Sony Alpha 1 A1 Article By Harvey Stearn

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    Topic: Sony Alpha 1 A1 Article By Harvey Stearn Read 638 Times
  • Kevin Raber
    Kevin Raber
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    Posts: 1283
    New Article Announcements & Discussions
    on: May 28, 2021 at 6:06 pm

    Harvey Stearn has shared his article on his experience with the Sony Alpha 1 camera also known as the Sony a1.  I published a story a few months back also on this amazing piece of hardware.  It’s one of the finest cameras I have ever photographed with.  Harvey’s story has lots of images and if you are a Silver or Gold member you can click on the images to see them larger.  We’ll have more on this camera at the end of June after I have a chance to shoot with it for a few weeks in the Palouse.  In the meantime, Harvey covers some excellent points on why he likes the Sony a1.

    Kevin Raber
    Owner and Publisher of photoPXL

    Louis Foubare
    Louis Foubare
    Silver Member
    Posts: 286
    Re: Sony Alpha 1 A1 Article By Harvey Stearn
    Reply #1 on: May 29, 2021 at 10:22 am

    Harvey

    Enjoyed your article and images. It was interesting to see you are using many manual focus lenses. So it sounds like you have had no issues with the A1. Many have complained about the Eye sensor not cooperating mostly when the sun is from behind. Also some stubborn IBIS issues have surfaced where it takes 5-10 seconds to activate depending on lens. I do not remember but the issues reported seem to be when using Sony lenses.

    • This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by Louis Foubare.
    Simon Simpson
    Simon Simpson
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    Posts: 59
    Re: Sony Alpha 1 A1 Article By Harvey Stearn
    Reply #2 on: May 31, 2021 at 2:52 pm

    I’m not sure I agree with Harvey that the colour from Sony cameras is “accurate”; stunning yes, but not entirely accurate.

    As the owner of a Sony camera (not one at the same elevation as the Sony A1) I am forever correcting blue skies which often seem to lack sufficient magenta to my eye. My other camera (different make) seems rather good with blue skies which I do not need to tweak.

    But the images Harvey produced from the A1 were particularly impressive.

    Harvey Stearn
    Harvey Stearn
    Silver Member
    Posts: 14
    Re: Sony Alpha 1 A1 Article By Harvey Stearn
    Reply #3 on: November 11, 2021 at 9:43 pm

    Louis and Simon, thank you for your comments. You both raise some interesting comments. So, let me share with you some additional observations that I have. First I have not encountered any issues using the manual focus Zeiss Loxia lenses on the Sony Alpha 1, but admittedly don’t exhaust all the different capture situations that can test the camera’s capability. For the type of photography that I mostly do, I find autofocus actually slows me down because there are too many times when the autofocus will snap in on the wrong part of the image. This doesn’t happen when using focus tracking on fast moving subjects, particularly with long lenses. But, it will happen when using shorter focal lengths (100mm or less) for landscapes or other relatively static scenes. However, the biggest reason why I use these lenses is their ability to provide fine detail and control contrast on a fine level. In my editing, I always use too to favor this type of contrast, and really use the overall contrast slider except possibly to reduce overall contrast.

    Simon, I agree that left to its own devices, the Sony cameras including the Alpha 1 don’t always nail the right color balance. That may be the result of natural variation between individual cameras in any given production run; and Japan historically set wider tolerance ranges for production runs, though I don’t know if that is still the case. However, that really isn’t an issue for me, since I usually use a color meter to set the color temperature of my exposures in order to have an easier time with color balance corrections during post edit, and am also primed to compensate for any consistent biases. Also, blaming color balance deviations solely on the camera may not be fair. Lenses can also contribute to any deviations. That’s another reason I prefer the Zeiss Loxia lenses, as I find their color rendition slightly more accurate and consistent than many other lens lines. I’ve been doing photography for seventy years, and have owned hundreds of lenses. Somehow, I keep coming back to Zeiss lenses, though they’ve had some disappointments as well. However, the Loxia series was specifically developed to fully exploit the capability of Sony sensors in their mirrorless cameras. However, I may well be splitting hairs here. In photography, everything comes down to personal tastes, and perhaps also biases. Well, whatever makes us photographers happy!

    AZfotopro

    Kevin Raber
    Kevin Raber
    Silver Member
    Posts: 1283
    Re: Sony Alpha 1 A1 Article By Harvey Stearn
    Reply #4 on: November 12, 2021 at 1:00 am

    The Sony a1 is an amazing camera.  I have photographed with many cameras over the last 50 years.  Also, I was lucky enough to work for Phase One for 13 years and during that time I learned a lot about color and the ability of sensors to record color accurately.  I have been having amazing results with a1 images as well as a7riv images using Capture One and their Pro Film Curves.  Also, with the ability to mask skies with more ease it is easy to adjust color casts in skies or, for that matter just about everything if needed.

    So much of accuracy is still very subjective.  Like Harvey, I will measure color temp. and/or shoot a color checker and balance on one of the patches.  On my pocket color checker, there are biased color-neutral patches that can cool or warm images.  Maybe it is time to do an article on this great tool.

     

     

    Kevin Raber
    Owner and Publisher of photoPXL

    Andrew Rodney
    Andrew Rodney
    Participant
    Posts: 389
    Re: Sony Alpha 1 A1 Article By Harvey Stearn
    Reply #5 on: November 12, 2021 at 1:45 pm

    So much of accuracy is still very subjective.

    Until you measure (color) accuracy and report it.

    I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind.“-Lord Kelvin

    But yes, rendered images contain subjective, pleasing color.

    Like Harvey, I will measure color temp. and/or shoot a color checker and balance on one of the patches. 

    It is too bad digital cameras (and their converters) are rather poor instruments for measuring actual color temperature.

    http://digitaldog.net/files/RawWB_Differences.jpg

    Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management" (pluralsight.com)

    • This reply was modified 2 years, 4 months ago by Andrew Rodney. Reason: Image example provided
    • This reply was modified 2 years, 4 months ago by Andrew Rodney.
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