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Archive 2021A1 Reviews/Video thread
p.56 #1A1 Reviews/Video thread
What are peoples strategy for for the low capacity memory cards, do you download in the field? Or just buy a few memory cards? I'm thinking Lacie copilot with a memory card reader, but don't know if this will work.
The other thing is I see it accepts Sony A9 etc grip, will it accept my third party A9 11 grip (i have asked the company).
The other thing is I see it accepts Sony A9 etc grip, will it accept my third party A9 11 grip (i have asked the company).
Mar 11, 2021 at 01:26 AM
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p.56 #2A1 Reviews/Video thread
TimMunsey wrote:
What are peoples strategy for for the low capacity memory cards, do you download in the field? Or just buy a few memory cards? I'm thinking Lacie copilot with a memory card reader, but don't know if this will work.
The other thing is I see it accepts Sony A9 etc grip, will it accept my third party A9 11 grip (i have asked the company).
The Sony Alpha 1 uses the same grip as the A9ii / A7R4. It is NOT compatible with the older A9 original generation grip since that is much smaller. Third party grips will work since Sony has not implemented DRM into grips (yet).
When I get the Alpha 1, I'm just going to use UHS-II cards for a while since I have tons of those and I will only shoot 20 fps so I can have the option of lossless compressed RAW. 30 fps would be nice but 20 fps is much more practical.
Mar 11, 2021 at 01:31 AM
p.56 #3A1 Reviews/Video thread
TopPixel wrote:
When I get the Alpha 1, I'm just going to use UHS-II cards for a while since I have tons of those and I will only shoot 20 fps so I can have the option of lossless compressed RAW. 30 fps would be nice but 20 fps is much more practical.
I have 100% same plan. Stellar AF & superb high-refresh no-freeze EVF (even during burst) is much more important than 30 fps to me. Given how expensive/small CFexpress Type A cards currently are I'm at least gonna try to avoid spending on them initially.
When I get the Alpha 1, I'm just going to use UHS-II cards for a while since I have tons of those and I will only shoot 20 fps so I can have the option of lossless compressed RAW. 30 fps would be nice but 20 fps is much more practical.
I have 100% same plan. Stellar AF & superb high-refresh no-freeze EVF (even during burst) is much more important than 30 fps to me. Given how expensive/small CFexpress Type A cards currently are I'm at least gonna try to avoid spending on them initially.
Mar 11, 2021 at 02:05 AM
p.56 #4A1 Reviews/Video thread
tn1krr wrote:
Given how expensive/small CFexpress Type A cards currently are I'm at least gonna try to avoid spending on them initially.
My plan too, if the CFE-A hits 1-1.5$ per GB im in...
Given how expensive/small CFexpress Type A cards currently are I'm at least gonna try to avoid spending on them initially.
My plan too, if the CFE-A hits 1-1.5$ per GB im in...
Mar 11, 2021 at 03:25 AM
p.56 #5A1 Reviews/Video thread
nobody23 wrote:
My plan too, if the CFE-A hits 1-1.5$ per GB im in...
Yep, especially since UHS-II cards seem very fast in A1. I didn't test it very thoroughly but it seems write speed of A1 is close to my card limit (250-260 mb/s).
I'm tempted by CFE-A as they were proven substantially faster but then, 180gb is not really that much when it comes to A1 raws...
tn1krr wrote
Given how expensive/small CFexpress Type A cards currently are I'm at least gonna try to avoid spending on them initially.Yep, especially since UHS-II cards seem very fast in A1. I didn't test it very thoroughly but it seems write speed of A1 is close to my card limit (250-260 mb/s).
I'm tempted by CFE-A as they were proven substantially faster but then, 180gb is not really that much when it comes to A1 raws...
Mar 11, 2021 at 03:44 AM
p.56 #6A1 Reviews/Video thread
j4nu wrote:
I actually tested this as one of the first things as I was super excited about the new EVF.
My take on it is that basically you have 3 "forced" choices:
1) High Display quality + standard Finder Frame Rate. This is top IQ but drops down in resolution when you acquire focus (so all the time in AF-C and briefly in AF-S).
2) Standard Display quality + standard/high Finder Frame Rate. This is imho the same or at least very close to the dropped quality from option 1). I don't really see any drop in resolution when focusing in this combination.
3) Standard...Show more →
I tried to test the FPS by looking through the viewfinder set at hi+ Finder Frame Rate at passing cars and focusing in auto shutter & AF-C but it seems either the cars were not moving fast enough or my eye is not able to pickup the drop in FPS as I didn't really see any difference...
I actually tested this as one of the first things as I was super excited about the new EVF.
My take on it is that basically you have 3 "forced" choices:
1) High Display quality + standard Finder Frame Rate. This is top IQ but drops down in resolution when you acquire focus (so all the time in AF-C and briefly in AF-S).
2) Standard Display quality + standard/high Finder Frame Rate. This is imho the same or at least very close to the dropped quality from option 1). I don't really see any drop in resolution when focusing in this combination.
3) Standard...Show more →
I tried to test the FPS by looking through the viewfinder set at hi+ Finder Frame Rate at passing cars and focusing in auto shutter & AF-C but it seems either the cars were not moving fast enough or my eye is not able to pickup the drop in FPS as I didn't really see any difference...
Mar 11, 2021 at 03:52 AM
p.56 #7A1 Reviews/Video thread
An initial impression review with the caveat that I only shot for 4hrs and took 3100 shots....
I shot all birds. I shot in locations that I've been shooting at all year with A9II, A7RIV and R5.
I had full sun for all my shooting starting at sunrise with golden light and progressing to mid-day harsh light...keep that in mind....
* IQ and colors of the low ISO files are up there with the best I've seen...and I've seen a lot (ie A7RIV, D850, Z7, 5DSR etc). High ISO is TBD.
* AF hit rate with the 600GM, 600GM/1.4TC, 200-600 was as good and could be even better than the A9II.
* AF results with 600/2x and 200-600/1.4x were affected by heat haze over the water and over sandbar. I only used those later in the day as they weren't my primary goal to test on first outing. I will test them in better light and in more stable conditions as soon as I can
* Power-on time is way improved. You can actually flip the power switch as you raise the camera to your eye and EVF is active by the time you look in and AF works.
* Power from sleep is also very quick...I don't think it is much quicker than power on. Both are as fast as you need now.
* EVF wake when you don't let it sleep (note EVF still goes off when sensor is inactive) is really quick.
* Things like hitting a Recall Custom Hold key or Recall Reg AF Area Hold key are snappy now. Lag of display is gone.
* Battery life seems worse than I'm used to but I was going a little crazy today so I'll confirm that later. I was into my 2nd battery after the first 3 hrs.
* BEAF is way better than I thought it was going to be after reading/watching some of the initial reviews like T&C. But I was expecting it to be better than T&C said because other short clips (like the bee-eater clip) showed it very responsive.
* BEAF is on par with the R5. However, there was one species I found where the A1 sort of sucks and only occasionally recognized...that was a Black Oystercatcher. The R5 is perfect on Black Oystercatchers.
I need to test on a lot more species. Female Goldeneyes was much better than male Goldeneyes. But both did work.
*BEAF seems to not just be looking for a "Dot". It is recognizing the shape of the bird and then recognizing the eye. Although it isn't like the R5 which shows square/rectangle on the entire bird, then the head and then the eye. A1 does sometimes show a larger square on the bird but mostly just jumps between dancing dots and small eye square or RTT icon and small eye square.
*Once BEAF recognizes a good shape to the bird and finds the eye it can keep recognizing the eye even when the bird goes into weird positions (think odd preening poses that ducks do). But if you try to have it find the eye starting off with the bird in some weird position it usually won't see the eye until the bird is in a more upright and side profile silhouette.
*The first time I used the R5's BEAF I used it on some Yellowlegs doing their erratic foraging while spinning and dunking their heads. The R5 blew my socks off as it could switch onto the eye even as just half the eye came back out of the water. Well the A1 using Dunlin as a stand-in (not quite as twirly and erratic as YL but still head dipping and turning) did equally as well. Coming back onto the eye as soon as the eye was back out of the water.
*BEAF is good at distance....just like the R5 it is amazing how small a bird can be in the frame and it just locks onto the eye. So far that the shot would be crappy.
*BEAF did activate on BIF quite regularly if I did my part and kept the bird in frame with a smooth panning technique. (this included Bufflheads, Mallards, Wigeons, gulls and an eagle). More erratic (ie poor) panning technique did not present the AF sensors with a stable enough image to activate Eye-AF. About the same as on the R5. Technique is critical for BEAF for BIF. Of course I was using Zone a lot of the time and in Zone if I don't keep the Zone on the bird BEAF doesn't work. I will try some more with Wide today and see if I can be a little more sloppy and still have BEAF activate.
*On the R5 if you switch into crop mode it often will find an eye that it wasn't finding in FF mode. I need to test to see if the A1 is similar. I'm not sure yet?
Things I need to investigate further:
* Reading the manual and the DPR review I was under the impression that shooting H+ (30FPS) (making sure one is in Lossy Compressed RAW) that the eye point would back out to 0.7x from 0.9x. Mine wasn't backing out. It only backed out if I set Finder Frame Rate to Higher (240hz) as expected in that mode. I'm confused with this? Did others see the EVF back out when in H+ and RAW set to Lossy Compressed??
I shot all birds. I shot in locations that I've been shooting at all year with A9II, A7RIV and R5.
I had full sun for all my shooting starting at sunrise with golden light and progressing to mid-day harsh light...keep that in mind....
* IQ and colors of the low ISO files are up there with the best I've seen...and I've seen a lot (ie A7RIV, D850, Z7, 5DSR etc). High ISO is TBD.
* AF hit rate with the 600GM, 600GM/1.4TC, 200-600 was as good and could be even better than the A9II.
* AF results with 600/2x and 200-600/1.4x were affected by heat haze over the water and over sandbar. I only used those later in the day as they weren't my primary goal to test on first outing. I will test them in better light and in more stable conditions as soon as I can
* Power-on time is way improved. You can actually flip the power switch as you raise the camera to your eye and EVF is active by the time you look in and AF works.
* Power from sleep is also very quick...I don't think it is much quicker than power on. Both are as fast as you need now.
* EVF wake when you don't let it sleep (note EVF still goes off when sensor is inactive) is really quick.
* Things like hitting a Recall Custom Hold key or Recall Reg AF Area Hold key are snappy now. Lag of display is gone.
* Battery life seems worse than I'm used to but I was going a little crazy today so I'll confirm that later. I was into my 2nd battery after the first 3 hrs.
* BEAF is way better than I thought it was going to be after reading/watching some of the initial reviews like T&C. But I was expecting it to be better than T&C said because other short clips (like the bee-eater clip) showed it very responsive.
* BEAF is on par with the R5. However, there was one species I found where the A1 sort of sucks and only occasionally recognized...that was a Black Oystercatcher. The R5 is perfect on Black Oystercatchers.
I need to test on a lot more species. Female Goldeneyes was much better than male Goldeneyes. But both did work.
*BEAF seems to not just be looking for a "Dot". It is recognizing the shape of the bird and then recognizing the eye. Although it isn't like the R5 which shows square/rectangle on the entire bird, then the head and then the eye. A1 does sometimes show a larger square on the bird but mostly just jumps between dancing dots and small eye square or RTT icon and small eye square.
*Once BEAF recognizes a good shape to the bird and finds the eye it can keep recognizing the eye even when the bird goes into weird positions (think odd preening poses that ducks do). But if you try to have it find the eye starting off with the bird in some weird position it usually won't see the eye until the bird is in a more upright and side profile silhouette.
*The first time I used the R5's BEAF I used it on some Yellowlegs doing their erratic foraging while spinning and dunking their heads. The R5 blew my socks off as it could switch onto the eye even as just half the eye came back out of the water. Well the A1 using Dunlin as a stand-in (not quite as twirly and erratic as YL but still head dipping and turning) did equally as well. Coming back onto the eye as soon as the eye was back out of the water.
*BEAF is good at distance....just like the R5 it is amazing how small a bird can be in the frame and it just locks onto the eye. So far that the shot would be crappy.
*BEAF did activate on BIF quite regularly if I did my part and kept the bird in frame with a smooth panning technique. (this included Bufflheads, Mallards, Wigeons, gulls and an eagle). More erratic (ie poor) panning technique did not present the AF sensors with a stable enough image to activate Eye-AF. About the same as on the R5. Technique is critical for BEAF for BIF. Of course I was using Zone a lot of the time and in Zone if I don't keep the Zone on the bird BEAF doesn't work. I will try some more with Wide today and see if I can be a little more sloppy and still have BEAF activate.
*On the R5 if you switch into crop mode it often will find an eye that it wasn't finding in FF mode. I need to test to see if the A1 is similar. I'm not sure yet?
Things I need to investigate further:
* Reading the manual and the DPR review I was under the impression that shooting H+ (30FPS) (making sure one is in Lossy Compressed RAW) that the eye point would back out to 0.7x from 0.9x. Mine wasn't backing out. It only backed out if I set Finder Frame Rate to Higher (240hz) as expected in that mode. I'm confused with this? Did others see the EVF back out when in H+ and RAW set to Lossy Compressed??
Mar 12, 2021 at 07:15 AM
p.56 #8A1 Reviews/Video thread
Thank you for the excellent review and the excellent news.
What is your experience with plain AFC versus RTT with this camera? Would you shoot differently compared to a9II?
Maybe too early for such a question.
What is your experience with plain AFC versus RTT with this camera? Would you shoot differently compared to a9II?
Maybe too early for such a question.
Mar 12, 2021 at 08:04 AM
p.56 #9A1 Reviews/Video thread
baltmin wrote:
Thank you for the excellent review and the excellent news.
What is your experience with plain AFC versus RTT with this camera? Would you shoot differently compared to a9II?
Maybe too early for such a question.
A little too early...I feel RTT is improved but I still was tending to go to non-tracking Zone most yesterday.
Thank you for the excellent review and the excellent news.
What is your experience with plain AFC versus RTT with this camera? Would you shoot differently compared to a9II?
Maybe too early for such a question.
A little too early...I feel RTT is improved but I still was tending to go to non-tracking Zone most yesterday.
Mar 12, 2021 at 08:20 AM
p.56 #10A1 Reviews/Video thread
I suppose if RTT is not better or absolutely necessary there is no point using it, especially if 30fps are critical.
On the other hand, drop to 25 or 26fps with RTT would not make much of a difference, so probably this should not be the criterion to use it or not.
On the other hand, drop to 25 or 26fps with RTT would not make much of a difference, so probably this should not be the criterion to use it or not.
Mar 12, 2021 at 08:26 AM
p.56 #11A1 Reviews/Video thread
When I saw this Red-winged Blackbird I thought why not video how the bird eye-af does. I figured it was a worst case scenario (black bird with black eyes, a good distance off and a bunch of branches/twigs in-between). I'm trying to do this one handed while holding the phone so my camera was all over the place 
I started with wide then moved to zone then small single point. Really what this tells me is that if I'm trying to get a bird in the brush and the smallest point can't get focus you can try eye-af (with small point) and it may grab the eye through all the junk in-between.
I think this will be good when you are trying to get a quick documentation type of shot of something in the branches.
The HD and 4k versions are still being processed by YouTube but here's the video
I started with wide then moved to zone then small single point. Really what this tells me is that if I'm trying to get a bird in the brush and the smallest point can't get focus you can try eye-af (with small point) and it may grab the eye through all the junk in-between.
I think this will be good when you are trying to get a quick documentation type of shot of something in the branches.
The HD and 4k versions are still being processed by YouTube but here's the video
Mar 12, 2021 at 10:01 AM
p.56 #12A1 Reviews/Video thread
arbitrage wrote:
An initial impression review with the caveat that I only shot for 4hrs and took 3100 shots....
I shot all birds. I shot in locations that I've been shooting at all year with A9II, A7RIV and R5.
I had full sun for all my shooting starting at sunrise with golden light and progressing to mid-day harsh light...keep that in mind....
* IQ and colors of the low ISO files are up there with the best I've seen...and I've seen a lot (ie A7RIV, D850, Z7, 5DSR etc). High ISO is TBD.
* AF hit rate with the 600GM, 600GM/1.4TC, 200-600 was as good and...Show more →
"Power-on time is way improved. You can actually flip the power switch as you raise the camera to your eye and EVF is active by the time you look in and AF works."
Great, was my impression as well, nice to see it confirmed.
The nice thing is, that future firmware will improve DL-BEAF etc. even further.
An initial impression review with the caveat that I only shot for 4hrs and took 3100 shots....
I shot all birds. I shot in locations that I've been shooting at all year with A9II, A7RIV and R5.
I had full sun for all my shooting starting at sunrise with golden light and progressing to mid-day harsh light...keep that in mind....
* IQ and colors of the low ISO files are up there with the best I've seen...and I've seen a lot (ie A7RIV, D850, Z7, 5DSR etc). High ISO is TBD.
* AF hit rate with the 600GM, 600GM/1.4TC, 200-600 was as good and...Show more →
"Power-on time is way improved. You can actually flip the power switch as you raise the camera to your eye and EVF is active by the time you look in and AF works."
Great, was my impression as well, nice to see it confirmed.
The nice thing is, that future firmware will improve DL-BEAF etc. even further.
Mar 12, 2021 at 10:37 AM
p.56 #13A1 Reviews/Video thread
In case no one saw, Mark Smith put out a video and it started with 'He just received his A1'.
He plans on going out shooting with it tomorrow.
Looking forward to his report on it (which everyone knows will be great) and then his review and eventual how to set it up.
Added: If you like Mark Smith, check out his Instagram account as he posted an Osprey video taken with the A1 and as usual, it is an excellent capture.
He plans on going out shooting with it tomorrow.
Looking forward to his report on it (which everyone knows will be great) and then his review and eventual how to set it up.
Added: If you like Mark Smith, check out his Instagram account as he posted an Osprey video taken with the A1 and as usual, it is an excellent capture.
Mar 12, 2021 at 03:56 PM
p.56 #14A1 Reviews/Video thread
..video centric review of a canon guy - interesting is the part about the colour science!
I`m still waiting for my A1
I`m still waiting for my A1
Mar 14, 2021 at 07:20 AM
p.56 #16A1 Reviews/Video thread
Mine just arrived today! Just getting it set up and still haven't had a chance to shoot anything exciting, but coming from an A9ii, I love how snappy it feels. One of the things I've always hated about Sony cameras is that moving the aperture and shutter speed wheels never seems to update in real time (the on-screen values always lag a bit), but that is finally fixed. Everything just feels extremely responsive.
Also loving these buffer clearing speeds with CF Express.
Also loving these buffer clearing speeds with CF Express.
Mar 16, 2021 at 06:25 PM
p.56 #17A1 Reviews/Video thread
davidnumrich wrote:
I love how snappy it feels. One of the things I've always hated about Sony cameras is that moving the aperture and shutter speed wheels never seems to update in real time (the on-screen values always lag a bit), but that is finally fixed. Everything just feels extremely responsive.
Agreed. It is sort of funny that given all the exciting specs like new EVF, high MP and high FPS it is actually the basic operational speed improvements that you mention that I value the most to me with this camera.
I wouldn't mind an A9III at 35MP or so with this new processor.
I love how snappy it feels. One of the things I've always hated about Sony cameras is that moving the aperture and shutter speed wheels never seems to update in real time (the on-screen values always lag a bit), but that is finally fixed. Everything just feels extremely responsive.
Agreed. It is sort of funny that given all the exciting specs like new EVF, high MP and high FPS it is actually the basic operational speed improvements that you mention that I value the most to me with this camera.
I wouldn't mind an A9III at 35MP or so with this new processor.
Mar 17, 2021 at 06:17 AM
p.56 #18A1 Reviews/Video thread
Was anyone else like me in that after reading all the praise for this new EVF, I picked it up to my eye for the first outing and really never went "wow" at all. I actually forgot that the EVF was greatly improved. I guess the fact that it is basically never in 9.44M dot mode unless you are reviewing images or in Standard 60hz and AF-S is part of the reason. I still find Sony EVFs to be a bit too saturated and contrasty to my liking. And they seem to drop resolution unless you are on those very specific settings (settings which aren't useful for my type of shooting).
Oh well, it is still a nice EVF and I'm sure doing other types of photography it is more valuable. I also never noticed much difference between my A9II and A7RIV's EVF so maybe I'm just blind
Oh well, it is still a nice EVF and I'm sure doing other types of photography it is more valuable. I also never noticed much difference between my A9II and A7RIV's EVF so maybe I'm just blind
Mar 17, 2021 at 06:24 AM
p.56 #19A1 Reviews/Video thread
arbitrage wrote:
Was anyone else like me in that after reading all the praise for this new EVF, I picked it up to my eye for the first outing and really never went "wow" at all. I actually forgot that the EVF was greatly improved. I guess the fact that it is basically never in 9.44M dot mode unless you are reviewing images or in Standard 60hz and AF-S is part of the reason. I still find Sony EVFs to be a bit too saturated and contrasty to my liking. And they seem to drop resolution unless you are on those very...Show more →
Well, I moved from A7III so a pretty crappy EVF by todays standards, but the only mode that really makes me "wow" (and I really mean "wow - this is better than my eyesight / feels like augmented eye stuff from cyberpunk 2077"
) at the picture is the high quality EVF option (until I press the shutter button unfortunately).
Still, I'm very happy with the EVF, it seems easier to see the whole of it - I kinda had to stick my eye very far into it on A7III.
Was anyone else like me in that after reading all the praise for this new EVF, I picked it up to my eye for the first outing and really never went "wow" at all. I actually forgot that the EVF was greatly improved. I guess the fact that it is basically never in 9.44M dot mode unless you are reviewing images or in Standard 60hz and AF-S is part of the reason. I still find Sony EVFs to be a bit too saturated and contrasty to my liking. And they seem to drop resolution unless you are on those very...Show more →
Well, I moved from A7III so a pretty crappy EVF by todays standards, but the only mode that really makes me "wow" (and I really mean "wow - this is better than my eyesight / feels like augmented eye stuff from cyberpunk 2077"
) at the picture is the high quality EVF option (until I press the shutter button unfortunately).Still, I'm very happy with the EVF, it seems easier to see the whole of it - I kinda had to stick my eye very far into it on A7III.
Mar 17, 2021 at 06:30 AM
p.56 #20A1 Reviews/Video thread
One thing I tested yesterday is adapting my Nikon lenses via the Commlite adapter on the most recent 8.0 FW. It is now 100% broken with both my PF lenses. There is never any green AF points lit up. It goes to purple point or outline immediately and won’t even drive focus at all. On my previous Sony bodies the 300 PF was actually okay for perched birds and the 500 PF would dance green dots if you prefocused via MF close to your subject.
Mar 17, 2021 at 06:47 AM