Sony Alpha 1 II announced with a focus on resolution and speed

Sony has announced the second generation of its flagship Alpha 1 II camera with a focus on resolution and speed.

In a not so surprising announcement today due to the buzz that surrounded it, Sony announced the followup to its flagship Alpha 1 mirrorless camera, the rather clunkily titled Alpha 1 II. While Sony is unlikely to gain any fans for continuing its confusing product line naming schemes, it might gain some when it comes to specifications for the new device.

Sony Alpha 1 II main features

The Alpha 1 series is the top of the tree when it comes to Sony's mirrorless range, and so it comes as no surprise that the apparent capabilities on show with the Alpha 1 II are impressive. The launch event ran with the slogan "Resolution x Speed x AI". You there at the back, stop scoffing at the mention of AI!

Yes we know, there's AI fatigue all round at the moment, but it plays an important part here because it has enabled Sony to separate out the object recognition processing to a dedicated chip. Having a chip dedicated to the object recognition means that the central processor is free to concentrate on what it does best, image processing.

The new AI chip does more than simply recognise objects, animals and people. It leverages its power to allow it to accurately focus on eyes, even if the subject in question is a tiny insect. Even more impressive is that apparently the system will analyse the movement of a person or animal and make a best guess estimate at where the subject matter's eye is. In other words, it knows what your legs, hips and torso are doing. The result is that even if you are taking images in low light, or someone is wearing sunglasses, the autofocus system should theoretically nail it every single time.

Alpha 1 II top view. Image: Sony

The AF system comprises a 759-point phase detection setup that covers 92% of the sensor, even in APS-C mode. The system works at 120fps for stills and 240fps for video, with Sony claiming that accurate focus is possible down to -4EV.

Okay, so what about the sensor? Well, it's a 50.1MP fully stacked device with what Sony claims to be its fastest readout speed yet, although no specific figure for this was given. According to Sony, it can capture up to 15-stops of dynamic range in stills mode, with improved white balance and exposure possible due to the two separate processing chips.

Raw stills capture is possible at up to 30fps using an electronic shutter with full tracking AF, while a 5-axis 8.5-stop in-body stabilisation system takes care of wobbles. Stabilisation is further improved when it's combined with the optical stabilisation found inside specific lenses. Sony says that the in-body stabilisation of the Alpha 1 II improves on the original camera by three stops.

Additional features

Other notable features of the Alpha 1 II include a Noise Reduction mode that can combine between 4 and 32 raw photos to calculate an almost noiseless image at high ISOs.

Pre-capture is another potentially useful feature that can be set to capture between 0.03 seconds and 1 second's worth of stills at up to 30fps before the shutter button has even been pressed, to ensure you don't miss crucial moments.

A small, but potentially useful feature is ability to assign a custom button to a "Speed Boost" mode. Let's say you have the camera set to 10fps stills capture, but suddenly you need an even higher capture rate. With Speed Boost, you can temporarily increase your capture rate to the full 30fps while the shutter is pressed. Speed Boost looks to be the solution to having thousands of images to sift through at a sports event, allowing you to use ultra-high speed capture without the need to resort to menu changes.

199MP stills are possible using a pixel shift mode. This works for static images by utilising the camera's in-body stabilisation system to combine multiple images taken between microscopic movement shifts of the sensor. 

Image: Sony

Video capabilities

Whilst no mention has been made about raw output, the video specifications of the Alpha 1 II still look impressive. The camera uses a full pixel readout to produce oversampled 4:2:2 10-bit 8K video from an 8.6K source at up to 30fps. 4K can be recorded at up to 120fps, while 240fps is possible in UHD. These latter frame rates may disappoint some who might have expected a camera to finally produce 240fps in 4K.

One thing that might smooth things over is that Sony mentioned that while the sensor readout speed at 8K is one of the fastest it has produced, when the device is set to record 4K, the readout speed becomes even faster. So, although the Alpha 1 II uses a rolling shutter, distortions should be reduced to a minimum. Lastly, there's a Super 35mm mode that records 5.8K oversampled footage.

Realtime object recognition and AF also feature, with auto framing possible, similar to the ZV-1. Electronic stabilisation can be combined with the IBIS system to create, in the words of Sony, gimbal quality footage using what it calls Dynamic Active Mode.

Lastly on the video side of things, the Alpha 1 II can store up to 16 user LUTs.

More technical details

One more technical note; the Alpha 1 II features a 9.44 million dot OLED EVF that works up to 240fps. There's a dedicated microphone for recording memos, and the camera will automatically convert them to text and embed them as metadata within image files.

Sony claims that the Alpha 1 II features its fastest ever wired transfer system at 2.5Gbps over LAN. Finally, images can be uploaded in realtime to Adobe Cloud and Google Drive.

A smaller but still important consideration is that the Alpha 1 II comes in 100% plastic free packaging, using Sony's Original Blend material, consisting of a mix of bamboo, sugarcane, and recycled paper.

The Sony Alpha 1 II will be available in December for $6499

New 28-70mm f/2 G Master lens

Along with the Alpha 1 II, Sony also announced an ultra-fast 28-70mm f/2 G Master lens. Featuring four XD linear motors, the new lens can keep up with the 120 and 240fps AF modes with stills and video modes alike. Sony claims that focus breathing is almost non-existent, and that it produces pinpoint edge to edge sharpness even opened up to the maximum f/2 aperture.

Image: Sony

tl:dr

• Sony has introduced a brand new flagship mirrorless camera, the Alpha 1 II
• Full-frame Exmor stacked CMOS sensor with an effective 50.1 MP
• Up to 30fps blackout-free continuous shooting with AF/AE tracking
• AI processing unit bringing advanced AI-based subject recognition performance and a new “Auto” recognition mode that automatically detects subjects
• Pre-Capture of up to one second and Continuous Shooting Speed Boost
• Improved optical image stabilisation of up to 8.5 stops (center) and 7.0 stops (periphery) for still images and a new Dynamic active Mode for videos
• Up to 8K 30p / 4K 120p and 10-bit 4:2:2 video recording with breathing compensation, auto framing, and import user LUTs
• Lightweight design of approximately 743 grams
• New 28-70mm f/2 G Master Lens introduced