On January the 26th, 2021, Sony introduced the new flagship of the Sony Alpha series, the Sony Alpha 1. Here is the video of the live presentation:
Apparently, the goal with this camera was to surpass the Canon EOS R5 in all points. On paper, this seems to have been achieved:
Technical data according to press announcement:
- 50,1 megapixel BSIsSensor (8.640x5.760px)
- Up to 30 frames / second
- OLED viewfinder without blackout
- Eyes AF for birds too
- Real-time eye AF with 120 AF calculations per second (A9 only 60/s)
- AF area: 92% of the image area, 759 phase-contrast AF points
- 9.44Megapixel optical OLED viewfinder with up to 240fps (but then only 5.76Megapixel)
- Flash sync speed up to 1/200s with electronic shutter, 1/400 with mechanical shutter
- IBIS with up to 5.5 stops of stabilization
- Almost no rolling shutter (less than a9)
- 8K/30P video (downsampled from 8.6k) in 10bit 4:2:0 for up to 30 minutes
- 4K/120P Video in 10bit 4:2:2
- Dynamic Range: 15 stops photo, 15+ stops video
- New more intuitive menu system with touch operation ( similar to the one of the a7S III
- Support for lossless compressed RAW files, finally.
Unfortunately, the camera also surpasses the Canon EOS R5 in price by far: Sony specifies an MSRP of $6,499.99.
All in all though: WOW, what a camera!
Sony has apparently taken all the remaining criticisms of the previous Alpha models and eliminated them. The announced Sony Alpha 1 combines the advantages of the a7RIV and a9 in one body and even goes beyond that.
At least on paper…
I am very curious about the first test reports. The camera is supposed to be available from March 2021. Let’s see how Canon will react regarding this model, the rumors about an EOS R1 are already increasing.
The first short review is now available from Tony Northrup:
So, the guys from Sony still put their pants on one leg at a time…
