Sony officially released the new firmware for the A700 DSLR today. The new software is available from the European site HERE.  I am not sure why the update is not showing up on the American website, but it might just be a matter of time. 

 The firmware  includes a noise-reduction ‘off’ setting that will hopefully address some of the early criticisms of the camera. There are also changes to the bracketing, white balance and dynamic range optimization. After I have the new firmware in place I will test to see if the new settings make that much difference to the final image.

From Sony:

Improvements and solved issues 

• The choice to select auto exposure bracketing (single & continuous) with 3 shots in 2 EV steps has been added.
• The choice to turn [Off] the High ISO NR feature has been added.
• Improvement of the image quality in high ISO setting.
• Improvement of the auto white balance and D-Range Optimizer performance.
• Improvement of reliability for communication between camera body and vertical grip.

Sony has recently updated its processing software. 

Application Software

Image Data Converter SR (v3.0 – updated to match the one supplied with ?900)

• Improves ease of use by unifying pallets and positioning of tool bar buttons
• Increases speed of display rendering
• Adds Peripheral Illumination compensation
• Improves effectiveness of Dynamic Range Optimizer

Image Data Lightbox SR (v2.0) 

• Increases speed of display rendering
• Adds settings of color label and display sort by camera which captured image

Remote Camera Control (v2.0 – only applies to ?700)

• Adds Interval Shooting function (Windows only)
• Adds the choice off ±2.0EV, 3 shot EV Bracketing (available in both single and continuous modes)