Joshua Milligan
Well-known member
I am considering selling my A7SIII for a second A1 to go along with my FX6. I love my A7SIII, but I am getting more jobs recently that are requiring me to deliver photographs in addition to video. I don't like doing both and would prefer to just do video, but I'm finding that marketing teams for various companies/agencies are starting to want to work with people who can do both. And because of how I work, I typically shoot stills with two cameras bodies, hence the need for a second A1.
You might wonder why I don't just keep my A7SIII and simply grab an A7IV, but the truth is I don't want that camera. It's useless to me for video since it has horrible overheating issues (and I live in Texas), plus the rolling shutter is terrible. As such it would only be a stills camera and nothing else. I would rather have a second A1 that can do both and do both well than a body I'll only ever use for stills.
The A1 is great and I've been using it for a while now. For video, I've used it as a C-cam to my FX6/A7SIII on three camera shoots as well as a handheld/slider cam when my A7SIII is already mounted to a gimbal.
In my opinion, the A1 is dang near the perfect mirrorless camera. It shoots stills faster than an A9 with quality that exceeds the A7RIV (thanks to better colors and better noise performance), all while matching or exceeding the A7SIII for video in virtually every category. Some say the A1's screen should've been the flip out type, but I think that's simply personal preference as I actually prefer the tilting kind. Some also say it's not as good in lowlight as the A7SIII, but again I think that's down to personal preference as the A1 outperforms the A7SIII up until 12,800. So unless you're filming in extreme lowlight conditions, the A1 actually outperforms the A7SIII, while also offering Super35 4K (downscaled from 5.8K) as well as full frame 8K in 10-bit 4:2:0 which edits well if you turn on proxy recording and work with proxies in post.
In my opinion the A1 really only has one flaw and that's the fact that its full frame 4K is pixel binned (some say it's line skipped, but most say binned, I am not an engineer so I don't know). The pixel binned full frame 4K doesn't really suffer from softness as side-by-side chart shots compared to the A7SIII's native full frame 4K look nearly indistinguishable. You can barely see that the A7SIII is sharper, but only when looking at side-by-side charts scaled in. In real world shooting where I've used the A1 in full frame 4K alongside the A7SIII, to my eye they look exactly the same sharpness wise. Even in three camera interview shoots I can't really see a difference between the A1, A7SIII or FX6. As such the only flaw I've found in the whole camera, photo or video wise, is that the pixel binned 4K full frame is more susceptible to aliasing. That's really it. Outside of that, it's dang near perfect.
That brings me to the topic of this post. In my experience so far, I can only recall seeing aliasing one time on an actual paid shoot and that was on a pair on blue jeans during a shot I got of a construction manager. I didn't notice it at first, but when reviewing the footage at home I could see it. Did it ruin the shot? No. But I am not a fan of aliasing, so it did stick out to me. Outside of that, I haven't really noticed it much.
That being said, I have seen it in other people's footage online and I know there will be times when needing to get say a wide angle gimbal shot of a building where aliasing could rear its ugly head. So to prepare for that, I have been doing some digging online to see how I could minimize it. One workaround is to shoot in Super35 4K when there are fine patterns as it isn't binned. Another is to shoot in 8K if in the same situation, but when you need full frame. Both of those options are great, but what if you need 4K 60p full frame, or what if you need 4K 120p which is only in full frame? Both of those options would require you to use the pixel binned full frame 4K image.
An interesting idea I read about was to use mist filters for those situations. I have and use a 1/8 mist filter all the time and really like the look, so I wouldn't mind using it when needing to shoot in full frame 4K. I've never tried it though specifically for aliasing and am curious if any of you have. If so, does it truly reduce or eliminate it? If so, that could be a fantastic workaround for this problem.
Overall the A1 is an amazing camera and I don't mind selling my A7SIII to pick up a second one. I just want to make sure I don't find myself in aliasing hell whereas I haven't with my A7SIII. Sony could simply fix this problem by giving us a 4K HQ mode similar to what Canon does with the R5. The A1 handles heat well, so I wish Sony would do this. 4K downsampled from the 8K, especially if they could get it up to 120p, would make this camera pretty much perfect in my opinion. But until that happens, I am looking for other options.
Thanks!
You might wonder why I don't just keep my A7SIII and simply grab an A7IV, but the truth is I don't want that camera. It's useless to me for video since it has horrible overheating issues (and I live in Texas), plus the rolling shutter is terrible. As such it would only be a stills camera and nothing else. I would rather have a second A1 that can do both and do both well than a body I'll only ever use for stills.
The A1 is great and I've been using it for a while now. For video, I've used it as a C-cam to my FX6/A7SIII on three camera shoots as well as a handheld/slider cam when my A7SIII is already mounted to a gimbal.
In my opinion, the A1 is dang near the perfect mirrorless camera. It shoots stills faster than an A9 with quality that exceeds the A7RIV (thanks to better colors and better noise performance), all while matching or exceeding the A7SIII for video in virtually every category. Some say the A1's screen should've been the flip out type, but I think that's simply personal preference as I actually prefer the tilting kind. Some also say it's not as good in lowlight as the A7SIII, but again I think that's down to personal preference as the A1 outperforms the A7SIII up until 12,800. So unless you're filming in extreme lowlight conditions, the A1 actually outperforms the A7SIII, while also offering Super35 4K (downscaled from 5.8K) as well as full frame 8K in 10-bit 4:2:0 which edits well if you turn on proxy recording and work with proxies in post.
In my opinion the A1 really only has one flaw and that's the fact that its full frame 4K is pixel binned (some say it's line skipped, but most say binned, I am not an engineer so I don't know). The pixel binned full frame 4K doesn't really suffer from softness as side-by-side chart shots compared to the A7SIII's native full frame 4K look nearly indistinguishable. You can barely see that the A7SIII is sharper, but only when looking at side-by-side charts scaled in. In real world shooting where I've used the A1 in full frame 4K alongside the A7SIII, to my eye they look exactly the same sharpness wise. Even in three camera interview shoots I can't really see a difference between the A1, A7SIII or FX6. As such the only flaw I've found in the whole camera, photo or video wise, is that the pixel binned 4K full frame is more susceptible to aliasing. That's really it. Outside of that, it's dang near perfect.
That brings me to the topic of this post. In my experience so far, I can only recall seeing aliasing one time on an actual paid shoot and that was on a pair on blue jeans during a shot I got of a construction manager. I didn't notice it at first, but when reviewing the footage at home I could see it. Did it ruin the shot? No. But I am not a fan of aliasing, so it did stick out to me. Outside of that, I haven't really noticed it much.
That being said, I have seen it in other people's footage online and I know there will be times when needing to get say a wide angle gimbal shot of a building where aliasing could rear its ugly head. So to prepare for that, I have been doing some digging online to see how I could minimize it. One workaround is to shoot in Super35 4K when there are fine patterns as it isn't binned. Another is to shoot in 8K if in the same situation, but when you need full frame. Both of those options are great, but what if you need 4K 60p full frame, or what if you need 4K 120p which is only in full frame? Both of those options would require you to use the pixel binned full frame 4K image.
An interesting idea I read about was to use mist filters for those situations. I have and use a 1/8 mist filter all the time and really like the look, so I wouldn't mind using it when needing to shoot in full frame 4K. I've never tried it though specifically for aliasing and am curious if any of you have. If so, does it truly reduce or eliminate it? If so, that could be a fantastic workaround for this problem.
Overall the A1 is an amazing camera and I don't mind selling my A7SIII to pick up a second one. I just want to make sure I don't find myself in aliasing hell whereas I haven't with my A7SIII. Sony could simply fix this problem by giving us a 4K HQ mode similar to what Canon does with the R5. The A1 handles heat well, so I wish Sony would do this. 4K downsampled from the 8K, especially if they could get it up to 120p, would make this camera pretty much perfect in my opinion. But until that happens, I am looking for other options.
Thanks!
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