Update: Oops. The 3.0 update has been pulled by Sony temporarily while they investigate some issues.
At Sony Kando 2.0, Sony staff, including engineers from Japan, were listening to the Sony Ambassadors, the press, and the customers who had signed up.
One thing some people didn't understand about the Winter Olympics was why so few A9's appeared to be in use. Well, one reason for that is that many of the big agencies use serial numbers to track who shot what, and the Sony cameras don't write the serial number into EXIF data!
Guess what? Today Sony announced the 3.0 firmware update for the Sony A9 and it has a new menu option: Write Serial Number. Why we need a menu option for that, I don't know. I suppose some might say being able to leave it off is a privacy option, but I just hear no one asking for that.
Other things that Sony added that were clearly suggested by the early A9 sports users include the ability to add the AF Track Sens options to a Custom Key. Indeed, a lot of the changes to the camera's firmware all center around autofocus and autofocus performance.
Now we just need Sony to spend a little more time on the physical ergonomics of the camera, and they'll have a very competent competitor to the Canon/Nikon top DSLRs. Well, okay, one more thing: Sony's firmware installation procedure is still problematic, particularly on a recent macOS computer.
Meanwhile, Sony has officially launched the 400mm f/2.8 GM. The expected price was met at US$11,999, but the lens is significantly lighter than many expected, fast 102.2 ounces (2895g).