In early 2021, after refining three generations of cameras, Sony successfully launched their flagship mirrorless camera, the Alpha 1.
Its arrival officially established it as the big brother to the static-focused R series, video-centric S series, and balanced M series, becoming the backbone of Sony’s lineup at that time.
Just when everyone thought the Alpha 1 would be the star for the foreseeable future, things took a turn—the younger siblings proved formidable. The M series stepped up, the R series evolved to its fifth generation, and the Alpha 7S III gained fame for its exceptional high ISO performance and ability to capture the Milky Way. Late last year, the Alpha 9 III further divided attention from the Alpha 1.
Nearly four years later, Sony’s new flagship, the Alpha 1 II, has arrived.
Four Years in the Making
As a camera’s core, the CMOS sensor is crucial, converting all light signals into electrical signals that become our familiar digital photos.
The Sony Alpha 1 II continues to use the same 50.1-megapixel full-frame Exmor RS BSI CMOS sensor (IMX 610) as its predecessor.
With the CMOS unchanged for four years, the Alpha 1 II shows minimal improvement in static image quality. Users needing higher resolution can use pixel shift multi-shooting mode, commonly known as “shake mode,” capturing 16 photos that can be combined in post-processing to create approximately 199-megapixel (17,280 x 11,520 pixels) high-resolution images.
The unchanged CMOS might raise eyebrows, but there’s a reason—currently, there’s no stronger CMOS available in the consumer market.
Theoretically, the IMX 610 can achieve continuous shooting of 50mp 14-bit RAW photos at 60fps or record 8K 240p 14-bit video. The Alpha 1 II hasn’t even reached its limits. Sony uses the same sensor in their flagship cinema camera, the CineAltaV 2 (also known as VENICE 2), priced at 350,000 yuan. This cinema camera, launched in 2021, has been used in multiple film productions, indirectly proving its performance potential.
▲ CineAltaV 2 on set
However, despite the unchanged CMOS, the Alpha 1 II offers impressive continuous shooting capabilities, achieving 30fps blackout-free shooting at 50.1 megapixels, supporting up to 153 consecutive RAW format photos, with exposure calculations at approximately 120 times per second to ensure accurate exposure.
Thanks to the CMOS’s high-speed reading and inherited anti-distortion features, the electronic shutter produces minimal rolling shutter effect. Combined with faster shutter speeds, the electronic shutter may offer advantages over traditional mechanical shutters in many scenarios.
▲ Electronic shutter demonstration
Capturing a photo isn’t just about the CMOS—autofocus performance is equally important.
The Alpha 9 III, released late last year, demonstrated Sony’s strong technical capabilities in autofocus. AP’s chief photographer in Washington D.C., Evan Vucci, who shot the famous “Trump Fist Photo,” chose it as his work camera due to its powerful autofocus performance.
▲ Evan Vucci with Sony Alpha 9 III
The Alpha 1 II features 759 phase-detection autofocus points covering approximately 92% of the frame. Large amounts of data from the CMOS are processed by dual BIONZ X R processors, while optimized algorithms ensure high-speed autofocus and tracking performance for reliable subject lock-on and tracking.
The configurable focus point sizes have expanded, adding XS and XL sizes to the previous S, M, and L options, allowing users to quickly adjust as needed.
▲ Smaller focus range provides higher focus accuracy (Image source: @Sony China)
Additionally, the integration of an AI chip addresses one of the original Alpha 1’s main shortcomings. Working with dual BIONZ XR processors, the Alpha 1 II can recognize human poses, providing confident and stable focus.
Beyond human recognition, success rates for focusing on animals, birds, insects, cars, trains, and aircraft have improved, offering greater flexibility and reliability in both photo and video shooting.
With powerful continuous shooting and focusing capabilities, the pre-capture feature from the Alpha 9 III appears on the Alpha 1 II, capturing images up to one second before the shutter is pressed.
This is essentially Live Photo for cameras, giving photographers their own “undo button” for those occasional moments of distraction.
▲ Image source: @Sony China
In today’s streaming and video era, the flagship mirrorless Alpha 1 II, sharing the same CMOS as the CineAltaV 2, naturally excels in video performance.
The Alpha 1 II can shoot up to 8K 30p 10-bit 4:2:2 or 4K 120p 10-bit 4:2:2 video. In Super 35 format, 4K 30p or 24p footage is oversampled from 5.8K, providing rich image quality for various creative needs.
▲ Image source: @Sony China
The camera supports professional cinema-compatible S-Log curves, with S-Log 3 gamma curve capturing over fifteen stops of dynamic range, easily matching footage from cinema cameras like CineAltaV 2 and FX9, streamlining post-production workflows.
For beginners who might find S-Log challenging, the Alpha 1 II supports importing 16 user LUTs for preview, making professional color curves more accessible.
If S-Log isn’t enough, the Alpha 1 II supports outputting 16-bit Raw video to external recorders via HDMI, providing maximum post-production flexibility while maintaining image quality, enabling all creative visions.
▲ Sony FX3 with external recorder
Design-wise, the Alpha 1 II follows Sony’s consistent approach with a compact, sleek form factor. The body is crafted from matte black magnesium alloy, exuding refinement and robustness while offering excellent durability and protection.
Weighing only 743 grams, with a deep grip design, the Alpha 1 II reduces hand pressure and fatigue during extended use.
Within the orange mount ring, the Alpha 1 II incorporates 5-axis stabilization, achieving up to 8.5 stops of center stabilization and 7.0 stops of peripheral stabilization, ensuring sharp images at high resolutions.
Notably, the Alpha 1 II adds Dynamic Active stabilization mode, first seen in the Sony ZV-E1, improving stabilization by over 30%. This flagship can serve as an “action camera,” though this feature isn’t available in 8K or 120fps+ video modes.
The body features the same 4-axis multi-angle touchscreen as the Alpha 9 III, making shooting from any angle effortless.
▲ Image source: @Sony China
For storage, both card slots support the latest CFExpress A4.0 format, achieving write speeds over 3GB/s—2 to 2.5 times faster than CFexpress 2.0. The Alpha 1 II supports seamless sequential viewing of photos stored on both cards.
The Sony Alpha 1 II is priced at 47,999 yuan and will be available in early December 2024.
What’s the Significance of This Imaging Peak?
There’s a joke in the photography world:
To fully utilize a modern flagship camera’s capabilities, you’d need to shoot 8K video of a wild animal running in a wedding dress under the Milky Way in the African savanna.
While absurd, this accurately reflects the current state of flagship cameras.
Like how Bugatti defines supercar benchmarks with ultimate speed and performance, the Alpha 1 series is a performance monster. Almost no one can simultaneously push its performance limits in every direction. This positioning destined it for professional film crews or photographers with extreme demands, as evidenced by its nearly 50,000 yuan price tag.
▲ Image source: @Sony China
Does this camera, seemingly out of reach for ordinary people, have meaning?
I believe it does.
We’re at a crucial moment in photography history—over a century after photography’s invention, smartphone photography has emerged as a new power, making photography unprecedentedly accessible through portability and powerful algorithms.
Smartphones’ entry compressed the camera market within just a decade, but from another perspective, it’s also a stimulus. The entire photography landscape has gained countless new players through smartphones.
The camera and smartphone camps have evolved from initial opposition to mutual integration and learning. Cameras now incorporate AI-assisted imaging, while phones learn color science from camera manufacturers. Each camp’s technological breakthroughs potentially inspire new directions for the other.
The possibilities in imaging have become infinitely rich.
Coming back to specific devices, while Sony’s Alpha 1 II “imaging peak” may be distant and unnecessary for ordinary users, we genuinely need such devices—these seemingly distant equipment nurture imagined imaging technologies that will eventually reach every user in some form.
Each of us might capture better photos in the future because of the birth of some “unreachable” device today.