Does the Sony a1 Have the Best Sensor Sony Has Ever Produced?

Sony has been dominating the mirrorless market for some time and has arguably had the most impressive cameras in that sector. The launch of their new flagship mirrorless body has raised some eyebrows for a number of reasons, not least because of the sensor.

Sony cameras have been synonymous with mirrorless for years and went largely unrivalled for most of it, with other brands sticking with their DSLR lines. Finally, in 2020, we saw some competition from competing brands — brands that have dominated the industry for decades — and most notably, Canon. Canon's announcement and launch of the R5 and R6 mirrorless bodies were met with simultaneous applause and sighs of relief from many of us. I primarily shoot with Canon and Sony bodies, and I wasn't alone in wondering when they would start taking the mirrorless market seriously. Now that they have, the next question was how Sony would react. The R5 has an eye-watering spec, and if Sony wants control of the high-end mirrorless shooters, they'll need to match or beat it.

Well, last week, we saw the announcement from Sony of their new flagship body, the a1. With regards to spec, it's right up there with the R5, offering many of the same impressive features that had people frothing with delight at Canon's best mirrorless. The question this video asks, however, is whether or not the Sony a1 boasts the best sensor Sony has ever produced. Well, we're limited in real-world examples thanks to the embargo, meaning side-by-side comparisons are not yet possible. Early reports from reviewers have been incredibly favorable and complimentary of the performance and image quality, but the Sony a7R IV still offers the highest resolution (61 megapixels), but that's far from the whole story.

What are your predictions? Will the a1 pip its siblings to the title of best Sony sensor?

Rob Baggs's picture

Robert K Baggs is a professional portrait and commercial photographer, educator, and consultant from England. Robert has a First-Class degree in Philosophy and a Master's by Research. In 2015 Robert's work on plagiarism in photography was published as part of several universities' photography degree syllabuses.

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12 Comments

C'mon man, just slap one of your beloved RNI filters on it.

Lol, you are so obsessed with Sony colors. You get so triggered every time there's an article about Sony in general.

You had better avoid reading the DPreview video comments then, that’s all they talk about.

And I’ll counter your argument to this guy, you vehemently defend Sony on every single article too, that’s no better than what this guy is doing.

Me personally I think once you shoot in RAW and are editing the shot, all this ‘colours’ stuff is just nonsense. But it’s not illegal to be negative about your preferred brand once in a while, in fact it might give your comments a bit more weight if you did now and then.

Vehemently defend Sony on every single article? You might want to re-read some of them; or grow some skin if you think that. There are many Sony articles and/or comments I don't reply on. As in the case of this guy you're white knighting for, he's been saying the same thing for probably at least 6 months and this is the first time I've replied to one his comments.

As with there is nothing illegal about negative comments made on one's preferred brand, there is also nothing illegal with calling them out. Challenging them on it. That's one of the principles of these forums. This site is not your echo chamber nor your pity party princess palace. You might want to put on your big boy pants, because that's just the way it is.

That’s a whole lot of words but you didn’t actually say anything outside a load of cliche phrases like ‘white knighting’ ‘big boy pants’ ‘pity party princess palace’ (I don’t even know wtf that means)

Well heck, let me help you with that. I've redacted those cliches you are sensitive to.

https://i.imgur.com/MiICzQ2.jpg
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There's still plenty of meat on that bone that you chose discard citing 'load of cliche'; similar to how some resort to pointing out grammatical errors when they they have nothing to counter with.

creo que las especificaciones de la alpha a1 son excelentes y las mejoras con respecto a las serie 7 y 9 fantasticas , simple y resumiendo una camara para el mas alto rendimiento el precio es el que siento demasiado caro tomando en cuenta que canon con su r5 tiene expecificaiones similares a un precio mucho mas bajo un precio razonable por esta camara podria andar por los $ 5000.00...entonces podriamos decir sony ha echo de esta camara gran valor por su dinero.

No it does not have the best sensor. That belongs in the Fuji GFX100s/GFX100 where the former is cheaper than the Sony.

As the title suggests, this is probably Sony's best sensor. The Fuji 102MP sensor is probably Fuji's best. ;-)

The Fujifilm one is produced by Sony’s sensor division if I’m not mistaken?

If that's the case, I agree.

If you Google Sony semiconductor image sensors you can view their company page and they have a chart showing which sensors they offer, it’s quite an eye opener:) when you start comparing the sensor sizes and resolution to some top camera brands cameras.

For al of the discussion about sensors, suggest you read this article from Thom Hogan. It will provide a little perspective.

https://bythom.com/newsviews/the-image-sensor-industry.html

Each company applies their own "special sauce" to the underlying sensor. They all do good stuff, make cameras that can function well, and we each can find the ones that best fit our own work flow.
For me, Sony erginomics and menu systems are confusing, unwieldy and uncomfortable. Everyone's mirrirless cameras, including my own Z6 are too small for my hands, which best fit for a D850 or D6, neither of which I own. Even my D750 is at the edge of comfort on size.
Buy what suits your needs, let everyone else do the same, and stop the sniping at each others decisions! Take great photos, have some fun, and make some money if that is what you want. I won't disparage your personal decisions and expect you will not disparage mine.
Be nice.