A77 firmware 1.05 or even 2.0 - any hints?

[mikeyp2000]

I was just wondering if there is any hint of a firmware update for the a77 beyond 1.04.   There have been quite a few glitches found and suggestions for improvement but as yet there has been no firm response indicating that we can expect an update.

Is there any chance of Sony confirming or denying any plans for an update? Perhaps even a rough timescale?

Cheers,

Michael

[fotowolf61]

gimp69 schrieb:
High ISO noise is only a problem if you don't know how to use RAW.  I guess you don't shoot RAW.

I dont know whom you adress here, but for myself I use RAW on A850 only and use most of the time RAW on A77. More often I use JPG on A77 if the pictures are not "critical". JPG OOC has improved a lot compared to A850. The problem of high ISO are the denoising artefacts introduced by the algorithms!

The current A77 jpeg engine produce a lot of denoising artefacts, which make jpegs hard to use OOC higher than ISO 1600 and enlargments to A4 and bigger. There has been introduced a minor improvemnt between FW 1.04 and FW 1.05 . Any further improvment here is welcome. Although shooting is RAW is always an option but more time consuming in postprocessing.

Are there any plans to improve this further?

Message was edited by: worinke

[fotowolf61]

gimp69 schrieb:
The A57 will not get AF adjust.  Sony, like Canon and Nikon, differentiate their products by function.  If they didn't then nobody would buy higher cost cameras.

There is nothing wrong on differentiating the products. But AF adjustment is necessary like changing aperture and speed because of production. Non of the lenses are as accurate as they should, if this feature is omitted.

Each of the camera bodies or lenses have minor deviations, which make it necessary to micro adjust AF for higher quality pictures. Canon and Nikon have realized that this feature is important and for the they put it also in the midrange models and not only into the pro models.

I understand to cut down features or add features into the camera FW, that are nice to have or could be done with post processing. But micro AF adjustment is not such kind of feature.

BTW, the A57 has already more functions than the top model A77 . Do you recommend to switch to the lower model now or do you think there will be an upgrade to A77 firmware to bring this improvements to the A77? (I am referring here to the option to change the behavior of the movie-recording button. I talk about the viewfinder magnification mode, which is very helpfull for users who wear eyglasses. I talk about the improved zoom functionality. I talk about the better responsiveness of the UI of this model compared to the A77. I talk about the improved object tracking algorithms that have been introduced accoring to Sony advertisement. Just to name a few of the FW improvments missing in the top model )

I am happy to see that Sony reacts on customer complaints, but it seems that these fixes are only introduced into the next model, not the current ones.

How long do A77 users have to wait, till they get this long time requested improvments into their top model?

Nachricht geändert durch worinke

Nachricht geändert durch worinke

[gimp69]

Not you.

[gimp69]

Nikon and Canon don't put AF adjustment in similarly priced models to the A5x series.  You have to get the D7000 for AF adjustment.

Like I said, Nikon and Canon use AF adjustment as a model differentiator, just like your complaint about Sony.

[fotowolf61]

gimp69 schrieb:
Nikon and Canon don't put AF adjustment in similarly priced models to the A5x series.  You have to get the D7000 for AF adjustment.
Like I said, Nikon and Canon use AF adjustment as a model differentiator, just like your complaint about Sony.

This is true, though Canon started offering microAF with the 50D and you find it now in 60D 7D APS-C class bodies. Nikon is offering this feature on D7000, D300 and D300S APS-C class.

To open up this feature on A57 and A65 would be a another nice differentiation against competition, as it improves the camera value for the user.

[fotowolf61]

gimp69 schrieb:
Not you.

sorry I don't understand your comment. To whom do you answer here? Citation would help the readability

[mikeyp2000]

How about this for an idea?

1)  Put basic AF Microadjust in all alphas, in a similar way to the A77/A900/A850

2) In the advanced models, include a 'super AF microadjust' with separate data points for short/middle/long ends of a zoom, near/middle/infinity focus distance and maybe even for each AF point.  This could all be set up via an automated routine where the camera auto-tweaks the settings while comparing phase-detect AF results with contrast focus detected from the sensor.

Now, that would be worth the extra money!

[gimp69]

As I said NOT YOU.