Sony has just unveiled its latest flagship mirrorless camera. The new Sony Alpha 1 is the most technologically advanced and innovative camera from the company. It comes with a new 50MP camera sensor, 8K/30fps recording capability, and up to 120 images per second. Let’s learn more about the Sony Alpha 1 along with its specs, features, expected price, and availability in Nepal.
Sony Alpha 1 Overview:
Sensor, Processing Engine, and ViewFinder
Alpha 1 comes with a new 50.1 MP Exmor RS CMOS sensor. Sony has also improved the BIONIZ XR processing engine. It can shoot up to 155 compressed RAW images or 165 JPEG images at up to 30fps. With a calculation speed of up to 120 AF/AE per second, Sony is promising accurate focus even for objects in subjects. Sony is also claiming an AE response latency of just 0.033 seconds.
The OLED Quad-XGA electronic viewfinder on this camera has 9.44 million dots and Sony claims the 240Hz refresh rate will avoid any blackout. It has 0.90x viewfinder magnification, 41-degree FOV, and a 25mm eyepoint.
Improved AutoFocus
Sony Alpha 1 has 759 phase-detection and 425 contrast-detection points that cover up to 92% of the total image area. With the new engine, the Real-time Eye AF has been improved by 30%. It will even work with birds but the feature is only applicable to still images.
Dual Driven Shutter System
Moving on, this camera has a dual shutter system that compromises of spring and electromagnetic drive actuator. No other camera has the flash sync speed of 1/400 seconds which Sony has achieved with the mechanical shutter on the Alpha 1. On the other hand, the electronic shutter has a flash sync speed of 1/400 seconds.
The shutter speed of the Alpha 1 has been reduced by up to 1.5 times when compared to Alpha 9 II. Sony also claims that it’s the first camera to achieve silent anti-flicker continuous shooting with an electronic shutter in the world.
ISO and Dynamic Range
The camera has a wide ISO range of 100-32,000. It can be expanded up to 50-102,400 when shooting still images. While the camera has 15 stops of dynamic range for still images, the video offers even more stops.
Shooting Modes
Sony has also improved the Pixel Shift Multi Shooting mode. It shifts the sensor in one or half-pixel increments to capture up to 16 images amounting to 796.2MP of data. The shifted-images can then be composited into a single 199MP (17,280 x 11,520) image using the Sony Imaging Edge desktop application.
Alpha 1 is capable of 8K 10 bit 4:2:0 XAVC HS recording at 30 fps with 8.6K oversampling. It is the first Alpha series camera to be able to do so. Sony has also included a new heat-dissipating system that allows users to record 8K/30fps videos for up to 30 minutes. Similarly, it can record 4K 10-bit 4:2:2 videos at up to 120fps. And for the first time in the Alpha series, it comes with the S-Cinetone.
Rest of the features
The in-built gyro along with the algorithms offers up to a 5.5 step shutter speed advantage. The camera also has an Active Mode for handheld shooting. Similarly, users can use the in-built gyro’s metadata in the post-production using Sony’s desktop apps for better results.
The camera offers 16-bit RAW output to an external recorder using HDMI. The Multi-Interface Shoe of the camera has a digital audio interface that one can use to connect to compatible Sony microphones. In terms of connectivity, Alpha 1 has a dual-band Wi-Fi antenna. It even has 2×2 MIMO support for the 5GHz band. There is also a Type-C port which when connected to mmWave compatible devices can be used for high-speed remote data transfer. The card slots have support for UHS-I, UHS-II SDXC/SDHX cards, and CFexpress Type A cards. The camera also has an HDMI Type-A connector and USB PD support.
Sony Alpha 1 features:
- New 50.1-megapixel full-frame stacked Exmor RS CMOS sensor and an upgraded BIONZ XR processing engine
- Blackout-free continuous shooting at up to 30 frames per second
- Up to 120 AF/AE calculations per second
- 0.64-type 9.44 million-dot OLED Quad-XGA EVF with 240 refresh rate
- World’s first anti-flicker(5) shooting with both mechanical and electronic shutter
- World’s fastest mechanical shutter flash sync up to 1/400 sec.
- 8K/30p 10-bit 4:2:0 XAVC HS video recording with 8.6K oversampling
- Wide dynamic range of 15 stops for stills and 15+ stops for vide
- 5-axis optical in-body image stabilization for a 5.5-step shutter speed advantage
- S-Cinetone color matrix as seen in FX9 and FX6
- Built-in Wi-Fi, SuperSpeed USB 10Gbps, 1000BASE-T Ethernet, and more
Sony Alpha 1 Price in Nepal and Availability
Sony has put a price tag of $6,500 on the Alpha 1 and the camera will be available from March 2021. As of now, we don’t have any information about the availability in Nepal. But we can expect the price of Sony Alpha 1 in Nepal to be around NPR 900,000 when it launches here.
| Camera | Price in the US | Availability |
| Sony Alpha 1 | $6,500 | March 2021 |
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