Minolta D7 upgrade, ordering from Netherlands

Could anyone inform me how and where I can purchase the upgrade from the Netherlands. The Minolta USA store only accepts orders from US residents

Louis

You can place an order at http://www.technikdirekt.de in Germany. They offer the upgrade as well, allthough they do not tell any delivery-date.

Ordering in the US would be useless for you, as you need the european version.

Andre
http://www.d7forum.de

LouisU said:

Could anyone inform me how and where I can purchase the upgrade
from the Netherlands. The Minolta USA store only accepts orders
from US residents

Louis

Click to expand...

LouisU said:

Could anyone inform me how and where I can purchase the upgrade
from the Netherlands. The Minolta USA store only accepts orders
from US residents

Louis

Click to expand...

If you send an email to [email protected] you will be informed when the upgrade is available in the Netherlands. The upgrade has to be done by the Minolta Technical service in Maarssen (at Utrecht).
Hans

LouisU said:

Could anyone inform me how and where I can purchase the upgrade
from the Netherlands. The Minolta USA store only accepts orders
from US residents

Louis

Click to expand...

Hi Louis,

you can download the appropriate upgrade free from the minoltaeurope website on this link http://www.minoltaeurope.com/pe/digital/customer_support.html
it does include an installation instruction
the same website also has the viewer software update

good luck
Henri

Henri Pigmans said:

you can download the appropriate upgrade free from the
minoltaeurope website on this link

Click to expand...

Well you can download an upgrade free via the link.

But it's maybe not the appropriate upgrade in this instance.

The poster was almost certainly refering to 2.0 and not 1.22 or 1.21.

--
---------------
Andrew.

Andrew Cruickshank said:

Henri Pigmans said:

you can download the appropriate upgrade free from the
minoltaeurope website on this link

Click to expand...

Well you can download an upgrade free via the link.

But it's maybe not the appropriate upgrade in this instance.

The poster was almost certainly refering to 2.0 and not 1.22 or 1.21.

--
---------------
Andrew.

Click to expand...

Yep you're right Andrew,

the upgrade to version 2 was announced at about the same date this firmware update was put on the minolta site.
The upgrade package indeed has to be purchased.

Bye
Henri

Hans said:

LouisU said:

Could anyone inform me how and where I can purchase the upgrade
from the Netherlands. The Minolta USA store only accepts orders
from US residents

Louis

Click to expand...

If you send an email to [email protected] you will be
informed when the upgrade is available in the Netherlands. The
upgrade has to be done by the Minolta Technical service in Maarssen
(at Utrecht).
Hans

Click to expand...

Hans,

Thanks for the info, I will send them an email. How did you obtain this email adress? Are you sure that the camera has to be brought into the Minolta techn Service since in the US they seem to let the user install the software themselves.

Louis

Andrew Cruickshank said:

Henri Pigmans said:

you can download the appropriate upgrade free from the
minoltaeurope website on this link

Click to expand...

Well you can download an upgrade free via the link.

But it's maybe not the appropriate upgrade in this instance.

The poster was almost certainly refering to 2.0 and not 1.22 or 1.21.

--
---------------
Andrew.

Click to expand...

Andrew,

You are right, I do mean the 2.0.

Louis

LouisU said:

Thanks for the info, I will send them an email. How did you obtain
this email adress? Are you sure that the camera has to be brought
into the Minolta techn Service since in the US they seem to let the
user install the software themselves.

Click to expand...

As I was told by a german hotline supporter, every national office of Minolta can make their own dicision how to provide the upgrade. So it is possible that you have to send your cam in if your from the Netherlands while you simply get a CD in the US.

Dat Ei

LouisU said:

Hans said:

LouisU said:

Could anyone inform me how and where I can purchase the upgrade
from the Netherlands. The Minolta USA store only accepts orders
from US residents

Louis

Click to expand...

If you send an email to [email protected] you will be
informed when the upgrade is available in the Netherlands. The
upgrade has to be done by the Minolta Technical service in Maarssen
(at Utrecht).
Hans

Click to expand...

Hans,

Thanks for the info, I will send them an email. How did you obtain
this email adress? Are you sure that the camera has to be brought
into the Minolta techn Service since in the US they seem to let the
user install the software themselves.

Louis

Click to expand...

Hi Louis,

The dealer suggested me to call myself the Minolta Technical Service,and the number he gave me was the same number as I found already on internet, minoltaeurope.com ,Technical center of the Benelux, but which I not wanted to use in first place, bypassing my good shop dealer. The Minolta technician told me that customers could send an email to that adress to become informed when the upgrade will be available and that the camera would be upgraded only by technical services.
Hans

Hey folks,

just received the following mail from Minolta, Austria. As the mail adress of the sender belongs to the minoltaeurope.com domain, I think that those facts are relevant for germany and schwitzerland, perhaps for complete europe. Sorry that this mail is in german - git no time to translate it.

But there is one point I want to highlight and that may be of common interest: Upgrading a non japanese D7 with the japanese firmware can do irreraparable harm to your cam.

"Sehr geehrter Kunde,

wir bedanken uns fuer Ihre Anfrage und nehmen gern dazu Stellung.

Antwort: In nächster Zeit wird Minolta in Europa ein Firmware Upgrade
mit Funktionserweiterungen für die DiMAGE 7 anbieten. Mit dem Upgrade
werden alle softwaretechnischen Möglichkeiten genutzt, die DiMAGE 7 ein
Jahr nach der Markteinführung dem derzeitigen Stand der Digitaltechnik
anzupassen.
Ihre DiMAGE 7 wird damit in den Funktionen und in ihrer
Leistungsfähigkeit eine deutliche Aufwertung erfahren. Nachfolgend
aufgelistet finden Sie den Umfang dieses Upgrades basierend auf dem
derzeitigen Kenntnisstand im Vorfeld der Markteinführung (Änderungen
bleiben vorbehalten). Bitte beachten Sie unbedingt die unten
aufgeführten Hinweise.

Der vorgesehene Funktionsumfang sieht folgendermaßen aus:

schnellere AF-Geschwindigkeit (ca. 1,5 mal schneller)
Serienbilder bis 1,5 Bilder/s (bisher 1,1 Bilder/s)
UHS (Ultra High Speed) Serienbildmodus (5 Bilder/s in SXGA 1280 x 960)
DMF (Direct Manual Focus)
Gitternetz- und Fadenkreuz-Monitorfunktionen
neue Filmsequenzeinstellungen (Ultra-Highspeed Serienbildfunktion,
Zeitraffer und Nachtfilm in S/W)
Buchstabeneingabe mit europäischen Akzenten und Umlauten
Benennung der Bildordner mit Standardbezeichnungen oder einem
Aufnahmedatum
Manuelle Leistungsbegrenzung des eingebauten Blitzgerätes in drei
Stufen: voll, 1/2 und 1/16.
Echtzeit-Histogramm
Lupenfunktion bei der Bildwiedergabe nun auch bei Quick View (QV) von
1,2fache bis 4fache Vergrößerung in 0,2fach-Schritten
Exif Print Kompatibilität
· · ·

ACHTUNG!
Bitte installieren Sie auf keinem Fall die kostenpflichtig über Internet
erhältliche japanische Version des Firmware-Upgrades auf Ihrer DiMAGE 7.
Schwere bzw. irreparable Schäden an Ihrer Kamera wären dabei die Folge!

Das Upgrade ist ueber den Handel beziehbar.
Preise:
Dimage 7 Upgrade Software DG7-UG EVP 59,- Euro
Dimage Viewer 2.0 DIV2 CD-R EVP 59,- Euro
Set: Upgrade + Viewer EVP 99,- Euro

Alle Artikel sind erhaeltlich ab August.
Das Upgrade ist einfach durchzufuehren. Eine Beschreibung liegt bei.

Bei weiteren anwendungstechnischen Fragen stehen wir Ihnen jederzeit
gern zur Verfuegung. Sie erreichen uns auch in den Zeiten 8:30Uhr bis
17:00Uhr unter der Tel.Nr. Deutschland: 01805 74 04 04 (EUR 0,12/min)
Oesterreich: 0820 874 401 (EUR 0,14/min) Schweiz: 0900 90 7000.(SFr.
0.64/min. Weiterhin stehen wir Ihnen unter der Adresse
WWW.Minoltasupport.com/WWW.Minolta-Support.com 24 Stunden kostenlos
zur Verfügung

Mit freundlichen Gruessen
Minolta Dimage-Hotline

Bei Rueckfragen:
Bitte antworten Sie mit \"Antworten\" oder kopieren den Text der Mail in
die neue hinein. Das erleichtert uns die Arbeit und beschleunigt die
Bearbeitung Ihrer Anfrage.
Danke."

Dat Ei

Dat Ei said:

But there is one point I want to highlight and that may be of
common interest: Upgrading a non japanese D7 with the japanese
firmware can do irreraparable harm to your cam.

Click to expand...

Somehow I don't believe them. There are no reasons to believe that
there are any differences between the 'j' version and other versions
except the initial firmware that has been loaded.

So either they are implying there is a risk of doing irreparable harm
upgrading all firmware or that there is a bug specific to the 'j' firmware
that endangers the cam.

--
---------------
Andrew.

It is possible that the upgrade does not replace all of the firmware code, but only parts of it. Then mixing japanese firmware with european upgrade can result in a mismatch and the code won't work at all. Theoretically it may prevent you from loading firmware through the CF, but I don't think it would require more repairs that replacing or initializing the ROM chips.

Torte

Andrew Cruickshank said:

Dat Ei said:

But there is one point I want to highlight and that may be of
common interest: Upgrading a non japanese D7 with the japanese
firmware can do irreraparable harm to your cam.

Click to expand...

Somehow I don't believe them. There are no reasons to believe that
there are any differences between the 'j' version and other versions
except the initial firmware that has been loaded.

So either they are implying there is a risk of doing irreparable harm
upgrading all firmware or that there is a bug specific to the 'j'
firmware
that endangers the cam.

--
---------------
Andrew.

Click to expand...

Andrew Cruickshank said:

Somehow I don't believe them. There are no reasons to believe that
there are any differences between the 'j' version and other versions
except the initial firmware that has been loaded.

So either they are implying there is a risk of doing irreparable harm
upgrading all firmware or that there is a bug specific to the 'j'
firmware
that endangers the cam.

Click to expand...

This was the second time that I got those infos from a Minolta supporter. The first one argued that some of the adresses, where the internal cpu finds its routines and data, are totally different to the adresses of a US or european version due to the larger memory space the japanese font needs. I don´t find the argumentation to incredible. But if the firmware can really do an irreperable harm to the hardware - I don´t know cause I didn´t develop the D7 and don´t know much about the inner life of it. I think it´s still imaginable - enough reasons to no to.

Dat Ei

Dat Ei said:

Hey folks,

just received the following mail from Minolta, Austria. As the mail
adress of the sender belongs to the minoltaeurope.com domain, I
think that those facts are relevant for germany and schwitzerland,
perhaps for complete europe. Sorry that this mail is in german -
git no time to translate it.
But there is one point I want to highlight and that may be of
common interest: Upgrading a non japanese D7 with the japanese
firmware can do irreraparable harm to your cam.

All I can say is not on my D7. I have used both the USA and Japanese versions of 121. The only reason not to use the Japanese version is that I could not remember the menu structure to change the lang. back to English. I have been to 122 u and back to 121e, again not problem.

Click to expand...

The files don't load as standard but by using the Japanese "bin" file from 120 I made the changes.

--
Pete Vickers

http://www.pbase.com/petevickers

Tortellino said:

It is possible that the upgrade does not replace all of the
firmware code, but only parts of it.

Click to expand...

It's unlikely -- not impossible -- but unlikely.

--
---------------
Andrew.

Dat Ei said:

But if the firmware can really do an
irreperable harm to the hardware - I don´t know cause I didn´t
develop the D7 and don´t know much about the inner life of it. I
think it´s still imaginable - enough reasons to no to.

Click to expand...

If the firmware can do irreparable damage to the hardware then
they are implying that the system design is inadequate.

--
---------------
Andrew.