Question for anyone who has used the paid feature allowing you to create custom gridlines. I’ve been toying with switching from the A7RV to the CR, for a variety of reasons, one of which is the cinematic framing in photo mode on the CR and CII. This adds the black bars top and bottom of the screen, to aid in composition of 2.35:1 wide almost X-pan shots.
Would the custom gridlines feature allow you to basically add this feature to the A7RV? Since users actually create their own gridlines in a graphic design program and load them to the camera, would anything stop someone from using a custom grid with similar black bars top and bottom?
I'd almost be willing to pay the $150 for this ability. Grudgingly. But it’d be cheaper than selling my camera at a loss and replacing it.
Yes you can do that, I have the feature on my A7R5, one of my custom gridline is 4x5 crop and I have the black bars, well initially they were full black but then I made them I think 70% transparent so they are still dark but you can see a little thru them, it's pretty straightforward making them in Photoshop but I wish Sony would at least include a few of them in a pack or at least a base grid that you can then modify to your liking
Thank you!!! That is great news. Hate to support paid firmware updates for a camera, but cheaper than buying a second camera with it built in.
71sbeetle wrote:
Yes you can do that, I have the feature on my A7R5, one of my custom gridline is 4x5 crop and I have the black bars, well initially they were full black but then I made them I think 70% transparent so they are still dark but you can see a little thru them, it's pretty straightforward making them in Photoshop but I wish Sony would at least include a few of them in a pack or at least a base grid that you can then modify to your liking
elamont wrote:
Thank you!!! That is great news. Hate to support paid firmware updates for a camera, but cheaper than buying a second camera with it built in.
I was definitely not a fan of the price, but the feature works great and there's (unfortunately) no other way to get this functionality.
MikeEvangelist wrote:
I was definitely not a fan of the price, but the feature works great and there's (unfortunately) no other way to get this functionality.
The $150 perpetual license fee isn't too bad compared with what I used to pay for customized SLR focusing screens. Those could run $20-40 each for plain screens to DIY. More if you wanted them etched for you. So this is about equivalent cost to having 4 or 5 different custom cut screens. Of course those screens weren't locked to a camera so you could move them around.
There are $60/year and $12/month Sony license options which makes testing the feature less painful. Sony probably should offer a free trial. If they can activate and track those expiring paid licenses, they could certainly do 7 day free trials so people could see if this will do what they need.
Perhaps Sony will include this feature gratis in future bodies as Panasonic did with their Vlog licensing.
That’s a valid perspective for sure. It just feels like a slippery slope to start charging for firmware updates, but sounds like it’s not unheard of among the big three.
I didn’t see the shorter license duration options when I was on the Sony site, but I’ll definitely check again. $12 is a totally reasonable price for basically a month-long trial.
jeffbuzz wrote:
The $150 perpetual license fee isn't too bad compared with what I used to pay for customized SLR focusing screens. Those could run $20-40 each for plain screens to DIY. More if you wanted them etched for you. So this is about equivalent cost to having 4 or 5 different custom cut screens. Of course those screens weren't locked to a camera so you could move them around.
There are $60/year and $12/month Sony license options which makes testing the feature less painful. Sony probably should offer a free trial. If they can activate and track those expiring paid licenses, they could certainly do 7 day free trials so people could see if this will do what they need.
Perhaps Sony will include this feature gratis in future bodies as Panasonic did with their Vlog licensing....Show more →
Posting this for anyone who reads this in the future. Beware! Learn from my stupidity...
I just donated $12 to Sony for nothing. lol... the page where you can choose which license option you want (perpetual, 1-year, or 1-month) has ALL the compatible camera models at the top, and it includes the A7RV. So, I clicked on the 1-month option to give it a trial run, and a pop-up said to make sure to verify my camera was compatible. The pop-up message showed what I assumed were just a couple examples of camera models, since the main page has a full list displayed.
Nope. I was wrong. The pop up was saying that only those TWO models are compatible. The 1-month and 1-year license options are ONLY available for the A1 II and the a6700. Now I literally have a license I can't use (though I had thought about buying an a6700 as a backup camera...).
At least I didn't go for the 1-year option. I'd be much grumpier about $60 wasted than $12.
jeffbuzz wrote:
The $150 perpetual license fee isn't too bad compared with what I used to pay for customized SLR focusing screens. Those could run $20-40 each for plain screens to DIY. More if you wanted them etched for you. So this is about equivalent cost to having 4 or 5 different custom cut screens. Of course those screens weren't locked to a camera so you could move them around.
There are $60/year and $12/month Sony license options which makes testing the feature less painful. Sony probably should offer a free trial. If they can activate and track those expiring paid licenses, they could certainly do 7 day free trials so people could see if this will do what they need.
Perhaps Sony will include this feature gratis in future bodies as Panasonic did with their Vlog licensing....Show more →
elamont wrote:
Posting this for anyone who reads this in the future. Beware! Learn from my stupidity...
I just donated $12 to Sony for nothing. lol... the page where you can choose which license option you want (perpetual, 1-year, or 1-month) has ALL the compatible camera models at the top, and it includes the A7RV. So, I clicked on the 1-month option to give it a trial run, and a pop-up said to make sure to verify my camera was compatible. The pop-up message showed what I assumed were just a couple examples of camera models, since the main page has a full list displayed.
Nope. I was wrong. The pop up was saying that only those TWO models are compatible. The 1-month and 1-year license options are ONLY available for the A1 II and the a6700. Now I literally have a license I can't use (though I had thought about buying an a6700 as a backup camera...).
At least I didn't go for the 1-year option. I'd be much grumpier about $60 wasted than $12.
Possibly. They use a 3rd party vendor, but I’ll send em an email. It’s $13 so not suuuper worried about it, but figured someone else might make the same mistake but for a 1 year license.
EDIT: That was fast! Submitted an online request for refund, with an explanation of what happened. Figured it would be a few days, especially since its Saturday. Took them less than an hour! Refund initiated.
LBJ2 wrote:
You can probably contact Sony and explain the misunderstanding and request a refund.
