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Sony A1 Complete Disassembly and Teardown
- davidmurdoch 5y agoUnrelated, but that accessibility button is anything but, at least on mobile. It obstructs the text. I don't understand how a team could add these "accessibility" widgets and then think to themselves "a job well done" after.
- franga2000 5y agoIt also doesn't enable anything that a person needing it wouldn't already have a browser extension for. The whole idea of sites implementing their own accessibility menus is misguided...
- lazyweb 5y agoI love teardown guides like this. It seems nothing was damaged here. My main question, was the person able to reassemble everything in again?
- LegitShady 5y agothis is an incredible feat of engineering and manufacturing.
- eezurr 5y agoJust want to point out your accessibility icon is blocking the text on mobile. Edit: and now im getting 403 inaccessible resource. Edit 2: Works on my computer, still not on mobile. It appears clicking the handicap /accessibility icon on mobile flags the user as a bot or something. Other than scroll, that's the only thing I interacted with on the webpage.
- giuliomagnifico 5y agoI think the server is momentarily offline, but I’m not the owner of the site and I’m not involved with Kolarivision. I just found it on the web! PS: the 403 could be the “Hacker News effect” =] too much traffic. I hope the server will be available again soon, it’s a very interesting read/view.
- tromp 5y agoAlso at the less overloaded https://petapixel.com/2022/03/05/sony-alpha-1-teardown-the-inside-of-a-flagship-mirrorless-camera/ https://petapixel.com/2022/03/05/sony-alpha-1-teardown-the-i...
- giuliomagnifico 5y agoThanks!
- Manuel_D 5y agoFor similar photo/video teardown goodness, check out LTT disassembling and water-cooling a RED cinema camera: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFrK-l3VSzY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFrK-l3VSzY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imJ9QgOJHzY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imJ9QgOJHzY
- mrandish 5y agoI have one of these and it's an amazing device.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- voisin 5y agoWhat made you buy this over say a Nikon or Canon?
- asdfasgasdgasdg 5y agoWhich Canon or Nikon? There are a number of different mirrorless cameras from the three major manufacturers of full frame cameras, not to mention other camera systems like APS-C or Micro 4/3. There is not a generic brand advantage from one manufacturer to another. An A1 would not be your first Sony camera even if you decided to buy Sony. It's a professional camera, and it's professional in the sense that it has features needed by professionals. It won't automatically make your pictures any better if you use it vs. something less expensive. If you have mad money, then go for it, but understand that you're more or less just burning cash for next to no reason. For an amateur (i.e. anyone who is inclined to ask which camera to choose by brand name), all three brands have cameras that are more than sufficient to meet your needs. Among Sony full-frame devices, the current gen choice would be an A7 IV. Or if you're smart, you'd save yourself some money and buy an A7 III instead. The main question is not "which brand makes the best camera" but, "which brand has the lenses I want." And the proper way to think about lenses for an amateur is to think about their speed, focal length (zoom level), price, and "convenience" -- weight, size, weather sealing.
- voisin 5y agoRight, I understand the concept, and I suppose I should have been clearer. Compared to the same level camera by Nikon or Canon, why did you choose Sony? I used to shoot with a D2X (dating myself here), and at the time Sony was not a serious contender at this level, at least among anyone I knew or any research I did. Everything was Nikon or Canon. Sony and Fujifilm seem to have some excellent cameras these days and I’m interested in what drew you to Sony versus the equivalent from Nikon or Canon? Also, have the workflows improved on any of these in the last 15 years or is it still dump raw from the physical card to the computer and edit? Anything that lets you sync to a cloud storage when plugged in after a day of shooting?
- sudosysgen 5y agoI partially disassembled my Sony A7ii a year ago to repair it, it's interesting how the A1 is largely similar yet different.
- jacquesm 5y agoDid you manage to re-assemble it and did it work?
- sudosysgen 5y agoYes, it did. Still using it to this day! But I did not disassemble it all the way. I had to get to the motherboard to fix a broken screen flex cable as well as change the SD card reader, and took the opportunity to explore a bit more. The general architecture of the device was identical. However, the motherboard of the A1 seems significantly more complex and cluttered. Beyond that, the structural elements are much more intricate in the A1 and are skeletonized, certainly in an effort to save weight. Generally speaking however, it's crazy how the overall designed stayed so similar. It was a joy to disassemble and put back together. It was clear that it was designed to be serviced.
- jacquesm 5y agoCool! For years I had a box with the parts of a Sony walkman that I had disassembled and was going to put together again 'one day'. The box got lost during a move and I was secretly relieved. It went real well until that one screw and then 'sproing' instant Japanese puzzle. I got better at that sort of thing over the years but this camera looks extremely fragile and sensitive to dust once you get to the guts of it, you'd need a very clean environment to work in.
- sudosysgen 5y agoThe way these cameras are designed, dust getting in is sadly inevitable in the field - every time you change a lens, there is no helping it, dust will accumulate. As a result there was a small amount of dust inside already when I opened it despite taking very good care of it and regularly cleaning the sensor. Indeed, the camera is made in a "sandwich" architecture, where the shutter is layered onto the sensor, which is layered onto the IBIS unit, itself layered onto the motherboard. Since the sensor has to move substantially to stabilize, and that the shutter is connected to the motherboard without any sealing at all, there is more than enough clearance for dust to get into the motherboard, and it will inevitably happen. Because of that I expect the guts to be very dust resistant (otherwise we'd see them dropping like flies), because there is really no way of protecting against dust ingress through the lens mount. The electronics itself seemed fairly robust - thick, high quality PCBs. The most sensitive component, the sensor, is encased behind a (removable) glass protective layer. There were no unnecessary cables inside, most electrical connections were done with spring-loaded contacts that would connect to the appropriate PCB. That being said, the shutter and the IBIS system did look very fragile, like a Japanese puzzle indeed. I wouldn't attempt any repair that required messing with them.
- libpcap 5y agoAre the A1s still manufactured in Japan?
- formerly_proven 5y agoSony mirrorless are made in Thailand or China, depending on the model.
- jacquesm 5y agoThis reminds me of a joke about a magician and a very expensive watch. I wonder if they managed to put it back together again.
- user_7832 5y agoThey mention they've disassembled similar cameras in the past and are aware of the costs, so either they know how to put it back or (unlikely) they don't care about it. But it's not something unexpected for them.
- amelius 5y agoThey made photos of how they took it apart ;)
- bri3d 5y agokolarivision are almost certainly capable, as they offer specifically UV and IR conversion services which usually require fully disassembling the camera to remove the factory filters and install a new one. Rebuilding DSLRs and mirrorless cameras is literally their business bread and butter.
- bombela 5y agoWhat's wrong with scrolling on this website. It keeps jumping around as I am trying to read.
- RistrettoMike 5y agoIt's incredible to me to that while this, a slightly older DSLR, and a classic SLR film camera all have similar silhouettes and ergonomics you can watch the digital technology replace the insides over the last 25 years. It's a stark comparison to see the ribbon cables and stacked daughter boards under the rear panel here where the film reels used to live. No greater takeaway here, just incredible to see a common form stay similar in many ways externally, yet have it's internals so totally overhauled.
- justinpowers 5y agoAgreed. I wonder why? Maybe professionals prefer the familiar ergonomics? Or there’s a certain prestige carried by the traditional camera silhouette? No idea. And I can’t think of another analog-to-digital transition that also maintained its outer form so thoroughly.
- sudosysgen 5y agoWell, DSLR/MILCs really aren't that different from film SLRs. The sensor replaced the film to be exposed, and the battery replaced the film cannister. For mirrorless cameras the EVF replaced the reflex mechanism. Everything else is the same, so with similar design constraints it makes sense a similar form factor would emerge.
- fleddr 5y agoThere are no other options I can think of. Sensors on full-frame DSLR/Mirrorless systems are large so you're going to have to keep a significantly sized rectangle clear. Assuming right-handed use, you're going to extend that rectangle to the right for a grip, that also need to have depth. Not optional as any of these cameras might see some very heavy lenses attached to them. You need a viewfinder, where the only logical option is on top. Same for flash connections. The only alternative is no viewfinder at all, just the back screen, but this can't be done because sports and wildlife photographers will always require an eye piece. All connections (video, mic, data, remote flash) have to be on the left as the right side is taken for the grip which typically features the memory card slots. The bottom of the camera has to be flat, it needs to support tripod use, video brackets and battery grips. Realistically, the battery chamber can only be at the bottom, given that all other space is already used. Concluding, the layout makes sense. You could move around connections but it doesn't change the shape of the camera, nor does it improve anything. So it's a logical timeless design, not really a prestige thing. As somebody else already said: the old design was not specifically analog, only the internals were.
- londons_explore 5y agoComparing this design to Apples laptop/iPhone design really shows how different the engineering styles are... Nearly everything in this camera is standard off the shelf stuff except the CPU, sensor and plastic mouldings. Whereas nearly every component in an iPhone is designed by/for Apple - even down to custom inductors used in the power supply. Remember the 'L-shaped' WiFi chip! I think it's a case where high volume + high margin allows world leading engineering, which nobody else can catch up with because they will never manage to get high volume before they have engineered an awesome product.
- anuvrat1 5y agoIt's being disassembled for a full spectrum mod, and according to [0] it helps with precise sensitivity range for IR, UV, low light etcetera photography. So if there are only pros to this mod, why don't manufacturers do it by default? [0]: https://kolarivision.com/articles/full_spectrum_conversion/ https://kolarivision.com/articles/full_spectrum_conversion/
- nyanpasu64 5y agoIf you're using the camera for regular photography, you need to attach an IR/UV blocking filter to all of your lenses, or else you'll be taking pictures of IR/UV in addition to visible light, and color reproduction may be distorted.
- wizee 5y agoSensitivity to colours outside the visible spectrum can cause colours to appear incorrect relative to what the human perceives. Imagine two objects whose visible spectrums are the same, but whose IR or UV spectra are different. They’d look the same to a human, but different to such a modified camera.
- bradlys 5y agoIndeed. Cameras are built to replicate human eyes. For instance, we’re more sensitive to green. Thus the Bayer filter.
- SAI_Peregrinus 5y agoIt makes normal photographs look weird. Full-spectrum mods are something you want in an astrophotography camera, but they're not something you want for regular photography. So to use the camera for normal things like portraits, wildlife, landscapes, product shots, or basically anything other than taking pictures of the sky you need to get a set of (expensive) filters to go on the lens to block the excess light and restore normal color rendering.
- ofrzeta 5y agoSo much electronics makes me nervous. Compared to the old rugged SLRs this camera seems a lot less reliable.
- franga2000 5y agoI've disassembled dozens of different phones and laptops, some of them many times, but even looking at this being taken apart stresses me out. I have 4 cameras from the A7 series (mk 1-3) and each of them has a small issue that on anything else, I would've fixed long ago, yet I haven't as much as taken a screw out of any of them. The sheer amount of flex cables and daughterboards is kind of terrifying...
- shmerl 5y agoUSB-C connector is good for a change. Does it support DisplayPort output?
- giuliomagnifico 5y agoYea it should have Display Port capability Source: https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?p=19247715 https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?p=192477...
- shmerl 5y agoNice. I hope lower end cameras will catch up as well.
- toxik 5y agoThere is some sense of irony in an accessibility shortcut (the wheelchair icon) obscuring the viewport so you can’t read properly.