p.53 #1 · Pre-Order Sony Alpha A1 (50MP, 30fps, 8K)
I just came back from shooting snow geese near Montezuma Wildlife Refuge in upstate New York.
One observation: 30fps is great, but it surely fills up your memory modules quickly. My 160GB CFExpress card in slot 1 (I was shooting RAW+JPEG Fine) filled up quickly. There'll be a demand for bigger capacity modules for this camera, not to mention the costs for these cards.
p.53 #2 · Pre-Order Sony Alpha A1 (50MP, 30fps, 8K)
buffalowolff wrote:
Probably depends on where the sun is. I shoot right eyed, sun was behind, right, and fairly high 10+am. In the afternoon it was thin overcast and very flat, no issues at all. I'll have the sun at my back again Saturday, although much closer to sunrise.
I have the original A9, and it is very sensitive to debris on the eye sensor. If I don't keep it perfectly clean, I run into issues. If I haven't cleaned it in a while, it is unusable, so I switch the C3 button to toggle between EVF and LCD. My A7r4 is less sensitive to crud, but it still acts up with direct sun, and especially if the sensor is dirty.
p.53 #3 · Pre-Order Sony Alpha A1 (50MP, 30fps, 8K)
I just now got home from an early morning shoot with Geoff (arbitrage), and had a chance to check out the viewfinder (nice!) and the bird eye detection. The eye detection works extremely well, and is a game changer. I'd love to get this camera, but thanks to Covid, I can't, so will wait for an a9III.
p.53 #4 · Pre-Order Sony Alpha A1 (50MP, 30fps, 8K)
Colin F wrote:
I just now got home from an early morning shoot with Geoff (arbitrage), and had a chance to check out the viewfinder (nice!) and the bird eye detection. The eye detection works extremely well, and is a game changer. I'd love to get this camera, but thanks to Covid, I can't, so will wait for an a9III.
Did you find AF sometimes gets distracted by foreground objects, even little low-contrast reeds or plants? But once it locks onto a bird, it's really tenacious in holding the AF.
p.53 #5 · Pre-Order Sony Alpha A1 (50MP, 30fps, 8K)
davesit wrote:
Did you find AF sometimes gets distracted by foreground objects, even little low-contrast reeds or plants? But once it locks onto a bird, it's really tenacious in holding the AF.
I only tried it for a minute on the sitting birds, so you'll need to ask Geoff about that. I know that what you've described is one thing that drives me crazy with the a9. Again this morning I was panning on a Bufflehead Duck in flight, and there's absolutely nothing else in the frame, and I'll have the (zone) focus point RIGHT ON THE BIRD, yet the focusing will insist on grabbing the slightly moving water in the foreground. Grrrrrrrrr. I mean really? The slightly ripply water is preferred over a frantically flapping bird Time for a firmware update on that Sony.
p.53 #6 · Pre-Order Sony Alpha A1 (50MP, 30fps, 8K)
Colin F wrote:
I only tried it for a minute on the sitting birds, so you'll need to ask Geoff about that. I know that what you've described is one thing that drives me crazy with the a9. Again this morning I was panning on a Bufflehead Duck in flight, and there's absolutely nothing else in the frame, and I'll have the (zone) focus point RIGHT ON THE BIRD, yet the focusing will insist on grabbing the slightly moving water in the foreground. Grrrrrrrrr. I mean really? The slightly ripply water is preferred over a frantically flapping bird Time for a firmware update on that Sony. ...Show more →
p.53 #7 · Pre-Order Sony Alpha A1 (50MP, 30fps, 8K)
I had it refuse to focus on a RWBB yesterday in zone, when I looked there was a small reed perfectly between us. Used the other AF button for flex spot small, nailed the bird, and from then on ignored the reed in zone. I can't necessarily get mad, it was right between us, but it refuses to let go of the damn thing, even though this was too close to focus on. Again, once instance, otherwise it held ducks going behind trees just fine, very tenacious. For now I have it set to 5 for focus stickiness.
davesit wrote:
Did you find AF sometimes gets distracted by foreground objects, even little low-contrast reeds or plants? But once it locks onto a bird, it's really tenacious in holding the AF.
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Colin F wrote:
I only tried it for a minute on the sitting birds, so you'll need to ask Geoff about that. I know that what you've described is one thing that drives me crazy with the a9. Again this morning I was panning on a Bufflehead Duck in flight, and there's absolutely nothing else in the frame, and I'll have the (zone) focus point RIGHT ON THE BIRD, yet the focusing will insist on grabbing the slightly moving water in the foreground. Grrrrrrrrr. I mean really? The slightly ripply water is preferred over a frantically flapping bird Time for a firmware update on that Sony. ...Show more →
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davesit wrote:
My complaint with the A9 too, before I sold it.
p.53 #8 · Pre-Order Sony Alpha A1 (50MP, 30fps, 8K)
I want to confirm that the issue with the EVF sensor is bad when sun is behind. Way more frequent than with the A9II and A7RIV. This is a big issue I think for sunny weather. I had to place my thumb over the entire sensor to get it to come on numerous times today with full sun at my back (give or take 30deg).
p.53 #9 · Pre-Order Sony Alpha A1 (50MP, 30fps, 8K)
arbitrage wrote:
I want to confirm that the issue with the EVF sensor is bad when sun is behind. Way more frequent than with the A9II and A7RIV. This is a big issue I think for sunny weather. I had to place my thumb over the entire sensor to get it to come on numerous times today with full sun at my back (give or take 30deg).
Hmmm, maybe there was a good reason why the sensor has always been under the top portion of the hood - it would be completely shaded as soon as you put your eye to the eyecup.
p.53 #10 · Pre-Order Sony Alpha A1 (50MP, 30fps, 8K)
saxguy wrote:
Hmmm, maybe there was a good reason that the sensor has always been under the top portion of the hood - it would be completely shaded as soon as you put your eye to the eyecup.
Yeah I bet it is the new lower position making it worse. I thought the lower position would be nice to clean easier.
p.53 #11 · Pre-Order Sony Alpha A1 (50MP, 30fps, 8K)
saxguy wrote:
Hmmm, maybe there was a good reason why the sensor has always been under the top portion of the hood - it would be completely shaded as soon as you put your eye to the eyecup.
This has happened many times with my A7RIV recently, missed some shots because of this.
p.53 #15 · Pre-Order Sony Alpha A1 (50MP, 30fps, 8K)
arbitrage wrote:
My first impression is that the A1 is 10x worse than the A7RIV for this problem.
I don't have my A1 yet, but I ordered replacement eye cup for it weeks ago from ebay. I have a similar one on my A7RIV and at least in that this eye cup is wayy better at blocking any stray light; hopefully this help with EVF sensor when light is behind
p.53 #17 · Pre-Order Sony Alpha A1 (50MP, 30fps, 8K)
FYI. The Sony Tough SD cards that are under recall don’t work in A1. I never bothered to send mine in. I guess I have to now.
Using my Delkin Power cards I found no reason to buy CFE-A. Buffer clearing was fast enough and without lockouts I never once looked at what it was doing.
p.53 #18 · Pre-Order Sony Alpha A1 (50MP, 30fps, 8K)
I invested in the cfe-a cards and am kinda regretting it, but we'll see. Speeds up workflow quite a bit since they import way faster, but as far as in camera, not sure when I'll need 8 bazillion frames to flush quickly, I'll have to find an excuse. For those who haven't yet, wait for cheaper ones to come out.
arbitrage wrote:
FYI. The Sony Tough SD cards that are under recall don’t work in A1. I never bothered to send mine in. I guess I have to now.
Using my Delkin Power cards I found no reason to buy CFE-A. Buffer clearing was fast enough and without lockouts I never once looked at what it was doing.
p.53 #20 · Pre-Order Sony Alpha A1 (50MP, 30fps, 8K)
GMPhotography wrote:
If I remember correctly I thought we used a tape block for the eyepiece problem to reduce light coming in. I forget which Sony body it was
Does doing that not keep the EVF on all the time because the tape is partially over the sensor? Or are you taping a different area?
Time for a firmware update on that Sony.