LIVE: Sony A1 II is being launched today – follow the announcement with us

Less than an hour to wait now, and there are already lots of comments in the chat box on Sony's YouTube page. As ever, I love reading these thoughts as a wait for a big online announcement. Here is a selection of comments and wishlists from fellow Sony fans:

FlashForum says Current A1 owner. Studio photographer. My wishlist: 60MP, MUCH better AI autofocus, Wireless tethering, WiFi7 for fast wireless image transfer, GPS, Higher res/brighter screen, 360 screen, A9II body

Muhammad Momin says We need Sony A7V….now

Dieter Schinke says I hope the A1ii will not cost more

Supreme ape asks New sensor?

The Sony A1 launched with a body-only retail price of $6,498 / £6,499 / AU$10,499 – and surprisingly the price of this has not fallen that much in the last three and a half years. In the US, Amazon has it discounted down to $5,498, while in the UK all the major retailers have it at £5,879.

We thought we'd see better discounts already - but there are better early Sony Black Friday deals to be found.…

Sony has officially confirmed that it will be launching new A1 Mark II mirrorless camera products today, November 19, with the announcement set for 9:00 EST / 14:00 BST (that's midnight AEST). The announcement will take place live on YouTube and Sony is inviting everyone to follow along, and you can bet we will be there.

The teaser for the announcement does nothing more han show us the name α 1 II lit up in lights with the time and date – with a word word clue to what is in store that is simply Unrivaled.

Special event announcing the new Alpha 1 II | November 19, 2024 | Sony | α - YouTube

Watch On

Follow the announcement on the YouTube link above

That's not a lot to go on - but this is obviously an update to the Sony A1, which was launched back in January 2021. Back then, its 50MP full-frame sensor could shoot burst sequences at 30fps, shot 8K video, and had real-time Eye AF for photographing birds and more. 

That was really impressive stuff back then... but since then we have seen lots of flagship pro mirrorless cameras get launched. There is the Sony A9 III for starters - and just this week the Canon EOS R1 went on sale... So what can the new Sony A1 II bring to the party? We have just a couple of hours to wait until we find out what unrivaled features it has really got!