topic Sony A77 Reports of Buggy Firmware and Dead Cameras in Alpha & NEX interchangeable lens cameras

Sony A77 Reports of Buggy Firmware and Dead Cameras

gimp69 — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 09:10:20 GMT

What is Sony doing about the reports from the Far East about the high failure rate of Sony A77s? The A77 has only just been delivered to the UK and there are already two dead A77s I know of, both from Jessops.

There appears to be something really broken in the A77 firmware or a bad batch of A77s has been produced.

It's bad enough that the A77 high ISO isn't as good as a two year old Nikon D7000 and now we have reports of buggy firmware and cameras literally dying and being sent back.

I am glad that I didn't pre-order. SORT THIS OUT.

Sony A77 Reports of Buggy Firmware and Dead Cameras

tberry6686 — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 19:29:57 GMT

It's not just Jessops by the look of things. Got my A77 on Friday and took it out to play with - no issues and hugely impressed. Same on Saturday. Tried a sigma lens today and all ok - switched back to the sony lens I was using previously and now nothing seems to work. Tried everything I can think of including reset to defaults with no luck - will be on the phone to Sony first thing

Sony A77 Reports of Buggy Firmware and Dead Cameras

a77Disaster — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 22:25:41 GMT

Here we go, the first video on youtube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvN13V-mb1g.

Feel quite disappointed.

Sony A77 Reports of Buggy Firmware and Dead Cameras

gimp69 — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 09:09:18 GMT

Incredible that I have been waiting years for the A700 replacement and Sony make a huge cock-up like this. Sony can't afford to be doing this sort of thing, Canon and Nikon must be laughing all the way to the bank.

You may also wish to drop a comment on the Sony UK Facebook Page about your displeasure.

Sony A77 Reports of Buggy Firmware and Dead Cameras

Thalamus. — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 13:14:37 GMT

Hi all,

Just to let you we have passed your comments in this thread onto Sony..

If we hear anything, although we can't promise anything, but if we do we'll let you all know asap..

Sony A77 Reports of Buggy Firmware and Dead Cameras

gimp69 — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 10:25:49 GMT

Thanks, every little helps!

Sony A77 Reports of Buggy Firmware and Dead Cameras

gimp69 — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 09:56:30 GMT

Latest rumour is that the production A77 has a new Bionz processor and the firmware used was for the older processor on pre-production cameras. Nobody tested the firmware on the production version of the new Bionz processor!

Sony A77 Reports of Buggy Firmware and Dead Cameras

gimp69 — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 09:56:54 GMT

Update:

There is a rumour that Sony UK have stopped shipping the A77.

Message was edited by: gimp69

Sony A77 Reports of Buggy Firmware and Dead Cameras

Mick2011 — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 07:06:05 GMT

According to an announcement yesterday, Sony will shortly release a firmware update (v1.02) for the A77 presumably addressing any issues which may be affecting the new model.

http://support.sony-europe.com/dime/hotnews/hotnews.aspx?site=odw_en_GB&f=HN_SLT_FW

Cheers

Mick

Sony A77 Reports of Buggy Firmware and Dead Cameras

gimp69 — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 15:37:36 GMT

1.02 is already installed on the production cameras, 1.02 is the faulty version causing the problem. It is 1.03 that has already been seen on cameras in Thailand.

What that page is saying is that a new firmware is due mid-October that can be applied to cameras running 1.02 if you see what I mean?

1.03 should be released NOW.

Sony A77 Reports of Buggy Firmware and Dead Cameras

gimp69 — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 09:26:14 GMT

Sony, PUT 1.03 ON YOUR WEBSITE FOR DOWNLOAD.

It is already being shipped on cameras in the Far East. It is being shipped on cameras in Canada. At least allow current owners to put it on their faulty A77s!

Are you just stupid or somethng?

Sony A77 Reports of Buggy Firmware and Dead Cameras

quayley — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 02:49:34 GMT

Just to confirm I too have a dead-ish A77. After happily taking pictures for a few days the camera refused to work, and all the "battery in and out" and factory reset recommendations didn't matter a jot. You can see photo menus but not alter them, cannot see playback menus at all and camera will not focus or take pictures. An additional problem is that trying factory reset will drain a 'full' battery to zero before camera reboots.

For those of you who have this problem who wish to (temporarily?) get the camera working again, see the youtube thread. My camera was revived by:

1. With camera off, simultaneously press MENU + MOVIE + > (Play).

2. Release buttons.

3. Switch camera on whilst holding same buttons, and hold for 5+ seconds. Camera should be back to "normal"

Firmware I have is 1.02. The Sony announcement of what the firmware upgrade 1.03 (see link above) contains is a little bit underwhelming, adressing certain specific issues and winding up with "Other functional improvements". Does anyone know if fixing the "dead" problem is one such improvement? Clearly it's going to be a major confidence issue, and many people will be rushing to send cameras back (to Jessops in my case) unless we know soon that 1.03 will cure it.

Sony A77 Reports of Buggy Firmware and Dead Cameras

ansherr38 — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 14:02:24 GMT

Wish I had read this before I sent mine back to Jessops. I asked for a replacement but as I bought the only a77 in the shop (it was on display), I had to send it for repair. Lucky I had just bought a warrenty!

It had took only 500 photos and some short vids. When I loaded the photos and changed the battery the camera went *6*%&"!

Sony A77 Reports of Buggy Firmware and Dead Cameras

gimp69 — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 10:32:12 GMT

1.03 is what is on cameras shipping now in the Far East and Canada. I haven't heard any problems with 1.03...yet.

Quite why Sony haven't put 1.03 on their site for download remains a mystery. Of course it might be that the firmware coming in a couple of weeks is higher than 1.03, but at least put 1.03 on the site for now rather than have A77s being bricked and sent back for "repair".

Sony don't appear to appreciate the damage to the A77s reputation this is having, then they wonder why people choose a "safe" brand like Canon and Nikon.

Sony A77 Reports of Buggy Firmware and Dead Cameras

gimp69 — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 08:51:06 GMT

A77 1.03 has been released:

http://www.sony-asia.com/support/download/474591