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Offline ronnie_space

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Sony A350 Firmware
« on: December 13, 2009, 07:09:14 PM »
Hey All,

Can anyone from experience suggest if Sony will be likely to upgrade the firmware for the A350 camera at some point?

A350 users: 

What improvements would you like to see!!?



Ronnie
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Offline tpe

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Re: Sony A350 Firmware
« Reply #1 on: December 13, 2009, 07:12:21 PM »
At a guess I would say no. When there have been firmware upgrades they have been early in the shelf life of the product to get rid of an error rather than to upgrade the product. The 350 is not one of the more recent models now, perhaps there will be some for the 5** models but it seems unlikely for the rest of the product lines. There is always a chance, but probably best not to count on it, only my oppinion though, not based on any definate info :).

Tim
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Offline ronnie_space

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Re: Sony A350 Firmware
« Reply #2 on: December 13, 2009, 08:14:19 PM »
Hmpph. Shame.

I'd like to see Depth of Field Preview and Mirror lock up.



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Offline RogBrown

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Re: Sony A350 Firmware
« Reply #3 on: December 16, 2009, 11:42:49 PM »
How about +/- 2 stops exposure bracketing for HDR?
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Offline fother

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Re: Sony A350 Firmware
« Reply #4 on: December 16, 2009, 11:49:08 PM »

I tend to agree with Tim's analysis - firmware updates are mainly provided to resolve software/processing flaws, or major improvements in, for example, noise reduction. New feature sets are put into new models (where's the business case for giving free new features to old models, all that does is kill interest in upgrading ;). At the end of the day, they have to maintain a viable business, and while suporting existing customers is important, ensuring they never buy again because their one camera purchase keeps being boosted to replicate newer models is ultimately bad for sales. It's a balance, really.

Quote from: ronnie_space on December 13, 2009, 08:14:19 PM
Hmpph. Shame.

I'd like to see Depth of Field Preview and Mirror lock up.


Can't see those as firmware updates anyway - they're mechanical design features, not software. A firmware update won't add a dof preview mechanism or a lock-up mechanism. :)

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Offline fother

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Re: Sony A350 Firmware
« Reply #5 on: December 16, 2009, 11:50:00 PM »
Quote from: RogBrown on December 16, 2009, 11:42:49 PM
How about +/- 2 stops exposure bracketing for HDR?

What's the current exposure beacketing on the a350?
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Offline RogBrown

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Re: Sony A350 Firmware
« Reply #6 on: December 17, 2009, 03:58:22 PM »
+/- .7 or .3. Absolutely useless for hdr, or anything else for that matter!
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Offline fother

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Re: Sony A350 Firmware
« Reply #7 on: December 18, 2009, 12:42:45 AM »

Quote from: RogBrown on December 17, 2009, 03:58:22 PM
+/- .7 or .3. Absolutely useless for hdr, or anything else for that matter!

err, that's hardly useless (for HDR or for exposure management), let alone 'absolutely useless'.

If you really want the (recently fashionable) overcooked HDR look, use RAW and make adjustments. It's not hard to do.

+/- 0.3 is very useful in a lot of situations where light is tricky or variable, as is +/- 0.7. You can be dismissive and absolute about it if it makes you happy, but alternatively, you could try and learn about making use of the tools you have and getting the results you want.

I saw your other post where you lambasted Sony for not replying to your emails - you might try a more engaging approach, rather than saying what you have is 'absolutely useless', you could talk about the pros and cons of a more exaggerated compensation (which would perhaps only be useful for exaggerated HDR, no? ;)).

You could also gain a lot from the many many free online resources which can show you how to get that obvious HDR look with +/- .3 or with a single exposure (you don't actually need exposure bracketing to do HDR)
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Re: Sony A350 Firmware
« Reply #8 on: December 18, 2009, 01:05:50 AM »
Quote from: fother on December 18, 2009, 12:42:45 AM

Quote from: RogBrown on December 17, 2009, 03:58:22 PM
+/- .7 or .3. Absolutely useless for hdr, or anything else for that matter!

err, that's hardly useless (for HDR or for exposure management), let alone 'absolutely useless'.

If you really want the (recently fashionable) overcooked HDR look, use RAW and make adjustments. It's not hard to do.

+/- 0.3 is very useful in a lot of situations where light is tricky or variable, as is +/- 0.7. You can be dismissive and absolute about it if it makes you happy, but alternatively, you could try and learn about making use of the tools you have and getting the results you want.

I saw your other post where you lambasted Sony for not replying to your emails - you might try a more engaging approach, rather than saying what you have is 'absolutely useless', you could talk about the pros and cons of a more exaggerated compensation (which would perhaps only be useful for exaggerated HDR, no? ;)).

You could also gain a lot from the many many free online resources which can show you how to get that obvious HDR look with +/- .3 or with a single exposure (you don't actually need exposure bracketing to do HDR)

Here Here!

My A200 has the same bracketing as the 350. I find it just about right when HDR'in and as fother says above, manipulating the RAW and using Photomatrix, Topaz Labs or free online resources can give some pretty impressive results.

When the 350 was introduced it was marketed as a 'entry ish' model to intice people into the DSLR market, therefore it will not have everything that a keen amateur / semi pro would need or want just a little to get you excited about the possibilities.

Rgds,
Dave
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Offline ronnie_space

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Re: Sony A350 Firmware
« Reply #9 on: December 21, 2009, 06:00:45 PM »
Quote
Can't see those as firmware updates anyway - they're mechanical design features, not software. A firmware update won't add a dof preview mechanism or a lock-up mechanism. :)




Cameras I have seen with a DOF preview are activated via an electronic push button, which can often be assigned to different buttons, the camera already has the mechanism to set/adjust the aperture, so I would of thought such a feature could be added via software. As for mirror lock up, the camera has a mirror lock up facility for cleaning but not for taking pictures, the mechanism is there, just a software tweak needed to provide the facility.
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Offline Numpty

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Re: Sony A350 Firmware
« Reply #10 on: December 21, 2009, 07:50:08 PM »
Am I right in saying that when in live view the mirror is automatically locked up as you are seeing the shot via the sensor?
So just switch to live view
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Offline balacau

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Re: Sony A350 Firmware
« Reply #11 on: December 21, 2009, 08:43:10 PM »
I'm not sure if this counts as a firmware issue or more of a camera limitation by design but here goes...

If you have a short lens on the camera body (lets say the Sony 18-70mm kit lens), zoom in on something then use the x2 crop on the camera body in live view mode; the quality/clarity of the image is greatly reduced.  I have also tried this with my Sigma 10-20mm super wide angle lens just as an experiment and the quality reduction is there too.  

Oddly enough, it doesn't seem to effect either my Sigma 50-500mm or the Sony 500mm mirror lens?

Would it be possible that a firmware update may solve this image clarity problem when using the 2x crop or is it something more hardware involved?

Best regards

Gavin
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Offline jonjjl

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Re: Sony A350 Firmware
« Reply #12 on: December 21, 2009, 09:29:45 PM »
Quote from: balacau on December 21, 2009, 08:43:10 PM
I'm not sure if this counts as a firmware issue or more of a camera limitation by design but here goes...

If you have a short lens on the camera body (lets say the Sony 18-70mm kit lens), zoom in on something then use the x2 crop on the camera body in live view mode; the quality/clarity of the image is greatly reduced.  I have also tried this with my Sigma 10-20mm super wide angle lens just as an experiment and the quality reduction is there too.  

Oddly enough, it doesn't seem to effect either my Sigma 50-500mm or the Sony 500mm mirror lens?

Would it be possible that a firmware update may solve this image clarity problem when using the 2x crop or is it something more hardware involved?

Best regards

Gavin

The live view is produced from a smaller sensor.  When you switch the live-view switch the light is moved onto this sensor via another small mirror.  The main mirror stays put.  Due to this when you use the crop function you are reducing what is already a low res image on this second sensor to a smaller one.  When you then take the picture the mirror flips up and the software crops the resulting image to the same size as requested with the crop button but produced via the main sensor.

So basically it would require a harware upgrade, not a firmware update.
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Offline keithf

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Re: Sony A350 Firmware
« Reply #13 on: December 23, 2009, 10:33:38 AM »
I would love to have a "Rule of Thirds" grid, that would be so useful, my old Fuji S6500fd had it both in live view mode and through the viewfinder (granted it was an evf not an optical one), just think it would be a nice addition rather than having to buy a stick on sheet for the viewfinder as that is only any use in liveview mode.
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Offline jesseclarke

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Re: Sony A350 Firmware
« Reply #14 on: January 26, 2010, 01:49:38 AM »
For all who need HDR, try using your exposure compensation button once in a while, it is both educational and FREE.
Cheers Guys.
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