I got some very wild hints that something might be “moving” at Sony (watch video on top). And to be fair I also want to give you a different opinion:

TheDigitalDigest (vide below) is sort of “defending” Sony’s firmware policy by basically saying that:

• Sony has not promised to add features on their Sony A1 (or any other) camera. So we should stop asking for things Sony didn’t say they would deliver
• He says it’s perfectly normal in the digital industry to not add new features via software. You have to buy new gear if you want new features.

My simple answer to that is the following:

Of course the A1 is till a superb camera! But Sony doesn’t live in a bubble. There are competitors out there like Fuji and Nikon that indeed are going the opposite way and often do ADD new features via firmware update that they didn’t anticipate or promise ahead of their camera launch. So the problem is that customers will think twice in future if they should buy a Nikon Z8 or Sony A7rV or Fuji X-T5 knowing that with Nikon and Fuji they will likely get new features on future updates.

The new Thronmax Mic has been launched on Kickstarter (Click here).

More Kickstarter projects:

There is a 45% discount on the Flex Bolt sold on Indiegogo. The FLEX Bolt makes it easy to capture stunning lightning shots effortlessly.
Spinn launched the brand new version of their famous Fully self-adhesive protective gear wrapper on Kickstarter (Click here).

Sony announced the new Xperia 1V (preorders at Amazon and BHphoto. ).  The interesting part for us is that it uses the enow Exmor T dual layer camera sensor. And the improvements claims are quite stunning. They say the noise and dynamic range performance equivalent to a full-frame camera!

The full Xperia press text is available here: pressroom.pixelshift.studio/sony-electronics-launches-new-xperiar-1-v-smartphone. And this is what they write about the new sensor:

The Xperia 1 V is raising the bar with its’ newly developed image sensor which depicts rich colors and textures of people, landscapes, and scenes in even dark locations. Due to the combination of the low-light performance, which is approximately double compared to the previous modelⁱⁱ and the high-speed multi frame overlay procession technology of the Xperia 1 V, it is possible to shoot a noise resistant photo with a wider dynamic range that is equivalent to a full-frame camera. ​ The 24mm lens on the back of the Xperia 1 V equipped with a 2-layer Transistor Pixel stacked CMOS image sensor “Exmor T for mobile” which is about 1.7 times larger than the Xperia 1 IV’s image sensor. ​ In addition, the 85-125mm (F2.3-F2.8) optical zoom lens enables bright portraits with little distortion. 

-Cinetone, designed for cinematographersⁱⁱⁱ, has been adjusted and installed for mobile. Since the texture of the human skin can be beautifully expressed when shooting, it is possible to record as an impressive cinematic image as it is, without color grading. In addition, the new sensor has approximately three times of saturation signal levelⁱⁱ compared to the conventional sensor, and unique image quality processing suppresses noise that tends to occur in dark scenes, resulting in beautiful images with soft colors.

That sounds incredibly impressive!