What is your top price for the Sony A1 Mark ii

[sh1209]

I have thought about this quite a bit and I hope they don’t follow the pricing strategy they did with the A9iii, because if they do, it’s going to put the new A1 most likely at $7500 or more. I am hoping they learned by the slow sales of the A9iii, that most folks aren’t going to pay that kind of price for Camera. I think for my use anything more than $7000, I’m going to be a hard pass. I am perfectly content with my first generation A1 combined with the A7R5 and my A6700 for travel. It would have to have some pretty phenomenal additions over the current A1 to justify that kind of a price jump for me. It is more of a mental thing for me as I could definitely afford it, but I’m just not going there for a camera body. I hope they will stick around the same price point or perhaps even surprise us and come in lower. This would be one of the smartest business decisions they could ever make, and they would sell like hotcakes. Just curious what other salts are on this and if you’re going to pay whatever they ask no matter what it is. I am predicting the Camera will be $7499.

 

[bleirer]

Not a Sony guy, but I imagine they are aware of the competition. So above a Z9 but below a R1. Maybe $6000 would seem competitive in the marketplace. What are the rumors saying?

 

[sh1209]

Not a Sony guy, but I imagine they are aware of the competition. So above a Z9 but below a R1. Maybe $6000 would seem competitive in the marketplace.

I totally agree and if they take a lower pricing model strategy, I think it will pay off big time honestly.

 

[arbitrage]

I might pay up to $7K USD. But I don’t think Sony can expect success without staying at $6.5K. Even Canon didn’t surpass that number with the R1 (even though R1 could be viewed as more of an A93 competitor than A1II). Nikon is putting a lot of downwards pressure on an A1II and even the R5II is as well. The A9III’s $1.5K price increase was a bit of a shocker. But there was some ground breaking tech with the GS so hopefully that isn’t a predictor of A1II as long as it stays with a non-GS sensor.

 

[bleirer]

I wonder if they are going all in on the global shutter? Be something if they could pull it off.

 

[sh1209]

I might pay up to $7K USD. But I don’t think Sony can expect success without staying at $6.5K. Even Canon didn’t surpass that number with the R1 (even though R1 could be viewed as more of an A93 competitor than A1II). Nikon is putting a lot of downwards pressure on an A1II and even the R5II is as well. The A9III’s $1.5K price increase was a bit of a shocker. But there was some ground breaking tech with the GS so hopefully that isn’t a predictor of A1II as long as it stays with a non-GS sensor.

I sure hope you’re correct and I absolutely agree with keeping a stacked sensor. If they were to price that camera at $5999 it would fly off the shelves and make up for drop in price in sheer quantity.

 

[sh1209]

I wonder if they are going all in on the global shutter? Be something if they could pull it off.

I hope they don’t honestly because that will certainly drive the price up with no real world benefit.

 

[Larry S.]

I have thought about this quite a bit and I hope they don’t follow the pricing strategy they did with the A9iii, because if they do, it’s going to put the new A1 most likely at $7500 or more. I am hoping they learned by the slow sales of the A9iii, that most folks aren’t going to pay that kind of price for Camera. I think for my use anything more than $7000, I’m going to be a hard pass. I am perfectly content with my first generation A1 combined with the A7R5 and my A6700 for travel. It would have to have some pretty phenomenal additions over the current A1 to justify that kind of a price jump for me. It is more of a mental thing for me as I could definitely afford it, but I’m just not going there for a camera body. I hope they will stick around the same price point or perhaps even surprise us and come in lower. This would be one of the smartest business decisions they could ever make, and they would sell like hotcakes. Just curious what other salts are on this and if you’re going to pay whatever they ask no matter what it is. I am predicting the Camera will be $7499.

Well said Steven. I don’t use Sony equipment but we’ve hit a point of performance parity among the top three. There doesn’t seem to be any “backoff” in the escalating equipment prices. Additionally, I‘ve read here that Sony also charges for firmware updates…. and there have been issues with that working properly. It has to be frustrating for loyal Sony photographers to deal with corporate greed when “support” is actually a two-way street….

 

[DavidT]

For me it depends what it brings to a second generation. If it’s minor features or advancements I don’t use than I wouldn’t pay more.
However, if they say kept the 50MP but went the way of the a9III in speed with pre capture I’d pay up to $9k for that camera. Reality is they won’t put out a 50MP 120fps camera. I’m not sure they could manage the heat it would create and it’s beyond the card they picked. The buffer would have to be massive!
So back to reality. If they add pre capture, move the af to at least an a9III if not a touch better, increase burst to 60FPS and like the a9III don’t force compressed files for the extra speed like they do today to get to 30. Change the screen and body feel to an a9III I’d be ok with some price creep into the $7k range but likely they wouldn’t do that.
They have no reason to lower the price. What they will do as they have in the past is sell both models at the same time. The a1 will drop by $1k and that will be a value for those who don’t need the other stuff or can’t afford it.

I will say the a9III sales have been good but it’s a different customer. When looking at news agencies and sports shooters most either have an a9III or in some cases have all a9III now and dropped the a1. The a1 is a top tier do it all camera. The a9III is a top tier action camera with a focus much more narrow and I would guarantee Sony’s sales expectations are different. No different than an a7R5 isn’t going to sell the same as other models. It has a unique niche and niche cameras will never be the high volume model.

 

[Nimi]

On the video side, and my guess it's coming to stills is absolute disinflation. Nikon lowered the price of the RED Kommodo X from 10k to 7k (pissing off a bunch or RED customers who just bought one), the new Canon C80 and C400 deliver features better than anything on the market other than the Venice and Arri for less then $8k, Blackmagic continuous to bring cheap cameras to the market. Sony is going to be announcing next gen FX3, FX6 and FX9 this year, and my guess is it will be competitive, price/feature wise with archrival Canon.

 

[sh1209]

For me it depends what it brings to a second generation. If it’s minor features or advancements I don’t use than I wouldn’t pay more.
However, if they say kept the 50MP but went the way of the a9III in speed with pre capture I’d pay up to $9k for that camera. Reality is they won’t put out a 50MP 120fps camera. I’m not sure they could manage the heat it would create and it’s beyond the card they picked. The buffer would have to be massive!
So back to reality. If they add pre capture, move the af to at least an a9III if not a touch better, increase burst to 60FPS and like the a9III don’t force compressed files for the extra speed like they do today to get to 30. Change the screen and body feel to an a9III I’d be ok with some price creep into the $7k range but likely they wouldn’t do that.
They have no reason to lower the price. What they will do as they have in the past is sell both models at the same time. The a1 will drop by $1k and that will be a value for those who don’t need the other stuff or can’t afford it.

I will say the a9III sales have been good but it’s a different customer. When looking at news agencies and sports shooters most either have an a9III or in some cases have all a9III now and dropped the a1. The a1 is a top tier do it all camera. The a9III is a top tier action camera with a focus much more narrow and I would guarantee Sony’s sales expectations are different. No different than an a7R5 isn’t going to sell the same as other models. It has a unique niche and niche cameras will never be the high volume model.

I definitely disagree with they have no reason to lower it because other manufacturers flagship cameras are far less money than the A1. I think if they had a smart marketing team, they would bring this camera out lower than the current A1. I guarantee beyond any shadow of doubt, they would make up tenfold and what they would ever make and price up that’s just common business knowledge. We are to the point with Mirrorless cameras, that there isn’t going to be any giant leaps in innovation and certainly isn’t going to be any giant leaps in image quality. As far as quality, I think it’s going to be minor improvements and at some point manufacturers are only going to release a flagship model every 5 to 6 years and charge for firmware updates. That is honestly where I see this going.

 

[sh1209]

On the video side, and my guess it's coming to stills is absolute disinflation. Nikon lowered the price of the RED Kommodo X from 10k to 7k (pissing off a bunch or RED customers who just bought one), the new Canon C80 and C400 deliver features better than anything on the market other than the Venice and Arri for less then $8k, Blackmagic continuous to bring cheap cameras to the market. Sony is going to be announcing next gen FX3, FX6 and FX9 this year, and my guess is it will be competitive, price/feature wise with archrival Canon.

I think Sony is going to be forced into that direction whether they want to or not. I just don’t foresee people paying a drastically higher price than what cameras are right now at any point in the future, but that’s just my two cents.

 

[sh1209]

It will be interesting to see where this camera comes in at during release.

 

[DavidT]

I definitely disagree with they have no reason to lower it because other manufacturers flagship cameras are far less money than the A1. I think if they had a smart marketing team, they would bring this camera out lower than the current A1. I guarantee beyond any shadow of doubt, they would make up tenfold and what they would ever make and price up that’s just common business knowledge. We are to the point with Mirrorless cameras, that there isn’t going to be any giant leaps in innovation and certainly isn’t going to be any giant leaps in image quality. As far as quality, I think it’s going to be minor improvements and at some point manufacturers are only going to release a flagship model every 5 to 6 years and charge for firmware updates. That is honestly where I see this going.

Nah. Sony doesn’t need to price something based on others who don’t have equal in the market. I work for a premium brand and sell to consumers and OEM’s and our pricing considerations have nothing to do with what others are charging in the market. Lower or less premium brands often compete on price as they are forced to.

 

[Vincent_VdB]

Respect for Sony and how they stormed the world of action/wildlife photography with the A1. Their pricing policy however is, to my opinion, not sustainable. Nikon priced their flagship Z9 very very sharp and did so with the Z8 again. Canon realised that their bodies have to remain in the Nikon price range and was it for me a real surprise how high their A9III was set in price making me indeed also wonder what that will bring for the yet to be released A1II.
Regardless on features, and I do expect nothing short of another groundbreaking camera, do I not think the price can go much higher as per current A1.

But then again, what do I know You know what they say about opinion ...

 

[sh1209]

Respect for Sony and how they stormed the world of action/wildlife photography with the A1. Their pricing policy however is, to my opinion, not sustainable. Nikon priced their flagship Z9 very very sharp and did so with the Z8 again. Canon realised that their bodies have to remain in the Nikon price range and was it for me a real surprise how high their A9III was set in price making me indeed also wonder what that will bring for the yet to be released A1II.
Regardless on features, and I do expect nothing short of another groundbreaking camera, do I not think the price can go much higher as per current A1.

But then again, what do I know You know what they say about opinion ...

You’re 100% correct and I have seen many companies over the years fall to the same stupidity thinking they’re too big to fail. Most of all these Camera company customers are amateur photographers. Most are living within a budget and not going to spend the price of a used car for a camera body, especially in today’s economy with inflation through the roof. I mean when you have other Camera companies offering nearly the same specs if 15 to 20% less you’d have to be naïve at best to not think people are going to go the other route in a lot of situations. I am sure just like you said that it would be a great camera, but I think they need to tread carefully with the way their pricing strategy is going at this point.

 

[sh1209]

I’m also really curious to see what the video specs are going to be. This is definitely an area where the A1 falls behind the Z9. Hopefully they will get subject and animal detection in video. I would honestly like to see them implement CF express type B cards which are far faster. I honestly don’t expect to hear anything about this camera until late next year, but they could surprise us.

 

[ChrisM]

I bought the A1 because I really wanted the stacked sensor and Sony was the pioneer that made it happen.
But I really disliked the price and feel it is far too high a price for a canera body.
Stacked sensors will become more and more common in coming years, and prices will have to come down if they want to generate higher sales. Not just Sony but all camera makers.
Fuji, Olympus, Canon, Nikon, they all have access to stacked sensors now.

Personally, I don't intend to ever spend more than around 4500-5000 max on a camera body, and I will continue to use the wonderful A1 until prices become more reasonable.
I have no idea though if Sony will come down with its prices, the A1 is still sells at launch price where I live.

 

[sh1209]

I bought the A1 because I really wanted the stacked sensor and Sony was the pioneer that made it happen.
But I really disliked the price and feel it is far too high a price for a canera body.
Stacked sensors will become more and more common in coming years, and prices will have to come down if they want to generate higher sales. Not just Sony but all camera makers.
Fuji, Olympus, Canon, Nikon, they all have access to stacked sensors now.

Personally, I don't intend to ever spend more than around 4500-5000 max on a camera body, and I will continue to use the wonderful A1 until prices become more reasonable.
I have no idea though if Sony will come down with its prices, the A1 is still sells at launch price where I live.

I feel exactly the same, and most likely will keep mine until it has a major malfunction. There’s really nothing I can think they could add to the second generation that would entice me to get it. I do like the articulating screen on my A7R5 and do wish the A1 had that.

 

[RichF]

I have not followed (carefully) Sony prices in other markets, but based upon casual observation, Sony prices high. For years their TVs seemed to be significantly more expensive than the competition. Whether they warranted the premium is another discussion.

In prior years, their cameras were without competition so they could price high. Now that they have competition but a large user community with significant investment in Sony equipment and little hope of getting Canon and Nikon users to jump ship (those inclined to change have already done so), they may ask a premium price. They only condition were they might not go high, is if the A1 II offers such an advantage over the Z9 and R1 (and expected improvements in them) that Canon and NIkon users would consider switching. Unlikely but possible.

 

[sh1209]

I have not followed (carefully) Sony prices in other markets, but based upon casual observation, Sony prices high. For years their TVs seemed to be significantly more expensive than the competition. Whether they warranted the premium is another discussion.

In prior years, their cameras were without competition so they could price high. Now that they have competition but a large user community with significant investment in Sony equipment and little hope of getting Canon and Nikon users to jump ship (those inclined to change have already done so), they may ask a premium price. They only condition were they might not go high, is if the A1 II offers such an advantage over the Z9 and R1 (and expected improvements in them) that Canon and NIkon users would consider switching. Unlikely but possible.

Well said! Sony used to be a big contender in the laptop, home entertainment and television sector. Over the last several years they’re not even in the top five in those arenas. I think now more than ever companies have to adapt whether that be in the price of their products or how they conduct their R&D departments and such.