- cross-posted to:
- gadgets@hardware.watch
- cross-posted to:
- gadgets@hardware.watch
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don’t you guys just leave some space then crop and tilt?
A trivial software feature that you can “license” for $150. Disgusting.
…And for $50/month you can unlock an additional 20mp. Lol
#DON’T GIVE THEM IDEAS
Remember to check in every day to receive 10 free shutter pushes.
Shoot and post our loot boxes on your social media to receive FREE collectable skinned menu systems for your mirrorless camera!
I’m starting to feel a sense of pride and accomplishment already.
… but the first thing I unlock is the $100/month unlimited actuations package. It’s the best value hands down.
The 200 photos / month package included with the camera is just not enough.
What the fuck
lowkey, I’m fine with this cuz like who needs this function?
Lots of people would love this feature. Prints and frames come in all sorts of different ratios, and it’s handy to know your composition will sit perfectly within those ratios.
You actually make a good point, i would love to try out shooting with wide aspect ratios
People who need 800 perfectly lined up yearbook photos or employee directory photos.
What is this…
paid firmware updates… wow
Took a page from Atomos’ handbook
I was just about to say!
I bought a Ninja V last month. Couldn’t believe the audacity to ask me for another $100 for h265.
And I thought BMW were ridiculous when they offered heated seat functionality for a monthly subscription…
Tell me this isn’t real, holy fuck.
Mercedes was eyeing some subscription based features too. Truly dystopian imo.
Tons of Mercedes’ shit is already subs based; I know cause it reminds me everytime I start my car… :/
And you still bought the car?
Pretty sure Panasonic have done these too. I picked up a G9 a while back and there are paid firmware updates to shoot in log
I understood it when Nikon did it for a licensed video log format.
But this is loading some transparent PNG’s on your camera to overlay a video feed. It’s not exactly hard.
More like Pony… up that money sucka!
This story has been bugging me for a bit because it’s being told by people who have no clue what they’re talking about. They’re not in this specific part of the industry and they have these hot takes that are wildly uninformed.
First, this update is not for you. This is almost exclusively firmware designed for volume school portrait studios e.g. Lifetouch. $150 to update a camera is nothing compared to the time in post that custom gridlines will save. I would even wager Sony was directly asked by these companies to do this and they were like “okay but we’re going to charge you.”
So, you have to understand how school portrait software works. You go to a school, shoot 500 something kids against a green screen, good to go, right? No. At some point you throw those photos into cropping software (usually provided by your lab) to get all the heads in the right spot and the right size. And the cropping software has these little ovals where you’re supposed to put the head and lines for the shoulders. Cool, right? Well it’s a ton of work if your photos are all different, someone has to go in and adjust that after the fact. And yeah, the existing grids can more or less get you there, but with custom grids you’re certain when you take the shot. They’re also helpful in this specific industry because the people taking these photos aren’t usually good at photography, so you can’t really trust their eye anyway. Certainly not across hundreds of different people. I’ve been shooting for nearly 20 years and I don’t think I could even be that consistent.
Anyways, how did we used to solve this problem? Viewfinder masking!
So this company would hook you up with an updated camera (like on your 5D or more likely a Rebel, in this type of photography) that had a custom grid line that was exactly what you needed it to be. And it cost something like $200.
So sony’s solution is a) cheaper and b) more flexible than what the industry has been doing for the last 30 years. The exact opposite of what most people are complaining about.
They’ve been doing this bullshit with like the Timelapse app. It’s Sony garbage.
Panasonic and Canaon have both done this before with LOG profiles.
No thank you my a7 II is still going strong
No thank you my A6000 is still going strong
And Sony hates that
Gimmie a ruler and a sharpie and I’ll do it for free
pre printed gridlined screen protectors should be a thing. not like there are that many different screen sizes to have to account for
There are!! You can get them on Etsy!
Yup. Screenprotectors are cheaper than this shit update. Although if Sony hears that you may be forced to use viewfinder if they detect an aftermarket screen guard, and disable your screen
Sony should just introduce proprietary memory cards that only hold a certain number of pictures per card, and the cards are one time use only.
Maybe something like 24 or 36 pictures, to make it manageable.
Finally, we’ve come full circle now all based on corporate greed?
Kodak is weeping tears of joy, they were right all along!
So I unironically wanted part of this haha, where I wanted a modern memory card with a small capacity to force me to use it like my film cameras.
Then I realised I could get the same effect by putting a multi-GB useless file on it lol
Or just use a film camera lol
I do, lots! But film is expensive :)
And lorem ipsum text is cheap.
Sony has had a history with making proprietary storage cards for its handheld gaming devices instead of simply letting you use SD cards, so it’s not out of the conversation
There are just two insightful comments on the PetaPixel article:
Allen Mac:
It’s likely due to patent issues - patent trolls demanding outrageous loyalties for using their ideas.
Mick:
100%, I guess they’ve got some large corporate client who has asked for this feature, so they’ve done a deal with the patent owners and offered it as the patent licensing fees they wanted, plus development costs. I doubt Sony is making a profit on this feature, they’re doing it to sell more cameras.
That would make a lot of sense. I hope it is the case and not just milking it. On a body that expensive adding upcharged soft/firmware without a good cause is repulsive. Sony took a huge share of the market by dropping FF mirrorless, but with their competitors showing up ready to fight I don’t think they can afford to pull this stuff off unless they get into a cabal together…
A patent makes no sense here, an overlay on a screen is something computers have done for decades. I certainly can’t imagine how anyone could have a patent for something done by the bespoke hardware of each camera manufacturer.
You’d be amazed at the ridiculousness of patents. Apple has a patent for detecting phone numbers in text.
This makes the most sense to me. Assuming this is true,it would be idiotic of Sony to pay even $1 to those trolls on every camera they sell for such a niche feature. Better to pass the cost on to the people that desperately need it and pay for it out of corporate coffers anyway.
Seems like that particular patent has expired due to the non-payment of fees in 2014:
PATENT EXPIRED DUE TO NONPAYMENT OF MAINTENANCE FEES UNDER 37 CFR 1.362
Meh, every time there’s a company that makes a greedy or stupid move there’s someone to comment “it’s probably because of patents”, but it’s almost never the case.
Sometimes companies are just greedy.
We used thin painters tape on our studio monitors.
Yeah I was like there must be a practical solution for a lot of situations too, but I understand the astonishment.
Back when I did school photos for a short stint we just had a small external monitor with the lines on it already. This was in 2006. It had to be custom made. Today you can probably do the same thing yourself for about the same as the as what Sony is asking, only you can get seven or eight inch monitor instead of the tiny 3 incher on the back of the camera. If I was taking a mass amount of portraits all day I’d think I’d rather use that money on a larger monitor instead of firmware upgrade.
I don’t think these companies understand that these sorts of money grabs are only going to hurt them in the long run. People are going to get so sick of it that governments well start to regulate it. Or a competitor will see it as an opportunity to steal your customer base.
I rarely use to see people looking for an alternative to photoshop, now I see it all the time. People are sick of companies trying to squeeze every last penny out of us. There are so many alternatives that are currently aiming for the more casual user. It’s only a matter of time before a successful attempt is made at pro and serious users.
Adobe Premiere seems to be losing users left and right. Davinci seems to be super ascendant right now.
People are sick of this crap.
