Sony Alpha 1

£6,499/$6,499 Staggering specs – and a pretty staggering price

This camera can do it all – a flagship fullframe mirrorless with staggering specs

If we were to list every key feature of the Sony Alpha 1, it would be a book, not a camera review. First, it has a 50.1-megapixel stacked CMOS back-illuminated gapless sensor with separate pixel and circuit layers, hooked up to a Bionz XR processor with eight times the power of the previous version. This doesn’t just improve the performance and the image quality, but the responsiveness of the camera itself.

Key features

If 50.1 megapixels isn’t enough, there is also a 199MP pixel-shift Multi Shot mode that merges up to 16 separate images taken in succession; this is designed for static subjects, with the camera mounted on a tripod.

The A1 has a sensitivity range of ISO 100-32,000, expandable to ISO 50-102,400; Sony says it can capture a dynamic range of up to 15 stops. The resolution may not be the highest available for a full-frame camera (it’s beaten by Sony’s own Alpha 7R IV), but it is the second-highest, and it’s all the more impressive in light of the A1’s formidable video and continuous shooting capabilities.

Video-wise, the Alpha 1 is the first consumer mirrorless camera after the Canon EOS R5 to capture 8K video; not only that, it can capture 4K video at up to 120fps. Footage can be saved to dual CFexpress Type A/SDXC card slots as 10-bit 4:2:0 footage, or saved as 16-bit raw via HDMI.

Sony says the A1’s passive heat dissipation system allows up to 30 minutes of 8K 30p recording, which is a big improvement over the Canon R5 (though the R5’s recording time has subsequently been improved with a firmware update).

The A1 matches the 4K recording capabilities of the Sony Alpha 7S III, then trumps it with 8K capture. What’s more, the higher-resolution sensor means you can still capture 4K even in Super35 crop mode with 5.8K oversampling. That’s a big advantage for any movie makers with APS-C E-mount lenses or Super35 format cine lenses and adaptors.

It’s hard to say which is more impressive – the A1’s video capabilities or its continuous shooting. Just as it puts the A7S III in the shade for video, it makes the Alpha 9 II look pretty pedestrian too, beating its 20fps shooting with 30fps and with a buffer capacity to match (up to 155 compressed raw images in a burst). Not only that, thanks to its Bionz XR processor, it has a superior electronic distortion control tool, which all but eliminates skewed verticals in fast panning shots, for example.

The continuous shooting capabilities are aided by a 759-point phase-detect AF system, covering 92 per cent of the frame, and 425 contrast AF points. These work with improved Real-Time Eye AF for animals and new Real-Time Bird Eye AF.

Other key features include a 9.44mdot electronic viewfinder that has the highest resolution yet seen, a 240fps refresh rate and blackout-free shooting in burst mode, plus five-axis in-body SteadyShot Inside image stabilisation for up to 5.5

“The viewfinder resolution means you just don’t see the dots”

1 The grip is substantial, but still barely offers enough height for an average-sized hand. 2 The A1 does not have the highest resolution in the Sony range, but few will complain at the prospect of 50MP! 3 Support for the Sony E-mount is strong, both with new Sony lenses and lenses from third-party makers.

4 With 9.44 million dots, the Sony A1 has the highest-resolution EVF yet, by some margin. 5 This ‘thumbstick’ controller is really useful for setting the focus point. 6 The A1’s menu system is complex, but many everyday settings can be accessed by this function button. 7 You get dual CFexpress/SD Card slots, but you’ll only need CFexpress for the fastest video frame rates. 8 The stacked focus mode dial and drive mode dial on the top plate are good to have. 9 There’s even a dedicated exposure compensation dial.

The Alpha 1’s default multi-pattern metering has done a great job here, but can sometimes favour shadows a little too much in backlit scenes.

The A1’s image quality is impossible to fault, and Sony lenses can be corrected automatically in-camera for any distortion and corner shading.