It is out of stock everywhere I checked, including B&H, Adorama, and Focus Camera. Oddly, if you search at Focus for the "Sony A1" or "Sony Alpha 1," it doesn't come up in a search. Perhaps even stranger, Greentoe, which covers a lot of stores, will not even take bids on the A1 and if you search their website for the A1 it doesn't come up. Instead you get a flash unit. On Amazon, none of the third party sellers are offering the camera. The only ones available for immdiate delivery are refurbished models, some of which are priced higher than new ones. Amazon itself will let you order one, but they say it won't be delivered until May instead of overnight.
I of course don't know anyone who really knows what is going on. But one possibility is that Sony is clearing stock for the announcement of an A1 II in the next several weeks. I have heard people confidently say that there would be no new A1 II this year, but of course no one who is talking really knows anything about when a new A1 II will be announced. The A1's release date was more than three years ago, and the camera has now been surpassed in autofocus in important ways by several newer Sony models--the A9III, the A7RV, and the two A7Cxx cameras.
It is also of course possible that there have been production problems or delays. Maybe demand for the A1 has been unusually high and has depleted stock. But I don't recall another situation like this except when a camera was being replaced.
Perhaps they held up production while they completed the firmware update so they could ship it with version 2.0 so new customers don't have to do the double firmware update to v1.35 and to v2.0.
It seems unlikely they would have done the firmware update if they were going to phase it out.
Latouf wrote:
Might be the case in the US. Seems to be available and in stock at many reputable stores here in Canada.
If it is being replaced, individual stores in Canada might still have unsold stock.
When I go to the Sony Canada website and search for the A1 (ILCE-1), it comes up but the website tells me "Your selection is currently not available" for purchase online. The A1 also does not appear as one of the eight or so featured cameras on the landing page for ILCE cameras.
Maybe Sony wanted to rain on Canon's R1 announcement with a followup a1 II release, but Canon has been dragging their feet so long, Sony ran out of their backlog of a1's.
I'm just kidding....just a joke. No offense to Canonites.
If I recall there were no rumors about the a1 prior to its announcement.
It’s possible they designed an a9III and an a1II at the same time using the same body, CPU’s etc. with just a different sensor, and an extra dial or two…
There has to be some reason why they did not release pre-capture on the existing a1.
chiron wrote:
Something strange is going on with the A1.
It is out of stock everywhere I checked, including B&H, Adorama, and Focus Camera. Oddly, if you search at Focus for the "Sony A1" or "Sony Alpha 1," it doesn't come up in a search. Perhaps even stranger, Greentoe, which covers a lot of stores, will not even take bids on the A1 and if you search their website for the A1 it doesn't come up. Instead you get a flash unit. On Amazon, none of the third party sellers are offering the camera. The only ones available for immdiate delivery are refurbished models, some of which are priced higher than new ones. Amazon itself will let you order one, but they say it won't be delivered until May instead of overnight.
I of course don't know anyone who really knows what is going on. But one possibility is that Sony is clearing stock for the announcement of an A1 II in the next several weeks. I have heard people confidently say that there would be no new A1 II this year, but of course no one who is talking really knows anything about when a new A1 II will be announced. The A1's release date was more than three years ago, and the camera has now been surpassed in autofocus in important ways by several newer Sony models--the A9III, the A7RV, and the two A7Cxx cameras.
It is also of course possible that there have been production problems or delays. Maybe demand for the A1 has been unusually high and has depleted stock. But I don't recall another situation like this except when a camera was being replaced....Show more →
I noticed the same. I made a comment on that in one of my posts as well. I sold one of my A1s but regret it, want to buy one back at the price that was prevailing few weeks ago. Nobody has it in stock, even the small retailers. Out of curiosity, I checked the big retailer E-infin.com in Hong Kong this morning, it was out of stock, I just checked it few minutes ago, it's in stock again,
Douglas L wrote:
I noticed the same. I made a comment on that in one of my posts as well. I sold one of my A1s but regret it, want to buy one back at the price that was prevailing few weeks ago. Nobody has it in stock, even the small retailers. Out of curiosity, I checked the big retailer E-infin.com in Hong Kong this morning, it was out of stock, I just checked it few minutes ago, it's in stock again,
Who know.
Interesting. I have never purchased from them. Are they legit and trustworthy?
Also, their selling price on the site is $5099 USD, including expressing shipping and with no tax! Is that their usual price on the A1? Very low price, even for a grey market camera.
chiron wrote:
Interesting. I have never purchased from them. Are they legit and trustworthy?
Also, their selling price on the site is $5099 USD, including expressing shipping and with no tax! Is that their usual price on the A1? Very low price, even for a grey market camera.
Let's see if it stays in stock.
I have never purchased from them myself but I know a lot of folks in Europe do. Obviously it doesn't come with manufacturer's warranty, only store warranty.
There was a thread just a few weeks (month) ago saying this exact same thing. But since then A1s were in stock at all the big US retailers and never were out of stock in Canada or Amazon.
There is no secret A1II coming. Best, best case will be late 2024 and I bet that will only be announcement with camera in hand early 2025 (about 1 year after A9III).
As noted already, Sony probably held back cameras that already had 2.0 on them to wait on 2.01.
B&H says stock will be back in 2-4 weeks.
arbitrage wrote:
There was a thread just a few weeks (month) ago saying this exact same thing. But since then A1s were in stock at all the big US retailers and never were out of stock in Canada or Amazon.
There is no secret A1II coming. Best, best case will be late 2024 and I bet that will only be announcement with camera in hand early 2025 (about 1 year after A9III).
As noted already, Sony probably held back cameras that already had 2.0 on them to wait on 2.01.
B&H says stock will be back in 2-4 weeks.
Amazon doesn't have it in stock, it says for prime members, expected to be May3-6. BH had it in stock but now says 2-4 weeks. Several of the smaller retailers have been out of stock for weeks. People who got their offers accepted on Greentoe 5 weeks ago still haven't received shipment. The big stores in Canada seem to have them in stock. Not sure what's going on.
tsdevine wrote:
Maybe Sony wanted to rain on Canon's R1 announcement with a followup a1 II release, but Canon has been dragging their feet so long, Sony ran out of their backlog of a1's.
I'm just kidding....just a joke. No offense to Canonites.
OTOH, if the A1 II shows up out of the blue, my guess would be the Canon R1 announcement is imminent. 😉
Douglas L wrote:
Amazon doesn't have it in stock, it says for prime members, expected to be May3-6. BH had it in stock but now says 2-4 weeks. Several of the smaller retailers have been out of stock for weeks. People who got their offers accepted on Greentoe 5 weeks ago still haven't received shipment. The big stores in Canada seem to have them in stock. Not sure what's going on.
Most likely it was because of the FW. If the newer batch had 2.0 before shipping and then Sony pulls the FW there is no way they are going to ship new cameras with 2.0 on it. Now that 2.01 is ready they will start shipping.
In all my years I've never seen stock levels predict a new release. That works for Apple products but I've never seen it work for Canon, Nikon Sony etc.
I bought one a couple of weeks ago. Stock was limited and my dealer said that they were holding them at the warehouses until the next quarter started. I'm getting another one and they're supposed to get a second shipment next week.
LiveShots wrote:
If I recall there were no rumors about the a1 prior to its announcement.
It’s possible they designed an a9III and an a1II at the same time using the same body, CPU’s etc. with just a different sensor, and an extra dial or two…
There has to be some reason why they did not release pre-capture on the existing a1.
I am a big fan of the A9III. I am however, not interested in buying another FF 24MP-only camera again even if they do throw in a global shutter 😉
Hopefully the A1 II will not come until late next year, as I'm still very pleased with the A1's capabilities even after three years. The A1 is my favorite Sony FF camera to date and I've owned many of the Sony FF cameras since the original A7r. If Sony feels they need to do another strategic maneuver ahead of Canon...again, I would love to see the A1 II with the A9III body design and that best design in the industry, swivel-flip screen. Even with the same A1 50MP stacked sensor would be just fine with me.
