Sony: Message List

NEX-5 / LA-EA2 Firmware ?

noreplyforum@eu.sony.com — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 07:28:47 GMT

I have a NEX-5 and LA-EA1 which works fine for some lenses, but I would like to upgrade to the LA-EA2 adapter, however, rumor has it that it will not work on the NEX-5 before another firmware update, yet I can find no mention of this on any Sony site.

Is this reality? And where can information be found regarding this?

Thanks

NEX-5 Picture effects (miniature, HDR Painting, etc)?

noreplyforum@eu.sony.com — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 10:37:52 GMT

Is it possible to expand the Picture Effects available on the NEX-5 to include the effects that are available on other NEX models, such as HDR Painting, Soft Focus, Miniature, Rich-Tone Monochrome?

Message was edited by: robox3000

Nex-5 Wishlist for the next firmware update!

noreplyforum@eu.sony.com — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 20:37:26 GMT

Is it possible to expand the Picture Effects available on the NEX-5 to include the effects that are available on other NEX models, such as HDR Painting, Soft Focus, Miniature, Rich-Tone Monochrome?

NEX Alpha owners: What is the best thing about your camera?

noreplyforum@eu.sony.com — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 15:02:01 GMT

My professional studio photography enabled me to segue into a very lucrative career, and I sold all of my equipment along with my studio.

After buying a NEX-5 to take on holiday, I fell in love again with photography. The design of the camera, the quality of images, the fantastic software and the ability to use great lenses in new, creative ways has renewed my imagination and interest again in photography. I did not experience that with my Nikon, Canon or medium format equipment. The small size and brilliant results has brought back the enthusiasm for creating amazing images.

I realize that everyone has a long Christmas list of things they would like to see in the NEX line and I’m no exception and will certainly be exchanging my NEX-5 for the NEX-7, but having said that...

… you’re doing it right.

Autofocus not possible SAL500F80 + Nex5?

noreplyforum@eu.sony.com — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 17:32:17 GMT

I asked the same question regarding the SAL85F14 lens... here is sony's response:

Unfortunately, AF is not possible with this combo. The NEX camera does not have a mechanical AF motor pin and neither does the LA-EA1, but the camera can AF using lenses that have a built in AF motor like a SSM or SAM system.

(the SAL lens has a screw-drive motor)

so only SSM and SAM lenses will AF.

NEX 5 screen coating easily scratches and flakes off!

noreplyforum@eu.sony.com — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 16:07:58 GMT

Gregg-
Thanks for letting everyone know. It's a pity that the sony doesn't come with any screen protection (like most other cameras do)

Advice is to not leave the shop without having an LCD protector in place, because it's gonna scratch, guaranteed.

Come on, Sony - get it right!

Memory card problem

noreplyforum@eu.sony.com — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 09:54:32 GMT

Is it possible that the new card is Mac formatted or another proprietary format?

Have you ever used this card on the computer that you are now trying to read it on?

Nex-5 Wishlist for the next firmware update!

noreplyforum@eu.sony.com — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 12:54:53 GMT

My #1 request is also a Hotshoe Adapter. With the bigger lenses it's a necessity.

my #2 is also more bracketing range options - rather than just .3 or .7 as well as 5-shot and 7-shot bracketing options.

Does any NEX-5 owner find the battery runs down when camera is switched off?

noreplyforum@eu.sony.com — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 23:56:46 GMT

i also have this problem now that i have gotten my nex5 back from service. first think i noticed is that the firmware is v.1 - when i sent it in for service it was v.3

now that i have it back, in 3 days the battery will go from fully charged to 0% while turned off. only removing the battery while switched off fixes this issue.

since the camera was sent in for repair and the firmware was 'adjusted' on my camera to fix a focus problem, i am no going to update the firmware until i know that it won't bring back the focus problem.

NEX-5 / LA-EA1 / SAL85F14Z AF possible?

noreplyforum@eu.sony.com — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 01:24:46 GMT

i had heard that somewhere, but thanks for confirming that. pity.

still an awesome lens, even without AF.

cheers from amsterdam

HDR pics from NEX3

noreplyforum@eu.sony.com — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 00:46:56 GMT

Doubt that you have disabled it.

Try this: if you hold the shutter down halfway until you get the green square and beeb, then (while still holding the shutter halfway and not pressing it the rest of the way or letting it up) turn the focus and see if it jumps to 7x magnification and (prob slowly) adjusts the focus.

if this doesn't work, it's prob set to auto focus in the menu, camera settings under "focus", so try changing that to DMF, this will still autofocus, but also allow you to adjust it manually while doing the above maneuver.

another way is to go to the camera settings in the menu and setting the focus to manual. but this will be ONLY manual focus, and auto is completely turned off.

cheers.

HDR pics from NEX3

noreplyforum@eu.sony.com — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 19:19:57 GMT

Yes you can, and yes it does. it takes the lighter version of the shadows and the lesser exposed highlights and 'combines' them into a flat file.

You can still HDR it with one of your HDR software apps and get great results.

OR, you can take 3 or even 5 at 1-stop intervals using exposure compensation and combine them in the HDR software.

the NEX has a couple different bracketing options that work very easily, in both RAW and JPG they are quite good.

but you can also set your camera on a tripod, compose your shot and then (for instance in P mode) hit the bottom of the scroll wheel and reduce your Exposure Compenstion to -2, take a shot, then up it to -1, take a shot, up it to +1, take a shot then +2 and take a shot, then you will have 5 shots of the same scene to put into your HDR software. this should bring out all the shadow detail with less noise and without overexposing the highlights. also, the shots should line up automatically if you didn't move it, or if something in the scene didn't change, like a boat coming into view - LOL

it's Awesome that you got results right away. i hope that you stay inspired and exited about creating great pictures, like i did when i first started using the NEX (and no, i don't work for them, LOL) i just really like that little camera.

HDR pics from NEX3

noreplyforum@eu.sony.com — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 01:45:57 GMT

i think the term "best" might be subjective. i have tried the built-in HDR function and it's pretty good, but if i use the bracket function and a good HDR software, you get much different results, plus you can customize it to exactly the look that you are going for.

Photoshop CS5 has a nice HDR tool, Hydra is good, Photomatix is really nice, easyHDR is also good, but it really boils down to what look you want.

I can not play my alpha 55 video on my pc

noreplyforum@eu.sony.com — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 19:13:24 GMT

and VLC will play the avchd files no problem - even on low powered computers.

- best part is it's also free!

http://www.videolan.org/

NEX-5 - how do I do a soft reset?

noreplyforum@eu.sony.com — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 19:10:36 GMT

Thanks for that. I don't know if it helped yet, but i will check it out.

Wonder why these tips aren't documented somewhere?

cheers and merry christmas!

I can not play my alpha 55 video on my pc

noreplyforum@eu.sony.com — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 14:43:13 GMT

I thought the .MOT files were the 3D panorama shots that can be played on a 3D TV set?

NEX-5 - how do I do a soft reset?

noreplyforum@eu.sony.com — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 10:56:59 GMT

I was on the phone with sony support - :-( but anyway, one thing they wanted me to try was a 'soft reset' by "taking out the battery, pressing the shutter foro 1 minute, releasing the shutter button, re-inserting the battery and then turning the camera back on"

The "agent" was having a very hard time explaining the order in which to do these steps, and at what point to press and how long to hold etc

I can't find anywhere that this is explained in plain terms.

Does anyone know if there is any documented soft reset or memory clear, other than the documented "Reset to factory defaults" whis i also did.

Since there is no evident "reset pin hole" maybe someone knows something about this?

Cannot recognise lens. Attach it properly!

noreplyforum@eu.sony.com — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 10:52:26 GMT

Some of those after-market adapters require that you put the camera into "Release w/o Lens" in Menu | Setup

I did this same test with mine, a cheap adapter from china, an old minolta lens 50mm f11.4 that i bought at a yard sale for $5 on my NEX-5

If i put the camera into "Release w/o Lens" - Disable" mode, i get "shooting tips" at the bottom button and "cannot recognise lens".

When I enable "Release without Lens - enable" mode, i get "MF assist" and it will take the picture

This should solve it, but here are a couple other things you can try if not...

Have you also tried putting the camera into M or P mode?

Is there any shop near you that might let you try the original Sony LA-EA1 adapter? I know it's way more expensive, but just as a test. It may be that the camera is expecting the electronic connection to the lens since this is an AF lens.

NEX-5 / LA-EA1 / SAL85F14Z AF possible?

noreplyforum@eu.sony.com — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 12:53:41 GMT

I have the NEX-5, LA-EA1 adapter and a SAL85F14Z Lens, but AF is disabled. I have v.03 firmware and v.02 adapter firmware updates installed, but this lens is not on the list of the 14 supported lenses.

Q: Is it possible to AF this combo?

Q: If not, why? Does it have to do with an internal motor or something?

Q: Is this something that might be included in some future firmware update?

Any solid info on this is very much appreciated. The camera lens combo makes amazing pictures, but thought that AF was supposed to be supported with SAL lenses with v.03 firmware.

?ideas?

MAC OS and NEX-5 firmware upgrade

noreplyforum@eu.sony.com — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 13:33:54 GMT

Thanks for the heads up. I found a similar issue, but it works fine on Mac Pro and XP, so... ok, it's not perfect, but the v3 upgrade and lens adapter upgrades are a huge improvement.

AVCHD

noreplyforum@eu.sony.com — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 13:31:18 GMT

Sure! There are a number of players that support this format. Depending on your machine/OS and installed codecs you may need to install or upgrade a codec, but fear not! Many or most are available for free.

Some of the apps that allow you to view and/or even edit MTS files are:

Open MTS File on Windows

CyberLink PowerDVD 9 http://www.downloadatoz.com/dvd-video_directory/powerdvd/ - The No.1 Movie Experience on the PC!
The application supports for all HD video formats like AVCHD, AVCREC, MPEG-4 AVC (H.264), MPEG-2 HD and WMV-HD.
WinDVD 9 Plus Blu-ray
CyberLink PowerDirector
Ulead VideoStudio
Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum
SONY Vegas Pro
Ulead VideoStudio

Also, VideoLan VLC free player will play them beautifully on PC or Mac and you can use Handbrake to convert them easily to MP4 for other editing and viewing options.

The quality of the AVCHD video is outstanding.

hope that helps a little.

NEX 5 screen coating easily scratches and flakes off!

noreplyforum@eu.sony.com — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 13:22:41 GMT

NEX-5 screen does not come with any sort of protection and very quickly the coating begins to come off, leaving it looking horrible, no matter how gentle you are with the camera.

I have found S+M Rehberg (what a name) digiCOVER makes protector sheets for it, but they are 16euro for 2!

Question is: why doesn't Sony ship the camera with something like this already in place, (like all my other cameras have) or at least do a better job coating the screen.

Has anyone else experienced this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUgsj3LooLw