More about the A77/65 firmware update (+ Apple RAW support)
I got the translation from Asia about the upcoming firmware upgrade changes. It doesn’t get into the detail but I expect this to bring some major improvements. Here is the list (remember it’s translated by an Asian source):
1) expanded the number of automatic compensation of compliant lenses
2) Improvement of Responses
3) Improvement of IQ
4) Improvement of Usability
The firmware 1.04 will be released this week!
And one more news: Apple updated the Digital Camera RAW Compatibility (to version 3.9) http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1473. This update adds RAW image compatibility for the following cameras to Aperture 3 and iPhoto ’11: Sony Alpha NEX-5N, Sony Alpha SLT-A65, Sony Alpha SLT-A77.
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Comment from Norm: Been waiting for 72 hours now. Where is ...
Comment from wth: whoops my error, that was the asia-pacif...- Comment from wth: Hey thought I would share something nice...
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sTiNkyfiSh
7 months ago |i like
march
7 months ago |FINALLY…. firmware is confirm!!!
I LOVE THIS !
SonyA77
7 months ago |No it isn’t, it’s a rumour site!
march
7 months ago |Yes, i know ! wish new firmware will be *surprise* for user!
hwelvaar
7 months ago |New firmware is always good.
Would be nice though to know what “better IQ” and “better usability” really means.
Hopefully this does not mean change in the RAW format ? (= have to wait for Adobe to update Lightroom, before I can install the firmware on my camera).
Hamed-art.com
7 months ago |just bought the A77 before 2 days ago & im a quite happy with it, but Sony should really work on ISO performance with the next firmware. i really surpriced!!!!! the iso performance is too bad when compare it to other manufacture
the NEX-5N is much better in image quality & iso performance.. why soooooooony??!!
we really need from sony to solve this issue soooooon
(I hope)
thanks for the news
Lofote
7 months ago |ISO Performance is better due to the smaller pixel count, its as easy as that. Why do you think Canon and Nikon bring two versions of their flagships – always one with high pixel count and the other with less pixels but better low-light capability.
klw10
7 months ago |No it is not. It is because of the mirror that the a77 has in between the lens and the sensor. People have tested both the a55 and the a77 and their ISO performance is near identical.
GH
7 months ago |Nope, this is a common misconception. Sensor size influences low light capability, not pixel size. Canon has two separate lines of pro cameras (until recently) because they can’t move the higher megapixel camera at 10+ frames per second.
SonyA77
7 months ago |Stop looking at 100% crops then!
klw10
7 months ago |oops! replied to the wrong person! I agree with you though!
klw10
7 months ago |ISO performance is better with the 5n because it does not have the mirror that the a77 has in between the sensor and the lens.
tailor
7 months ago |They should have fixed the overexposure problem with the built-in flash, reduce shutdown time and see, what causes “camera error” lockups also… Anyway, new FW is always good!
David
7 months ago |Or you can use flash compensation
tailor
7 months ago |Tried that. Even -2EV overexposes near objects… And it’s really annoying to change flash compensation in the menu before every single shot (if I don’t have the F42 with me).
Wirralpix
7 months ago |Thanks for the confirmation Andrea. Improvement in IQ.
That’s great news. I always hoped there was more to be gotten out of this sensor. Hopefully RAW noise is improved.
Pebble
7 months ago |Wow, Sony really does a great effort in firmware updates lately. I still have hope for a A900 firmware update for better high iso noise performance!
SRL
7 months ago |New firmware serves several purposes; one is to improve performance or correct an issue discovered since the last firmware had been released and two, to introduce new functionality and three, as an indication of the willingness of the product developers to support the customers that purchased a product.
Clearly, reason number one is at play with release of v1.04 for the Alpha a77 and last year’s release of v2.00 firmware for the Alpha a850/a900 was closer to reason number three as no improvements to image quality were included.
I would expect any firmware updates to a discontinued product like the a850/a900 would serve more as customer relations opportunity for Sony than anything else.
Having said this, I would be happy to install it on my cameras if it showed-up
Blah
7 months ago |Don’t forget that a700 v4 gave the camera massive improvements in noise levels – they’ve done it before
Sony seem to be doing well with firmware – and with the a77 being a very ‘software based’ camera, I’ll bet there’s loads they can do. One of the things I love about it is that it’s so customisable! 
SRL
7 months ago |Yes, a great deal can be done from the software side as long as the hardware is up to the task.
If the Sony product developers has the ability to load the device with the right CPU and memory and wired it all together supplying enough throughput this little computer with a lens and image sensor can deliver incredible images.
I question if Sony included adequate buffer memory.
For me this is all good……… I replaced my cameras 18 months ago and decided then to skip the a77 and replace my a850’s with the next FF camera when its released, so I see all of the development and just part of the technology path of that camera.
I had planned to buy the NEX-7 for my street photography but my mind has changed about this for now.
I now plan to look at all of the other new stuff shipping from other vendors. I do value being able to attach my A-Mount lenses on the small camera and think the combo of a NEX-7 and my Zeiss 85/f1.4 would be very nice of low-light street work
DUY LE
7 months ago |how about noise at high iso issue?
Dave Cox
7 months ago |Can’t you read?
Allan
7 months ago |I really appreciate that Sony offer new firmware ! This is because of the 2 last fw of the nex that i decided to invest in the nex system !!!
Please Sony continue this way !!!
Magnus Åker
7 months ago |I’m looking forward to see what the Improvement of Responses and of Usability brings. For my kind of photography the ISO is really good, shooting indoor sports at 1250 ISO. The same or little better than the a700 at 800 ISO. The threshold from 1250 to 1600 ISO could be better though, there is quite a big difference in quality from what I have experienced.
Philfoto
7 months ago |I get your point but after 1600 for most camera its software kicking in , raw for me is very usable till ISO 3200 in my last concert I shot at Iso 2500 with a tamron lens check it out
http://www.philfoto.ca/?p=398
zinanga
7 months ago |I am curious. What Tamron lens? Very nice pics.
Euleuh2
7 months ago |the new software is a transformer type guys… your camera will become multi function..
1-vacuum cleaner
2- Blender
3-toaster
SR5!!!!! it’s HOT!!!!!!
Ollder
7 months ago |Is the vacuum cleaner robot type? If not, i’m not interested
J
7 months ago |While I am hopeful that this will bring improvements, why can Sony engineers not see the noise (both visual and metaphoric) before a camera is released?
666
7 months ago |Asians are the worst car drivers ….if they cant see another car on the road how do you expect them to see some noise on a picture
Jesse Lim
7 months ago |Most Canikon engineers are Asians too~ =D
666
7 months ago |That is correct but at least the Canikon engineers are smarter
william leong
7 months ago |And you are just being dumb, congrats!
monkeyfacemcbride
7 months ago |Actually some of the Sony engineers are most likely ex-nikon/canon. When there’s that few companies in the game cross-pollenation is a fact of life.
BTW are you absolutely sure you wouldn’t be happier on a Canikon rumor site with people that you might have a little more in common with?
william leong
7 months ago |And by common, I think it means “just as dumb”? Amen to that…
SonyA77
7 months ago |Canikon engineers don’t appear to be smart enough to get SLT technology working though.
666
7 months ago |//
william leong
7 months ago |.
monkeyfacemcbride
7 months ago |“my A200″ – Ah that explains it, its obviously your huge investment in Sony/Minolta equipment which is keeping you here and preventing a brand switch. Why didn’t you say?
666
7 months ago |who fucking cares about SLT real photographers care about Image quality
William
7 months ago |Just face the fact already, your canikon band is still stuck in the medieval ages. Too afraid to think out of the box.
666
7 months ago |and sony is to defective to work out of the box
the fact that I refuse to be a paying beta tester for sony does not mean that i would not upgrade my A200 to a newer camera in the future but thak you to all the Ginny pigs for testing sony products
william leong
7 months ago |No one’s pointing a gun at your head to have you to upgrade. You can go canikon any time of day as you wish bro.
Almazar80
7 months ago |What happened? Somebody let you out prematurely? Or was there another zoo escape somewhere.
Jesse Lim
7 months ago |They should patch the IDC 4.0 also coz I found its performance is sub par with the 3.2 version. Processing A77 RAW seems to be very sluggish. I have process the 24 megapixels A850 RAW before on IDC 3.2 and everything was smooth sailing…
Kevin
7 months ago |very nice, Aperture is way behind in noise reduction compared to Lightroom and really overall conversion Aperture is behind, I have both and have not used Aperture for a long time, Sony’s converter is better IMHO… But then Lightroom spanks both of them…
Kevin
7 months ago |@ 666 (mark of the beast) You don’t own a Sony camera you are just a troll, Your input here is evident your just a trouble maker that needs to grow up.
666
7 months ago |prove it!!!
Gimp
7 months ago |I think you have provided enough proof of being a troll.
Olivier
7 months ago |Hi, I just bough a a77 and I have absolutely no idea how I will be able to download a firmware. I checked on the instruction manual but couldn’t find it. Obviously I’ll have to connect it to the computer. And then what ? Does it even work with a mac.
Thank you for answering me and sorry for my bad english. I’m french…
william leong
7 months ago |No worries Olivier, when there’s a firmware for download, SAR will announce it and just follow the link. You will just need to follow the instructions over at the website to do the upgrade. Usually either connect your camera to the computer via USB and upgrade/install from there, or download the firmware into your SD card and install it from there.
Congrats on your purchase!
Olivier
7 months ago |Thank you William
Gene Stoesser
7 months ago |The only reason 666 keeps going is because you all respond to him.
He wants attention,ignore him and he will soon go away.
666
7 months ago |jajaja you are not ignoring me by asking people to ignore me jajajajaaja
Kevin
7 months ago |your right Gene !!! Sometime they are like a pest, you have to swat them away !!!
Frank Withers
7 months ago |The difference between 666 and a mosquito? when you slap a mosquito it stops sucking…
666
7 months ago |i wish that would work for sony….:)
WilliamLeong
7 months ago |By the way, Those with A77 and F58. Please help test in A-mode and TTL. Over a couple of shots in random lighting, does it overexpose many times? Mine does so quite frequently. Only manage to control it if I use manual mode with TTL.
rdoe
7 months ago |I have the same issue, flash exposure of -1ev will help, but still I find it quite weird. A900 is spot on or sometimes a bit under exposed, but that is no problem.
jciv
7 months ago |I get that with an F42, -1 or more on my flash compensation now.
The thing that annoys me the most is the built in flash running out of charge when triggering wireless flashes. After quickly shooting 15 shots (one every 5 to 10 seconds), it must recharge the popup flash for 8 seconds to fire again. And then another 8 seconds after every shot until you give it a rest. I never had that problem with my A350 or A550 (just tried my 550 at 1 trigger flash per second for 40 shots and it never slowed). I hope that is due to the trigger flash being set too powerful so it can be fixed with firmware.
jciv
7 months ago |When set to Auto ISO, flash shots will often use whatever maximum ISO you set. And other times it will stick to 100 or 200. With flash, its not going to be nearly dark enough to require 1600. And then it overexposes the 1600 ISO shot. Other than with flash, Auto ISO seems pretty useful though.
Gorn
7 months ago |I got one issue when recording video with the A77 — there’s a beeping sound from time to time. Has anybody else experienced this problem?
Hope this new firmware fixes this…
HD
7 months ago |Yea, I had a mic plugged in but turned off and during playback I heard a recurrent beeping sound. I also have the built in flash over exposing too.
Jeepguy
7 months ago |Anyone know if they will release the new nex-5 firmware at the same time? It would be nice to be able to start using my la-ea2 I’ve had for 3 weeks.
sam
7 months ago |666 suck…..just piss off
f/2.8
7 months ago |No news regading to an improvement of the JPEG-Quality?
Does it make sense to hope for that with another firmware-update?
wth
7 months ago |This might be it…. The US sony site just released fw 1.03 on their website…… What a disappointment…
admin
7 months ago |Can you send me the link please?
wth
7 months ago |whoops, mis-replied, please see bottom post.
wth
7 months ago |whoops my error, that was the asia-pacific site…
The US site still has only the IDC 4.0
wth
7 months ago |http://www.sony.com.au/support/download/474788/product/slt-a77v
Or http://www.sony.com.au/support/product/slt-a77v
incase the above link is a temporary one.
Though they state its released on october 11th, I know they just put this up as I was checking the US site every hour.
Before they only had the IDC 4.0 on the download page…
666
7 months ago |God Bless you to 777!!!
wth
7 months ago |Hey thought I would share something nice its on the home page of sonys site.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=TceLcrvtWhs
Norm
7 months ago |Been waiting for 72 hours now. Where is our FW 1.04?
777
7 months ago |God bless you 666!