The digital manual for the Sony A1 II is now available for download via Sony Support, bolstering my hope that the yet-to-be-fulfilled flagship mirrorless will ship in December, as intended.
Two downloads are currently available, a Help Guide and a start-up guide. The latter is a two-page PDF with basic information regarding setup, such as charging and installing the batteries, inserting memory cards, and setting up the camera for the first time.
The former is a whopping 675-page manual – befitting of one of the most advanced consumer cameras in the world. This goes into extreme detail about functions such as the Sony A1 II’s headline ability to automatically recognize and focus on different subjects. The manual lists humans, animals, birds, insects, cars, trains, and planes, as being recognized by the camera’s AI algorithms via its Recognition Target function.
The A1 II is the first full-frame camera in the world to have this ability and as a Nikon Z8 photographer who’s used to telling my camera what subject I’m photographing, this is mindblowing, not that I'm turning this into a Sony A1 II vs Nikon Z8 debate...
Diving deeper into the manual reveals that you can even tell the camera to ignore certain subjects. So, for example, you could be photographing urban foxes next to a road and opt to omit the car subject recognition, while keeping the animal one active.
If you’ve already pre-ordered the Sony A1 II, it’s definitely worth downloading and reading through the manual ahead of delivery so you can get straight to the good part when your shiny new behemoth of a camera arrives.
What is the Sony A1 II?
The Sony A1 II is the second generation of Sony’s flagship mirrorless series. It’s built around a full-frame 50.1-MP Exmor RS stacked CMOS sensor and is powered by the BionzXR image processor. It also has a dedicated AI processing unit, which handles the neat, automatic subject-detection function.
In-body image stabilization can compensate for up to an impressive 8.5 stops, beating the personal benchmark it set with the Sony A9 III. It can capture lossless compressed RAW files at an impressive 30fps – although cannot reach the A9 III and its global shutter’s insane 120fp. The A1 II’s video specs max out at 8K 30p, 4K 60p, 4K 120p (1.13x crop).
Make sure you read the Digital Camera World review to find out our reviewer's verdict on the Sony A1 II.
Are you a Sony photographer or thinking of switching over? Check out the best Sony camera and the best Sony lenses.
