Sony A1 at BHphoto. Adorama. Amazon. Focuscamera. FotoErhardt DE. Calumet DE. Fotokoch DE. Park UK. WexUK.

DxOmark published the full Sony A1 sensor review and concluded:

After the introduction of the Sony A9 it seemed that Sony had established a flagship series; with the appearance of the Sony A1, however, that’s clearly not the case. Indeed, on paper the Sony A1 combines the best of the A9, A7R, and A7S series in one package, and naturally that doesn’t come cheap.

The Sony A1 has a high-resolution 50 MP sensor that produces exemplary images and is practically identical in performance to existing high-end sensors which feature far lower pixels counts, such as those found in the superb Leica SL2-S and in Canon’s equally superb flagship EOS-1DX Mark III. Combined with the wide range of available native-mount lenses, its sensor makes the Sony A1 a highly attractive option for professionals working in a wide range of genres and markets, and will no doubt be on the wish lists of a tranche of enthusiasts and amateurs alike.

Tom Calton had the unique chance to play with the massive Sigma 200-500mm f/2.8 lens (listed here at BH). Tom writes:

For some reason Sigma were happy to lend me their colossal 200-500mm f/2.8 BAZOOKA lens for a day. This thing is HUGE – it weighs 15.7kg (553.7oz) and costs £15,000.

This lens also comes with a 2x teleconverter which jacks it up to a 400-1000mm f/5.6 lens. Shoot with this thing on a crop sensor camera and you can get an equivalent focal length of up to 1600mm! To see what that looks like, check out the full video below.

𝙂𝙀𝘼𝙍
Sony A7III
Sigma 200-500mm f/2.8 APO EX DG

𝙎𝙀𝙏𝙏𝙄𝙉𝙂𝙎
1/200sec
f/2.8
ISO 100

𝙇𝙄𝙂𝙃𝙏𝙄𝙉𝙂
1x Godox v860II with 120x80cm softbox attached. Positioned in front and to the right of the model pointing downwards at approx 45°.

Opticallimits tested the 35mm f/1.8 FE lens and concluded:

The Sony FE 35mm f/1.8 is a decent performer but it doesn’t excel in all categories. In terms of resolution, it is basically as good as it gets in the image center but the corners are “only” good to very good at mainstream settings and fairly weak corners at f/1.8. Lateral CAs are on the high side although this can be easily corrected. The slight pincushion distortion isn’t an obstacle for auto-correction either. The same can’t be said about vignetting which is very high in RAW files and still visible with activated auto-correction. The quality of the bokeh is pretty good, especially in the image background. Bokeh fringing (LoCA) can be visible at large-aperture settings though.

The build quality is pretty good without reaching pro levels. You can feel that the outer metal shell is fairly thin but Sony made a decent effort for a consumer-grade lens. The chassis is dust- and moisture-resistant and it doesn’t extend during focusing – as it should be. The broad focus ring is very smooth to operate. The AF is quick and noiseless. It would have been nice if Sony implemented an optical image stabilizer. However, most Sony cameras feature IBIS these days so it’s an understandable decision in order to keep the costs at bay.

The Sony FE 35mm f/1.8 is certainly a very reasonable option in this market segment. Thanks to its aperture of f/1.8, it avoids the bulk and costs of f/1.4 or f/1.2 lenses while still being way faster than any zoom lens. As such, it resides in a sweet spot albeit maybe not the most exciting one.

Sony 35mm f/1.8 FE at Adorama, Amazon, FocusCamera, BHphoto and Henrys. EU at Calumet DE, ParkCameras, WexUK, Calumet NL.

First time I see this combo: Mobile01 tested the new TTArtisan M 90mm f/1.25 M-mount lens on the Sony A7rIV. Here are the images of the lens on the camera:

Sony A1 at BHphoto. Adorama. Amazon. Focuscamera. FotoErhardt DE. Calumet DE. Fotokoch DE. Park UK. WexUK.

Jamieson Dean made this test to see how the A1 IBIS works with the latest firmware:

Sony A1 at BHphoto. Adorama. Amazon. Focuscamera. FotoErhardt DE. Calumet DE. Fotokoch DE. Park UK. WexUK.

CineD published their full Sony A1 Lab Test and the summary is the following:

As anticipated, the Sony A1 shows state-of-the-art consumer camera results in the lab test in all disciplines: rolling shutter, dynamic range, and latitude, using the internal codecs. This camera clearly shows that old paradigms like the need for large pixels to achieve good dynamic range are not true anymore. After all, we are talking about a 50 megapixel sensor here!

To me it seems rather clear that as long as these cameras use the current 12bit sensor read out architecture for video we cannot expect much more than these results. Just for your reference, the benchmark so far is the ARRI ALEA Mini LF which exhibits about 2 stops more in the dynamic range and latitude discipline.

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P.S.: Join the Sony A1 Facebook group here.

Emin sent me those images with the following text:

I’m Photographer from New York https://www.facebook.com/emin.kuliyev.54/
I just mount a Portable Handheld 14$ Fan by rubber pieces
and keep the temperature on Sony A1 cold till my camera battery died (I shoot 8K)
it was a little bit warm on the bottom but colder than usual (without the fan and without shooting 8K)

Not a beautiful solution…but it works :)

In a second message he told me this:

I have updated yesterday and increase shooting time from 30 min (4K120) (this is a maximum (as dpreview report) to shoot 77min (i have added a second fan and use a flash bracket to hold it)

I know nobody will shoot continuously 77 min (maybe some interview) 

but this 77 min allows me to shoot almost all day long with small breaks (I’m improve shooting time 2.5 times) for 25$

4K120 mode will burn your fully charged battery for 30 min of shooting that’s why i use a power bank to charge my battery