Welcome to my Sony A1 (ILCE-1) guides & resources page.
Here you will find the latest firmware version for the A1, user guides, FAQs, product images, my accessories guide, lenses guide and memory card guide.
| Firmware | Manual | Accessories | Check Price & Reviews |
|---|---|---|---|
| Version 2.02 | PDF / Online | Accessories | Amazon | B&H |
Sony A1 Forum & Facebook Group
If you are looking for further help and advice on the a1 or would simply like to share your photos and videos, then please head over to our new Sony A1 Forum. If you prefer Facebook then I also run the Sony A1 Shooters Group.
Sony A1 Guides
Sony A1 Setup Guide
If you’d like a helping hand with setting up your new Sony a1 then you might find the following guides helpful.
Steve Perry
Steve has one of the best setup guides available for the A1. If you enjoy his video I can highly recommend purchasing his Ultimate Sony A1 Setup Guide For Wildlife Photography eBook.
Mark Smith
Mark Smith is a very gifted photographer and story teller and his guides are always worth checking out.
Mark Galer
There’s very little that Sony Ambassador Mark Galer doesn’t know about the Sony A1 and the Alpha Series. His setup guide together with his Sony A1 eBook come highly recommended.
Sony A1 Overview
The Sony a1 was announced in January 2021 and took over the title of Sony’s flagship camera from the Sony a9II. It is Sony’s most expensive camera to-date.
With a 50.1 megapixel stacked sensor and 8k video, the Sony a1 has been designed to do it all and without compromise.
It’s the ultimate hybrid shooter, and without doubt a flagship camera in the truest sense.
Here are some of the things that the a1 shares in common with the a9II:
- Body design
- NP-FZ100 battery
- 5-axis stabilization with 5.5Ev of compensation (CIPA)
- 1,440,000 dots LCD with adjustable angle (up 107 degrees, down 41 degrees)
- Multi Interface Shoe (MI Shoe) with a Digital audio interface
And here are the new features that the a1 gains:
- New 50.1-megapixel full-frame stacked Exmor RS™ CMOS image sensor in combination with an upgraded BIONZ XR™ imaging processing engine with eight times more processing power
- Blackout free continuous shooting at up to 30 frames per second
- Fast sensor readout enables up to 120 AF/AE calculations per second, double the speed of the Alpha 9 II, even during 30fps continuous shooting
- Bright and large 0.64-type 9.44 million-dot (approx.) OLED Quad-XGA electronic viewfinder with the world’s first refresh rate of 240 fps
- World’s first anti-flicker shooting with both mechanical and electronic shutter
- Electronic shutter flash sync up to 1/200 sec.
- World’s fastest mechanical shutter flash sync up to 1/400 sec.
- 8K 30p 10-bit 4:2:0 XAVC HS video recording with 8.6K oversampling for extraordinary detail and resolution, in addition to 4K 120p 10-bit 4:2:2 movie shooting capabilities
- Improved Real-time Eye AF (autofocus) for humans and animals, and new Real-time Eye AF for birds
- S-Cinetone color matrix as seen in FX9 and FX6 to deliver expressive cinematic look
- Wi-Fi, SuperSpeed USB 10Gbps, 1000BASE-T Ethernet and more
Please visit my Sony A1 vs A9 II Comparison for a complete in-depth guide to the differences between these two amazing cameras.
The a1 can quite easily replace three camera bodies (a9II, a7R IV, a7S III) with one, and I know of many shooters already planning to do just this. The a1 is the ultimate hybrid camera at this moment in time.
I own both the a9 and a7R IV myself, and I have to admit to being very tempted to trade them in for the a1. But I will wait for some real-world reviews before I take the plunge!
Sony A1 Key Specs
- 50.1 megapixel 35mm full-frame stacked sensor
- ISO 100-32000, Expanded ISO 50 to ISO 102400
- 30 fps blackout free continuous shooting with the electronic shutter
- 10 fps continuous shooting with the mechanical shutter
- 759-point phase-detection and 425-point contrast detection AF points
- 5.5-stop (CIPA rated) 5-axis image stabilization
- Dual memory card slots (UHS-II + CFexpress Type A)
- 9.44 million dot OLED viewfinder
- 1.44M-dot rear touchscreen LCD
- 8k video at 30fps, 4k up to 120fps.
- SuperSpeed USB 10-Gbps (USB 3.2) Type-C connector
- Support for voice memos
- 737 g / 26 oz with battery and memory card
You can find the full Sony a1 details and specifications over on Sony’s a1 product page.
Sony A1 Reviews
Here’s a collection of some of the better reviews for the Sony a1.
DPReview
DPReview awarded the Sony A1 their Gold Award with a rating of 93%. Here’s what they said about it:
The Sony a1 is the most refined Alpha-series interchangeable lens camera yet. Its combination of speed and resolution for both stills and video set it apart in a crowded field of excellent options, though that combination is also responsible for the price it commands. But the fact remains, most any professional photographer will be able to use the a1 for most anything they’d think to shoot.
DPReview
Steve Perry
Gerald Undone
D
Sony A1 FAQs
The Sony a1 was announced on January 26th, 2021 with first shipments beginning in March 2021.
You can find a full list of lenses that support 30 FPS in my Sony A1 Lenses Guide.
Both memory card slots support SD memory cards, SDHC memory cards (UHS-I/II compliant), SDXC memory cards (UHS-I/II compliant) and CFexpress Type A memory cards.
Sony NP-FZ100 battery.
Yes. The Sony a1 is a full-frame 35-mm camera.
Sony only claim that the a1 is dust and moisture resistant, they don’t claim that it is fully waterproof and you should therefore take care if using the a1 in wet weather.
50.1 megapixels
Yes. The Sony a1 does support pixel shift. You have the choice of shooting four frames or sixteen. In both cases the files need to be combined using Sony’s Imaging Edge desktop software to create photos with up to 199 million pixels.
737 g / 26 oz with battery and memory card
The maximum fps (frames per second) for the mechanical shutter of the a1 is 10 fps.
The maximum fps (frames per second) for the electronic shutter of the a1 is 30 fps, but only when shooting in compressed raw or JPEG format. Uncompressed RAW and lossless RAW reduce the frame rate to 20 FPS.
Sony A1 Product Images
