The A1II has now been out for a while and has finally gotten into more photographers' hands. It is a sophisticated camera with complex, subtle settings, and therefore many earlier posts about the camera expressed some uncertainty about how to set up the camera and about features and specific advantages and possible problems. There is not a general review thread about the camera.
What are users' opinions about the A1II now that it has been in wide use for a little while? What do people like and perhaps like less? How does it compare to the A1 and to other cameras? What are the best features and what would you like to see changed?
Sports and BIF are obvious applications for the camera, but how else are people using it and do they like it for those other applications? Are sports and BIF shooters happy with the camera?
The pre capture function alone was worth the upgrade from the A1 & A7R5 for me. When the action is uncertain it saves me from having to go thru hundreds of extra shots. I like the new body and the * mode on the frame rate dial as well.
Love everything about it and no regrets doing the upgrade from A1.
Things I really like over the A1:
1) Precapture....duh...obviously this will be most people's big motivation to spend the $$$
2) Custom sized Zones
3) DMF via menu so I can use it with my 100-400GM for semi-macro shooting to help out AF
4) Better button feel and REC button moved more to the right. The other ergonomic changes to grip shape don't make much difference to me.
5) Bird Eye AF is improved, back to back testing on some tricky subjects before I sold the A1 showed the A1II could recognize some eyes when the A1 wouldn't. That said, after using Canon BEAF recently it puts Sony's latest effort to shame. So I'm not that impressed with the improvements from A1 to A1II for BEAF.
But now onto the controversial thing I don't like about the A1II over the A1 and that is the basic behaviour of the AF system when in Wide or Zone and subject detect hasn't recognized a subject. Prior to the AI chipped cameras the Sony system would always prioritize dancing the green squares over whatever was in the centre of the Zone or centre of the frame in Wide. But since the A7RV I noticed on the RV, 9III and now the A1II that the AF wants to always jump to nearest object which is often some distractions at the bottom of the Zone or bottom of the frame in Wide. This to me is a huge downgrade to how I used the Sony system for years. Others may prefer this new behaviour but I much preferred the center priority AF.
If Sony gave me the option to port over the A1 AF on FW 3.1 into the A1II I'd take them up on the offer even if I lost the somewhat improved BEAF.
The only other thing I don't like is the loss of the fixed numbered EC dial. This is very personal to the way I ran my "bird on perch override button". But even if I program the upper right wheel to be EC it doesn't work the way it used to with the numbered dial. Most will probably prefer having that dial be customizable. But for me it was a downgrade.
I was one of the first to pre-order the A1 back in 2021 and shot it until a couple months ago, when I replaced it with the A1 II. For awhile, I shot two A1's, until I replaced one of them with the A7R5. I was quite happy with the A1, although the new-found features of the A7R5 left me somewhat wanting (now solved with the A1 II).
For me, the A1 II is an absolutely amazing (stunning) camera. I have been shooting Sony mirrorless for twelve years, to include most all of their camera releases and this the first body that I am 98% satisfied with.
There is a long list of small and large improvements over the A1. A few of my favorites are:
Pre-capture. How did I ever live without it?
Auto Subject Detection.
8.5 stop IBIS. It makes a difference in low-light.
Larger, higher resolution LCD with 4-Axis tilting. I use this capability a lot!
Ergonomics. I have never been a big fan of the Sony ergonomics, but this camera is much better for me.
Small, but welcome, improvement in Eye Focus.
Faster processor.
Additional Custom button.
Improved button feel.
Greater menu choices for fine-tuning performance.
There are other small improvements, but I cannot think of them at the moment. For me, the collective improvements are greater than the sum of the parts.
My biggest complaint is the loss of markings on the EC dial. Sony cameras are already missing the top-plate display that competing camera's have and losing the EC marking just makes the situation worse for me.
I really like my A1 enough as is and was planning on waiting for the A1 MK II price drops down the road a bit but I ended up selling the A7RV and the specter of tariff impacts on future pricing kicked in and I pulled the trigger early on an A1 II.
Absolutely love it. Pretty much everything improved has been mentioned already. No need to regurgitate them.
I did recently experience a situation that I think would have been cake for the A1 or even the A9II where eagles in plain sight were missed by the recognition algo. Strange. I ended up just quickly switching to DMF and got them but I was kind of irritated tbh.
I decided to get the A9III over the A1 Mark II to move on from scanning/rolling shutter sensors for my top tier Sony body. Traded the A1 for it. I also got an A7RV as a high resolution camera for portrait and landscape photography.
It was a difficult decision, but using the A9III at an event with only one slightly out of focus shot out of hundreds reinforced that decision. The global shutter and the refinement of this 5th generation Sony camera body is awesome.
I am actually thinking of getting a second A9III in the near future.
I have an A1ii and an A1 as my two bodies, shooting sports and events. There's a whole lot of small improvements:
- the grip, obviously
- subject detection is much better, especially for events and wide shots- e.g someone small on stage with graphics or venues in frame, the A1ii does a much better job of sticking to the small person.
- precapture is fantastic for sports.
Only issue I have with the A1ii is that it seems to use a lot more battery than the A1. A *lot* more. And the new detection modes seem to make it somewhat more nervous focusing, but it's worlds ahead of the Z9s I came from.
Since everyone is raving, can I offer some criticism, especially because the OP is asking to comapre it against other brands?
Here it goes: the manual focus assist implementation is the worst among the big 3 brands. This keeps me questioning my choice of going with Sony as opposed to Nikon, whose ability to combine manual focusing with subject detection and their aids are much better.
p.1 #11 · A1II -- Current User Opinions & Reviews?
armstrong.photos wrote:
I have an A1ii and an A1 as my two bodies, shooting sports and events. There's a whole lot of small improvements:
- the grip, obviously
- subject detection is much better, especially for events and wide shots- e.g someone small on stage with graphics or venues in frame, the A1ii does a much better job of sticking to the small person.
- precapture is fantastic for sports.
Only issue I have with the A1ii is that it seems to use a lot more battery than the A1. A *lot* more. And the new detection modes seem to make it somewhat more nervous focusing, but it's worlds ahead of the Z9s I came from. ...Show more →
RE the battery usage -- do you usually have bluetooth or wifi turned on?
