Description
The Sony a1 II combines speed, 8K video, high-resolution stills, and a durable pro-grade design, making it their most versatile camera yet.
Sony a1 II – Hands-On Review Chasing Fire: Shot on the Alpha 1 II
Blending the a1’s versatile features with the a9 III’s body, the Sony a1 II adds advanced AF and IBIS from the a7R V, making it ideal for professionals across sports, fashion, weddings, and more, while also delivering 8K video, stabilization, and framing tools from the ZV series.
The a1 II brings Sony’s best technology from every lineup into one all-encompassing camera body making it the do-anything camera solution for professionals.
What’s New in the Sony a1 II Mirrorless Camera
Building on the original a1’s blend of pro-level photo and video features, the Sony a1 II enhances key capabilities to better serve professional hybrid creators.
- The Sony a1 II’s AI Processing Unit significantly boosts autofocus, subject detection, and tracking accuracy, speed, and reliability, enabling it to intelligently recognize subjects, predict movements, and maintain precise focus in motion.
- With Pre-Capture and Speed Boost functions, the Sony a1 II enhances continuous burst shooting, making it ideal for action photographers in high-end sports, wildlife, and birding.
- With an impressive 8.5-stop IBIS, the Sony a1 II adds 3 extra stops over its predecessor, enabling handheld shooting in dimmer light and at slower shutter speeds for greater versatility.
- While retaining its core video specs, the Sony a1 II adds Dynamic Active Mode Stabilizer, Framing Stabilizer, and Breathing Compensation, making it an even stronger choice for content creators.
- Inheriting the a9 III’s body design, the Sony a1 II offers better comfort, enhanced weather-sealing, VG-C5 Vertical Grip compatibility, and upgraded LCD and EVF.
Sensor and Processing Improvements
Building on the original’s strong imaging, the Sony a1 II adds upgraded BIONZ XR processing, an AI unit, 8.5-stop IBIS, and the same 50MP stacked BSI CMOS sensor, delivering 30 fps shooting, ISO 50-102400, 15-stop dynamic range, plus new Pre-Capture and Speed Boost functions.
- Up to 30 fps continuous shooting with an electronic shutter, or 10 fps with the mechanical shutter, with AF and AE supported.
- Pre-Capture Shooting records at up to 30 fps for up to 1 second prior to fully pressing the shutter, helping to ensure you don’t miss fleeting moments.
- Speed Boost lets you vary your continuous shooting speed mid-burst; when the C5 button is depressed while burst shooting, you can switch from the chosen continuous shooting speed to a faster or slower one to suit the pace of action you’re photographing.
- Refined 5-axis in-body image stabilization compensates for up to 8.5 stops of camera shake at the center of the frame and 7 stops at the periphery; an improvement of 3 stops of shake control compared to the original a1.
- Same full-frame 50MP stacked BSI CMOS sensor as the a1, mixing high resolution with the speed and reduced rolling shutter of a stacked design to suit both meticulous and quick-working shooters.
Smarter, Faster Autofocus and Subject Tracking
The Sony a1 II enhances focusing with an AI Processing Unit and improved subject detection/tracking, retaining 759 phase-detection points covering 92% of the sensor, focusing to -4 EV at f/2, while detecting human eyes 30% faster and animal eyes 50% faster.
- First seen in the a7R V and a9 III, the a1 II sports a dedicated AI Processing Unit for refined, responsive, and intelligent subject tracking and detection of humans, animals, birds, insects, cars, trains, and airplanes.
- Human pose estimation tracks body and head positions for accurate focus in portraiture and sports settings and Real-time Eye AF performance has been improved by 30%.
- Additionally, human pose estimation can distinguish between multiple people and maintain focus on the targeted subject; even if someone crosses in front, the camera maintains focus on the key person.
- Real-time Tracking benefits from AI-based subject recognition for following moving subjects, making it particularly well-suited to sports and action subjects.
- Auto Subject Recognition modes no longer necessitate selecting a subject type, letting the camera detect and track the intended subject.
- XS and XL focus area spot sizes have been added for more versatility or you can customize AF focus areas to suit uniquely sized or shaped subjects.
- Full-time DMF (Direct Manual Focus) enables using the lens’s focus ring for manual focus control at any time, making it easier to switch focus to a different subject even when working with AF.
Alpha’s Alpha in Video Capabilities
The core video specs of the original a1 were ahead of their time, and in many ways, still are. The a1 II keeps many of the core resolutions and frame rates but refines the video recording capabilities with more supportive modes and features, including access to Dynamic Area Stabilization and timecode input with an optional adapter. This makes the Sony a1 II just as capable on a professional film set as it is in a photography studio.
- Familiar recording formats: 8K 30p with 10-bit 4:2:0 sampling and 4K 120p with 10-bit 4:2:2 sampling. When using a Super 35 recording area, 4K footage can use 5.8K oversampling for improved detail and the full-frame area offers 8.6K oversampling for the 8K footage.
- AI subject recognition, gained from the AI Processing Unit, benefits the Framing Stabilizer mode, which can be used to automatically crop and recompose so the subject remains centered in the image.
- Dynamic Active Mode Stabilization also helps retain accurate framing while filming, especially when recording while walking or moving.
- Included S-Cinetone profile, ProRes RAW output over HDMI, and the ability to import LUTs all point to the great amount of color control the a1 II offers.
- Support for Breathing Compensation mode, which reduces the effects of focus breathing when using select lenses.
Pre-Capture & Speed Boost-Never Miss a Moment
Along with the key technology delivered by the sensor, the a1 II brings additional features to unlock the camera’s full potential.
- Pre-Capture: The Sony a1 II can be configured to begin recording images to the buffer when the shutter button is half-pressed. Users can set this between 0.03-1.0 second. Upon pressing the shutter these images will be saved to the memory card.
- Speed Boost: With Speed Boost and the conveniently placed C5 button near the grip, users can instantly switch from their usual continuous shooting rate to a faster one, choosing frame rates up to 30 fps for the perfect shot.
Professional Body Design and Connectivity
The a1-series has always been a top-of-the-line model for Sony and, as such, had one of the most durable and refined physical designs within the system. The Sony a1 II, though, gains a bit of an upgrade to bring it in line with the a9 III in terms of button layout, screen and EVF implementation, and durability. It’s a camera built for professional use and has the strongest, most reliable design in Sony’s lineup.
Versatile and Durable Design
- The Sony a1 II gains the latest Sony mirrorless body design first seen on the a9 III which includes a C5 custom button on the front of camera body and an enhanced grip.
- For transferring, an upgraded 2.5GBASE-T wired LAN port offers faster transfer speeds to suit high-profile tethered shooting applications. There is also a USB-C port and a full-size HDMI port.
- USB-C port offers fast USB 3.2 Gen 2 speeds of up to 10 Gb/s.
- Dual memory card slots both accept either CFexpress Type A or SD-type memory cards. The dual slot design allows for flexible file saving and handling and can be configured to partition file types or can be used for overflow recording. Additionally, both of the card slots are rated to support UHS-II memory cards for faster transfer speeds.
Tru-Finder EVF and Tilting Touchscreen LCD
- An impressive QXGA OLED Tru-Finder EVF features a high 9.44m-dot resolution and 0.9x magnification for exceptionally bright, clear, and detailed eye-level viewing. There is also a 120-fps option that maintains the higher resolution for a better mixture of clarity and motion fluidity.
- 3.2″ 2.1m-dot 4-axis multi-angle touchscreen LCD-first seen on the a7R V. This screen has a wide color gamut covering the DCI-P3 space.
- Intuitive menu structure that complements having different workflows with different settings selections for movie recording and stills shooting. The menu system also works in conjunction with the touchscreen design of the rear LCD.
Enhanced Functionality and Usability
Sony has continued to improve the workflows of their professional cameras with upgraded and additional features:
- A voice memo function promises clearer recording with a microphone located close to the user. These memos can be transferred via FTP and can be converted to text using Sony’s Transfer & Tagging application.
- IPTC metadata can be automatically added to images and up to 20 presets can be saved.
- Built-in Wi-Fi and Ethernet can be used for fast networked data transfer during shooting.
Composite Shooting Modes
By capturing multiple images and combining them in post-production, users can achieve image quality and resolutions not possible with just the core sensor technology. The Sony a1 II offers two different options for composite shooting:
- Pixel Shift Multi Shooting: This unique compositing mode allows you to achieve even greater resolution than the 50.1MP sensor affords. Working in conjunction with the sensor-shift image stabilization, this mode shifts the sensor while making 16 consecutive exposures in order to acquire approximately 199MP of information for greater color accuracy and detail than possible with a single exposure. These files can then be merged together during post-production by using the Sony Imaging software suite.
- Noise Reduction: Using multiple images, Noise Reduction minimizes noise without sacrificing sharpness or detail; by leveraging data from several frames, it improves detail legibility and avoids the smoothing effect of traditional methods.
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