A77 shutter difficulties

[Snarglefarg]

I'm purchased the A77 last month and am still learning about all of its features. During my first outing, I was impressed by its responsiveness and how quickly I could bring the camera to my eye and click the shutter.

My last two outings haven't been as successful. I've missed many shots as I pressed the shutter, but the shutter did not fire. After maybe 10 seconds I'm able to get a shot, but I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. I thought that enabling GPS may have caused the delay but disabling GPS doesn't correct the issue. Can anybody provide me with some direction about what I may be doing wrong? I'm happy to provide additional details if needed. Thanks.

 

[Dav38]

Hi

What firmware version do you have ? I got this issue that disapeared with 1.04 firmware

 

[KiwiBee]

The only suggestion I could make is that you have activated the Priority AF setting in the menu, which only allows the shutter to fire once AF has been achieved. Can't explain such a long delay however.
--
KiwiBee

 

[Fredrik strm735324]

I'm purchased the A77 last m

 

[jl_smith]

A couple of things to check

1) Make sure your drive mode isn't in 2 or 10 - sec timer.

2) Make sure you haven't somehow disabled AF-with shutter release while simultaneously running in AF-priority mode.

--
JL Smith
http://www.clickingwithsmitty.com

 

[tbcass]

My last two outings haven't been as successful. I've missed many shots as I pressed the shutter, but the shutter did not fire. After maybe 10 seconds I'm able to get a shot, but I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong.

It sounds like you may have the 10 sec timer on which delays shutter release for 10 seconds after the button is pushed. The 10 sec delay is primarily for self portraits or allowing you time to join in on group shots. I have had the same thing happen when I used the feature and forgot to turn it off.

--
Tom

Look at the picture, not the pixels

http://www.flickr.com/photos/63683676@N07/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25301400@N00/

 

[OntarioJohn]

At times if you have no focus the shutter won't work.

Test this by using something like my 70 to 300.

Get too close to say focus on the ground, but it's almost there. Push the button and nothing. Then move back and get focus and it works.

At times, the eye things through the viewfinder things are ok, when you should get a proper focus.

This has baffled me more than once and the camera was sort of saying, wait, you don't have a shot.

Anyways, something to try, as it's easy to do rather than make it complicated if it's not. When I first got the camera I had that same issue, and now I know I need to fix the focus.

 

[Snarglefarg]

Firmware is 1.04, which is what the camera came with. Camera doesn't focus at all while it's in this state. No beep, no auto focus. The only change I see in the eyepiece is in the lower right corner, "ISO Auto" changes to, for example, "ISO 1600" (or whatever it wants to set the iSO to.)

Priority setup is "AF". I didn't many many changes to the menus and don't recall changing that.

Drive mode is set to "Single Shooting".

As stated by OntarioJohn, without the ability to focus, the camera won't shoot. I turned the A77 on in my living room while writing this and the problem appeared. It took maybe 5-10 seconds before I could fire off a shot. After that, the camera appeared to respond quickly and I couldn't reproduce the issue until I pointed the camera at my keyboard at too close a range. It couldn't focus (though it tried) and the problem was reproduced. However, I then pointed the camera back into my living room and the camera responded normally.

The times that this occurred for me were during the daytime at a playground with the kids. There was sufficient light in shaded daylight conditions. I have tried using Auto, Auto* and P modes, all with the same results.

 

[quatpat]

Firmware is 1.04, which is what the camera came with. Camera doesn't focus at all while it's in this state. No beep, no auto focus. The only change I see in the eyepiece is in the lower right corner, "ISO Auto" changes to, for example, "ISO 1600" (or whatever it wants to set the iSO to.)

Priority setup is "AF". I didn't many many changes to the menus and don't recall changing that.

Drive mode is set to "Single Shooting".

As stated by OntarioJohn, without the ability to focus, the camera won't shoot. I turned the A77 on in my living room while writing this and the problem appeared. It took maybe 5-10 seconds before I could fire off a shot. After that, the camera appeared to respond quickly and I couldn't reproduce the issue until I pointed the camera at my keyboard at too close a range. It couldn't focus (though it tried) and the problem was reproduced. However, I then pointed the camera back into my living room and the camera responded normally.

The times that this occurred for me were during the daytime at a playground with the kids. There was sufficient light in shaded daylight conditions. I have tried using Auto, Auto* and P modes, all with the same results.

I don't know what the issue is outdoors, but for sure when you point your camera at something that's closer than the minimal focus distance, it won't be able to focus and therefore not release the shutter when you're in AF priority.

Did the focus work fine when you were outdoors with the kids?

qp

 

[Clint501]

From Gary Friedman's A77 book

Menu Position MENU  3  Priority Setup
What it Does Lets you select between “Only take a picture if the
camera thinks the subject is in focus” and “Take the picture when I say
so!”
Recommended Setting I strongly endorse “Release”, but it really
depends on your personal tastes and working style.

 

[Snarglefarg]

I don't know what the issue is outdoors, but for sure when you point your camera at something that's closer than the minimal focus distance, it won't be able to focus and therefore not release the shutter when you're in AF priority.

Did the focus work fine when you were outdoors with the kids?

No, camera did not initiate auto focus. Since AF priority is on, the camera won't take a picture until it's focus, but since it won't focus, it never takes the shot.

 

[Snarglefarg]

From Gary Friedman's A77 book

Menu Position MENU  3  Priority Setup
What it Does Lets you select between “Only take a picture if the
camera thinks the subject is in focus” and “Take the picture when I say
so!”
Recommended Setting I strongly endorse “Release”, but it really
depends on your personal tastes and working style.

Thanks. I'll have a look at this setting. I can definitely see benefits to both settings. If my camera isn't initiating AF, then I may get the shot off, but it will be out of focus. My background before going digital with inferior cameras was with the Konica FS-1 and FT-1. I've never had autofocus, so if I'm struggling, I suppose I could focus it myself. Still, I do need to get to the bottom of this.

 

[Snarglefarg]

After taking the camera on vacation and using it a fair bit, I've discovered that the problem is that the camera is not auto focusing. The camera may be asking the lens to focus, but the lens does not respond. As a result, the image is out of focus and the camera is waiting for focus before firing off the image.

The switch on the lends is set to AF. I tried switching to MF and back to AF but it didn't help. If I manually focus, the camera beeps because it's in focus and I'm able to fire off a picture. Also, if I set the preference to auto focus when the camera is brought to my eye, I see the (( )) symbol which according to the manual means, "still focusing", but it never does. I think that when I held down the button as described in my previous messages, I probably moved the camera around a bit as well and something happened to come into focus, so I was able to fire off a shot.

Before assuming that I'm doing everything correctly, does anybody have any suggestions about any setting I may have overlooked? If it's an issue with the camera or lens, I may take a ride over to a Sony Store this weekend and have them take a look.

Incidentally, I did the firmware update to 1.0.5 and the problem remains.

 

[Tubal]

I would guess it's an issue with the lens. Do you have any other lenses to test with?

 

[Kerzon]

Mine did the exact same thing. Everyone here pretty much said it was the lens. I didn't have another lens to try so I had to send the camera and lens to Sony.
Everyone here was right. They replaced the lens and all has been fine since.

 

[Snarglefarg]

Mine did the exact same thing. Everyone here pretty much said it was the lens. I didn't have another lens to try so I had to send the camera and lens to Sony.
Everyone here was right. They replaced the lens and all has been fine since.

I don't have another lens to test with, but yes, it looks like I'm having this same issue. I'll take a ride to the Sony Store this weekend and see if I can get it sorted out. I'll be really happy when this is resolved.

 

[OntarioJohn]

I had issues with some lenses, my older ones. They got sorted with the 1.05 upgrade. I also had some settings wrong. I'd wonder about resetting everything, and going from there.

Incidentally, I had ordered just the body. But to try it out I needed to see through a lens, I was just going to use the a100's kit lens and others I had, even the old Minolta AF glass.

So I tried the 30 to 300 ssmg lens in the store. The love started. The lens loved me and I loved it back. I could not bear to unmount the lens so I bought it. WOW. I went to Mexico and got such awesome shots. My old kit lens stayed in the bag, it was a cheap Sony entry level lens.

I came home and bought the 16 to 50 ssm lens.

I have to tell you the a77 body forced me to do all that. I don't care what I had in the bag as lenses go, I think I'll end up selling them. They have never harmed me but what do I need them for? The 50 prime minolta I got in a box new, a keeper. A 500 mm prime Sigma that never focused with the a100 works perfect. A keeper. But boy, the lenses and the A77 are great, made for each other.

Keep at it, there is a solution.

I'd try the factory reset, although I though the upgrade to 1.05 did that on it's own?

 

[LesP]

I've not heard of this Sony lens - "So I tried the 30 to 300 ssmg lens in the store." Can I assume you mean 70-300.. or is this really sneaking out there - in which case I want one
--
LesP

 

[OntarioJohn]

70 to 300, it's just my chemo brain.

The chemo sees to have worked, but my brain goes into weird freezes.

Heck it might just be Canada, where it's almost always 0C at night in April.

Can't warm up enough for me eh?

But there was nothing as exciting as seeing that a77 with the new lens and how the colours popped and everything was so wow. I never had that happen before.

It's the EV. I swear most people will love it so much.

You think they can get this technology to work in the little package so you have a cute little wafer in your pocket and...never mind. Off to bed soon.