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.
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!
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!
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.
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..
I agree -- I was very disappointed when they did not add any auto focus stacking features in the 2024 firmware update -- seems like that would have been an easy add. Pre-capture would be truly game changing for some of the wildlife shooting I do but it seemed unlikely as I imagine that would require hardware optimization to do well. Hoping both of these features make it into the Mk II.
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.
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.
@@FabianFoppNaturephotography yes , I understand, I mean just speak about the line of lens for wildlife. I don’t mean describing every lens. When you buy A1 , you should buy lenses from Sony line. For me Nikon line is better than Sony - they have so many PF lenses. Thanks for your job. It’s just my opinion.
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 😀
I'm sure the R5ii will be better! I hope canon releases some more "Affordable" wildlife focused RF lenses like Nikon has been doing. A compact 600mm f/5.6 prime would be awesome!
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.
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
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!
@@FabianFoppNaturephotography sorry, typing too fast! I meant the new R5M2. I know it isn’t out yet and all of the preview videos have mostly been sports focused, but it looks pretty impressive especially the autofocus which looks like an improvement on the R3. I’ve also borrowed a current R5 before so have familiarity with the controls and settings already, but not enough I couldn’t learn something new! :) I also like that with canon for a reasonable price I could get more reach with the 200-800, although it’s not small. Appreciate the response and enjoy Scandinavia!
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.
Yes, I‘m also not sure. But with Canon I have seen that some cameras stabilise videos better than others (using the same lens). And for still shooting I felt no difference in stabilization between Canon or Nikon (or Sony) but in video mode it’s clear
@@FabianFoppNaturephotography I greatly appreciate the reply and I am enjoying your channel very much. From my limited experience, I think there should be a separate IS rating for video since there are clear discrepancies between brands. If you can shoot a camera you should be able to handle two separate ratings for IS. That said, I'll take the advice of Casey Neistat: "Just hold the camera steady!"
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.
It does make sense. Pretty much having full still frames for the AF to work with instead of partial frames with rolling shutter. I dont know if this is how the af works but seems logical to me. Hopefully nikon and canon get global sensor cameras out soon. Its the logical step foward for all future cameras.
I heard that the image quality of the A9 III is not the best, probably a trade-off with the global shutter. So I am wondering if for wildlife „normal“ stacked sensors (A1, Z9, R5 II) are the best compromise at the moment?
@@FabianFoppNaturephotography No it has caveats but so does stacked sensor although not as much as global shutter guess it depends on your needs and always fine glass and superior auto focus can make as much difference ,but high MP cams do crop really well and have better iq generally if you need it.
@FabianFoppNaturephotography the point is, Sony A1 like every other camera, shoots 20fps lossless raw. You are saying as if it is 30fps lossless raw and full 14bit. 30fps is only 12bit and lossy. Also only a few less allows you to shoot at 30fps. All 3rd party lenses max out at 15fps 12bit lossy raw. The difference in file size is about 25%. So you are losing quite a bit of data.
@@mlai2546 I had that concern as well, but after shooting over 400k frames with it, about 60% of those at 30 fps compressed raw, the other 40% at 20 fps or slower using uncompressed raw, it is virtually impossible to tell the difference, even in high dynamic range scenes with subjects like Bald Eagles (which are like flying dynamic range tests). Jpg vs compressed raw is like the difference between night and day when working in post. The compressed raws are really good, and I bet you'd have a hard time telling the difference working with a 12-bit raw vs a 14 bit raw.
@smithcon what I am trying to say is that youtubers likes to claim Sony does 30fps Raw. You will not see one person clarify that it's lossy raw and at 12 bit. Or like Sony's EVF is 9 million dots when it's only 9 million when you are not shooting. Drops to like 320x200 when shooting. To me it's full of BS marketing crap.
Do you want to get better bird pictures? Check out my E-Book: naturfotografie-fopp.ch/wp/e-book-bird-photography/
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.
Thanks
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!
Thanks 😊
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!
Have fun with your Sony gear!
Great review, and Gus Fring appreciates your wardrobe choice as well!
Haha, thanks
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.
Thanks for sharing your experiences
Shooting the same aperture?
@@daran0815 yes, we were all shooting at the lowest apertures. I was at 1/15th of a second, if that gives you a gauge on how dark it was.
What firmware are you on? I’m still on 1.3 and want to update to 2.02 to see if the AF improved but I’m worried 😂
@ the latest version
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..
Haha, I can totally relate
I agree -- I was very disappointed when they did not add any auto focus stacking features in the 2024 firmware update -- seems like that would have been an easy add. Pre-capture would be truly game changing for some of the wildlife shooting I do but it seemed unlikely as I imagine that would require hardware optimization to do well. Hoping both of these features make it into the Mk II.
Not sure if R5 or R5ii has it, but R6ii allows you to set the DOF preview to always on.
Yes, you can do it on the R5 II 😊 but not on the original R5
Just saw your review of the Sony A1. Thank you for that. I would be very interested in a review of the Sony A9M3.
Thanks for the feedback!
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.
Thanks for the feedback. Have fun with your camera!
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.
I hope you will continue to have fun with it for a long time 😊
I think the most important point about AFC is during the video. I think for the still picture, the AFC is getting pretty close.
I felt that the recognition was still different depending on the conditions
Thanks for video, I think you should add also lens in your video, because it’s important for choosing system.
Yes, I agree that it is also very important. But this video was about the A1, not the lenses
@@FabianFoppNaturephotography yes , I understand, I mean just speak about the line of lens for wildlife. I don’t mean describing every lens. When you buy A1 , you should buy lenses from Sony line. For me Nikon line is better than Sony - they have so many PF lenses. Thanks for your job. It’s just my opinion.
Hanging out to see what the Canon R5II brings to the table.
Yes, I‘m also very excited to buy that camera
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 😀
I'm sure the R5ii will be better! I hope canon releases some more "Affordable" wildlife focused RF lenses like Nikon has been doing. A compact 600mm f/5.6 prime would be awesome!
I‘m really looking forward to that camera 😊
@@keeno86 that's still not going to be affordable.
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 !
I will try 😊
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.
Interesting! I feel the same regarding the lenses, but the AF of the A1 was much clearly than the Z9 in my testing
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
Danke ☺️
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!
All are pretty good, hard to give a simple answer. I assume you mean the Canon R6, not R4, right?
@@FabianFoppNaturephotography sorry, typing too fast! I meant the new R5M2. I know it isn’t out yet and all of the preview videos have mostly been sports focused, but it looks pretty impressive especially the autofocus which looks like an improvement on the R3. I’ve also borrowed a current R5 before so have familiarity with the controls and settings already, but not enough I couldn’t learn something new! :) I also like that with canon for a reasonable price I could get more reach with the 200-800, although it’s not small.
Appreciate the response and enjoy Scandinavia!
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.
Yes, I‘m also not sure. But with Canon I have seen that some cameras stabilise videos better than others (using the same lens). And for still shooting I felt no difference in stabilization between Canon or Nikon (or Sony) but in video mode it’s clear
@@FabianFoppNaturephotography I greatly appreciate the reply and I am enjoying your channel very much. From my limited experience, I think there should be a separate IS rating for video since there are clear discrepancies between brands. If you can shoot a camera you should be able to handle two separate ratings for IS. That said, I'll take the advice of Casey Neistat: "Just hold the camera steady!"
It better be best for that price.
Also true 😅😊
Is it better than z9 af ?
Yes, in my opinion clearly
Zebras!
Did I say something else?
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.
It does make sense. Pretty much having full still frames for the AF to work with instead of partial frames with rolling shutter. I dont know if this is how the af works but seems logical to me. Hopefully nikon and canon get global sensor cameras out soon. Its the logical step foward for all future cameras.
I heard that the image quality of the A9 III is not the best, probably a trade-off with the global shutter. So I am wondering if for wildlife „normal“ stacked sensors (A1, Z9, R5 II) are the best compromise at the moment?
@@FabianFoppNaturephotography No it has caveats but so does stacked sensor although not as much as global shutter guess it depends on your needs and always fine glass and superior auto focus can make as much difference ,but high MP cams do crop really well and have better iq generally if you need it.
Sony A1 30fps is not lossless. It's like shooting 30fps jpg.
Nope, really not the same. Have you edited the compressed raw files of the A1?
@FabianFoppNaturephotography the point is, Sony A1 like every other camera, shoots 20fps lossless raw. You are saying as if it is 30fps lossless raw and full 14bit. 30fps is only 12bit and lossy. Also only a few less allows you to shoot at 30fps. All 3rd party lenses max out at 15fps 12bit lossy raw. The difference in file size is about 25%. So you are losing quite a bit of data.
Nonsense
@@mlai2546 I had that concern as well, but after shooting over 400k frames with it, about 60% of those at 30 fps compressed raw, the other 40% at 20 fps or slower using uncompressed raw, it is virtually impossible to tell the difference, even in high dynamic range scenes with subjects like Bald Eagles (which are like flying dynamic range tests). Jpg vs compressed raw is like the difference between night and day when working in post. The compressed raws are really good, and I bet you'd have a hard time telling the difference working with a 12-bit raw vs a 14 bit raw.
@smithcon what I am trying to say is that youtubers likes to claim Sony does 30fps Raw. You will not see one person clarify that it's lossy raw and at 12 bit. Or like Sony's EVF is 9 million dots when it's only 9 million when you are not shooting. Drops to like 320x200 when shooting. To me it's full of BS marketing crap.
The Sony A1 is a marketing bubble, it's a piece of shit that doesn't really work - it doesn't focus.
What do you mean with „it doesn’t focus“?