Sony today announced the most advanced mirrorless camera to date: the $ 6,500 Alpha 1 has a new 50.1-megapixel full-frame sensor, is capable of continuous shooting at 30 frames per second, and can record videos of 8K at 30 fps. It will be delivered starting in March.
The powerful camera is priced significantly above the latest generation of mirrorless cameras from Canon and Nikon, but Sony promises that customers who buy will be rewarded with “the most advanced technology, innovative camera” ever made.
Sounds like a dream for sports and action photography: even with its large sensor, Sony says the buffer allows you to shoot “up to 155 full-frame compressed RAW images or 165 full-frame JPEG images with up to 30 frames per second with electronic shutter, while maintaining full AF and AE tracking performance
This autofocus and auto exposure system can perform up to 120 calculations per second. And you’ll be looking at a high-resolution electronic OLED display with a refresh rate of 240Hz – something Sony claims is a world premiere. Alpha 1 offers five-axis body image stabilization and an ISO standard range of 100-32,000 (expandable to 50-102,400 for photos).
Sony’s autofocus system is probably the best in the game, and the company says the Alpha 1 accelerates Eye AF even more when it focuses on people and pets. And with this camera, Eye AF will also work on birds. If you can justify a $ 6,500 camera for your forays into nature, Sony says that “optimized algorithms ensure that tracking is maintained even if a sitting bird takes off suddenly or the frame changes abruptly.”
Flash sync speeds were pushed to 1/400 sec. (with mechanical shutter), and the silent electronic shutter supports synchronization speeds of up to 1/200 sec. The shutter has been lowered due to high-speed sensor reading, and Sony says you can unleash full 30fps continuous shooting without interruption. LED flashing is also dimmed because the Alpha 1 can equal the shutter speed with the flashing frequency.
In terms of videos, Alpha 1 can shoot 8K30 and 4K120 – both in 10 bits – and 4K recording at up to 60fps allows full sensor reading without any combination of pixels. Adding an external recorder to the mix allows you to capture 16-bit RAW video.
Alpha 1 is the best Sony, and the price clearly reflects this. You look at a price of a few thousand dollars over the Canon R5. But given Sony’s reputation with past and present full-frame mirrorless cameras, there will be plenty of professional photographers wanting to get this $ 6,500 beast in their hands in March.