I know I probably should have written about this camera a little bit earlier, but honestly I was kinda struggling to figure out why we need a camera like the brand new flagship Sony A1. In fact, I’d argue that nobody needs a camera like the Sony A1, so why does it exist?
Let me preface this by saying that I’m not a “pro” photographer, so you can feel free to disagree with me if you actually are one. But, I mean, come on even a pro photographer has to admit that some of the specs on the Sony A1 are absurd.
For starters, it has a 50.1-megapixel full-frame Exmor RS CMOS sensor, that is also stacked. It also features a Bionz XR image processing engine that Sony says has eight times more processing power compared to their Bionz X processor.
Because of this, the camera can do blackout-free burst at 30 frames per second with up to 120 AF/AE calculations per second. Sony says that’s the fastest burst in the world, and I believe them. That’s more fps than we use when shooting video here in SoyaCincau. Also, did I mention that this camera takes 50MP stills? With the buffer memory, you can shoot up to 155 full-frame compressed RAWs or 165 full-frame JPEGs at this burst rate while maintaining AF/AE.
Despite the high megapixel count, Sony says that the A1 also offers high sensitivity with low noise, with 15+ stops of dynamic range for video and 15 stops for stills. The A1 features an ISO sensitivity range of 100-32,000 (expandable to 50-102,400 ISO when shooting stills).
This camera packs 759 phase detection AF points, covering about 92% of the image area. Real-time AF has also been improved with the Bionz XR, making it 30% faster than its predecessor. Naturally, eye AF also works for humans and animals, but Sony is expanding that to also include birds with the A1. Birds.
Then, there’s the crazy 9.44 million dot OLED Quad XGA electronic viewfinder (EVF) that has a refresh rate of 240fps, which again is another first in the world according to Sony. The LCD, is a 3″ 1.44 million dot panel.
Naturally, being one of the most absurd stills cameras I’ve ever seen isn’t enough because the A1 is supposed to sit on top of both the A9 & A7 camera line. It also has some impressive video chops.
For starters, it can shoot up to 8K video at 30fps, and it’s not just regular 8K (10-bit 4:2:0), it’s oversampled 8.6K down to 8K because Sony. It’ll also do up to 4K at 120fps in 10-bit 4:2:2. The A1 will also support S-Cinetone that Sony says will make it easy to match this camera’s footage with video shot on their cinema cameras. It’ll also do S-Long3 which makes the 15+ stops of dynamic range possible.
Shooting 8K video has always been a hot issue, so Sony says that they’ve built a “unique heat dissipating structure” that will allow the sensor and processor to stay within “normal operating range”. With this, Sony says that the A1 will be able to shoot 8K 30fps video for up to 30 minutes continuously. Obviously, this camera also features 5.5 stops of in-body image stabilisation (IBIS).
The A1 still takes UHS-1 and UHS-II SDXC/SDHC cards (2x slots), but it will also support CFexpress Type A cards for faster overall read and write speeds. It also still uses the Z-battery to keep things powered.
There’s more that the Sony A1 features, including a LAN port, USB PD support, and a HDMI Type-A connector, but honestly some of these features I don’t even really understand.
The Sony A1 really is just a smorgasbord of specs—the kind of camera you’d expect to sit on top of the already highly capable cameras from the A7 and A9 line. It’s the everything camera, but it’s definitely not the camera for everyone. Especially not if it’s going to retail for USD6,500 (~RM26,290) for the body only.
So, why does it exist?
Well, because it can. Because without it, we won’t know where to draw the line on what is currently and technically possible for camera technology. And if we don’t know where the line is right now, we won’t be able to push past it and develop further.
While I absolutely think that this camera is too much for almost everyone in the world, I do think that it’s important that a camera like this exists. The only way we move forward is by having manufacturers push each other to the absolute limit in an effort to outdo one another. Sony held the crown for the most feature-packed mirrorless cameras for a long time, only to have Canon come along with a camera like the EOS R5.
And it’s because of that that we have the absurdity that is the Sony A1, and I revel in that absurdity. So, even if this camera isn’t really going to be for anyone who isn’t buying it just to flex, it’s important that this camera is here today.
Of course, if you disagree with me, let me know why in the comments below. If you’re someone who will make full use of all the features Sony’s packed into the A1, hit me up to because I’m really curious what you do for a living.
So far I don’t have a Malaysian price for the Sony A1 just yet, but Sony Malaysia says that this camera will be arriving sometime in April of this year. More details here.
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