The Sony a1 is groundbreaking in its technological capabilities, but is it the perfect camera? Not quite. If we’re going to nitpick, there are definitely a few areas where it falls short, and there are several design decisions that are hard to explain.
At $6,498, the Sony a1 is a lot of camera: a 50-megapixel full frame sensor that shoots at up to 30 frames per second, capable of 8K 30p and 4K 120p video internally. And don’t forget the 9.44 million-dot EVF with a refresh rate of 240 fps and a sync speed of up to 1/400th of a second. Having all of these specifications in one camera is remarkable, which is also what makes it surprising that there are several oversights that should have been addressed before launch and some of which could well be fixed through a firmware update.
This is not to say that any of the flaws on this list make the Sony a1 a bad camera, but it’s mystifying that there are areas where Sony still struggles, such as the menu. The a1 is a massive improvement on the menu system found in its predecessors, but that’s to damn it with faint praise. Why are so many aspects still cryptic and why isn’t Sony, a vast corporation that makes countless smartphones, capable of producing a more sophisticated touchscreen?
What do you think? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
First of all, Tony Northrup, immediate GO AWAY WITH YOUR CLICKBAIT from me! I thought it was him the moment I read the headline, and now Fstoppers is sneaky and hides whose video this is in the summary, and only at the bottom in the little "via" section, not cool!
Then I stopped reading the summary here: "but it’s mystifying that there are areas where Sony still struggles, such as the menu"
For YEARS, Sony haters vilified their Alpha cameras because of the menu... Now that they totally revamped it, they still harp on it?
So then I skimmed the video to see what points he brings up, ALL CLICKBAIT GARBAGE, as suspected, yup!
Doesn't surprise me since people like TN will lie and "move the goalpost" all for clickbait junk videos, this one no exception. In fact this is probably his most clickbait-y video in a while, just total garbage.
He shouldn't be given any spotlight here, or anywhere!
I don't know the Sony menu system, neither the old one nor the revamped one. Could it be a case of "a move in the right direction but still not good enough"?
Anyway I personally don't care. :-D
The clickbait obviously worked. They got your view, you got properly enraged, and all the fanboys of other brands who fear that Sony might damage their favourite brand get their confirmation-bias served to them that Sony Still Sucks so <insert-brandname-here> is still safe / superior / solid choice.
I agree that it would be very nice if such clickbait videos like this wouldn't be given extra platform here on FStoppers.
But then again, it worked, because although I refuse to watch the video, I did open the article, and even spent my time on the comments!
actually came to comments before opening the video. now that I know it's another Northup clickbait, not even going to bother opening it. so the clickbait doesn't always work.
Thanks, Edison for the heads up.
It worked for F-Stoppers though, for both of us! :(
Hey Jack, we are the ones watching we should care what works for us and refuse this type of behaviour to get viewers by using dishonest headlines.
you make our points, it may have worked for them but the video was useless to us.
Few YT videos build up my motivation so much to downvote them. I guess the only way for him to stop making these videos is to actively try to minimize his profit.
Not clicking on it is probably better than downvoting
It has nothing to do with the camera, it has all to do with deceitful clickbait from the Northrup's and Fstoppers shovelling that bovine excrement down our throats here.
You sound a lot like Northrup, must be cut from the same cloth...
Classy smartass, aren't you?
Five reasons to hate the Northrops. Clickbait , clickbait, clickbait, hypocrite , phony
Here here, let me add to that...
Stupid, lying, ignorant, dishonest, sales people.
OK, I don't watch many of their videos, but they have a couple of videos that are quite OK to watch and one in particular that was interesting (in my opinion), where they listed a number of ideas on how to deter camera-theft, some of which could be implemented just in firmware without having to become too obnoxious.
Now clickbait videos like the one above, that I skip too. I mean, they might bring up valid points of critique but it's just an obvious clickbait-title.
Really do you think he cares what you think when he doesn't even care what he says!
Really He's been wrong so many times its hard not to cringe when you hear his voice.
"Sony, a vast corporation that makes countless smartphones..."
Well, smartphones means a thin UI skin over Android, and their smartphone sales are abysmal in recent years. So I wouldn't expect this to give them much of credible UI expertise to carry over to camera menu system design.
Their PlayStation UI is fully their own but I doubt that that will give any usable ideas for camera menu design either, besides, game consoles don't sell on the strength of their UI so I wouldn't even count on that UI sucking any less than Sony Camera menus allegedly do. 😆
For the rest, it appears to be pretty much a case of "move along, nothing to see here" :P
As a Nikon fanboy I enjoyed this video 😆
I've been watching this guy's biased and malicious videos for years. It seems that he has no way to hide anymore because he is bad character.
I'm not a Sony camera user, but I was once again outraged by this guy.
I don't know how FStopper gives space to this guy ...
"It seems that he has no way to hide anymore because he is bad character."
Are we talking about Tony Northrup or Pol Pot?
Playstation is technically also a Sony product with horrible UI/UX. Desyncing gamepads is a nightmare.
5 reasons not to like the A1 is still about 45 reasons less than the 50 reasons not to watch a Northrup video...
I got 99 problems but a Northrup ain't 1 ;)
He complains about:
1. The screen not being bright enough. Does it not have brightness adjustment?
2. 160 GB Type A card not big enough to shoot RAW at 30 fps. Maybe if you try to shoot at 30 fps the entire time. No one is going to do that at an actual shoot. One of my bodies is a 42 mp and 64 gb card is more than enough for over 1300 images.
3. SD cards are not fast enough. Try v90's. They typically have a max write speed of 250 mbs (299 for the Sony's). Oh, and don't shoot 30 fps the whole time. Let's not be dumb.
You can have brightness adjustment paired with dim screen, cmon. You can say many good things about sonys, but screens arent one of them.
You always have to wait until Mk III or higher for a Sony camera.
You know there is never a Mk III unless versions 1 and 2 are really good.
...
I unsubscribed to his Youtube channel long time ago, but Fstoppers found a way to lure me into this type of crap again.