Last Updated on 02/19/2025 by Feroz Khan
When we were first briefed on the Sony a1 II back in October, I hyperfocused a bit on a key detail. Sony said that the autofocus on people is now 30% better. This, in truth, is probably the biggest thing for working photographers — not content creators. You can get those updates and stats from anywhere else on the web. But during our time with the Sony a1 II, we used it on at least one paid gig and for a few personal documentary sessions. Indeed, Sony has fixed the biggest problem with the original camera: autofocus on people of color with deeper levels of melanin in their skin in low light.
Table of Contents
Declaration of Journalistic Intent
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The Big Picture: Sony a1 II Review Conclusions
The photo industry tries to tell you that cameras like this are so innovative because they autofocus well on birds and wildlife. That’s wonderful — but what about the photographers who actually make a living using their cameras? Well, the Sony a1 II is worth the upgrade if you photograph people and events. It, by far, does the best job at autofocusing on people of color in low light in the realm of Sony cameras. But otherwise, it’s more or less just the Sony a1. And that’s not a bad thing at all — the Sony a1 is still an excellent camera. So, in truth, most photographers probably might not need to upgrade if they’re still primarily shooting stills.
Transparently, this camera does such a good job that I might consider making a purchase of one myself. I own a ton of Tamron zoom lenses and a few good Sony primes that I can use to do lots of work. My only issue is how finicky anything that uses their hot shoe is. I’ve literally broken Profoto transmitters because of how the contacts are set up.
We’re giving the Sony a1 II our Editor’s Choice award. In addition to the Phoblographer’s Editor’s Choice Award, we are also adding in a brand new award: the Inclusivity Award. This is a new award that we provide to companies that we feel go above and beyond to think outside of the box of the typical photographer. Sony is getting this for their higher resolution EVFs that aid lower-vision photographers, the work they do with women via the Alpha Female program, and the Sony a1 II’s ability to focus better on people of color in low light.
You can purchase the Sony a1 II on Amazon.
Pros
- Sony’s best autofocusing camera, which does an admirable job when focusing on people of color in low light.
- Weather resistance
- Some incredible battery life
- The ergonomics feel good in the hand and using the camera for a long time on a paid shoot doesn’t result in your back hurting you.
Cons
- There’s a high price point, and I wish that Sony had done more for photographers instead of shoving so many video features into this camera
- Sony doesn’t add multiple exposure modes, unfortunately.
Who Should Buy the Sony a1 II?
If you photograph people, then you should buy the Sony a1 II. Many photographers who aren’t paid by Sony or ambassadors of some sort tell me that their cameras have issues focusing on people of color in low light; therefore, agreeing with my assessment.
Really, for photographers, that’s the biggest reason to upgrade. It may seem like a small one, but if you rate it against what Canon is doing, Sony’s reason to upgrade is a huge one. Not missing photos because the camera can’t focus on people of color in low light is a huge one.
Innovations
Ignoring the video aspect of this camera, the biggest change comes with Sony’s ability to autofocus on people of color in low light; especially those with deeper levels of melanin in their skin. In the grand scheme of cameras, Leica and Nikon have already beat Sony to the prize. But for Sony cameras, this is a first.
Gear Used
The Sony a1 II was loaned to us with the Sony 28-70mm f2 G Master. We returned both of those products. We tested the camera with the Viltrox 135mm f1.8, Tamron 17-28mm f2.8, Tamron 35-150mm f2-2.8, Tamron 70-300mm with the latest firmware, and the Profoto B10. All of those units are our own and were purchased. Viltrox provided the lens to us for keeps.
I didn’t test this camera with any Sony lenses because I’m not a fan of how clinically clean they are.
Update Feb 2025
We tested the Sony a1 II with the Sony 300mm f2.8 G Master lens in Feb 25. See our findings below in the Focusing section
Hardware
I put the Sony a1 II next to its predecessor. In the hand, the differences are some of the raised parts of the chassis around a few of the buttons, the screen, and a slight difference in the grip. Additionally, the Sony a1 II gains the custom function button by the mount that the Sony a9 III has. But otherwise, this camera is pretty much the same as the original Sony a1. And for many photographers in this segment, that’s a great thing. What I really love about Sony cameras this high end is the stacked dial setup on the top area of the viewfinder. This makes locking in direct access so much easier and feels more like an actual Minolta camera.
Luckily, this camera isn’t all that heavy. I had the a1 II with 28-70mm f2 and the a7r II with the tamron 17-28mm f2.8 slung around me and in one hand I had a camera and the other hand I had my Profoto b10. I put everything down for less than 10 minutes from 4:30pm to 9pm in a night. My back hurt a bit, but it wasn’t all that bad at all.
I truly thought that this was just a firmware update. But it’s so much more.
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Focusing
Update Feb 2025
We tested the Sony a1 II with firmware 2.0, which was released in Jan. It was paired with a Sony 300mm f2.8 G Master lens. One of the things we noticed was the hit rate on people’s eyes wasn’t as great as expected in low light. There were quite a few instances where the eyelashes and eyebrows were more in focus than the eyes. This was mostly in images when the face of the subject filled the frame; on wider shots, the eyes were as sharp as one would expect from such a camera. When it came to tracking fast-moving horses, the Sony a1 II was a real champ. As soon as the leading horse came within a reasonable distance, the camera locked focus on it and tracked it all the way until my lens was aimed at it. I’m also happy to report that AF tracking on people of darker skin tones is still as good as it was during our initial review.
Bird detection for birds in trees hasn’t really improved all that much. I tested it out with the latest firmware on the Tamron 70-300mm. Honestly, with the a1 II, I couldn’t really tell much of a difference with tracking performance. The lens was always good as it is. If anything, Sony’s scene detection just needs to improve.
Really, the big focusing update comes with Sony’s claim of being 30% better at autofocusing on people. I saw this personally when a buddy of mine tried autofocusing on me walking across the street — and that’s only the beginning.
When focusing on people of color in low light, this is the best Sony camera by far. Though the Nikon Z9 does a better job still and the Leica SL3 can hold its own, the Sony a1 II was able to focus on people of color very well in extremely low light. However, it wasn’t always so great at tracking their eyes in the dark. Still, this camera is more than good enough to make me want to purchase one. In fact, it’s the first Sony camera that I’d want to buy in years.
To clarify this more, I’m a photographer who shoots far more old-school. I don’t use the Live View setting effect that shows how the final image will look. Instead, I use the light meter and set a button to give me a shot effect preview if anything. This greatly improves the autofocus performance and has been confirmed to me many times by Sony reps. The reasoning is that if the scene is too dark, the autofocus performance won’t be affected because the camera is looking at such a dark scene and showing it off as such.
This means that it gives the camera the advantage where the human using the camera has to use their brain to figure out the exposure. That’s perfectly fine for me.
Whenever I do these kinds of tests, I always get emails from folks thanking me so much for mentioning this. And at times, I get comments saying that my findings are racist. But there’s a lot of credible evidence that says that photography, from the start was not inclusive. We’ve even done tutorials on how to photograph darker skin. It’s a problem — and just because you might say that you don’t see it, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist.
By far, the Sony a1 II has the best autofocus on people of color in low light we’ve seen from a Sony camera — especially when I use the settings that I spoke of.
Ease of Use
Thankfully, this is also the best battery life on a Sony camera we’ve seen in years. Typically, Sony cameras eat batteries like babies drinking from a magnum-sized bottle that simply isn’t enough.
Otherwise, well, Sony puts an auto mode on this camera. I’m still not quite sure as to why they do this. I wouldn’t put such an expensive camera into a complete novice’s hands. But I can tell you from experience that cameras like this will intimidate even experienced photographers who aren’t technical. Sony cameras, by all means, are very technical pieces more so than other brands. A camera like the Sonty a1 II is intimidating for sure.
Image Quality
When it comes to image quality, the JPEGs from this camera are pretty incredible as they are. Sure, you can also apply presets and luts to them in-camera if you wish.
This entire section will be updated with a RAW file analysis when Capture One supports the Sony a1 II.
Let’s Talk Art
One of my paid gigs when I was using the Sony a1 II involved using it to photograph Bowl of Zole here in NYC. I know that it’s targeted to the Latin American community; and I was hired to do what I do best at food events: photograph people shoving food in their faces. I also did this at the Queens Night Market.
My artistic expression here has to do with the fact that the lighting and wide angle make the moment very dramatic. You can’t quite easily do this with video. And more importantly, it’s just fun and makes for fascinating images with lots of cool details.
Extra Image Samples
The Phoblographer has been huge on transparency with our audience since day one. Nothing from this review is sponsored. Further, many folks will post reviews and show lots of editing in the photos. The problem then becomes that anyone and everyone can do the same thing. They’re not showing what the lens can do. So, we have a section in our Extra Image Samples area to show edited and unedited photos. From this, you can decide for yourself.
Unedited
Edited
This section will be further amended when Capture One support for the Sony a1 II comes. As of November 19th, we are posting edited JPEG files.
Tech Specs
These tech specs were provided to the Phoblographer by Sony.
- 50.1MP Full frame sensor
- 8.5 stops of image stabilization
- $6,499.99
- More to come
