3 ms·

I have one of these and it's an amazing device.

by mrandish 5y ago

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
voisin 5y ago
What made you buy this over say a Nikon or Canon?
- asdfasgasdgasdg 5y ago
  Which 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 ago
    Right, 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?
    - asdfasgasdgasdg 5y ago
      There are some cloud sync workflows but the size of the raw files has also grown substantially over the years. Raws on my rx100 are 20+MB and the raws on the 50mpix cameras are correspondingly larger. In general I have found that Sony is not so good on the software side. It remains fastest, at least as of two years ago, to sync with a physical cable or with an SD card drive. Sony is very much a serious contender now. For a number of years they were the undisputed leader in a few areas, mainly value for money and autofocus performance. Everyone complains about Sony menu ergonomics although I personally don't find it to be much of a hindrance. There seems to be some evidence that canon and Nikon are catching up on some of the performance metrics. On the other hand, for a long time Sony suffered from a shallower catalog of lenses but that grows less and less true by the day. For example they just released a trio of enthusiast compact prime lenses that according to reports I've read rival the best lenses of this type through history. On the dpreview article about the camera you can see some spec sheet-level comparisons. https://m.dpreview.com/reviews/sony-a1-review/2 https://m.dpreview.com/reviews/sony-a1-review/2
- mrandish 5y ago
  I've previously owned Nikon gear and currently own quite a bit of Canon gear, but it was time to upgrade to mirrorless. I have extensive professional experience with both digital imaging and filmmaking going back decades. A variety of things made the A1 a better overall fit for my unique mix of needs and interests. At the extreme high-end of current mirrorless cameras (>$5k without lenses) any major brand's latest flagship will very likely far exceed the needs of almost all users. If you don't already know why you'd choose one brand's flagship over another, you probably shouldn't be considering any flagships. Frankly, these are highly specialized, complex and esoteric tools that are also incredibly expensive. I recommend starting out with more mainstream models which are already supremely powerful and quite a bit less expensive than top-of-the-line models. Check out recent mainstream model reviews at DPReview.com - a highly credible source of objective comparisons. Professional digital cameras are a mature and highly competitive market that's changing frequently. No major brand is overall "better" than another. It's more about finding the best fit between your needs, skills, budget and preferences within a certain price and application segment. Any camera/lens combo represents a set of trade-offs between a dozen or more variables including light sensitivity, shutter speed, zoom, depth of field, video capabilities (resolution, frame rate, bit rate, compression, etc), weight, size and flexibility.
- glued 5y ago
  I have the Sony A1 and Nikon Z7. Started to get into wildlife photography when the pandemic started and the Z7 autofocus failed me. I would take 30 photos of a bird in flight and 1 would be in focus. So I purchased the A1 which can track a bird's eye in flight perfectly. I'm sure the Z9 is a great camera but its too late and too large for my taste.
mrandish 5y ago
I've previously owned Nikon gear and currently own quite a bit of Canon gear, but it was time to upgrade to mirrorless. I have extensive professional experience with both digital imaging and filmmaking going back decades. A variety of things made the A1 a better overall fit for my unique mix of needs and interests. At the extreme high-end of current mirrorless cameras (>$5k without lenses) any major brand's latest flagship will very likely far exceed the needs of almost all users. If you don't already know why you'd choose one brand's flagship over another, you probably shouldn't be considering any flagships. Frankly, these are highly specialized, complex and esoteric tools that are also incredibly expensive. I recommend starting out with more mainstream models which are already supremely powerful and quite a bit less expensive than top-of-the-line models. Check out recent mainstream model reviews at DPReview.com - a highly credible source of objective comparisons. It's a mature and highly competitive market that changes constantly. No major brand is overall "better" than another. It's more about finding the best fit between your needs, skills, budget and preferences.

I have one of these and it's an amazing device.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

voisin 5y ago

What made you buy this over say a Nikon or Canon?

asdfasgasdgasdg 5y ago
Which 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 ago
  Right, 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?
  - asdfasgasdgasdg 5y ago
    There are some cloud sync workflows but the size of the raw files has also grown substantially over the years. Raws on my rx100 are 20+MB and the raws on the 50mpix cameras are correspondingly larger. In general I have found that Sony is not so good on the software side. It remains fastest, at least as of two years ago, to sync with a physical cable or with an SD card drive. Sony is very much a serious contender now. For a number of years they were the undisputed leader in a few areas, mainly value for money and autofocus performance. Everyone complains about Sony menu ergonomics although I personally don't find it to be much of a hindrance. There seems to be some evidence that canon and Nikon are catching up on some of the performance metrics. On the other hand, for a long time Sony suffered from a shallower catalog of lenses but that grows less and less true by the day. For example they just released a trio of enthusiast compact prime lenses that according to reports I've read rival the best lenses of this type through history. On the dpreview article about the camera you can see some spec sheet-level comparisons. https://m.dpreview.com/reviews/sony-a1-review/2 https://m.dpreview.com/reviews/sony-a1-review/2
mrandish 5y ago
I've previously owned Nikon gear and currently own quite a bit of Canon gear, but it was time to upgrade to mirrorless. I have extensive professional experience with both digital imaging and filmmaking going back decades. A variety of things made the A1 a better overall fit for my unique mix of needs and interests. At the extreme high-end of current mirrorless cameras (>$5k without lenses) any major brand's latest flagship will very likely far exceed the needs of almost all users. If you don't already know why you'd choose one brand's flagship over another, you probably shouldn't be considering any flagships. Frankly, these are highly specialized, complex and esoteric tools that are also incredibly expensive. I recommend starting out with more mainstream models which are already supremely powerful and quite a bit less expensive than top-of-the-line models. Check out recent mainstream model reviews at DPReview.com - a highly credible source of objective comparisons. Professional digital cameras are a mature and highly competitive market that's changing frequently. No major brand is overall "better" than another. It's more about finding the best fit between your needs, skills, budget and preferences within a certain price and application segment. Any camera/lens combo represents a set of trade-offs between a dozen or more variables including light sensitivity, shutter speed, zoom, depth of field, video capabilities (resolution, frame rate, bit rate, compression, etc), weight, size and flexibility.
glued 5y ago
I have the Sony A1 and Nikon Z7. Started to get into wildlife photography when the pandemic started and the Z7 autofocus failed me. I would take 30 photos of a bird in flight and 1 would be in focus. So I purchased the A1 which can track a bird's eye in flight perfectly. I'm sure the Z9 is a great camera but its too late and too large for my taste.

mrandish 5y ago

I've previously owned Nikon gear and currently own quite a bit of Canon gear, but it was time to upgrade to mirrorless. I have extensive professional experience with both digital imaging and filmmaking going back decades. A variety of things made the A1 a better overall fit for my unique mix of needs and interests. At the extreme high-end of current mirrorless cameras (>$5k without lenses) any major brand's latest flagship will very likely far exceed the needs of almost all users. If you don't already know why you'd choose one brand's flagship over another, you probably shouldn't be considering any flagships. Frankly, these are highly specialized, complex and esoteric tools that are also incredibly expensive. I recommend starting out with more mainstream models which are already supremely powerful and quite a bit less expensive than top-of-the-line models. Check out recent mainstream model reviews at DPReview.com - a highly credible source of objective comparisons. It's a mature and highly competitive market that changes constantly. No major brand is overall "better" than another. It's more about finding the best fit between your needs, skills, budget and preferences.