[HN Gopher] Sony A1 Complete Disassembly and Teardown
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Sony A1 Complete Disassembly and Teardown
Author : giuliomagnifico
Score : 93 points
Date : 2022-03-05 17:10 UTC (5 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (kolarivision.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (kolarivision.com)
| bombela wrote:
| What's wrong with scrolling on this website. It keeps jumping
| around as I am trying to read.
| RistrettoMike wrote:
| It's incredible to me to that while this, a slightly older DSLR,
| and a classic SLR film camera all have similar silhouettes and
| ergonomics you can watch the digital technology replace the
| insides over the last 25 years.
|
| It's a stark comparison to see the ribbon cables and stacked
| daughter boards under the rear panel here where the film reels
| used to live. No greater takeaway here, just incredible to see a
| common form stay similar in many ways externally, yet have it's
| internals so totally overhauled.
| BolexNOLA wrote:
| Hate to be that guy, but ackshooaly it's a mirrorless, not a
| DSLR.
| justinpowers wrote:
| Agreed. I wonder why?
|
| Maybe professionals prefer the familiar ergonomics?
|
| Or there's a certain prestige carried by the traditional camera
| silhouette?
|
| No idea. And I can't think of another analog-to-digital
| transition that also maintained its outer form so thoroughly.
| sudosysgen wrote:
| Well, DSLR/MILCs really aren't that different from film SLRs.
| The sensor replaced the film to be exposed, and the battery
| replaced the film cannister. For mirrorless cameras the EVF
| replaced the reflex mechanism. Everything else is the same,
| so with similar design constraints it makes sense a similar
| form factor would emerge.
| fleddr wrote:
| There are no other options I can think of.
|
| Sensors on full-frame DSLR/Mirrorless systems are large so
| you're going to have to keep a significantly sized rectangle
| clear.
|
| Assuming right-handed use, you're going to extend that
| rectangle to the right for a grip, that also need to have
| depth. Not optional as any of these cameras might see some
| very heavy lenses attached to them.
|
| You need a viewfinder, where the only logical option is on
| top. Same for flash connections. The only alternative is no
| viewfinder at all, just the back screen, but this can't be
| done because sports and wildlife photographers will always
| require an eye piece.
|
| All connections (video, mic, data, remote flash) have to be
| on the left as the right side is taken for the grip which
| typically features the memory card slots.
|
| The bottom of the camera has to be flat, it needs to support
| tripod use, video brackets and battery grips. Realistically,
| the battery chamber can only be at the bottom, given that all
| other space is already used.
|
| Concluding, the layout makes sense. You could move around
| connections but it doesn't change the shape of the camera,
| nor does it improve anything. So it's a logical timeless
| design, not really a prestige thing.
|
| As somebody else already said: the old design was not
| specifically analog, only the internals were.
| mrandish wrote:
| I have one of these and it's an amazing device.
| voisin wrote:
| What made you buy this over say a Nikon or Canon?
| asdfasgasdgasdg wrote:
| Which Canon or Nikon? There are a number of different
| mirrorless cameras from the three major manufacturers of full
| frame cameras, not to mention other camera systems like APS-C
| or Micro 4/3. There is not a generic brand advantage from one
| manufacturer to another.
|
| An A1 would not be your first Sony camera even if you decided
| to buy Sony. It's a professional camera, and it's
| professional in the sense that it has features needed by
| professionals. It won't automatically make your pictures any
| better if you use it vs. something less expensive. If you
| have mad money, then go for it, but understand that you're
| more or less just burning cash for next to no reason.
|
| For an amateur (i.e. anyone who is inclined to ask which
| camera to choose by brand name), all three brands have
| cameras that are more than sufficient to meet your needs.
| Among Sony full-frame devices, the current gen choice would
| be an A7 IV. Or if you're smart, you'd save yourself some
| money and buy an A7 III instead.
|
| The main question is not "which brand makes the best camera"
| but, "which brand has the lenses I want." And the proper way
| to think about lenses for an amateur is to think about their
| speed, focal length (zoom level), price, and "convenience" --
| weight, size, weather sealing.
| [deleted]
| LegitShady wrote:
| this is an incredible feat of engineering and manufacturing.
| sudosysgen wrote:
| I partially disassembled my Sony A7ii a year ago to repair it,
| it's interesting how the A1 is largely similar yet different.
| jacquesm wrote:
| Did you manage to re-assemble it and did it work?
| sudosysgen wrote:
| Yes, it did. Still using it to this day! But I did not
| disassemble it all the way. I had to get to the motherboard
| to fix a broken screen flex cable as well as change the SD
| card reader, and took the opportunity to explore a bit more.
|
| The general architecture of the device was identical.
| However, the motherboard of the A1 seems significantly more
| complex and cluttered. Beyond that, the structural elements
| are much more intricate in the A1 and are skeletonized,
| certainly in an effort to save weight. Generally speaking
| however, it's crazy how the overall designed stayed so
| similar.
|
| It was a joy to disassemble and put back together. It was
| clear that it was designed to be serviced.
| jacquesm wrote:
| Cool! For years I had a box with the parts of a Sony
| walkman that I had disassembled and was going to put
| together again 'one day'. The box got lost during a move
| and I was secretly relieved. It went real well until that
| one screw and then ' _sproing_ ' instant Japanese puzzle.
|
| I got better at that sort of thing over the years but this
| camera looks extremely fragile and sensitive to dust once
| you get to the guts of it, you'd need a very clean
| environment to work in.
| sudosysgen wrote:
| The way these cameras are designed, dust getting in is
| sadly inevitable in the field - every time you change a
| lens, there is no helping it, dust will accumulate. As a
| result there was a small amount of dust inside already
| when I opened it despite taking very good care of it and
| regularly cleaning the sensor.
|
| Indeed, the camera is made in a "sandwich" architecture,
| where the shutter is layered onto the sensor, which is
| layered onto the IBIS unit, itself layered onto the
| motherboard.
|
| Since the sensor has to move substantially to stabilize,
| and that the shutter is connected to the motherboard
| without any sealing at all, there is more than enough
| clearance for dust to get into the motherboard, and it
| will inevitably happen.
|
| Because of that I expect the guts to be very dust
| resistant (otherwise we'd see them dropping like flies),
| because there is really no way of protecting against dust
| ingress through the lens mount.
|
| The electronics itself seemed fairly robust - thick, high
| quality PCBs. The most sensitive component, the sensor,
| is encased behind a (removable) glass protective layer.
| There were no unnecessary cables inside, most electrical
| connections were done with spring-loaded contacts that
| would connect to the appropriate PCB.
|
| That being said, the shutter and the IBIS system did look
| _very_ fragile, like a Japanese puzzle indeed. I wouldn
| 't attempt any repair that required messing with them.
| jacquesm wrote:
| My brother repairs this stuff regularly, I'll ask him if
| he has any usable tips on working on this sort of device.
| Though he usually only starts seeing them after they've
| been in the field for a while. At his recommendation I
| got an alpha here and so far it has been amazingly
| robust.
| sudosysgen wrote:
| Hopefully, I will never need those tips anymore, but I'd
| love to hear about your brother's experience with it!
| Congrats on the Alpha, hopefully you take many great
| photos on yours - I've taken a few dozen thousand on mine
| and it's still going strong!
| jacquesm wrote:
| I'm using mine for video, and it has been running for
| many 1000's of hours already without a glitch.
| eezurr wrote:
| Just want to point out your accessibility icon is blocking the
| text on mobile.
|
| Edit: and now im getting 403 inaccessible resource.
|
| Edit 2: Works on my computer, still not on mobile. It appears
| clicking the handicap /accessibility icon on mobile flags the
| user as a bot or something. Other than scroll, that's the only
| thing I interacted with on the webpage.
| giuliomagnifico wrote:
| I think the server is momentarily offline, but I'm not the
| owner of the site and I'm not involved with Kolarivision. I
| just found it on the web!
|
| PS: the 403 could be the "Hacker News effect" =] too much
| traffic. I hope the server will be available again soon, it's a
| very interesting read/view.
| jacquesm wrote:
| This reminds me of a joke about a magician and a very expensive
| watch.
|
| I wonder if they managed to put it back together again.
| user_7832 wrote:
| They mention they've disassembled similar cameras in the past
| and are aware of the costs, so either they know how to put it
| back or (unlikely) they don't care about it. But it's not
| something unexpected for them.
| amelius wrote:
| They made photos of how they took it apart ;)
| tromp wrote:
| Also at the less overloaded
|
| https://petapixel.com/2022/03/05/sony-alpha-1-teardown-the-i...
| giuliomagnifico wrote:
| Thanks!
| Manuel_D wrote:
| For similar photo/video teardown goodness, check out LTT
| disassembling and water-cooling a RED cinema camera:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFrK-l3VSzY
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imJ9QgOJHzY
| libpcap wrote:
| Are the A1s still manufactured in Japan?
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(page generated 2022-03-05 23:00 UTC)