Just in time for the Japanese Olympics if they ever take place, Sony has released the Sony Alpha 1 or A1 for short which is probably the most powerful mirrorless camera ever produced. Customary for Japanese camera manufacturers in Olimpic years, the likes of Canon and Nikon have released their professional flagship products like the 1DX and D6 which are still SLR mirrored products that have the highest possible Autofocus features for a camera of that type as well as speed and dependability.
Sony has had some inroads in that space with the Sony a9 series but they were missing a higher megapixel count version that could really differentiate it from the pack and the A1 seems to be just that kind of product. By shooting 8k video at 24,25 and 30p it becomes future-proof for the next decade as far as resolution goes and by taking 30 images per second in stills mode at the full 50MP resolution with AF Tracking, it is one blinding fast beast. The fact that it also shoots 120fps 4k and 240fps Full HD doesn’t hurt it either.
Sony A1 Sensor Specs:
| Lens Mount |
Sony E |
| Camera Format |
Full-Frame (1x Crop Factor) |
| Sensor Resolution |
Actual: 50.5 Megapixel
Effective: 50.1 Megapixel (8640 x 5760) |
Sony A1 Video Specs:
| Recording Modes |
H.265/XAVC HS 4:2:2 10-Bit
UHD 4K (3840 x 2160) at 23.976p/25p/29.97p/50p/59.94p/100p/119.88p [50 to 280 Mb/s]
H.265/XAVC HS 4:2:0 10-Bit
UHD 8K (7680 x 4320) at 23.976p/25p/29.97p [200 to 400 Mb/s]
UHD 4K (3840 x 2160) at 23.976p/25p/29.97p/50p/59.94p/100p/119.88p [30 to 200 Mb/s]
H.264/XAVC S-I 4:2:2 10-Bit
UHD 4K (3840 x 2160) at 23.976p/25p/29.97p/50p/59.94p [240 to 600 Mb/s]
Full HD (1920 x 1080) at 23.976p/25p/29.97p/50p/59.94p [89 to 222 Mb/s]
H.264/XAVC S 4:2:2 10-Bit
UHD 4K (3840 x 2160) at 23.976p/25p/29.97p/50p/59.94p/100p/119.88p [100 to 280 Mb/s]
Full HD (1920 x 1080) at 23.976p/25p/29.97p/50p/59.94p/100p/119.88p/200p/239.76p [50 Mb/s]
H.264/XAVC S 4:2:0 8-Bit
UHD 4K (3840 x 2160) at 23.976p/25p/29.97p/50p/59.94p/100p/119.88p [60 to 200 Mb/s]
Full HD (1920 x 1080) at 23.976p/25p/29.97p/50p/59.94p/100p/119.88p/200p/239.76p [16 to 100 Mb/s] |
| External Recording Modes |
Raw 16-Bit
4.2K (4264 x 2408) up to 59.94p
4:2:2 10-Bit
UHD 4K (3840 x 2160) at 23.976p/25p/29.97p/50p/59.94p
Full HD (1920 x 1080) at 23.976p/50p/59.94p
Full HD (1920 x 1080) at 50i/59.94i
4:2:0 8-Bit
UHD 4K (3840 x 2160) at 23.976p/25p/29.97p/50p/59.94p
Full HD (1920 x 1080) at 23.976p/50p/59.94p
Full HD (1920 x 1080) at 50i/59.94i |
The Sony A1 is probably the fastest mass production professional hybrid camera ever made. The speed required for 50 megapixels at 30fps means that it is processing and saving in RAW format or RAW+JPG to CF Express Cards at 1.5 Billion Pixels/Second and all of this while using the 120Hz continuous intelligent Auto Focus for people and animals.
Introducing Alpha 1 | Sony | α by Sony | Camera Channel:
Sony A1 Slow Motion Frame Rates:
- H.264/XAVC S 4:2:2 10-Bit
UHD 4K (3840 x 2160) at
- 50p/59.94p/
- 100p/119.88p [100 to 280 Mb/s]
- Full HD (1920 x 1080) at 50p/59.94p/100p/119.88p/200p/239.76p [50 Mb/s]
- 8x Slow motion is 240fps played in a 30fps timeline!
The Slow motion frame rates are also here with up to 4x 120fps in 4k 10 bit at up to 280Mbits/sec and 100 to 240fps 8x in Full HD 1080p at 50Mbps. We can see the sample below that contains several clips at 4k 120fps and some intercut 240fps Full HD like the divers shot in Hunters Of Light below. We can safely say that the quality at 4k 120fps 10 bit is near perfect but we still cannot attest to the quality of a file in Full HD at 100, 120, 200 and 240fps derived from a Full Frame sensor recording from a 50MP source.
We have confirmed that the camera has a 21 Megapixel crop factor in APS-C size for stills and possibly video which probably means that all the higher 1080p frame rates are possibly extracted from the crop area of the sensor and not from the full 50MP area.
Testing Out 240 FPS Sony A7S III – Indonesia by Calvin Kho: → Continue Reading Full Post ←
