Sony says the RX1 is their most important camera ever launched!

Dpreview had a chat with all major manufacturers and asked them about their most important products in the past 25 years. I do agree with Sony when they say the RX1 is their most important camera. I hope Sony will one day also realize that we need a new fixed lens FF camera :)

Here are the answers from all manufacturers:

Sony:
Sony RX1: The RX1 is the beginning of our photography culture. Before that, we had launched RX100 series but still inside the world of Cyber-shot, kind of. RX1 is definitely a different world compared with our previous circumstances. That was a very memorable development period.”
Sony G Master lenses: From these G Master lenses, our technology improvement accelerated and our customers also changed. Customers rated our product highly and that’s become a very big motivation for our designers and our engineers. This generated a very positive momentum from this point onward.

Nikon:
Nikon Z9: Because it’s a landmark in technology, pointing to the capabilities made possible by its parallel readout sensor.

Fujifilm:
Finepix X100: That was the first camera when we stepped up from selling point-and-shoot, entry-level compact cameras. This was our first attempt to do that, using the APS-C-sized sensor. X100 was a huge success, which gave us confidence. We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t have the X100,” he says Fujifilm’s “If that failed, we would have been in a very difficult position.”

Tamron:
Tamron 28-75mm F2.8 Di III RXD: That was a new concept because it was a fast lens, but we changed the focal length from 24mm to 28mm, and users accepted this concept. We knew that if we had a unique concept and we could let users know what that concept was, then people would understand. After that, we started to change, and we started developing unique lenses.”

Sigma:
Sigma 35mm F1.4 Art: If we’d failed with the launch of the 35mm F1.4, Sigma may not have survived until today. It was very fortunate that the customer received it very well and we could survive in the industry.
Sigma 18-35mm F1.8 Art: After we launched the lens, we realized that videographers and cinematographers really loved that lens. So with the introduction of this lens, we started getting interested in joining the cine lens business, so I love these two lenses.

OM System:
Olympus Camedia C-2000 Zoom: The change from film to digital left a big impression for me.

Canon:
Canon EOS Digital Rebel: It played a very important role in shifting [the market] from film to the digital DSLR,” says Go Tokura: “Since 2003, Canon has sold more than 1 million of them.

Panasonic:
Lumix DMC-G1: It was the first camera of its kind. Fifteen years ago, no professional photographer used mirrorless, but now almost all professional photographers use mirrorless.

Reminder: After updating, the message “The Wi-Fi/Bluetooth unit has malfunctioned.” appears.

I noticed that a couple of readers missed to notice and read this important note from Sony regarding the A1 2.01 firmware update. So I thought it’s best to highlight it to make sure you don’t waste time looking for a solution:

With the latest firmware, the following message will be displayed if a hardware error related to the network function is detected when the Wi-Fi or Bluetooth function is turned on. (Displayed only when a hardware problem is detected, not a software problem)
You can continue shooting by pressing OK, but you will not be able to use the network functions, so we recommend that you take the camera in for inspection as soon as possible.

Topazlabs now launched a new website showing off the features of their AI apps

Topaz recently released the brand new Photo Ai 3.0 (click here). Now it has also completely revamped its website so that you can get a better overview of all the features. Take a look at the presentation pages: Photo Ai, Video AI, GigaPixel AI.

One more related news: PetaPixel tested all most known upscalers and claims GigaPixel AI is the best:

Overall, I was most impressed with Gigapixel AI. The results for the low-resolution file are especially excellent, far surpassing my expectations. It produces excellent levels of detail with minimal (or no) additional artifacts, even when going beyond 2x. I also enjoyed the UI of Gigapixel AI more than the other programs. It was clean, modern, and simple to use with an ideal way of seeing the preview of the upscaled images.

 

Finally: New Sony A1 2.01 firmware update bug fix and new A9III 2.0 released

Sony has finally managed to fix the issue on the Sony A1 2.0 firmware! And there is also the new A9III major firmware update:

Benefits and Improvements

  • Shooting & playback functions:
    • Allows you to turn the camera on/off remotely from a computer using a wired connection to the internet (LAN)
      Note: Remote Camera Tool Ver. 4.1.00 is required to activate this function.
    • Adds a function that automatically creates still images with Shot Marks from movie frames after recordings
      Note: You can add a Shot Mark while shooting or playing a movie and use it as a mark for selecting, transferring, or editing the movie.
    • Allows the use of shutter speeds up to a maximum of 1/80000 seconds in all drive modes and the NR Shooting setting (long-exposure noise reduction) when the aperture value is F1.8 or higher
    • Adds support for the Relay Playback function
    • Adds the Sync Release function that releases the shutters of multiple sub-cameras in conjunction with the main camera’s shutter timing
      Note: Remote Camera Tool Ver. 4.1.00 is required to activate this function.
    • Adds a function that displays the focus frame on the Remote Camera Tool app screen when the monitor and viewfinder are turned off
      Note: Remote Camera Tool Ver. 4.1.00 is required to activate this function.
    • The maximum number of images that can be recorded in one folder has been increased to 9,999
    • Enables display of the Wi-Fi signal strength
    • Adds support for C2PA format (The license availability date is undecided)
      (C2PA = Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity)
    • Adds support for Custom Grid Line
      Note: Custom Grid Line is available as a paid license. Availability depends on the country and region.
  • FTP transfer & network functions:
    • Allows you to upload camera images directly to the Creators’ Cloud app
      Note: Creators’ App Ver. 2.3.1 or later is necessary. Settings must be made in the Creators’ App in advance. For more information, please visit the Creators’ App support website. Service may not be available in some countries or regions. Please refer to this support page.
    • You can now automatically schedule FTP transfer of protected movies and still images
    • Movies/still images transferred via FTP transfer can now be automatically protected
    • Adds a function to prioritize specific images via FTP transfer
    • Adds support for SFTP
      (SFTP = Secure File Transfer Protocol)
  • Others:
    • Fixes an issue where the camera would occasionally become unstable during continuous shooting
    • Fixes an issue where the color of a JPEG image may change when cropped in the camera
    • Fixes an issue where images may not be transferred properly during FTP transfer
    • Fixes an issue where the folder name setting for still images may switch from the set value to the default value (MSDCF) when the battery is removed
    • Fixes an issue where the camera may not be able to connect to the network
    • Fixes an issue where the timecode wasn’t always retained after a power restart
    • Improves the functionality and operational stability of the camera