A powerhouse camera that falls short of its own high standards

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How do you follow up a product that has reigned as the king of mirrorless cameras for the last four years? For Sony, the answer with the A1 was simple: just improve everything. The result is the $6,500 A1 II, a powerful pro-level hybrid mirrorless camera that’s Sony’s best to date.

The A1 II is equipped with a 50-megapixel stacked sensor, not a global sensor like the A9 III, so it’s not quite as fast. However, its blend of speed and resolution makes it the most versatile camera in Sony’s lineup. It also impresses on the video side with 8K 30 fps 10-bit capture, along with 4K slo-mo at up to 120 fps.

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Sony

Sony’s A1 II is the company’s best mirrorless camera yet, with improved handling, stabilization and autofocus compared to the original A1.

Pros

  • Incredibly fast
  • Sony’s best autofocus yet
  • Sharp and color-accurate photos
  • Outstanding in-body stabilization
Cons

  • Lacks the RAW video support its rivals offer
  • Expensive
  • Not a huge upgrade from the A1

$6,498 at B&H Photo

I expect a lot out of a Sony flagship camera, though, and while the A1 II has lots of small improvements, there’s nothing terribly innovative. It’s also up against impressive (and cheaper) competition like the $4,300 Canon EOS R5 II and $4,000 Nikon Z8. Plus, there’s the similarly priced pro-level Canon R1 and Nikon Z9. So despite its strengths, I found Sony’s new flagship to be slightly disappointing.

Body and handling

The A1 II is Sony’s best-handling camera to date. In terms of design and control placement, it’s nearly identical to the company’s high-end A9 III. At 743 grams (1.64 pounds), it’s heavier than the 617-gram (1.36 pound) A1, but still a featherweight compared to other professional models like the three-pound Z9. The new grip has slightly softer materials and more rounded contours, so it’s more comfortable and secure to hold than the hard-edged A1. That’s a big help to working pros with heavy lenses.

If you like manual controls, the A1 II is a dream. It has three primary dials, compared to just two on rival flagships. There’s a mode selector ring to choose photo, video and so-called Slow & Quick modes, along with a dual-control wheel for both shooting and autofocus. Around back, there’s yet another dial, plus a joystick and numerous customizable buttons.

The A1 II’s menu system has been refreshed to match the A9 III. It now offers a “home” setting for your most-used features, and everything is neatly organized into sub-menus. Sony also added an easy-to-use section for customizing buttons, dials, the quick menu and more.

Sony’s A1 II is the company’s best mirrorless camera yet, with improved handling, stabilization and autofocus compared to the original A1.Sony’s A1 II is the company’s best mirrorless camera yet, with improved handling, stabilization and autofocus compared to the original A1.

Steve Dent for Engadget

Despite the price difference, it’s natural to compare the A1 II’s design and setup with the Canon R5 II as both are high-performance, high-resolution cameras. The R5 II does feel a bit nicer thanks to the more rounded shape and softer materials. But the A1 II has a larger array of controls, so it’s easier and faster to shoot with it once you get used to them. Sony also has a more intuitive menu system that makes it easier to find key settings.

Then there’s the A1 II’s sublime electronic viewfinder (EVF). Though it has the same resolution as the A1 at 9.44 million dots, it no longer drops in resolution at its default 120 fps frame rate. With that, it’s so sharp and bright that it blows away any argument for an optical viewfinder. Sony even provides two eyepiece cups, including what it calls a “squishy” option that molds around your eye to block out light, giving me a fully immersive experience. With all of that, this is easily the best EVF I’ve ever used.

Vloggers complained about the lack of a fully articulating display on the A1. Sony addressed that by outfitting the A1 II with a bright, 3-inch, 2.1-million-dot screen that not only tilts up and down but also fully swivels — ideal for both photographers and content creators.

As before, the A1 II has a dual card slot system with support for both SD UHS II and (sigh) Sony’s CFexpress Type A cards that no one else uses. Those are faster than SD, but not as fast as the CFexpress Type B slots found on the R5 II, Z8 and others.

Sony’s A1 II is the company’s best mirrorless camera yet, with improved handling, stabilization and autofocus compared to the original A1.Sony’s A1 II is the company’s best mirrorless camera yet, with improved handling, stabilization and autofocus compared to the original A1.

Steve Dent for Engadget

The Z-type battery delivers a decent 520 shots on a charge, which is just slightly less than the 530 on the A1. It comes with a nice array of ports, including full-sized HDMI and high-speed USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 that allows rapid 10Gbps file transfers. You also get mic and headphone ports, a 2.5 Gbps ethernet connection and a flash sync port. Even the Wi-Fi was upgraded with 2×2 MIMO support that allows 2.5Gbps transfer speeds instead of 1Gbps as before.

The A1 II is the fastest high-resolution camera available, letting you hit burst speeds up to 30 fps when shooting RAW with continuous autofocus enabled in electronic mode, or 10 fps with the mechanical shutter. Those speeds match or beat its main rivals, but aren’t an improvement over the four-year-old A1. That’s a bit of a surprise, given that the A1 II has a much faster Bionz XR image processor borrowed from the A9 III.

The autofocus is a big improvement, though. It locks onto subjects quicker than before, so I saw fewer out-of-focus shots when firing off bursts. The A1 II also has Sony’s latest algorithms and AI features from the A9 III that make subject-recognition faster and more user-friendly. It can now recognize human bodies, faces and eyes, along with animals, birds, insects and several types of vehicles. On top of that, the A1 II is Sony’s first camera to automatically identify those subjects so you don’t have to tediously select them yourself. In other words, if you’re photographing birds and happen to see a bear, you won’t waste valuable time switching modes.

Sony is a bit late to the game with this auto subject selection, as Canon and other brands have had it for a while. However, the A1 II has the best implementation I’ve seen to date, as it chooses and locks onto subjects more quickly. Like other cameras, it can get tripped up in situations with multiple subjects, occasionally selecting the wrong one. With human subjects, Canon has an edge thanks to its face-memorization feature on the R1 and R5 that will always try to lock onto a specific person.

Sony’s A1 II is the company’s best mirrorless camera yet, with improved handling, stabilization and autofocus compared to the original A1.Sony’s A1 II is the company’s best mirrorless camera yet, with improved handling, stabilization and autofocus compared to the original A1.

Steve Dent for Engadget

While the A1 II has both a mechanical and electronic shutter, the stacked sensor’s fast readout speeds mean you can use the latter almost exclusively. Even in sports like golf with high speed movements, skewing and distortion is rarely an issue when using the electronic shutter, and you can shoot photos silently without disturbing participants.

Pre-capture is a key new feature, letting you keep up to 70 frames when half-pressing the shutter button, before fully pressing it. That reduces the odds of missing a decisive moment in a scene.

When it comes to stabilization, the A1 II also represents a first for the company. It offers 8.5 stops, beating the A9 III by a half-stop and matching the EOS R5 II and R1. Thanks to that, I was able to nail sharp photos even at ridiculously slow shutter speeds, like a full second. That’s ideal when you need to shoot in low light or deliberately blur moving subjects without using a tripod.

While the A1 II is quick, it didn’t bring the generational leap I expected compared to a four-year-old camera. My professional photographer friends (who already own A1s) felt the same way and won’t be upgrading.

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The A1 II is not just fast, but also delivers high resolution, and that combination is why you pay the big bucks. Images are sharper than just about any full-frame camera, with the exception of Sony’s own A7R V. Dynamic range is excellent and colors are accurate when shooting JPEGs, though I prefer Canon’s warmer images straight out of the camera.

The new model has the same sensor as the A1, but Sony managed to boost dynamic range very slightly at higher ISOs. As a result, you get minimal noise up to around ISO 6,400 and images are very usable at ISO 12,800. This is outstanding for a 50MP camera, and better than Canon’s EOS R5 II. Beyond that, and up to the camera’s maximum ISO 32,000, noise starts to become distracting.

RAW files give photographers ample room to dial down blown out highlights or boost detail in shadow areas. If you need the maximum amount of dynamic range, you’ll want to shoot using the lossless compressed RAW format, as lossy compressed RAW files are noticeably worse in highly detailed images. The downside to the latter is that shooting them limits burst speeds to 20 fps and fills your memory card much faster.

While image quality is outstanding, it’s not much of an improvement over the A1. For studio and landscape photographers who value image quality above all and already own an A1, the A1 II likely isn’t worth the investment.

On paper, the A1 II is a powerhouse for video, offering up to 8K 30 fps recording and 4K 60 fps(up to 4K 120 fps with no sound), with 10-bit log shooting available. It comes with a new feature that lets you load custom LUTs when shooting in log (S-Log3) mode, so you can better judge your exposure. It also has a setting that lets you better match footage with Sony’s professional cinema cameras. That’s on top of the other improvements I already mentioned, like the fully articulating display and upgraded stabilization, that are also beneficial when recording video.

Sony’s A1 II is the company’s best mirrorless camera yet, with improved handling, stabilization and autofocus compared to the original A1.Sony’s A1 II is the company’s best mirrorless camera yet, with improved handling, stabilization and autofocus compared to the original A1.

Frame of 8K video from the Sony A1 II (Steve Dent for Engadget)

Autofocus is much improved with more reliable tracking of moving subjects, as I found when shooting a fast-moving soccer event. It also supports the same subject tracking modes available when capturing photos (eyes, faces, bodies, birds, animals and vehicles).

Looking closer, though, the video capabilities are slightly disappointing. Unlike the much cheaper Nikon Z8 and Canon EOS R5 II cameras, the A1 II doesn’t offer internal RAW recording, possibly because the CFexpress Type A slots can’t handle the required bandwidth. That can make a big difference with video quality and the ability to adjust colors and levels when editing.

Still, when recording 8K or 4K 10-bit log video at the highest data rates, image quality and dynamic range are solid. The S-Log3 and 10-bit features give content creators a lot of room to tweak footage shot in dim interiors or a bright sunny day.

The in-body stabilization may be the best I’ve seen on any camera to date. The optical mode does a great job removing any hand jitters if you don’t move around too much. And for walking or running, the electronic stabilization (not available in 8K) provides near GoPro-like smoothing, with none of the sudden jolts seen on other models. If you do need to move the camera quickly, rolling shutter is usually a non-issue. I only saw any distortion when shooting 8K video, and even then, it was minimal.

Sony A1 II review: A powerhouse camera that falls short of Sony's high standards.Sony A1 II review: A powerhouse camera that falls short of Sony's high standards.

Steve Dent for Engadget

The A1 II is an awesome camera and near the top of the food chain in terms of speed and power. Nearly every aspect has been improved over the A1, including the stabilization, body design and autofocus.

However, the innovation that Sony is known for is lacking here, and on top of that, the A1 II is very expensive. With that taken into account, I think it falls short. The A1 II is only a mild upgrade over the A1 and when it comes to video, it’s lagging behind the Nikon Z8 and Z9 as well as the Sony R5 II.

If you already have the A1, I don’t think the A1 II offers enough extra to justify a new investment. And anyone who is more serious about video should consider either the Canon R5 II or Nikon Z8, as both offer higher-quality RAW video at up to 8K 60p for less money. However, for pros or serious amateurs going into the A1 lineup for the first time, who focus on photos and have no qualms about the $6,500 price, the Sony A1 II is a great pick.


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