Sony A1 Review - Better than Nikon Z9 or Canon R5? 

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Thanks for the review, I thought you did a good job covering all the main points (especially with only 10 days with the camera). Definitely interested in more Sony, Canon, and Nikon reviews.

I have them all and for me the Nikon Z9 has become the better camera overall. Autofocus is neck and neck R3 Z9 and A1. But if you go for wildlife lenses then the Nikon is the best atm and the canon second best.

Was shooting owls in really low light the other day, I was shooting with 2 other photographers that have the z8. I was shooting with the A1 and neither one of them was able to get focused on the owl and the A1 was locking on the eye with no problem.

I switched from The R5 to the A1 because my R5 was just missing shots as I photographed a Kingfisher next to my friend using an A1. For 45 days thru Jan and feb 2024 I lost shots that he got and when I switched it was an eye opener. I agree with everything you said word for word. I also now have the Sony 400 2.8 which I barely was able to get by selling every scrap of canon gear including 3 bodies and 2 great white primes. But NOW, I do NOT need 3 bodies any more. So there!

Great review as always Fabian! I'll be sticking with my R5 :) but the a1 does seem like a great choice for those in the Sony ecosystem! I like how you spend a lot of time discussing your custom setups and layout of the buttons and ergonomics in your reviews, thats one of the more important aspects to me and many reviewers leave out those details!

For me, the camera could stay as it is, even 5 mpx less would be fine, but lack of focus bracketing for macro is just an issue. Of course we could add pre-capture and so on.. Probably A1 mark II will have everything if not global sensor, but still it's fight between A1 and A9III. A9III in the other hand misses 26 mpx difference to cropping in post. That's crazy, how they keep everytime on the edge of choice.. and you still will miss this or that..

As I mentioned below the German edition, I was lucky to purchase a Sony A1 in mint condition and boy am I happy with it. The 30 fps ability is just wild. Keeping in mind it's 50 MP in RAW. The Nikon Z9 maxes out at 20 fps in RAW. The 120 fps are 11 megapixels in jpg.

Great review, and Gus Fring appreciates your wardrobe choice as well!

Hi again Fabian, as always super review. I am glad you now have started looking at Sony and the A1, is of course still their best camera but for viewers looking at Sony starting out, a review of the A9 by you which offers fantastic spec, at a budget (used price) in the uk of around £1400 may be the way to go. I have been using this camera now for 4 years and its produced images that were never achievable before it came along. With costs on most peoples minds, especially when you also have to buy big wildlife lenses to get started this afordable body is well worth looking at as it gives the same image quality and focus of the A92 at a lower price. The Sony 200-600mm is also the best lens out there for the price.

Just saw your review of the Sony A1. Thank you for that. I would be very interested in a review of the Sony A9M3.

The Sony a1 would be worth it to me if it was in a canon body. lol Hopefully the Canon R5 II will at least match or exceed the Sony a1 🙏 Can’t wait to see your review 😀

Thanks for video, I think you should add also lens in your video, because it’s important for choosing system.

I think the most important point about AFC is during the video. I think for the still picture, the AFC is getting pretty close.

Hi Fabian. Can you do a similar comparison with the Sony A7 R5 please ? The budget will be similar to the Canon R5 and Nikon Z8. Thank you !

Hanging out to see what the Canon R5II brings to the table.

Fabian (and anyone else who'd like to weigh in!) - if starting from scratch what do you think you'd go with? Sony A1 and 100-400 (although most expensive by far), Nikon Z8 and 180-600, or Canon R4M2 (or M1...) with 100-500 or 200-800. I have previous experience in photography so know the basics but am just getting back into it and am going to focus pretty exclusively on birds/wildlife while I'm hiking. Thanks!

I wonder how much of Sony's reduced image stabilization performance comes from the lenses and not the IBIS. Isn't that more important at the longer focal lengths? The a9iii has eight stops of image stabilization, so that might be another camera you could try for that feature along with it's global shutter and 120 frames per second.

Hallo Fabian! Toller Review, gerade weil du ja nicht von der Sony Seite kommst! Ich habe die A1 schon seit Anfang an, auch wenn ich nur ein Wildlife-Anfänger bin, super Kamera. Natürlich sind die neueren, gerade auch von Sony in einigen Details besser u.a. der INBODY Stabilisierung und den AI Autofokus, dennoch eine Kamera die ich nicht missen möchte. Für Sony sind vergleiche mit der Konkurrenz von einem Profi wie Dir sicher hilfreich und das mögliche Resultat für uns Nutzer sicher vorteilhaft! Grüße Udo

It better be best for that price.

Zebras!

Is it better than z9 af ?

the a1 lacks the latest sony ai detect chip that the a7r5 and a9iii have ,on these animal/bird is combined ,also a9iii ergs improved the best single grip ergonomics at present on ff cameras ,if you want dual grip nikon and canon are best ,lenses are the selling factor for wildlife and nikon no.1 sony and canon playing catch up , be nice to see a a9iii review af is supposedly greater than the others a1 included ,seems global sensors are as game changing as the original a9 was with stacked sensor.

The Sony A1 is a marketing bubble, it's a piece of shit that doesn't really work - it doesn't focus.

Sony A1 30fps is not lossless. It's like shooting 30fps jpg.