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Yes, 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

Yes, 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 ago
Cool! 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 ago
  The 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.
  - jacquesm 5y ago
    My brother repairs this stuff regularly, I'll ask him if he has any usable tips on working on this sort of device. Though he usually only starts seeing them after they've been in the field for a while. At his recommendation I got an alpha here and so far it has been amazingly robust.
    - sudosysgen 5y ago
      Hopefully, I will never need those tips anymore, but I'd love to hear about your brother's experience with it! Congrats on the Alpha, hopefully you take many great photos on yours - I've taken a few dozen thousand on mine and it's still going strong!
      - jacquesm 5y ago
        I'm using mine for video, and it has been running for many 1000's of hours already without a glitch.

jacquesm 5y ago

Cool! 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 ago
The 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.
- jacquesm 5y ago
  My brother repairs this stuff regularly, I'll ask him if he has any usable tips on working on this sort of device. Though he usually only starts seeing them after they've been in the field for a while. At his recommendation I got an alpha here and so far it has been amazingly robust.
  - sudosysgen 5y ago
    Hopefully, I will never need those tips anymore, but I'd love to hear about your brother's experience with it! Congrats on the Alpha, hopefully you take many great photos on yours - I've taken a few dozen thousand on mine and it's still going strong!
    - jacquesm 5y ago
      I'm using mine for video, and it has been running for many 1000's of hours already without a glitch.