Designed mainly for schools, photo studios, theme parks, and cruise ships.
    • andrei-mo@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      7 months ago

      … 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.

      • Fineus@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        7 months ago

        Shoot and post our loot boxes on your social media to receive FREE collectable skinned menu systems for your mirrorless camera!

    • AngusLynch09@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      7 months ago

      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.

      • Anaaatomy@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        7 months ago

        You actually make a good point, i would love to try out shooting with wide aspect ratios

    • stoneyyay@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      7 months ago

      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

      • Provia100F@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        7 months ago

        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.

        • rpkarma@alien.topBEnglish
          1·
          7 months ago

          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

        • Fantastic_Raccoon103@alien.topBEnglish
          1·
          7 months ago

          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

    • ctruvu@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      7 months ago

      pre printed gridlined screen protectors should be a thing. not like there are that many different screen sizes to have to account for

  • Slarm@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    7 months ago

    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…

    • Omnitographer@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      7 months ago

      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.

      • Sarkos@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        7 months ago

        You’d be amazed at the ridiculousness of patents. Apple has a patent for detecting phone numbers in text.

    • sturmen@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      7 months ago

      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.

      • frankchn@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        7 months ago

        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

    • ZeAthenA714@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      7 months ago

      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.

    • qtx@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      7 months ago

      They won’t.

      If people could hack the firmware of these companies they would’ve done it by now, but no one has.

      Except the old Magic Lantern one from decades ago.

      • 7LeagueBoots@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        7 months ago

        It’s been done for Sony cameras a while back. One of the tools that lets you get into the camera’s firmware is Sony-PMCA-RE. As far as I know this is not the only one either.

        It’s not a powerful as a Magic Lantern, but that’s not the point, which is that camera firmware hacks are still going on.

        As long as there is a reason and motivation someone will figure it out.

        • hardonchairs@alien.topBEnglish
          1·
          7 months ago

          Well no one has figured it out since they stopped supporting the playmemories store in cameras.

    • justinkthornton@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      7 months ago

      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.

    • GregnantMan@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      7 months ago

      Yeah I was like there must be a practical solution for a lot of situations too, but I understand the astonishment.