time. Sony promises at least 30 minutes of recording for 8K 30P and 4k 60P video under normal conditions! According to Sony, this limit can be exceeded by a lot, which bodes well for those shooting in Finnish temperatures.

Sony's 8K video differs somewhat from Canon's implementation, the bitrate is a reasonable 400Mbps, so you don't need a CFExpress memory card for recording, the fast SDXC UHS-II V90 is also sufficient for 8K video.

There is also a difference with Canon in terms of 4K video, unlike the EOS R5 body, 4K material is not oversampled from the entire pixel count but rather using so-called Pixel binning like on the A7R IV body. But in the APS-C crop, the material is oversampled from 5.8K material. It remains to be seen how this affects image sharpness and how the A1 and A7S III compare to each other in 4K use.

On the other hand, since the bitrate of 8K video is reasonable, this file reduction is also possible when editing the video. 4K videos are recorded up to 60P without cropping the entire sensor area, the 120P setting brings a small 1.1 crop.

Unlike the A9 cameras, it now includes 10bit S-log2 and 3 recording and HLG. The S-Cinetone color technology has been borrowed from Sony film cameras, meaning the material is compatible with Sony's production cameras in terms of color for editing. The S-Log3 format records a whopping 15 stops of dynamic range, and Sony doesn't say directly in the specs, but the camera sensor is probably based on dual gain technology and the video material in these Log formats should be very pretty despite the higher basic sensitivity.

In addition, the more effective Active mode of image stabilization is suitable for Run & Gun shooting, this works at a max. 60P setting and 4K resolution and slightly crops the image but offers really stable video when shooting handheld. This stabilization is implemented really nicely, the gyro digital stabilization data is stored in the metadata of the video file, so digital stabilization can only be done afterwards during the editing phase if desired. So it is worth saving the stabilization data and you can use it as needed without loss of quality.

Professional-level reliability and usability

• Better weather resistance
• More durable frame
• Two CFExpress Type A and UHS-II SDXC memory card slots
• New software interface (acclaimed A7S III style)
• A total of 17 customizable buttons and scroll wheels
• Custom settings for still images and video

Sony is targeting professional photographers with this model, whether they are photojournalists in crisis zones, sports photographers in stadiums or nature photographers at the mercy of the weather. The camera must be durable and work in all conditions. Reliability is built by paying attention to even the smallest details.

In addition to mechanical durability, image transfer and workflow must be in order. The Sony A1 includes two WiFi antennas to ensure signal and record speed. Like the Sony A9 II, the body has a 1Gbps wired network connection, USB-C is now a super-fast 10Gbps USB-C SuperSpeed connection. The HDMI connection is full-size. The camera can be powered via a USB-C cable, but charging the battery requires a separate charger (included in the sales package).

When the material needs to be immediately available online, it can be done with FTP server support, the new Light JPG compression format is used (in addition to 10bit HEIF) and minor processing such as cropping can be done directly in the camera. The Sony A1 is the manufacturer's first camera to support compressed but lossless RAW recording! This lossless Raw is 20-40% smaller in file size than RAW containing all the data, but should be exactly the same in image quality.

The familiar NP-FZ100 battery is used and the shooting capacity on a full charge is approximately 430 shots shot through the viewfinder. But this is a strict CIPA estimate and the actual shooting capacity is much higher. The Sony A1 is compatible with the VG-C4EM battery grip.

Specifications:

• Compatibility: Sony FE mount
• 50.1 megapixel CMOS sensor ISO 100-32000, expandable to 50-102400)
• Built-in 5-axis image stabilization, 5.5 stops of power
• 759 phase-detection AF points, 425 contrast-detection AF points
• Shutter speeds: mechanical 1/8000 - 30s, electronic max. 1/32000
• Flash sync is possible at shutter speeds of 1/400 (and 1/500 with APS-C crop setting) via the Multi hot shoe, the maximum via the X-Sync connection is 1/200
  
• Burst: 30, 20, 15 or 5 fps with electronic shutter, 10 fps with mechanical
• 8K 30P video recording (oversampling from 8.6K footage)
• 4K 120P video (10bit 4:2:2 All-I)
• 30min recording time for 8K recording, no time limit for 4K 25/30P recording
• Two CFExpress Type A and UHS-II SDXC memory card slots
• Viewfinder: 9.44 million dot high-precision viewfinder, max. 240 FPS refresh rate
• Display: 7.5 cm tilting LCD, 1.44M touch screen
• Microphone connection: 3.5mm + digital connection via hot shoe
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• USB Type-C (USB 3.2) HDMI Micro, 1000BASE-T LAN, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
• Size: 128.9 x 96.9 x 69.7mm
• Weight: 737g

The sales package includes:

Sony Alpha a1 body, Sony NP-FZ100 battery, Sony BC-QZ1 charger, Sony ALC-B1EM body cap, shoulder strap, cable strain relief, USB C cable