NEW firmware upgrades for Panasonic cameras

See

http://panasonic.jp/support/global/cs/info/dsc_battery.html

This states that

[ Warning ]

After this firmware update your Panasonic Digital Camera cannot be operated by 3rd party batteries (non genuine Panasonic batteries).

I think that's clear unfortunately?

Regards

David

Geoffrey Kitt said:

igivanov said:

have you read what comes with this update? perhaps if you do you'd
realize that the next one may not be so forgiving

Click to expand...

Thanks, yes I read it very carefully and was reassured that the
firmware update identifies those batteries which don't have overload
protection features and prevents the camera from working with such
batteries installed. What I DIDN'T read was any statement that
indicated that ONLY Panasonic batteries would work. Either now or at
any point in the future. It would be interesting to hear from other
LX3 owners which third party batteries have continued to work and
which have not.

This has all the hallmarks of a minor conspiracy theory to me. Maybe
not as spectacular as Roswell or the moon landing, but a conspiracy
theory nevertheless.

Click to expand...

Wht happens when 3rd Party Battery that works just fine before update is in camera after update?

Error Message? or Just doesn't turn on? or what

parkuk said:

Wht happens when 3rd Party Battery that works just fine before update
is in camera after update?

Error Message? or Just doesn't turn on? or what

Click to expand...

LX3 - no battery nonsense mentioned, and none expected maybe.

The LX3 battery is an oldie used in a wealth of older Fuji/Ricoh/Panasonic/Leica cameras. Hopefully too early a design to be caught up in this chipping craziness.

If LX3 does eventually offer a firmware update that limits battery use, then I just won't update. I use Ricoh and other third party batteries in the LX3 (and in the Ricohs) and no flames or smoke appearing anywhere so far.

If it goes in for service I would indicate that I do not want any updates done.

Regards.......... Guy

jmgiv said:

I never leave the house while anything is recharging. And everything I recharge is usually on a non-flammable surface and away from other flammable stuff.

But that's just me.

john

Did I leave my iron on...?

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, I covered a fire at, of all places, a fire station just last month. An EMS crew member's laptop burst into flames when the battery blew. It was sitting on a bed, so you can imagine the fire in the crew area.

It was not, however, charging. It was zipped inside a locked case. He'd gotten to the station, been called out, and just laid it down as he left. That one still blew up.

Jim Dean

parkuk said:

Wht happens when 3rd Party Battery that works just fine before update is in camera after update?

Error Message? or Just doesn't turn on? or what

Click to expand...

it seems the power-on sequence is to 'talk' to the battery and if it does not reply back (over its serial pin) then the cam displays an error and refuses to continue to 'start up'.

too bad there isn't space to wedge a 'proxy chip' so that you can talk to the chip, have it say 'hi, yes, I'm here!' and that would keep the camera happy.

or, better yet, hacked firmware that ignores the battery-id check.

we saw hacked canon chkdsk (?) firmware do neat things. it would be cool to see some custom pany firmware. of course, we have no idea what internal o/s (vxworks?) they use and so on. I've never read of anyone doing pany firmware hacking. canon has a large enough user base but pany does not so no one tries to hack it.

I, personally, would not even waste my time. I gave up on the pany brand once they did this stuff to their user base.

let pany sales go down, for all I care. hacking their firmware would only increase sales in spite of the anti-user sentiment pany is showing. I want no part of helping pany when they are actively trying to hurt users.

--
Bryan
(pic stream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/linux-works ) ~

Last week I had a Panasonic battery for a GF-1 explode while sitting in a charger box (not plugged in, or even with power cable connected). The box was sitting on my bed while I went out for a couple of hours.

When I returned, I found the battery had ejected from the box and burnt through 6 layers of bed linen into the mattress.

The battery was bought with the camera only a few weeks before and had only gone through one discharge-recharge cycle.





Not getting any joy out of Panasonic "Customer Care" whose line of questions (emanating from Japan I gather) are along the lines of repeating variations of "if nothing was connected was it the power cable that wasn't connected", and "was it connected to a power point?".

As much as I love my L1, I don't trust Panasonic any more. They abandoned the line and if I wanted Zuiko lenses I would have bought an Olympus (which is continuing the full 4/3 line).

Point is Panasonic came up w/ 2 free firmware updates for the L1 and 1 for one of the lenses, and that was it. They could do more but have moved on like a plague of locusts. Coulda, shoulda, mighta, DIDN'T!!!!

So I have no faith that next they'll pull another stunt and all the micro 4/3 users will also be left in the dust. Which is why no G series for me, or H, or whatever they come up with next, until they proved they're going to be dedicated to a series for more than 3 seconds.

lumixer said:

Last week I had a Panasonic battery for a GF-1 explode while sitting in a charger box (not plugged in, or even with power cable connected). The box was sitting on my bed while I went out for a couple of hours.

When I returned, I found the battery had ejected from the box and burnt through 6 layers of bed linen into the mattress.

Click to expand...

So does this mean there'll be a quick new firmware update (for safety reasons, of course) so the GF-1 will work with anything BUT a Panasonic battery? Probably should include the other models also, since the track record is so poor...(I don't remember any reports in the forum of third party batteries behaving so dangerously).

After all, now that the Panasonic branded batteries have been proven unsafe, even when not being charged or used, I'm sure they'll be doing this for their customers' sake...that's their main concern, isn't it? 8^P

In fact, maybe they should buy all of our Panasonic batteries from us (at the prices they charge, of course), so we can buy 10 or 12 non-Panasonic ones instead...

Somehow, I'm not surprised that they're giving you such a hard time about accepting the responsibiltiy. I mean, after all, they've put all this effort into making this firmware so people HAVE to use their batteries, making up their phony rationalization that it's for our own good and safety that we pay 5-10x the price, and then one of their own batteries goes and does what they claim they're trying to protect us from. More likely they'll keep asking for details and refusing to accept that this has happened, hoping you'll go away...or they'll quietly pay for your damage and keep it quiet.

Anyway, aside from the fact that it could have started a fire or hurt someone, that's pretty funny that, considering the baloney they're trying to make us believe, a "genuine Panasonic" battery goes and does this...
--
Gary
Photo albums: http://www.pbase.com/roberthouse

They didn't exactly leap into action when I reported the problem.

I also pointed out that their website, while suggesting you check the packaging to make sure that any battery is a genuine Panasonic doesn't actually acknowledge the existence of the batteries used for these cameras, so I couldn't even select a model number when I filed my original complaint.

For now I'm stuck with no camera (they've taken it indefinitely) and no intention of providing a replacement in the meantime. Since they've sent the camera off to Japan for inspection I can't see the point of couriering the reassembled camera back to me since it'll still be missing bits (charger, battery) that would be in a new boxed copy.

I also have a pile of stinking burnt/scorched bedding to hold on to until they come up with a cunning plan.

Their customer care people have absolutely no customers relations/PR instincts. I was already falling in love my GF-1 and now they've just left me with a bad feeling.

My camera and battery were replaced by Panasonic some months back.

This week I found that the camera is rejecting both my Panasonic batteries with the THIS BATTERY CANNOT BE USED message. (I've posted this elsewhere on the forum.)