Sony Firmware 2.0

[Leroy Turcios]

Thisfirmware update is intended for the NW-A30 series Walkman players that have firmware version 1.10 or lower installed. To check the model and firmware version of your player, please follow the steps below.

I am having a similar though not identical experience. I did the upgrade protocol from sony to bring my A1 to firmware version 2.01 and my 200-600 to version 3. I did not upgrade the body with the lens attached. Like yourself, I've had my A1 paired with the 200-600 for about 1.5 years without a hitch, very good performance.

After the double upgrade, my camera started randomly losing communication with the lens, causing the f- to appear in the viewfinder. The aperture then starts to pulse narrower and wider while the viewfinder slowly flickers. I thoroughly cleaned the mount and contacts on both the lens and the camera with a microfiber cloth and eclipse camera sensor cleaner. It didn't help. I've cleaned the lens and camera both three or four times now and the issue keeps happening.

I can clear the error a number of ways, none of which helps every time with one attempt, sometimes requiring multiple attempts with different methods. The methods are: disconnecting/reconnecting the lens, turning the power on and off, wiggling the lens w\o removing it or powering off, and pulling the battery.

Aside from that, the combo works slightly better than before the update. Focus seems slightly snappier, images are sharp when focus acquires, and eye autofocus seems mildly improved at greater distances to the subject. The random communication loss has cost me a lot of shots though. It's quite annoying.

I have 3 other cameras in my sony stable, along with lenses from sony, sigma, and tamron. I tested the tammy 28-75 today and couldn't replicate the issue. I'm going to test the 200-600 with my other bodies, and all of my lenses on the A1. Hopefully it only affects the 200-600. I hope it's something sony can fix once I figure out if it's specific to the lens or affects the body with other lenses as well.

Following up on this issue, I have now tested the 200-600 with an a6000, a6600, a7rii, and a7riii. The lens worked fine on all 4 bodies with no problems, no loss of communication between the lens and the cameras.

So, as near as I can tell, the 2 new firmware updates from sony for the a1 ( version 2.01), and the 200-600 (version 3), have a communication issue in my particular case. Anyone have any insights or ideas for a fix?

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.

AGZ my set up is exactly the same static stuff ok ISH but birds in flight absolutely rubbish!!! I'm so disappointed with Sony for how this has happened to the flagship camera and the 200-600. I was out the other day photographing owls which flew 20 feet away and only got 2 max useable images all the rest where rubbish. The eye autofocus doesn't work and tracking is a waste of time now absolutely gutting.

I was seriously considering buying an A1 & 200-600 combo for my first step into obtaining some very good photographs, while on my cross country pursuits, which requires me to consider weight and size of gear very carefully. However, I have been put off Sony (I have an RX10 IV, which I like a lot, for what it can do as a bridge camera) after reading your experiences. Sony don't seem to be interested in supporting you and that is very off-putting. Consequently, I will be watching to see how the Canon R5 II works with their 100-500 and that may just be my next purchase.

Can l ask if you used the Creators App to download any images in this period ? I've had issues with the camera running the app and the camera locking up (wouldn't switch on) and draining the battery when supposedly off.

Universe is here for the makers, the doers, the people who dream in colors. You bring your curiosity and ideas, we'll provide the knowledge, the inspiration, and the state-of-the-art imaging tech to help you make dreams reality.

This type of problem has come up in the past, and it has to do with third party vendors having to play catch up when Sony comes out with something new. Ask Lightroom when you can expect an update -- if at all. They may tell you you have to wait for their next update.

I have the same problem using Adobe Camera Raw. Either Sony changed the ARW file without telling Adobe and other people who read ARW or Adobe haven't got round to updating their products yet. Either way we're stuck. Can we reset our cameras to v2.0 firmware?

However, it is possible to design a programmable device to have the code that loads the EEPROM in a separate memory chip (perhaps a permanent ROM), so that an interrupted update can be repeated. A lot of computer motherboards are designed that way, so a failed firmware update can be retried. A camera could be designed to work that way, too, but it is possible that it is not - perhaps because of the limited size of the main board in the camera. I'd like to hope that there is room for it, but maybe there really isn't.

The other part, about not being able to accommodate everything someone might desire due to the desires depending on other hardware is kind of obvious - we know, for example, that Sony's latest autofocus depends on the infamous "AI" chip - any camera without that chip cannot be updated to the latest autofocus. There are subtler problems, though - the size of an EEPROM is fixed - you cannot load more firmware into it than it can hold, so if your camera has, for example a 1 gigabyte EEPROM, and the additions you want would make the firmware 1.1 gigabytes, then something has to give, and that will, of course, be the feature you wanted the most... Or maybe the camera doesn't have enough RAM, or a fast enough processor, or ...

Sony has no control over what other companies do - it cannot order them to change their software. Moreover, it cannot tell them how they should recognise file formats. If they choose a means of recognising a file that changes, that's not Sony's fault.

I updated my A7IV from Firmware 1.11->2.0 after formatting my card (IN CAMERA, please keep this in mind for later). I have encountered an issue where the camera red light blinks 5 times slowly and 6 times quickly through the middle of the update after about 10-15 minutes. Afterwards, the camera won't turn on/off (blinking would still keep going regardless of the switch).

I was almost sure my camera bricked since placing the battery/mem card out and back in wouldn't change anything, and started to look up for support on forums. Nothing really solved my issue so I was about to create a support request, until I gave a go to the idea of adding the previous firmware to a (PC) formatted card. That didn't do much except it changed the pattern of my blinking (7 slow, 7 quick). Adding the version that I had on the camera prior to the update, would make it 5 slow, 7 quick.

Based on that I figured that the camera is either not recognizing the card, or noticing the version mismatch. Finally, I just re-added the initially broken firmware to the (now PC formatted, not camera) card, and that fixed my issue! The camera would behave similarly to the previous firmware from 1.05->1.11.

Thanks for sharing your tip.

I've updated with SD formatted in camera without any issue.

It's a really strange case.

Which OS are you using on your computer? Have you formatted in ExFAT right?

I formatted on Windows using ExFAT, indeed, and that worked pretty well! I was worried that in order to perform the update, the fact that the PRIVATE folder would get erased would not work, so I also backed up prior to that!

It worked a treat after formatting a different SD card in ExFat & downloading the update to my computer first then transferred to SD card, placed in camera then returned the battery & finally everything was up and running in about 5 minutes, then update complete.

the blinking started with 5 long and 7 short. after taking out the battery and formatting the card it didnt do anything except for blinking 7 long and 7 short. then i found your post. formatted the sd card to exfat. but the firmware on it and slapped that thing into my camera and it started to install the firmware onto it. not even 5 minutes passed and the camera came back to life with the new 2.00 firmware on it.

I am so grateful that you were willing to write this advice. This is exactly what happened to me last night. I thought it was my fault. I had already said goodbye to my a7 IV when I found your description of the problem. Thank you very much for help.

I have a Xperia 1 phone and i am very pleased with it. I did not check the firmware version so far but i was hoping for Android 10. Upon checking today, i saw that i have an "old' firmware version 55.0.A.2.205 and the latest should be 55.0.A.2.278 . ( i understand androdi 10 is still pending).

Hi @bobel001, as @NunoSEN2 mentioned, the customization you have is not intended for retail devices.

Either the device was at service and it was flashed with the wrong customization (I have seen that occur before) or the person you bought the device from received a brand new one in some kind of insurance case or through warranty/claim and it was not flashed with the correct customization.

You can flash a different customization, but I would recommend that you instead get in touch with the seller, since the paper work and so on might not be in order, or there may be something shady with the device in general.

@Robi_2109, no one will be able to tell you exactly when you will receive the update, you will just have to wait for the notification to pop-up in your device.

@Robi_2109,

Yeah, the rollout for Android 10 for the Xperia 5 and Xperia 1 has started with the other devices receiving it in early 2020.

As I wrote earlier, I have never had and will never have an exact date for when a specific device will receive the update. I know about the updates as much as a normal user does, when they are planned to rollout, but apart from that I have no access to see when a specific device/customization will receive the update.

Earlier today, more customizations received the update so it has not stopped at least.

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