Sony Alpha 1

Sony Alpha 1 was announced in 2021 and is a Full Frame (35.9 x 24 mm) Mirrorless camera with 50.1 Megapixel Stacked CMOS sensor. Its native ISO ranges from 100 to 32,000 and expands to 50 - 102,400 in boosted mode. The camera has a Tilting 3.0" screen with 1,440k dot resolution and built-in 0.64" Electronic (OLED) viewfinder with 9,437k dot resolution. It has a built-in 5-Axis Sensor Shift in body image stabilization.

Sony Alpha 1 can capture video up to 7680 x 4320 resolution with no recording time limit.

In this section we present pros and cons of Sony Alpha 1.

Tilting Touchscreen

Sony Alpha 1 has a 3.0" Tilting touchscreen with 1,440k dot resolution. Tilting screen makes this camera very useful for photography purposes but not so useful for video shooting.

Electronic (OLED) Viewfinder

Camera has a built-in 0.64" Electronic (OLED) viewfinder with 9,437k dot resolution. It has a 100% coverage and 0.90x magnification.

Stacked CMOS Sensor

Sony Alpha 1 features a 50.1 megapixel Full Frame Stacked CMOS sensor with dimensions of 35.9 x 24 mm and a total area of 861.6 mm². Its native ISO range is 100 - 32,000 and expands to 50 - 102,400 in boosted mode.

The camera has Stacked CMOS sensor. The key feature of such sensor is its three-dimensional structure, which consists of multiple layers of semiconductor material and circuitry stacked on top of each other. This allows the sensor to have dedicated layers for image capture and signal processing. This separation allows for faster data readout, reducing rolling shutter effects and enabling high-speed shooting and video recording. It is also more power-efficient.

Here is a sensor size comparison chart where you can see how Sony Alpha 1's Full Frame sensor compares with other types of sensors:

Sensor size chart

	Sensor	Dimensions	Area	Aspect Ratio	Crop Factor
	Medium Format	44 x 33 mm	1452 mm2	4:3	0.79x
	Full Frame	35.9 x 24 mm	861.6 mm2	3:2	1x
	APS-H	27 x 18 mm	486 mm2	3:2	1.3x
	APS-C	23.6 x 15.6 mm	368.2 mm2	3:2	1.5x
	APS-C (Canon)	22.3 x 14.9 mm	332.3 mm2	3:2	1.6x
	Micro Four Thirds	17.4 x 13 mm	226.2 mm2	4:3	2x
	1-inch	13.2 x 8.8 mm	116.2 mm2	3:2	2.7x
	1/1.7-inch	7.44 x 5.58 mm	41.5 mm2	4:3	4.7x
	1/2.3-inch	6.17 x 4.55 mm	28.1 mm2	4:3	5.6x

Camera is equipped with Dual BIONZ XR processor and can take pictures up to 8640 x 5760 resolution.

Lens Mount

Sony Alpha 1 has Sony E lens mount. Due to Full Frame sensor its crop factor (also called lens multiplier) is 1x. This means that a 35mm equivalent focal length of the mounted lens will be equal to its actual focal length.

In-Body Image Stabilization

The camera has a built-in 5-Axis Sensor Shift in-body image stabilization (IBIS) with 5.5 stops of compensation. This means that you are still getting vibration reduction when camera is paired with non-image stabilizied lenses. It also works with lenses with optical image stabilization and in combination can achieve even better compensation.

Built-in Wi-Fi

Camera has a built-in Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi 5, 802.11ac/b/g/n, 2.4/5 GHz) which allows to easily transfer photos and videos from the camera to other Wi-Fi-enabled devices, such as smartphones, tablets, printers, or computers. This eliminates the need for cables and allows for quick and convenient media sharing and social media integration. It gives you the ability to control your camera remotely using a smartphone or tablet. This is particularly useful for taking self-portraits, group shots, or capturing images in challenging conditions without having to touch the camera. Firmware updates can also be downloaded and installed wirelessly.
  Check out the cameras in our database that have built-in WiFi.

Bluetooth

Camera has a built-in Bluetooth which lets you to connect the camera to a smartphone or a dedicated remote control device. This allows you to remotely trigger the camera, adjust settings and controls remotely through a paired mobile app. While Wi-Fi is generally faster for transferring larger files, Bluetooth can be used for small, selective transfers, it can provide real-time information about your camera's battery status, memory card capacity, and other key settings directly on your paired smartphone or smartwatch.
  Check out the cameras in our database that have built-in Bluetooth.

USB Input and HDMI Output

Sony Alpha 1 has a USB 3.2 Gen 2x1 (10 GBit/sec) Type-C input for data transfer and battery charging. There is a Full Size HDMI connector for video signal output.

Battery

Sony Alpha 1 comes with NP-FZ100 battery pack with battery life of 530 shots.

External Storage Slots

The camera has Dual CFexpress Type A / SD (UHS-II) card slots.

Shutter

Sony Alpha 1 has Electronic shutter and Mechanical Focal Plane shutter. Shutter speed can go up to 1/32000 sec with electronic shutter and up to 1/8000 sec with mechanical shutter. Camera can shoot continuously up to 30.0 fps with electronic shutter and up to 10.0 fps with mechanical shutter.

Focusing

Sony Alpha 1 has Fast Hybrid AF (Phase-detection / Contrast-detection) system with 759 focusing points and from -4 to +20 EV detection range. Touch-to-Focus allows users to select a specific point on the screen where they want the camera to focus. This feature can be helpful for achieving precise focus in both photo and video recording. There is also face detection feature which automatically finds and focuses on faces and additional eye detection further locks the focus on one of the eyes and tracks it down during the motion.

Exposure

Camera's exposure metering ranges from -3 to +20 EV and you can set the exposure compensation within the ±5 EV range. You can also do exposure bracketing and manual exposure adjustment.

Flash

Sony Alpha 1 has no built-in flash but an external flash may be connected via Hot Shoe or PC Terminal. The fastest flash synchronization speed is 1/400 sec. Flash compensation can be set from -3 to +3 EV with 1/3 or 1/2 EV step increments.

Sony Alpha 1 has dimensions of 129 x 97 x 81 mm (5.08 x 3.82 x 3.19"). It weighs 737 g (1.62 lb / 26.00 oz) which is neither heavy nor lightweight.

129 mm (5.08")

97 mm (3.82")

97 mm (3.82")

81 mm (3.19")