The Amazing Sony A1/A7/A9/APS-C & Anything else welcome Mega Thread!

The A7 IV firmware updates are now done by SD card, are you sure the A1 isn't the same ?
Nothing on the Sony site saying anything about SD card, it talks about installing software onto the computer and then once installed and up and running you connect the camera via USB.

I’ll try on my old intel Mac tomorrow to see if I can get it working on that.
 
Because it shoots 30fps at 50mp at a moments notice. Seems to sit ready for full steam ahead, I remember thinking it was warm when I first got it and I don’t notice it really in the wee half case
Thanks, will be a bonus in winter :lol:
 
Nothing on the Sony site saying anything about SD card, it talks about installing software onto the computer and then once installed and up and running you connect the camera via USB.

I’ll try on my old intel Mac tomorrow to see if I can get it working on that.
This is for v1.3 but has a section about using a Mac to update from around 1 min in.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1zCrIM_4ZA
 
I’m trying to update the firmware on my A1 and the updater software is not playing nice with my Mac. I’ve followed the instructions to a T, changed the security preferences on my Mac (M1 Silicon) as per the instructions on the Sony site, downloaded and installed the camera driver for silicon Mac, and downloaded the software update installer for Mac. When I double click to open the software update installer the window opens for 2-3 seconds then crashes and disappears. I’ve tried downloading it again and the same happens again.

Anyone any ideas why it’s not working please?

P.S. Im surprised it’s shipped with 1.30 rather than 1.31.
Have you tried shutting down and restarting your Mac. I know it sounds silly but some times it works after a software download.
 
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Have you tried shu down and restarting your Mac. I know it sounds silly but some times it works after a software download.
Thanks, yeah first thing I tried.
 
Done the update on my old intel mac and it seems to be working fine, updating as I type.
 
Love mine to bits, does everything I need!

Good :D I think some do get a bit lost in the very latest kit and for the some very latest kit might well bring real improvements especially for focus ability when really pushing things but for a lot of people a model of so back in time could be very nice indeed. For eg me and my A7 :D
 
What did you and your Mrs go for, Is your A1 UK stock, grey or used?
I was overruled and was told to buy from Panamoz, she didn’t want to spend all that money on used.
 
First impressions of the A1 are very positive. It’s the first camera where eye af has worked on Betty so that’s worth the upgrade in itself. The EVF is a big improvement, doesn’t seem to go as grainy on AF like the other Sonys I’ve used and is bigger. 30fps is insane, waaaayyyy too much :lol:
 
I've been going through pictures and deleting and reprocessing and I decided to print three to A4 and frame and mount them on a wall. I don't think I've printed a picture since I installed PS2022 so this was possibly the first time and it didn't go well as the first print was too dark and not edge to edge which is what I thought I was getting. For a moment I thought I was back in the bad old days when I changed both my software and printer at the same time and had horrendous issues with dark prints, apparently some Epson's are known for it and Googling Epson Dark Prints brought up lots of info. So, I remembered all that and I now have three new prints, two mono and one colour :D

It's nice to see pictures on the wall :D
 
Good :D I think some do get a bit lost in the very latest kit and for the some very latest kit might well bring real improvements especially for focus ability when really pushing things but for a lot of people a model of so back in time could be very nice indeed. For eg me and my A7 :D

I've no intention of getting rid of mine :)
 
I've no intention of getting rid of mine :)

I would like eye detect and silent shooting but apart from those things I'm mostly happy and I probably wont buy a new Sony until my A7 moves to the camera shelf in heaven.
 
I would like eye detect and silent shooting but apart from those things I'm mostly happy and I probably wont buy a new Sony until my A7 moves to the camera shelf in heaven.

Honestly. It's worth it. Missus took the camera earlier when we were out, literally just framed me up, held that lens side button & eye AF just instantly takes over regardless. It was in silent though. So she didn't know it had taken the shot :ROFLMAO:

As you know, I'm much like you with my A7. And even after I'd agreed the Riii purchase from my mate I still wasn't 100% convinced.... But the eye AF, different Auto ISO shutter speed settings, joystick, built in interval shooting & silent shooting, being able to use the focus hold lens button, more control with the zebra settings.... All worth it IMHO :) I keep forgetting it has touch screen for the focus point too.....

I do want to try the Riii for my tracked night sky work, but I'm tempted to just use the A7 & intervalometer for that & maybe use the Riii in silent/electronic with the built in interval function for timelapse. But then of course I often shooting film star trails..... So, film star trails vs digital timelapse.....?!?
 
One day I might just go mad and buy a new camera but at the mo I'm more likely to buy a car. Having said that I was out in the Evoque today and really there's nothing wrong with it at all so maybe a new camera could be a possibility :D I can't remember the last time I had my MX5 out.

Oh, and just spend in the region of £2,600 on Mrs WW's ILR (Indefinite Leave to Remain, and I'm more worried about this than any previous visa,) interview and train fare so a car or camera should wait until next month :D
 
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One day I might just go mad and buy a new camera but at the mo I'm more likely to buy a car. Having said that I was out in the Evoque today and really there's nothing wrong with it at all so maybe a new camera could be a possibility :D I can't remember the last time I had my MX5 out.

Oh, and just spend in the region of £2,600 on Mrs WW's ILR (Indefinite Leave to Remain, and I'm more worried about this than any previous visa,) interview and train fare so a car or camera should wait until next month :D

Well, I'm still driving the 2010 Focus I paid £3500 for in 2017 mainly because it does the job & [for me] I get more pleasure & enjoyment out of photography :)

When I done this years insurance quote back in January, I put the Reg No in & as well as coming up with all the vehicle details it also gave an automatic 'market value' instead of asking me to enter the 'value' of the car - It gave me either £2600 or £2800!! Less than grand lost in 5.5 years.... How exact that is I don't know but I'm not complaining!

Anyway, I'm sure Mrs WW's ILR will be fine :)
 
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It’s here! Waiting for the A1 batteries to charge but after a quick check mines also 1.3 firmware so needs a quick update. Seems completely alien to the Z9 in terms of menu and functionality but the buttons are strangely familiar. Hoping to get the batteries all charged tonight, firmware update and then set it up for birds and spend tomorrow testing it.

I’ve changed the foot on the 600 with the Wimberley one and also installed the rolanlpro Len’s cover which was insanely tight on parts so not sure if I’ll keep it or replace with a lenscoat
 
@James J - I hope you have better weather forecast than us down in Bristol for tomorrow!!

Even today was supposed to be 'OK' but there was just a grey sunrise & a wet sunset.

Yes, I went out for both of them!
Forecast here in north lincs is flat and crap mate so it'll be more to get use to the button layout then get any actual keepers etc. I've just tried to update the firmware on my M2 MAX chipset MacBook Pro and it crashed the laptop.... urgh
 
James, I expect your camera has a bigger battery than my A7 but if it helps at all... I plug my A7 into my pc to download pictures then I turn the camera off leaving it plugged into the pc and when I'm finished processing pictures and faffing on the battery is fully charged. That could save you some battery charger slots as one can be charging in camera whist others are charging in a charger.
 
Well, I'm still driving the 2010 Focus I paid £3500 for in 2017 mainly because it does the job & [for me] I get more pleasure & enjoyment out of photography :)

When I done this years insurance quote back in January, I put the Reg No in & as well as coming up with all the vehicle details it also gave an automatic 'market value' instead of asking me to enter the 'value' of the car - It gave me either £2600 or £2800!! Less than grand lost in 5.5 years.... How exact that is I don't know but I'm not complaining!

Anyway, I'm sure Mrs WW's ILR will be fine :)
I have a 2011 Mazda6 I bought nearly ten years ago now and I've seen second hand ones with lower spec, older and/or much higher miles selling for almost as much as I paid for mine at three years old. The used car market is a mess as there's a lack of supply and although it's slowly improving for new cars we're now hitting the point that there's a big drop in three year old cars as that's when production was reduced during the pandemic. The expectation is as the new car supply goes back to normal and there's more nearly new cars, those prices will get back to normal (although still likely higher than pre-pandemic) since they have to be lower than new to appeal to people but the sub-10K market is looking like prices will be high for a while.

The good news my car passed its MOT fine this year so no need to spend money on a newer one (sadly no newer cars I'm interested in due to the state of the market), disappointing we didn't get the guaranteed A9 III announcements.
 
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It’s here! Waiting for the A1 batteries to charge but after a quick check mines also 1.3 firmware so needs a quick update. Seems completely alien to the Z9 in terms of menu and functionality but the buttons are strangely familiar. Hoping to get the batteries all charged tonight, firmware update and then set it up for birds and spend tomorrow testing it.

I’ve changed the foot on the 600 with the Wimberley one and also installed the rolanlpro Len’s cover which was insanely tight on parts so not sure if I’ll keep it or replace with a lenscoat
Nice, hope you enjoy it.
 
James, I expect your camera has a bigger battery than my A7 but if it helps at all... I plug my A7 into my pc to download pictures then I turn the camera off leaving it plugged into the pc and when I'm finished processing pictures and faffing on the battery is fully charged. That could save you some battery charger slots as one can be charging in camera whist others are charging in a charger.
For now I’m shooting to a 1tb sdcard which I can just plug into my MacBook via the dedicated slot. That’s a great tip though for if I go down the type A route. I’ve thought about it so far but the cost vs capacity argument so far is grim. I’m keeping an eye on the exascend 240gb card pricing and availability though where I can use your workflow instead of going down the card reader route which is more expense still
 
James, I expect your camera has a bigger battery than my A7 but if it helps at all... I plug my A7 into my pc to download pictures then I turn the camera off leaving it plugged into the pc and when I'm finished processing pictures and faffing on the battery is fully charged. That could save you some battery charger slots as one can be charging in camera whist others are charging in a charger.

On this note ^^

That's what I've always done with the A7 - plug in, switch on, Lightroom opens on import page.

But when I plug the Riii in and switch it on I just get some audible noises and nothing..... The camera isn't even listed in the 'my computer' section...... It does show the charge light though if plugged in and switched off.

Also, the USB port works with the wired intervalometer.
 
On this note ^^

That's what I've always done with the A7 - plug in, switch on, Lightroom opens on import page.

But when I plug the Riii in and switch it on I just get some audible noises and nothing..... The camera isn't even listed in the 'my computer' section...... It does show the charge light though if plugged in and switched off.

Also, the USB port works with the wired intervalometer.

How strange.

This reminds me of when I got a new pc from PC Specialist. All seemed to go well but then I found two issues, there was no volume in Skype and when I plugged my camera into one of the USB ports all I got was a bleep every few seconds, all of the other ports worked. After PC Specialist took control of the pc remotely and couldn't rectify it it went back for repair and both issues were indeed "faults" rather than set up issues.

I wonder if your issue could be a USB port fault? With the camera?
 
How strange.

This reminds me of when I got a new pc from PC Specialist. All seemed to go well but then I found two issues, there was no volume in Skype and when I plugged my camera into one of the USB ports all I got was a bleep every few seconds, all of the other ports worked. After PC Specialist took control of the pc remotely and couldn't rectify it it went back for repair and both issues were indeed "faults" rather than set up issues.

I wonder if your issue could be a USB port fault? With the camera?

I'll try to dig out another lead to try. Or more leads!

But the port does work to charge through USB camera off and the wired intervalometer I use for night skies works in the same port.

That's standard USB though thinking about it..... :thinking: There is a USB C port there too.
 
I'll try to dig out another lead to try. Or more leads!

But the port does work to charge through USB camera off and the wired intervalometer I use for night skies works in the same port.

That's standard USB though thinking about it..... :thinking: There is a USB C port there too.
I was wondering if they were using the micro USB port for power and other functions while the USB-C port was the one for connecting to a PC, the manual suggests both should work for data communication though but I'd definitely give the USB-C port a go.

It is possible for a micro USB port to have one pin damaged which means some functions will work like supplying power but data communication will not although I would be surprised if the port in your camera was damaged.
 
I was wondering if they were using the micro USB port for power and other functions while the USB-C port was the one for connecting to a PC, the manual suggests both should work for data communication though but I'd definitely give the USB-C port a go.

It is possible for a micro USB port to have one pin damaged which means some functions will work like supplying power but data communication will not although I would be surprised if the port in your camera was damaged.

Yeah. I'll look into it a bit more. I'm pretty sure I've got the in camera options etc set right.

I've been using the SD/MicroSD card reader which I had to buy for the drone so I can transfer. I just prefer to plug the camera in that's all.
 
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