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

[Canon Rumors]

Sony has officially announced its new flagship alpha a1 camera body.
This new body is equipped with a 50.1mp stacked EXMOR RS CMOS image sensor and a new BIONZ XR processor. This allowed the new camera to shoot at a full 30fps.
The autofocus is new and improved, with a fast sensor readout that enables up to 120 AF/AE calculations per second. This is twice the speed as the Alpha a9 II.
The EVF is a pretty impressive 9.44million-dot OLED display with a crazy refresh rate of 240fps.
Other goodies include 1/400sec full-frame flash sync speed and 1/500sec in APS-C mode.  It can shoot 8K up to 30fps for up to 30 minutes, as well as 4K at 60fps for the same length of time. You also get a 5-axis in-body stabilization system that can compensate shake up to 5.5 stops.
It looks like pixel shift shooting is going to become the norm, as the alpha a1 can do it up to 199mp.
This new flagship camera will cost $6498 at launch and preorders will begin tomorrow at 10 AM ET...

Continue reading...

 

[Maps]

Is anyone else weirdly hungry for steak all of a sudden?

 

[peters]

What am impressive improvement once again - a realy impressive featureset.
I think the a7s III was very specific for video people - while this camera looks like a perfect, high end allrounder. Sport, landscape, productshots, video... it simply got everything one could wish for...

It runs "up to 30 minutes", according to sony in 4k60 or 8k. So similar overheating is to be expected like on the R5. Lets see how this plays out on the fans :-D

 

[DrToast]

Not gonna lie, it sounds amazing.

 

[Treyarnon]

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

 

[iheartcanon]

Might be just me, but this makes me even happier with my R5. The specs sound good, but this is as good as it gets for them and it is 7,5k euro.

Nothing makes me feel as though I am missing out with the R5. And there is still the R1 to come.

 

[Maps]

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

 

[Jordan23]

It runs "up to 30 minutes", according to sony in 4k60 or 8k. So similar overheating is to be expected like on the R5. Lets see how this plays out on the fans :-D

And 8K only in 10bit 4:2:0. Yes, lets see how this plays out, especially if the next firmware for the R5 adds 8K CCRL with extended recording times.

 

[festr]

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

 

[h2so4]

Sounds great but at that cost, 7300.00 euros ( or $8881.00 ) that's going to be a stretch for a lot of people.

 

[Canon Rumors]

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

It's coming soon.

 

[thomas2279@hotmail.com]

Is anyone else weirdly hungry for steak all of a sudden?

Looks like A9 line will discontinue ? and A1 is Sony's new pro line, fingers cross for Canon and Nikon to produce their PRO ML's this year.

However £7200 is a pro price and Canon still has winner in the (A7 R, Z7/Z8) with their excellent Canon EOS R 5 £4199

 

[highdesertmesa]

I can dual-wield R5 for that price.

 

[thomas2279@hotmail.com]

Sounds great but at that cost, 7300.00 euros ( or $8881.00 ) that's going to be a stretch for a lot of people.

Agree only for rich pros, A7 MK 4 (rumor) will be competitor to Canon's R6 - R5 and Nikon Z7 II and rumored Z8 (price ?? , specs ?? ).

 

[Chaitanya]

Is anyone else weirdly hungry for steak all of a sudden?

I am a vegetarian and wont mind something suitable.
On a serious note, same body as any a series of cameras and now with toasty 8k.

 

[Fbimages]

That an impressive set of specs! Sony users will be happy. If they were to fix the UI they would have a winner!

 

[RayValdez360]

What am impressive improvement once again - a realy impressive featureset.
I think the a7s III was very specific for video people - while this camera looks like a perfect, high end allrounder. Sport, landscape, productshots, video... it simply got everything one could wish for...

It runs "up to 30 minutes", according to sony in 4k60 or 8k. So similar overheating is to be expected like on the R5. Lets see how this plays out on the fans :-D

its not for video, might be a cripple. no one wants to make a perfect camera, its bad for business.

 

[gavinz]

Great to see Sony pushing the limit. Canon always needed someone to move them along and then suddenly they decide to catch up. I think the no black out is a big deal that Canon needs to address. The fps game is now in ridiculous territory but if you are paid for capturing the exact moment then it is important but it is definitely on the diminishing return side. the 50Mp is good but may not be needed for many. Still very cool to see big step forward in technology.

 

[Hector1970]

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.

 

[bergstrom]

I can see the reviews "So disappointed with this camera, doesn't shoot 8k or 16k at 120fps".