Man, Sony had better come with some KILLER FIRMWARE UPDATE!

[destrianlives]

Otherwise... I dont see a reason if I were looking for a new DSLR to purchase another A900!!! At this point they just cannibalized the A900 and they know it. Either that or they have found a way to drastically cut production cost and an A900 pricedrop is coming. I just cant really see the logic behind the major forces behind the A900 (hi resolution and full frame) being sold by its maker at about 1k less!!! Its the kinda thing that tells me as a new guy hey whats that A900 have over this A850? Sony had better give me a reason to think of buying there flagship. I hope a Killer Firmware update is round the corner. Like A700 v4 noise. How bout the firmware will unlock Wifi, or eve better the firmware update will unlock a secret Carl Ziess 24-105mm F1.8 lens I've always wanted~!~

Anybody have a reason to think Sony has a Firmware Update for there flagship coming?

[Mike]

What makes you think that the a900 or a700 will still be made once the replacement models with much lower production costs are established?

[bfitzgerald]

The words Sony and Firmware updates, don't seem to mix very well!

Looking at the A900 jpeg engine, I would say a FW update should have been released a long time ago.
They seemed more than happy to completely ignore A200-350 users as well

[pakodominguez]

The words Sony and Firmware updates, don't seem to mix very well!

What are you talking about?
A700's V4 arrives at the same time Sony announced the A900. And that made the A700 a "brand new camera".

If all this rumors about A850 with a single Bionz is true, that means Sony improved a couple of thing there: a powerful Bionz (not the same as the one on the A700 or A900) and a more efficient post processing, Noise reduction included. I only can think Sony will update A900 firmware with all the new stuff the A850 has (if the hardware is not an issue) and probably on the A700 and that, an A700 V5, will make CaNikon population rethink about their loyalty to their camera makers...

Regards

[PhotoTraveler]

First, we don't know the price. People really really need to stop talking about 2k. We have no idea what the price is.

A900 is 2700 USD right now from Sony. So we are talking 700 bucks even with 2K. I don't think it will be that extreme.

From the specs we have seen, it's pretty clear Sony has all but killed the A900. Granted, to continue making them wouldn't be hard, as it's just a swap of some parts bins say 1 day out of every 2 weeks of production. But it's still something to track. I'm leaning towards the A900 will live on if it's sales can hold, and that might be at a higher price than it right now.

Now on to the firmware. Hate to tell you this, but the fact the cameras are basically identical very well means there is no firmware update coming. With all they did, it might not take anything more than a build with a different name and such loaded into it.

I'd wager best case scenario is Sony does give the A900 a firmware update, but the only thing it does is gives it some better JPEGs. Pretty clear there won't be any new features. Only possible one would be support for non rom'ed lenses. And if mention of that isn't in the A850 manual, it's not happening. Since no one has mentioned that, or an override for automatic DT'ing DT lenses when attached I don't think those possible changes are happening.

[bfitzgerald]

What are you talking about?
A700's V4 arrives at the same time Sony announced the A900. And that made the A700 a "brand new camera".
Regards

Well that's just great if you own an A700

A200
A300
A350
A900 (to date)

0 FW update

BTW Sony should never have released the A700 with the NR raw in the ist place, I hope someone got fired on that one! And how long did it take for Sony to release the FW for the A700 to remove NR raw?..so that sales were damaged for most of it's life. Hmmm, not the smartest strategy ever.

[01af]

Sony should never have released the A700 with the NR raw in the 1st place ...

I agree.

... I hope someone got fired on that one!

So do I. However I'm afraid no-one got fired---simply because the issue is not important enough.

... sales were damaged for most of its life.

Certainly not. Most DSLR buyers simply don't care about firmware updates and the differences they make. I guess most don't even know what firmware actually is in the first place. I bet most A700 copies originally sold with firmware v1 or v2 never got updated by their owners. Nerds who read equipment reviews online or in magazines and hang around in photography forums do care but are in the minority.

That said, there is a bragger over at dpreview.com right now who is spreading the rumour Sony was preparing firmware v2 for the A900, to be released very soon. Unfortunately he doesn't care to disclose his sources. Maybe he knows something, or maybe he's just making guesses out of thin air.

-- Olaf

[fastson]

Well while the JPEG-engine could be updated etc.. its nice to see Sony releasing cameras that are stable, in terms of no serious bugs.. Like the Canon 5DII or the new Pentax K-7 (remains to be seen if that is a hardware issue or software) which had to/has to be updated before they can operate to specifications.

[bfitzgerald]

01af there is no doubt in my mind users who buy at the A700 level, are concerned about IQ, and the impact of NR raw must have influenced sales, it's not just about forum nerds, folks do research things as well. Evidently the A700 did not sell as well as Sony expected, you have to put at least some of that down to the NR raw. After all I expect most semi pro level users to be shooting raw. Other factors such as maybe poor timing of release (6 months earlier could have done major damage, no D300 etc), and possibly priced too high at launch (uk at least), all add up.

I would add, if we are so bug free how come we still have the eye to VF, press ISO button and back LCD lights up??
Been around for ages, still not fixed!

I have mentioned areas in need of improvement A200 wise, metering for high ISO is one obvious one (underexposure in many cases), AWB is frankly appalling in artificial light, and I don't care much for the jpeg engine either, the difference raw v jpeg A200 wise is well documented, sadly even the new models don't appear to have addressed that area either.

[agorabasta]

If all this rumors about A850 with a single Bionz is true, that means Sony improved a couple of thing there: a powerful Bionz (not the same as the one on the A700 or A900) and a more efficient post processing, Noise reduction included.

The 850 and 900 use the same main pcb part number. So the rumours are mostly wrong.
Yet the 850 is to be slower down to 3fps. That may stem from deeper processing like better JPEG, NR and/or DRO; or may simply mean physically weaker mirror assy unable to flap so fast...

In fact, the 850 may turn out being a 'firmware update with hardware downgrade' for the 900...

[fastson]

I would add, if we are so bug free how come we still have the eye to VF, press ISO button and back LCD lights up??
Been around for ages, still not fixed!

Hmm. Maybe it was designed that way? Though it sounds odd, never noticed it myself though. Still a drop in the pond compared to what others have been fixing in f/w, IMO.

[jbtaylor]

Question for you folks,
If the a900 is going away, would you wait and buy one of the last ones before considering the a850?
They may sell at bargain basement prices. I would pay an extra $200.00 for the a900 before buying an a850. Especially if the grips and batteries are interchangeable.

[bakubo]

01af there is no doubt in my mind users who buy at the A700 level, are concerned about IQ, and the impact of NR raw must have influenced sales, it's not just about forum nerds, folks do research things as well.

I know and have met plenty of people with A700 level cameras (40D, 50D, D200, D300) and even people with much higher level models (and much more expensive) that know little about their cameras and nothing about firmware. A whole lot of people think that if they buy an expensive camera that their photos will be better than a cheap camera. I have seen it so many times. Back in film days too. I used to see lots of people with a Nikon F5 and expensive lenses or a Canon EOS-1s with expensive lenses who knew almost nothing about their camera and always used it in program mode. Of course, I don't know what percentage of A700 level and higher camera owners are like this, but I think it is not insignificant.

[Mike]

A whole lot of people think that if they buy an expensive camera that their photos will be better than a cheap camera.

I think everyone who buys an expensive camera thinks that, or they would have bought the cheap one!

Mike

Edit - Looking at this post, I thought it might be interpreted as being rude ... It wasn't meant that way, I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing with you.

[KevinBarrett]

My dream firmware update for the a700/a900 is nothing too fancy:

User definable Auto ISO range
MLU and Remote Commander as independently selectable drive modes, can be combined with each other and/or bracketing drive modes
Custom button on body and vertical grip may be assigned to different functions