Thu. Mar 28th, 2024

The brand new Sony Alpha 1 camera has now been officially unveiled at Sony’s “the one never seen” event and the 50MP full-framer is being called as the most powerful mirrorless camera seen till now. Sony has managed to keep Sony A1 fully under wraps with no leaks and rumors in the run-up to the big revelation. But the camera is now official and it is a big launch for camera fans. It is also shaping up to be the MacLaren supercar of the photographic car.

The camera combines a 50MP full-frame sensor with 30fps burst shooting for the first time and the trick will salivate the sports photographers. But the camera has also promised to be a completely capable video tool with 8K video shooting and same heat dissipation like the Sony A7S III. On the basis of what looks like a same chassis to the Sony A9 II, Sony A1 crams in the type of tech and features that we have not seen before in a hybrid camera.

Sony Alpha 1 will be available for purchase from March 2021. Sony has not unveiled a precise date for various territories till now. The camera has not been launched with an entry-level price tag. The camera will be priced at around $6500 when it will be available from late-February in Australia and from March in US and UK and that offers you plenty of time to sell your car or remortgage.

It is definitely a professional camera for photojournalists and filmmakers but it is still a bit more expensive than Sony A9 II that was launched at a price of $4500 and Sony A1 has a combination of features that we have not seen in any hybrid camera till now. The camera is a full-frame 50.1MP camera and because of its new Binoz XR processors, it is a complete brute for sports shooting as well as high-resolution video.

If you compare, Canon EOS R5 is at the top with 20fps with its electronic shutter and has a bit smaller buffer. But the EOS R5 can shoot 350 JPEGs or 180 raw files in one burst and Sony A1 can manage 400 JPEGs or 238 raw files in one sequence. With complete AF tracking, Sony A1 can shoot around 165 JPEGs or 155 raw images without having a single pause or break.

The processing power is very helpful when it comes to autofocus. The camera has a 759 AF points that covers 93% of its sensor but it mainly delivers Real-time Eye AF for birds which is the first time for a Sony Alpha camera. The autofocus of Sony has been leading for some time now and adding birds to the Eye AF for animals will be a famous inclusion. We have seen something almost same in Canon EOS R5 whose Animal Eye AF was simply outstanding but it will be interesting to see how Sony Alpha 1 compares on real shooting.

Normally, you get Real-time Eye AF for people and other animals. Sony said that Alpha 1 can do 120 autofocus and auto-exposure calculations every second and that is double the time possible on Sony A9 II. At the top of Sony Alpha 1, there is a similar viewfinder to Sony A7S III  that is a very good news. It has a 9.44-million dot resolution with 0.90x magnification and the refresh rate is now 240fps and that is very ideal for sports shooters.

Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless Camera With 50.1-Megapixel Sensor, Up to 8K Recording Launched in India | Technology News
Image Source : NDTV Gadgets 360

You will get the in-body image stabilization (IBIS) system that has been previously seen on Alpha cameras like Sony A9 II and it promises the normal 5.5-stops of compensation. There one less-than-futuristic touch on Sony A1 is the tilting touchscreen instead of a completely articulated one. You will also get the new menu system that has been already seen in Sony A7S III and the most impressive part about Sony Alpha A1 is how it combines a pro stills skills with very powerful video features in one compact body.

Along with the 8K resolution, Sony A1 has brought some video firsts for a Sony mirrorless camera. The camera will be able to scan shoot 8K/30fp video with the use of full width of its sensor and without any digital tricks like pixel binning and promises to manage that for around 30 minutes. That’s because of the same heat dissipation tech of the type that we saw on Sony A7S III though the camera was at the top in terms of 4K resolution. Now we have to see how it performs in the real world but on paper, it is shaping to be a bit more practical 8K camera to the Canon EOS R5 that has a max 8K/30fp shooting time of around 20 minutes.

The Sony A1’s 8K video is shot with 10-bit 4:2:0 bit depth and color sampling and can also shoot 4K in 10-bit 4:2:2 video internally and that has been included in slo-mo 120p. Pro shooters will be happy to know that it can output around 16-bit raw video over its HDMI port as well. Sony has also offered a good taster of the Alpha 1’s video skills even if your screen or internet connection cannot handle that 8K resolution till now.

If we go further the pro leanings of Sony A1, there are the card slots in terms of connectivity. You will get two CFExpress Type A slots with some good wireless transfer tech for journalists. There is a built-in Ethernet connection and a dual-band Wi-Fi which supports FTP transfers that are 3.5x faster than Sony A9 II. So, it can be said that this camera has been built for the Tokyo Olympics.

We though the introduction of Sony Alpha 1 as some type of photographic same like Neo from The Matrix but it actually has some super-camera credentials. All of this comes at a very high cost but it is not a camera for an average photographer till you get very lucky with a lottery scratchcard. But Sony A1 definitely pioneers some important features that may trickle down to genuinely affordable cameras.

The main spec for action photographers is the ability to shoot 50MP stills at 30fps with full AF/AE tracking, albeit with the electronic shutter. Wildlife snappers will be happy to see birds added to Sony’s outstanding Real-time Eye AF and it will be interesting to see how that compares to the excellent system of EOS R5. There is a menu of options for video shooters who would mainly be attracted by the 4K video powers of Sony A1. This includes a 4K/120p mode that is not available on Sony A9 II, along with a possibility of cropping from that headline 8K/30p mode.

Overall, the main thing that impresses is how Sony Alpha 1 combines the cutting-edge stills and video skills in one small 737g body. Now just like the athletes, it wishes to shoot at the Tokyo Olympics and what remains to be seen is how it actually performs in real world.