We have been told by our sources that Sony will delay the shipment of the first [shoplink 8461]A77[/shoplink] cameras in Europe to deliver the cams with the new 1.03 firmware. As you know firmware 1.02 isn’t 100% compatible with the very new Bionz processor used for the A77 production version The 1.02 was optimized for an older Bionz processor. The new firmware that will be announced mid-October should fix all the issues we mention last week (black outs, shut down etc).
A SAR reader asked Sony UK when they will fix the [shoplink 8452]NEX-5n[/shoplink] “click” issue and that’s their response: “I understand you are thinking or purchasing a Sony NEX-5N camera. This is not an inherent fault with every single NEX-5N. I can confirm that a firmware fix will be released in October to resolve any issue with the affected models. I can confirm that the firmware update will totally eliminate any issue with the affected Sony NEX-5N cameras. Should you require further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.”
In summary in a couple of weeks the A77 and the NEX-5n should work fine! And please, do not make any mistake with the [shoplink 8454]NEX-7[/shoplink]!
P.S.: On Amazon (Click here) you can already read 11 user reviews. The truth is that all would rate the camera with 5/5 stars if there wouldn’t be that “click” issue. And one more reminder: You can preorder the 50mm lens on Amazon (Click here).
62 Responses
A firmware release for the click on the NEX-5N? It happens even when the camera is not on.
Probably they would keep some circuitry powered while in video mode, so the loose part will not be loose anymore/make no sounds.
Firmware fix for the 5N “Click” issue? I thought it was a lubrication issue…
I am very curious now, what the shipping date is for Holland now…..
Wow. As a 5N owner, noooow I’m confused! FW update, and the US owners had to have their 5Ns lubricated… Funky stuff.
I do not understand .. no arrangement was supposed to “lubricate” piece? .. now say they will be through firmware? .. more accurate information is needed, because if it is 100% possible to fix the “click” through the firmware to send the camera to the repair, no?
I’m confused as well. According to the sony website, I think you have to send in the 5n to have the clicking noise reduced:
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/news-item.pl?news_id=439&mdl=NEX5N
Should I wait until this firmware is released, or do both?
A longer wait for the A77? Mien Gott
LOL ! @ Mien Gott
WE CAN UPDATE THE FW TO 1.03 VER IN HONG KONG SONY SERVICE CENTER ALREADY !
BUT IT IS STILL NOT OPEN FOR PUBLIC DOWNLOAD YET
NOT SURE IS IT THE SAME AS THE 1.03 BEING PUBLISHED IN MID-OCT =]
I got the Camera 3 days ago from SonyStyle Mongkok Hong Kong and it already come with 1.03. Also a DPReview user in Canada also said Sony Canada delivers his A77 with 1.03.
yesterday, i went to my local Sony Centre (Berlin), because they had an a77 and NEX-7 to test 😀
The assistants told me that the a77 can be bought in shop by the 15th of October and the a65 two weeks later..
But unfortunately they couldn’t say anything about the firmware…
Where is the good old time when products comme to market bug free ? I buy a game, and i need the new patch that solves all problems, now it’s the same for camera, tablets (android is in perpetual beta stage ;), and even new cars needs sometime firmware upgrade.
Maybe for Sony clicks, is a bug that push mechanical pieces beyond limits.
“Where is the good old time when products come to market bug free ?”
That was before the invention of the microprocessor, so say about 40 years ago.
But then, the otherwise brilliant Kodak Ektra camera of the 1940s had a buggy shutter which soon failed. The camera went out of production. So there were buggy products even before microprocessors.
Joe Pennell and his wife cycled around Europe on a tandem tricycle in the 1880s and had constant problems with parts working loose.
Why doesn’t Sony just put 1.03 firmware online now?
They are already dispensing it in HK…
That’s what’s confusing me. If the A77 is being bought in the Far EAst with firmware 1.03 why wait until mid October for it to go online?
I ordered the a77 from Sony usa friday night and i checked my order status today and it says that the estimated delivery date is 10-04-11, tomorrow!!! Can this be possible?
I ordered mine at the end of Aug. My estimated delivery on their website has said 29 Aug (!) ever since, but I’ve got 3 separate emails (on 4th Sept, 27th Sept and again yesterday), all saying…
“We would like to inform you we are experiencing a delay
with your Sony order. The following item SLTA77VQ has been
rescheduled to ship on 10/21/2011.Tracking information will
be sent via email once your order ships.”
Not sure if that’s the real date or not – it hasn’t changed since the firmware issue was uncovered.
Anyone know for sure when US orders are now expected to start shipping?
It’s sad that still at this stage of the development for the A77 there would be such bugs. I understand it’s a fact in the market as other cameras have firmware updates, but to have firmware that’s not compatible with the processor is simply strange. One would think that compatibility would be step 1.
Any news for a fw update for the VG10?
I ordered my a77 on Thursday, Sept. 22 from Sony toll-free #. The estimated ship date on Sony.com was 10-19-11. The web site still has that ship date (I’m in USA). Then yesterday, the 2nd, I got an email from Sony saying; “We would like to inform you we are experiencing a delay with your Sony order. The following item SLTA77VQ has been rescheduled to ship on 10/21/2011” Just a 2 day delay, not bad, but hopefully long enough to fix the problems. BTW, the Sony rep who took my order was very helpful and threw in a 32 GB, class 10, SD card and free expedited shipping(2 day). Ordering from a website can’t get you those extras! 🙂
We most have talked to the same guy cause I got the 32gb and shipping for free too. Lol
It must be a system error, as much as I want to believe my a77 will be shipped tomorrow, I know it’s not happening 🙁
Received mine today! The SonyStyle.ca sites delivery dates change last week from Oct 21 to Oct 4. Ordered mine last Thursday and got it today. With a bonus version 1.03 firmware installed.
Ok – now I’m jealous. No free shipping or memory cards for me! Which number did you call exactly? Was it this one? 1-877-865-SONY (7669) from here
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model-accessories.pl
Didn’t call. I ordered mine online. Remember thats Sony.ca (Canada). We’re usally the last to get the goods. For some reason we’re getting it ahead of the US. Sony didn’t even release the a580 in Canada.
By the way my short hour with the camera so far…I’m impressed…it feels great, focus tracking is very cool, 12fps is impressive, I’m just scratching the surface right now. 🙂
Seems Sony Canada has started delivering it. You may got the camera very soon after all.
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1037&message=39503272
Dont’t know why my posts were removed. I did recieve my a77 today. It arrived 3 days after ordering it from Sonystyle Canada. Shipped with FW 1.03. This is not a BS post.
harpo
Didn’t think to check my Sony.com account.
It has: Estimated Ship Date: 09/23/2011
I ordered it 9/22/11, so don’t put too much stock in that date.
I’ve only gotten the one email update to 10/21/2011 ship – less than 3 weeks, if I dare get my hopes up.
Maybe they just wanted to start from scratch with the a77, because the images looked bad to people upon initial review, but sony thought they were A- O.K. So now they want to make an improved firmware and save face. Or maybe not. Who knows. Just total speculation.
In the USA you have to send the NEX 5n to Leredo, Texas to get the clicking problem fixed. Sony pays shipping both ways.
You must remove the memory card, the battery and the lens. You need to put a Body Cap in place of the lens, problem is that NO SONY STORE or Sony dealer, in Los Angeles, has Body Caps to sell. So I’m waiting for a Body Cap to come in from out of state 🙁
Heh. Sony’s service in the US tends to be pretty good, but I’m curious why that UK rep says a firmware update can fix the issue. Might be another case of “I’m perfectly certain that I have no idea what I’m talking about.”
+1
Does the camera set the recording level by sampling the sound level for a fraction of a second when recording starts? There has to be some kind of automatic setting of the basic level (plus compression).
The way this is done would affect audibility of the clicks, and could be changed in firmware.
Yeah, but if they offer a mechanical fix in one region of the world, they better offer it in the others as well.
Hey, When I call them, I said that I’m worried about dust and I didn’t have a body caps. They then told me that I can attach the lens with the body. I’ve got a E16 so It’s easy.
wonder when they will release firmware that supports tethered shooting again and remote control over usb. until then no reason to buy a77
Just talked to Sony tech. They still want me to send 5n back for repair for click issue. They are not aware of firmware fix for 5n.
may be that, in the case of “click” on the NEX 5N, recently found a solution by making firmware is no longer necessary to the technical service ..
Harpo: that’s great that our Canadian brothers and sisters are getting their A77/A65’s .
Suggest anyone thinking of using DigitalRev to get their A77/A65’s faster- stay away from this questionable company. Tried to order myself some Sony translucent love, only to find out they were asking for a Driver’s License on top of so much personal info. Yep, they promptly “Lost” my DL.
Perhaps Americans will get our cameras sooner than late October, if Canadians are already getting theirs shipped.
DigitalRev are not a “questionable” company. They are perfectly fine, so stop spreading FUD.
DigitalRev are dubious. They charged me Australian import duty of 10% on the 1439 AUD price yet when the camera was delivered it had an invoice for 847 AUD. They pocketed the ‘duty’. Very naughty and very illegal.
thats dodgy as doing that. besides i thought stamp duty is paid in australia via customs by you?
Same here. Ordered a Zeiss lens to the UK. The shipping company rang me to say my package was stopped at customs. I groaned but they said the release fee was £45 for “VAT and duty purposes”, so I paid and got my lens the next day.
But the parcel had ZERO evidence of ever being through customs. I have had parcels stopped before by British customs, and they always put a stamp on the packaging to say it was stopped, and another stamp when it is released. This is very obvious!
And when I checked my credit card statement, the £45 was paid to the shipping company and not customs. And of course with no customs documentation at all, how could I ever check if they had even seen it?
Finally, it was a £1000 lens, so the duty would be more like £250, not £45. I asked them how the £45 was calculated and they just said “that’s what it is”
I then (stupidly) took a second chance and ordered an a580, and the same thing happened… £45 release fee (but this time on a £600 camera). Again, no clue as to how it was calculated.
Both times they shipped with Amarex, and not DHL/FedEX as promised. Personally I believe they have a deal with Amarex to stop DigitalRev parcels and charge a little ransom which they pocket.
Just read their ebay feedback… it’s full of people getting billed for small sums of money at “customs”. They may make funny videos, but I will never order from them again. Greedy con artists IMO.
If you *DO* order from them, make sure your paypal has an up to date phone number to contact you. You’ll need it when the shipping company calls for their cut!
actualy id be photocopying the invoice and emailing then requesting 10% refund
Exactly what I’ve done. I have said if no refund in 24 hours then the whole lot will be sent to the Australian Tax Office. I’d actually rather pay them than DigitalRev!!
You have not read their terms:
(you will need to edit the URL)
http://www.INSERTSITEHERE.com/en/import-handling-for-non-hong-kong-customers-141-article.html
They are still breaking the law by putting false invoices in with the shipped goods. The real invoice says 1439.00 while the shipped invoice, that customs inspect, says 847.00 – however you dress that up it’s illegal. I think Admin should not promote DigitalRev because the buyers are actually breaking the law implicitly (including me!!)
You buy from HK to avoid paying import duty and then talk about breaking the law?
@SonyA77, you make a huge (and incorrect) assumption. I bought from DigitalRev because at the time they were the only place shipping the A77 to Australia. I was more than willing to pay import duty (I naively thought that DR’s ‘10% import charge’ was that duty).
Don’t make incorrect comments about people you don’t know.
Review for 5N in DPreview is available now. Gold award.
I bet they would’ve scored at least an 80 if they had more lenses available for sale. COMON SONY! Where are the lenses? You’ve gotta make me an offer I can’t refuse! 😀
Administrator: I still have not heard if this is an issue with the A65. Have you heard any news?
for what’s worth, I received my A77 in Australia last week, for a very competitive price through iibuy.com.au, great service!
I’m in USA and I ordered my a77 in August from Amazon.com. I just checked the site and it no longer says pre-order, it says temporarily out of stock. So they must of shipped some already.
Sony…. You are already releasing 1.03 Firmware to the world through your service centres in Hong Kong.
Why don’t you release the firmware online and kill these relentless articles that will eventually destroy the A77 reputation.
Sony marketing at it’s very best I say…..
It is crazy that they don’t spread 1.03 around. They are basically STUPID.
So from different parts of Sony (either directly, or what they’ve reportedly said to others) we have:
1 Send camera in for fix
2. The fix is just lubrication
3. We’ll issue a fix by firmware
Perhaps Sony themselves could issue some clarification – we need it.
Personally, I’ve been impressed by what the 5N can do, but I’m holding back until I understand what’s going on with this issue. The message is clear – Fix it and restore confidence or lose sales.
Have pre-ordered the A77 today and hopefully it will came with v1.03 FW, else the FW will be available during the day I receive it. *Keeps fingers crossed*
Just checked the Sony US site. The A77 is no longer listed as being available on or around 19 Oct. It now just says “Coming soon”. No idea if that means sooner or later than the 19th though!
Firmware 1.03 is available at HK Sony website:
http://www.sony-asia.com/support/download/474591?cid=ss_1110_f_textemail_alpha_a77_a65_firmwareupgrade
So any news if this has been fixed yet?
I recently sent in my sony nex5n for the click-fix service. About 7 minutes on the phone to set up a pre-paid fed ex shipping label, which was immediately in my email. 10 business day turn around from VT to TX. The camera came back in perfect shape, really well packaged, spotless, and no more click. Thanks Sony! I love this camera!