Industry News: Sony announces their new flagship camera, the alpha a1

[Fischer]

With that said, there is a feature or two that, my opinion, given how I use my camera, worth mentioning.
These are: 1/400th sec mechanical and 1/200th electronic sync speed.

Agree, this is really a break through. I used flash a lot before. And I always thought it was a huge set back when digital cameras suddenly meant going from 1/250 or 1/320 to 1/200. Now we can have the fabeld 1/400 for swirly hair and skirts, swinging bags etc.

 

[Joules]

Why would you output 50MP at 16 x 3 = 48 bits per pixel after up-sizing from the Bayer pixel elements? And there is NO reason to output 16 x 4 = 64 bits per pixel as both G pixel elements are green and you just have one final G value per up-sized RGB pixel. Just output the friggin raw file @ 16 bits per pixel element to avoid bloating it up by a factor of 3x. Or output a lossless compressed raw at < 16 bits per pixel element. Also, who outputs the entire 3:2 screen for video (assuming you're talking about video)? They always chop it down to something wider, like 16:9 so a huge chunk of the pixels aren't stored (or even needing any processing at all) in the video stream anyway.

I think that's just Harry saying Harry things. Don't question it too much

 

[Fischer]

Well, well. Looks very nice indeed. I now worry - like 2.500$ worry - what this might do to the price of the high MPIX R.

 

[Patlezinc]

9M EVF is amazing. I really hope the canon will release firmware with log3 and lighraw

I think it is totally useless, as some reported with the A7s. Some things have already reached their maturity and adding more is just a spec war.

 

[Patlezinc]

The R5 is not really ridiculous tbh. this A1 is for aliens, not normal poeple. Or Olympics pro guys of course. And look at the specs, it will overheat too

 

[PerKr]

My safe bet after seeing this is that Canon pulls off a 24-30 megapixel global shutter that can do up to 60 FPS full resolution uncompressed. The 1-series has never been about high resolution, and Canon knows their market. The megapixel war never won over that market segment, and it won't this time.

You forget the 1Ds which was all about high resolution vs the 1D which was all about speed.

With that said, there is a feature or two that, my opinion, given how I use my camera, worth mentioning.
These are: 1/400th sec mechanical and 1/200th electronic sync speed.
I hope Sony users will finally learn how to use a strobe, given that they now posess the best tool to get available light contribution high enough for natural looking strobe work. At 400th sec, you can freeze any unintended model movement, for natural light contribution to go high enough.
Besides, the electronic shutter with strobe would deliver great ability for dynamic posing, even for dancers. Your strobe will flash 30 times per sec. I am wondering for how long and at what power. Godox will have to come up with something stronger.
I wish Canon would go for these two innovations on their future cameras someday.

While it adds something on a bright day vs going to a smaller aperture and adjusting flash output accordingly, I don't think the difference between 1/400 and 1/300 is huge. For movement, it's mostly about the flash anyway. 1/400s is still not fast enough to shoot at large apertures in bright sunlight, we need global shutter for this (or indeed leaf shutter but there aren't many options for that)

As for shooting with strobes at 30fps, didn't Sony demonstrate this with the original A9? You'd need to have your strobe turned down close to minimum output to use it but in the situations you actuatlly need to combine flash and 30fps I suppose you have enough control of your surroundings to work around that. Or you could just stick with a slower speed, say 10-12 fps, and not have your flash inconveniently run out of juice or overheat.

 

[PerKr]

The name change was necessary in order to be mentioned in the same sentence with the upcoming Canon R1, A9 III just wouldn't have cut it.

By that logic, Nikon should never have went D2, D3, D4, D5, D6 but stayed at D1. They really should have, but not for that reason.

The A9 mkI and mkII were already mentioned along with the 1D series, the name was never the issue. The 9-series being their professional line was a given, just as it was before E-mount and dating back to 1985 with Minolta's first A-mount body aimed at professional photographers. Actually being consistent in this was a strength.

But I suppose if they keep the A9 series, which I doubt since the A9 and A1 are just a bit too similar, and avoid adding an A3 and A5 below the A7 series they can manage to still make sense of it. Or, more likely, they will need to reverse their numbering system, which really is a shame.

 

[degos]

The 1-series has never been about high resolution, and Canon knows their market.

The 1D series was all about the highest resolution until the 1DX, when Canon had to change the marketing story due to technical limitations.

No 1DX camera has even matched the pixel density of the 1D4 or the overall resolution of the 1Ds3...

 

[Traveler]

Great marketing strategy! A lot of rich influencers and famous photographers will buy this as an ultimate camera and people usually buy the brand that famous people use.
It’s pity that Canons flagship is gonna be huge and heavy. Great for the olympics but unusable for the people who are the most “visible”.

 

[12Broncos]

Disappointed that it wasn't something that will pressure the R5/6 pricing downwards. R5 is now a “budget” option.

Impressive on paper anyway. It’s putting it up to Canon. It puts the R1 under pressure and makes the 1DXIII almost old fashioned. You’d need a lot of storage space. 1TB laptops will fill quite quickly. It’s so fast you wonder will it be robust . It must have some very fine engineering inside with tight tolerances . You could burn through 100,000 shutter cycles in no time. I look forward to the reviews especially its focus tracking abilities.

It puts pressure on both Nikon and Canon. I'm leaning towards a Nikon Z9 when it comes, but by Sony standards of the A1, the Nikon Z9 is already outdated and will cost the same. If Nikon tries to compete it will have to change the release date pushing its back even farther than what it is now. I'm tired of not having an announcement for eight/nine months.

 

[tron]

A1 looks more like a R5 Mark 1n or Mark II as another member suggested already.

Nothing so impressive that we have to feel R5 is inadequate or that R1 has to materialize now...

 

[slclick]

Great marketing strategy! A lot of rich influencers and famous photographers will buy this as an ultimate camera and people usually buy the brand that famous people use.
It’s pity that Canons flagship is gonna be huge and heavy. Great for the olympics but unusable for the people who are the most “visible”.

assuming here

 

[slclick]

The logic behind an expensive item's price (R5) being deemed suddenly affordable due to another items launch (Sony A1) without a cost decrease of the former is ricockulous.

So many analogies are at my disposal here...smh

 

[Random Orbits]

I emailed Prograde to request a 3 way dongle; sd, cf, and cfe. I haven't heard back. Anyone aware of a 3 way??

I have ProGrade's SD/CFE reader and it is fast. However, everything in that path must be to the same high standard or else you won't get the full speed (i.e. usb port on the computer side). When I got the reader, there weren't many options that supported full speed and read both SD and CFE.

I'm not aware of a 3-way, but then I sold off the 5D4 after getting the R5 and kept the R as backup. Having RF bodies gives the most flexibility for lenses and the R5 is a worthy successor.

 

[AccipiterQ]

So... its basically a 5DS for 3 times the price, with less noise, more DR and a few more frames per sec

I mean, less noise and more DR aren't to be scoffed at....

 

[usern4cr]

I think that's just Harry saying Harry things. Don't question it too much

I have to agree - "It's just Harry being Harry!"
In fact, some of his intricately detailed posts are so hilarious in the combined brilliance & absurdity that I really miss seeing more of them!

So come on, Harry, what else ya' got for us?

 

[Random Orbits]

Why not just connect the camera directly to the computer, built in card reader!

A few reasons, with none of them being deal-breakers. I primarily use this workflow when I'm not home. When I'm home, I have the ProGrade reader and that works fast. No issue there. When I'm travelling, I'm usually using the downtime at the hotel to charge up all the batteries each evening and to start editing photos. I love the R5, but the battery does not last as long compared to the 5D4. The laptop is old, which means it does not support the faster data rates for USB, so it's going to take a while to transfer from the camera to the laptop no matter what the camera supports. Plus it would rely on a cable, which I have forgotten to pack before. I have never forgotten to pack the charger, cameras, lenses, etc., but cables I don't use often....

The current laptop is one of those Costco specials. I got it for the price and it served as a 2nd computer the family occasionally used. When I got it, I knew it was slower than my years-old desktop at the time (SSD vs. HDD, etc.) but I didn't have high expectations for it. I also chose it for it's large screen, which makes it unable to fit in my preferred camera bags, so we're bringing a laptop bag too when travelling. So the next laptop will have to have fast SSD or M.2 memory and have a screen with a max size of 15 in. I've looked at the Surface laptop and at some Dell xps. This laptop will be used by my daughter who is entering high school this fall (the school systems furnished Chrome books that they use through middle school and they are awful; they are on their own for high school), so it will be used a lot. The Microsoft upgrade SSD prices are ridiculous, and they make it difficult to do it yourself, and they don't have a card reader, which would steer me toward the Dell.

I can't see laptops of the future offering CFE readers. If anything, we'll have to go to an external reader or to the cable to the camera, but as long as it's available, it gives a bit of convenience.

 

[AEWest]

I'm not aware of a 3-way, but then I sold off the 5D4 after getting the R5 and kept the R as backup. Having RF bodies gives the most flexibility for lenses and the R5 is a worthy successor.

Be careful about calling the R5 a successor to the 5D4. There are many still holding out hope for a 5D5!

 

[dilbert]

Birdman

Birdman: See All The Places Where The Camera Actually Cut

Last year’s Best Picture Oscar went to Birdman. While the film has some great performances that had a lot to do with that, another reason the film was so popular among movies fans was that it was a technically impressive as well.

www.cinemablend.com

 

[dilbert]

The elephant in the room (one of them at least) is that the Alpha 1 is directed at the professional market but doesn't have a built-in battery grip so all that tech runs off of a single battery. This will force professionals to buy a grip adding extra cost to an already expensive body. Meanwhile, Canon and Nikon pro bodies come standard this way.

The Canon EOS 1V did not have the grip integrated.

When the Canon 1Ds launched, price tag was $7999. Mark II and Mark III came out at the same price.

Not having the grip integrated will be a result of customer feedback saying that phiotographers want the option of it not being there.