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

My take on the firmware. Sony have provided what they promised at the release of the a9iii and have added more.

Lots are looking over the fence at other brands and asking for things that have never been promised on the A1.

It looks like they have changed the software significantly - and maybe they need to do this to open further opportunities.

We are also not Sony so we don’t know if there is hardware/software that stops them putting things in like pre-capture. Only Sony know what can and can’t be added. Improved AF on A7RV could only be achieved with additional hardware for example.

Interestingly pre-capture has only been on radar since it appeared on Nikon Z9/8 yet it’s been on Olympus (OM) for years and in RAW where Nikon have not been able to unlock it yet in RAW! I don’t see anyone running to OM because of this feature. It’s a nice to have for me - but it hasn’t stopped me getting images (sports or wildlife). I’ve still got mates with Nikon Z9/8 that are moaning about the AF.

I see nothing in other systems that make it a deal breaker to jump brand. I’m not Sony fanboy either - but Joe I am invested in the system there is very little to gain at the moment from another manufacturer. The A1 will provide me what I want for a good few years. The best tool is the one behind the camera.
 
f/2.8 said:
In other news I bought another camera bag which arrived today, It's a cheap AliExpress job that cost less than £20 for my A7CII kit. Fits the body and my 3 Noodle Maker lenses perfectly. With enough room for a few other bits and bobs. It's a little bit peak design like especially in terms of the internal dividers, probably a bad copy of something.

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A couple of weeks ago I had a bit of a clear out of my cupboard of shame, where all the stuff I never use lives. I had 14 bags in there that haven't seen the light of day since Jesus was a wee lad, including two Billingham's that had never even been taken out of their dust bags. :headbang: I was planning on using one of the Billingham's for the A7CII stuff only for @f/1.4 to remind me that they were mainly used by aul lads.

Also found 3 flash's, two unused and loads of stuff left over from when I shot Nikon. Gave away most of the Nikon stuff to the next door neighbour and hastily hid the rest back in the cupboard before the wife seen it or she would have had me dump it all. :oops: :$

Will clear the cupboard of shame out properly once one of the kids are about and can keep dick for me, for the wife snooping.
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Thon Billingham bags are absolutely ghastly. I've no idea why anyone pays that £ for such a design abomination, maybe it looked good back when Jesus was on the sauce with the apostles lol
 
f/2.8 said:
Aye but there is always hidden improvements in firmware release that aren't talked about. Minor bug fixes etc. So I always like to keep my stuff up to date, Not chancing at the moment though. Seen someone in the comments section on Sony rumours saying they have bricked their A7IV with the update.

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I don’t update for several weeks to let everyone ride be the guinea pigs ;)
simonbe said:
My take on the firmware. Sony have provided what they promised at the release of the a9iii and have added more.

Lots are looking over the fence at other brands and asking for things that have never been promised on the A1.

It looks like they have changed the software significantly - and maybe they need to do this to open further opportunities.

We are also not Sony so we don’t know if there is hardware/software that stops them putting things in like pre-capture. Only Sony know what can and can’t be added. Improved AF on A7RV could only be achieved with additional hardware for example.

Interestingly pre-capture has only been on radar since it appeared on Nikon Z9/8 yet it’s been on Olympus (OM) for years and in RAW where Nikon have not been able to unlock it yet in RAW! I don’t see anyone running to OM because of this feature. It’s a nice to have for me - but it hasn’t stopped me getting images (sports or wildlife). I’ve still got mates with Nikon Z9/8 that are moaning about the AF.

I see nothing in other systems that make it a deal breaker to jump brand. I’m not Sony fanboy either - but Joe I am invested in the system there is very little to gain at the moment from another manufacturer. The A1 will provide me what I want for a good few years. The best tool is the one behind the camera.
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I completely agree. However, without trying to sound like a broken record the only critique is Sony’s fanfare and how cloak and dagger they’ve been about the update.

When you say you’ve been listening to the customers saying they’re bringing a huge new firmware out with new features to please them and then not delivering (at least for the masses online) I can understand the disappointment.

Now of course, as already discussed some feature requests might be unreasonable but at least relay to the customers that it’s not possible. I’m sure this would appease most (y)
 
A couple of items regarding the A1 update from SAR.

Apparently you can’t save your settings and load after the update so you have to set it up all over. I’m wondering if that’s actually true or whether someone did the update without first saving settings onto an SD card. It would be strange if you can’t save settings as you’ve always been able to before.

Apparently the new firmware allows future updates via SD card. This doesn’t bother me either way but it’s nice for some.
 
Somewhat surprised that there's still no sign of A1 II with the Olympics just around the corner.
 
dragonfly said:
Somewhat surprised that there's still no sign of A1 II with the Olympics just around the corner.
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I think A9iii is Sony's play at the Olympics. High res isn't necessarily all that important for sports togs I guess, they'll probably appreciate the features in A9iii more than a high res sensor
 
snerkler said:
A couple of items regarding the A1 update from SAR.

Apparently you can’t save your settings and load after the update so you have to set it up all over. I’m wondering if that’s actually true or whether someone did the update without first saving settings onto an SD card. It would be strange if you can’t save settings as you’ve always been able to before.

Apparently the new firmware allows future updates via SD card. This doesn’t bother me either way but it’s nice for some.
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This is from the Sony site.
 

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snerkler said:
I don’t update for several weeks to let everyone ride be the guinea pigs ;)

I completely agree. However, without trying to sound like a broken record the only critique is Sony’s fanfare and how cloak and dagger they’ve been about the update.

When you say you’ve been listening to the customers saying they’re bringing a huge new firmware out with new features to please them and then not delivering (at least for the masses online) I can understand the disappointment.

Now of course, as already discussed some feature requests might be unreasonable but at least relay to the customers that it’s not possible. I’m sure this would appease most (y)
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What we don’t know is which customers Sony say they are listening to. Is this consumer or pro - and what’s the mechanism for capturing the feedback to prioritise. This upgrade may have been the top of a customer list. Maybe pre-capture was way down the customers they focussed on. I’d use it very little - wouldn’t be top of my list.

I don’t see any manufacturer of tech coming out saying what they can’t do. That would send people to other manufacturers. Why haven’t Nikon put out the pre-capture in RAW? Haven’t seen them releasing any statement to say it’s coming or not and if it can or can’t be done. I haven’t shot in JPEG for years. Nikon users been asking for this in RAW for 9 months - last thread I read on this was “probably can be done but not a priority”.

I like the my menu setup on the A7CR and this has been added to the A1.

If the features aren’t there and they are on another system I guess people vote with their trigger finger. No one is wedded to a system - the loss of value on the A1 can probably be set against the deals on the Z9.. If the feature is more important on another system then jump. Or keep in 2 camps and run dual bodies. Or drop mega pixels to the A9iii.

Sony have shown over time they tend to upgrade models more than other manufacturers. Sony are up to 4th and 5th gen mirrorless where others are still only 2nd gen. Tech has then made it into the next gen. The A1 came out having benefited from A7, A7S, A7R and A9. Think the A9 1st gen is up to 9.0 - but that’s first gen - the A1 got all of that when it was first released.

This major change in software may be a platform to upgrade further. You have to upgrade to 1.35 to allow the 2.0 to be installed.
 
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f/1.4 said:
Thon Billingham bags are absolutely ghastly. I've no idea why anyone pays that £ for such a design abomination, maybe it looked good back when Jesus was on the sauce with the apostles lol
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They were very popular back in the day aul Jesus prob carried his water to wine making kit in one. Moses deffo carried his tablet around in his.
 
Well that's a pretty pathetic firmware update for the A1. After all this time, that's it, not even focus bracketing. Have to say the A1 has been the most disappointing camera I have had :(
 
f/2.8 said:
They were very popular back in the day aul Jesus prob carried his water to wine making kit in one. Moses deffo carried his tablet around in his.
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Would you please mind. There is no reason for such vanity tone of language
 
dragonfly said:
Somewhat surprised that there's still no sign of A1 II with the Olympics just around the corner.
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Realistically it's gonna be awhile to surpass 30fps at 50mp. The bandwidth required to process that data is actually insane. Does it need replaced? I don't think any other flagship camera beats it to be fair
 
f/2.8 said:
Bit mad when you consider how rude he is on here and the nasty racist connotations of his profile photo. Not very Christian at all.
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Reported
 
I have two Billingham bags. They're well made, waterproof and will very likely last a very long time. I have one which is over 10 YO. Mine have been to Europe and the far east and been used in all weathers from the heat and humidity of Thailand to a blizzard on Redcar beach and they're still both just about unmarked. Try that with some other brands and they'll probably disintegrate in a year.

Isn't there a saying about buying cheap and buying twice. Oh, and Billingham bags are made in the UK not in a dubious far eastern exploitation shop for 50p a bag.
 
woof woof said:
I have two Billingham bags. They're well made, waterproof and will very likely last a very long time. I have one which is over 10 YO. Mine have been to Europe and the far east and been used in all weathers from the heat and humidity of Thailand to a blizzard on Redcar beach and they're still both just about unmarked. Try that with some other brands and they'll probably disintegrate in a year.

Isn't there a saying about buying cheap and buying twice. Oh, and Billingham bags are made in the UK not in a dubious far eastern exploitation shop for 50p a bag.
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It doesn't matter how long they last imo, just means they look ugly as sin for longer lol
 
woof woof said:
I have two Billingham bags. They're well made, waterproof and will very likely last a very long time. I have one which is over 10 YO. Mine have been to Europe and the far east and been used in all weathers from the heat and humidity of Thailand to a blizzard on Redcar beach and they're still both just about unmarked. Try that with some other brands and they'll probably disintegrate in a year.

Isn't there a saying about buying cheap and buying twice. Oh, and Billingham bags are made in the UK not in a dubious far eastern exploitation shop for 50p a bag.
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For sure they are well made on a par with another brand whose name I can’t remember that make a similar looking bag for fishing gear. They are very over priced though. From memory the fishing bag is about £45.

I have much cheaper bags that have been heavily used and still look like new. Made in China.

To be fair bags don’t get an awful lot of abuse and should last a good long time. I have a Lowepro bag that I have been using for about 12 years. It’s seen on average about 50 weddings a year plus engagement sessions and everything else. It also seen about 6 different countries. Still looks like new after a wash and I bought it used.
 
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It would be nice, if under the current circumstances, we all play nice,

Just to remind you all................... Chris,

I've just read through the last few posts. Really?

I'm not singling anyone out at this point but dummy spits :dummy:and playground squabbles will probably be treated with less tolerance than usual.

That's one strike, there will be no more.

Back to Sony please.

:police:
 
Dale. said:
It would be nice, if under the current circumstances, we all play nice,

Just to remind you all................... Chris,

I've just read through the last few posts. Really?

I'm not singling anyone out at this point but dummy spits :dummy:and playground squabbles will probably be treated with less tolerance than usual.

That's one strike, there will be no more.

Back to Sony please.

:police:
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Fair enough Dale. I will wind my neck in. Was just a bit of harmless fun. Hope you guys hear from Cobra soon.
 
Don’t like Billingham’s design…in one way, it doesn’t look like your normal camera bag but the design is so distinct that it screams expensive camera inside to me, from a mile off.

As for Peak Design….i won’t get another. My initial positive feeling for the 10L Sling bag had quickly dissipated. I bought this in January…

3DIUc1O.jpeg


Since the strap is attached via their “button” system, I can’t just swap it out. My 15 year old Crumpler’s messenger bag strap is in 100x better condition than this.

Wotancraft still No.1!
 
+1 for crumpler. Have a camera backpack which has seen lots of use and hasn't a break in it, and had a laptop backpack which has been used daily for work and been around the world for about 8 years and still looks new. Wouldn't hesitate to buy another in a heartbeat no matter how good the reviews on other brands are.
 
I actually ordered a Tenba Fulton V2 14L all weather version after visiting their stand in the photography show. Would be a better bag than the PD and fits under the seat.
 
Raymond Lin said:
Don’t like Billingham’s design…in one way, it doesn’t look like your normal camera bag but the design is so distinct that it screams expensive camera inside to me, from a mile off.

As for Peak Design….i won’t get another. My initial positive feeling for the 10L Sling bag had quickly dissipated. I bought this in January…

3DIUc1O.jpeg


Since the strap is attached via their “button” system, I can’t just swap it out. My 15 year old Crumpler’s messenger bag strap is in 100x better condition than this.

Wotancraft still No.1!
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I'm sticking with my Amazon small shoulder bag for now ;) Not a bad look imo, certainly doesn't look like a camera bag, fits two (average) bodies/lenses - will fit the A7Riii/35GM easily but I usually have the X100f & my film SLR in there.
 
For work we use ThinkTank Retrospective 30’s. They hold 3 bodies with lenses attached, 2 flashes, plus a host of other stuff. Plus I like how they look.

It’s a proper tardis of a bag.
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snerkler said:
As I said I’d love to know what sample pool they’ve used, and if it is just pros then it’s not great as it ‘suggests’ they don’t listen/don’t care about the rest of their customers :(

I don’t understand the whole secrecy about these things :thinking:

As I said previously I think the camera is more than adequate, however they open themselves up to criticism with all the secrecy and hype.
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If they only listen to pros then in my view they have it mixed up. A lot of pros using A1s have it bought b their agency. But people like us have to use their hard earned cash to buy it. O they potentially have more invested in it so should have a say.
 
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