Frank- some people and I am one of them agree with Sony's argument that only cameras that are faulty need firmware upgrades. Canon is a brand that usually comes out with new models very quickly and then later on resolves issues with firmware upgrades.Firmware upgrades are not good news- they are bad news and they mean that the company has made a mistake when releasing the camera. It's not good advertisement when a manufacturer needs to come out with a lot of upgrades- at last IMHO.
Hi Stef. I may be being guilty of going way off topic here which if is the case I give my apologies and possibly this can be moved to a more appropriate area.
I hear where you are coming from on firmware upgrades, agree mostly, but isn't it also used as a means of making the camera that much more capable by enhancing certain areas that their developers have found a way of doing? Better high ISO quality and, from what I remember being spoken of on a "Firmware 5" possibility when the a700 was starting to be seen as being a future discontinued model, the ability for in camera back/front focus issues with some lenses? The back/front focus issue was also discussed on how to attempt it yourself [IF very confident] but I haven't found that thread yet.
I don't see firmware updates as being ALL bad news but a means of enhancing what is, in the a700, an already great camera and further support for customers that put their faith in SONY. My other thoughts are though that SONY, being as they are a company needing to keep making money and bring out zillions of different products, bring out the enhancements in newer models to force the customer to upgrade to a new camera body because it has XXX.
Re.: ff: I do think that over the next ten years we will have a development towards ff frame cameras and away from APS size. I think it is in the long run cheaper for manufacturers to concentrate on ff than on both sizes. I also believe that the whole ISO issues will be resolved and that the next step will be how to implement video successfully(!)
Maybe I'm just looking at it over a too simplified way by seeing the APS format giving a longer focal length to a 35mm "ff slr" lens
A 90mm FF = to 135 in APS, 100 = to 150, 200 = 300 etc. Or am I just totally misunderstanding this part of APS against FF? Is it not beneficial to have an increase in focal length without the added weight in a FF lens? A 400 is 600 on APS but 400 is 400 on FF. Is it a case that the lens length is exactly the same and therefore you get the same end size photo in APS as FF but the "focus area" is 1.5 times larger to assist the focus "point"?
Sony has already developped a huge camera line up over the last couple of years and yes I do believe they come out with a new A700 but not ff.
Re.: the price: they have already the cheapest ff cameras on the market and I think ff will become cheaper over time.
Anyhow let's see what happens...
As said I expect them to come out with a model that they themselves will call "professional".
I think you are right and many others are - have been - waiting with bated breath for some time now because the a700 is such a great camera they want to see want ways it can be improved upon. Possibly my main reason for being somewhat disgruntled with SONY is that I came in at the tail end of the a700 and when other improvements were on the cards for some future models. I'll admit that the possibility of a 7fps rather than the 5fps would have been seen as beneficial for me
Re.: review of the 850: this really depends on which camera magazine you read. I have a subscription for most camera magazines from the UK/ Canada and US and really...the reviews differ greatly- for all camera models.
Stef.
Yes, I agree. The number of times I've read a review on a camera that was of interest to me and wondered at the scoring achieved based on some very differing features of other cameras put in as possible other choices. On that basis an overall score is not what should be looked at but whether the features a particular model has [or hasn't] is what the user is looking for and feel they need or don't need, would use or wouldn't. In the case of the 850 the 3fps would put me off for starters... 5 or 7fps is a benefit
