Recently the RX10 got a nice update which added XAVC-S recording. According to a video maker close to Sony also the A7 and A7r could get such an update soon. Would certainly be nice!
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hallelujah!
I’d really appreciate the codec being available at my A7R 🙂
+1 🙂
Also 10bit HD recording for the A7s would be useful.
(EFCS for A7r would be better if they can)
That would be awsome!
I highly doubt it. I would expect Sony to include them on the a7ii
And what about a77MkII?
What about A6000?!
a6000 yes..the best autofocus videocamera must have XAVC-S
And the A6000? It’s difficult for me to understand why the lower positioned A5100 has XAVC-S but the A6000 with nearly the same specifications hasn’t.
because no one will buy the 5100 if they did this…the a6000 body only costs $50 more right now than the A5100, so why would anyone bother buying the a5100 even if it did have touch screen…the evf, much faster focusing and xavcs codec is worth 50 bucks more…
I’ve been waiting for a fw update for a long time. I do believe it will be a update because there are many lenses coming.
But we all know Sony’s fw updates usually have nothing but a lenses support extension.
Hopefully we will get more this time.
It most likely will be released when new lenses start shipping out. Codex upgrade and lenses support all together.
I recently did a video (my first one, I’m an extreme newbie to moviemaking) with RX100III and A7+FE55. The A7 use AVCHD while the RX100III use XAVC-S at 50p. To my naked eye, the A7 does look sharper (due to the len) and more pleasant while the RX100III looks dull (a bit underexposed and color less vivid). A7 with XAVC-S may be even better.
However the A7 re-focused some of the time and ruined many scenes.
Good to know. Also, you should use manual focus if you are doing critical video work.
Video should be shot using MF, not AF, especially with a FF sensor. And the the less vivid color of RX100III would be beneficial for color grading. Also, check you color and sharpness settings on both cameras.
4K for A7 will make me change the preorder of Panasonic LX100 and buy one of these. 4K is essential when you work making videos for people or business. I would accept time limit because overheating as LX100 has it too. But SONY will not deliver. They will put it in a future body so they will not have my money. The one that delivers will take the money. That is the situation today, they put one thing in each camera with only THEIR economics in mind.
I am a video maker, 4k is not essential, and LX100 is definitely not a video tool. You need to set your priorities. You cannot compare micro4/3 sensor vs fullframe. This is basics, stop fapping your ego with these nonsense. And yeah, welcome to Earth, where everything is based on economics 😀 .
I hope you have a day job…
4K is essential?
It really, really isn’t.
This board is overflowing with bullshit. It’s astounding.
It’s obvious that you are not someone making a living from video. 4K at the moment can give a competitive edge.
Perhaps you can provide examples of businesses and the type of videos that require 4K.
Clearly the guy above who pre-ordered an LX100 is exactly the type of videographer the big corporates will be looking for when hiring somebody to make their professional 4K big-budget blockbuster.
Its not about the client, its about the production value that 4K brings to the producer that ultimately flows to the customer in benefits. The client is not the expert.
“Its not about the client”.
LOL good one.
Please outline these benefits.
The client doesn’t know what they want, they rely on the producer to take care of the technicalities. I could give you an example, but it doesn’t seem you are interested. You more about mocking my knowledge and experience. “LOL good one.”
Why can nobody around here backup what they say? There are so many frauds here.
Yep.
shooting 4K in 100mb/s is almost have the color information when you shoot 1080p in 24mb/s . The footage might have far more better resolution but you can’t push/grade that much
Graeme B, tell me what 4k isn’t essential…why don’t you provide some examples?
Logic fail.
yeah I also want a 4k upgrade in my NEX-7 haha, oh and why not in the A900, I mean it’s just some years old…
You seriously complain about a feature that you “really need” now but your camera didn’t have last year? Welcome to the world of electronic products 😉
I hope this firmware will let me shoot 10K video on my A7….I really need that to take videos of my cat
Yes to XAVC-S for A7/r! And here’s hoping to an improved peaking or manual focusing aid *crosses fingers*
A-mount is obsolete.
s/A/E
What about shutter shock? Does Sony reeally want to be as bad as m43?
I am not sure if the shutter shock can be fixed with firmware/software.
This doesn’t mean the moire and alliasing will be solved. It’s just a codec container. Higher bitrates, but still compared to a7s it still won’t be perfect.
Agreed. What it needs is a full sensor frame capture. Throwing away lines throws away detail. Unless the codec enables full sensor reads.
I doubt there’s any way the A7 hardware would be capable of doing a full sensor readout; the A7s can do it because it’s sensor is only 12mp, the RX10 can do it because it’s sensor is only 1″.
But maybe they could get rid of line skipping when shooting in APS-C crop mode. Not as convenient, but probably the more reasonable hope.
Crop mode would be better than nothing.
This is true but there are also some codec issues. The A7 has pretty decent color and dynamic range (of course the A7S blows it out of the water) and a better codec would help preserve that. Heck, I’ll take what I can get. I bought the camera knowing its limitations. Aside from some really obvious usability shortcomings that really should be fixed any added feature just feel like a gift from Sony.
the a7s is also $2500, an A7 can be snagged for as little as $900 on a good ebay deal.
Also the higher bitrate can help clean up somewhat, so its a nice change imo.
They put it in their E-Mounts, but not Alpha? Another rediculous decision by Sony
They are so clueless, it’s not even funny anymore
Canon is rumored to release the 1D X II with a multi-layered sensor, while Sony keeps fiddling with mirrorless toys
January A-Mount announcements must be huge and long-term, otherwise game over for Sony
Sony will be disranked to a mirorrless/image sensor producer, to compete with Olympus and Toshiba
What’s the point of putting it in A-mount? Video is compromised from the ground up. It is a dated mount.
What are you talking about?
f/3.5 aperture limitation, mechanical aperture, 1.76x crop…
f/3.5 is for PDAF, in MF you can set any aperture
same for crop (you can’t turn it off in current Alphas even if you don’t need digital stabilization, but that’s a software issue, not a problem with A-Mount; they could fix it with a firmware update)
“f/3.5 is for PDAF, in MF you can set any aperture” – So? It is still a compromise. E-mount doesn’t have this limitation at all.
“same for crop (you can’t turn it off in current Alphas even if you don’t need digital stabilization, but that’s a software issue, not a problem with A-Mount; they could fix it with a firmware update)” – Again, so? It is still a limitation, and Sony has chosen not to fix it, for whatever reason. This one may not be related directly to the mount, but it is a compromise, regardless.
Obviously, since E-Mount doesn’t have PDAF, there’re no PDAF limitations
Yes, the crop is still a limitation with current cameras… That’s what I wrote: Sony’s choices regarding A-Mount are truly perplexing
You’re clutching those straws very tightly.
It doesn’t matter whether the AF/aperture limitations are caused by PDAF or because Mars, Jupiter and Venus aren’t aligned.
“But, but, but, it’s only because…” – It’s still a compromise!!!
You can’t keep shouting about how great A-mount is at the same time as denigrating E-mount “toys” when you can’t successfully defend its disadvantages compared to the new mount.
Actually, it isn’t the limitation of A-Mount either. I’ve read an article where guys used tape somehow to fix the aperture at f/1.4, and the camera still autofocused.
So this, too, is one of the Sony’s odd decisions.
>It doesn’t matter whether the AF/aperture limitations are caused by PDAF or because Mars, Jupiter and Venus aren’t aligned
Where’s the logic? A-Mount has software-limited PDAF capability in video mode, whereas E-Mount doesn’t have PDAF at all. Limited feature vs. no feature.
Tape LOL. *bangs head on table*.
Video AF doesn’t need PDAF. E-mount auto focuses at any aperture, A-mount doesn’t.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody try to argue that A-mount video can be compared to E-mount. I admire your dedication.
Please realize that
1. A Mount vs. E Mount and
2. current A cameras vs. current E cameras
are two different discussions
As for the first, there’s no reason why A Mount shall be worse for video than E Mount
As for the second, that’s what I wrote in the first place: Sony is making weird decisions regarding A Mount with software limitations!
I have a 50mm 1.4 Minolta lens with sticky aperture blades. It stays wide open all the time even in AF during video on my A57.
AF/MF fixes the aperture limitation. It only occurs if you want constant focusing during video with wide aperture, which is a very odd combination. You can’t expect the camera to keep perfect exposure with zero hunting (which is what you would need during video) at something like f1.4 (NEX may allow, this, but the actual focusing is less good). Instead, you’d autofocus @f3.5, then drop into manual at wide open. One button press does it all if you are configured properly (its a long time since I tried it, but I believe it works even if you don’t stop rolling – you edit out the changes in brightness in post by taking them as the start of new scenes). Actually, a bigger issue is how to fix the aperture during video, and for that you hit AEL (the fact that it works in video is actually undocumented, but it does, which is cool because It locks exposure (shutter, aperture) but keeps autofocus). To use AEL that way, you have to set it to toggle (its not the default, so you need to explicitly do this).
so sorry to tell you that E-mount is also Alpha 😉
Elpha is not Alpha
Elpha is not a letter in the greek alphabet either…
Alpha is Alpha, regardless of your childish names.
>Alpha is Alpha
Indeed! And Elpha is Elpha
As you have problems with comprehension…
Alpha is A-mount and E-mount.
Oh great, and what exactly is “Alpha mount”?
I said nothing about Alpha mount. You are confused.
You mistakenly used the Alpha brand to refer to A-mount. It’s not your fault, it’s easily done.
http://www.quickmeme.com/img/54/54d0a6cdc1ec2b211782191901b383c087d9dc9384c20f01944b014f1e33a8b4.jpg
Ah I see. You’re not very good at it, are you? Are you American?
+1
Sony’s cheap marketing trick was used to give its new mirror-less system some sort of professional credibility. It hasn’t worked.
I’m thankful I have a 5D MK III for work, cause if they gave me an A7 I would have smashed it.
Course you would. Grrrr… *flexes muscles*
“If you got them, you might as well use them”
Alpha is the Japanese brand name for Minolta’s Auto-Focusing camera system including its Alpha Mount. In North America it was called Maxxum.
I know I own an a Japanese version of the Maxxum (Alpha) 7, and 9.
to be accurate, rumor tells canon 2-layers sensor and that is BIG different to call it as MULTI-layer sensor
When you brought any existing Amount camera or the latest A77MKII, you should aware of this fact.
Previously i call Sony ‘a Giant troll’ because A6000 doesnt have it while A5100 have it, now the troll ‘seem’ transforming back to Champion if this is true lol…
It’s actually quite pathetic to see Sony chase mirror-less with the other “hasbeen” brands, while Nikon, and Canon launch new professional SLR cameras. It’s like watching a dog chase parked cars.
I really hope the Alpha Mount survives, Febuary 2015 marks its thirtieth year, and hopefully it’ll be a good one.
“It’s actually quite pathetic to see Sony chase mirror-less with the other “hasbeen” brands”. – More pathetic than having a screen name and avatar based on a hasbeen camera company?
There’s nothing “has-been” about Konica Minolta. They made a small fortune from the sale of their camera division. You should look it up.
Plus they held onto most of their camera, and lens designs, and now they’re getting ready to launch M43 products.
You wanna guess what mirror-less option I’ll be buying in the near future.
http://www.konicaminolta.com
http://www.43rumors.com/new-konica-8-17mm-f2-8-patent/
That’s actually an awesome play by Konica_Minolta.
Sell off the A-Mount to an overbearing arrogant electronics company for an outrageous price, and wait eight years, and launch a new mirror-less camera system.
I’ll definitely buy a Maxxum M43 system by KM. Shame they aren’t looking at launching a Full Frame version.
KM actually has already designed a 8-17mm f/2.8 lens, a 43 mm f/1.4 and 12-42mm f/3.5-5.6 for the M43 system.
I actually see them launching lenses first, followed by bodies. If they manage to successfully launch.
I doubt they’ll be using Sony designed sensors.
Konica Minolta has been very busy, and they’ve actually designed more mirror-less lenses in the last year than most companies.
A 23mm f/2, 150mm f/2.8, 45mm f/2.8, 9-18mm f3.5-4.5, and a 8-17mm f/2.8.
It should be noted that the 23 mm f/2 seems to be designed for an APS-C sized sensor.
I think its more plausible that Konica_Minolta is designing lenses for other manufacturers.
http://egami.blog.so-net.ne.jp/tag/KonicaMinolta
There literally isn’t a Canon camera that can compete with the A7r (according to DXOMarks).
DxO marks only tests the sensors, and nothing more. I doubt the article you read included the D810, which is the better camera by far.
The 36mp sensor is the only thing the A7r has going for it. I’m pretty sure Canon is about to deliver it a rude awakening.
The A7r AF system ineffective for professional use, and outclassed trounced by the cheapest Canon Rebels. It’s useless for sports, wild-life, and photojournalism (unless you subject doesn’t move).
Its burst rate is pathetic, and making it the slowest FF Sony camera to date. I’d rather take my 20+ year old Maxxum 9000 to an event rather than this sad little camera, at least it’d get the job done.
It isn’t weather sealed, so it’s really designed for the fair weather photographer, otherwise known as amateurs. While the A7r users are packing up due to inclement weather, the 5D MKIII, and A99 will still be shooting making money.
And DxO doesn’t take into account the lack of key lenses. The A7r doesn’t have a native 24-105mm f/4, 24-70mm f/2.8, 16-35mm f/2.8 or a 70-200mm f/2.8 making it totally unusable for those of us who work for a living.
In the spring I’m either buying the A99II (46mp) or the Canon 5D MK IV, and I’m absolutely not interested in the rumoured A7x, cause I have lenses for both of these SLR systems, and both deliver the goods.
Well I’m not talking about Nikon, they’re cameras are actually good (thanks to all those Sony sensors they use).
Never had to use my camera in the rain, so not a big deal for me. For some, might be.
But really who gives a shit about ergonomics if you have a crappy sensor? That’s the main component, that’s the thing that creates the picture, which is supposed to be the endgame here.
$500 A6000 ranks higher than the 5d Mark III, that says it all to me.
You need to have a 24-105/F4, 24-70 F2.8, 16-35 F2.8 and a 70-200 F2.8 to be able to live from photography? Oh my god 😀 …
I don’t, but they are the four most commonly used zooms. Personally I use the 24-105mm f/4 on the 5D most of the time.
soon we get 24-240 !
What about MF and some skill and anticipation? Show me it can’t be done. I’d rather be a skilled sniper than a guy with a machine gun.
If we’re taliking image quality above all, I’ll take my medium format and a 1/2 dozen rolls of 220.
I would love that. If they also put in fully electronic shutter (So I can decide if the problems are too big or not) and control over the minimum shutter speed with auto-ISO, my A7 would be the perfect camera for me.
Fully electronic shutter is not possible with A7 and A7r. It can’t read the whole sensor fast enough.
I disagree. Let the users decide what is fast enough. For my use even 30 sec is fast enough.
A firmware update that significantly improves video on the A7 would go a long way in fostering buyer confidence. I would love to capture usable 1080p 60fps with my A7.
The A7 video is a sharp as it’s going to get. Pixel binning takes CPU which generates more heat. It’s a big improvement from the A99 or Alpha bodies anyways. Those are really mushy. Why is your video unusable? Get the A7s if you want really sharp video.
When I compare it to my GH2, GH3, GH4, and EM5 it seriously lacks detail and suffers from moire and artifcats. There’s been no significant improvement from my NEX-5N, NEX-5R, and NEX-7.
As to getting the A7S, maybe.
I agree. My wife’s 5D mkiii looks much better than my A7, which is quite a bit older.
I’d be happy getting better video from just the APS-C crop mode- I’m sure the A7 isn’t capable of doing a full sensor readout on a 24mp sensor, but it should be able to not do line skipping and whatnot if it were just using a cropped section of the sensor.
That plus a new codec would improve video quality quite a bit.
Its even more complicated than that. The biggest issue is reading the whole sensor fast enough to bin the data in the first place. If is Sony is right about the RX10 using a whole sensor read out then binning the A7 should be problem—except that the sensor isn’t fast enough. I think if Sony had actually applied the fast readout of the A7R & A7S to the A7 it would be an amazing camera. Sadly it got a warmed over A99 sensor—not bad, but not great. With an EVF video quality matters.
A better codec is not going to make it much better.
I’d rather have:
-A tweak to the EVF sensor to make it usable
-Option to save EVERY camera setting to the user presets so that I can get Auto Review, RAW and no electronic first curtain when I select U1 for studio photography.
-A fix to the Auto ISO which follows 1/focal length rule when using A mount lenses but sticks to 1/60 when using E mount lenses.
Shall I go on?
What exactly is the EVF sensor?
The proximity sensor which switches between the LCD and EVF when you put it to your eye. This is too sensitive on A7, making it almost unusable.
My favorite feature of Nex series probably have been the tiltable screen from the beginning. Sony almost always found a way to implement hip-level shooting to its higher end cameras (R1, F717, F828 etc). With the A7, it’s a huge pain in the butt since you have to keep the body about 40cm away from you in order to not to disturb the EVF sensor.
I doubt many people bought into the A7/A7r for their video capabilities to begin with. If they wanted that from Sony, the FS cameras is where it’s been at and now the A7s.
I think that a new AF algorithm among other non-video specific improvements (i.e. peaking working without magnification) would be more appreciated. Same goes for the RX1/r owners.
peeking can be done without magnification.
Just saw that! Thanks for the info. RX1/r cannot do that. If you want peaking, you need magnification. However, you can get magnification without peaking.
OK, well that one for the RX1 please!
i found it a little furstraiting on the nex7 and 6 and 5..but the a7 series its really nice when you get your set up right..ive got af/mf set at toggle switch and then once in mf mode use c1 button to magnify as needed.
It would be great if the a6000 also received an update, which both include the XAVC-S codecas well as improve the boot time.
I believe it is a must and it’s long overdue. The cheaper a5100 has it, so why shouldn’t the a6000 that was released only 4 months prior? If it is true that Sony wants XAVC to be their new AVCHD (with the “S” version in lower end products), they should hurry. It doesn’t look very customer friendly when cheaper models have better features because they were released a few months later.
+1
I’d like to upgrade my NEX-5R which functions as my travel camera. I’m waiting to see if A6000 will get a firmware update with XAVC-S and the 120fps high speed mode that A5100 has at 720p.
I’d like to see a faster start up time as it can occasionally take a lifetime to turn on.
While silent mode probably isn’t possible like on the A7S (electronic shutter), it would be nice if the focus beep could be silenced, as it would make it a little more wedding friendly.
Aside from those minor niggles I’m really impressed with the camera.
dude wat. you can already disable the focus beep…… learn to read a manual mate.
You have been able to silence focus confirmation beep since the first NEX cameras and you can certainly do it on the ILCE-7 series of cameras as well.
go into the menu…go to the briefcase at the end, scroll down to ‘audio signals’ and turn it to ‘off’…voila, no more beep!
Can’t help you with the mirror slap though I’m afraid!
Jon
jonroberts.co.uk
The first firmware update already included an attempt to reduce startup time too. If it’s possible to get much faster I’m sure Sony would love to do it but I somehow doubt it.
Firm…what? Never heard of.
good one.
Does anyone of you guys know of this problem: My A7 sometimes takes a long time to startup properly. First it takes a few seconds to show live-view, then it would just show the live-view without anything else, not having a chance to do anything. Then after about 10s it turns everything else on. I have the newest firmware. Reformatted the SD card a lot of times already. Even if it’s as good as empty, it’s taking forever someimtes. Seems random.
Yup, same thing here….
It was originally much much worse before the first and only firmware update. The a7’s take a long time to start-up when you change battery or when the camera hasn’t been used in a day or more. It uses that time to do a battery charge calibration. Why it takes a7 bodies several seconds to do what other cameras do in fractions of seconds, I do not know.
Thanks, didnt know that one about the battery calibration. Indeed this happens after not using the camera for a some time (>1day).
It’s not only battery calibration, it is the operating system doing a cold start. Like a PC or a mobile phone the camera goes only into standby most of the time, offering a warm boot, caching the information about the flash card and detecting while in standby whether that was changed or not etc.. After some hours of not using it it completely shuts down requiring to boot up, recheck the card from scratch, etc..
This issue is not only on the A7 series, but also on my A6000. Didn’t know it was due to battery calibration. It happens when I haven’t used it for 2 days or more.
I was wondering the exact same thing last night.
I experience the same exact issue. Are you using the offical battery? Also, how fast is your memory card? Another issue I experience sometimes with my A7 is when I attempt to zoom in after a picture is taken and it tells me it’s “unable to magnify”. I’ll usually have to turn the camera on and back off to magnify. I’m also starting to think it may have something to do with the wi-fi? My A7 feels laggy when im using smart remote with my phone and when I put it in Airplane mode, it starts up faster. Could just be me.
mine does the same thing. I am not sure when it started but it was not always like that.
A6000 is feeling lonely in the corner…
Then take it out to shoot photos :)… Easily fixed ^^
It’s more likely than the A7x to get the update, considering it’s internals are indentical to the A5100. Have faith….
This may be flame bait but what about paid firmware upgrades? Not all of us want the same added features but it seems others of us would really love XAVC-S and advanced video features to trickle down to the A7/R. Since cameras are really capable mini-computers with sensors it seems likely that the hardware capabilities are not fully realized at launch and like a computer with economic incentive manufacturers would do more to improve the system post release
Partially this is already there: with the Apps that can be installed.
true but not with the same degree of integration. Apps run on top of the camera firmware. I’d love to see paid extensions or upgrades. Similar but different.
The question is how many users would pay for it. Does it finance the costs for development and the costs for handling the payment and licensing site etc.
This was my suggested firmware updates when the camera first came out. They have improved start-up time somewhat but the rest is unaddressed a year later:
Suggested Firmware Fixes (A=High Priority, B=Medium Priority, C= Nice To have):
− Reduce Power on and Standby on times (A)
− Implement true lossless compression of RAW files (A)
− Remove the artificial auto-bracketing restrictions (A)
− Put all crop modes on the same function rather than separating 1.5x crop from the other crop modes (A)
− Fix Aperture Priority Auto ISO and allow the user to determine the slowest acceptable shutter speed (A)
− Allow any function to be assigned to any programmable button, not just shooting options (A)
− Add option to save camera settings to the SD card (A)
− Make a smaller focus spot size available for higher precision autofocus (B)
− When delayed shutter modes are selected via the self timer function, open the shutter
immediately, then wait for the duration of the self-timer and take the shot to reduce shutter
induced vibration (B)
− Improve Focus Peaking precision (B)
− Enable the full -5 to +5 metering scale in the viewfinder rather than displaying -5 to +5 but only using -2 to +2 in manual exposure mode and -3 to +3 in Aperture and Shutter Priority modes (B)
− Allow Exposure Compensation dial to be re-tasked (B)
− Eliminate the first screen that draws a bounding box when focus magnification is selected (C)
− Allow different displays on the EVF and the rear LCD (C)
− Add additional crop modes like 5:4 and Square (C)
You left out having the Tooth Fairy sprinkle it with magic dust so it always takes a perfect picture. Seek treatment for you ADD, you need help.
Gee that was helpful. You hide behind another anonymous name with nothing of substance to add to the conversation except insults.
I don’t think you grasp how firmware works.
Quite the contrary, I have actually written it.
E.J.Peiker, Coming from Nikon I AGREE will a lot of your FW suggestions. AND, “adding” a Nikon like “MY MENU” Section would eliminate the need “for me” to go into the Menu’s “at all”. and I can put it in the order of my most used functions. … But, on the Magnification ZOOM in , the “First” BOX allows you to “MOVE” the box (focus point) where ever you want. … plus “for me” a quick double tap of my C button gets me into Zoom pretty quick (although Faster Processors would help).
“− Enable the full -5 to +5 metering scale in the viewfinder rather than displaying -5 to +5 but only using -2 to +2 in manual exposure mode and -3 to +3 in Aperture and Shutter Priority modes (B)”
I can dial in -/+ 5 EV with the Fn button / QuickNavi on my A7s, is that not possible on A7r/A7?
“− Make a smaller focus spot size available for higher precision autofocus (B)”
You do need quite some area to be able to do contrast AF. This is not Phase AF.
“− Allow Exposure Compensation dial to be re-tasked (B)”
To what for example?
“− Allow different displays on the EVF and the rear LCD (C)”
Already possible, you can have different modes on the two screens and even select which display modes are available for which.
Thanks for your comment, here is my response in order of your points:
1. I a talking about the viewfinder, not what you can dial in – in other words, meter display, not exposure compensation which only applies to automatic modes. In the viewfinder, only the area from +2 to -2 is active in manual mode even though the viewfinder display goes from +5 to -5.
2. I am totally aware of that but the spot size can definitely be a bit smaller as evidenced by a number of other cameras on the market. I am ot the only reviewer that has commented on the minimum spot size being just a bit too big.
3. Since I shoot in manual exposure mode nearly 100% of the time, that dial is deactivated all the time. I would like to at least have the option to assign some other function to it as opposed to it just sitting there with no function at all.
4. Since this is just a small excerpt from a 15,000 word review, it doesn’t include the discussion of what I am talking about. It would be great to allow the EVF to immediately return to the live scene while the rear LCD displays the previous photography, akin to a SLR with optical viewfinder. I did put that down as a “C” or nice to have,certainly not a priority.
3. The problem is that it has fixed steps from -3EV to +3EV, it is not a fully 360° rotating dial, but really dedicated to this one task. So it is hard to put for example ISO on it.
By the way, even in M mode the EV dial has some use: when you use Auto ISO. Of course if you ISO manually, this dial really has no function :).
True but I don’t consider auto ISO a manual exposure mode 😉
I would love to be able to put magnification steps on there for example even if it means not using the minus half of the dial. Just run the wheel up to increase mag and back to decrease it. In playback mode it could increase mag in the plus direction and go to the multiple image screens in the negative direction. Just an idea…
I’d like the better codec as I love all the video features of the a7r, but I’m not entirely sure the sensor can handle it. The AVCHD is decent, but if I could get better quality for free I’d take it with no complaints
The codec has nothing to do with the sensor.
Andrea,
When do you think new firmware will arrive? Other rumours on firmware improvements?
So, FYI for anyone who finds this interesting.
http://petapixel.com/2014/10/10/director-featured-canon-ad-says-used-sony-tells-canon-get-facts-right/
Canon based a story on their “see impossible” campaign on a director that used Sony.
Not too “wow” but it goes to show how companies are trying to milk too much reality in their marketing campaigns attempting to rub someone’s success on their product.
I do believe that Leica is the champion at this, though, with the video that is based on Robert Capa (who was a Contax user) and that video which places iconic photographs in the context of their own brand.
Is the RX1 an orphan? I don’t think we’ve had a single firmware update since the introduction.
I hear you, bro
Out of curiosity, not having used the camera, what needs fixing?
I don’t get it. Having many firmware updates for a product tells me “oh, the product was not finished or buggy”. So having only few should be regarded as a good thing, no?
Look at the A77: many firmware updates, because that camera NEEDED many fixes (very slow operation, crashes, etc.).
Well, lack of updates doesn’t mean that the camera doesn’t need updates. Different manufacturers seem to have very different philosophy and speed of introducing new features for users.
The biggest concern for me about the A7 series is some very obvious usability issues and Sony’s reluctancy to improve those.
Well, I shoot the A7s for several months now. I think there is little to improve usability wise. Of course it took a while to get used to it coming from A77 and NEX-6, to be able to use it blind. Of course there are always some ways to improve it for me even after customizing everything to my likes. But there is no show-stopper :)…
Is there any chance that they will solve the shutter issue on A7R with a firmware upgrade
dpreview did an interview with Sony’s Kenta Honjo. He discussed customer feature requests and which could be implemented in firmware and which couldn’t. He specifically indicated that new codecs could not be implemented in firmware alone and require a different ASIC.
If that’s true, how do we explain the RX10 getting the codec update recently through a firmware update?
If the camera already has appropriate hardware to handle the codec, which I assume the A7’s do, it shouldn’t be an issue. Hopefully he just doesn’t know specifics.
I am pretty sure the BIONZ X CPU is capable of XAVC-S, so thats why they added it to RX10 later, and the A7 series should be capable as well. Of course not older cameras.
As part of that same answer he said pointing to the a7S “for example, customers want to be able to record 4K to the SD card but that would require a new motherboard”
I sincerely hope that Sony will also address some usability issues with the new firmware!! I already lost my hope that they’ll ever get fixed.
Option for using wheel center button to zoom in images in image playback mode should be introduced ASAP. Position of C2 button is way too ackward for this. Right now center button does nothing after you go from grid view to single image view. Should be very easy to implement. With Nikon D800 it is very intuitive as center button can be used for zooming in/out fast while browsing images.
Second, ability to set C2 button to manually switch between screen and EVF would be very very welcome!! Automatic sensor doesn’t work too well in practice with the A7 series and results in unwanted switching which drives me crazy.
Also, is there any other way to disable the very annoying self timer light than using black tape?
Several small issues like this makes me think that Sony has not gone through UI testing with real photographers. A7 series is more targeted towards consumers although it seems to be attractive also to some professional photographers.
Dear site admin: Your viewers are quite strange. When you post something about Camera A, the Camera B, C and D users are whining – same way around 😀 … Oh man, it is so easy. “News about Camera A, but I have Camera B – so I can ignore it..”. Instead “… – oh I should post some comments why my camera/mount seems to be dead just out of the sole reason, because there is a posting that does not involve my camera B”.
Dear readers: This is plain stupid, wake up, get the news that involve your products and take the rest of the time to actually make great photos with your EXISTING gear, that you paid for INCLUDING its strong sides but also its weaknesses :).
Well I hope they fix the Assist Light option… Well not fix it but with the original EA-LA4 Adapter the focus assist light wont work.. You only have the option Auto or Off… Why not Auto, On and Off… Really Bugs me
Initial thoughts: Oh my god! Please Sony! Please! Oh my god would be perfect! PLEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAASEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!
That is all.
This is huge. This makes the a7 the steal of the century.
in JPEG +RAW mode shoul pictureeffects enabled.. RAW original imag + JPEG altered picture effect image. Also app what prints date + (c) text would be cool to have !
Please god let them update the A6000 with it! I love the camera but the codec fails in certain situations.