You can always provide feedback to the developer of the software, reward them with a PayPal donation if they make changes that make you happy. Or find another solution that you like better.
tsdevine wrote:
You can always provide feedback to the developer of the software, reward them with a PayPal donation if they make changes that make you happy. Or find another solution that you like better.
Or not I guess.
If perchance you didn't see it, the developer, Wolfram, is the third poster in the thread and he noted the bugs in the program with the A1 II. He wrote:
"I am pleased that the program is even known and used here.
Unfortunately, there are still some bugs in the new version regarding the A1 Mark II data. I hope to get them fixed as soon as possible and find more time to continue working on the program. Unfortunately, I hardly got around to it last year.
I did see that. What does it change about my post?
Give feedback about the specific issue you have, to the developer. Maybe PM him here, for example. Maybe that's a bug he already knows about. Maybe he'll prioritize fixing that. (Assuming it can be fixed.)
Maybe Sony should have a Info menu, and just show the shutter count. From what I gather, Sony seems to be making it harder to obtain the shutter count though.
Many donation funded tools aren't the most polished. Maybe there is truly something perfect out there, that doesn't require shooting with mechanical shutter to get a file that works with the software.
But AFAIK, there is no other tool out there currently that can report shutter count for the a1 II from a RAW file.
chiron wrote:
If perchance you didn't see it, the developer, Wolfram, is the third poster in the thread and he noted the bugs in the program with the A1 II. He wrote:
"I am pleased that the program is even known and used here.
Unfortunately, there are still some bugs in the new version regarding the A1 Mark II data. I hope to get them fixed as soon as possible and find more time to continue working on the program. Unfortunately, I hardly got around to it last year.
tsdevine wrote:
I did see that. What does it change about my post?
Give feedback about the specific issue you have, to the developer. Maybe PM him here, for example. Maybe that's a bug he already knows about. Maybe he'll prioritize fixing that. (Assuming it can be fixed.)
Maybe Sony should have a Info menu, and just show the shutter count. From what I gather, Sony seems to be making it harder to obtain the shutter count though.
Many donation funded tools aren't the most polished. Maybe there is truly something perfect out there, that doesn't require shooting with mechanical shutter to get a file that works with the software.
But AFAIK, there is no other tool out there currently that can report shutter count for the a1 II from a RAW file.
I thought my quoting him was a confirmation of the idea in your post. I didn't think it changed anything about your post.
But I am not in any great hurry to get a shutter count. It's just a mild interest. I'm sure that soon there will be many ways to get an accurate count.
I think it's Sony that changed this with A1II. What's worse, probably the shutter count is not written in the EXIF anymore when shooting electronic shutter...
j4nu wrote:
I think it's Sony that changed this with A1II. What's worse, probably the shutter count is not written in the EXIF anymore when shooting electronic shutter...
If that is right, then the necessity of using a mechanical shutter file to get a mechanical shutter count will probably be a permanent feature of the A1 II. Unless Sony changes the behavior in a firmware update, and why would they?
I still don't know why my new copy of the A1 II reports N/A for shutter count in A7Info. Possibly because there are no mechanical actuations on the camera? But why wouldn't it just say zero? It does seem like the A1 II's exif info may be a trifle odd on shutter counts.
chiron wrote:
Pretty obvious complication. My copy of A7Info is just reporting "N/A" as the shutter count for my A1II. The program required your experimentation and explanation of how to get shutter counts accurately by only using a file shot with mechanical shutter, which explanation must then be passed along each time the program reaches a new user. This just creates confusion. While this seems like a nice program in many ways, it creates difficulties for getting a shutter count that usually don't exist with other programs.
Looks like v3.8 requires latest Mac OS, e.g. 26.x? It would not start on my 15.7.5.
If this is indeed the case a small warning on the website prior to downloading would be valuable.
pluturi wrote:
Looks like v3.8 requires latest Mac OS, e.g. 26.x? It would not start on my 15.7.5.
If this is indeed the case a small warning on the website prior to downloading would be valuable.
Hello pluturi,
sorry to hear about the problem!
The program should actually work on any (reasonably up-to-date) version of macOS 14 or later. Maybe someone else can check if the same issues occur on other computers...
I’ve been working on an enhanced version behind the scenes for some time now, and I’d like to release it today. The list of planned changes was actually even longer—but at some point, you just have to let go :-) So: here is version 4.0.
The user interface has undergone some changes; design adjustments have been made, and all toolbar icons have been implemented as vector graphics (SVG), which should make a noticeable difference on Retina and HiDPI displays.
In addition to the visual facelift, there are also some functional improvements that I felt were important and that have been increasingly requested:
- J/K Navigation: You can now use J and K to scroll through images directly from the main window without having to first click to focus on the thumbnail window.
- EXIF search field: Especially with cameras that have extensive EXIF and MakerNotes data, it can sometimes be tedious to find a specific field. A simple search field filters the display.
- Star rating: Images can now be rated with 0–5 stars—using the keyboard (keys 0–5) or a mouse click. Data is saved locally per directory, completely independently of Lightroom. If you still want to transfer the ratings to Lightroom, you can export them as XMP sidecars.
- Batch EXIF export: The metadata for an entire directory can be exported at once as CSV or JSON — handy if you ever want to perform a larger analysis.
- FocusLocation redesigned: The crosshairs have been replaced by a new icon consisting of two circles with tick marks, which also pulses so that it remains visible even in low-contrast areas of the image.
Online help is now available for the first time on the website (now in German and English). The manual has also been revised.
A7Info is and will always be freeware. As always, you can download it for macOS and Windows from my website
sorry to hear about the problem!
The program should actually work on any (reasonably up-to-date) version of macOS 14 or later. Maybe someone else can check if the same issues occur on other computers...
best regards, Wolfram
FYI, I used the maintenance tool to remove v3.8 and installed v4.0 and it failed again. The application icon is covered with a gray circle with a line through it and when I click on it I get a message box saying that the application won't run on this version of Mac OS.
I then tried a fresh install on a different machine running 15.7.5 which has never had A7info installed and got the same result.
Thanks for reporting this. Please follow these steps so I can identify the cause.
Step 1 — Try to open the app manually
1. Open Finder and navigate to your Applications folder
2. Right-click on A7Info and choose Open
3. If macOS shows a warning dialog, click Open anyway
Does the app start now? If yes, you only need to do this once — it will open normally afterwards.
---
Step 2 — Check the error message in Terminal
If Step 1 didn't work, open Terminal (search for it in Spotlight with ⌘ Space).
Then type the following command and press Enter:
/Applications/A7Info.app/Contents/MacOS/A7Info
Please copy the complete output from the Terminal window and send it to me. Even if it looks cryptic — every line helps.
---
Step 3 — Check macOS security settings
Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security and scroll down. If you see a message about A7Info being blocked, click "Open Anyway".
---
Additional info that would help:
- Your Mac model (e.g. MacBook Pro M2, iMac Intel)
thanks for the reports about A7Info 4.0 not launching on older macOS versions — I've tracked down the cause and released a fix.
The original build accidentally included a library that was compiled without an explicit minimum OS target, which caused it to require macOS 26 — the version I was building on. This meant A7Info 4.0 simply refused to start on any older system.
The updated build is now available on the https://www.soens.de/downloads.html. The minimum requirement is macOS 15 Sequoia. Both Intel and Apple Silicon are supported via Universal Binary.
Sorry for the inconvenience — please give it another try!
I haven't posted here in a long time, but my program is still available. I'm now on version 4.2, and there have been many additions and fixes over the past few years. The latest updates now also support the A7V and A7RVI.
Maybe it's still a helpful tool for some of you.
Best regards, Wolfram
P.S.: You can find the download and information about the program here
Hi Wolfram - thanks for the new version. FYI, on my Mac running OS 15.7.5 it asks for permission to access removable volumes and the Downloads folder multiple times during every start of the application. It also asks for this permission upon selecting every image. Needless to say it should only ask once on startup and it should remember my approval.
