Hasta La Gadget!

Isn’t it nice when a hardware manufacturer has your best interests at heart, knowing that a firmware update would be able to fix some issues that have plagued their product for some time already? It is the turn of the Sony A7 and Sony A7R cameras to be on the receiving end of a camera firmware update which will throw in new lens compatibility (SEL70200G), improved image quality, a faster start-up time so that you do not miss a single important moment, as well a new PlayMemories camera apps.

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Sony A7, A7R Camera Firmware Updates Now Available original content from Ubergizmo.

See those gorgeous twins up there? The ones with retro-styled magnesium bodies and massively megapixeled sensors? Known as the Alpha 7 and Alpha 7R, they’re the latest objects of desire from Sony’s imaging wizards, and I got to spend a few days shooting with both of them.

Sony’s betting big on its mirrorless camera business. The company helped to grow the market for these compact Interchangeable Lens Cameras (ILCs), releasing regular (and significant) NEX updates since their introduction a few years back. To date, those compact models have been limited to APS-C sensors — image quality was quite good, but the camera maker recently began pushing the limits, sprinkling much bigger, full-frame sensors elsewhere into its lineup. Now, it’s finally time to meet Sony’s new full-frame ILCs. But are they worthy of our affection, particularly when you consider that the 24.3-megapixel A7 will cost $1,700 and the 36.4-megapixel 7R will go for $2,300 (both prices for the bodies only) when they hit stores next month? Read on to find out.

Filed under: Cameras, Sony

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A few weeks ago, Sony wowed photography nerds with something actually new: Two mirrorless, interchangeable-lens cameras with full-frame image sensors, the same big chips used in professional DSLRs. The compact design is a marvel on its own, and after using the cameras for a few days, I can safely say that, yes, these might be the most exciting shooters we’ve seen all year.

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It was not too long ago when we brought you word that Sony’s full frame NEX cameras which are to be released soon were rumored to be known as the Sony A7 as well as the Sony A7R. Well, I guess all of those rumors have proven themselves to be true, as at least a couple of leaked press shots have been caught in the wild, revealing a whole lot more of the full frame mirrorless cameras in the process. These images will give legs to previous rumors by propping them up with confirmation of a built-in viewfinder, in addition to pointing to options of carrying a Zeiss-branded 35mm f/2.8 prime lens that you can see above as well as a 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6 standard zoom.

Not all things are extremely rosy, however, as there are no additional photos for us to ogle over from other angles in order to discover more about the Sony A7 and the Sony A7R. Interestingly enough, however, the folks from Sony Alpha Rumors do lay claim that the A7R’s 36-megapixel sensor will be able to omit the standard anti-aliasing filter so that it can preserve detail instead, similar in manner to the Nikon D800E. Sony has been teasing a possible camera launch for tomorrow in Japan, so chances are we will not have to wait for too long for additional (and official!) information to surface.

Sony A7 And A7R Cameras Leaked original content from Ubergizmo.

When the iPhone 5s was announced last month one of its key features, apart from the upgraded camera and Touch ID fingerprint sensor, was its A7 chipset. Granted the A7 turned out to be a dual-core chipset, which one paper makes it seem inferior to the quad-core chipsets found on Android phones these days, it was an industry first as far as smartphones were concerned as it was a 64-bit chip. While there aren’t many apps out there who are taking advantage of the 64-bit chip set, some have praised Apple’s forward-thinking, which in a way set a new bar for the industry.

However it turns out not everyone was amazed by Apple’s introduction of the 64-bit chip in the iPhone 5s, and Qualcomm’s senior vice president and chief marketing officer, Anand Chandrasekher, was not one of them. According to him, “I think they are doing a marketing gimmick. There’s zero benefit a consumer gets from that.” He notes that one of the benefits of 64-bit processors is to allow for more memory, but with the iPhone 5s only sporting 1GB of RAM, it would hardly be taking advantage of that. However Chandrasekher did admit that Qualcomm would be working on a 64-bit chip themselves since ”from an engineering efficiency standpoint it just makes sense to go do that.” What do you guys think? Gimmick or forward-thinking?

Qualcomm’s SVP Calls Apple’s 64-bit A7 Chip A “Gimmick” original content from Ubergizmo.