Sony Announces a1 II Mirrorless Camera & FE 28-70mm F2 GM Lens

Canon Rumors Guy said:

What's Nikon going to do? They're kind of at the mercy of Sony image sensors. The Z9 will be entering year four of its existence.

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Nikon is in a really solid position. The A1 and Z9 have very similar sensor readout speeds but the Z9 can do 8k60 N-Raw and internal 12 bit which the A1II can't while the A1II has 5 more MP's.

Now I get it that Sony only manufactures the sensors and they're actually designed by Nikon but Sony really screwed up on this one. They essentially make a comparable sensor for Nikon realeased a year after the original A1 and then reused the old A1 sensor so now Nikon's OLD camera sensor is on par with Sony's NEW camera sensor. If you do a decent amount of video the Nikon is the better choise.

Meanwhile Nikon dropped that same sensor in a cheaper body and is selling it for $3500 on sale. Sure they had some bumps when they first realeased the Z9 but unilike Sony they fixed those issue quickly with firmware updates. THIS to me is Sony's biggest problem. It's not that the A1II is a weak camera, its that they don't have "baby flagship" like Canon and Nikon do with the Z8/R5mii. If you want a hybrid camera you're stuck between the $2100 A7IV and the $6500 A1II. The A7RV dollar wise is the competitor but it is essenailly a portriat/landscape only camera with 61MP and a terribly slow sensor.

Nikon could essentially update it's autofocus and rerelease the Z9 and it would be arguably better than the A1II and still sell it for less money.

And none of that touches on the RED acquisition. Sony has figured out how to sell a global shutter but not without a hit to dynamic range. RED has better global shutter sensors which means now Nikon has better global shutter sensors. One of their first big moves after acquiring RED was dropping the price of the Komodo X from $10k to $7k. At some point I would assume they would start to move a lot of the tech of their "Cinema" line over to camera line where they can sell at scale.

CJaurelius said:

Nikon could essentially update it's autofocus and rerelease the Z9 and it would be arguably better than the A1II and still sell it for less money.

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Or Nikon could essentially update their autofocus in firmware and not have to rerelease anything.

The ability to have your investment keep improving without big purchases has got to be a major though for buyers at the major press agencies who have gotten used to having to replace bunches of bodies every few years for changes that really didn't require new hardware. That's got to start them thinking that perhaps it's time to jump systems despite the cost of changing lens inventories.

MikeGalos said:

Or Nikon could essentially update their autofocus in firmware and not have to rerelease anything.

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From my understanding Canon and Sony are acheiving the better autofocus through the additional processor. This is why the original A1 could be upgrded to have the better AI autofocuse because it was release a year before they came out with their AI processor.

Same with Canon they're using their digic accelorator and cant just update the original R5 as it doesn't have the hardware.

MikeGalos said:

The ability to have your investment keep improving without big purchases has got to be a major though for buyers at the major press agencies who have gotten used to having to replace bunches of bodies every few years for changes that really didn't require new hardware. That's got to start them thinking that perhaps it's time to jump systems despite the cost of changing lens inventories.

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This is a complete seperate topic but from what I see the camera market is maturing and the updates are going to get smaller and smaller making it less useful to update in the future. The latest updates haven't been image quality focuesed and have even sacraficed DR and focused more on quality of life features like autofocus and precapture.

I think the next generation of improvements will be focused on work flow and how to get the images out of the camera faster. If the press agencies and companies that do bulk contracts stop upgrading then its game over.

CJaurelius said:

From my understanding Canon and Sony are acheiving the better autofocus through the additional processor. This is why the original A1 could be upgrded to have the better AI autofocuse because it was release a year before they came out with their AI processor.

Same with Canon they're using their digic accelorator and cant just update the original R5 as it doesn't have the hardware.



This is a complete seperate topic but from what I see the camera market is maturing and the updates are going to get smaller and smaller making it less useful to update in the future. The latest updates haven't been image quality focuesed and have even sacraficed DR and focused more on quality of life features like autofocus and precapture.

I think the next generation of improvements will be focused on work flow and how to get the images out of the camera faster. If the press agencies and companies that do bulk contracts stop upgrading then its game over.

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Note that when the Nikon Z 9 was released, Nikon made a big point about how the Expeed 7 processor was ten times faster than the Expeed 6 and when RED was considering the acquisition it was Nikon's work on the Expeed 7 that impressed them.

As for the updates, yes, things like precapture and improvements in autofocus algorithms are what's happening but note that's exactly the kind of updates that Nikon has been doing with firmware updates where Sony has been having the agencies buy a next generation body. If the agencies can do one purchase and get several years worth of continuous updates that makes the relatively rare hardware updates a good investment at a time of incremental change.

Canon Rumors Guy said:

Nikon is going to need a DIGIC Accelerator or Sony AI, or whatever to compete on the marketing side of things. I just hope they don't recycle a sensor. I'd really like Nikon to be relevant, because they actually make cameras. The Z9 is built like a Nikon or any flagship should be built.

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My guess is that we won't see a Z9II until Nikon has a full frame global shutter that doesn't sacrifice image quality and they'll go with firmware updates until then. And, yes, it's nice to see pro-level bodies that are tanks.

Honestly surprised that they just took the same approach that they did with the a9 and a9 II, seems like quite the missed opportunity. Feeling much better about my R5 Mark II purchase now lol

For the always objective Sony fanboiz, the R5 II was only an incrementally improved R5, at a prohibitive cost.
The A1 II will be the revolution of the decade, its price fully justified.
Nothing new under the sun...
Edit: I was partly wrong, not every Sony fanboy seems overwhelmed.
Quote (DPReview) :
"A very lackluster update.. also seeing how Sony abandoned the original A1 and gave new features to lower end bodies that were gaping holes in the A1.
In the end, they just brought the a1ii to make it current, but did not push the bar forward. The Canon R5ii does what the A1ii does and even more.. for $2,100 less.
a1ii has no 8k downsampled 4k, no 8k 60, no focus stacking, and no pre record for video. $2,100 over the R5ii is not worth it for 5 more MP, extra flippy screen, etc."

7500 Euros for this ???
Ridiculous !

AlanF said:

Been amusing myself reading the Sony forums on the A1ii vs A1 and learned a lot about the deficiencies of the A1. It would seem that the A1 has now to all intents and purposes caught up with the R5ii and is 40-50% more expensive over here. The RF5 to R5ii was a bigger upgrade than Sony's.

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Most European retailers sell an EOS R5 II + RF 24-70 f/2,8 for the price of a naked A1 II body...
Oh, I forgot, the R5 II has only 45MP...

Canon Rumors Guy said:

What's Nikon going to do? They're kind of at the mercy of Sony image sensors. The Z9 will be entering year four of its existence.

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I'd note that while Nikon uses Sony as the foundry to make the Z 8 and Z 9 sensors, they're not Sony designs but Nikon designs manufactured by Sony under contract. Nikon owns the intellectual property not Sony. Same as their relationship with whoever manufactures Nikon's Expeed processors.

Exploreshootshare said:

Where did you read that?

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SAR mentioned that in the rumors and then petapixel said that in their review. Let’s wait and see.
The Canon version was introduced at the launch of the R system and i think they didn’t want to play with heavy image correction yet as they do now.

neuroanatomist said:

The RF 28-70/2 does not force in-camera corrections like some other lenses. It’s a safe bet that the Sony version does. I’m not saying that means worse IQ (after correction), but apparently it really bothers some people.

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And given how many Canon lenses for RF now require corrections, I can't see why anyone that shoots Canon can fault Song for doing that.

EricN said:

The older Canon's front filter size is 95mm but the Sony is 86mm. Although it's been enough years that technology could have improved, that front element size could be a sign of reduced image quality, right?

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I don't think so^^... Many Sony lenses are way less heavier then Canon once... sadly.