Hands on: Sony A1 II review – a refined flagship

Sony A1 II: one-minute review

Combine a dash of the Sony Alpha A1, a splash of the Sony A9 III, a sprinkling of all-new refinements, give it a stir, and voilà… you have the Sony A1 II, Sony's best-ever Alpha camera, and one of the best hybrid professional cameras available.

It's not quite as quick as the A9 III with its global shutter, unlimited flash sync speed and 120fps burst shooting, nor does it quite produce the same highly-detailed pictures as the 61MP A7R V; but the A1 II is the best Sony has to offer for detail and speed in a single camera.

That dash of the A1 is the same full-frame back-illuminated 50MP stacked sensor, powered by Sony's Bionz XR processor for 30fps burst shooting and 8K video up to 30fps with 10-bit 4:2:2 color depth, plus 4K 120fps slow-motion video.

The sprinkling of the A9 III (that upgrades this camera over the A1) is a like-for-like design, meaning a larger handgrip with a nicely-angled shutter button, a larger 3.2-inch multi-angle touchscreen with better color depth, more effective image stabilization now rated up to 8.5EV, Sony's AI processing chip, plus an additional custom button for the likes of an instant boost in speed for burst shooting.

Finally, the sprinkling of the all-new includes a new 'Auto' subject-detection autofocus mode, meaning you don't have to manually select the subject type ahead of time, though you still can if you'd rather. Users can also import custom LUT color profiles, in addition to Sony's popular S-Log3 and S-Cinetone color profiles that are built-in.

The message here is that there's practically nothing new in the A1 II, which is highly unusual for a Sony flagship camera, especially after such a quiet 2024 for the camera giant, with this being the first new full-frame Alpha this year.

The A1 II combines excellent A1 and A9 III attributes in a single camera, but there's little here to get excited about. That said, Sony has slightly reduced the launch price compared to the A1 when it was announced almost fours ago (though Sony's hand has been somewhat forced by cheaper rivals coming onto the scene), and has ultimately created a polished upgrade over the first-gen model that's likely to please pros who rely on their gear daily in challenging situations.

It may not be an exciting upgrade, but the Sony A1 II is up there with the very best cameras we've tested.

Sony A1 II: price and release date

• Body-only price is $6,500 / £6,300 (Australia TBC, around $12,000)
• On sale from late November
• New BC-ZD1 charger and VG-C5 grip (sold separately)

The Sony A1 II will go on sale from late November 2024 with a list price of $6,500 / £6,300. That's a fraction lower than the launch price of the A1 from all the way back in 2021. In one sense that's commendable on Sony's part, but on the other hand the market has changed, and the A1 series has now has accomplished rivals that offer perhaps 90% of the all-round package but cost about 50% less. Sony needed to be aggressive with its pricing, and it has been to an extent, but the Nikon Z9 in particular looks very reasonable by comparison.

Sony A1 II: specs

Sony A1 II: design and handling

• Same design as the A9 III
• Smart control layout with handy shortcuts to frequently used features
• New dedicated mic for voice memos

In terms of change from the A1, you get a larger 3.2-inch multi-angle touchscreen, with the dual hinge enabling users to tilt and angle the screen for easy viewing at high or low angles whether they're shooting vertical or horizontal. That dual-hinge design also enables you to pull the screen further away from the body and its chunky viewfinder eye-piece, which can otherwise partially obstruct the screen.

The A1 II's handgrip is more rounded and all-round chunkier, and I feel like it slots into the hand better than the grip on the A1, though they are similar in depth. There are little refinements too, such as the shutter button being angled slightly differently and easier to press.

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As on the A9 III, there's an additional custom button on the front of the A1 II, which is factory-set to act as a speed boost for continuous burst shooting. The idea is that you don't always want to be shooting at the maximum frame rate, which in this case is 30fps, but you might suddenly need that speed, and the button allows you to tick over at a lower frame rate and get an instant injection of extra frames when you need it.

One feature that caught my eye in the original A1, and has again here, is the max flash sync speed of 1/400 sec. That beats the Nikon Z9 for example, making the A1 II a more versatile camera for flash photography, especially if you like using a wide aperture.

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The A1 II is also an extremely rugged weatherproof camera, with nicely designed rigid doors on the connection ports that stay out of the way when the ports are in use, while the dual memory card door features a push lock and is a better design than Nikon's, which can easily be knocked open.

Check out our A9 III review to learn more about the A1 II's design – the two cameras share practically the same design.

Sony A1 II : features and performance

• Improved image stabilization, up to 8.5EV
• Same 759-point AF array, now with AI processing unit for subject detection
• 30fps burst shooting for up to 153 raw images, now with pre-capture

Sony has delivered one notable hardware improvement. adding an AI processing unit that was debuted in the A7R V. This should deliver better subject-detection autofocus for photo and video compared to the A1, though we haven't tested the A1 II against the A1, both of which share the same 759 AF point array, to see just how much of a difference it makes.

Having used Sony's previous professional Alphas, I was most keen to test out the new Auto subject-detection autofocus mode. Frustrated by what feel to me like unnecessarily complex subject detection choices that you need to manually select ahead of time – humans, birds, animals, car, insects, planes, trains and so on, I've called on brands to add an auto mode that simplifies the experience. Cue the A1 II and its new mode. I haven't tested the camera for long enough to know if it works well versus using a dedicated mode (which you can also do), but I'll be doing that for my full A1 II review. However, it worked absolutely fine when shooting portraits of people during my hands-on testing, locking reliably onto my subject's eyes.

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Sony also says the next-gen autofocus is able to recognize the head and body of humans / animals, and that its performance is 30% more effective than the A1's for detecting human and animal eyes, while the camera's autofocus can operate effectively in low light down to -4EV.

Another similarity between this camera and its predecessor is that both can shoot at a burst rate of up to 30fps for a similar length of time before slowing down – a little over 150 raw frames or close to 180 JPEGs. For such occasions, that speed-boost button is infinitely helpful for improving efficiency and workflow by enabling you to adapt your shooting rate.

The A1 II also gets a handy pre-capture feature. Pre-capture is nothing new, although Sony was late to the party, only introducing it to an Alpha camera with the A9 III. Put simply, pre-capture can buffer up to one second's worth of photos – in this case 30 photos – before you fully press the shutter button to start capturing a high-speed sequence. That one second of grace when you're slow to react could be the difference between capturing the moment and missing it completely.

Sony A1 II: image and video quality

• 50MP stills and 8K/30p video
• 4:2:2 10-bit color depth and Sony's S-Log3, S-Cinetone, plus LUT imports
• Pixel Shift and Noise Reduction shooting modes

Sony's 50MP full-frame stacked sensor is a proven performer, delivering sharp stills with up to 15EV of dynamic range. The A7R V's 61MP sensor gets you marginally better detail, but the A1 II is a much faster performer. Furthermore, in-body image stabilization is improved over the A1, and you'll often getting slightly sharper end results when shooting handheld, depending on the camera's shutter speed and how steady your hand is.

Once again Sony's Pixel Shift Multi Shooting mode features, combining up to 16 shots for one larger 199MP composite image. It's not as effective as Canon's in-camera AI upscaling feature in the EOS R1 / EOS R5 Mark II, especially if there's any movement in your shot. However, in situations such as still lifes in the studio it increases detail by up to 400%. Sony has also added a new Noise Reduction shooting mode that, like Pixel Shift, combines multiple images but in this case for a cleaner image, especially in low light.

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Outright image quality is, in effect, the same as from the A1, which is a good thing, with clean images up to ISO 12,800 from the A1 II's ISO 100-32,000 range. The almost four-year-old sensor has stood the test of time. Where we really see improvements in image quality is in the positive effect of improved image stabilization for handheld shots and even more reliable subject-detection autofocus for shooting animals, vehicles, people, and so on.

How I tested the Sony A1 II

• I tested the camera for a week with the FE 28-70mm F2 GM lens
• This was a full-production model with final firmware
• I used it with Sony's Creator Cloud app

I tested a final firmware version of the Sony A1 II, together with the new Sony FE 28-70mm F2 GM lens, for a week. The A1 II's raw files were not readable in editing software ahead of the camera's launch.

I've been shooting with a CFexpress Type A card to get the best possible performance from the camera, and recorded burst sequences at TechRadar's standard camera testing settings: 1/250 sec, ISO 200, and continuous AF.

Sony's Creator Cloud app works with the A1 II, and I used the app to remotely shoot images with the camera and upload images too. I shot portraits of humans and animals with the various subject-detection autofocus modes.

First reviewed November 2024