What to upgrade next?

[EdHarrison]

I enjoy bird and wildlife photography. I currently own the Sony a1 combined with the 200-600 f/5.6-6.3. If I only had enough money to upgrade one which of the following should I get? The Sony a1ii or the 400-800mm?

 

[Unframed Dave]

600mm f4.

The A1 is a superb camera, and all you need.

The 200-600 is a superb lens, which in my view outperforms the 400-800.

I don't think the extra reach at the 800 end is worth much when you have 50mp worth of cropability. Especially given that you process your shots. The sacrifice in light is fine, if you're prepared to push the iso, I don't process, so I'm not.

Save your dollars and get the 600, then you'll notice a difference. While your saving get down to the gym, you need some core to lug it around.

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

I would say the opposite to Dave on the 400 800, but I have a good copy, many don't, so it's a lottery. I don't think the A1 ii has anything you need over the A1.
Personally, the 100 Macro is well worth looking at, or the 70 200 F4 mk.II

 

[spudhead]

Well I guess it depends on what you feel is lacking in your setup, the A1 mk1 is possibly as good at most things as the mk2 and I personally don`t think the mk2 has much I would use over the first version. usually when people ask this question glass or body my answer would normally be glass, I don`t have the 400-800 but at some point I may give one a try. obviously the 400-800 needs more light but I guess if you consider price point and have realistic expectations, and use it carefully it could be a decent upgrade. I would hang on to the 200-600 my copy is good and I have had it since release date, if you have the funds I would consider a prime with or without tcs, it is no secret on here primes are my go to most of the time for bird shots

 

[iamdlewis]

I haven't gotten the 400-800 because a very large portion of my wildlife photography is in wooded areas and the extra reach over the 200-600 just isn't that valuable. I may eventually get the 400-800 but it is not a priority.
I did get the A1ii even though I own the A1 and it has been worth it for me. There are two things about the A1ii that have made it worth the purchase and those are the flippy screen and the frame rate option of "*", which I believe is the most underappreciated change in the A1/A9 body style. Though most of my photography is wildlife I have been getting more into macro (or little wildlife) and the advantage of the flippy screen over the tilty screen is obvious. The "*" frame rate option is basically just as important to me as the flippy screen because it saves me a significant amount of time. The "*" option allows you to set the frame rate within the menu system rather than with just the dial control which means that you can switch to different memory setting that includes a change of frame rate with just changing one dial. As someone that spends a lot of time shooting in areas that include long periods of wooded areas next to rivers you can have lots of times where you will want to change between 'bird in tree' settings to 'bird in flight' settings with little notice and changing 1 dial vs 2 dials (on opposite side of the camera) really just means you settling on a frame rate higher than needed for 'bird in tree' settings. The end results of this settling is that often I would come home with hundreds of photos that I wouldn't have taken if I was in a lower frame rate meaning longer post shooting times.
As for the other headline features that the A1ii has that the A1 doesn't I think the milage is going to vary significantly. For me I think the burst rate feature is nice (though would have been cooler if it would have allowed for 60+ frame rates), the precapture is something that I know where it would be very useful but I don't have lots of situations like those, the AI autofocus chip I guess is giving me a higher hit rate but I don't really think it is significant as it is probably less than 5%. Overall I would say that for the majority of people that if the flippy screen and either the "*" or precapture aren't things that you immediately say will greatly improve my shooting experience than the A1ii is not worth the upgrade over the A1.
If you are just looking to spend money on something photography related and you are happy with the A1 and 200-600 then the best thing would be a trip.