Introduction
The Sony Alpha 1 II, or Sony A1 II for short, is a brand new flagship 35mm full-frame mirrorless camera which offers all of Sony's newest cutting-edge still photography and video technology.
This camera sports a 35mm full-frame stacked Exmor RS CMOS sensor with a resolution of 50.1 megapixels. The basic sensitivity range is ISO 100-32,000, which can be increased down to ISO 50 and up to ISO 102,400.
For video, it features 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% cut), and Full HD @ 240fps movie shooting capabilities, and it can also output 16-bit Raw video over HDMI.
The A1 II includes a blackout-free 240fps EVF with 9.44M dots, 4-axis LCD screen, 8.5-stops of in-body image stabilization (IBIS), dust and moisture resistance, and twin BIONZ XR processors which deliver the newest AI-based Real-time Recognition AF technology.
The AF system includes 759 on-sensor phase detection points that covers about 92% of the picture area and can auto-focus down to EV-4 in low light. The new A1 II now boasts a dedicated AI chip that delivers Subject Recognition AF modes for stills and videos, including a new Auto subject mode.
There are specific Pre-capture and Continuous Shooting Speed Boost modes, the latter allowing you to pick 30fps at the push of a button, assuming you're not currently shooting in it.
The new Composite Raw shooting mode takes up to 32 photos to eliminate noise with Sony's Imaging Edge software, with handheld shooting available. It also introduces a fresh new Noise Reduction pixel shift option which generates very low-noise composite photos using the same approach.
Ease of Use
The new Sony A1 II is a 50 megapixel full-frame mirrorless camera meant to be an all-rounder that excels at both stills and video. The new Mark II model does not replace the previous one, which continues in the Alpha series for the forseeable future.
It builds on the tremendous popularity of the Mark 1 version by incorporating the body, AI processor and quite a lot of features from the current A9 III and connecting them to the 50 megapixel sensor and two XR processors from the original A1.
At the core of the A1 II is the same 35mm full-frame stacked Exmor RS CMOS sensor that was utilized in the original A1, delivering a resolution of 50.1 megapixels.
This stacked CMOS sensor with inbuilt memory enables better performance and far higher burst speeds than cameras without, however it can't match the global shutter featured in the Alpha 9 III.
Unlike the A9III, the new A1II retains a classic mechanical shutter as well as an electronic shutter.
It does offer superior low-noise performance at mid to high ISO sensitivities without compromising picture quality.
It features two of the very newest BIONZ XR processors, which give 8x more processing power than the BIONZ X processor found in some previous Alpha cameras.
Both the A1 and A1II use the same AF technology with 759 on-sensor phase detection points that covers about 92% of the picture area and can auto-focus down to EV-4 in low light.
The main difference between the two devices in terms of their auto-focusing capabilities is topic recognition.
This is because Sony has introduced a specialized AI deep learning processing unit to the newer A1 II camera which enables it to distinguish more subjects than the Alpha 1, and also considerably enhances the recognition of humans and animals/birds.
Read Also: Step-by-Step Guide to Luminar AI Features
Image Quality
All of the example photographs in this review were taken using the 50 megapixel Extra Fine JPEG preset, which produces an average image size of roughly 30Mb.
The Sony A1 II provided photographs of remarkable quality during the evaluation time.
The Alpha 1 II features a broad and extremely useable extended ISO range of 50-102400. When shooting JPEG, ISO 50-00 is nearly noise-free, while ISO 12800 and 25600 offer more than acceptable pictures, and even ISO 51200 and 102400 are OK for emergency usage.
The long exposure photograph was outstanding, with the maximum shutter speed of 30 seconds and the Bulb mode allowing much of potential for artistic night photography.
The efficient Dynamic Range Optimizer tool recovers additional detail from the shadow and highlight portions of an image, without introducing any unwanted noise or other artifacts.
Noise
There are 12 ISO levels available on the Sony A1. Here are some 100% crops which demonstrate the noise levels for each ISO setting for the JPEG format.
File Quality
The Sony A1 has 4 distinct JPEG image quality settings available, with Extra Fine being the highest quality option. Here are some 100% crops which illustrate the quality of the various settings, with the file size displayed in brackets.
Pixel Shift Multi Shoot
In the Pixel Shift Multi Shooting mode, the Sony A1 captures either 4 or 16 uncompressed RAW photographs whilst changing the image sensor either one pixel or a 1/4 of a pixel at a time. You may then make photographs with a greater resolution than is achievable with ordinary shooting by merging the RAW images on a computer using the Imaging Edge (Remote/Viewer/Edit) tool.