Sony A1 lingering firmware issues

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sh1209

sh1209

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I have now owned an A1 body for well over two years and shoot with this camera 5-7 days a week 3-4 hours at a time. Having said that, I am extremely familiar with the Camera, it’s menus and overall operation. Since the latest firmware was installed several months ago, I feel the auto focus, especially on small static subjects has suffered. I am seeing that more now than ever, especially with warblers, kinglets and other small sparrows. The last couple times I’ve been out I’ve taken two bodies and tried them on the same lens one is the A6700 and the other is the A7RV. Both of these other cameras will grab right on the way the A1 used to without any issues whatsoever. While trying the A6700 I even used the A1 in crop mode so there was no difference in field of view. Others have stated the same thing that I’m saying so I know it’s not in my head. I have used this camera at this point enough to use it blindfolded. I have read some rumors of an upcoming firmware update for the A1 to be honest, I am extremely apprehensive about ever loading another Sony firmware. In fact, they just pulled the most recent version for the capital aI have read some rumors of a upcoming firmware update for the A1 to be honest, I am extremely apprehensive about ever loading another Sony firmware. In fact, they just pulled the most recent version for the A7RV because of the camera not powering on. I sure hope they can get this camera back at least as good as it was which would be more than I could ask at this point. They really need to get their act together with releasing safe firmware, especially for a camera that cost $6500.
 
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I have noticed the same AF degradation as you. I have had the A1 since it was 1st released. I had one of the 1st ones in Canada. The last update changed the AF performance for the worse. Others I know have also noticed this as well. I am at a point where I will be updating my gear in the next year. and I am seriously considering changing systems completely. Sony's poor history of updates makes me question whether I should stay or move to another manufacturer.
 
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WPotrebka Photography said:
I have noticed the same AF degradation as you. I have had the A1 since it was 1st released. I had one of the 1st ones in Canada. The last update changed the AF performance for the worse. Others I know have also noticed this as well. I am at a point where I will be updating my gear in the next year. and I am seriously considering changing systems completely. Sony's poor history of updates makes me question whether I should stay or move to another manufacturer.
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I feel the same and it really gives me apprehension about another large purchase, unless they produce a fix soon. I promise you that my $1400 A6700 will lock onto a small stationary bird far better than the A1 at this point even with the A1 in crop mode. That’s pretty disheartening.
 
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Wes Peterson said:
Could Sony be purposefully degrading performance to drive new sales? The A1mk2 af performance would look more impressive after the mk1 got slowed down a bit.
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Man I don’t know but it sure seems like a company the size of Sony could write code for firmware without bricking a camera. This most current A7RV did just that and I’m thankful I procrastinated purposely and didn’t install it. If they make no effort to resolve some of the obvious issues with the current A1, I will not be getting a second version just out of spite lol.
 
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Wes Peterson said:
Could Sony be purposefully degrading performance to drive new sales? The A1mk2 af performance would look more impressive after the mk1 got slowed down a bit.
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It’s funny you mention that, as was my wife and I were just talking the other day about this and how Apple has been caught red-handed crippling their phones on purpose. To be honest with you, I would not put anything past any of these large companies
 
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I haven't noticed any AF changes between 2.x and 1.3x but I do feel there was some change between 1.2x and 1.3x. Although it has been so long now since shooting 1.2x that I really don't know.
A1 AF is still really good to me. It can get me close to perfect diving kingfisher sequences and holds focus as it enters the water. It can get me shots of songbirds in flight. Not sure what else I need it to do.
The Canon R5II did do better with bird recognition for perched birds, Sony can improve on that and I think they already have in the A7RV and A9III.
A1 still is better at initial acquisition of a small in the frame BIF, especially when it is against a busy background. The competitors still haven't caught up in that metric to this 3.5 YO camera.
 
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arbitrage said:
I haven't noticed any AF changes between 2.x and 1.3x but I do feel there was some change between 1.2x and 1.3x. Although it has been so long now since shooting 1.2x that I really don't know.
A1 AF is still really good to me. It can get me close to perfect diving kingfisher sequences and holds focus as it enters the water. It can get me shots of songbirds in flight. Not sure what else I need it to do.
The Canon R5II did do better with bird recognition for perched birds, Sony can improve on that and I think they already have in the A7RV and A9III.
A1 still is better at initial acquisition of a small in the frame BIF, especially when it is against a busy background. The competitors still haven't caught up in that metric to this 3.5 YO camera.
Click to expand...
I agree about version 1.2 and in my opinion, that was the best. I cannot say that I noticed much difference after figuring out a workaround for the bird in flight focus issue I was having. I would say bif is just as good as it ever was after figuring out a couple things. My main issue is using single point focus, either small, large or medium. It is mostly on stationary, small subjects. For instance, this morning, I had a Carolina chickadee 3 yards from where I was standing on an open branch and the camera absolutely would not lock on that bird. It’s strange, because you would think bif images would be harder on the processing capabilities of the camera. Where I and others are stating they’re having issues is on stationary subjects. It is very noticeable on my camera and like you state a lot of others are saying they have no issues. I don’t think it’s across the board on every camera for sure but it has definitely changed my camera for the worse. is it usable? Of course, but I sure would like to get back to where it was at 1.2. I just picked out a couple subject yesterday about 10 to 15 yards from where I was standing. One of the subjects was a hanging walnut in a tree. The A1 struggled nearly every time that I tried to lock onto that. I could put tge A6700 or the A7RV on that lens and both of them will lock on flawlessly 100% of the time. They were all using the 600gm with no tc. Man before I could pick out a warbler in a thicket with single point auto focus and nail the eye just about every time. It is definitely not that camera anymore. I hope the rumors about a version 3.0 are true and it does at least get it back to where it was with 1.2 or 1.3.
 
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arbitrage said:
I haven't noticed any AF changes between 2.x and 1.3x but I do feel there was some change between 1.2x and 1.3x. Although it has been so long now since shooting 1.2x that I really don't know.
A1 AF is still really good to me. It can get me close to perfect diving kingfisher sequences and holds focus as it enters the water. It can get me shots of songbirds in flight. Not sure what else I need it to do.
The Canon R5II did do better with bird recognition for perched birds, Sony can improve on that and I think they already have in the A7RV and A9III.
A1 still is better at initial acquisition of a small in the frame BIF, especially when it is against a busy background. The competitors still haven't caught up in that metric to this 3.5 YO camera.
Click to expand...
One other thing that I will add to that last post is, for some reason the camera seems to focus better with the 100–400 mm lens than any of them since that last update. That is extremely perplexing to me and really should not affect the overall auto focus operation.
 
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