It seems that the Sony A1 II has arrived, and it's missing its "Mark." But Sony can't really drop the space like Nikon just did, otherwise we'd have the Sony A1II, which gets kind of confusing with some fonts.
So what did we get with this latest camera? Would you believe the A1 in the A9 III body, plus some of the newer A9 III tech. I like the A9 III body better than the A1 body, so that's a good thing. Some might not like the tilting/articulating Rear LCD, which I find a little fussy, but it is nice you can have it both ways now. However, the body is not a big change and probably wouldn't be worth a II all by itself.
While the same A1 50mp image sensor and BIONZ processor are inside the A1 II, a lot of the internals got tweaking and newer support. That's backed up with all the newer Sony tech, which makes the autofocusing system quite improved, the IBIS improved, the EVF's quality at 120 fps better, and quite a few little gremlins features have been updated to make the camera much more solid as a top pro camera.
Thing is, despite quite a long list of small things that changed from A1 to A1 II, this feels more like one of Nikon's "s" releases (e.g. D3s after the D3). Sony seems to have taken a really good camera and...made it a little better. Nothing wrong with that. However, it does show that the top end cameras are pushing at the ceiling of what can be (currently) done. For instance, at 30 fps pre-release capture, the A1 II falls back to a lower quality raw file, similar to how the Nikon Z9 has to fall back to JPEG. Apparently, we're right at the bounds of internal bandwidth to keep the photons to pixels-in-file moving smoothly.
Given that the A1 II "catches up" to the A9 III in just about everything except global shutter, what I've written before is still true: if you're looking for a fast, highly competent pro body in the Sony line, the A1 line is almost certainly where you want to be (now A1 II). The A1 II represents pretty all of Sony's best efforts in the still photography world, though they've kept to the smaller body without the vertical grip you see on the Canon R1 and Nikon Z9. The A9 III is remarkably really only for its global shutter, and I believe those that need that are a small group.
Pricing is still US$6500, and Sony says the first shipments will arrive in mid-December.
Along with the updated camera, Sony introduced their version of the 28-70mm f/2 (GM) lens.
