Sony has announced a new v1.3 firmware update for its flagship Sony Alpha 1 full-frame mirrorless interchangeable lens camera. The company has also released a new v2.1 firmware update for its popular Alpha 7S III full-frame mirrorless camera.
Here are three reasons to upgrade your Sony Alpha camera’s firmware.
The Sony Alpha 1 can now record 8K 10-bit videos
The v1.3 firmware update for the Sony Alpha 1 camera means you can now record 8K in a 4:2:2 10-bit format. The 8K video has image dimensions of 7680 by 4320 pixels. In addition, the camera features 8.6K oversampling for great 8K resolution footage. 4:2:2 10-bit video can display 1.07 billion hues compared to the 16.77 million colors from 8-bit video. This means your footage will have smoother color gradients, less color banding and finer shadow details. However, you will need to view it on a 10-bit monitor to see the full benefits.
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Sony adds the lossless compressed RAW format to the Alpha 1
The v1.3 firmware update for the Alpha 1 adds lossless compressed RAW files in S, M and L (small, medium or large) file sizes for still photographs. With the L size, you get the same image quality as an uncompressed RAW format but with significantly smaller file sizes. The M and S sizes record fewer pixels than the L size, which means you have more manageable RAW files. With the v1.3 firmware, you can also combine JPEG with your choice of lossless compressed RAW sizes. This means you can have JPEG and RAW files to deliver straight away for editing your images in the highest quality.
There’s proxy recording too
The v2.1 firmware upgrade for the Alpha 7S III has several new features, including the introduction of proxy recording during a remote computer connection. There are also improvements to the EYE AF (autofocus) performance and eye sensor detection performance with strong light sources, such as sunlight. In addition, the upgrade improves the stability of the custom white balance and the operational stability of the camera.
Availability
The v1.3 firmware update for the Sony Alpha 1 and the v2.1 firmware upgrade for the Alpha 7S III are both available now. You can download them from Sony’s website.