KitZone
Sony Alpha 1
£6,499/$6,499
Staggering specs – and a pretty staggering price
www.sony.co.uk
1The grip is substantial, but still barely offers enough height for an average-sized hand.
2
The A1 does not have the highest resolution in the Sony range, but few will complain at the prospect of 50MP!
3
Support for the Sony E-mount is strong, both with new Sony lenses and lenses from third-party makers.
4
With 9.44 million dots, the Sony A1 has the highest-resolution EVF yet, by some margin.
5
This ‘thumbstick’ controller is really useful for setting the focus point.
6
The A1’s menu system is complex, but many everyday settings can be accessed by this function button.
7
You get dual CFexpress/SD Card slots, but you’ll only need CFexpress for the fastest video frame rates.
8
The stacked focus mode dial and drive mode dial on the top plate are good to have.
9
There’s even a dedicated exposure compensation dial.
Specifications
Sensor: 50.1MP full-frame Exmor RS CMOS
Image
processor: Bionz XR
AF points: 759 phase-detect, 425 contrast-detect
ISO
range: 100-32,000 (expandable to 50-102,400)
Stabilisation: Five-axis, up to 5.5 stops
Max image size: 8,640 x 5,760px (199MP with Multi Shot mode)
Video: 8K 30p (XAVC HS 8K), 4K (XAVC HS 4K or XAVC S 4K) up to 120p, 10-bit 4:2:0 internal, 16-bit raw via HDMI
Viewfinder: 9.44m dots, 100% coverage, 0.9x magnification, 240fps refresh rate
Memory
card: Two CFexpress Type A/UHS-II SD/SDHC/SDXC
LCD: 3-inch tilting touchscreen, 1.44m dots
Max burst: 10fps mechanical shutter, 30fps electronic shutter
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 5GHz and 2.4GHz, Bluetooth
Size: 129 x 97 x 81mm
Weight: 737g body only, including battery and memory card
I f we were to list every key feature of the Sony Alpha 1, it would be a book, not a camera review. First, it has a 50.1-megapixel stacked CMOS back-illuminated gapless sensor with separate pixel and circuit layers, hooked up to a Bionz XR processor with eight times the power of the previous version. This doesn’t just improve the performance and the image quality, but the responsiveness of the camera itself.