Sony has a new flagship camera. Indeed, the Japanese company has just presented the Sony Alpha 1 on Tuesday, a mirrorless one equipped with a full-frame sensor that has an effective resolution of 50.1 megapixels.
This model arrives to reinforce the presence of this brand in the professional market, and will coexist with the large portfolio of E-mount lenses. So far, it seems like one more camera for professionals and photography enthusiasts, but its specifications can be seen to be that Sony engineers have put all the meat on the grill to ensure that this Alpha 1 can compete face to face with the flagship models of brands such as Canon or Nikon.
The heart of this mirrorless camera with interchangeable lenses is a Full Frame Exmor RS CMOS sensor with a size of 35, 9 x 24 mm and an effective resolution of 50.1 megapixels. To solve autofocus, Sony engineers have turned to a hybrid phase detection and contrast detection solution that, according to this brand, performs significantly better in difficult shooting scenarios than the focus of the most advanced cameras that it currently has in the stores.
The image processor that works hand in hand with the sensor is a BIONZ XR chip that is eight times more powerful than the processor incorporated in the previous flagship model of this brand. This chip plays a crucial role in 4K and 8K video recording. Another component of this camera that is worth dwelling on is its viewfinder, an electronic device equipped with a 0.64 "OLED screen that has a resolution of 9.4 million dots.
On paper it looks good, but what really makes it interesting is that it is capable of running at a refresh rate of 240 FPS, a refresh rate that should effectively minimize latency. The LCD screen uses a 3-inch TFT matrix with a resolution of 1,440,000 dots, which is removable and allows us to adjust its inclination. Regarding image stabilization, the sensor incorporates a mechanism that allows it to be moved in 5 axes, a common solution for several years in Sony's high-end cameras that has been gradually refined.
Everything we've seen so far looks good, but one of the strongest points of this camera is its video recording capabilities. And it is that it can record 8K video sequences at 30 FPS with 4: 2 color coding: 0 to 10 bits in XAVC HS format. Or, if we prefer, you can record at 4K, 120 FPS 4: 2: 2, and 10-bit.