Comments on: Firmware v4 for Alpha 700 – high ISO NR ‘OFF’

By: wenetu

wenetu — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 10:21:10 +0000

Sony, as promised, has presented the official firmware ver. 4 for the A700 and it’s the same as the leaked version:
sha1sum
883adec1c73ff9ad5697af09777da7980f410335 Leaked DSCA700.APP
883adec1c73ff9ad5697af09777da7980f410335 Official DSCA700.APP

There is also a new “Sony Image Data Suite”, with these improvements:

Image Data Converter SR Ver.3.0
Improvement of operability
Higher speed of display
Addition of the peripheral illumination compensation function
Addition/Improvement of the D-range optimizer, etc.

Image Data Lightbox SR Ver.2.0
Higher speed of display
Enhanced filtering function

Remote Camera Control Ver.2.0
Addition of the “interval timer shooting function”* (for Windows only)

What I wonder is if the “Improvement of the D-range optimizer” in IDC could match the Apical chip on the A700.

By: Dr.Harout

Dr.Harout — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 15:38:20 +0000

like no other

By: wenetu

wenetu — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 12:11:41 +0000

Sony official reply about the firmware update( http://news.sel.sony.com/electronicsblog/?p=30 ):

“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 http://esupport.sony.com.

We’ll have more news available as we approach Sep 16th, and we appreciate your patience!”

The “and some others” part is interesting.

By: jcbenten

jcbenten — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 12:44:34 +0000

I hope that this will trickle down to the A350, at least the 2 stop bracketing.

By: springm

springm — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 08:23:47 +0000

I was longing for this possibility to turn off NR as well as the extended bracketing – now you should be able to do HDRs even without tripod! So thanks for the hint!

To avoid having the numbering sequence of the images start at 1 after the upgrade, I did the following:
* upgrade the firmware
* shoot one picture
* put the card in the computer and rename the image file in place to the desired one and carefully write the changes to disk (“remove safely” in the OS of your choice
* put the card back and shoot some more

By this procedure I achieved a seamless continuation of the image numbering.

Markus

By: wenetu

wenetu — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 21:26:27 +0000

Thanks for the quote, David.

Maurizio

By: novak

novak — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 21:11:52 +0000

Great upgrade indeed.
Feels like a new camera.
Another bracketing option is also worth mentioning: you can now bracket 3 x 2exp. Perfect for aggressive HDR (one that I like
novak
http://www.supernovak.com

By: Sonolta

Sonolta — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 19:21:00 +0000

Wowza…have a look at these convincing comparison images!

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1037&message=29244275

Great job, Sony.

-Sonolta

By: Sonolta

Sonolta — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 18:41:05 +0000

Here is a link to those V3 vs. V4 high ISO tests.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1037&message=29243776

-Sonolta

By: Sonolta

Sonolta — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 18:32:43 +0000

No, that is not new, auto ISO works that way on V3.

First high ISO tests are in and it looks like Sony has finally listened! According to these early shots, watercolor blotching has indeed left the building!

-Sonolta