Major Sony a9/a7RIII/a7III Firmware Updates Coming Soon

By Louis Ferreira | Published: January 15, 2019


Sony Announces α9 Camera Upgrade Through Major Firmware Updates
New Firmware Releases will Deliver Enhanced Autofocus Performance and New Functionality for Sony’s Acclaimed Full-frame Camera

SAN DIEGO — Jan. 15, 2019 — Sony Electronics Inc. today announced a major upgrade to its α9 mirrorless camera that will be available via a firmware update.

Sony’s revolutionary α9 camera will receive several major enhancements to its award-winning autofocus (AF) performance and image quality, as well as receive a variety of new features that are designed to improve the overall workflow for professional photographers. In addition, new firmware updates for α7R III and α7 III will be available that update these cameras with the latest enhancements including Real-time Eye AF performance and add interval recording capacities.

“These new firmware upgrades demonstrate the strong commitment that Sony has to our customers,” said Neal Manowitz, vice president of Imaging Solutions at Sony Electronics. “Their voice is critical to everything we do, and being able to provide our customers with new capabilities is a source of great pride for Sony.” Read More »

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Sony a6400 Announced

By Louis Ferreira | Published: January 15, 2019

The Sony α6400 mirrorless camera has been formally announced with Real-time Eye Autofocus, Real-time Tracking and World’s Fastest Autofocus all the technology from their full frame lineup in an APS-C body:

Sony a6400 Jan 17th: B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama

  • World’s Fastest[i] 0.02 seconds[ii] AF acquisition speed plus 425 phase-detection and contrast-detection AF points covering approximately 84% of image area
  • Advanced Real-time Eye AF
  • New Real-time Tracking for object tracking
  • 24.2MP[iii] APS-C Exmor™ CMOS image sensor and latest-generation BIONZ X™ image processor
  • 180-degree fully tiltable LCD touch screen for self-recording
  • High-speed continuous shooting at up to 11 fps[iv] mechanical shutter / 8 fps[v] silent shooting with continuous AF/AE tracking
  • High-resolution 4K[vi] movie recording with full pixel readout and no pixel binning, plus advanced AF speed and stability
  • Interval recording for time-lapse videos

Press release:
Sony today introduced an exciting new addition to its E-mount mirrorless camera line-up, the α6400 (model ILCE-6400).

The α6400 brings many of Sony’s most advanced technologies from their acclaimed full-frame line-up to a compact, lightweight APS-C camera. The speedy new camera boasts the world’s fastesti AF acquisition of 0.02ii seconds, while also introducing the new advanced ‘Real-time Eye AF’ and ‘Real-time Tracking’ capabilities. Also included is high speed shooting at up to 11 fpsiv with AF/AE tracking, a new-generation BIONZ X image processing engine that produces excellent image quality, 4Kvi video recording, a 180-degree fully tiltable LCD touch screen and much more, making it the ultimate tool for all types of creators ranging from professionals to everyday vloggers. Read More »

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The Sony Live Stream APSC Event Starts at 1:00PM EST

By Louis Ferreira | Published: January 15, 2019

Sony is expected to make some APS-C announcements today at 1PM EST. I will cover the key points of the event below.

Sony a6400 Jan 17th: B&H Photo / Amazon / Adorama

3 major announcements coming
30 million creators in their alpha community
Sony has the number one share in the global full frame market
Even with added competition in 2018 Sony grew
Major Sony a9 firmware update coming
NEW AF technology based on Speed + AI
Real-Time Animal Eye AF
Real-Time Tracking
New Firmware 5.0 being released in March 2018 for free
The tracking system works for video too
Sony a7III and a7RIII getting new firmware in April 2018
Sony a6400 announced
Over half of full frame cameras sold are full frame mirrorless
Sony is number one overall in the United States now
a6400 screen that can vlog
Updating Sony’s software
Sounds like Sony is making their software even more useful if it works correctly

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Nikkei: “Sony is soon going to release a cheap, mid-level mirrorless camera”

By Louis Ferreira | Published: January 14, 2019


It looks like Sony will be introducing a midrange APS-C camera soon. Yesterday the Japanese website Nikkei reported that Sony is soon going to release a new, cheap, mid-level mirrorless camera and today Photorumors did the same. Maybe this will be the Sony a6700 and the a7000 will come at a later date. We will see soon enough if the rumors are correct.

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CamFi Pro Plus: Wireless USB Tethering For 500+ Cameras

By Louis Ferreira | Published: January 13, 2019

Press Release:
Guangdong, CHINA—DECEMBER 18, 2018—CamFi, maker of wireless camera controllers, announced the release of CamFi Pro Plus today. This new product adds the wireless tethering feature for 500+ cameras, including Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fuji, Pentax and more. All DSLR cameras which support USB tethering can be supported by CamFi Pro Plus.

“This is a big step for tethering technology,” said Mark Ma, the CEO of CamFi Limited. “It will improve the productivity for the professional photographers greatly, without any study cost.” With wireless tethering, there is need for a USB cable to connect the camera and computer. CamFi Pro Plus also allows photographers to keep using familiar tools, such as Capture One, Lightroom, EOS utility, Sony Pixel and so forth, directly via WiFi.

CamFi Pro Plus adds the third party tethering service. It can send USB data to the client device directly through a WiFi connection. When a camera is connected with CamFi Pro Plus, the laptop which connects to it will act as if the USB device plugged into it directly. In tests, the maximum Wi-Fi speed can achieve 10M Bytes/second. For a 20M raw photo, for example, this translates into need only about three seconds to transfer with Capture One.
The third party tethering service of CamFi Pro Plus supports Windows and Mac. The price of CamFi Pro Plus is $339. It can be ordered via CamFi website. All the existing customers of CamFi Pro can order the upgrade service for $40.

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Sony EU is Offering an Additional 12 Months on Top of Their Standard Warranty

By Louis Ferreira | Published: January 12, 2019


Products purchased in Europe generally come with a 2-year warranty, but now Sony is offering an additional year if you register your product within 60 days of purchase on their website.

Offer ends 31st January 2020 – product purchase must be by this date. Product registration and activation of your one year extended warranty must be completed within 60 days of product purchase. If you have already purchased or otherwise received an extended warranty for this product, please note that you will not be eligible to add a further one year’s warranty using this code. The extended warranty is not transferrable. Offer is valid for the purchase in all EU Member States excluding Luxemburg, Netherlands and Norway (but including UK) plus Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, and Switzerland.

This offer includes many lenses and camera bodies from Sony’s E-mount and A-mount line-up including: Sony a7RIII, a7RII, a7R, a7SII, a7S, a7III, a7II, a7, a9, RX1, RX1R, RX1RII, a6500, a99II, a77II and almost every current lens you could attach to them.

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