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Archive 2021Sony A1 - Bird Photography Camera for Dummies
p.6 #1Sony A1 - Bird Photography Camera for Dummies
kimknapp wrote:
I had the same thing happen twice the first day. Would not focus on anything or trigger for about 15 seconds or so each time. I didn't report it because I thought I might be doing something wrong. It came back by itself after trying to focus far and close several times. This was not like when a lens is focused all the way close and then has a hard time finding a distant subject.
Never happened yesterday. Only setting difference was I extended sleep time from default to the next longer setting.
While I am happy with the AF performance of this camera, including how the Eye-AF for the 3 options works, I experienced my very first lock-up with the A1 this morning, or actually my very first lock-up with any Sony camera in the last 7+ years, starting with the original A7r.
Here what I experienced: I completed a mating sequence and while waiting, the camera went to sleep. When there was another action, I lightly touched the shutter button and it came alive right away but I couldn’t take any images then. I set my camera that way that it would not trigger the shutter if the AF is not achieved. And honestly, I am not sure whether the AF was working or not. The experience startled me and I didn’t want to take any chances, I turned the camera off, took the battery out, waited a few seconds, I inserted the battery back in and voila, it was working again. I was shooting for the rest of the morning fine after that.
In the afternoon I had a short portrait session just to try out how well the Eye-AF works on human, relative to the A7r IV. I never used my A9 or A9 II for portraits or people photography in general. Hands down, the A1 is better than the A7 r IV for portraits, too and ithat doesn’t surprise me.
My shooting buddy was there and she uses her Canon R5 and I asked her about whether she had experience any lock-ups. According to her about a handful of time in the last 7-8 months or so. Anyway, apparently the Sony A1 is not immune to that issue, too. Thankfully, the timing of my lockup today wasn’t bad. I would have been really pissed had I missed something really critical and once in a life-time opportunity or something similar.
Kim, thank you for your feedback. Okay, I am not alone then. It is interesting that it came back by itself. I was in “panic” since there could by any action any time that I didn’t want to miss. Either removing the battery or doing what Jon did when he encountered a similar issue with his A7r IV. It is also interesting that it happened to both of us after it came back from the sleep mode. In your case, after changing the sleep period.
I had the same thing happen twice the first day. Would not focus on anything or trigger for about 15 seconds or so each time. I didn't report it because I thought I might be doing something wrong. It came back by itself after trying to focus far and close several times. This was not like when a lens is focused all the way close and then has a hard time finding a distant subject.
Never happened yesterday. Only setting difference was I extended sleep time from default to the next longer setting.
AGeoJO wrote
** 1st Lock-up Experience **While I am happy with the AF performance of this camera, including how the Eye-AF for the 3 options works, I experienced my very first lock-up with the A1 this morning, or actually my very first lock-up with any Sony camera in the last 7+ years, starting with the original A7r.
Here what I experienced: I completed a mating sequence and while waiting, the camera went to sleep. When there was another action, I lightly touched the shutter button and it came alive right away but I couldn’t take any images then. I set my camera that way that it would not trigger the shutter if the AF is not achieved. And honestly, I am not sure whether the AF was working or not. The experience startled me and I didn’t want to take any chances, I turned the camera off, took the battery out, waited a few seconds, I inserted the battery back in and voila, it was working again. I was shooting for the rest of the morning fine after that.
In the afternoon I had a short portrait session just to try out how well the Eye-AF works on human, relative to the A7r IV. I never used my A9 or A9 II for portraits or people photography in general. Hands down, the A1 is better than the A7 r IV for portraits, too and ithat doesn’t surprise me.
My shooting buddy was there and she uses her Canon R5 and I asked her about whether she had experience any lock-ups. According to her about a handful of time in the last 7-8 months or so. Anyway, apparently the Sony A1 is not immune to that issue, too. Thankfully, the timing of my lockup today wasn’t bad. I would have been really pissed had I missed something really critical and once in a life-time opportunity or something similar.
Kim, thank you for your feedback. Okay, I am not alone then. It is interesting that it came back by itself. I was in “panic” since there could by any action any time that I didn’t want to miss. Either removing the battery or doing what Jon did when he encountered a similar issue with his A7r IV. It is also interesting that it happened to both of us after it came back from the sleep mode. In your case, after changing the sleep period.
Mar 15, 2021 at 06:33 AM
p.6 #2Sony A1 - Bird Photography Camera for Dummies
AGeoJO wrote:
Never happened yesterday. Only setting difference was I extended sleep time from default to the next longer setting.
While I am happy with the AF performance of this camera, including how the Eye-AF for the 3 options works, I experienced my very first lock-up with the A1 this morning, or actually my very first lock-up with any Sony camera in the last 7+ years, starting with the original A7r.
Here what I experienced: I completed a mating sequence and while waiting, the camera went to sleep. When there was another action, I lightly touched the shutter button and it came alive right away but I couldn’t take any images then. I set my camera that way that it would not trigger the shutter if the AF is not achieved. And honestly, I am not sure whether the AF was working or not. The experience startled me and I didn’t want to take any chances, I turned the camera off, took the battery out, waited a few seconds, I inserted the battery back in and voila, it was working again. I was shooting for the rest of the morning fine after that.
In the afternoon I had a short portrait session just to try out how well the Eye-AF works on human, relative to the A7r IV. I never used my A9 or A9 II for portraits or people photography in general. Hands down, the A1 is better than the A7 r IV for portraits, too and ithat doesn’t surprise me.
My shooting buddy was there and she uses her Canon R5 and I asked her about whether she had experience any lock-ups. According to her about a handful of time in the last 7-8 months or so. Anyway, apparently the Sony A1 is not immune to that issue, too. Thankfully, the timing of my lockup today wasn’t bad. I would have been really pissed had I missed something really critical and once in a life-time opportunity or something similar.Kim, thank you for your feedback. Okay, I am not alone then. It is interesting that it came back by itself. I was in “panic” since there could by any action any time that I didn’t want to miss. Either removing the battery or doing what Jon did when he encountered a similar issue with his A7r IV. It is also interesting that it happened to both of us after it came back from the sleep mode. In your case, after changing the sleep period.
Several folks in the FB A1 Shooters group reported lockup issues too.
kimknapp wrote
I had the same thing happen twice the first day. Would not focus on anything or trigger for about 15 seconds or so each time. I didn't report it because I thought I might be doing something wrong. It came back by itself after trying to focus far and close several times. This was not like when a lens is focused all the way close and then has a hard time finding a distant subject.Never happened yesterday. Only setting difference was I extended sleep time from default to the next longer setting.
AGeoJO wrote
** 1st Lock-up Experience **While I am happy with the AF performance of this camera, including how the Eye-AF for the 3 options works, I experienced my very first lock-up with the A1 this morning, or actually my very first lock-up with any Sony camera in the last 7+ years, starting with the original A7r.
Here what I experienced: I completed a mating sequence and while waiting, the camera went to sleep. When there was another action, I lightly touched the shutter button and it came alive right away but I couldn’t take any images then. I set my camera that way that it would not trigger the shutter if the AF is not achieved. And honestly, I am not sure whether the AF was working or not. The experience startled me and I didn’t want to take any chances, I turned the camera off, took the battery out, waited a few seconds, I inserted the battery back in and voila, it was working again. I was shooting for the rest of the morning fine after that.
In the afternoon I had a short portrait session just to try out how well the Eye-AF works on human, relative to the A7r IV. I never used my A9 or A9 II for portraits or people photography in general. Hands down, the A1 is better than the A7 r IV for portraits, too and ithat doesn’t surprise me.
My shooting buddy was there and she uses her Canon R5 and I asked her about whether she had experience any lock-ups. According to her about a handful of time in the last 7-8 months or so. Anyway, apparently the Sony A1 is not immune to that issue, too. Thankfully, the timing of my lockup today wasn’t bad. I would have been really pissed had I missed something really critical and once in a life-time opportunity or something similar.
Several folks in the FB A1 Shooters group reported lockup issues too.
Mar 15, 2021 at 06:51 AM
p.6 #3Sony A1 - Bird Photography Camera for Dummies
I had a lockup on day 1 with the 200-600. After battery pull it was fine. I've not had it since then but mostly use the 600 f4. I have used the 200-600 once since day 1 but briefly. I wonder if it has something to do with that lens?
Mar 15, 2021 at 06:54 AM
p.6 #4Sony A1 - Bird Photography Camera for Dummies
Douglas Liu wrote:
Never happened yesterday. Only setting difference was I extended sleep time from default to the next longer setting.
While I am happy with the AF performance of this camera, including how the Eye-AF for the 3 options works, I experienced my very first lock-up with the A1 this morning, or actually my very first lock-up with any Sony camera in the last 7+ years, starting with the original A7r.
Here what I experienced: I completed a mating sequence and while waiting, the camera went to sleep. When there was another action, I lightly touched the shutter button and it came alive right away but I couldn’t take any images then. I set my camera that way that it would not trigger the shutter if the AF is not achieved. And honestly, I am not sure whether the AF was working or not. The experience startled me and I didn’t want to take any chances, I turned the camera off, took the battery out, waited a few seconds, I inserted the battery back in and voila, it was working again. I was shooting for the rest of the morning fine after that.
In the afternoon I had a short portrait session just to try out how well the Eye-AF works on human, relative to the A7r IV. I never used my A9 or A9 II for portraits or people photography in general. Hands down, the A1 is better than the A7 r IV for portraits, too and ithat doesn’t surprise me.
My shooting buddy was there and she uses her Canon R5 and I asked her about whether she had experience any lock-ups. According to her about a handful of time in the last 7-8 months or so. Anyway, apparently the Sony A1 is not immune to that issue, too. Thankfully, the timing of my lockup today wasn’t bad. I would have been really pissed had I missed something really critical and once in a life-time opportunity or something similar.Kim, thank you for your feedback. Okay, I am not alone then. It is interesting that it came back by itself. I was in “panic” since there could by any action any time that I didn’t want to miss. Either removing the battery or doing what Jon did when he encountered a similar issue with his A7r IV. It is also interesting that it happened to both of us after it came back from the sleep mode. In your case, after changing the sleep period.Several folks in the FB A1 Shooters group reported lockup issues too.
Douglas, did they experience what Kim and I did, more an AF hick-up, or more real lockups when the camera actually froze? I haven't opened my FB for almost a year now...
.
AGeoJO wrote
kimknapp wrote
I had the same thing happen twice the first day. Would not focus on anything or trigger for about 15 seconds or so each time. I didn't report it because I thought I might be doing something wrong. It came back by itself after trying to focus far and close several times. This was not like when a lens is focused all the way close and then has a hard time finding a distant subject.Never happened yesterday. Only setting difference was I extended sleep time from default to the next longer setting.
AGeoJO wrote
** 1st Lock-up Experience **While I am happy with the AF performance of this camera, including how the Eye-AF for the 3 options works, I experienced my very first lock-up with the A1 this morning, or actually my very first lock-up with any Sony camera in the last 7+ years, starting with the original A7r.
Here what I experienced: I completed a mating sequence and while waiting, the camera went to sleep. When there was another action, I lightly touched the shutter button and it came alive right away but I couldn’t take any images then. I set my camera that way that it would not trigger the shutter if the AF is not achieved. And honestly, I am not sure whether the AF was working or not. The experience startled me and I didn’t want to take any chances, I turned the camera off, took the battery out, waited a few seconds, I inserted the battery back in and voila, it was working again. I was shooting for the rest of the morning fine after that.
In the afternoon I had a short portrait session just to try out how well the Eye-AF works on human, relative to the A7r IV. I never used my A9 or A9 II for portraits or people photography in general. Hands down, the A1 is better than the A7 r IV for portraits, too and ithat doesn’t surprise me.
My shooting buddy was there and she uses her Canon R5 and I asked her about whether she had experience any lock-ups. According to her about a handful of time in the last 7-8 months or so. Anyway, apparently the Sony A1 is not immune to that issue, too. Thankfully, the timing of my lockup today wasn’t bad. I would have been really pissed had I missed something really critical and once in a life-time opportunity or something similar.
Douglas, did they experience what Kim and I did, more an AF hick-up, or more real lockups when the camera actually froze? I haven't opened my FB for almost a year now...
.Mar 15, 2021 at 06:57 AM
p.6 #5Sony A1 - Bird Photography Camera for Dummies
smhoer wrote:
I had a lockup on day 1 with the 200-600. After battery pull it was fine. I've not had it since then but mostly use the 600 f4. I have used the 200-600 once since day 1 but briefly. I wonder if it has something to do with that lens?
When it happened to me yesterday, I had my GM 600mm on the A1. And 2 days prior to that, I had the G 200-600mm the entire day on it without any issues whatsoever. It sounds more a random issue rather than lens related issue to me. I am sure, Sony will address this in the next FW.
I had a lockup on day 1 with the 200-600. After battery pull it was fine. I've not had it since then but mostly use the 600 f4. I have used the 200-600 once since day 1 but briefly. I wonder if it has something to do with that lens?
When it happened to me yesterday, I had my GM 600mm on the A1. And 2 days prior to that, I had the G 200-600mm the entire day on it without any issues whatsoever. It sounds more a random issue rather than lens related issue to me. I am sure, Sony will address this in the next FW.
Mar 15, 2021 at 07:00 AM
p.6 #6Sony A1 - Bird Photography Camera for Dummies
AGeoJO wrote:
When it happened to me yesterday, I had my GM 600mm on the A1. And 2 days prior to that, I had the G 200-600mm the entire day on it without any issues whatsoever. It sounds more a random issue rather than lens related issue to me. I am sure, Sony will address this in the next FW.
Interesting. It only happened the first day out which was last Saturday. Since then I have over 10,000 shots and all good. Crossing my fingers.
smhoer wrote
I had a lockup on day 1 with the 200-600. After battery pull it was fine. I've not had it since then but mostly use the 600 f4. I have used the 200-600 once since day 1 but briefly. I wonder if it has something to do with that lens?Interesting. It only happened the first day out which was last Saturday. Since then I have over 10,000 shots and all good. Crossing my fingers.
Mar 15, 2021 at 08:19 AM
p.6 #7Sony A1 - Bird Photography Camera for Dummies
No, actually it did not happen after changing the sleep period, sorry if I wasn't clear.
I was just noting that after I changed the sleep from the default the first day when I had the problems to 5 min and went back out yesterday for 4 hours, it did not happen. Having a longer timeout does reduce the number of times it will go to sleep, so there may be something to that.
Although it could be related to a number of other things, too.
I think we should keep track of settings when it happens, to help zero in on the cause.
I was just noting that after I changed the sleep from the default the first day when I had the problems to 5 min and went back out yesterday for 4 hours, it did not happen. Having a longer timeout does reduce the number of times it will go to sleep, so there may be something to that.
Although it could be related to a number of other things, too.
I think we should keep track of settings when it happens, to help zero in on the cause.
Mar 15, 2021 at 09:37 AM
p.6 #8Sony A1 - Bird Photography Camera for Dummies
smhoer wrote:
I had a lockup on day 1 with the 200-600. After battery pull it was fine. I've not had it since then but mostly use the 600 f4. I have used the 200-600 once since day 1 but briefly. I wonder if it has something to do with that lens?
Hmm, interesting. The other difference (besides the sleep time setting) between my first day lockups and yesterdays clean running is that I was using the 100-400mm the first day and the 600GM yesterday...
Edit; Never mind, just read Joshua's post about the lenses he was using.
I had a lockup on day 1 with the 200-600. After battery pull it was fine. I've not had it since then but mostly use the 600 f4. I have used the 200-600 once since day 1 but briefly. I wonder if it has something to do with that lens?
Hmm, interesting. The other difference (besides the sleep time setting) between my first day lockups and yesterdays clean running is that I was using the 100-400mm the first day and the 600GM yesterday...
Edit; Never mind, just read Joshua's post about the lenses he was using.
Mar 15, 2021 at 09:39 AM
p.6 #9Sony A1 - Bird Photography Camera for Dummies
JeyB wrote:
Here is another frame a little bit further down of the same falcon during the same sequence. I noticed the same phenomenon as in the previous image, ever so slight streak of the head and body...but less here. Oh, well.Yes, it may be the shutter speed. Even with a killer body and lens it may not be easy to freeze these falcons.
Decreasing the SS and panning will surely reward you with great photos plenty of true sense of velocity. It may be a good start shooting from an elevated position over the falcon as you seldom do. I will be looking at your results
What JeyB said! My keeper rate for BIF with the A7Riv went way up when I went from 1/2500s to 1/3200s. I am using 1/3200s with the A1, but will eventually start experimenting with slower 1/2500, since it has slightly fewer pixels.
AGeoJO wrote
JeyB, you made a good point. You could see how much I cropped above. Somehow, it looks like the eye was not critically sharp. The AF point may have drifted to the left wing and at the same time, at high magnification, I could see some slight streaking of the body, including the head/eye. And that may have added to the slight perception not to be in critical focus. The falcon flew at a high speed, although I shot that at 1/2000sec. but that speed was not still enough to freeze the motion entirely. I did increase my shutter speed to 1/4000 last year using my A9 II. I will try to do it again this season and see the effect of that. With that said, I may also use a slower shutter speed more for panning to accentuate the movement. I will have to experiment the best shutter speed to get the most out of that.Here is another frame a little bit further down of the same falcon during the same sequence. I noticed the same phenomenon as in the previous image, ever so slight streak of the head and body...but less here. Oh, well.
Decreasing the SS and panning will surely reward you with great photos plenty of true sense of velocity. It may be a good start shooting from an elevated position over the falcon as you seldom do. I will be looking at your results
What JeyB said!
My keeper rate for BIF with the A7Riv went way up when I went from 1/2500s to 1/3200s. I am using 1/3200s with the A1, but will eventually start experimenting with slower 1/2500, since it has slightly fewer pixels.Mar 15, 2021 at 09:46 AM
p.6 #10Sony A1 - Bird Photography Camera for Dummies
Battery life. I find it to be a little worse than current 7 series cameras but better than the old batteries in earlier cameras (and RX10).
Good news though, when checking my sleep timeout I saw that I had accidentally left the power on yesterday. Only 2% loss over 24 hours when sleeping.
Good news though, when checking my sleep timeout I saw that I had accidentally left the power on yesterday. Only 2% loss over 24 hours when sleeping.
Mar 15, 2021 at 11:40 AM
p.6 #11Sony A1 - Bird Photography Camera for Dummies
kimknapp wrote:
Here is another frame a little bit further down of the same falcon during the same sequence. I noticed the same phenomenon as in the previous image, ever so slight streak of the head and body...but less here. Oh, well.Yes, it may be the shutter speed. Even with a killer body and lens it may not be easy to freeze these falcons.
Decreasing the SS and panning will surely reward you with great photos plenty of true sense of velocity. It may be a good start shooting from an elevated position over the falcon as you seldom do. I will be looking at your results What JeyB said! My keeper rate for BIF with the A7Riv went way up when I went from 1/2500s to 1/3200s. I am using 1/3200s with the A1, but will eventually start experimenting with slower 1/2500, since it has slightly fewer pixels.
I've been able to get away with as slow as 1/2000, but no slower on the R4. My biggest gain IQ-wise was turning off OIS completely while keeping the SS north of 1/2000. While my particular body/lens combo (R4/200-600) was not affected anywhere near as badly by the issues reported ad-nauseam on the forum, the sharpness/focus accuracy difference is clearly there.
Looking forward to seeing if my technique holds true for the A1 as well. I'm hoping for further latitude on SS while panning once I'm able to use OIS again.
JeyB wrote
AGeoJO wrote
JeyB, you made a good point. You could see how much I cropped above. Somehow, it looks like the eye was not critically sharp. The AF point may have drifted to the left wing and at the same time, at high magnification, I could see some slight streaking of the body, including the head/eye. And that may have added to the slight perception not to be in critical focus. The falcon flew at a high speed, although I shot that at 1/2000sec. but that speed was not still enough to freeze the motion entirely. I did increase my shutter speed to 1/4000 last year using my A9 II. I will try to do it again this season and see the effect of that. With that said, I may also use a slower shutter speed more for panning to accentuate the movement. I will have to experiment the best shutter speed to get the most out of that.Here is another frame a little bit further down of the same falcon during the same sequence. I noticed the same phenomenon as in the previous image, ever so slight streak of the head and body...but less here. Oh, well.
Decreasing the SS and panning will surely reward you with great photos plenty of true sense of velocity. It may be a good start shooting from an elevated position over the falcon as you seldom do. I will be looking at your results
My keeper rate for BIF with the A7Riv went way up when I went from 1/2500s to 1/3200s. I am using 1/3200s with the A1, but will eventually start experimenting with slower 1/2500, since it has slightly fewer pixels.I've been able to get away with as slow as 1/2000, but no slower on the R4. My biggest gain IQ-wise was turning off OIS completely while keeping the SS north of 1/2000. While my particular body/lens combo (R4/200-600) was not affected anywhere near as badly by the issues reported ad-nauseam on the forum, the sharpness/focus accuracy difference is clearly there.
Looking forward to seeing if my technique holds true for the A1 as well. I'm hoping for further latitude on SS while panning once I'm able to use OIS again.
Mar 15, 2021 at 11:57 AM
p.6 #12Sony A1 - Bird Photography Camera for Dummies
kimknapp wrote:
Battery life. I find it to be a little worse than current 7 series cameras but better than the old batteries in earlier cameras (and RX10).
Good news though, when checking my sleep timeout I saw that I had accidentally left the power on yesterday. Only 2% loss over 24 hours when sleeping.
I noticed that the A1 uses more power than any other Sony cameras I have ever owned using the same battery type. I am sure it has to do a lot with the super duper EVF. With that said, I am not sure how much more “power hungry” the new color menu is though.
Battery life. I find it to be a little worse than current 7 series cameras but better than the old batteries in earlier cameras (and RX10).
Good news though, when checking my sleep timeout I saw that I had accidentally left the power on yesterday. Only 2% loss over 24 hours when sleeping.
I noticed that the A1 uses more power than any other Sony cameras I have ever owned using the same battery type. I am sure it has to do a lot with the super duper EVF. With that said, I am not sure how much more “power hungry” the new color menu is though.
Mar 15, 2021 at 12:11 PM
p.6 #13Sony A1 - Bird Photography Camera for Dummies
kimknapp wrote:
Battery life. I find it to be a little worse than current 7 series cameras but better than the old batteries in earlier cameras (and RX10).
Good news though, when checking my sleep timeout I saw that I had accidentally left the power on yesterday. Only 2% loss over 24 hours when sleeping.
When I was leaving for work today I turned on my A1 to see what the battery gets to when I get home this evening. I guess with your results I won't see much drain at all over the 9hrs or so.
Turning my Power Save Start Time to 2mins instead of 30 or OFF gave me a decent improvement in battery life. On Sunday I just finished off one battery after about 2500 shots and about 3.5 hrs out shooting. One would think the EVF is the main drain but then that shouldn't be affected by Power Save mode as the EVF still shuts off within a few seconds even with Power Save turned Off. But IS does keep running so that may be part of it but that shouldn't be any different than the A9II which I also ran with Power Save at the max 30min on that camera.
It is still worse than the A9, A9II and A7RIV but it is what it is and if I have to carry a 3rd battery that isn't a big deal anyways.
I may actually go back to 30mins just because I like having it ready to shoot and I don't like that Power Save mode kicks me out of APS-C.
Battery life. I find it to be a little worse than current 7 series cameras but better than the old batteries in earlier cameras (and RX10).
Good news though, when checking my sleep timeout I saw that I had accidentally left the power on yesterday. Only 2% loss over 24 hours when sleeping.
When I was leaving for work today I turned on my A1 to see what the battery gets to when I get home this evening. I guess with your results I won't see much drain at all over the 9hrs or so.
Turning my Power Save Start Time to 2mins instead of 30 or OFF gave me a decent improvement in battery life. On Sunday I just finished off one battery after about 2500 shots and about 3.5 hrs out shooting. One would think the EVF is the main drain but then that shouldn't be affected by Power Save mode as the EVF still shuts off within a few seconds even with Power Save turned Off. But IS does keep running so that may be part of it but that shouldn't be any different than the A9II which I also ran with Power Save at the max 30min on that camera.
It is still worse than the A9, A9II and A7RIV but it is what it is and if I have to carry a 3rd battery that isn't a big deal anyways.
I may actually go back to 30mins just because I like having it ready to shoot and I don't like that Power Save mode kicks me out of APS-C.
Mar 15, 2021 at 12:41 PM
p.6 #14Sony A1 - Bird Photography Camera for Dummies
I've given in to the temptation and ordered one , its going to be a while before I can get a 600mm f4 so I'm hoping the 200-600 works well. Love the A9ii but really struggling with 24mp
Don't like the sound of the reported lockups
Don't like the sound of the reported lockups
Mar 15, 2021 at 12:51 PM
p.6 #15Sony A1 - Bird Photography Camera for Dummies
From what I saw in a video last night, using 240hz in the EVF is a killer on battery drain.
Mar 15, 2021 at 12:52 PM
p.6 #16Sony A1 - Bird Photography Camera for Dummies
shadow9d9 wrote:
From what I saw in a video last night, using 240hz in the EVF is a killer on battery drain.
I don't see any benefit of using 240hz. The eye point backs out and magnification decreases which sort of negates the great EVF you are paying for. So I've been leaving mine in High 120hz. But even that is probably part of the problem with battery drain.
The only way to get full EVF quality is to put it at 60Hz...but even then as soon as you engage AF you can notice it drop resolution. So you are never getting more than the 5.75M dots for action shooting.
From what I saw in a video last night, using 240hz in the EVF is a killer on battery drain.
I don't see any benefit of using 240hz. The eye point backs out and magnification decreases which sort of negates the great EVF you are paying for. So I've been leaving mine in High 120hz. But even that is probably part of the problem with battery drain.
The only way to get full EVF quality is to put it at 60Hz...but even then as soon as you engage AF you can notice it drop resolution. So you are never getting more than the 5.75M dots for action shooting.
Mar 15, 2021 at 12:55 PM
p.6 #17Sony A1 - Bird Photography Camera for Dummies
AGeoJO wrote:
Good news though, when checking my sleep timeout I saw that I had accidentally left the power on yesterday. Only 2% loss over 24 hours when sleeping.I noticed that the A1 uses more power than any other Sony cameras I have ever owned using the same battery type. I am sure it has to do a lot with the super duper EVF. With that said, I am not sure how much more “power hungry” the new color menu is though.
From an engineering point, the faster you push a processor, the more power it consumes (assuming similar technology otherwise). Plus, like you said, the EVF. But, I am ok with it.
kimknapp wrote
Battery life. I find it to be a little worse than current 7 series cameras but better than the old batteries in earlier cameras (and RX10).Good news though, when checking my sleep timeout I saw that I had accidentally left the power on yesterday. Only 2% loss over 24 hours when sleeping.
From an engineering point, the faster you push a processor, the more power it consumes (assuming similar technology otherwise). Plus, like you said, the EVF. But, I am ok with it.
Mar 15, 2021 at 01:41 PM
p.6 #18Sony A1 - Bird Photography Camera for Dummies
Is this camera prone to not focusing on a bird if it is drastically defocused? This happens with my R5/600iii when the lens’ focus is set very far and then a bird appears very close. The bird is so defocused and the camera picks the background to focus on as opposed to the bird. Anybody seen this happen on the A1?
Mar 15, 2021 at 05:11 PM
p.6 #19Sony A1 - Bird Photography Camera for Dummies
KINGOFKNGS wrote:
Is this camera prone to not focusing on a bird if it is drastically defocused? This happens with my R5/600iii when the lens’ focus is set very far and then a bird appears very close. The bird is so defocused and the camera picks the background to focus on as opposed to the bird. Anybody seen this happen on the A1?
That’s pretty much the drawback of a mirrorless system compared to DSLRs. And neither Sony nor Canon is immune to that issue until now, at least. Somehow with both camera brands, you have to anticipate the approximate distance to the target and bring the lens to stay there. Then it will zip right into focus. Or you have to nudge the focusing ring in the right direction to get the camera to focus. Believe it or not, the G 200-600mm lens is less prone to that. It may have to do partly with the aperture being slower and the fact that it is a zoom lens, you have to rake the zoom out and it will focus right away and zoom right in for composition. That’s what I would do if I have the zoom lens on.
Is this camera prone to not focusing on a bird if it is drastically defocused? This happens with my R5/600iii when the lens’ focus is set very far and then a bird appears very close. The bird is so defocused and the camera picks the background to focus on as opposed to the bird. Anybody seen this happen on the A1?
That’s pretty much the drawback of a mirrorless system compared to DSLRs. And neither Sony nor Canon is immune to that issue until now, at least. Somehow with both camera brands, you have to anticipate the approximate distance to the target and bring the lens to stay there. Then it will zip right into focus. Or you have to nudge the focusing ring in the right direction to get the camera to focus. Believe it or not, the G 200-600mm lens is less prone to that. It may have to do partly with the aperture being slower and the fact that it is a zoom lens, you have to rake the zoom out and it will focus right away and zoom right in for composition. That’s what I would do if I have the zoom lens on.
Mar 15, 2021 at 05:27 PM
p.6 #20Sony A1 - Bird Photography Camera for Dummies
If enjoying a superior 120hz EVF experience means needing an extra battery or two, then I’m 200% all-in.
Mar 15, 2021 at 05:29 PM