a77 Firmware, v. 1.07

I just updated my firmware from 1.06 to 1.07. I used the Japanese site, but I think the uploader program itself is language neutral (or universal), because the process was all in English once I ran it (although I had to navigate the Japanese Sony site in Japanese).

Good news! Even though it said it would reset everything, none of my dial and button customizations were changed. Caveat: I have no micro-adjust settings or memory profiles, those might get reset.

I now notice a small circle in the center of the AF grid when set to spot metering. Was that there with older firmware? I can't remember and I can't go back :)

So far, zero problems or issues, and probably no noticeable differences. I don't keep detailed records of specific AF speed or AE lock times, menu peppiness, boot time, shutdown time, or viewfinder eye detection time. Maybe those are better (or worse). Moving up to 1.06 seemed to improve the AF a little as I think we all have read-- but honestly I am not sure. Certainly nothing obvious has changed, but I will see soon enough as this will be a busy week for me taking photos :)

Anyone else upgrade and notice... well... anything?

I upgraded and didn't notice anything different. As far as I know, the menus stayed the same too.

But pretty soon, there will be reports of all kind of mysterious improvements.

mhohner wrote: Firmware 1.07 fixed one problem for me: flash exposure is now very consistent, even with the EFCS on. With 1.06 I had to turn off the EFCS to get consistent exposure, otherwise it would vary within +-1 stop.

Hmm, maybe it is worth upgrading. Which flash are you using?

Do the control wheels still have noticeable lag?

OK, I have another find - if I want to get perfect flash exposures I have to pay attention to the LED light on the back of external flash.

Imagine this scenario: I was sitting in my desk chair and there was a black camera bag sitting on the white bed couple of feet away from me. I was shooting with my Sony 16-50/f2.8 and HVL-F43AM flash. I would first shoot at 16mm, then 24mm and then 35mm. Every time perfect exposure and LED light on the flash would blink green. Then when I shot at 50mm - overexposed picture and the light did not go green. I pulled my camera couple of inches back and tried again - this time I got a green light and correct exposure.

Before you say that it might have been the amount of black in the frame (at 50mm camera bag almost fills the frame), I had spot metering selected all the time and pointed at black camera bag every time (so every frame was metered the same). Also I tried it with direct as well as bounced flash and it was true for both. In the end I tried one more time at 35mm but this time I came closer to the bag than I did with first 35mm shot and guess what? Overexposed and no green light. Distance dependent? I was not all that close to the subject (more that one meter as LCD on the flash would suggest the distance should be)

I hope what I write is not too confusing . Seems to me like a key to consistent exposures.

Edited by marcin.warmuz - 06 February 2013 at 03:43

Just updated to 1.07 from the Sony Australia site - all good

Just updated to 1.07 from sony AU all good at this stage.