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And here I am again with the next [shoplink 3028]A850/A900[/shoplink] firmware rumor. Sony was expected to release that firmware a few months ago but as I learned from my sources Sony had many problems with the “old” minolta software architecture of the A850/A900. I confess that I thought we would never see a new firmware for these cameras. But a few weeks ago I received a new rumor and it looks like the impossible will (finally) become possible. The Sony Santa Claus will make a (well deserved) present for every A850 and A900 owners!
UPDATE: Another source said that “there are 4 updates which will come to A850/900 firmware. Most of them is exposure compensation, AF performance and Release w/lens in menu option..”
There are three reasons why Sony releases the firmware:
1) To improve the autofocus performance and to give a big image quality boost! This is a major upgrade (I have been told). I hope this will bring the cameras closer to the Nikon D3X
2) To push the christmas sales.
3) This is also a message to current users that Sony takes care of you and will support and soon expand the fullframe system!
So let’s cross the finger and hope that the firmware will REALLY be announced soon and REALLY bring some major improvement! Thanks Sony!
Stay tuned on SonyAlphaRumors! I hope to get some more details soon…
Check price and availabiltiy of the A850 at:
Amazon
Check price and availabiltiy of the A900 at:
Amazon
68 Responses
Fantastic news, if true. It helps support a decision, by people who are really getting into photography and looking at further investment, to stick with the Sony line.
REALLY, NO!! I will not believe this until I see it downloaded on my computer. Image quality and especially AF are more then welcome. Could A900 get to the same AF speed as the newer AXX, because the A900 is much slower in that respect. But I guess the AF module is completely different and an update on software algorithms can not result in such a leap in AF speed…..
Yes the FA module is different 🙁
I’m thinking about getting the a900… but I’m wondering if I should just wait for the next model.
Any reason why I should just go ahead and get this model?
Very simple. It’s simply the best camera on the market for the moment. A successor might come in 1-2 years — until then, you can make over 1000 great shots you wouldn’t get, if you wouldn’t have the camera.
If this is the best camera why to bring it closer to the D3x 😉
D3x = $8000 vs a900 = $2700
good point… SOLD!
The only other problem is… is it worth it to get the 900 over the 850 when there’s obviously not that much of a difference but you’re paying $700 more
Digital shots don’t cost extra $, but 2 extra fps is quite a step up and is worth the money. The only reason I am not considering 850 is because it limits your creative possibilities with its 3fps. I shoot film and at 4.9fps trial and error is very costly(costs nothing with digital)
I am dreaming the A850. I don’t want to wait until the next FF. I hope the new firmware will improve the ISO performance.
Maybe it is a good idea to wait for the next model and then buy the A900. When the price will surely go down 🙂
I don’t think the difference between the A900 and the A850 is worth 700$, but that’s just according to my needs.
Thanks Sony!
This is awesome , great news!!! but what about high ISO improvement? any rumor on this?
Not yet.
I’ll be happy if this comes to light, but if it doesn’t does that mean the opposite is true of Sony?
For example, if the don’t come out with the firmware does that mean they dont’ care nor intend to expand the full frame camera line?
Hmmm… that’s all? I’m 100% happy with the image quality in combination with Capture One. I’m not interested at all in JPEGs coming out of a camera..
I would have been rather interested in fixing those little but annoying bugs like that the mirror lock-up doesn’t work with the IR-remote control… That I cannot change the sense of rotation of the wheels. Things like this…
Yes, I was also dissapointed that you could not use mirror lockup and the ir remote together. It kind of goes hand-in-hand for long exposures. But Lets wait and see what we get.
I love my a850!
My big fear is Sony will move away from the high-end FF market and make my investment in the a850 system AND the CZ 24-70 lens I just got a dead end and require me to move to Nikon or Canon.
An update will make it easer for me to buy more glass, I’m holding off right now to see what Sony’s going to do.
Sony has re-affirmed my faith in buying the A850. The most important thing hear is that Sony is providing support to their “(semi)pro” customers. If they didn’t do this with the 850/900, they would have difficulty marketing the A9xx to the “pro” buyers.
+1
+2
AF improvements are always welcome, hope it will be noticeable better.
One stop underexposure of A900 is annoying. Except M-mode I usually setting +1 (+0,7).
Hope also for bracketing without mirror movement (with MLU). I have third party wireless trigger, but it would be nice, if Sony add more functionality to their own IR trigger.
Firmware updates will push back an a850/a900 replacement.
hey, where is firmware for my A200 A300 A350 ???
If this is true and here before Xmas. Thank you Sony! Keep up the good work.
Hope this is really coming before xmas… I am dreaming the firmware makes the cameras usable at ISO 6400 at least and 6fps for A900 and of course faster focusing, for old lens especially.. Sony Clause please read my list! thank you!
Yes! I want my a200 new firmware.
“…and to give a big image quality boost”. Hi Andrea. Did your sources explain this statement somehow better? It looks rather confusing, and I guess the only side on which they could improve IQ via firmware is in NR routines (most probably for Jpeg only.. :-()..
Anyway if it would be true I could also make a thought about the A850.. 🙂 But first, I wanna see if it turns to be true. I also remember there were voices about A33/A55 firmware upgrade for video settings but it never saw the light!
Mr. Sony Man,
How about some tweaks to make the A700 better in low light, matching a similar sensor made by Sony inside excellent low light performers from Nikon? I’d PAY for that firmware!
try ACR6 🙂
There’s only so much you can do with firmware updates. Nikon’s better high ISO IQ isn’t just because it has better firmware. There’s a lot that goes into it from the circuit design, power supply regulation and filtering, colour filter array transmission, microlens design, etc. And it’s possible that Nikon pays more for premium “bins” of the same sensors or even uses higher spec sensors with higher quality analog amplifiers, better ADC’s, and much tighter tolerance and calibration between the amps, ADC’s, etc. despite having the same basic sensel architecture and silicon process.
You don’t know all modes that A900 sensor provide.
What other better modes does the A900 sensor have available that were purposely not used from the start? Are you just saying that as a throwaway comment, or do you actually have inside information that we don’t?
And how could a higher performance mode be enabled without a corresponding upgrade to the supporting electronics?
Good if its true, as of now i was holding myself on what will happen, and if i had to switch glass and body to nikon.
Hope it comes soon… i am still holding to get more Sony glass
try ACR6.
This sounds good! – If it’s true –
I think this will be a good message from sony to alle sony photographers. With this sony shows us that they support us also after we have the cam.
Hope it will be true.
I really hope this rumor turns up true!
Excellent.
Is there any timeframe or announcement/release date known?
Regards
My only complaint is High ISO. Focus is pretty good, but hey if they improve that too even better…but like all sony rumors…I’ll believe it when I see it. Sony cries wolf so often it’s hard to take them seriously anymore.
Improved AF and more accurate exposure would be great! Hopefully, this time, the firmware actually comes out.
Good news!
I hope they improve the ISO performance dramatically because AF performance wise I believe Sony have done quite well. Auto white balance and exposure wise needs some attention too since you won’t want to spend too much time adjusting those parameters in IDC.
I’m with David! My chief complaint is the hi ISO performance and after so many rumors of updates I won’t believe it until I see it. I truly believed Sony gave up on support for FF.
Hi ISO performance has already been greatly improved for RAW shooters. You need only use the free Image Data Converter, or one of Adobe’s products that can use Camera RAW 6.2. I am gobsmacked that anyone would complain about high ISO anymore!
Hi ISO is a must for me too.. i own DXO and do a great job, but there are jobs that I only want to give the photos withought bothering…
Nikon can do it , Canon too so i want Sony to be closer to that.
Can you imagine how Noise free can be one of those using the software many people say and how many stops difference they can achive?
I hope i dont hear again why we complain… IT will be good for all of us, so dont suggest the software solution.
I think a few people need to think a little more clearly. No firmware is going to improve sensor performance. Very occasionally (such as the A700 V4 firmware) we see a software upgrade correct errors in signal processing but those are very very rare. Unless there is a similar error in the A850/900 imaging engine no firmware will make a noticeable difference to RAW output.
The D3X uses a physically different sensor with different AA filter, different AD circuitry, and 14 bit read-out. Software isnt going to change that.
Dont get me wrong, a firmware tweak would be smart and send a lot of favourable signals but it is not going to transform the camera.
The key thing that could be improved in the a850/900 is the in-camera jpg conversion; which could in fact be greatly improved with a firmware update.
My father for example is always using jpg, even though I try to push him to use raw but he is resilient to it partly due to the lack of computing power to render and retouch the huge raw files that the camera generates.
Nikon is very happy that you believe that 🙂
qbic – I dont buy into the whole “nikon completely redesigns the sensor” guff. But, OTOH the 14 bit Nikon readout is an observeable fact, this (and sony’s only literature) implies a different AD conversion. The AA filter difference is implied by the different resolution results but I’ll admit that this is not quite as solid.
I think Nikon massively overstates its involvement in sensor design but I think its equally false to assume the sensors are identical.
Sorry, I cannot follow you: The sensor’s native resolution is higher than what you get in your files: Part of the pixels are not exposed and used for image correction. The camera maker is free to decide how many pixels he wants to use for the image (“effective pixels”) and how many for correction. As a result, you come to slightly different resolutions depending on the camera maker. Second: The AD conversion is part of the sensor. A different ADC would mean a totally different sensor. Another thing is, how many bits the camera writes to the file. IMHO, it’s just show off to write 14 bits to a file, if the sensor’s physical resolution is 12 f-stops, equal 12 bit, only. You don’t get any more information in the file.
And third: Do you really believe, that Sony produces a small batch of sensors for Nikon, then makes a radical re-design just to produce a small batch for herself…? From the development to the set-up of the stepper — there is a lot of money involved, which only pays off with a large lot size…
rb – no company tells the whole truth so it ultimately comes done to what you believe. DXO gets very different results for the A900/850 and D3X. DPReview gets variations in its absolute and extinction resolutions for the D3X and A900/A850. We know that Nikon has a 14 bit readout and the Sony has 12. The Nikon sensor does LV, the Sony one doesnt. Both companies tell us their sensors have something unique.
Ok, you can believe that the sensors are identical, that the companies are flat out lying, that the different results are the result of lens variations or processing differences, that the move the LV requires no sensor change, that the 14 bit readout is a lie and that Nikon is simply adding extraneous data to the 12 bit readout to create a bigger file. Personally I dont.
On your last point. Yes, I do believe that Sony sensor division makes changes to their sensors for customers. Yes I believe that for FF where the market is so small these runs arent big, hence the vastly more expensive sensor prices. Do I know this to be true, no, no more than anyone knows its true that the Sony and Nikon sensors are identical. However, I would say that there is at least some evidence that there is a difference whereas the argument that the sensors are identical relies solely on supposition.
14 bits is not just for show. You get more precision with which to encode the 12 stops of dynamic range into. It may not impact the highlights that much, but this is helpful in the shadow range when you have so little precision available and yet this is where you need it to combat noise and banding.
Higher precision also makes the file more malleable in the RAW converter, allowing it to withstand greater manipulation in post-processing without falling apart, especially when you’re dealing with an underexposed blue channel for shots in incandescent lighting.
A firmware update for a camera that is 2+ years behind the competition is like putting a turbocharger in a Model T. Too little, too late.
Keep making DSLT/camcorders Sony while I continue to unload your gear.
How is the A850/900 2+ years behind exactly? Behind what?
I agree! Look at the pop photo image quality ratings, and you’ll see that these (850/900) are leading edge product in terms of absolute image quality. If you want to spend the $6000 difference for another ISO stop, then go ahead.
Yeah, Sony make some new SLTs for me, I don’t really mind EVFs.
Also, Bob, have you got a 16-80 ZA for sale?
Keep making DSLT/camcorders Sony while I continue to unload your gear.
Anything good for sale or just talk?
@Bob, considering I’m moving in to occupy a piece of your space, mind unloading some of it my way?
Dear Santa…..
We need desperatelly a v5.x firmware for our Alpha 700…
They have been great cameras the entire year…and deserve the gift 🙂
I doubt very much that we’ll see a firmware update for discontinued models. It wouldn’t bring any sales into Sony, so they will not bother.
But that’s what Marketing and CRM is all about: If they don’t support older models…the client will take into consideration when he goes for a new gear. Am I that wrong or that’s how thing are?
🙂
Put yourself in a Sony’s position. You have a small team of firmware developers. Would you use your limited developer resources to:
a) Update discontinued models that are working fine.
b) Develop firmware for new models.
The vast majority of existing Sony users have no intention of buying another dSLR and don’t even know that you can update the firmware!
I’m highly sceptical to this rumor. I was talking to Sony Alpha support person just 3 days ago about digital noise issue, and got nothing from conversation that would make me belive that rumor is not just a rumor.
Support are always the last to know.
I hear there is a firmware update coming for the A700. It’s code named “A77”
Seriously though. It’s all about making money, and that means selling new product, which is the end desire for any company. However, given that the A700 currently does not have a replacement, it would serve Sony to continue to support this group of owners, until they can offer a replacement. Unfortunately at this point with the replacement just on the horizon (or so we believe), it’s unlikely they would go to the cost, to merely “fine-tune” the camera.
Just my 10c
So, Andrea, the question is, When is this coming? If Sony is looking for an impact on their holiday sales, it should happen soon. Any indications on timing?