Sony Alpha 1 Full-Frame Camera Announced - Up To 8K30 and S-Cinetone
Sony A1 Camera Featured.jpg

Sony has just announced a new mirrorless camera, the Sony Alpha 1. It has a 50.1 megapixel full frame sensor with a Sony E lens mount and is capable of 8K and 30p video in 10-bit 4: 2: 0 and Process 4K up to 120 fps in 10-bit 4: 2: 2. It will be available in March 2021 for $ 6,498.

With the first announcement of the year, Sony surprised everyone with the announcement of the mirrorless full-screen camera Alpha 1 with very interesting technical data. Sony also announced a new Xperia PRO smartphone, which we'll cover in a separate article. Let's take a quick look at the Sony Alpha 1.

Sony Alpha 1 – 50MP full screen

At the heart of the camera is a stacked 50.1 MP Exmor CMOS sensor and the BIONZ XR image processor. The camera can capture still images at 30 frames per second in RAW with the electronic shutter, while AF and AE are used with a frame rate of 120 frames per second. The large buffer memory enables the recording of up to 155 images in compressed RAW. With Pixel Shift Multi Shooting mode, the camera can produce 199MP still images.

Alpha 1. Source: Sony

The ISO sensitivity is between 100 and 32,000 (expandable to 50 to 102,400 when taking still pictures). The camera offers a stabilization unit as well as gyro sensors, which should offer a shutter speed advantage of up to 5.5 steps. The camera also includes the active mode which further improves stabilization. The camera has the standard Sony E lens mount.

Speaking of autofocus: the camera has 759 phase detection points that cover approximately 92% of the image area. According to Sony, the real-time Eye AF improves detection performance by 30% compared to the previous system. The good thing is that it works for both animals and humans.

Video specifications – 8K 30p 10-bit

When it comes to video recording, the Alpha 1 can record 8K 30p 10-bit 4: 2: 0 video recordings in XAVC-HS. The image is oversampled by the full 8.6K sensor for sharp results. In addition, the Sony Alpha 1 is able to use 4K 120p and 60p in 10-bit 4: 2: 2 for both efficient long GOP interframe compression and all-I intraframe compression. For the first time in an Alpha camera, Sony has also integrated the S-Cinetone color profile.

According to Sony, the Alpha 1 has a high dynamic range of more than 15 f-stops for videos (in S-Log3) and 15 f-stops for still images. This will of course be tested in our laboratory as soon as we receive the camera for review. When it comes to overheating, Sony claims that 8K footage is available continuously for up to 30 minutes.

Alpha 1. Source: Sony

Just like the Sony a7S III, the new Alpha 1 also offers 16-bit RAW video output via its full-size HDMI port. The camera also offers a Super35 crop mode for 4K videos from an oversampled 5.8K full-pixel readout mode.

The electronic OLED Quad-XGA viewfinder with 9.44 million dots and a refresh rate of up to 240 fps is accompanied by a tiltable screen. There is no fold-out screen like the a7S III.

Alpha 1. Source: Sony

Like the a7S III, the new camera also has two memory card slots in which both SD cards (UHS-I and USH-II) and CFexpress type A cards can be inserted. On the side there is a USB-C port and a 1 Gbit LAN port for fast file transfer. It also has a WiFi protocol. The magnesium body is weatherproof.

Price and availability

The Sony Alpha 1 will be available for $ 6,498 in March 2021 (around 7,300 euros including VAT in Europe).

What do you think of the Sony Alpha 1? Has Sony exceeded your expectations with this camera? Let us know in the comments section below the article.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here