As previously reported, Sony has made official the version 4 of the firmware upgrade for A700.
Initial reports seem to indicate that the version most people installed when leaked a week ago is the same version released now.
At the moment of writing this, V4 was official through the japanese and european Sony sites.
The european site states the following improvements and error fixes V4 includes:
Improvements and solved issues
The choice to select auto exposure bracketing (single & continuous) with 3 shots in 2 EV steps has been added.
The choice to turn [Off] the High ISO NR feature has been added.
Improvement of the image quality in high ISO setting.
Improvement of the auto white balance and D-Range Optimizer performance.
Improvement of reliability for communication between camera body and vertical grip.
This confirms the first 3 things fixed by the leaked version, and now the WB improvements reported in the DPR Sony SLR Forum are confirmed, along with an upgraded DRO performance.
The last item is of particular interest to me, Ive read some threads in the forum mentioned above of people having problems with the Vertical Grip, that it suddenly stop working and forced people to remove and reintroduce the batteries in the grip. Even the VG's manual mentions this problem in the Troubleshooting guide.
I certainly hope that error is now fixed with this upgrade.
Also, the Sony Image Data Suite has been updated, the new upgrades are:
Image Data Converter SR Ver.3.0
Software to view, adjust and save the RAW format still images shot with your camera.
Image Data Lightbox SR Ver.2.0
Software to view, compare, and rate the RAW/JPEG format still images shot with your camera.
Remote Camera Control Ver.2.0*
Software to control your camera connected to the computer via USB to shoot images or change the settings.
* This software can be used with DSLR-A700 only.
V4 for Windows
V4 For Mac
Sony Image Data Suite for Windows
Sony Image Data Suite for Mac
Sony Europe Customer Portal for A700
Installation instructions for V4 and SIDS in those links.
Dont forget to click on the + button next to Overview/Features and Download and Installation Procedure for full information display.
Showing posts with label Firmware upgrade. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Firmware upgrade. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Alpha 700 Firmware Version 4, Beta?
A new firmware version for the Sony Alpha 700 was leaked two days ago via Sony's chinese site (for some reason, the leaks from camera makers come from their chinese sites most of the time). The firmware was later removed.
The firmware included the following:
Option to turn NR OFF, something long wanted by Alpha users. Took one year to happen but better late than never.
New bracketing options for those who shoot High Dynamic Range pictures.
Its also been reported that the AWB setting has improved performance with incandescent lights, no longer yielding a yellowish tone. This came from a thread in DPR Sony SLR Forum.
The weird thing however, is that the Sony Electronics Blog had the firmware update linked for a while and there was a post talking about it, saying how we found out about it in a way they didnt plan to and that the official release would be on September 16th, but now the post is gone, the firmware is gone and it just links to Version 3.
A lot of people (including me) installed this upgrade. I sensed something was up before I installed V4, but apparantly there was no reason NOT to install it. One day later, this happens.
All this made me wonder a few things:
The version a lot of us installed was a beta version?
Was it removed from those sites in order to focus attention on the A900 launch?
The V4 gathered a lot of attention, and maybe Sony wanted all of us looking at the new camera and not the upgrade.
The version we installed is incomplete?
Maybe there are other functions that are missing...
When Sony launches officially the upgrade, will it work for those of us who already installed the leaked version? Will it be a 4.1 or 4.01 version?
All signs point that Sony IS aware that a LOT of people installed the upgrade, so I hope they take that information in account and update the upgrade for those of us who installed it.
I never heard of something like this happening before, when V2 and V3 were released, there wasnt any removal from the Sony sites.
Either someone at Sony leaked a beta version of it for us to test and see if we were happy with it or someone screwed up and leaked it before it was done at all. Otherwise there isnt any point in removing the firmware from user's reach if everyone knows about it already.
The official launch of it is in 6 days, we'll see what happens then.
This is the original message removed from the Sony blog:
"A700 Firmware Upgrade Oct. 30, 2007 2:22am
UPDATE: September 9, 2008 Hello again from Mark Weir, in Sony’s Digital Imaging group.
Since yesterday, we’ve seen a number of comments in this and other forums regarding new firmware for α700. Although the news of this development didn’t happen quite the way we had intended, we can acknowledge that we’ll soon make available a firmware upgrade for α700 on Sony’s eSupport website.
We are always listening to your feedback, and we are aware of the concern expressed for α700 Noise Reduction and EV bracketing. Borrowing from some of the development for α900, we’ve developed new α700 firmware with expanded EV bracketing (±2EV/3shots) for High Dynamic Range composting, as well as Noise Reduction “off” for those who prefer the control of post processing NR. We will make these updates (and some others) officially available on Sep 16th at .
We’ll have more news available as we approach Sep 16th, and we appreciate your patience!"
The firmware included the following:
Option to turn NR OFF, something long wanted by Alpha users. Took one year to happen but better late than never.
New bracketing options for those who shoot High Dynamic Range pictures.
Its also been reported that the AWB setting has improved performance with incandescent lights, no longer yielding a yellowish tone. This came from a thread in DPR Sony SLR Forum.
The weird thing however, is that the Sony Electronics Blog had the firmware update linked for a while and there was a post talking about it, saying how we found out about it in a way they didnt plan to and that the official release would be on September 16th, but now the post is gone, the firmware is gone and it just links to Version 3.
A lot of people (including me) installed this upgrade. I sensed something was up before I installed V4, but apparantly there was no reason NOT to install it. One day later, this happens.
All this made me wonder a few things:
The version a lot of us installed was a beta version?
Was it removed from those sites in order to focus attention on the A900 launch?
The V4 gathered a lot of attention, and maybe Sony wanted all of us looking at the new camera and not the upgrade.
The version we installed is incomplete?
Maybe there are other functions that are missing...
When Sony launches officially the upgrade, will it work for those of us who already installed the leaked version? Will it be a 4.1 or 4.01 version?
All signs point that Sony IS aware that a LOT of people installed the upgrade, so I hope they take that information in account and update the upgrade for those of us who installed it.
I never heard of something like this happening before, when V2 and V3 were released, there wasnt any removal from the Sony sites.
Either someone at Sony leaked a beta version of it for us to test and see if we were happy with it or someone screwed up and leaked it before it was done at all. Otherwise there isnt any point in removing the firmware from user's reach if everyone knows about it already.
The official launch of it is in 6 days, we'll see what happens then.
This is the original message removed from the Sony blog:
"A700 Firmware Upgrade Oct. 30, 2007 2:22am
UPDATE: September 9, 2008 Hello again from Mark Weir, in Sony’s Digital Imaging group.
Since yesterday, we’ve seen a number of comments in this and other forums regarding new firmware for α700. Although the news of this development didn’t happen quite the way we had intended, we can acknowledge that we’ll soon make available a firmware upgrade for α700 on Sony’s eSupport website.
We are always listening to your feedback, and we are aware of the concern expressed for α700 Noise Reduction and EV bracketing. Borrowing from some of the development for α900, we’ve developed new α700 firmware with expanded EV bracketing (±2EV/3shots) for High Dynamic Range composting, as well as Noise Reduction “off” for those who prefer the control of post processing NR. We will make these updates (and some others) officially available on Sep 16th at .
We’ll have more news available as we approach Sep 16th, and we appreciate your patience!"
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