Introduction

Ease of Use

The new Sony A1 II is a 50 megapixel full-frame mirrorless camera designed to be an all-rounder that excels at both stills and video. The new Mark II model does not replace the original one, which continues in the Alpha range for the forseeable future.

It builds on the considerable success of the Mark 1 version by adopting the body, AI processor and quite a lot of features from the recent A9 III and marrying them to the 50 megapixel sensor and dual XR processors from the original A1.

At the heart of the A1 II is the same 35mm full-frame stacked Exmor RS CMOS sensor that was used in the original A1, offering a resolution of 50.1 megapixels.

This stacked CMOS sensor with integral memory delivers faster performance and much faster burst speeds than cameras without, although it can't match the global shutter found in the Alpha 9 III.

Unlike the A9III, the new A1II retains a traditional mechanical shutter as well as an electronic shutter.

The A9III has a native ISO range of ISO 100-32,000, which can be expanded down to ISO 50 and up to ISO 102,400, just like the Mark 1 version.

It does offer improved low-noise performance at mid to high ISO sensitivities without sacrificing image detail.

It uses two of the very latest BIONZ XR processors, which offer 8x more processing power than the BIONZ X processor found in some older Alpha cameras.

Both the A1 and A1II have the same AF system with 759 on-sensor phase detection points that covers approximately 92% of the image area and can auto-focus down to EV-4 in low light.

The biggest difference between the two models in terms of their auto-focusing performance is subject recognition.

This is because Sony has added a dedicated AI deep learning processing unit to the newer A1 II camera which enables it to recognise more subjects than the Alpha 1, and also greatly improves the detection of humans and animals/birds.

The A1 II can recognise a human via its pose as well as its eye and face. So if the person's head is turned away from the camera, it will still accurately detect the subject as human based on its AI deep learning.

It can also recognise animals, birds, insects, airplanes, and cars/trains. In the latter category, it is capable of focusing on helmets, it can recognise the eyes of some grazing and small animals, and more easily pinpoint the eyes of a variety of bird types as well as recognising bird bodies.

The Animal/Bird setting on the A1 II eliminates the need to switch between those settings to shoot animals or birds and you can choose exactly which subjects you want to detect from the checklist.

There's also a very welcome brand new Auto mode which will choose the most appropriate subject mode (although this is slightly slower than choosing the specific mode yourself).

You can set the AF subject-tracking sensitivity level, just like on the A9 III sports camera, to either Stable, Standard or Responsive, additional Spot AF sizes are available, and you can even create your own custom focus areas.

The Auto Framing feature borrowed from the A1 II automatically crops the frame to keep the subject in a prominent position when shooting.

Exposure and colour reproduction have also been improved thanks to an evolved AE algorithm, and the new AI processing unit has made auto white balance better, especially in shaded scenes.

The Sony A1 II has a special multi-shot shooting mode in which it takes 16 different images that can then be combined using the Imaging Edge Desktop software to produce a single, 199-megapixel image. Amazingly, you can even use flash during this process if required thanks to the new sensor's fast readout speed.

The A1 II additionally supports the Composite Raw Shooting mode, which takes up to 32 images to create full-resolution images with greatly reduced noise.

It also adds a brand new Noise Reduction pixel shift mode which produces super low-noise composite images using the same process.

Handheld shooting is possible in both of these modes, although you do need to run the images through Sony's Imaging Edge desktop software to process them.

This camera can shoot at up to 30fps with the electronic shutter for 165 JPEGs or 155 compressed RAW images before the recording rate slows down, although the top speed is only 10fps when using the mechanical shutter.

Pre-capture is a new feature on the A1 II that has made its way from the A9 III sports camera. When activated, up to 30 frames per second are temporarily stored while the shutter button is half-pressed, and up to 1 second before can be captured once the shutter is fully pressed, providing a degree of leniency for fast-moving action.

The Continuous Speed Shooting Boost is another new function which provides an easy way to quickly engage one of the various burst modes (30/20/15/10/5fps) at the press of a button.

The A1II a very fast maximum shutter speed of 1/32000th second thanks to its electronic shutter (1/8000th with the mechanical shutter) and a flash sync speed of 1/400th sec when using the mechanical shutter and 1/200th for the electronic shutter.

It offers 8K/30p 10-bit 4:2:0 XAVC HS video recording with 8.6K oversampling, up to to 4K 120p 10-bit 4:2:2 (with a 10% crop), and Full HD at 240fps movie shooting capabilities, and they can also output 16-bit Raw video over HDMI.

It additionally has an upgraded S-Log3 profile with improved detail reproduction and easier colour matching and it now supports LUT import (16 max).

The new Dynamic Active mode increases stabilization by 20% compared to the normal Active mode for hand-held movie shooting and there's also a brand new Framing Stabilizer mode.

On the A1 II you can create still images from movie playback using shot marks and also pause a movie during playback to create a still.

Sony have also added a dedicated microphone on the rear of this camera for more clearly recording voice memos.

The A1 II's body and control layout is almost identical to the recently released A9 III, rather than to the original Alpha 1.

So if you were hoping for a Nikon Z9-esque, integrated-grip design on this new Alpha camera, then you'll be disappointed, instead having to make do with buying the optional VG-C5 vertical grip accessory which adds duplicate controls including the new C5 button and two NP-FZ100 batteries.

Sony have significantly tweaked the design of the A1 II's hand-grip, which is larger than its predecessors and perhaps more importantly spaced further away from the lens mount, which allows for more room for your fingers to curl around the grip without touching the attached lens.

Other subtle changes to the A1 II include moving the shutter button slightly forward to better match the push direction of its release, and a new custom button (C5) on the front of the camera which by default is assigned to the new Continuous Speed Shooting Boost function.

This function provides an easy way to engage the fastest 30fps burst mod at the press of a button, if you're not already shooting at 30fps.

So Sony have recognised the fact that 30fps is actually too fast for the majority of situations and come up with a way of using it only at the moment that it's most needed.

The only drawback from an operational point of view is that you need to hold the button down whilst you're shooting, which is a little awkward in practice - but then you only need to do it for a split-second.

The A1II can shoot at up to 30fps with the electronic shutter for 165 JPEGs or 155 compressed RAW images before the recording rate slows down, although the top speed is only 10fps when using the mechanical shutter.

Commendably, the 30fps burst mode isn't dependent on using a specific speed-rated memory card. You can select it when using any CFexpress Type A or SD card, with the type/speed of card affecting how quickly the buffer is cleared rather than limiting the frame rate.

The A1 II is slightly larger but significantly lighter than its predecessor, measuring 136.1 x 96.9 x 82.9mm and weighing 617g / 1.36lb, versus 128.9 x 96.9 x 80.8mm and 737g / 1.62lb for the Mark I.

The A1 II benefits from having a new 2.5Gbps wired LAN port, which is much faster than the 1000BASE-T port on the Alpha 1.

Another new hardware feature is the ability to deactivate the drive mode dial and assign it to the Function menu or a custom button, useful in the dark or if the camera is being protected in some way from the elements.

Pre-capture is a new feature on the A1 II that has made its way from the A9 III sports camera. When activated, up to 30 frames per second are temporarily stored while the shutter button is half-pressed, and up to 1 second before can be captured once the shutter is fully pressed, providing a degree of leniency for fast-moving action.

Other hardware improvements on the Mark II A1 have largely been imported from other Alpha models, but are no less noteworthy.

These include the 3.2-inch, 2095K dot resolution, 4-axis LCD screen from the A7R V and which is unique to Sony, which can be flipped out to the side, rotated to the front, folded against the back of the camera to help protect it, and set to many other positions in-between.

It makes the camera ever-so-slightly thicker than its predecessor, but more than makes up for that with its incredible versatility. The A1 has a 3-inch, 1,440K-dot resolution LCD screen which can be tilted up to 41° downwards to shoot over crowds or up to 107° upwards, but not forwards or out to the side.

In terms of touch-screen functionality, the new Alpha A1 II thankfully follows in the footsteps of the A7R V, inheriting the same menu structure and upgraded touch control, rather than the crippled touchscreen and more complex menu system of earlier Alpha models.

It also has the same very impressive 9.44M-dot OLED Quad-XGA electronic viewfinder with 0.90x magnification, again taken from the A7R V, although this one now has a refresh rate of up to 240fps in the new Higher mode, rather than 120fps, although the resolution is reduced at 240fps.

Note that the 120fps High frame rate is now compatible with the high quality display setting, while the original model only offers 60fps at full resolution and 240fps at a lower resolution.

Thanks to a newly redesigned stabilisation unit previously debuted on the A7R V, the A1 II now offers up to 8.5 stops of in-body stabilisation (7 stops at the edges), up from 5.5 stops on the A1, currently making it the most capable Alpha camera in this regard.

The A1 II also benefits from having a special Active Mode that increases stabilization for hand-held movie shooting by using the BIONZ XR processors.

Providing even more compensation at the expense of an increased crop factor is the Dynamic Active Mode, which improves the stabilisation by more than 30% over the existing Active Mode.

As you would expect from a modern professional camera, the A1II has dual memory card slots.

Both of the slots can be used for either SD UHS-I/II compliant memory cards or faster CFexpress Type A cards, just like the Alpha 1 and A7R V, although those Type A cards are still prohibitively expensive.

The A1II uses exactly the same large capacity NP-FZ100 battery as the original A1.

It's capable of recording around 530 shots per charge when using the LCD monitor and 400 shots when using the EVF.

It can also be powered and charged via a USB connection, which is useful if you're out and about and have a compatible powerbank to plug the camera into, and uses the newer USB-C variant.

Image Quality

All of the sample images in this review were taken using the 50 megapixel Extra Fine JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 30Mb.

The Sony A1 II produced images of outstanding quality during the review period.

The Alpha 1 II has an extensive and very usable expanded ISO range of 50-102400. When shooting JPEG, ISO 50-00 is virtually noise-free, while ISO 12800 and 25600 produce more than acceptable results, and even ISO 51200 and 102400 are OK for emergency use.

The long exposure photograph was excellent, with the maximum shutter speed of 30 seconds and the Bulb mode offering lots of scope for creative night photography.

The effective Dynamic Range Optimizer function extracts more detail from the shadow and highlight areas in an image, without introducing any unwanted noise or other artifacts.

The various Picture Profiles quickly produce special looks for your JPEG files that would otherwise require you to spend a lot of time in the digital darkroom, while the Creative Looks provide a quick and easy way to tweak the camera's JPEG and Raw image output.

Noise

There are 12 ISO settings available on the Sony A1. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting for the JPEG format.

JPEG

ISO 50

ISO 100

ISO 200

ISO 400

ISO 800

ISO 1600

ISO 3200

ISO 6400

ISO 12800

ISO 25600

ISO 51200

ISO 102400

File Quality

The Sony A1 has 4 different JPEG image quality settings available, with Extra Fine being the highest quality option. Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.

Extra Fine (23.2Mb)	Fine (11Mb)
Standard (6.8Mb)	Light (4.13Mb)

 

Pixel Shift Multi Shoot

In the Pixel Shift Multi Shooting mode, the Sony A1 shoots either 4 or 16 uncompressed RAW images whilst shifting the image sensor either one pixel or a 1/4 of a pixel at a time. You can then generate images with a higher resolution than is possible with regular shooting by combining the RAW images on a computer using the Imaging Edge (Remote/Viewer/Edit) application.

Off (8640x5760 pixels)

On - 4 Shots (8640x5760 pixels)

On - 16 Shots (17280x11520 pixels)

Off (8640x5760 pixels)

On - 4 Shots (8640x5760 pixels)

On - 16 Shots (17280x11520 pixels)

Dynamic Range Optimizer

D-Range Optimiser (DRO) is Sony's solution to improve shadow detail in photos taken in contrasty light. There are 5 different levels and an Auto option.

Off

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Level 4

Level 5

Creative Looks

There are 10 Creative Look preset effects that you can use to change the look of your images. They can be applied to both JPEGs and Raw files.

ST

PT

NT

VV

VV2

FL

IN

SH

BW

SE

Picture Profiles

The Sony A1 offers a range of 11 creative Picture Profiles, which can only be selected when JPEG is set as the image quality option.

Off

PP1

PP2

PP3

PP4

PP5

PP6

PP7

PP8

PP9

PP10

PP11

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Sony A1 II camera, which were all taken using the 50 megapixel JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Sample RAW Images

The Sony A1 II enables users to capture RAW and JPEG format files. We've provided some Sony RAW (ARW) samples for you to download (thumbnail images shown below are not 100% representative).

Sample Movies & Video

Product Images

Conclusion

When we reviewed the original Alpha 1 in early 2021, it was simply the best all-round, do-it-all professional camera on the market, albeit also one of the most expensive.

Fast forward to late 2024, and the new Mark II version is still a compelling proposition, but it's no longer the clear leader that it once was.

This is partly because it's a rather modest upgrade of the original model in terms of new features, and partly because the competition has caught up with Sony.

So while the A1 II is still the best camera that Sony currently offers, rival cameras like the Nikon Z8 and Canon EOS R5 Mark II are similarly specced alternatives for less money (far less in the case of the Z8).

Subject Recognition AF is by far and away the most tempting new feature for owners of the original A1 model, along with the much improved IBIS and new modes like pre-capture and the new multi-shot shooting modes.

The move to the A9 III chassis offers a more versatile screen and refined control layout, but it may well put off long-time users of the A1, rather than entice them to upgrade.

Otherwise, the key core specs of 50 megapixels, 8K video and 30fps burst shooting remain intact, an enticing blend indeed.

If you want even more resolution, the 61 megapixel A7RV is the one to go for, even more speed then the 120fps A9 III, better video in low-light then the A7S III, or a cheaper all-rounder, the A7 IV, but the new A1 II is still the ultimate all-rounder in Sony's lineup.

Unlike its popular predcessor, though, it's no longer the ultimate all-rounder in the wider camera market, especially when you factor in the £6300 / €7500 / $6500 price-tag. If you're not already invested in a particular system, the Nikon and Canon alternatives are simply too good and too keenly priced to ignore,

Ratings (out of 5)
Design	4.5
Features	5
Ease-of-use	5
Image quality	5
Value for money	3.5

Main Rivals

Listed below are some of the rivals of the Sony A1 II.

Review Roundup

Reviews of the Sony A1 II from around the web.

Specifications

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