arbitrage wrote:
Is this the sensor?
If so it confirms it will have the DGO (DCG-HDR) which will be nice for those shooting base ISO, high DR images in MS.
It also lists it as "Stacked". Does Sony usually differentiate between stacked and partially stacked in these sensor specs??
Yes, that is the exact sensor that is assumed to be in the a7r IV. I’m starting to wonder whether we should see this sensor more like a sibling to the one in a7 V but with higher pixel count. Double the pixels requires double data readout to keep most things the same between them. But we will know soon enough.
gdanmitchell wrote:
I was thinking about the “square sensor” business last night, and it occurred to me (as a person who used to use square sensor TLR cameras years ago) that hardly anyone got them because they wanted to make non-square images and avoid rotating the camera 90 degrees. I think that it would be the same with a digital square sensor camera today.
I cannot see it happening.
- - -
It isn’t uncommon for a lower-tier (or different tier?) model to pick up some. features from the prior generation of higher-tier cameras at introduction… and then for the next model of the higher tier product to pick up even more capabilities and features.
It makes sense for a lot of reasons. The technology has often dropped in cost — take high MP sensor for example. And by initially selling the new, lower tier model as “getting features from a more expensive model!” upgrades are encouraged to buy. And then, a few months later, when that top-tier model comes out with ITS improvements, that encourages even more purchases.
- - -
There are not THAT many situations in which 30fps is an advantage, and often it is actually better to shoot at a lower fps such as 10fps or so....Show more →
You don't have to the use the highest FPS, but sometimes on penguins jumping from the water or fastly birds flying, or animals like Wildebeests crossing the Mara it's very nice to get more frames. If a lion is not doing much then 15FPS is enough. I wish Sony could do 12FPS mechanical like Canon rather than 10FPS assuming the sensor read is not so fast, but it would not stop me from buying.
My guess is it will use a fully stacked sensor. I think the issue here for some people is that they confuse and equalize fully stacked sensor with top of the line performance.
Stacking is just a design architecture. It's like turbo engines in cars. The top of the line horsepower will have turbo engines, but there are also turbo engines that don't deliver top of the line horsepower. It all depends on what makes the best business sense (in terms of cost and effort) to achieve the target performance.
And I think A1iii will use global shutter sensors. It will target the next level.
EB-1 wrote:
You don't have to the use the highest FPS, but sometimes on penguins jumping from the water or fastly birds flying, or animals like Wildebeests crossing the Mara it's very nice to get more frames. If a lion is not doing much then 15FPS is enough. I wish Sony could do 12FPS mechanical like Canon rather than 10FPS assuming the sensor read is not so fast, but it would not stop me from buying.
EBH
That’s why I wrote “uncommon.” :-)
There are some situations where super fast frame rates might make a difference, and there are definitively situations in which burst mode is powerful and just about the only way to reliably get the shot. (Though even in those cases, a slower than maximum rate may be the best choice.)
10-15fps seems fast enough to me for birds, and I most of the time actually pick a lower rate. YMMV.
EB-1 wrote:
You don't have to the use the highest FPS, but sometimes on penguins jumping from the water or fastly birds flying, or animals like Wildebeests crossing the Mara it's very nice to get more frames. If a lion is not doing much then 15FPS is enough. I wish Sony could do 12FPS mechanical like Canon rather than 10FPS assuming the sensor read is not so fast, but it would not stop me from buying.
EBH
It’s like most enhanced features such as high mpix, eye af tracking, clean high iso, pre capture buffering, fast 1.4 lenses etc… you don’t need the feature for the majority of your images…but it sure is handy when the need arises. I see nothing wrong with cameras advancing technology…the photographer can choose to use the advanced feature or not.
May 01, 2026 at 01:17 PM
Steve Spencer Offline • • • • • • • Upload & Sell: On
tctmp wrote:
My guess is it will use a fully stacked sensor. I think the issue here for some people is that they confuse and equalize fully stacked sensor with top of the line performance.
Stacking is just a design architecture. It's like turbo engines in cars. The top of the line horsepower will have turbo engines, but there are also turbo engines that don't deliver top of the line horsepower. It all depends on what makes the best business sense (in terms of cost and effort) to achieve the target performance.
And I think A1iii will use global shutter sensors. It will target the next level....Show more →
I think you are way ahead of what is going to happen soon. It isn't like turbo engines in cars. You can get more horsepower in a car by building a bigger engine, but turbo engines can often deliver just as much power with a smaller engine. For the same horsepower then turbo often let's you go with a smaller engine. Those sorts of tradeoffs mean it isn't always cheaper to use a naturally aspirated engine than a turbo engine.
There is nothing like that with sensors. No such tradeoff exists. If you want sensor scan speed, you can't get it without stacking the sensor and a fully stacked sensor especially on a high MP camera like this one is expensive and stacking the sensor doesn't let you have anything like a smaller engine, so saves you nothing. It is more expensive. If the goal is a 15ms sensor scan speed, as the rumors seem to suggest, then there is no need to use a fully stacked sensor to get there. They can easily get there with a partially stacked sensor.
I also think it is really unlikely that the A1 III will be a global shutter camera. Lots of improvement in DR is needed with a global shutter at this point and I would be very surprised if they can get there by the time they make the A1 III and I can't see them making their flagship with weaker DR especially when they can make a A9 IV with a global shutter. Expect the A1 III to have something like a 60 MP fully stacked sensor with DR like the A7 V (and likely the A7r VI). That will be a great sensor, but it will be an expensive sensor and much better suited for a $7,000 camera like the A1 III, than the $4,500 or so A7r VI. If you want a global shutter A1, I am betting you will have to wait at least until the A1 IV.
If so it confirms it will have the DGO (DCG-HDR) which will be nice for those shooting base ISO, high DR images in MS.
Would be weird if it would not, especially given the expected price bump.
It also lists it as "Stacked". Does Sony usually differentiate between stacked and partially stacked in these sensor specs??
For what it is worth, there are only "Stacked" and "CoW Stacked" (Chip on Wafer) variants of stacked chips included on the full sheet. So it may be partial. For a fully stacked sensor one would expect something closer to A1 level speeds (so 50MP / 60MP * 250fps = 208fps), which is a far cry from the stated 60fps. Either way I don't think the current rumor frenzy is actually warranted.
arbitrage wrote:
Is this the sensor?
If so it confirms it will have the DGO (DCG-HDR) which will be nice for those shooting base ISO, high DR images in MS.
It also lists it as "Stacked". Does Sony usually differentiate between stacked and partially stacked in these sensor specs??
Is this sensor roadmap not showing the retail sensors not the proprietary sensors Sony uses in their own cameras?
In the full leaked roadmap I don’t see any of the sensors that are actually in their cameras.
There is no sensor that has matching specs to the A7IV, A7V, A9III, or A1/A1II and I believe that the 26mp and 61mp sensors on the roadmap are actually the sensors used by Fuji and Leica respectively.
If this is in fact the case I don’t think the 67mp sensor that may or may not be in the A7RVI is the one on the roadmap.
Alan Parker wrote:
Do you shoot at max FPS all the time and keep all the RAWs or JPEGs on your computer? Because that's a great way to run out of disk space
I do need to spam that 'auto-cull' button on Lightroom, heh. For travel, I'd say I'm not an offender, but for sports, yes, Max FPS.
gdanmitchell wrote:
I was thinking about the “square sensor” business last night, and it occurred to me (as a person who used to use square sensor TLR cameras years ago) that hardly anyone got them because they wanted to make non-square images and avoid rotating the camera 90 degrees. I think that it would be the same with a digital square sensor camera today.
I cannot see it happening.
- - -
It isn’t uncommon for a lower-tier (or different tier?) model to pick up some. features from the prior generation of higher-tier cameras at introduction… and then for the next model of the higher tier product to pick up even more capabilities and features.
It makes sense for a lot of reasons. The technology has often dropped in cost — take high MP sensor for example. And by initially selling the new, lower tier model as “getting features from a more expensive model!” upgrades are encouraged to buy. And then, a few months later, when that top-tier model comes out with ITS improvements, that encourages even more purchases.
- - -
There are not THAT many situations in which 30fps is an advantage, and often it is actually better to shoot at a lower fps such as 10fps or so....Show more →
Square sensor is rough. It just flat out costs more to make the Silicon so I'd imagine Sony would be reluctant to do it.
I'd say that 20FPS will often get the job done. Once in awhile, on the Z8, I'll find that the optimal frame will have been between 2 shots, but it's very very rare. 30FPS is good.
Someone mentioned 60FPS, but that has almost zero utility for me, and I'd always dial that back... although they might have been referring to readout speed.
So A7V is definitely a worthy camera but I’m not saying you should just place your order right now. Sony is obviously going to release A7C3 in the near future. It’s going to be more compact, more cute and cheaper. But the 4-axis screen is most likely off-the-table. Well you can’t have everything all at once. One thing you should absolutely pay attention to is whether it has the hybrid card slot. 30 FPS burst shooting without CFExpress-A is going to be extremely painful.
A7R6/A7CR2 is a bit tricky because R5II’s 45MP@160FPS sensor is just too good. I have no idea how Canon pulled that off but let’s just press F to pay respect. Logically A7R6 should be the 60MP version A7V with a 60MP@66FPS sensor, which sounds pretty good if only R5II doesn’t exist. But I guess if you’re stuck with Sony’s lensesthen it’s still acceptable. On the other hand if Sony matches R5II’s performance (60MP@160FPS or maybe a bit slower) then the A1 series just makes no sense anymore. It’s not exaggerating to say that R5II has messed up Sony’s whole high-end segment.
Sony could also bump up the resolution to 100MP as a selling point but I don’t think a lot of people will appreciate it. In this case they might have to reduce the readout speed to the sub 60FPS domain, and that’s a big DOA for me. Let’s just wait and see.
Anyway I think A1 is too overpriced (just look at Nikon Z8, it’s only $500 more expensive than A7V lol). Definitely not recommended given that its price could be dropping very fast in the future. Also A1C is not entirely impossible and it will be the ultimate compact camera....Show more →
Oh, and I paid LESS for my Z8 than I did for my A7V... not more.
The published price for the Z8 is $4300 and the a7V is $2900. The Z8 currently has a $900 promo. I don't think those cost differences are meaningful at the system level where you have tens of thousands in cameras/lenses/accessories. I'm expecting the a7rVI is in the mid to high $4K range and that the sensor will be too slow to disrupt the crowd.
EBH
May 02, 2026 at 01:54 PM
Steve Spencer Offline • • • • • • • Upload & Sell: On
EB-1 wrote:
The published price for the Z8 is $4300 and the a7V is $2900. The Z8 currently has a $900 promo. I don't think those cost differences are meaningful at the system level where you have tens of thousands in cameras/lenses/accessories. I'm expecting the a7rVI is in the mid to high $4K range and that the sensor will be too slow to disrupt the crowd.
EBH
If it is a 67MP 16ms sensor scan speed semi-stacked sensor a lot of people will love it. It won't become many people's wildlife or sports camera. It won't be used much for video, but it will do almost anything else very well and I am sure will be a popular camera. I had the A7r V and it was a great camera as long as you used EFCS or the mechanical shutter or even the electronic shutter if your subject wasn't moving. This will do a lot better and people will be able to use the ES more and you get a little bump in resolution and DR. So, I don't see why it won't be popular as long as you understand what it can and cannot do.
All I use the a7rV for is wildlife in MS, so this should be better than that.
I'm not sure about higher DR always meaning less noise. I will have to see ISO 3200 for myself.
EBH
May 02, 2026 at 04:40 PM
Steve Spencer Offline • • • • • • • Upload & Sell: On
EB-1 wrote:
All I use the a7rV for is wildlife in MS, so this should be better than that.
I'm not sure about higher DR always meaning less noise. I will have to see ISO 3200 for myself.
EBH
The higher DR is really only at low ISOs, it probably won't be any better at high ISOs, at least if the A7 V is a guide to its performance.
Today’s post on SAR says the A7RVI will have a new body design (I had assumed it would be the A1II body but he seems to imply totally new for any Sony), new menu, and new higher capacity battery. Previous specs imply the sensor speed will be similar to A7V so nowhere near as fast as A1II, and I’ve personally believed it would be a partially stacked sensor as with A7V, but he keeps being told fully stacked. Nine days until the May 13 announcement.
Ross Martin wrote:
Today’s post on SAR says the A7RVI will have a new body design (I had assumed it would be the A1II body but he sems to imply totally new for any Sony), new menu, and new higher capacity battery. Previous specs imply the sensor speed will be similar to A7V so nowhere near as fast as A1II, and I’ve personally believed it would be a partially stacked sensor as with A7V, but he keeps being told fully stacked. Nine days until the May 13 announcement.
It's a confusing post.
Are we getting a new-new menu now with the A7R6?
May 04, 2026 at 10:12 AM
Steve Spencer Offline • • • • • • • Upload & Sell: On
Ross Martin wrote:
Today’s post on SAR says the A7RVI will have a new body design (I had assumed it would be the A1II body but he sems to imply totally new for any Sony), new menu, and new higher capacity battery. Previous specs imply the sensor speed will be similar to A7V so nowhere near as fast as A1II, and I’ve personally believed it would be a partially stacked sensor as with A7V, but he keeps being told fully stacked. Nine days until the May 13 announcement.
Well what matters is the sensor scan speed not whether they call it fully stacked or partially stacked. Whatever they call it, if the sensor scan speed is similar to the A7V, that will be a nice upgrade but it will still be well short of preventing motion distortion for fast moving action. The camera won't be a replacement for the A1 II for those who want to shoot action.
Steve Spencer wrote:
Well what matters is the sensor scan speed not whether they call it fully stacked or partially stacked. Whatever they call it, if the sensor scan speed is similar to the A7V, that will be a nice upgrade but it will still be well short of preventing motion distortion for fast moving action. The camera won't be a replacement for the A1 II for those who want to shoot action.
Exactly. I personally don’t believe Sony will choose to match A1II scan speed in an R model costing $2k less. But we will see next Wednesday.
