Since the release of Sony A1, I've wanted to say something for a while
This episode is not a review, many internet influencers have got the prototype already
Let's just wait and see their detailed technical review
For A1, I will not buy it for sure. First, I can't afford it
Second, it's because its oustanding performance is obviously overkilled for me
Who should use A1？What's its market position?
Welcome to Colorbee Photography, I'm Brian from Melbourne
Why do I want to find its market position?
Cause positioning is very important
The unique perspective of camera review
The different targeted users of the machine
all of them only makes sense if they target users precisely
For the machine with accurate market position
its performace is tailered by users' needs
Therefore, it can reach a balance between price and performance
meeting all the needs with no overkilled performance
Which camera is the ideal one for you? Please leave your comments below
Cameras with accurate positioning have stable customer base
It's quite easy for cusumers to find friends with same interests
or to buy or sell a used product
For example, Sony A6000 or Canon 77D for beginners
the widely used A7III
7DII and 1DX for bird photogrpahy
all cameras above are very successful models with accurate positioning
Those models have been selling well for a long time
I want to predict the market positioning of A1 according to its tech specs
50 million pixels, the second highest among full frame camera
highest shooting speed, 30 frames per second
long shooting time of 8K video with no overheating
It can stably shoot 4K at 120fps with 10-bit 422
The performance seems really good and it's also worth the price
THe problem is still the price: 48,000 CNY, equals 10,000 AUD
Who should buy this one-for-everything machine?
Sony has always been ambitious in the profssional market
In the middle of 2020
The Associated Press announced its cooperation with Sony
Sony becomes the only photography gears provider for all branches in over 100 countries
A9 series becomes one of major models of photography
A7RIV for entertainment and portraits
Three advantages might explain why: completely silent shutter
ultra fast focusing and lightweight body
It's true except the first one, but it's true after all
That's the advantage of a mirrorless camera over a traditional DSLR
This fact that Associated Press switched to Sony
Whether it was Sony's PR behavior in the market
or the victory of mirrorless technology
proves that Sony's gears have become serious "working" equipments
Its reliability and performance have been recognized in the news industry.
In less than a year
A1, a even better machine than A9II, has born
The specs of A1 look really amazing
With the same size of A9II
A1 doubles the pixels and continuous shooting speed
and takes huge leap in video capacity, 8K recording without overheating
which really embarrases other competitors
A1 also supports fast charge
Some reviews suggested that the charging faster than the discharging
which means as long as external battery is connected
the A1 could keep working as long as you want to
However, such a powerful machine is not flawless
Everything seems to be powerful. But when you look deeply into tech specs
besides the continuous shooting speed and 5 million more pixels
Its core performance is not really better than that of Canon R5, if you really think about it
4K video uses line skipping acquisition in full frame
Or 5.7k super sampling acquisition in super 35
But R5 uses 8K super sampling acquisition to output 4K footage
The 8K internal recording on A1 only supports 10bit 420
Canon could output the real raw files
although suffering the overheating problems
Not to mention the stablisation which is more pratical while shooting on site
R5 has an 8-stop stablisation while A1 only has 5.5 stops
I'd like to talk about 8K video
8K video has shocking details
For me, in order to enjoying the 8K video
I have to replay my footage frame by frame
So I wont't miss any detail from the 33-million-pixel footage
But who watches TV like this?
Camera manufacturers are trying to sell all new technologies to users at a high price
For A1, such an excellent camera, I don't think it is reasonable
to put top-notch video capacity and cutting-edged photo performance
in one camera body which targets news and sports photography
Although both photographers and videographers use cameras
their ideas and expressing methods are completely different
For example, the principle to setting the shutter speed is so different
Sports photographer usually uses higher shutter speed to capture the action
while videographer uses a shutter speed that is twice the frame rate
to get a cinematic feeling
The shutter speed setting shows us the difference
I have to say it is quite a wishful move for Sony
to put such video and photo specs together
Some people will use 1DX as an example
If Canon makes such machine
Why can't Sony do the same?
However, the price of 1DX started at $9,000 since the first gen
The price is still at around $9,000 when it comes to the 3rd gen
So with the same price, the extra video functions are almost free
Sony A1, with better performance
Almost doubles the price of A9II
For this overkilled camera
unless you are financed by company
who is gonna do photo/videography at the same time?
I can only think of bird ohotography
Because A1 supports bird eye AF
The high shooting speedcan capture the best moment of birds flapping wings
The continuous shooting speed can always be higher
For video capacity
the 4K at 120fps
enables the videographer getting the footages looking as professional as BBC
Moreover, wildlife photography is just like fishing
camera has to stand by all the time without overheating
A1 could do an excellent job in this
Some other potential users could be
small wemedia studios seeking a versatile camera
and serious enthusiasts
For the average user, under the same budget
why don't you choose the A7R4 with more pixels
and A7S3 which is more pratical for videography?
The total price of those two is even not as high as A1's price.
Why Sony is catering to the niche market
by releasing a top-notch mixed camera?
The symbolic meaning of this camera is bigger than its pratical value.
I think Sony is challenging itself and the whole industry
Who will be challenged?
I think we have an answer
The 8K video shooting ability in A1
might not fancy the professional users
nor becomes affordable enough for the average users
So why?
Firstly, pushing the limits of chip technology
The market is mostly determined by the average users
other than the prosumers
Whoever frees the consumers from complicated exposure settings and color grading first
will dominate the industry
To making A1 a new flagship
Sony develops the dual BIONZ XR processor
which is capable of 120 AF and exposure calculating in 1sec
Laying a solid foundatin for deep-learning in camera industry
The newly-released Sony BRAVIA XR 8K television
is integrated with a new “Cognitive Processor XR”
enabling chips thinking like a human
to approcah the human habits better
And I am not sure if this is a coincidence that
both chips are named after XR
For camera, the built-in object recognition
scene recognition and even action recognition ability
will be the basic functions
The ultimate goal is to make photography more accessible
Secondly, a camera with high-quality images
can facilitate internet speed development
It's all just history repeating itself
The digital camera market significantly boosted in 2003 in China
which happened to be the same time as ADSL internet booming in China
This is not just a coincidence
The higher internet speed makes it easier to acess media
Vivid photos also took the place of texts
showing the value of high-speed internet
Nowadays the 5G Internet is ready
to bring some new ideas to the public
Like 8K
Sony A1 is not only challenging itself
but also threatening the previous leader - Canon
From the camera naming
we can see Sony’s ambition
Sony gave up the previous naming rule which is a bigger number means a higher level
like A9 is better than A7
Now they start with number one
aiming at the incoming R1 and 1DX other than EOS R5
So what should Nikon do?
The reason I am saying is because
There is tiny but symbolic detail
the ethernet port on A1
For sports/news photography
the photographer always hook up the camera with ethernet cable
uploading jpg files to the server on site
so the editors can edit the photos and publish the news
This is a standard procedure for reporting at large sports events
The ethernet connection firstly showed up in Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics
more accepted at London 2012 Summer Olympics
and widely used at Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics
At its golden time
Canon shared 60% of market in sports/news photography
this is definitely an index bar in the industry
However, after losing Associated Press which was one of the biggest customers of Canon
Canon lost more controllings of shrinked professional market
Canon won't let it go easily
We can wait for the releasing of R1
And we can also expect some big news from Nikon too
Given such fierce competition between brands, who will be the last one standing?
Half year ago, when a7s3 and R5 were released
people were complaining 6000bucks was insane
But A1 is out of stock since it is announced
Well, in the comparison R5 and a7s3 are relatively cheap
The average price of cameras is increased by Japanese brands
I do feel tricky about these companies
It looks like they are fighting with each other while actually making profits together
Me personally will start saving for A7M4 which fits me more
If you have budgeted 8000 bucks, which camera will you choose?
Leave a comment below. Thank you for watching, see you in the next episode.