Osprey1959maine

What’s the feedback for wildlife / bird photography quite expensive .. is it worth it and how does it compare to the d850 or Canon R5

Thanks

ricardo00

IMO, the best reviewer out there:

https://backcountrygallery.com/sony-a1-review-for-wildlife-photographers/

However only you can decide if it "is worth it". If you have to also buy lenses to switch to Sony, you are talking major $$$.

UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

Check out that review, he goes through everything.

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

Steve's review is very good. I don't see a lot of us switching to an $8000.00 camera any time soon as great as it may be. Buying my D850 was a real stretch for me. At least I already had lenses.

Ltgk20 Loc: Salisbury, NC

Mark Smith is also a good resource who's shot the A1 and R5 and has a video specifically about moving from the D850 and D500 to the a9 (and later to the a1). Arbitrage on Fred Miranda also shot them and has made many posts speaking to their strengths and weaknesses.

Osprey1959maine

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Osprey1959maine

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Osprey1959maine

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CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

The EOS R5 has changed how we think about mirrorless, how we think about photography, how we think about life. The others not so much.

Osprey1959maine

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ricardo00

Wow, not sure how a camera can change "how we think about life"? Recovering from COVID (or cancer or a heart attack) or even the development of a COVID vaccine, I can imagine could do that. But a camera? The Canon R5 (from others) appears to be a very good camera, the Sony A1 appears to be better (according to people like Steve), something I have zero ability to evaluate not having shot either. As a Nikon shooter, hoping that the Z9 will up their game to close to that of the Sony and Canon, but even at $6,500 have no illusions that it can effect how I think about life (an incredibly precious gift which at my age I don't feel one can take for granted).

https://www.flickr.com/photos/60519499@N00/albums

Osprey1959maine

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billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

First of all, it really is not a fair comparison between the D850 (7fps) and the a1 (30fps) for shooting birds in flight.
I own the Sony a9 and shoot birds in flight with the Sony 200-600 and 600 f4 prime. I rented the a1 to see how I liked it, I found nearly no difference in focusing speed, the a1 did have bird EYE focus, my a9 only had animal EYE focus, but even then focusing speeds were very similar. However, the a1 can shot RAW at 30 fps, my a9 20 fps.
Doesn't seem like much at first but if your photographing the landing of a bird with nesting material and hands it off to the female in the blink of an eye, then the extra 10 fps can spell the difference between getting and not getting the shot.
Now, is the a1 worth the price, ONLY YOU CAN DETERMINE THAT, I can tell you that Sony has just put the focusing guts of the a1 into a base model. I believe they will soon put the guts of the a1 into the a9III. And that will save you 2 grand.
I get great results with my D850 and the Nikon 500mm 5.6 prime, however, I like shooting that prime off the D500 because I get more reach, the dual focusing systems of the D850 and D500 measure up well against my a9. Again, I get great images from all three camera's.
BOTTOM LINE, if your not getting stellar results from your current D850 or R5, your images will not improve much with the a1. IMHO

tcthome Loc: NJ

If you go thru you tube vids, some show a view of EVF recordings & the focus system is amazingly sticky on to its subject. And the in sharp in focus rate is probably around 90% for someone who knows how to use it. 30fps at 50mp's full raw files will test your computer for sure. A 5 second burst & you have 150 photos to review. Wonder what the shutter is rated for?) If your shooting fast moving subjects , it will give you a better chance of getting just the rite photo out of an action sequence. The video specs are pretty good also. Probably the best on the market as an all around camera rite now as was the D850 when it came out. Next up is the Canon R5, until Canon's R3 & Nikon's Z9 are released & we have to wait for real use reviews.

tcthome Loc: NJ

$6500 before extra batteries & memory cards +tax. Uhh, $8k is probably correct!