Sony Announces its New Flagship Mirror-less Alpha 1

[VidThreeNorth]

Sony made a big deal about this announcement and I have to admit, the products announced justify the degree of hype. The main announcement is the coming of their new flagship "Alpha 1" mirror-less body which features a new 50MP stacked-chip sensor and processors, with resulting improvements including 8K video and advanced Wi-Fi for faster data transfers and much more.

"Sony Alpha 1 Announced: 50MP, 30fps, Bird AF, 8K 30p video, and more [UPDATED: Live Blog ended]"
posted Jan 26, 2021 by Jeremy Gray for Imaging Resource
"Sony Alpha 1 Announced: 50MP, 30fps, Bird AF, 8K 30p video, and more [UPDATED: Live Blog ended]"

Available March 2021 at around $6,500 USD.

It looks to me like this joins the A9 series bodies at the top of Sony's line-up. I think there is still a case to be made for the 24MP sensor. We'll see.

 

[VidThreeNorth]

Sony Xperia Pro 5G phone As A Center of a Photo/Video System

The Sony Xperia Pro has a built in HDMI port and, among other things, can be used as a display. The phone line was brought into the same business division as the cameras last year and this is the first really useful result. Testing is necessary to see how well it keeps up, and what features can be implemented.

The current word is that it cannot be used like an Atmos recorder style recorder, but depending on the speed of its USB port, I don't know what the hardware limit would be.

"Sony's $2500 Xperia Pro is half 5G phone, half 4K HDR monitor/live-streaming device"
Published Jan 26, 2021 by Rishi Sanyal and Dan Bracaglia for DPReview.com
"Sony's $2500 Xperia Pro is half 5G phone, half 4K HDR monitor/live-streaming device: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)"

"Xperia PRO :: You'll WANT this phone!!!",
Posted Jan 26, 2021 by "The Art of Photography" [Length 10:51]
""

 

[cgw]

Sony seems to share Nikon's knack for great roll-outs and poor timing.

 

[dxqcanada]

Lots of reactions in the Sony A1 officially announced: 50MP and 8k monster! - sonyalpharumors

 

[jcdeboever]

Impressive specs. Personally, I wish Sony would come out with a 20 mp A mount full frame that is around $1000. There are a lot of people who have Minolta af glass.

 

[VidThreeNorth]

I have substantially edited my second post (which was about the Xperia phone). I think that this is just as significant to Sony as the camera. Understand what they have done:

The Apple iPhone CANNOT DO THIS -- AT ALL.

[2021-03-10 02:03 added the following:]
I should be clearer about this. Apple phones cannot simultaneously support an import cable and and an export cable because although you can adapt the USB on an iPhone to HDMI, if you do so, then you cannot use it as a USB. Also, the Sony supports a removable micro-SD card, which I don't think any Apple phones support. And the Sony Xperia Pro has an extra assignable physical button. At this time it is unclear if you could, for example support capturing data from the Sony HDMI, displaying it, and simultaneous storing the data out through the USB either with or without processing. Sony apparently said that it could not replace an Atmos style product, but it is unclear exactly what they meant by that. It would be surprising if it could not at least store a processed FTP (pre-conformed MP4 file data) stream. It would not be surprising if they simply meant that processing a "raw" stream and then displaying it, and then storing it out through the USB to an external SSD might not be possible. As I write this, the situation might already be clearer, but I have not had time to check.

 

[VidThreeNorth]

Impressive specs. Personally, I wish Sony would come out with a 20 mp A mount full frame that is around $1000. There are a lot of people who have Minolta af glass.

I won't argue that one. I have a small collection of Minolta/Sony A-Mount lenses I picked up for my E-Mount cameras. The LA-EA3 adapter does not work close enough to native equipment to go beyond "hobby/curiosity" level performance. I will probably add and LA-EA4 adapter to cover some of the lenses too, but from what I have read by others, that won't be any better, but it will add at least some auto-focus to the older lenses with the screwdriver connection. From what I have read or heard about the Canon and Nikon equivalent adapters, their performance reaches "practical" levels.

 

[nokk]

i'd consider the a1 if the autofocus is noticeably improved over the a7riv and if there's less noise in the files. we'll see when it comes out.

 

[VidThreeNorth]

One thing I thought about but forgot to write was that I was wondering about the Associated Press move to Sony recently. I wonder if Sony allowed them a "hint" about the "A1" and the the "Xperia Pro" coming. This is exactly the sort of equipment that AP will want. And they can probably afford it too.

 

[thanhan11]

That's great, that's what I'm looking for. We'll see when it comes out.

 

[nokk]

i preordered the camera a few nights ago. i'll send it back if it's not everything that was promised. but from the reviews i've seen it should be a keeper. i'll sell the a7r4 after the a1 comes.

 

[nokk]

looks like the us release has been pushed back to 3/9. some say it's due to weather, other's say it's due to the large amount of preorders.

 

[VidThreeNorth]

March 9 (yesterday as I write this)? Does that mean you are getting it this week?

 

[nokk]

March 9 (yesterday as I write this)? Does that mean you are getting it this week?

nope. i'm in either the second or third round of preorders. amazon says delivery expected march 24th - april 15th. it looks like a few people either picked their up or had them ship out yesterday, but it looks like a lot of people are in the same boat as me and will be waiting a few more weeks. no big deal, i've been stuck at work and wouldn't be able to use it right now.

 

[nokk]

on monday i received an email from amazon saying they didn't know when the camera would be in stock. so i've canceled the order. i did what i should have done in march and cold called small camera stores until i found one that had the camera in stock. it'll be here by thursday at the latest. thank you murphy's camera in louisville, ky.