Sony has released Firmware Version 3.10 Updates for Sony a7RII, a7R, a7S, a7II, a7 and a6000 mirrorless cameras. The firmware updates appear to be mostly for support for new lenses that were recently introduced (the 24-70 f/2.8 G, the 85mm f/1.4 G and likely the 70-200mm f/2.8 G) as well as phase-detection autofocus and few other minor updates.
Download links:
- Sony a7RII firmware version 3.10
- Sony a7R firmware version 3.10
- Sony a7S firmware version 3.10
- Sony a7II firmware version 3.10
- Sony a7 firmware version 3.10
- Sony a6000 firmware version 3.10
I was hoping to see 14-bit RAW support for the A6000, but I don’t see anything indicating this for the A6000. 14-bit RAW support was added for the A7 series cameras and these are all the same firmware so it will be interesting to see if this is updated for the A6000 or if the firmware is evaluating which camera it is on and only applying the specific changes for that camera. I will be installing the update on my A6000 tonight and will see if I notice any difference in Autofocus performance or in the RAW files.
Phase Detect Clarification
dpreview.com is reporting that Sony has provided them with a clarification that the Phase Detection updates only apply to the “G” series lenses on cameras that support phase detect:
- a7
- a7 II
- a7R II
- a6000
- a5100
(the a7R, a7S, a7S II cameras lack on-sensor phase-detect)
Important Note for updating Sony Firmware when using a Mac
If you are using a Mac (OS-X) to run the firmware updater it is very important that you do not allow the screen to go to sleep, the screen saver to activate or do anything else while the firmware update is running. I did not know this and after the firmware update started on my A6000 decided to watch some A6000 videos that were shown on the Sony firmware update webpage. As a result of this (and YouTube being what it is, after I watched the Sony videos started watching other suggested videos) the firmware update for my camera failed and my Sony A6000 appeared to be bricked! I followed the instructions to turn off the camera, remove the battery then restart the firmware update again, but when I turned the camera back on the only thing that came on was the red light by the battery door. A quick Google search and found where someone had the same thing happen, but they just skipped the steps they couldn’t do, and the firmware completed. I tried this and it appears to have fixed the bricked camera. Whew, since my camera is not under warranty any more!
You’ve mentioned that the 14-bit support was added for the A7 series and these are all the same firmware. Not entirely true as I own the A7 and after updating to the latest firmware 3.10 there’s no sign of 14-bit compression. Only the Mark II cameras will get the 14-bit compression.
My a6000 had the same exact problem, and was effectively bricked. After panicking when the reinstallation didn’t work, I tried one last time. The difference was that on my macbook I left the software open, and did not do anything else. Before I had switched to other programs, and for whatever reason I believe this was the cause of the issue. I did not touch anything except to move the cursor to prevent the computer from going to sleep. Unbricked!
I am stuffed with my update on my Sony A7r and I am getting the same red light by the battery door. I was using my Macbook Pro to the update. Could you please instruct me how to get the camera to work again.
Thanks
Soma