molson wrote:
Is there any sort of consensus on this?
My newly-arrived A1 came with firmware 1.0, but the only upgrade now available is 1.31 so I'm wondering which is the lesser of two evils...
If you can deal with the EVF shutdown with the sun on your back, then FW 1.0 should be good. I can't really tell other FW updates improved anything or made things worse.
molson wrote:
Is there any sort of consensus on this?
My newly-arrived A1 came with firmware 1.0, but the only upgrade now available is 1.31 so I'm wondering which is the lesser of two evils...
No consensus, but some folks here have commented on a decline in eye AF capability. It's hard to tell TBH because any change, for the positive or negative, is subtle and expectations can cloud judgement I also have no recollection of how v1.0 eye AF compared to the current.
You might find someone here who still has the v1.2 file kicking around. The oldest I have is v1.3, and having discovered it cluttering my drive I shall now delete it (since you can't go backwards)
what i found with 1.31 and the 200-600/1.4x is that the setting "(1)locked on" can sometimes fail hard with sports shooting, it tends to fix the plane of focus in a stationary position, while the subject is quickly moving away, it would probably apply to bif in the same manner.
osv2 wrote:
what i found with 1.31 and the 200-600/1.4x is that the setting "(1)locked on" can sometimes fail hard with sports shooting, it tends to fix the plane of focus in a stationary position, while the subject is quickly moving away, it would probably apply to bif in the same manner.
dcisive wrote:
Position 1: For stable non moving targets, Position 2: when you are panning left to right or right to left, Position 3: for erratic moving subjects.
That's for IS - osv2 was talking about AF tracking sensitivity.
molson wrote:
My newly-arrived A1 came with firmware 1.0, but the only upgrade now available is 1.31 so I'm wondering which is the lesser of two evils...
I just checked my TimeMachine on Mac and I only have 1.10 and 1.30. I seem to recall that 130 was withdrawn in favor of 1.3
i have win version of FW 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3 on my computer.
A FM member recently sent me the 1.2 which i have not installed on my A1 yet. I am still running 1.1 and happy with it. Let me know if you would like a copy.
molson wrote:
Is there any sort of consensus on this?
My newly-arrived A1 came with firmware 1.0, but the only upgrade now available is 1.31 so I'm wondering which is the lesser of two evils...
Thang wrote:
i have win version of FW 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3 on my computer.
A FM member recently sent me the 1.2 which i have not installed on my A1 yet. I am still running 1.1 and happy with it. Let me know if you would like a copy.
Thanks, but I'm on a Mac. I'll probably just wait a few weeks to see if the rumoured update appears or not.
I still can't believe this isn't in either their flagship camera or premiere video camera...this is in the FX3 and FX30 right? rd4tile wrote:
Hey Sony: focus breathing compensation please!
About the firmware update release guess...you all know the old door 1 door 2 or door 3 formula
They tell you what's behind door 3 and you have picked door 1 already should you pick another door or stay with door 1?
multibit wrote:
Reliable focus for BIF would be nice , I still feel the consistency has dropped since fw1.31 , wish I’d kept mine at fw1.20
Your observation about the AF consistency dropping since the firmware update to 1.3.1 in September is the first and only post I have seen that matches my experience. I have been on two safaris since that update. Both my longtime photography guide and I noticed that we had more difficulty with A1 focus after the update than we ever had since we acquired our A1s (3 A1 bodies altogether) in early to mid-2021. Most of the time, focus operated well, but there were instances when the camera would simply not focus in situations where focus should have been easy and instantaneous. (my most recent example, a lion standing on a tree limb, and taking up a large part of the frame; tree in focus, camera would not focus on lion!) In most cases the camera locked focus on grass or other vegetation rather than on the eye of the subject. On my latest trip, there were probably one to two instances each day of the cameras not focusing properly.
I phoned Sony Pro Support after my first safari, and they told me that others had reported the problem, but that it was resolved by resetting the camera completely and then restoring all of the customizations and settings from scratch. For my last trip, I restored settings from those I had saved to a CFExpress A card, but still got missed focus.
If you have found any solution to this degradation of A1 focus, please let me know by answering this post or in a PM.
JeyB wrote:
Is it possible to perform a factory reset on the A1 to restore to fw1.0?
No. I checked with Sony Pro Support and there is no way to get back to firmware 1.2. Even if you send the camera back to them, you are stuck with fw 1.3.1
dallvr wrote:
No. I checked with Sony Pro Support and there is no way to get back to firmware 1.2. Even if you send the camera back to them, you are stuck with fw 1.3.1
Isn't it cute? These Sony engineers are playing with all of us.
SONY LISTEN: we want retrofitable FW updates, among other bleeding things clearly expressed in this post.
dallvr wrote:
Your observation about the AF consistency dropping since the firmware update to 1.3.1 in September is the first and only post I have seen that matches my experience. I have been on two safaris since that update. Both my longtime photography guide and I noticed that we had more difficulty with A1 focus after the update than we ever had since we acquired our A1s (3 A1 bodies altogether) in early to mid-2021. Most of the time, focus operated well, but there were instances when the camera would simply not focus in situations where focus should have been easy and instantaneous. (my most recent example, a lion standing on a tree limb, and taking up a large part of the frame; tree in focus, camera would not focus on lion!) In most cases the camera locked focus on grass or other vegetation rather than on the eye of the subject. On my latest trip, there were probably one to two instances each day of the cameras not focusing properly.
I phoned Sony Pro Support after my first safari, and they told me that others had reported the problem, but that it was resolved by resetting the camera completely and then restoring all of the customizations and settings from scratch. For my last trip, I restored settings from those I had saved to a CFExpress A card, but still got missed focus.
If you have found any solution to this degradation of A1 focus, please let me know by answering this post or in a PM....Show more →
I was considering a full reset but I might not bother now after reading about your experience. I am certainly not looking forward to the start of bird migration season with the new firmware.
Right now I'm chasing a new kitten around the house with my A1 and I'm seeing exactly the sort of behavior you described with your lion (a big kitty!). Kitten will be stationary on some piece of furniture filling about a third to a half of the frame, and the camera will seemingly try to focus on every part of the furniture but ignore the kitten (continuous AF, tracking on or off). And sometimes when the big green square is right over the kitten's head, eye AF will simply fail to see the two bight yellow eyes beneath it. It only happens occasionally, but when it does I often miss the shot (kittens don't stay still for long) and I wonder why I spent so much on a flagship camera.
Although the kitten is a recent addition, I don't recall every seeing this sort of behavior prior to v1.31.
My backup A1 is on 1.10, I’m guessing from the sounds of it I should stick with 1.10 rather than upgrading to 1.31. Is 1.20 still available and if so would it make sense to update it to 1.20?
