Sony announces flagship Alpha 1 mirrorless camera
34ShareEveryone wants to find one. For imaging professionals, “the one” is the one camera that can do it all. The SonyAlpha 1, or a1, is that camera. An incredible range...
08/02/2022
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Everyone wants to find one. For imaging professionals, “the one” is the one camera that can do it all. The Sony
Alpha 1
, or a1, is this camera. An incredible array of high-end specs make this mirrorless flagship the best. A quick glance reveals an all-new 50.1-megapixel full-frame Exmor RS stacked CMOS sensor capable of shooting full-resolution stills at 30 fps; 8K 30p and 4K 120p video at 10-bit 4:2:2 with no recording limits; all the latest connectors, including full-size HDMI, Ethernet, USB 3.2 Gen 2, and 5 GHz MIMO Wi-Fi—and that's just scratching the surface.
A new flagship
Sony makes a lot of cameras. Seriously, you could say the company makes too many cameras, with 10 full-frame mirrorless models to choose from today. The a1 brings that number to 11! However, the a1 sits comfortably above the rest as Sony's flagship mirrorless camera. It is so definitive because it manages to balance the functionality of multiple cameras to create an overall model. The a1 brings together the prowess of the a7R IV, the video specs of the a7S III and the speed of the a9 II and improves each in its respective categories.
Look at these key specs:< /p>
50MP Full Frame Exmor RS Stacked BSI CMOS Sensor
10-bit video up to 8K 30p and 4K 120p
Continuous shooting up to 30 fps for 200 consecutive frames
Compared to the 61MP a7R IV, the a1's advanced 50MP stacked Exmor RS CMOS BSI processor and BIONZ XR processor promise to deliver better low-light performance up to ISO 102400 without sacrificing much in raw resolution. Compared to the 4K shooting a7S III, the a1's higher-resolution sensor can create high-quality 4K at the same frame rates and color depths, while enabling 8K 30p recording. Compared to the well-connected a9 II, the a1's ultra-fast AF system and sensor can achieve an incredible 30 fps at double resolution without slowing down for 200 frames. What more could you ask for in a single camera?
During all these years, Sony's advantage has been its desire to differentiate its different ranges, thus offering the ideal solution for different users. Want a video? Go with the a7S series. Sticking to stills? The a7R is pure resolution. What about traditional sports and wildlife? The a9 is for you. Sony has packed all of this knowledge and experience into a single, impressive package called the a1.
Detailed pictures
We shouldn't forget that the a1 is, at its core, a mirrorless camera. We've yet to see a true mirrorless flagship from any brand - the a9 came close but still had room for improvement. Canon and Nikon still offer DSLRs in the form of EOS-1D X Mark III and D6, respectively. The a1 is the first mirrorless camera clearly defined as a flagship. For that reason alone, we'll dive deeper into the stills specs first.
A full-frame 50MP stacked BSI Exmor RS CMOS sensor and advanced processor system are what make the a1's imaging pipeline work so well. good. Breaking down that sensor, it's a 50MP full-frame CMOS, so you'll get plenty of detail in your footage. Now the stacked part needs some explanation. “Stacked” for sensors refers to a design that stacks photosites (pixels) on copper wiring, on a dedicated DRAM (memory) chip that makes the whole process incredibly fast while simultaneously optimizing for noise reduction.
Conventional CMOS sensor design,
left,
compared to a “stacked” Exmor RS sensor,
straight
. [1] Signal processing circuit [2] Photosite area (pixels) [3] Image processor [4] Dedicated memory
Conventional sensors have wiring next to the photosites, which have to get smaller to make room and so aren't as receptive to light, which translates to more noise. Also, conventional chips do not have a dedicated memory chip. The stacked memory of this new sensor means that data can be offloaded even faster, enabling equally high continuous shooting speeds and significantly reducing rolling shutter.
As we said, this sensor design allows for higher resolution imaging while providing excellent light gathering capabilities. This gives the a1 the ability to capture 50MP stills up to ISO 102400. I'm still not sure I would get into the habit of doing this, but it's nice to have as an option. It also implies a great dynamic range (up to the 15 stops rated) and excellent recovery of shadows in post. Image quality is going to be exceptional on the a1.
Additionally, for maximum resolution, the a1 retains Multi Shot Pixel Shift mode to capture images up to 199MP. A good addition that many have been asking for is a lossless compressed raw format to save space on your cards and drives.
super speed
Having touched on speed in the sensor design talk, it's time to break down those specs now. Among the a1's many strengths, its ability to capture full-resolution 50 MP images at 30 fps stands out. That's 50% faster than the a9, which was already among the fastest cameras on the market. The a1 can maintain those speeds for up to 200 frames in a single burst, or just under 7 frames.
CFexpress Type A/SD combo slots as seen on the a7S III.
Part of the chain making this possible is the use of two slots
CFexpress
.
CFexpress Type A cards
can reach speeds of up to 700 MB/s, a necessity for so much data. The slots are also dual and will accept UHS-II SD cards, but at a slower speed. The other part is the cutting-edge engineering of G Master lenses. They have the proper motors to run at 30 fps. Unfortunately, it seems that only the G Master series is capable of supporting this speed. All other lenses will be limited to 20 fps.
The autofocus gets a solid boost and calculates at a rate of 120x per second. The Fast Hybrid AF system has 759 points covering 92% of the sensor. Subjects can move around the frame quite freely and keep up with the fastest burst frame rates. This system even offers continuous focusing with apertures reduced to f/22, an unprecedented specification. A brand new feature is Bird Eye AF as part of the real-time Animal Eye AF feature, which should make many wildlife photographers happy.
To achieve these speeds, the a1 relies on an advanced electronic shutter capable of speeding up to 1/32,000 second. The anti-distortion shutter claims the rolling shutter has been improved by 1.5x. It even works with flash up to 1/200 second.
For those circumstances where the mechanical shutter is best, there is a new dual-drive mechanism that can synchronize with the flash at up to 1/400 of a second in full frame. It can help in very specific situations and can save your life.
Professional video
Sure, 8K recording grabs your attention, but it's the little things that make the a1 a professional video workhorse.
So much for that 8K video feature. It's a big deal, and it's only possible because of the new sensor and new processing. It achieves a stable 30p rate and can record in 10-bit 4:2:0 by upsampling the 8.6K area. It should be gorgeous pictures. Additionally, an in-camera ripping option will let you rip 33.2MP stills from 8K video without a computer. To help manage the heat, there's a graphite heatsink and Sony claimed there's no recording limit.
As with the rest of the video, 4K modes can go up to 120p with 10-bit 4:2:2. In APS-C mode, it upsamples even from 5.8K resolution. A small but important thing is the addition of the S-Cinetone profile. Seen only on Sony's high-end cinema cameras such as the FX9, this profile brings incredible color straight out of the camera. Plus, you can more easily pair the a1 with these cinema cameras when multi-camera shooting.
ProRes RAW makes an appearance with the a1, which can send a raw 4.3K video signal at up to 60p via the full-size HDMI output to compatible Atomos recorders. This will send a 16-bit linear raw video signal, which will be encoded by the Atomos recorder as a 12-bit raw log file that retains essentially all the data.
It's a great option to have and, if you want to learn more, I highly recommend you check out our article
ProRes RAW Demystified: Learning the workflow from capture to export
. TL; DR? ProRes RAW offers incredible flexibility in post when you need it at moderate data rates.
Refined body design
Although a brand new line by name, the a1 borrows heavily from the a9 II and newer a7S III. It even works with the same
Vertical grip VG-C4EM
. Other things you might find familiar are the Ethernet port, USB Type-C (upgraded to USB 3.2 Gen 2 speeds!), a multi-interface shoe with digital audio support, and '
XLR-K3M XLR adapter< /p>
, and a full-size HDMI port. Wi-Fi has received a nice upgrade to 2x2 MIMO, making it 3.5 times faster than previous transfer speeds. This should make wireless remote workflows more reliable.
Where there's a noticeable performance boost is the viewfinder. Sure, there's no blackout, it's 9.44m-dot resolution with 0.90x magnification and 240fps refresh rate. The tilting rear screen isn't revolutionary, but the new menu layout and all-touch operation should help speed up many common changes.
The integration of an image stabilizer in the body at 5.5 stops, which can go into active mode so that the video smoothes the footage even more. It's a solid system that we've seen plenty of times at this point and should work great with this high-res body.
Optimized for professional workflows
As a flagship, the a1 is obviously targeting professional photographers and videographers and therefore ensures that it has optimal settings and functions to suit their workflow. It features super-fast Wi-Fi with 2x2 MIMO, a USB Type-C port with 10 Gbps, and 1000BASE-T Ethernet to connect in the best way for your situation. You also get photo and video uploads via FTP and standard tethered shooting functionality.
Sony Alpha a1 mirrorless camera with Xperia PRO 5G smartphone
One thing to consider is the
Xperia PRO
, a new 5G smartphone from Sony that can work as an HDMI monitor or USB tethering system for remote file streaming and transmission. The a1 can use both of these features, along with FTP support, to create a seamless workflow for capturing footage and instantly transmitting it to a server and/or stream.
Want to know more about the a1? Tomorrow, Wednesday, January 27, 2021, at 12:00 p.m., B&H will host a livestream to give a first look at the camera with Sony representatives. Please sign up to check it out and stay tuned to this page as we continue to add new information and images. If you have a question about the a1, please drop by the Comments section, below, and we'll do our best to get you an answer.