p.6 #1 · A1 Firmware v 2.01 is out now. On the fence about installing it though. :)
k-h.a.w wrote:
I updated A1 firmware from version 1.32 -> 1.35 -> 2.01 and currently am working on regenerating “My Menu” settings. In doing so I am constantly scrolling through the main menu and I also have been switching the camera on and off a lot.
The problem I encountered now several times is that the A1 would not switch back on, sometimes not even after pulling out the 2 batteries out off the Sony battery grip and reinserting them. When replacing the batteries with fresh and fully loaded ones I noticed that the batteries I just pulled out felt warm to the touch. Waiting awhile before trying to switch the A1 camera back on so far has always been eventually successful. Before this firmware update I never ran into this problem before when building up “My Menu”.
I find this problem pretty bizarre.
Has anyone else ran into this issue?
TIA for a reply.
I just shot 5200 compressed raw images on half a battery charge with A1 and FE 200-600 G OSS.
Had to stop when both memory cards were full.
Encountered no issues.
p.6 #2 · A1 Firmware v 2.01 is out now. On the fence about installing it though. :)
Daran wrote:
Decades of experience in providing firmware and other software version updates for both industrial and consumer electronics.
Sorry, not following.
I was saying that Sony were over optimistic and detached from reality, in assuming their V2 update would work.
That would have meant card update feature was ready and waiting, with Sony thinking next firmware update was months away, at minimum.
The fact that A1 needed a rapid update after release to resolve the viewfinder issue would have, I thought, taught them to not be so confident in their ability to deliver properly working firmware. I can imagine a software engineer suggesting "let's wait to rollout the card update feature until we can actually use it. It will look more professional".
p.6 #3 · A1 Firmware v 2.01 is out now. On the fence about installing it though. :)
LBJ2 wrote:
I never turn the camera off when using it.
However, I just discovered I forgot that I had set the Power Save Start Time to 30 mins during this battery drain test based upon some discussion on this thread. So no sleep for the camera today Ha! I normally set the Power Save Start Time to 1 min. I better change that back to 1 min now before I forget again.
Thanks, 2h 20m sounds pretty good with the camera being constantly on.
I got nearly 2h 50m with 100-400GM, a basically new battery and minimal EVF usage and minimal AF / tracking on 1.32 .
p.6 #4 · A1 Firmware v 2.01 is out now. On the fence about installing it though. :)
LBJ2 wrote:
I was hoping to use the new update via the SD card, but didn't see that approach listed in V 2.01 update notes. When the update is available via SD card is that normally included in the update notes?
BTW for those that have updated via SD Card on other cameras, can we also update via CFexpress Type A card?
Yes. They list the memory card option if they have it.
The A9 III update was by member card, and it was the only one offered (because it works happily on any system).
I haven't tried using a CFexpressA card, but I see no reason why it wouldn't work.
p.6 #5 · A1 Firmware v 2.01 is out now. On the fence about installing it though. :)
k-h.a.w wrote:
I just shot 5200 compressed raw images on half a battery charge with A1 and FE 200-600 G OSS.
Had to stop when both memory cards were full.
Encountered no issues.
K-H.
One of my best purchase last year was the $499 Anglebird 1TB card plus reader. This card seems to be bottomless. How old was the battery you used for your shoot?
p.6 #6 · A1 Firmware v 2.01 is out now. On the fence about installing it though. :)
So far v2.0, now v2.01 has been a good upgrade to A1 for me, particularly for photography since I don't typically use the A1 for video. All in all my experience to date with the new firmware and Creators's App to include upload files direct from camera to Cloud via 5GHz wifi has been very solid/stable:
1. During my 2 hour 20 min shoot for over 5K images yesterday out in the wetlands, my Bluetooth/GPS through Creators' App on the iPhone engaged without thinking about it as soon as I turned on the camera and remained active 100% appending GPS to all photos.
2. As already mentioned some of us have found a few new features/enhancements not listed on the firmware notes. Another minor discovery for me was with Touch Operation =On, I can scroll down or back up, via touch to the rest of the menus from the new Main Menu display. * I really like the new Main Menu for a quick summary while out and about
3. Body-Lens IBIS Coordinated. I think I used the G 200-600 with the A1 with the new Body-Lens Coordinated IBIS feature for some of the slower shutter speed low light conditions. But I need to test this feature more carefully. Other than the normal engagement of IBIS/OSS on the A1 and G 200-600 lens modes, is there any other setting needed to apply the new Body-Lens IBIS Coordination?
4. Thanks to Mark Galer's video, I discovered how to set up and engage (long press) the Playback Function menu during photo playback and how to use/select Playback Filter Conditions to filter the photo I am looking at during playback mode. If you haven't checked out this feature yet, see Galer's video for an overview, but I also needed to use the v2.0 Help Guide to complete the set up.
p.6 #7 · A1 Firmware v 2.01 is out now. On the fence about installing it though. :)
LBJ2 wrote:
One of my best purchase last year was the $499 Anglebird 1TB card plus reader. This card seems to be bottomless. How old was the battery you used for your shoot?
I just used a 1tb card for the first time this month and what a complete game changer. True freedom.
p.6 #8 · A1 Firmware v 2.01 is out now. On the fence about installing it though. :)
LBJ2 wrote:
One of my best purchase last year was the $499 Anglebird 1TB card plus reader. This card seems to be bottomless. How old was the battery you used for your shoot?
Thank you LBJ2 for the feedback.
Great question. Unfortunately I don’t know the answer.
I have 9 batteries. Of those 4 came with my A9 back then, 4 with my A1 that I bought once they fixed the initial eye detection issue. One I got later.
All my Sony cameras have a battery grip attached.
I also have the Sony charger that can hold 4 batteries.
I cycle all 9 batteries through the charger.
As I use my A9 less frequently now that I have the A1, some batteries can stay for longer periods unused in the A9.
But all my batteries get interchangeably used in both the A9 and A1.
Whenever I copy my memory cards to the computer I also swap out any battery that is at less than 100 % charge.
I recently replaced my two 160 GB CFexpress Type A memory cards with a new similar set.
The older cards could each store slightly less than 3000 compressed raw images.
I replaced them because one of them failed to function properly in the A1.
Formatting it in the A1 didn’t correct the problem, but formatting it on my Apple computer attached card reader made it useable again. But I replaced them anyway with a similar but now cheaper set.
I still have the older cards and may try to use them in my A1, now with the new version 2.01 firmware.
Maybe the A1 can now format both.
I have to have a closer look at my new memory cards as they seem to have less storage capacity than the old ones.
At this time I don’t plan to get new larger capacity memory cards, although tempting.
Dealing with 5 or 6,000 just shot images at a time is time consuming enough for me.
Shooting the images is not nearly as time consuming as processing them.
Here is a GIF animation I shot and created yesterday.
p.6 #9 · A1 Firmware v 2.01 is out now. On the fence about installing it though. :)
Shot both of my A1s with the new firmware last night. Performance seemed great. I think I nearly burned through one battery with heavy use over about 5 hours but the other one in the grip was still at 100%. Just had to remember where the settings were to turn off the artificial shutter sound and make the back display optional.
p.6 #10 · A1 Firmware v 2.01 is out now. On the fence about installing it though. :)
k-h.a.w wrote:
Thank you LBJ2 for the feedback.
Great question. Unfortunately I don’t know the answer.
I have 9 batteries. Of those 4 came with my A9 back then, 4 with my A1 that I bought once they fixed the initial eye detection issue. One I got later.
All my Sony cameras have a battery grip attached.
I also have the Sony charger that can hold 4 batteries.
I cycle all 9 batteries through the charger.
As I use my A9 less frequently now that I have the A1, some batteries can stay for longer periods unused in the A9.
But all my batteries get interchangeably used in both the A9 and A1.
Whenever I copy my memory cards to the computer I also swap out any battery that is at less than 100 % charge.
I recently replaced my two 160 GB CFexpress Type A memory cards with a new similar set.
The older cards could each store slightly less than 3000 compressed raw images.
I replaced them because one of them failed to function properly in the A1.
Formatting it in the A1 didn’t correct the problem, but formatting it on my Apple computer attached card reader made it useable again. But I replaced them anyway with a similar but now cheaper set.
I still have the older cards and may try to use them in my A1, now with the new version 2.01 firmware.
Maybe the A1 can now format both.
I have to have a closer look at my new memory cards as they seem to have less storage capacity than the old ones.
At this time I don’t plan to get new larger capacity memory cards, although tempting.
Dealing with 5 or 6,000 just shot images at a time is time consuming enough for me.
Shooting the images is not nearly as time consuming as processing them.
Here is a GIF animation I shot and created yesterday.
Thanks to a thread I found on DPrreview about camera battery health, I now see the Sony NP-FZ100 manufacture date is clearly printed on the back of the battery.
Chagrin! All my Sony NP-FZ100 batteries are much older than I realized. Most except the battery that came with my Sony A1 camera were manufactured in various months of 2017! The battery included with my Sony A1 was manufactured in 2021.
The good news is apparently we see these Sony NP-FZ100 batteries last more years than expected, but of course at a reduced charge level with age. *I don't have a Lithium battery multimeter to check the health of my batteries, but all my 2017 batteries continue to power my cameras.
p.6 #13 · A1 Firmware v 2.01 is out now. On the fence about installing it though. :)
So for all those who have already updated, any advice for those of us about to do so?
I took a photo of every screen (including any with an arrow to suggest a secondary menu item). I also photographed the display that shows when switching to preset 1, 2, and 3 on the dial. Saved those to M1, M2 and M3 on the card.
I have a sneaking suspicion that some elements of my preset 1, 2 and 3 will not be apparent until I have already updated and then I will be kicking myself.
p.6 #14 · A1 Firmware v 2.01 is out now. On the fence about installing it though. :)
eyal wrote:
So for all those who have already updated, any advice for those of us about to do so?
I took a photo of every screen (including any with an arrow to suggest a secondary menu item). I also photographed the display that shows when switching to preset 1, 2, and 3 on the dial. Saved those to M1, M2 and M3 on the card.
I have a sneaking suspicion that some elements of my preset 1, 2 and 3 will not be apparent until I have already updated and then I will be kicking myself.
Check that your Bluetooth and Network services are working before the update. Sony is warning the update may reveal already damaged or broken Bluetooth and Network HW. If you find the Network and Bluetooth service is not functioning you can still update the firmware, but you might see the error message and that camera has to go in for HW repair anyway, if you want Network and Bluetooth operations.
"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."
p.6 #15 · A1 Firmware v 2.01 is out now. On the fence about installing it though. :)
eyal wrote:
So for all those who have already updated, any advice for those of us about to do so?
I took a photo of every screen (including any with an arrow to suggest a secondary menu item). I also photographed the display that shows when switching to preset 1, 2, and 3 on the dial. Saved those to M1, M2 and M3 on the card.
I have a sneaking suspicion that some elements of my preset 1, 2 and 3 will not be apparent until I have already updated and then I will be kicking myself.
p.6 #16 · A1 Firmware v 2.01 is out now. On the fence about installing it though. :)
LBJ2 wrote:
Thanks to a thread I found on DPrreview about camera battery health, I now see the Sony NP-FZ100 manufacture date is clearly printed on the back of the battery.
Chagrin! All my Sony NP-FZ100 batteries are much older than I realized. Most except the battery that came with my Sony A1 camera were manufactured in various months of 2017! The battery included with my Sony A1 was manufactured in 2021.
The good news is apparently we see these Sony NP-FZ100 batteries last more years than expected, but of course at a reduced charge level with age. *I don't have a Lithium battery multimeter to check the health of my batteries, but all my 2017 batteries continue to power my cameras.
Many thanks for the info LBJ2, greatly appreciated.
My batteries are from 2016, 2017, 2020, and 2021.
If I should encounter a power problem now, well checking the battery manufacturing date is on my to do list.
p.6 #17 · A1 Firmware v 2.01 is out now. On the fence about installing it though. :)
I have updated two A1s to v. 2.01. Redoing my settings took a long time on the first camera. I still can't get my IPTC info updated, since I can't log into the new Creators' app with my old Sony credentials. Second camera was just a matter of copying settings from the first camera to a card and transferring the settings to the second body.
Performance of the camera has been fine. However, my third party batteries generate repeated error messages saying that they are not recommended for use by Sony. The ones that I am concerned about are my SmallRig batteries, which I like because they can be recharged simply by plugging them into a power source with a USB c cable. For travel it is useful to be able to bring only one battery charger along for Sony batteries, and recharge the SmallRig batteries by plugging into my computer. I have contacted SmallRig to see what they have to say about this, but aside from asking for my purchase information, I haven't heard anything from them. Has anyone else had problems with third party batteries?
p.6 #18 · A1 Firmware v 2.01 is out now. On the fence about installing it though. :)
dallvr wrote:
I have updated two A1s to v. 2.01. Redoing my settings took a long time on the first camera. I still can't get my IPTC info updated, since I can't log into the new Creators' app with my old Sony credentials. Second camera was just a matter of copying settings from the first camera to a card and transferring the settings to the second body.
Performance of the camera has been fine. However, my third party batteries generate repeated error messages saying that they are not recommended for use by Sony. The ones that I am concerned about are my SmallRig batteries, which I like because they can be recharged simply by plugging them into a power source with a USB c cable. For travel it is useful to be able to bring only one battery charger along for Sony batteries, and recharge the SmallRig batteries by plugging into my computer. I have contacted SmallRig to see what they have to say about this, but aside from asking for my purchase information, I haven't heard anything from them. Has anyone else had problems with third party batteries?...Show more →
Yes, all my 3rd party batteries now give the warning message after 2.0
As long as you hit OK the message won't come back until you power off and turn on again. If you hit Cancel the message will return.
p.6 #19 · A1 Firmware v 2.01 is out now. On the fence about installing it though. :)
Just watched this video about the A9iii , at 24minutes in this is one of the issues I'm getting with my A1 now since I updated to fw2.01 , the part the focus jumps back to the stick .
I used to use a combo of wide and spot small with eye priority on , once on the eye it used stick to stay on the eye quite well . Now since updating to fw2.01 it constantly grabs onto the twigs from the eye and a lot of time even if the subject is in foreground just doesn't seem to grab the eye as well .
Any ideas what I can try ? It's rare I bother with any of the focus + tracking , I tried expandable spot + tracking but that was quite erratic , I've tried changing the tracking speeds 1-5 . If wide or zone grabbed twigs in foreground or background I could quickly tap spot S on the subject and the eye detection used to grab and I could go back to zone-wide and it would keep on the eye . Now it just jumps back to twigs
p.6 #20 · A1 Firmware v 2.01 is out now. On the fence about installing it though. :)
multibit wrote:
Just watched this video about the A9iii , at 24minutes in this is one of the issues I'm getting with my A1 now since I updated to fw2.01 , the part the focus jumps back to the stick .
I used to use a combo of wide and spot small with eye priority on , once on the eye it used stick to stay on the eye quite well . Now since updating to fw2.01 it constantly grabs onto the twigs from the eye and a lot of time even if the subject is in foreground just doesn't seem to grab the eye as well .
Any ideas what I can try ? It's rare I bother with any of the focus + tracking , I tried expandable spot + tracking but that was quite erratic , I've tried changing the tracking speeds 1-5 . If wide or zone grabbed twigs in foreground or background I could quickly tap spot S on the subject and the eye detection used to grab and I could go back to zone-wide and it would keep on the eye . Now it just jumps back to twigs...Show more →
I don't have my A1 in front of me right now, but there is a setting for sensitivity that you can adjust that will keep it from jumping from the bird's (or animal's) eye. That said, the A1 is an older system so it's just not quite as accurate or as configurable as something like the A9III or some of the other cameras that have the AI AF system.
Watching that video...he doesn't know how to configure his sub-settings in the A9III's AF system. The AI AF has a lot more deep functionality that allows you to tweak it extensively so that it performs exactly as you want for the subjects you are shooting. Also, if he's shooting both birds and wildlife, then he needs to leave it on Bird/Animal hybrid--that works extremely well for recognizing either. He briefly mentions that, but honestly, criticizing how it didn't work well on animals when in bird mode just reveals that he shouldn't have been reviewing the camera without having used it much more extensively to learn how it works. It's a very intentional design choice by Sony to have such deeply configurable settings, and when you know what subject you are shooting and how to configure it correctly the accuracy is incredible.
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