I don't see anything in the forums any more, and I don't see anything at Sony... So DID 1.31 degrade the face/eye focus as reported by some folks, or not? If it DID, it seems like Sony WOULD have addressed it quickly. If it DIDN'T, what were the reports of degraded focusing about?
April 22, 2023
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No, 1.31 didn't change performance for the worse.
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I don't have the expertise to agree or disagree with you. I presume you do have the expertise. I was simply curious about the firmware update. I presume, since we're well past February, that those who believed Sony would provide an update were incorrect.
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I’ve been using the A1 for over 1.5 years. I always test my cameras against specific reference points for AF as fw is released and I had the OM-1 to test against up till the 1.3 update.
The A1 improvements at 1.3 were bird Eye AF detection got quicker, and close up AF was substantially improved. 1.31 also brought in even better low contrast near focus AF.
There wasn’t anything official from Sony about a February update. It was started by a rumour site. Nobody but Sony knows if or when there will be an update.
The last update was in September 2022, which wasn’t that long ago.
This was 1.31, Close Up, the A1 in the past would not keep up pre 1.3.
I was focused on birds that were in front of me to my right, on the ground when from the corner of my eye a Cockatoo wings outstretching caught my eye and the sound of wings flapping. It was at a distance that I've tried pre 1.3 again and the A1 always missed and jumped to the background but the OM-1 picked up.
Willie Wagtail extremely close to minimum focus, hopping towards me and eyes down low at an angle. The Eye AF was as good as could be reasonably expected, considering it's a Willie Wagtail and how erratic they are and with foreground to deal with, really can't complain .
This is where 1.31 really is a huge improvement. This Willie Wagtail was in and out of branches and I was trying to keep up, when it launched towards me and the A1 managed a couple in focus at around 2 metres away and accelerating towards me. In general I don't crop much or at all and that is where the A1 with 1.3 was exceptional but it has even tighter performance with 1.31.
There is alot of chatter without anything objective to form judgement, unless we have actual reference points, it's become far too difficult to gain anything from alot of the A1 FW posts. There are alot of complaints of the 200-600mm but I have never felt confident with it's AF ability, it's painfully slow to rack over large distances, won't keep up at near range with anything erratic. It's the best superzoom for the money but, I listed mine after a month of use, because I missed way too many simple shots by 100-400GM standard.
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The 200-600 is what? I use it on the A7RIV which apparently is very slow without all the eye AI stuff. I don't have any complaints about the 200-600.
www.birdsinaction.com/Swallows-on-the-wing
So the 100-400 must be amazing!
Danny.
Edit: Yeah I just found the posts on DPR in the m4/3 forum about the swallows shots, I remember now. You never did post it up in the Sony forum though after I suggested it ;-)
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Yeah, On the A1, the 100-400GM is able to keep up much better and the gap widens the closer and more erratic movement. I have no idea what the A7RIV and 100-400GM would be like.
Posting an OM-1 thread was for M43 users interested in the OM-1, and weren't sure where it stood relative to what was considered the best Bif camera at the time. It didn't belong in a Sony board, that would be posting in bad faith, if a user of a different system was curious, they could find it in the appropriate board.
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Well you actually said "Haha, There would be a meltdown." with your Oly swallow shots if you posted it in the Sony forum, because the A1 and 200-600 was useless compared to the Oly ;-)
So here we are now and I'm happy to post up my swallow shots next to yours from the Oly or the A1 with the 100-400. I'll use the old slow A7RIV and the 200-600, how's that. I can post a few links from the m4/3 forum if you like with your posts on it.
Or shall we let this all slide away since I've seen shots of swallows taken with the A1 and 200-600 on the Fredmiranda forum.
Danny.
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This isn't an OM-1 or an A7RIV or Swallows thread.
If you take issue with what I've posted with regards to A1 firmware performance differences , go for it, and please post samples of how it behaves with the fw in question with the lens that most people have been having an issue with, the 200-600G or the general AF differences between the firmwares that Sony released.
Otherwise start a thread or send me PM, over whatever the issue you have is, because I have no clue what you're trying to get at with your replies.
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You are the one that brought it up
"There are alot of complaints of the 200-600mm but I have never felt confident with it's AF ability, it's painfully slow to rack over large distances, won't keep up at near range with anything erratic. It's the best superzoom for the money but, I listed mine after a month of use, because I missed way too many simple shots by 100-400GM standard."
You had the 200-600 for 1 month! The issue is I know exactly what you said about the A1 and that lens in the m4/3 forum. So if you don't wish to discuss it, then don't bring it up to start with in here with how bad that lens is, just because you weren't capable with it :-) Plenty out there that are proving you wrong ;-)
"won't keep up at near range with anything erratic"
Are Swallow shots close up not erratic enough for you as you stated up there. I can fix that.
Danny.
Edit: The problem is you could well put people off from buying a very capable lens, that's my point mainly. Plenty of links from all different wildlife photographers that prove you wrong.
