DSLT Alpha owners: What improvements would you make to your camera?

[p4ult212]

We constantly strive to improve our products, so we’d really appreciate your feedback on what changes you would make to your Sony DSLT camera to make it even better.  Whether it’s to do with the design, usability or specific features just let us know what camera you use and what changes you’d make.

[mikeyp2000]

p4ult212,  It's great to know that this stuff is reaching the right people!

Can I be so bold as to add another A77 feature request?
- When in Local AF mode, when selecting Focus Magnifier, it would be handy if the zoom  box could be centred on the selected AF point.  At the moment, it just zooms to the middle of the frame.

On another note, we would all love a few more public hints about Sony's plans for the future of the Alpha system.

I follow a few online discussion sites dedicated to the Sony Alpha system and there is an underlying sense of frustration that nobody really knows where the Alpha system is headed.  For instance, the A700 was discontinued for years without a replacement equivalent model.  Now the A900 is headed the same way, being listed as a 'previous model'.  Many people are looking at Canon and Nikon for a stability and certainty in their 'serious' photography and the feeling is that Sony are lacking this same commitment.

In my case, if my old A700 had broken down in that long period before the A77 was released, I would most likely be shooting with a Nikon 7000 or Canon 7D by now.  It would be amazing if Sony could issue a roadmap or even 'dream map' for how they see the Alpha mount developing over the next few years.

Cheers

(PS - Here's hoping for a big A77 update soon, and not an A78 replacement model instead!)

[Phils.]

Can anyone example why the A55 is so noisy when it takes a picture. I had expected that because the mirror doesn't move it would be almost silent when capturing a shot.

[p4ult212]

The noise you can hear is the shutter. Of course there is no mirror noise so if you compared the A55 to the A580 (D-SLR version of A55) then the A580 would be noisier because of mirror slap. Not moving the mirror not only gives us advantages for speed of focus, quick frames per second, phase detection AF in movie and live view but it also gives us the advantage that it eliminates the noise of the mirror. However, you will still hear the shutter. If you combine this with the fact that you can shoot up to 10fps of course this means that you will hear the noise of the shutter 10 times in a second - or really 20 times as there are 2 "curtains", a front curtain which starts the exposure and a rear curtain which finishes the exposure. These physically move in front of the sensor to start and stop the exposure.

Not moving the mirror also has the advantage of reducing camera shake for long exposures. Sometimes cameras have a mirror lock up function where you are preparing a long exposure shot on a tripod. You compose the image and prepare the settings but to avoid any slight shake of the camera when the mirror moves up, with some cameras, you can select to lift the mirror before you press the shutter (which will black out the optical viewfinder). As I said, this reduces any camera shake which could be caused by the lifting of the mirror but with SLT there's no need as the mirror does not move.

But to summarise as a short answer (too late!), the A55 is likely to make less noise than it's equivalent A580 due to not moving the mirror but you will still hear the sound of the shutter which could make even more of an impression on you because it can fire at 10fps.

Hope that helps clear up your query 🙂

[mikeyp2000]

I posted a list of suggestions for improvements above.

It's nice to see that some issues have been addressed in v1.05 for the a77 but most of the suggestions I listed above have yet to be addressed.   It seems 1.05 was a bug fix release that also happened to remove much of the operation lag, which is most welcome.  The camera now feels and operates in the manner I expected when I first bought it last year.

Sony, please bear in mind that these ideas are not mine alone, but gathered from various forums across the internet.  I'm sure some of the ideas are 'firmware' only and some may only be possible with hardware tweaks, but it would still be great if some could be implemented.

My personal priorities are:

Auto Iso improvements (user selectable minimum shutter speed)

Auto Iso allowable in M mode.

Make AF points more visible in EVF (currently they are dark boxes and on a dark background, they are very hard to see)

Make all buttons customisable (Especially the ? button!)

Tethering

In Zoomed in view after autofocusing, if I press AF/MF to allow MF adjustment, it drops back to full screen view.  Please allow the view to stay zoomed in.

Exposure bracketing - allow user customisation of total number of shots and EV steps.

Exposure bracketing - allow with IR remote control

Exposure bracketing - allow a mode where one single shutter press shoots the entire sequence

Anyway, here's hoping for a v2 firmware!

[odonix]

Yes ! Manual Audio PLEASE !!!

The a77 is such a great HDSLR, and could compete with Canon's 5D for filmmaking, if only it had the Manual Audio function ! Which means, Ability to Disable AGC (Automatic Gain Control), and input levels !

Please, please ..!!

Thank you for your concern in loyal costumers !!!

[noisytoys]

Timelapse function would be great on my a77!

[Sonylicious8]

SONY I need HELP

one of my friends dropped my Sony a57 on the floor but luckily no external damages have been made neither to the lens or to the body. The camera seems to work fine but an error seems to continuously appear on screen at all times and the flash sometimes acts up and doesnt take right away!! I tried initializing- taking out battery, changing memory cards but nothing.  What can I do??????

[Grim_up_North]

PLEASE SONY - IF YOU'RE LISTENING

I recently got the A57 mainly because it was way ahead of the competition for features at that level.

However.....

GREATER EV RANGE FOR THE CONTINUOUS BRACKETING FUNCTION!

The Auto HDR would do the trick if it would store all the exposure shots and the HDR composite - WHY ONLY STORE THE HDR AND THE "CORRECT" EXPOSURE IMAGE.

This would allow those who want to play with creating HDR images in post processing software can do. Even a 0.7ev range will not allow "more creative" HDR images to be created.

I cannot see any real reason for not allowing more flexibility with either of these settings - it cannot be that the A77 does so much of a better job of this compared to competition (as it doesn't - and doesn't really within the Sony range).

Please look at this when reviewing future firmawre releases.

Many thanks

PS Otherwise a cracking piece of kit - enjoying my new purchase greatly!

Message was edited by: Grim_up_North

[silawre]

I have an A65 and A77 and I think they are both amazing.  The EVF works well and given the level of the technology at this stage one cannot complain.  I do think, however, if you are dedciated to EVF as a viewfinder you need to ensure that it continues to get better and better.

I also think that on any future high end releases work on matching the likes of Canon and Nikon with regard to ISO performance.

I'd like to thank you for producing such amazing cameras and lenses.  I also have an a850, some ZA and G series lenses and the quality of the output is breath-taking.

Si

[bradsbunker]

On the A35 a firmware upgrade to add a horizon level indicator

Regarding the future maybe even a full frame sensor on a SLT? now that would be on my shopping list!

Also some more weather sealed lenses?