After Sony announced last month that it was releasing firmware variants for a whole range of its alpha cameras, the releases were staggered.
At first, the company unveiled firmware for its a7S III and a7 IV edition cameras but stated that the update wouldn’t be available for the a1 and a9 III models until later in April.
Now the update is here for both of these models.
With the a1, the firmware was delayed because of an internal connectivity error from Sony and in the case of the a9 III, it was intentional. In any case, you can now download the firmware for free from the Sony website.
In the case of the a1 flagship mirrorless camera from Sony, the new update beefs up on things that were denied the camera when its previous firmware update 2.0 failed and caused problems of its own.
This older firmware ended up getting pulled by Sony and now v 2.01 offers what 2.0 was supposed to include, as well as fixing problems caused by 2.0 in the Sony a1.
Thus, with firmware 2.01, Sony a1 users get the basic groundwork of C2PA tools for content authenticity in their cameras.
Some of you might not entirely like this idea, but in case it’s important for your work and for photo submissions to certain media sites, the a1 will now have the seeds of C2PA available inside it. However, for full C2PA workflow, it seems that only select users will be granted access for now.
Other useful new features in the a1 that firmware 2.01 adds are aimed at professional photographers.
These include the ability to play back captured images across multiple connected media devices, copy files between memory cards and also automate FTP transfer settings.
With v 2.01 users of the a1 camera will also be able to save their lens model information to their MP4 recordings and the camera will now be capable of saving up to 9,999 images into a folder instead of 4,000.
Other benefits of firmware v 2.01 for the Sony a1 include improved image stabilization (IBIS, better flash performance, improved AF assist and support for 4K/30p UVC.
In other words, firmware update 2.01 for the Sony a1 is quite robust and definitely worth downloading if you want refined performance from this high-performance camera.
A look at the Sony page for these respective updates reveals a full list of the performance and workflow improvements they deliver.
For the Sony a9 III, its firmware update is called v 2.0 and it’s the first major firmware addition that the camera has received so far since its early 2024 release.
The a9 III is another one of Sony’s absolute top-shelf full-frame mirrorless cameras and it also happens to be the company’s first-ever global shutter camera.
This beast of a mirrorless camera can shoot at up to 120fps and upon its launch was able to deliver continuous shooting at speeds of up to 1/16,000s. Now, through firmware v 2.0, it can shoot continuously at 1/80,000 instead.
Few users are likely to need shooting speeds and specs like these, but if you ever do, the new firmware unlocks the ability.
Aside from this shutter speed improvement, firmware v 2.0 for the a9 III also gives it the same C2PA tools and above-mentioned workflow tools as firmware v 2.01 does in the a1
You can download both firmware editions through Sony’s support website here.
