Alan, Firmware Update Question

I see that Samsung has just issued a firmware update for the GX-10, and the I also see that the camera was announced on September 21, 2006. That's about 8 months for the update.

You said that Sony had issued a few before, the H2 being one of them. How long did it take for them to issue those updates?
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JJ

The H2/h5 firmware update was within a few short weeks of release.
The F828 firmware update as a few months, if I remember properly.

There's no map for this. Several new cameras have recently had almost-immediate firmware upgrades. My D200 had an upgrade within a couple of months, and I noticed that the new Pentax K10D had a really fast one too.

If Sony decides to fix the compression issue and restore "fine" compression, I would expect it to be a pretty quick update as they don't have to write new software for it - their pre-production cameras already had the feature on them.

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=~ AAK - http://www.aakatz.com
=~ Author of The White Paper
=~ http://www.aakatz.com/whitepaper

AAK said:

If Sony decides to fix the compression issue and restore "fine"
compression, I would expect it to be a pretty quick update as they
don't have to write new software for it - their pre-production
cameras already had the feature on them.

Click to expand...

Hello Alan that's a very interesting point that the prerproduction models had the lower compression "fine" setting already??? Really makes one wonder what were they thinking and why the compromises?

I do know that they are marketing it, the H9, as the camera for the soccer mom & dad with kids on the soccer pitch. Action and speed.

When they do have a release I guess the STF catches wind of it pretty quickly and we will know soon enough after the fact.

AAK said:

The H2/h5 firmware update was within a few short weeks of release.

Click to expand...

I got my H5 from Sonystyle when they were first released, but haven't done any firmware update. Am I missing something, and if so, how/where do I catch up?...

Thanks.. Phreddy

AAK said:

If Sony decides to fix the compression issue and restore "fine"
compression, I would expect it to be a pretty quick update as they
don't have to write new software for it - their pre-production
cameras already had the feature on them

Click to expand...

Alan, how have your discussions with Sony been going (if you've had any lately)? What exactly did you point out to them, and do you feel that they've been seriously interested in what you had to say?

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JJ

AAK said:

The H2/h5 firmware update was within a few short weeks of release.
The F828 firmware update as a few months, if I remember properly.

Click to expand...

But the updates only fixed some minor problems. They didn't change image quality. The F828 update did not eliminate the PF. The H2 update was merely to accept memory other than Sony.

AAK said:

If Sony decides to fix the compression issue and restore "fine"
compression, I would expect it to be a pretty quick update as they
don't have to write new software for it - their pre-production
cameras already had the feature on them.

Click to expand...

Sony must have had some strategic reason they eliminated that from the production version. The H9 is not the only camera that has appeared without fine/standard either. All their latest cameras have followed the same line. While I agree it should be simple, since the previous firmware included it, I wonder if they are even willing to admit that there is a problem with the decision to do away with the quality choice since we don't even know their reason for eliminating it.

Olga