Firmware Friday: Better AF and photojournalism tweaks for Sony A9; Canon 1DC, Panasonic EVA1 too

 

 

Our first Firmware Friday roundup of the year arrives a week later than usual, with no new releases having landed over the New Year's period. This week, though, we have news to report from Fujifilm, Panasonic and Sony, with the latter in particular having some exciting new features on offer.

Let's get right down to what's new, starting off with Sony's big news!

Sony Alpha A9

Firmware version 2.00 for the Sony A9 is a major update, as you'd expect given the increment in major version number. For the new release, Sony has improved continuous AF performance when shooting moving subjects, made continuous AF during zoom operation more stable, and added five new features satisfying requests from photojournalists and sports photographers. Specifically, you can now protect images with a custom key, transfer protected files en masse via FTP, and add IPTC metadata previously input using the IPTC Metadata Preset software. You'll also find your camera serial number is now recorded in EXIF headers, and you can display the camera's MAC address if you're troubleshooting LAN issues.

Sony also says that operational stability has improved, and says it has further improved the overheating warning function, which had already been tweaked in previous firmware updates. You can download Sony A9 firmware version 2.00 here.

Canon Cinema EOS-1D C

Firmware version 1.4.1 for the Canon Cinema EOS-1D C makes three specific changes. Firstly, the number of shutter release cycles which can be displayed has been increased from 1,000,000 to 9,999,000 cycles, a change Canon also made to the EOS-1D X II almost a year ago. Secondly, an issue with multi-flash synchronization has been resolved. And finally, an Error 80 problem related to shutter release timing has been fixed. You can't download Canon 1D C firmware version 1.4.1 and install it yourself, but rather will have to return the camera to Canon for updating. US customers will find instructions here; customers in other markets should check with their local Canon office or its agents.

Panasonic AU-EVA1

Lastly for this week, we have news of a number of bug fixes for Panasonic's recently-launched AU-EVA1 video camera. In all, firmware version 1.10 corrects all of the following:

• When the HDMI output is connected to BT-LH1850 monitor and displayed on it, once the monitor’s input setting is switched to SDI, "No Signal" is shown and no image will be displayed any more even if the setting is put back to HDMI.

• Display of SENSOR TEMP at low temperatures is improved.

• Panning at high speed may cause ghosting.

• Focus Assists are not displayed on the SDI output destination when the LCD panel is disconnected.

• An image on the LCD is defective when Open Iris F. A. is enabled.

• Error in information superimposed on SDI (payload) at 24.00 Hz is corrected to 60.00.

• Even if the Wi-Fi setting is switched from INFRA to DIRECT, the display of IP address will not change.

• The camera cannot connect to Wi-Fi using D-Link DWA-171 (Australian market only).

You can download Panasonic EVA1 firmware version 1.10 here.

And that's all for this week. Be sure to check back next time for more firmware and software news!

(Camera parts image courtesy of Kelly Hofer / Flickr; used under a Creative Commons CC-BY-2.0 license. Image has been modified from the original.)