Sony A1 or A9ii?

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dataylor1958

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I am thinking about getting an A1 due to the Bird Eye Autofocus, however the cost is frightening. Will I get good BIF shots with the A9ii despite not having BEAF? Similarly, if a static bird is amongst branches, the A1 BEAF must really help avoid locking onto a twig/branch but would the A9ii cope just as well? I would prefer the A9ii due to budget but would love to have any advice.






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You wouldn’t get beaf with the A9 but you probably don’t need it for BIF. The A9 will track the subject fine overall and you would get many great shots. The A1 is going to do everything the A9 does, but better. You will also get higher resolution images that would allow you to crop deeper. The A1 is going to do better in the perched bird with twigs. if you don’t need the other advantages of a stacked sensor, you might also want to consider the A7iv or upcoming A7Rv. They won’t be as fast but have the tracking. It’s easy for us to say go A1 because it’s not our money.
 
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dataylor1958 said:
I am thinking about getting an A1 due to the Bird Eye Autofocus, however the cost is frightening. Will I get good BIF shots with the A9ii despite not having BEAF? Similarly, if a static bird is amongst branches, the A1 BEAF must really help avoid locking onto a twig/branch but would the A9ii cope just as well? I would prefer the A9ii due to budget but would love to have any advice.






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Click to expand...

The A9ii is a very capable BIF camera and it's only "inferior" because the A1, Z9 and R3 exist. For the most part, Eye AF is not that helpful for BIF, just pick as small of a zone as you can keep stable on the head, and use non-tracking continuous AF, and you'll nail shots after shots. Just like we used to do with a DSLR but faster and more accurate. BIF is such a fast and dynamic activity, if the camera gets it wrong and locks on the tail because there is an eye-like pattern, you really don't have much time to correct.


It is true that in a bush with branches, then eye AF does make a big difference and not just with birds. A couple months ago I nailed series of pictures of wolves looking through foliage without breaking a sweat. The A1 just picked those golden eyes in the scene 100% of the time.

The biggest reasons to favor the A1 over the A9ii are actually the extra resolution for cropping and the extra dynamic range (and of course the 1/400s flash sync in mechanical shutter if that's of use to you). Bird Eye AF is a very nice cherry on top.
So if you can swing the A1, get it, it will be one of those cameras that will remain amongst the very best for a very long time. But if you can't, the A9ii is a very good camera. Or if you have time, wait for the A1ii announcement and pick up a used A1 first gen on the cheap :) (actually you might be able to do that now already; with Sony's content creator 50% off, I am betting you'll see some barely used A1s pop up on eBay at low prices very soon).
 
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I've used both. The question is how much do you want to pay for a keeper rate difference of 5 or 10%? The A9 already has some subject recognition in it and it will often prefer head to wing. But both regularly fail to focus on small static birds - I had to keep my Nikon 500 to use for record shots.
 
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I bought a used A9 II as my first mirrorless (converting from Nikon D500) and since it was touted as being very fast, decided I’d try BIF (been looking for a new genre since I was getting a bit tired of landscapes). As far as focus, I was very happy with the A9 II, but ended up upgrading to an A1 not for the focus system, but for the 50MP sensor. Often the birds are a bit further than I’d like, or, I can’t keep exactly where I want in the frame. The 50MP sensor size gives me a lot more flexibility to crop!

Now that I have the A1, I like the Bird Eye AF when it works, but that isn’t always. If their eye isn’t in the right place, it won’t catch it, or if the bird is so far away that it quite can’t lock on to it. It isn’t unusual for me to lock on to the body of bird, and if I stay with it, a second or two later it will jump to the eye. I’m not knocking it as I do like it when it does lock, but I paid for the upgrade for the 50MP sensor. Based on my experience (and I’ve only been shooting BIF for a year), I would not do the upgrade for the BEAF only. (I believe this will be a minority opinion as many enthusiasts are always quick to say the answer to everything is an A1, and I don’t think all photography always needs the best camera).
 
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I think as far as bang for the buck, the A9, A9ii wins hands down easily. I upgraded my Sony A6400 to a used A9 I paid $2100 for; like new condition. Sony has upgraded
the firmware for the A9 six times and it is still in the running for 2022+. Great results and very happy so far. But if money is not option, then of course, the A1 ;-)
 
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With higher resolution sensors one can crop more and have a usable image which also means a 500mm lens can provide the image size after processing that would require a 600mm lens with a lower resolution camera. With NIkon the D850 in a DX crop provides a 19MP image as compared to only 9MP with a D6. With wildlife photography one often cannot fill the frame at the time the shot is taken.

I would consider buying a used A1 to save some money. A used one at $5300 versus a new one at $7,100 with the sales tax is quite a difference in cost.
 
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