Sony A1II A1 Mark ii

[CrankinSteve]

Anyone shooting with the A1 Mark ii camera? What are you thoughts on it? I am thinking about it especially when using my FE400-800 and other long lens activities such as my with my frequent birding or wildlife outings. I have a A7cii right now and I am looking for no blackout and a better viewfinder as well as some other speed improvements. I would keep the a7cii for other uses with my other lenses for its compact size and weight as well as more general use, especially for travel and photos while cycling, etc. Anyway, starting to consider the camera body upgrade now that I have all of the lenses and other accessories. It is a significant investment, but now that I have been at this for a while I am seeing things more clearly when it comes to the benefits with various pieces of equipment.

 

[AlphaWorld]

The A1 II is a top class camera, but it’s priced to match. I enjoy using it, but there are options.

The A9 III is another top class camera, same EVF, half the pixel count, and blazingly fast. Not a heap fewer pixels than the A7CII that you have, and works really well with the 400-800 - you get extraordinary AF even while zooming. As a global shutter camera it has advantages over everything else if you are shooting indoors, especially under LED lighting. Well worth considering.

The A7RVI touts no-blackout while shooting, and a lot more, but it still shows rolling shutter in e-shutter, and you don’t get no-blackout in mech shutter. I have preordered one, but I don’t expect to use it for bird-in-flight. If your wildlife shooting is more like lions, buffalo, and camels, the A7RVI could be a really good choice

The A7V is a real option, too. It is using a brand new sensor that is a serious step up from the one in your A7CII. But it may not be enough of a step - that’s your call…

 

[CrankinSteve]

The A1 II is a top class camera, but it’s priced to match. I enjoy using it, but there are options.

The A9 III is another top class camera, same EVF, half the pixel count, and blazingly fast. Not a heap fewer pixels than the A7CII that you have, and works really well with the 400-800 - you get extraordinary AF even while zooming. As a global shutter camera it has advantages over everything else if you are shooting indoors, especially under LED lighting. Well worth considering.

The A7RVI touts no-blackout while shooting, and a lot more, but it still shows rolling shutter in e-shutter, and you don’t get no-blackout in mech shutter. I have preordered one, but I don’t expect to use it for bird-in-flight. If your wildlife shooting is more like lions, buffalo, and camels, the A7RVI could be a really good choice

The A7V is a real option, too. It is using a brand new sensor that is a serious step up from the one in your A7CII. But it may not be enough of a step - that’s your call…

Thank you for taking your time to reply.

I have a lot to think about and I am not going to rush things. I don't fully understand all of the shutter differences and benefits (global, e-shutter, mechanical) and why I should use e-shutter over mechanical. I have yet to use anything but the mechanical shutter on my A7cii. I need to look into what you mean by shooting under LEDs. I feel like more pixels is better when cropping as long as the focus is sharp with proper composition. Especially when shooting outdoors, I really want to improve on the EVF and the LCD on the back. I feel like speed and accuracy of focus is essential. Not having blackout while shooting in continuous mode would be great as that really gets to me when using the A7cii. The only lions or camels I would shoot would be at the zoo. I have been doing plenty of bird photography which I thoroughly enjoy. And, I have a full compliment of lenses almost all Sony.

I greatly appreciate your excellent guidance. I need to take all of the time necessary to understand each feature of the camera body I already have and then work to understand each of these other camera options. I certainly don't mind spending the money and the time, but I want to make sure I get the best camera body for me. I know that there is no perfect camera body, but I need to get a handle on all of these differences. It's a bit overwhelming.

Finally, I really like my A7cii (its compact size) and it is with me when cycling, hiking, traveling (street and indoors), taking portraits, and when going to events. But, I feel I need to or can do better when birding and other activities that require the use of my long lenses: FE 400-800, FE 70-200 F4 OSS II, and the 1.4x teleconverter. Maybe some of my issues have to do with me and my abilities, and being only about 9 months into this photography adventure. I set the bar high and I am learning new things week by week and I am getting some amazing photos where some are actually posted on this forum. Like with sports, the equipment only gets you so far!

Sorry about the long reply, but the idea of getting a more advanced camera body for me is my most complicated decision. Your reply to me makes that clear. I feel like it will help me, but my skills must improve as well.

It will also represent my single largest investment.

I am a hobbyist and not a professional. I know that my capabilities knowledge have lots of room for improvement, but having the best tools for the job is important to me. I will go very slow when it comes to this decision. So, that's it.

Do you believe your A1 ii is your most valued camera body? Just asking....

 

[iamdlewis]

So I've been using the A1 and A1ii since the A1 was first released. Super happy with them. I've stated this before on one of the threads here but I feel that the 2 things that are of most value between the A1 and A1ii are the flippy LCD and the "*" for frame rate (this allows you to control the frame rate via menu system).

A1 v A9. The A9iii I have no doubt is amazing but if you want to do birds in flight the 24MP is just not great. I had an A9 and loved it but moving to 50MP really changed things.

I don't fully understand all of the shutter differences and benefits (global, e-shutter, mechanical) and why I should use e-shutter over mechanical.

The thing to understand about the shutters is how fast they read all the information that is on the sensor. The faster the shutter speed the better regardless of the type. The A9iii with a global shutter reads everything across the shutter at once, so this is the best possible. Mechanical shutters are very fast but does have moving parts, audible sound and will have blackout. E Shutter will have varying speeds (the A1 is as fast as a mechanical, A7-A7R series are slower), silent, no moving parts and allow for blackout free shooting.

 

[CrankinSteve]

So I've been using the A1 and A1ii since the A1 was first released. Super happy with them. I've stated this before on one of the threads here but I feel that the 2 things that are of most value between the A1 and A1ii are the flippy LCD and the "*" for frame rate (this allows you to control the frame rate via menu system).

A1 v A9. The A9iii I have no doubt is amazing but if you want to do birds in flight the 24MP is just not great. I had an A9 and loved it but moving to 50MP really changed things.


The thing to understand about the shutters is how fast they read all the information that is on the sensor. The faster the shutter speed the better regardless of the type. The A9iii with a global shutter reads everything across the shutter at once, so this is the best possible. Mechanical shutters are very fast but does have moving parts, audible sound and will have blackout. E Shutter will have varying speeds (the A1 is as fast as a mechanical, A7-A7R series are slower), silent, no moving parts and allow for blackout free shooting.

This is exceptionally helpful. Thank you.

So, what I have read is that using eShutter on the a1 ii provides a no blackout scenario with minimal downside in very specific scenarios. And, those downside situations are controllable. This is not the case on my A7cii due to sensor speed. It sounds like A1 ii is the best I can do along with many other benefits like that flippy lcd, and a much better EVF, etc. I really like the 50 Megapixes sensor as I don't want less than the 33 that I have on the A7cii as cropping is a fact of life unless you get real lucky. I am going to do a deep dive on the A1 ii and fully study each and every feature and capability. I won't rush into this.

I am also going to do more study on the benefits and downsides that the various shutter options provided on each of these cameras. It is time to get serious and get a deeper understanding of these amazing cameras.

I did read earlier that my A7cii has a Electronic Front Curtain Shutter (EFCS). According to what I read it is a hybrid camera and using this EFCS is a good way to go unless you need complete silence. Anyway, I will do more studying.

I know that the A1 ii is different and using the eShutter is the norm and the default. So those benefits you talk about are really due to the stacked sensor, etc. This is all very interesting to me.

Thanks again.