Recently the Sony Alpha 1 was officially released and as such, the photographers, influencers, and early reviewers on YouTube had their embargos lifted, letting them share their thoughts from their pre-release time with the new landmark mirrorless system. The good, the bad, the weird, and the incredible! It’s all out there for viewing now.  Given the new beast’s video capabilities, most of these early reviews focus largely on the video side of things only briefly touching on the photo side, but there’s still a lot to digest and break down in the videos below.

The Sony A1 is a 50MP full-frame system with built-in stabilization that can shoot at 30fps (electronic shutter), 10fps mechanical, and has a wide (and crazy), array of video modes including 4k 120p and 8k 30p that also includes shooting at up-too and over 40 minutes continuous before experiencing any overheating issues. This is the new benchmark for a Pro system from Sony, and it’s priced to match that label sitting at a lofty $6,500 launch price for the body only.

Hunters of Light – Shot on the A1

Sony A1 Technical Specs:

  • Sensor Resolution Actual: 50.5 Megapixel
    • Effective: 50.1 Megapixel (8640 x 5760)
  • Sensor Size 35.9 x 24 mm
  • Image File Format JPEG, Raw, HEIF
  • Bit Depth 14-Bit
  • Image Stabilization Sensor-Shift, 5-Axis
  • ISO Sensitivity Auto, 100 to 32000 (Extended: 50 to 102400)
  • Shutter Speed
    • Mechanical Shutter
      • 1/8000 to 30 Second
        Bulb Mode
      • Electronic Shutter
        1/32000 to 30 Second
        Bulb Mode
        1/8000 to 1/4 Second in Movie Mode
  • External Recording Modes
    • Raw 16-Bit
    • 4:2:2 10-Bit
    • 4:2:0 8-Bit
  • Media/Memory Card Slot Dual Slot: CFexpress Type A / SD
  • Price -$6,499 – Adorama | B&H | Amazon 

[Related Reading: Sony Reveals The New Alpha 1 – A 50MP System With Up To 30FPS And 8K Video!]

Sony A1 Mirrorless Camera Reviews

We’ve put in our request to get hands-on with this camera system so we’ll be completing our review soon. Until then, here are some of our favorites from around the web from other respected sources:

Jason Vong – Sony a1 – Most Fun I’ve Had in A while! | Initial Review 50MP 30FPS 8K

Sony Alpha 1: A VERY IMPRESSIVE Camera! (Sony a1 Review) by Gerald Undone

The Sony A1—- The BEST Sony camera I’ve ever used (8k, 30FPS, 50mp Monstrosity) from Manny Ortiz

Sony A1 Full Size Image Gallery Links from Mark Galer (Sony Ambassador)

Kai W‘s Sony Alpha 1 Hands-on First Look at the $6,500, 50MP, 8K Beast!

The Art of Photography – The best sensor Sony has made?

SONY A1 | The perfect camera…almost ? from Chris Hau

Sony A1 | 8k 10bit with no record limit… Too good to be true? from Potato Jet

Fro Knows Photo – First Thoughts of the Sony a1 Real World PREVIEW

Sara Dietschy – Sony Made an 8K Camera You Probably Won’t Buy.. But it’s awesome.

Tony & Chelsea Northrup – Sony a1 Hands-on Review: 30 FPS failure, 8k overheating & banding tested

Sony Alpha 1 – Hands-On Review from B&H

Conclusion

For all intents & purposes, and from 99% of the feedback from early reviews, this seems to be the best and most enjoyable to use camera that Sony has made! With most cameras that do high res video, overheating is always at the front of the concern list, but from what we’ve seen and read, it appears that this isn’t really an issue with the A1, even when shooting in 8k!

The Alpha 1 is positioned around/above the existing A7 and A9 camera systems taking what feels like the best of each platform into one system, falling behind only in still frame MP (ie 50mp vs the A7RIV’s 61mp) capabilities. Given all the extras the A1 comes packing, it’s a fair and easy trade-off. Especially since this system also includes a ‘Pixel shift’ mode that combines 16 exposures into a 199MP image!!!! Personally, that’s the feature Ireally want to test out.

Until we get hands-on and can do the full review, we hope the videos above can cover any questions you might have, but if there’s something you still want to know, let us know in the comments below and we’ll be sure to tackle them when we test and review ourselves.

Check Pricing & Availability of the Sony A1 Mirrorless Camera Here;

Adorama | B&H | Amazon