Loosing the ability to focus with Sony EX-3

Simon Wyndham · December 21st, 2008, 05:40 AM

Quote:

Simon, any sign of this focus glitch with your new (replacement) EX3?

In fact yes. It happened to me once the other day. I was trying to get a close up of something and it just stopped me being able to focus so I had to turn it off then on again.

I suppose that is the drawback of having a choice between manual and infinite servo style focussing. There can never be a true mechanical connection. The only failsafe solution is to use additional Fuji and Canon 1/2" lenses.

Hopefully the new firmware will be available to all.

Dave Tyrer · December 23rd, 2008, 07:59 AM

Any sign of the alleged firmware update yet?

Kenny Cowburn · December 23rd, 2008, 08:27 AM

Don´t think we should hold our breath untill after new years to be honest.....

Justin Isbell · December 30th, 2008, 04:08 PM

This camera does a lot of fantastic things. I've got one on loan from Sony right now as an evaluation product... but this problem has been enough of a pain in my rump to make me very wary of purchasing them. The whole way the focus thing is set up on this unit is a bit dodgy, but I can't even get used to using it when it just stops working entirely all the time.

Hopefully this will get resolved. Soon.

Justin Isbell · December 30th, 2008, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Justin Benn

I would... but mine was already off. My EX3's 'senior moment' occurred after changing between manual and auto focus on the ring. Rebooting restored the function but sheesh... suppose I was in the middle of a shot!

That said, still loving this thing. Haven't quite got around to having an EX3 tattoo on my shoulder but I'm not far off...

Jus.

I agree! I love what I've seen of this thing, but this is too major of a problem to ignore. I've noticed that sometimes when you reboot it, the white balance goes completely wonky. Had to white balance three times in the middle of the shoot because of it, so it's not JUST the inconvenience of the reboot, unfortunately.

I do, however, think I'm going to take this LCD/viewfinder combo out on a date. Maybe propose. Have kids and the whole works.

Kenny Cowburn · January 5th, 2009, 10:47 AM

OK, Mine is going in
I got a call from the Prime support people today,
the new firmware is out, but the camera needs to be sent in to have it uploaded.
Public holiday tomorrow, so packaging gets dropped off on wednesday, if I´m lucky, he´ll take the cam with straight away and I´ll beat the crowds.....

I´ll keep you all updated as I can

Ian Planchon · January 5th, 2009, 11:07 AM

I dug around on sony's pro website, but dont see where the list the firmware updates. is there a place I can look at what the new firmware is going to address (aside from the focus issue)?

Kenny Cowburn · January 8th, 2009, 06:24 AM

So far so good.

As promised my cam was picked up by UPS yesterday (wed 07.01.09) at 14:30.

The provided packaging was not exactly what I thought it´d be, but did the job.....
The driver was kind enought to wait the few minutes it took me to package the unit, even lending a hand to seal it up with tape.........

not a nice feeling watching my 8,5 grand €´s boxed up and leaving, but I suppose that is the way SONY wants it.......

it is supposed to take about a week, so I expect it will be returned with the sparkly new firmware update installed in the middle of next week.

one thing I don´t like about the whole issue, is that the girl from Prime Support said that she doesn´t think that SONY gives loaners for firmware upgrades.(normal policy is that one can get a loaner if `repairs´will take more than a week)
as far as I´m concerned, this is a repair

I have timed it so I can do without the cam for a week and a few days, but have set a deadline, as I have a shoot coming up and don´t wanna have to rent...

Ned Soltz · January 8th, 2009, 12:27 PM

Sony US is saying that there is no official release yet, only an internal version.

But once again, it will require depot service, unless of course someone accidentally reveals the URL.

Kenny Cowburn · January 12th, 2009, 11:47 AM

I got my cam back at 12:30 today monday 12 Jan
That went really fast...
considering, it had to go from here in Germany to Paris and that there was a weekend in between
the initial testing I have done has been fine and the cam is behaving very well.

If any of you are considering sending your cams in, make sure to do a camera data backup before doing so, mine came back without any of my original settings stored, fortunately I did think this would be the case in advance.

looks like I beat the crowds (o;

Brian Cassar · January 12th, 2009, 11:51 AM

Kenny can you please tell us what is your new firmware version number?

Did they tell you what other things if any has been affected with this upgrade (apart from the focus issue)? Thanks

Andy Wilkinson · January 12th, 2009, 02:01 PM

Great news Kenny! Look forward to hearing more details soon.

I was on a big corporate shoot today in Cambridge and had some macro work to do in a rush....and was hesitant to go there but did it anyway - and the camera behaved perfectly then and afterwards.

I've only ever seen this loss of focus issue twice on mine - still can't work out why some seem to get it frequently and others like me only rarely. BTW, this was after 4 hrs shooting so the EX3 was definitely warmed up.

Ted OMalley · January 12th, 2009, 06:56 PM

Those of you who have the firmware upgrade....

Can you still shoot on SDHC (MxR) fine? I suspect so, as I don't know how they could prevent that while retaining the hard drive capability, but just thought I'd ask as I'm a little nervous about it.

Brian Luce · January 13th, 2009, 12:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kenny Cowburn

I got my cam back at 12:30 today monday 12 Jan
That went really fast...
considering, it had to go from here in Germany to Paris and that there was a weekend in between
the initial testing I have done has been fine and the cam is behaving very well.
e.

looks like I beat the crowds (o;

Have you tested it with any 3rd party media cards since the update? I wonder if Sony wants to end the use of 3rd party media cards with the EX series.

Kenny Cowburn · January 13th, 2009, 07:49 AM

Sorry guys, my testing has only been done with the SONY SxS cards, as I don´t have any others.....

Also not sure how to check which firmware version I have, if someone could enlighten me, I´ll check it out.....

As I didn´t get any written info with the return of the cam, I am not sure what other issues the new firmware covers, just happy that the focus issue is sorted.

December 30th, 2008, 04:08 PM	#79
Justin Isbell New Boot Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Storm Lake, IA Posts: 6	Hmm... not convinced. This camera does a lot of fantastic things. I've got one on loan from Sony right now as an evaluation product... but this problem has been enough of a pain in my rump to make me very wary of purchasing them. The whole way the focus thing is set up on this unit is a bit dodgy, but I can't even get used to using it when it just stops working entirely all the time. Hopefully this will get resolved. Soon.

January 12th, 2009, 11:47 AM	#85
Kenny Cowburn Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Oberaudorf Germany Posts: 66	I am impressed I got my cam back at 12:30 today monday 12 Jan That went really fast... considering, it had to go from here in Germany to Paris and that there was a weekend in between the initial testing I have done has been fine and the cam is behaving very well. If any of you are considering sending your cams in, make sure to do a camera data backup before doing so, mine came back without any of my original settings stored, fortunately I did think this would be the case in advance. looks like I beat the crowds (o;

January 12th, 2009, 02:01 PM	#87
Andy Wilkinson Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Cambridge UK Posts: 2,853	Great news Kenny! Look forward to hearing more details soon. I was on a big corporate shoot today in Cambridge and had some macro work to do in a rush....and was hesitant to go there but did it anyway - and the camera behaved perfectly then and afterwards. I've only ever seen this loss of focus issue twice on mine - still can't work out why some seem to get it frequently and others like me only rarely. BTW, this was after 4 hrs shooting so the EX3 was definitely warmed up. __________________ Andy K Wilkinson - https://www.shootingimage.co.uk Cambridge (UK) Corporate Video Production

January 12th, 2009, 06:56 PM	#88
Ted OMalley Major Player Join Date: May 2006 Location: Tampa, FL Posts: 596	Those of you who have the firmware upgrade.... Can you still shoot on SDHC (MxR) fine? I suspect so, as I don't know how they could prevent that while retaining the hard drive capability, but just thought I'd ask as I'm a little nervous about it. __________________ Sony EX3, Vegas 9.0 64bit, Windows 7(64), Core i7, 12GB, RAID1 & 0, HotSwap SATA, 30" LCD(2560x1600)-GTX285 & 24" LCD(1360x768)-7800GT

December 23rd, 2008, 07:59 AM	#77
Dave Tyrer Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: UK Posts: 174	Any sign of the alleged firmware update yet?

December 23rd, 2008, 08:27 AM	#78
Kenny Cowburn Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Oberaudorf Germany Posts: 66	Don´t think we should hold our breath untill after new years to be honest.....

January 5th, 2009, 10:47 AM	#81
Kenny Cowburn Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Oberaudorf Germany Posts: 66	OK, Mine is going in I got a call from the Prime support people today, the new firmware is out, but the camera needs to be sent in to have it uploaded. Public holiday tomorrow, so packaging gets dropped off on wednesday, if I´m lucky, he´ll take the cam with straight away and I´ll beat the crowds..... I´ll keep you all updated as I can

January 5th, 2009, 11:07 AM	#82
Ian Planchon Major Player Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: an Alaskan living in Des Moines, Iowa Posts: 513	I dug around on sony's pro website, but dont see where the list the firmware updates. is there a place I can look at what the new firmware is going to address (aside from the focus issue)?

January 8th, 2009, 06:24 AM	#83
Kenny Cowburn Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Oberaudorf Germany Posts: 66	So far so good. As promised my cam was picked up by UPS yesterday (wed 07.01.09) at 14:30. The provided packaging was not exactly what I thought it´d be, but did the job..... The driver was kind enought to wait the few minutes it took me to package the unit, even lending a hand to seal it up with tape......... not a nice feeling watching my 8,5 grand €´s boxed up and leaving, but I suppose that is the way SONY wants it....... it is supposed to take about a week, so I expect it will be returned with the sparkly new firmware update installed in the middle of next week. one thing I don´t like about the whole issue, is that the girl from Prime Support said that she doesn´t think that SONY gives loaners for firmware upgrades.(normal policy is that one can get a loaner if `repairs´will take more than a week) as far as I´m concerned, this is a repair I have timed it so I can do without the cam for a week and a few days, but have set a deadline, as I have a shoot coming up and don´t wanna have to rent...

January 8th, 2009, 12:27 PM	#84
Ned Soltz Major Player Join Date: May 2006 Location: Teaneck, NJ Posts: 659	Sony US is saying that there is no official release yet, only an internal version. But once again, it will require depot service, unless of course someone accidentally reveals the URL.

January 12th, 2009, 11:51 AM	#86
Brian Cassar Major Player Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Malta Posts: 306	Kenny can you please tell us what is your new firmware version number? Did they tell you what other things if any has been affected with this upgrade (apart from the focus issue)? Thanks

January 13th, 2009, 07:49 AM	#90
Kenny Cowburn Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Oberaudorf Germany Posts: 66	Sorry guys, my testing has only been done with the SONY SxS cards, as I don´t have any others..... Also not sure how to check which firmware version I have, if someone could enlighten me, I´ll check it out..... As I didn´t get any written info with the return of the cam, I am not sure what other issues the new firmware covers, just happy that the focus issue is sorted.