p.8 #1 · Sony A7 and A7R: New Firmware update on March 19th
philip_pj wrote:
'I can still make the images posterize with how I process.' 'I see it quite frequently'
Have you considered teaching post-processing? This seems to be quite a valuable skill - almost a sixth sense - and one that is in high demand in certain parts of the webosphere commentariat.
I do occasionally teach. And you are correct - there is a lot more than just memorizing steps and tutorials.
It actually has more to do with painting and understanding color on a per image basis than actually knowing what sliders/presets/filters to use in Lightroom. It is more in line with visual problem solving than following procedures - because each image is different in how it was shot --- coupled with the fact that each photographer has their own unique interpretation of the image. When I tell people this for the first time many think I am giving them a line of BS, because they want very left-brained step-by-step responses.
I have a background in art, and my undergraduate was in painting and drawing - so it has helped me tremendously in understanding color.
p.8 #2 · Sony A7 and A7R: New Firmware update on March 19th
I sold 1 M9. Still have 1. Not sure what I'm doing with it yet, although I haven't used it on a paying job since getting the A7's. A7r is for fun.
So far the A7's are working really well for me. The 55 is stellar although I still use my CV 50mm Nokton occasionally for the look it has. Nice to have semi decent TTL flash as well compared to the M9's.
p.8 #3 · Sony A7 and A7R: New Firmware update on March 19th
flash wrote:
I sold 1 M9. Still have 1. Not sure what I'm doing with it yet, although I haven't used it on a paying job since getting the A7's. A7r is for fun.
So far the A7's are working really well for me. The 55 is stellar although I still use my CV 50mm Nokton occasionally for the look it has. Nice to have semi decent TTL flash as well compared to the M9's.
p.8 #4 · Sony A7 and A7R: New Firmware update on March 19th
iMac 27"
2013 model with SSD
new battery in a7r
USB to 3.0 HUB
closed all other applications
turned OFF my screensaver
about 10 minutes
worked the first time without any issue
start up time is quicker
haven't played around with much else
still have NO idea why you cannot set the MINIMUM ISO with AUTO ISO
that must be the simplest firmware fix sony could accomplish
and that request has been in EVERY "wish list" everywhere
what gives?
p.8 #5 · Sony A7 and A7R: New Firmware update on March 19th
johntruong wrote:
I can even make the dpreview default test scene posterize (A7r RAW vs D800E RAW). Was hoping this update with either improve the lossy algorithm or give the user an option to choose lossless. It is somewhat heartbreaking to me because aside from this issue, I really love the camera.
This may drift off topic, but there are many people here who are interested in this and who are eager to know exactly what is going on. It is not about doubting your experience or your observations, but since many of us don't see this problem after extreme contrast enhancement in smooth areas, it should be in mutual interest to understand exactly what is going on.
Can you specify what part of the test image you see it in, and how you process to make it happen?
p.8 #7 · Sony A7 and A7R: New Firmware update on March 19th
Just installed the new firmware, old iMac with Mavericks, installed smoothly. Could not notice any improvements in anything, hoping they do a useful firmware upgrade later. However I find it a good sign Sony is doing firmware updates for new cameras lately.
p.8 #8 · Sony A7 and A7R: New Firmware update on March 19th
I'm glad to see a firmware update but one does not a trend make. When there is another, and then another, then I'll change my opinion about Sony in this regard.
It is surprising that you can't detect any change in operation. Without a doubt startup is faster, in three different conditions:
- off for many hours or days
- off for minutes
- off for but a second (i.e. oops, I need it on again right away)
In the first case, the old firmware would often take quite some time to restart (fi seconds plus). I believe it uses these opportunities to recalibrate its understanding of the battery charge. Since I haven't had the new firmware installed long enough to see the new behaviour.
In the second case start up is quicker, but it wasn't really that bad before.
In the third case start up is dramatically faster. With version 1.01 shutting off the camera and then turning it immediately back on would draw a start up time penalty of a number of seconds. Now the camera starts up in the same time as case number two.
This is only a minor improvement to be sure, in the grand scheme of things.
Others have noted their impression that the histogram appears to work better; that's my impression too but can't quantify it.
I'd love to see other issues addressed but at least this is point one on a possible new trend for Sony.
p.8 #9 · Sony A7 and A7R: New Firmware update on March 19th
michaelwatkins wrote:
It is surprising that you can't detect any change in operation. Without a doubt startup is faster, in three different conditions:
- off for many hours or days
- off for minutes
- off for but a second (i.e. oops, I need it on again right away)
I should've mention that it was a7 I was updating, apparently a7r had some improvement for startup time but I felt that a7 had pretty fast startup time even before the update.
p.8 #10 · Sony A7 and A7R: New Firmware update on March 19th
Sami Ruusunen wrote:
I should've mention that it was a7 I was updating, apparently a7r had some improvement for startup time but I felt that a7 had pretty fast startup time even before the update.
Then you havent been paying attention ;-). Startup is significantly faster when camera been turned off for hours or a day. When it had been off for just some minutes startup was pretty fast before. There is no reason there should be any difference between the R and non-R in this case. (I have an A7)
p.8 #11 · Sony A7 and A7R: New Firmware update on March 19th
Actually, my a7 startup time had gotten exremely slow -- on the order of 10 seconds from a cold start! It has been much slower recently, and may be due to a setting change perhaps. After the update, it boots in about 1 second or less -- a big difference!
p.8 #14 · Sony A7 and A7R: New Firmware update on March 19th
Well, I went ahead and upgraded because I was feeling sadomasochistic, and I was SADLY disappointed that it worked the first time without a hitch. It figures I'd be the one who gets the software that works perfectly, woe is me.
And the startup seems the same to me. I think I did have the ghost 1.15 version.
p.8 #17 · Sony A7 and A7R: New Firmware update on March 19th
An update ... with an HDMI cable I was able to see the monitor, and attempted a reinitialize option. It didn't work. I was able to enable the LCD, but EVF would not come on (though LCD will turn off once I start looking into the EVF). I talked to Sony support, and they pretty much told me to send the camera to them for repairs. There are apparently no secret reset menus or ability to reflash the firmware (which I suspected anyway). Off it goes ...
secondclaw wrote:
So I managed to flash it successfully on second try, but then EVF no longer came on after it rebooted. I made a mistake of changing display setting to EVF only and I now I can't see a way to even factory-reset this thing. Any ideas how to do that?
I can probably get a micro hdmi cable and plug it into a monitor ...
p.8 #18 · Sony A7 and A7R: New Firmware update on March 19th
secondclaw wrote:
An update ... with an HDMI cable I was able to see the monitor, and attempted a reinitialize option. It didn't work. I was able to enable the LCD, but EVF would not come on (though LCD will turn off once I start looking into the EVF). I talked to Sony support, and they pretty much told me to send the camera to them for repairs. There are apparently no secret reset menus or ability to reflash the firmware (which I suspected anyway). Off it goes ...
Wow, that's really odd. So first the EVF wouldn't work but once you were able to configure the LCD to be enabled now the EVF wont come on? And it sounds like the proximity sensor is working since you see the LCD go off when you bring it to your eye. Are you able to get the EVF working again if you configure the camera back to EVF only?
p.8 #20 · Sony A7 and A7R: New Firmware update on March 19th
snapsy wrote:
Wow, that's really odd. So first the EVF wouldn't work but once you were able to configure the LCD to be enabled now the EVF wont come on? And it sounds like the proximity sensor is working since you see the LCD go off when you bring it to your eye. Are you able to get the EVF working again if you configure the camera back to EVF only?
If I set camera to EVF Only, both EVF and LCD are dark. And yes, the sensor works, but the EVF screen is dark. Anyway, camera's on its way to Sony ...
It figures I'd be the one who gets the software that works perfectly, woe is me.
