Sony A 1 announced

Their website seems to be ahead of reality by a few days.

An issue with the new update to CaptureOne that includes support for the Sony a1 - it will not work with the new lossless compressed RAWs - they are working on an update! So for now, shoot either uncompressed or with the lossy compression...

Complete review from DPReview now up:
https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sony-a1-review

FYI, there’s a fairly significant issue with the eye sensor in sunlight that users are reporting. The latest firmware didn’t address it.

Scott Fairbairn wrote:FYI, there’s a fairly significant issue with the eye sensor in sunlight that users are reporting. The latest firmware didn’t address it.

I did think it was odd that they repositioned it from the top of the viewfinder to the bottom.  I wonder if the sun hitting it, which is MUCH easier now than the old design is causing it to over heat and stop working.

E.J. Peiker wrote:

Scott Fairbairn wrote:FYI, there’s a fairly significant issue with the eye sensor in sunlight that users are reporting. The latest firmware didn’t address it.

I did think it was odd that they repositioned it from the top of the viewfinder to the bottom.  I wonder if the sun hitting it, which is MUCH easier now than the old design is causing it to over heat and stop working.

I would think having it above the EVF would be better since it would have shade. Here's a really weird part. I have the EVF/LCD set to manual switching. I programmed a custom button to switch between EVF and LCD. But in the sun(behind me to right), if the camera is shaded and I raise the camera, the EVF will turn on(assuming it has timed out due to inactivity) when I press the shutter button. However, if the sun is behind me and relatively high in the sky when I raise the camera and hit the shutter button, the EVF stays off, and hitting the custom button does nothing. But if I lower the camera and turn away from the sun, keep the camera shaded and raise the camera to my eye, the EVF turns on. It's almost like the sensor is still operative despite turning off the auto switch.
It is very angle specific, but once it's correct, it does it every time unless I keep it shaded. I will need to wear a broad-rimmed hat I think.

I too have the EVF problem at first I thought it was something I had set wrong as it only went black or dead a couple of times when I first got the camera but reading on the web it soon became apparent that the A1 has a fault.
I bought a bigger eye cup as some said it helped and yes it did but the blackout still could happen and did so I then put a tiny bit of electrical tape with a hole in the centre over the sensor so about 90% is covered I also glued a small piece of black gauze to the eye cup so no direct sunlight can hit the sensor this along with turning the camera on when shooting and off when not has solved the problem for me .

I have the EVF /LCD on auto switch but the LCD will only come on when i pull it out a little .

Yes this is a lot of messing about but at leased i can rely on the A1 working as it has since i did this and i'm just about use to the on off way of working.

Rob.
Pic of eye cup mod

https://flic.kr/p/2kVc514

Wow, if it's the actual sensor they specced that's at fault, it may not be fixable in FW. A recall would be devastating on a camera like this to replace the sensor especially since the worldwide semiconductor shortage is extremely bad.