a7s: can't get it back to English - please help

WhiteOpus

WhiteOpus

Hello,

I bought an A7s from Amazon (and from that, a company in the U.S.). It was all in English when I first got it. The camera told me that the card I wanted to use was not going to accept XAVC recording mode. Because of this, I re-initialized the camera to restore any settings that may be restricting my use of that recording mode. Now suddenly everything is in some weird language that I can't read.

I've followed a lot of tutorials online but my menu is literally missing the language option to change it to ANY other language whatsoever. I am completely baffled on how to get this thing back to english when there's no menu option to do so.

Here are two photos. The first one is what the menu is supposed to look like (based on a screenshot from a tutorial i watched) after re-initializing:

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The second one is what I have. You can see that there is no "A" icon which is supposed to be the standard language icon for this menu. Also, the language seems to be slightly different than the one shown in the tutorial videos. Please, please help me. Should I send it back? There seems to be no way to get it back to english and I don't want to have to go through this bullshit every single time I want to re-initialize.

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The 'A' icon says 'language' next to it. It reads:

A. Language. Two characters I can't understand and the next two characters meaning 'China.' Note the words are not 'Chinese,' the last two characters literally mean 'China.' Also, bizarrely, the word 'language' looks reversed.

The setting below is date / time (plus two characters at the end I can't read but am guessing they mean 'setting' or something similar).

I'm only half-Chinese so understand half.

You've chosen the correct setting, just click on it and circle through until you come across the characters '英语' - that means English. However, the setting reads 'China,' not Chinese so maybe English would be 英格兰 for England or possibly even 美国 (America).
 
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Are you sure you're using the second (bottom) photo as reference for your answers here? I don't see anything that resembles an "A" in my photo (other than possibly the first symbol on the third line down). Nor do I see the symbols you say you saw (for "language")
 
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Oops, sorry looking at the wrong one. Naturally gravitated to the one which looked Chinese as am half-Chinese.

Second one is Japanese and there is no word for 'language' on that page.

Line 1: can't understand
Line 2 says: Setting
Line 3 says: Week time setting
Line 4: Area setting

There is nothing in there for the word 'language.'

You need to make friends with your friendly, neighbourhood sushi chef who can take you through the camera. Only when completely desperate, find a Chinese person because the Japanese took the Chinese alphabet but you'd be better off with a Jap as there are now lots of differences and they'll find it for you in 5 seconds.
 
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I have a few friends who have taken years of japanese in college, i could try having them take a whack at it. i've already put the exchange request in, as I'm not really feeling like this is right.
 
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Shouted to SonyElectronics, hoping they'll have an answer for me. I am not sure on specifics, but I think the seller may have imported a Japanese version, figured out how to flash an English firmware onto the camera, and sold it as the US version. Then I initialized it and the firmware went out the window, revealing the unchangeable japanese that is standard on the Japanese ones only (this is a shot in the dark)
 
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Alright, I received this email from the seller on Amazon:

"Hello *****, The cameras software reverted back to its original programming at the time is was manufactured. The software has to be reinstalled. This can only be done by Sony. I will have to exchange this camera for you but Please do not do a master reset. I will email you a prepaid FedEx return label on Wednesday. Our office will be closed On Monday and Tuesday in observance of the Jewish Holiday I sent you an email regarding this issue on Saturday, September 19, 2015 8:37 AM
To: ****** ******* ([e-mail address removed]) Order ID: 104-6327915-5653019 To my valued customers, Hello my name is Eric. Regarding the Sony A7s, it has come to my attention that you should never under any circumstances do a master reset. The language will revert to its original Japanese and can only be changed back by sending Japan. I personally learned this the hard way. So enjoy your camera and please do not reset."

Okay, so I'm thinking this is totally bogus. There is no reason that Sony would put the reset option on there if you were never supposed to use it...Already filed a claim, but does this sound like a scam/oblivious seller?
 
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WhiteOpus said:
Shouted to SonyElectronics, hoping they'll have an answer for me. I am not sure on specifics, but I think the seller may have imported a Japanese version, figured out how to flash an English firmware onto the camera, and sold it as the US version. Then I initialized it and the firmware went out the window, revealing the unchangeable japanese that is standard on the Japanese ones only (this is a shot in the dark)
Click to expand...


Sounds logical. They're saving money and making more profit.
 
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