https://www.sonyalpharumors.com/press-release-groundbreaking-sony-alpha-1-camera-marks-a-new-era-in-professional-imaging/The whole thing reads like a big 'up yours' to Canon's R5. Although the very name R5, and the fact that it functions largely like a mirrorless 5D, suggests that an R1 is in the works - I'd want to see Canon's response. I'd expect Canon to bring out quad-pixel AF, among other things.
If the A7r series is like the Canon 5D2 12 years ago, and the A9 is like the 1D3 action body of the same generation, the A1 seems to be like a modern-day 1Ds body, covering the action and high-resolution roles at the same time.
Of particular interest to me:
- 50MP with top-tier AF (30fps isn't much use for most of what I shoot). As a primary body and one-camera solution, it can do the job of both the A9 and the A7r series.
- Eye AF for birds. Finally. Dogs and cats were a great start, but this seems to expand it to many other animals. I hope this also means reptiles, given their similarities, (and, cladistically speaking, birds
are reptiles).
- 1/400s sync speed. Not a global shutter yet, but this can only be a good thing for shooting wildlife with fill flash. Even if you're shooting at 1/1000 or 1/2000, the faster sync speed means that HSS can now give you twice as much light (or use half as much power) for a faster recycle time and frame rate.
- Flash photography with electronic shutter (presumably EFCS as well as ES). This really simplifies and reduces the number of different setups you need - no need to have one or more mechanical shutter modes on the dial just for flash. (All the same, I still hope you can assign more than three custom modes)
- 120 AF calculations per second - twice as fast as the A9. I'm not sure how this translates to real-world performance, but it can only be a good thing.
- Lossless compressed RAW
Probably won't buy it yet, though - until international borders open and I can go on big trips covering wildlife, landscapes, cities and culture, I don't exactly need a new camera that's top-tier for both landscapes and action at the same time, and the A7r3 and A9 combination will work fine. But, unless something more suitable comes up (or unless testing reveals some unexpected failures, e.g. a deficiency in low-ISO DR) this will probably replace my A7r3 and become my main landscape and action body, with an A9 as a second body with lens attached (not much time to change lenses when shooting action), except for dedicated landscape trips, where I'd probably dust off the A7r3 and bring that as a backup.
