AGZ

I have upgraded my a1 to version 2.02 a week ago. Since then I've shot about 3000 pics. Here are my conclusions: 1. The F-- bug seems to have been fixed. 2. Sharpness for static objects (perched birds) is good with >90% of pics sharp. 3. Sharpness of flying birds is POOR with only 34% sort of acceptable, and <5% keepers. 4. Battery drain is noticeably higher than with 1.32 using the same settings. The camera used 50% of the battery during one hour 15 min with 1360 pics taken not continuously. The camera feels warm. This didn't happen before. So the 2.02 update did not solve all of the issues, and for birds in flight the camera/lens set is now less than mediocre. Used to be excellent with 1.32. I hope someone from Sony sees this! You have really ruined it for many of us. Let us revert to 1.3X PLEASE!

I have updated my a1 to the 2.01 firmware and my 200-600mm lens to firmware 3, and since then I have tons of problems. Basically the camera does not identify the lens all the time. Never had this before the update. If you don't need the new network options - don't update. Once you do and you get problems - there is no way of reverting to an older version.

3 weeks ago I updated my a1 body firmware from 1.32 to 1.35 and then to 2.01 as instructed by the Sony website. I then updated my 200-600mm lens from firmware version 2 to 3. I have had the set for almost a year and was very happy with it. never had a problem. Right after the update the problems started. The camera does not identify the lens. After powering up or waking the camera up the screen will go dark-light several times, the focus doesn't work and finally everything freezes showing F-- instead of the actual F stop. To reset the camera you have to remove the battery. It may then start normally and work for a while... until it happens again. It may happen as often as 50% of the times I turn the camera on, but not all of the time. Before you ask... Yes I cleaned the contacts. Didn't help. So I tried other 200-600mm lenses from friends. One lens that was updated to version 3 gave the same problems. Another lens that was not updated and in fact was still with version 1 worked fine. No problems at all. A long chat with Sony US support resulted in... nothing. They knew nothing of the problem and only advised to send the lens to the lab. Both the a1 and the lens have already been to the lab and they found nothing. I know most people didn't encounter this problem after the update, but if you know of someone who did - I'd be very interested to hear about it. Regard