A77 firmware enhancement requests:
1) pal/NTSC switchable video for travelling videographers
2) manual mic gain control for audio in video.
3) video button to be customisable (like ael/iso buttons) or have an optional 'double press to record'. I'm not alone in having quite a lot of 5 second movie clips of my feet, usually taken while flipping out the screen.
4) in the dedicated manual video mode (from the mode selector knob on the top left of the camera) allow the normal shutter button to start/stop recording. Using the record button is ergonmically unsound and in manual video mode the shutter button just doesn't do anything
That's all I can think of for video. Here are a few photo ideas
1) make the controls as responsive as the A55/a700. Even with 1.04, there is still some control lag especially annoying in local AF mode and moving the active AF point with the joystick.
2) quicker EVF/LCD switching. Even with 1.04 there is still some lag.
3) implement a Lowest Shutter speed to allow better control over autoiso
4) allow autoiso in M mode (yes I know it wouldn't be truly M mode then, but you would still have the option of selecting ISO manually of course). In this mode, still allow exposure compensation like in A or S modes. (this would be a sport shooters ideal setup and would make many more sales)
5) allow full customisation of the Drive Mode, WB, top plate ev+/-, Movie and smart teleconverter and '?' Buttons. You can already customise the ISO, AEL, AF/MF buttons so it should be simple to extend this to the others. (ironically, you can change the ISO button but not the ? Button at the moment. Surely most users of a camera at this level/cost never use the ? at all)
6) not sure if this is possible but when using smart teleconverter, would it be possible to electronically stabilise the EVF view? This would also be handy when using Focus Magnifier view.
7) implement tethering in the same way as on the a700. (very very important!)
😎 some kind of pixel binning to allow saving lower resolution RAW files (16 or 12mp choices would be ideal). I like the freedom/leeway granted by raw in tweaking exposure and WB but rarely need 24mp
9) fix the hung flash issue i described in another thread here
10) In MF mode, when I press the af/mf toggle button (rear top right of camera) the camera AF triggers in AF-S mode. All very nice but please add an option for it to trigger AF-C mode or AF-A mode. This would be roughly equivalent to the canikon 'back button autofocus' that seems so popular with sport shooters
11). When zoomed in (focus magnifier) in AF mode and I notice focus is a bit off' I press the AF/MF button to adjust focus. Sadly, it drops back to the zoomed out view. It would be great if it stayed zoomed in and far more useful.
12) an 'OVF simulation mode' where the EVF always always shows the TTL view ready to take a photo. After taking the pic, have auto review send the pic to the rear LCD only, keeping the EVF in live view mode. When autoreview has timed out, blank or power down the rear LCD. Reason: with the top plate LCD and ability to change settings in the EVF, I don't need the rear LCD for changing settings and often flip it inside out to hide it I'd like to use it for autoreview only but the current 1.04 autoreview shows the image on the LCD and the EVF. With auto review off, the camera handles better but I keep having to press the playback button to chimp my photos.
12) bring back the steady shot indicator scale! The a55, a700 and presumably many other alpha cameras had this little bar scale to show how steady you were holding the camera. Very useful! But sadly it has disappeared from the a77
13) add 'steady shot on/off' to the list of custom features available on the customisable buttons. This would alleviate the missing steady shot switch, lamented by so many a700 upgraders.
14) for the shutdown sequence, park the lens at infinity FIRST. Aftere that I don't care how long it takes to shutdown completely. Try putting a lens like the tamron 90 macro back in your bag before the shutdown is complete. The wind-to-infinity currently as the last step can have dramatic effect on a camera in a crowded bag!
15) what happens to the "brightness" option in the creative styles? The a700 had this but it's just not there any more. Same for zone matching
16) JPG only modes are not available in with RAW. Fair enough but couldn't the camera offer a warning then shoot a jpg anyway? Perhaps panoramas/hdrs could save the raw files as well as the jpg
17) customisable raw+jpg to allow different jpg sizes/qualities to be recorded beside the raw file. Again, the a700 had this.
18) NOise reduction off for JPG files. The a700 had this. The a77 has auto or weak only.
19) EXIF field for copyright info. After all this is supposed to be a semi pro camera isn't it?
20) EXIF info for focus distance and AF point used. (ok this is a minor one but occasionally of interest to me)
21) the AF points are black in live view. Against a dark background, they are almost totally invisible. In LOcal AF mode, as I jog the active AF point around using the joystick, I'm almost guessing which point I have selected and need to to trigger the AF to make the active AF point light up green. Combined with the lag between joystick action and AF point actually changing, this can be a frustrating experience. I can't recall exactly how the a700 handled this but I never had a problem being able to see the AF points perhaps the a77 points could turn red briefly while you are jogging them around and later on when composing, the live view could show them as a black box with a white outline. The screen resolution is so fine, an extra box of white pixels around each black box would hardly be intrusive and enhance the camera greatly.
Well, that's just a few ideas! Don't get me wrong, the a77 is a fabulous camera. My A700 is now sold and the a55 has gone the same way. With a few minor tweaks, the a77 would be unbeatable for me and I'm sure the things I'm asking for are not hardware dependent. In fact, I'd pay for some of the things listed above!
22) Bring back the quick navi user interface (as seen on a700/a900/a850) - often lauded as one of the best ever camera UIs
Cheers
(edit to add point 22)
Message was edited by: mikeyp2000
Message was edited by: mikeyp2000
