Sony firmware update

[LTK]

I’m currently at the local reservoir , so far battery maybe a little better , spot focus definitely quicker now . Focus acquisition with eye priority on so far is terrible. When it finally grabs it seems sticky but getting it to grab is proving extremely inconsistent

 

[ChrisM]

I cleaned all the contacts and put the 1.4TC back on the 600GM, and yes, this combo has moments where it sticks to what it is focussed on, even when there are eg. branches or leaves inbetween. You can then see the out of focus branches or leaves as a vague contour, but in many cases the lens will not re-focus. I then have to use manual override.
It occurs most often when the focal planes are not thát far apart: when focussing at infinity, it will 90% of the time re-focus to branches or leaves. But when I am focussed at let's say 35m, and I try to focus on branches/leaves at 20m, it has more issues then when the lens is coming from infinity or far away. It goes both ways: when focussing at 20m, it will often refuse to re-focus to something at 35m.

Is this normal or wanted behavior? It's hard to say, because it does this far less when using the bare lens at f4, and I have not been using the 1.4TC that much. It fééls defective, but I would need a camera with firmware 1.20 to compare for a sensible conclusion.
It is not related to spot af in my case: it has pretty much the same behavior when using zone, it will then also be blind to something relatively close to the focus plane. I now have manual override enabled on the 600GM, I usually have it disabled because with the bare lens it is not needed that often.

 

[arbitrage]

I guess I'll have to put down my shiny new A9III today and do a little testing on A1 2.01. Will report back if I find any AF issues and if battery life has improved. I'll be shooting alongside at least one other 2.01 user so will see what he thinks also.

 

[Camatose]

Interesting.

I watched this video and have a question. From what I've seen, in order to implement this you must download the Creator's App (let's call it CR-AP for short) in order to complete the update. Is that correct? I have only a company phone, and I cannot download CR-AP. Moreover, I don't do anything by blue tooth, in the cloud, or even by USB cable. I use a card reader. Because of that, I really don't want CR-AP on my cameras either.

If Sony ever fixes this mess, and after several months of successful use by other I decide to update the firmware, is there a way to do this without Sony's CR-AP?

 

[sh1209]

People need to get onto them , the more people the better . I keep getting the feeling people think you’re making this stuff up ,it’s ridiculous. The weather here this morning is poor , dark clouds and rain . I was hoping to get out and test mine properly to see if 2.01 is any better than 2.0 . When I updated to 2.0 my spot S was next to useless and I was getting double battery drainage.
I had my camera set where I used half shutter press for main focus (zone or wide) and AF-ON button set to focus area + AF-ON recall . I could keep my finger pressing down half shutter and if it grabbed the wrong things in foreground or background I could tap the AF-ON (spot S) with my thumb , it would quickly ramp backwards and forwards hitting what I wanted in the centre of the frame . I only use the 200-600 so don’t have the luxury of close focus recall but spot S used to work well for me . With fw2.0 spot S just sits there .
It’s so annoying because I used to love this camera when it was FW1.20 . If it allowed to downgrade the FW there would be no issue for me . I’d be back enjoying using it .
I have been mailing Sony , I’m getting the usual questions back I’ve already answered . They also want photos of my batteries etc . I was ready to get a 600mm f4 but since all the issues started with fw1.30 I’m now looking at alternatives

I contacted them twice with 2.0 whenever I was having to pull the battery out of my camera to power it down. They said they hadn’t seen any problems with the firmware and it must be something with my camera lol. After reinstalling and resetting the camera, the problem went away And I’ve seen tons of post on social media that people are having multiple problems with the software so it’s not my imagination, but they didn’t seem to care

 

[Nimi]

There is an important update to the FX3 coming, and I'm getting anxious about it. Might just wait for the FX4 to come out. Maybe that's their goal, "forcing" us to upgrade the hardware.

 

[sh1209]

There is an important update to the FX3 coming, and I'm getting anxious about it. Might just wait for the FX4 to come out. Maybe that's their goal, "forcing" us to upgrade the hardware.

I like their cameras and lenses, but as far as I’m concerned, they have the worst customer service of any company I’ve ever dealt with as far after sales support and I don’t say that lightly.

 

[LTK]

I guess I'll have to put down my shiny new A9III today and do a little testing on A1 2.01. Will report back if I find any AF issues and if battery life has improved. I'll be shooting alongside at least one other 2.01 user so will see what he thinks also.

Be really interested to see how you find bird eye priority on with zone and wide , mines hardly picking up birds or animals now , if it does pick up it’s fairly sticky . The problem is getting it to grab

 

[LTK]

I contacted them twice with 2.0 whenever I was having to pull the battery out of my camera to power it down. They said they hadn’t seen any problems with the firmware and it must be something with my camera lol. After reinstalling and resetting the camera, the problem went away And I’ve seen tons of post on social media that people are having multiple problems with the software so it’s not my imagination, but they didn’t seem to care

A tree creeper was posing nice side of a tree with an insect in its beak . All I got was dancing boxes on the bark etc, everywhere except the blooming bird . Normally it would be straight on these birds when they moving , now it’s struggling when it’s sat there

 

[BrianSmall]

A tree creeper was posing nice side of a tree with an insect in its beak . All I got was dancing boxes on the bark etc, everywhere except the blooming bird . Normally it would be straight on these birds when they moving , now it’s struggling when it’s sat there

This sounds like a situation where I'd absolutely not be using tracking and probably on small or medium spot. What were you using?

 

[arbitrage]

I mostly shot A9III today but I wanted to try the A1 on 2.01. I shot swallows in overcast, windy conditions with a mix of rippled water and green foliage as my backgrounds.
AF was great. No issues. Felt just like 2.0 and 1.32 before that. For the most part, the A1 seemed to be getting just as many shots as the A9III was.

 

[arbitrage]

Be really interested to see how you find bird eye priority on with zone and wide , mines hardly picking up birds or animals now , if it does pick up it’s fairly sticky . The problem is getting it to grab

I didn't see any issues today but I didn't do a lot of shooting with the A1. I will do some more testing in the backyard this afternoon. I was using Wide 80% of the time and Zone the rest of the time. I did use Small Flex Spot a few times for perched birds.

 

[LTK]

I didn't see any issues today but I didn't do a lot of shooting with the A1. I will do some more testing in the backyard this afternoon. I was using Wide 80% of the time and Zone the rest of the time. I did use Small Flex Spot a few times for perched birds.

Thank you, I've just done Initialise again , instead of loading settings from card I will try doing all from scratch again and try again tomorrow . I mainly use wide or zone half shutter press and spot small set to AF-ON (focus recall hold + AF-ON ) eye priority set to on

 

[LTK]

This sounds like a situation where I'd absolutely not be using tracking and probably on small or medium spot. What were you using?

I mainly use wide or zone half shutter press and spot small set to AF-ON (focus recall hold + AF-ON ) eye priority set to on. Its rare I use tracking , normally wide with eye priority on nails it , if its off I tap AF-ON (spot small) on the bird and then wide . This has always worked well for me before

 

[andrewluke]

was there anything in this update for stills??